‘You Don’t Care About Parents’
"You are elected board members--I worry that you don't care about parents at all," said a tearful Fairfax County mom, Barbara Eckman, speaking to the school board late Thursday evening. Describing herself as a "loving mother and ally to the pride community," Eckman grew emotional as she explained that both her "liberal and conservative friends" were "astonished" at the district's persistence in pushing things like a "transgender unit in the fourth grade" and the "potential suspension for 'misgendering'" for young children despite parents' deep concerns. "Which leads me to one question," she said, "Who are you really representing?
You can't blame Eckman and other parents--who showed up hours before the meeting began for a parental rights rally-- for feeling ignored. First of all, the district continues to use a mysterious lottery system to arbitrarily pre-select a few parents and concerned citizens allowed to give public comments to the board. And despite the large parental-rights gathering in the parking lot--and the fact that most of the public comments were opposed to the promotion of transgenderism in young grades, as well as stringent punishments for kids who 'misgender'--the board delayed any discussion on those topics until 10 p.m. And even then, board members only addressed parents' concerns with condescending, elitist tones, basically accusing them of not understanding the policies and lacking human compassion. Only one board member at least bothered to pay lip service to the need to take "additional steps to make sure we were really listening."
But that didn't stop the majority of board members, at around 11 p.m., from voting to pass changes to the Student Rights and Responsibilities [SRR] discipline manual, including controversial changes that add a component to the harassment section making "malicious outing related to gender identity or sexual orientation" punishable up to a "level 4" offense, which is the last level before sanctions for things like drug possession or using a bomb. No one bothered to directly address parents' religious freedom concerns about compelled speech, or whether educators who are simply trying to involve parents will also be punished for "malicious outing."
"Who are you really representing?"
It's a relevant question, considering that one issue of even greater concern to many parents were recommendations to expand "gender identity" and "gender spectrum" teaching to elementary levels, including children as young as five-years-old. Sadly, after parents--at least those who didn't have to rush home to children--were forced to sit in the room until midnight waiting for the final word on this topic, the board short-circuited any discussion by treating it as a "consent agenda" item. This meant that the controversial curriculum expansion and the other unrelated items were all passed via a motion to approve with no further discussion or debate. According to parents still in the room, that final vote happened at about midnight, with the meeting adjourning soon after.
Typically, consent agenda items are used to address routine, procedural decisions or decisions that are unlikely to be controversial. Does this mean that the Fairfax County School Board members feel they have carte blanch power to push transgender ideology onto the youngest grade levels and then treat that as a noncontroversial, procedural maneuver?
No wonder so many parents in one of the nation's largest, most well-funded school districts feel completely disrespected.
What to Do:
It's important not to lose heart as we persevere in protecting parental rights and the hearts and minds of thousands of public school children. Remember that you can lose battles--but win the war--as demonstrated by a Fairfax County mother, Laura Murphy, who inspired parental rights legislation recently signed by Gov. Youngkin.
Add your voice to our Speak Up! Virginia movement and let us know if you'd like more information about the Speak Up! Fairfax team by emailing: speakupfairfax@familyfoundation.org
