By Tonya Cox
I am a mother in California. My husband and I spent most of our family life raising our five children in here. Our youngest child is a senior in high school and our third California high school graduate. I cannot express how grateful I am that in a few months I will no longer have children in the California public education system. The California public school system continues to make choices directed by special interest groups and not in the best interest of our children. I am not the only mother in California that feels this way.
Informed Parents of California is a newly formed mother-lead parent group established as a resource to educate parents and help them get involved in critical issues affecting their children’s education. They are working to let the policy makers in California hear and acknowledge their concerns. Teachers are also leading out and sharing concerns over the new curriculum. One concern in the forefront is Assembly Bill 329 which dictates student instruction concerning sexual health education in California schools. This bill was enacted in 2015 but only now are its controversial and radical provisions coming into completion in May 2019. Some examples of these provocative teachings include reading kindergartners a book entitled My Princess Boy. A children’s book that discusses a boy that loves dressing like a girl and then inviting transgender guest speakers into the classroom. Also introduced to young students is confusing instructions like, “In the classroom, we may use the term ‘female reproductive organs’ but some people who identify as male have these organs.” This practice is labeled as anti-bullying education introduced in kindergarten and reinforced in every grade when in truth it is transgender indoctrination.
The proposed framework presents high school kids with the concept of spiritual or religious abuse and that this kind of abuse means, “forcing others to adhere to rigid gender roles,” or, “not allowing a partner to do things they enjoy.” California kids as young as nine years old are also introduced to a “sexual health toolkit” that includes among many other inappropriate and explicit instruction, education about the use of sex toys and a handout that explains if you don’t have money to buy sex toys you can use cucumbers, carrots, or bananas for anal or vaginal sex.
Many parents may not feel concerned about these curriculum as they feel they can just opt out. But most of the proposed curriculum is not considered sex education so parents won’t even be informed what their children are taught unless they dig in and find out for themselves. In a memo last year Ronald Wenkart, general counsel for the Orange County Department of Education, stated that parents do not have the right to opt out because the law, “does not apply to instruction, materials, or programming that discusses gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, discrimination, harassment, bullying, intimidation, relationships, or family and does not discuss human reproductive organs.” He further mentioned judicial precedent to claim, “parents do not have a constitutional right to excuse their children from portions of the school curriculum that they find objectionable.” This leaves parents who do object to the curriculum only one choice, to remove their child from the public school’s curriculum completely. Parents must put their child’s best interests above that of the state driven by special interest group agendas.
California isn’t alone in implementing trendy radical agendas. In Colorado parents were distressed when the school presented a play and YouTube videos meant to teach inclusivity and compassion for differences that also exposed kids to material like non-binary genders where they don’t need to be a boy or a girl because gender can change and, “the sky is the limit.” This indoctrination of gender fluidity goes far beyond compassion or kindness for differences. It exposes and confuses kids about their own gender identity and plants in very impressionable minds controversial messages.
The Supreme Court of the United States, “traditionally and continuously” upholds it is a parent’s fundamental right to, “direct the education and upbringing of their children.” This right is being challenged across the country as controversial propaganda continues to infiltrate the curriculum taught in our public schools bypassing parental consent. Parent’s rights in shaping their child’s instruction including issues like gender identity are already challenged and will continue to be challenged.
What can you do? The first thing is get educated. Learn about the laws considered or passed in your state and the decisions made by your local, county, and state school boards that affect your child’s school curriculum. Know your rights as a parent. Once you are educated get involved and raise your voice. RedState contributor Kira Davis gives great suggestions to parents. “Make noise. Lots and lots and lots of noise,” she shares. “When constituents get cranky, [lawmakers] pay attention…and so few people actually call and write anymore that just a few hundred voices go a very long way to making your representative and governor think twice about proceeding with something that seems unpopular.” There are also local and national organized protests like “sex ed sit-outs” where concerned parents, students, and citizens can participate. Just make sure your school knows why your child was absent and the school lost money that day and refrain from getting complacent. The lobbyists and activists don’t stop, and neither can you. You are the most important teacher and line of defense for your child.