[News] [VA, USA] Fairfax schools to vote on adding gender identity to curriculum
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Stephanie Stevens
May 28, 2015, 9:43:29 AM5/28/15
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Fairfax Times, VA, USA
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Fairfax schools to vote on adding gender identity to curriculum
Community members clash on changes to family life education lessons
by Kate Yanchulis, Staff writer
The Fairfax County School Board plans to vote on adding gender identity and sexual orientation to its family life education curriculum for middle and high school students at its June 25 meeting.
An advisory committee of students, teachers, administrators and community members recommended the changes as part of a yearly review of the school system’s family life education program.
Possible changes include defining the sexual orientation terms heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality as well as the gender identity term transgender for seventh-grade students. Eighth-, ninth- and 10th-grade students would also receive lessons describing gender identity and sexual orientation as components of individual identity.
The school board introduced the recommendations at its meeting Thursday night, two weeks after voting to expand the school system’s nondiscrimination policy to include gender identity.
Before that vote on May 7, some community members voiced concern about rules for gender-specific bathrooms and locker rooms. But school board members said the updated nondiscrimination policy would not automatically trigger other regulation changes.
The family life curriculum recommendations have been part of a year-long discussion by the advisory committee, school officials said, and did not result from the vote on the nondiscrimination policy. Still, some saw the recommendations as the school board reneging on a promise.
Parents and guardians will still be able to opt their children out of family life education lessons.
As part of the recommendations, several topics, including lessons related to peer pressure and mental health, would be moved from the family life to the health curriculum, but all lessons related to sexual orientation and gender identity remain under the family life umbrella.
Still, dozens of people in the audience at Thursday’s meeting wore “Respect Parental Choice” stickers in opposition to the potential changes.
“Opt-outs, though they’re critical, are a cop-out,” Laura Hanford said.
Hanford, a mother of five whose eldest child is a seventh-grader, asked the school board to table the family life education recommendations and take more time to engage religious communities in particular on the issue.
“It’s your morality imposed on the rest of us,” Hanford said. “You think you’re being compassionate, but many, many of us believe the paths you define here as legitimate lead not to happiness but to heartache.”
Opponents said the new lessons would overstep religious and parental rights.
“People of many faiths and numerous political perspectives know that people are uniquely created as male and female without any confusion and are very against this mandate that their children be told about gender identity from adults who have extreme values and beliefs,” Sedmak said.
However, other community members spoke out in support of the recommended changes. Phil Hicks, the father of two gay sons who graduated from Fairfax County schools, said his sons do not have fond memories of their school years because they had to live with fear.
“My primary motivation is making sure every child has the opportunity to learn in a safe and supportive environment,” said Hicks, the Virginia advocacy chair of the local chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
The proposed family life curriculum is available for review through June 19 on the family life education section of the FCPS website.
Reviewer comments can be emailed to FLEco...@fcps.edu. All comments are shared with school board members at the conclusion of the community review process.
Copyright © 2015 Post Community Media, LLC/FairfaxTimes.com
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20150527/NEWS/150529267/1064
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Fairfax schools to vote on adding gender identity to curriculum
Community members clash on changes to family life education lessons
by Kate Yanchulis, Staff writer
The Fairfax County School Board plans to vote on adding gender identity and sexual orientation to its family life education curriculum for middle and high school students at its June 25 meeting.
An advisory committee of students, teachers, administrators and community members recommended the changes as part of a yearly review of the school system’s family life education program.
Possible changes include defining the sexual orientation terms heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality as well as the gender identity term transgender for seventh-grade students. Eighth-, ninth- and 10th-grade students would also receive lessons describing gender identity and sexual orientation as components of individual identity.
The school board introduced the recommendations at its meeting Thursday night, two weeks after voting to expand the school system’s nondiscrimination policy to include gender identity.
Before that vote on May 7, some community members voiced concern about rules for gender-specific bathrooms and locker rooms. But school board members said the updated nondiscrimination policy would not automatically trigger other regulation changes.
The family life curriculum recommendations have been part of a year-long discussion by the advisory committee, school officials said, and did not result from the vote on the nondiscrimination policy. Still, some saw the recommendations as the school board reneging on a promise.
Parents and guardians will still be able to opt their children out of family life education lessons.
As part of the recommendations, several topics, including lessons related to peer pressure and mental health, would be moved from the family life to the health curriculum, but all lessons related to sexual orientation and gender identity remain under the family life umbrella.
Still, dozens of people in the audience at Thursday’s meeting wore “Respect Parental Choice” stickers in opposition to the potential changes.
“Opt-outs, though they’re critical, are a cop-out,” Laura Hanford said.
Hanford, a mother of five whose eldest child is a seventh-grader, asked the school board to table the family life education recommendations and take more time to engage religious communities in particular on the issue.
“It’s your morality imposed on the rest of us,” Hanford said. “You think you’re being compassionate, but many, many of us believe the paths you define here as legitimate lead not to happiness but to heartache.”
Opponents said the new lessons would overstep religious and parental rights.
“People of many faiths and numerous political perspectives know that people are uniquely created as male and female without any confusion and are very against this mandate that their children be told about gender identity from adults who have extreme values and beliefs,” Sedmak said.
However, other community members spoke out in support of the recommended changes. Phil Hicks, the father of two gay sons who graduated from Fairfax County schools, said his sons do not have fond memories of their school years because they had to live with fear.
“My primary motivation is making sure every child has the opportunity to learn in a safe and supportive environment,” said Hicks, the Virginia advocacy chair of the local chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
The proposed family life curriculum is available for review through June 19 on the family life education section of the FCPS website.
Reviewer comments can be emailed to FLEco...@fcps.edu. All comments are shared with school board members at the conclusion of the community review process.
Copyright © 2015 Post Community Media, LLC/FairfaxTimes.com
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20150527/NEWS/150529267/1064
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