California Junior High Principal Apologizes For Not Warning Parents About Pro-Homosexual Program for 8th Graders
Liberals cannot stifle free speech
(CNSNews.com) � The principal and a teacher at Goleta Valley Junior High
School in Santa Barbara County, California are apologizing to parents
for not following school district policy relating to a pro-homosexual
workshop given to 8th grade students in a leadership class at the
school.
The controversial workshop was presented by �Just Communities Central
Coast� in three, 45-minute sessions over three days. It included
handouts defining homosexual terminology, including queer and
transgender, and listed �heterosexism� as �oppression that �pushes down�
people who are LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and
questioning) and �pushes up� people who are straight.�
The handout defines sexual orientation this way: �Refers to who we feel
romantically and sexually attracted to and who we fall in love with.�
One page featuring cartoon-like figures and entitled �Gender & Sexuality
Definitions: A Visual Map,� depicts a person's body with the heart area
labeled as �sexual orientation� and the genital area labeled as �sex.�
A page entitled �Heterosexism� asks students to answer a three-part
question: �How are LGBTQ people discriminated against or mistreated in
the United States, in your local community and in your school?�
Parental outrage
Betsy Cleary�s 13-year-old daughter was in the class during the
workshop. She told Cleary following the second day of the workshop that
she no longer liked leadership class because of what she described as a
visit by �a sex group.�
�She was very uncomfortable,� Cleary told CNSNews.com. �She said, �I sat
in the back and wished I could leave, but I couldn�t.��
Cleary said she was shocked after reviewing the handouts her daughter
received in the workshop and decided to share her concerns with other
parents by e-mail, which was obtained by CNSNews.com. She also paid a
visit to the office of the school�s principal, Veronica Rogers.
Cleary wanted to know why she was not notified about the content of the
workshop ahead of time.
�I said, �Look, I don�t know my rights right now, all I know is that I
have been violated as a parent,� Cleary told Rogers. �She said because
[the workshop] falls under a health heading, they don�t need to do an
�opt out.� But if it had gone under a sex education heading, they could
have an �opt out.� And I said, �Clearly, and I showed her the picture,
this is sex education. There is a circle around the genitals.��
Principal Rogers told CNSNews.com that she was not aware of the content
of the workshop handouts until they were brought to her attention by
parents.
Matt Neal, whose son is an eighth grader at the school but did not
attend the workshop, said after reviewing the workshop material that he
asked Rogers how the curriculum was approved for the classroom. When he
was told by Rogers that she had not seen the handouts prior to the
workshop, he said he thought she and the leadership class teacher should
make a public apology.
Neal told CNSNews.com that he thinks homosexuality should not be
considered a topic for study by students in junior high school.
�I find it confounding that professional educators who have invested
their careers in studying various pedagogy, principles, and evaluated
the timing of lessons based on content, merit, and student maturity
would not ask of themselves, �Is this topic merit worthy of our time and
energy?�� Neal said. �Educators have grappled with, researched, and
written volumes of content on how to teach grammar structures, math
skills, history, art, etc., and yet have very little evidence as to the
merit and pedagogy of this material for junior high students.�
�Honestly, this is what alarms me the most,� Neal said.
District reacts to controversy
After CNSNews.com contacted the Santa Barbara School District and the
principal of the junior high school and asked about the Just Communities
workshop--how it was approved and why parents were not notified and
offered a way to have their children �opt out�--e-mails sent to parents
and CNSNews.com reflected that officials apparently had a change of
heart concerning the matter.
Barbara Keyani, coordinator of administrative services and
communications with the school district, told CNSNews.com that
�protocols� were not followed ahead of the workshop, which she said
should have included review of the content under the school board�s
�controversial issues� policy and sex education policy, which requires
parents to be notified and allows them to keep their children out of the
class.
�Please be aware that apologies have been issued by the principal, given
the circumstances of this situation, for not having followed appropriate
protocols,� Keyani said.
Leadership class teacher Christine Shaw sent an email to parents ahead
of the workshop, as part of a weekly schedule she routinely distributes
to parents. The e-mail reads as follows:
�Wednesday: Students will host Pumpkin Bowling at lunch. Today starts a
3-day series with a quest speaker from Just Communities, a local NPO
(non-profit organization) centered on fostering diversity and tolerance.
The speaker will be addressing issues that students here at GV face, and
give them tools to handle these situations in positive ways.�
In this week�s e-mail to Cleary, Shaw apologized for the vagueness of
the notice: �Also, I apologize for not being explicit about the topics
covered in the Just Communities presentations.�
But Neal said Shaw�s behavior is what caused the controversy.
�I was incredibly saddened to learn that Ms. Rogers was left in the dark
about the content and curriculum of Just Communities, who was invited by
GVJH leadership teacher, Christine Shaw,� Neal said. �Just Communities
provided every piece of curriculum and subject matter well in advance of
the presentation, and Ms. Shaw did not have the respect for parents or
the students, that the material being presented could be highly
offensive to our families at GVJH.�
�She simply chose not to inform her supervisor of the material, and as a
parent I feel like the school does not have the best interests of my son
in mind, only their agenda,� Neal said.
Jarodd Schwartz, executive director of Just Communities, says his
organization is just promoting "respect and safety" for students.
�We�re not promoting anything beyond respect and safety for all
students,� Schwartz told CNSNews.com. �Our perspective is that all
students regardless of race, sexual orientation, ability, etcetera, need
to be treated with respect and dignity and school should be a safe,
supportive learning environment.�
Schwartz said Just Communities staff developed and presented the
material at the workshop. He said that the three sessions--Roots of
Violence, Gender and Sexism; Homophobia and Heterosexism; and Inequality
Based on Race--do not promote homosexuality.
But most of the material in the handouts given to students deals with
what Just Communities believes is discrimination against people because
they are homosexual and social and parental influence on �gender
identity.�
Two exercises in the handouts are called �Act Like A Man Box� and �Act
Like a Lady Box.� Students are asked to imagine what their parents or
other adults say to them that make them feel they must stay inside the
�man� and �lady� box.
�What�s hard about being in this box all the time?� the worksheet asks.
�What qualities help us resist the pressure to be �in the box?��
Cleary said she was angry that her daughter was taught about
homosexuality in the workshop, including being told by the Just
Communities staff member who conducted the workshop that having a very
close relationship with someone of the same sex could result in
homosexuality or bi-sexuality.
�Whether or not they will fess up to what was said, this is what our
daughter heard,� Cleary said. �This is what she interpreted. And this is
why I am angry.�
�Because when you are so forceful in what you�re showing, kids can
interpret things in different ways,� Cleary said. �So it was introduced
into our daughter�s brain that because she has a girlfriend, she could
be bi, or gay or straight -- they use straight too -- you know, it could
be coming out as your sexuality develops.�
Cleary said it was ironic that an organization that was billed as
teaching tolerance uses what she described as �intimidation� in the
workshop, including criticizing parents who voted for Proposition 8, a
ballot initiative that passed in California in November 2008 that read:
�Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in
California.�
�One kid asked this authority figure from Just Communities, what about
Proposition 8?� Cleary said. �And apparently it was asked, well, whose
parents voted for yes or no? And those who voted yes, [they are]
prejudiced and discriminatory.�
Just Communities has offered to meet with parents who have complained
about the workshop to �explore our presentation materials.�
The Santa Barbara School District has told parents it would make sure
protocol is followed for future workshops conducted by outside
organizations.
juanjo
<gaybig...@america.us> wrote:
> http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/57953
>
> (CNSNews.com) – The principal and a teacher at Goleta Valley Junior High
> School in Santa Barbara County, California are apologizing to parents
> for not following school district policy relating to a pro-homosexual
> workshop given to 8th grade students in a leadership class at the
> school.
>
More lies and bull shit from the homophobes. The program was on
diversity and issues regarding bullying in the school.
Here is an article from the local newspaper on the matter
Workshop for student leaders was not “pro-homosexual,” but instead
focused on teaching respect for everyone, workshop presenter said.
Goleta Valley Junior High School has been in the spotlight recently in
online media, where it was reported that a workshop last month
promoted a homosexual lifestyle and that the school principal had
apologized for the workshop. However, school district officials and
Alena Marie, program director for Just Communities Central Coast,
which presented the program, say much of the information in the online
stories is inaccurate and untrue.
“There is no homosexuality training program, no attempt to impose
homosexuality, no promotion of homosexuality, nor any plan to do so,”
in the school districts, said Brian Sarvis, superintendent of the
Santa Barbara School Districts. Cybercast News Service, part of Media
Research Center, a conservative organization claiming to balance
liberal bias in media, published a story about the junior high
program, calling it a “pro-homosexual workshop,” and stating that
apologies for the workshop were issued by Principal Veronica Rogers
and classroom teacher Christine Shaw.
“Discussion about sexual orientation was really just a fraction of the
whole presentation teaching respect and safety for all students,” said
Marie. “The apology was about the notice given to parents not the
workshop.” School district officials said apologies were for the lack
of specificity in an email notice sent to parents of students in the
leadership class prior to the three sessions with Just Communities.
Rogers, calling the CNS story inaccurate and misleading, said parents
were notified prior to the classroom sessions, but they weren’t fully
informed about the content, which focused on creating a safe school
environment free of bullying and racism among teens, and included
tolerance for all sexual orientations. School district policy requires
that materials from presentations including controversial issues be
reviewed by the school’s principal and that parents have the
opportunity to review the materials in advance. Neither took place.
The workshop addressed ways student leaders could foster a safe,
respectful and equitable school environment for all students,
regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation, said Marie.
Connections between bullying and violence, discrimination and
inequality, gender role expectations and related harassment and
violence, heterosexism and homophobia were included.
Also explored at the workshop were racism, prejudice and
discrimination. The curriculum, Marie said, is a combination of
content developed by Just Communities and a nationally recognized
violence prevention program, “Making Allies, Making Friends: A
Curriculum for Making the Peace in Middle School.” Betsy Cleary, a
Goleta resident who has a daughter in the leadership class, was
reported by CNS to have been unhappy with what she understood to be
the content of the workshops, and believed parents should have been
able to “opt out” of sending their children to the workshop.
Cleary was quoted as saying students were told that having a very
close relationship with someone of the same sex could result in
homosexuality or bi-sexuality, and that if their parents voted for
Proposition 8, a ballot measure defining marriage as between a man and
a woman, they were prejudiced and discriminatory. “There was no
discussion of Prop 8 other than defining it,” Marie said. “We never
asked about who voted for it, nor did we say anything about supporters
of the ballot measure.” She also said there was never any discussion
about close relationships with someone of the same sex.
A phone call to Cleary for her comment was not returned.
Citizenlink.com, part of the conservative Focus on the Family
organization, reported that Shaw apologized for the workshop. However,
Barbara Keyani, coordinator of administrative services and
communications for the Santa Barbara School Districts, said that an
apology was issued by the principal for not having followed
appropriate protocols in notifying parents about the workshop content,
since some of it could be considered controversial. Apologies were not
issued for the workshops content, she said.
“We have offered to speak with Betsy Cleary,” Marie said, “but she has
declined.” “The real message here is getting lost,” said Rogers. “The
focus is on a safe school environment for all students.” Marie said
the Goleta Valley Junior High School students in the workshop were
“responsive, critical thinkers with a good knowledge about bullying
and harassment. There’s a reason that they’re in the leadership
class.”
bobsyo...@yahoo.com
"juanjo" <jonp...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:f0b2ad93-878f-47b0...@a15g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...
class.�
**************************************************************
That's just the typical lying and distorting actions taken by both the
"christian" right - and there bedfellows, the conservative republicans (use
both meanings for "bedfellows".
The truth means nothing, because outlandish lies get more attention.