This is part three of a three part series regarding how LGBT activists and state officials plan to use the FAIR Education Act (SB 48) to transform what California’s children believe about family, gender identity, and sexual orientation, and what parents and local school boards can do to stop it.
By Amy Haywood
LGBT activists and the California Department of Education (CDE) are pushing a radical sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) ideology on California’s children through the History Social-Science (HSS) Framework and 10 textbook programs adopted by the State Board of Education (SBE) on November 9. In Part One, I explained the biased adoption process and gave examples of the radical, transformative, and controversial content of the state-adopted textbooks that CDE hopes local school districts will adopt. In Part Two, I explained how outside organizations and online content available to teachers for lesson planning falls completely outside of the adoption vetting process and is a Trojan horse for queer theory (replacing the gender binary of male and female) and other ideas that are inappropriate for children.
Practically speaking, what do the HSS Framework and the SBE textbook adoption mean for local school districts, teachers, and parents? According to a legal opinion memorandum from constitutional attorney Dean Broyles of the National Center for Law and Policy, “…California school districts are completely free to comply with the FAIR Education Act (SB 48), while at the same time exercising their legally sanctioned authority to ignore all or parts of the more aggressive HSS Framework and the CDE suggested textbooks. Indeed, the California Department of Education’s own FAQ on SB 48 acknowledges the discretion of ‘the teacher and local school and district administration to determine how the content is covered and at what grade levels.’”
I have spoken with an administrator at Learning Support Services in the Poway Unified School District, just north of San Diego, to ask for the district’s timeline for any new textbook or framework adoption for history and social sciences. Poway is just at the beginning of this process, and key decision-makers now know that the HSS Framework is not mandatory and that a growing number of parents in the district are vehemently opposed to the radical nature of the CDE-adopted HSS Framework.
Unfortunately, other school districts are rapidly moving to implement the HSS Framework—while parents remain in the dark, possibly due to lack of media coverage, poor public outreach on the part of CDE, and a lack of transparency at the local level. According to Dr. Beth Slutsky’s November blog article, 6 Strategies To Guide your Textbook Adoption in History-Social Sciences, school districts can review the 10 SBE-adopted instructional materials packages and pilot them. Slutsky writes:
I’ve heard from a number of teachers that they have been put on committees to meet with publishers to initiate this process. This process usually takes a year, and involves leaders – ideally with a significant amount of content expertise and teaching experience – reviewing and analyzing different components of texts. According to this kind of timeline (which districts are by no means obligated to follow, though I know a number of them are), materials would be reviewed this year, piloted in the 2018-2019 school year, and implemented in the 2019-2020 school year.
So, parents, time is of the essence. Find out what your school is doing and where they are in the adoption process. Make sure they know that the HSS Framework is not mandatory and that you do not want your elementary school-aged children exposed to SOGI ideologies. Meet with key people in your district who are in charge of textbook and framework adoptions. Lobby board members. Speak at board meetings. Ask questions. Meet with your children’s teachers and principals to find out exactly what is currently being taught to your children. Write your local newspaper. Share this article with the leaders of your church, mosque or synagogue to spread the word on what is happening. Be intentional about teaching your family’s values to your own children so they are not defenseless and easily swayed when a person of authority shares this objectionable content with them. And, finally, register to vote in order to vote these policy-makers out of office.
And if your pleas fall on deaf ears, there’s always the U.S. Constitution, which may provide legal options.
Broyles, in his previously mentioned legal opinion memorandum (that has already been distributed to several school districts), stressed the following:
- The FAIR Education Act (SB 48) affirms the ultimate authority of school boards, teachers, and parents regarding instructional materials–the HSS Framework and suggested curricula are not mandatory.
- The textbook changes being promoted by LGBT activists affirm a new “transformational” sexual worldview, intolerantly denigrating the worldviews and cultural values of others.
- The HSS Framework and California Department of Education (CDE) curricula undermine legally protected parental rights to direct the education and moral development of their children and to determine what is age appropriate.
- Unconstitutional government-compelled speech is coerced by the approach embodied in the HSS Framework, suggested curricula, and board policies promoted by CDE.
- Unconstitutional state anti-religious hostility and discrimination pervades the HSS Framework and suggested curricula.
- Gender dysphoria is not a healthy lifestyle choice and should not be promoted by California’s public schools.
Actions taken by local school districts to implement the HSS Framework and accompanying instructional materials will certainly violate the U.S. Constitution (which overrides the state in such matters), so it looks like parents have legal recourse if their local school districts adopt the HSS Framework and illegally force a transformational sexual worldview on our children.
Here’s a short history lesson for the CDE and LGBT activists. Indoctrination is not the answer. History shows us that forcing Orwellian replacement ideologies on people never turns out well. In our system of government, people can live in freedom only if religious and secular beliefs are on a level playing field; otherwise the ones who were once oppressed become the oppressors. The First Amendment is meant to safeguard us from government coercion of beliefs and conscience. The FAIR Education Act only provides for the inclusion of LGBT heroes in instructional materials; it does not mandate a complete revision of history and our understanding of what it means to be male or female.
It is unconscionable that the California Department of Education is promoting this unscientific dogma in classrooms across California. The CDE, CTA and LGBT activists are out of touch with the parents of this state, and I am horrified and outraged at their disrespect for children, families, and the U.S. Constitution.
If you would like additional advice or help with pushing back against LGBT activists’ plans for your school district, please contact the California Family Council or the National Center for Law and Policy.
