Parents are almost universal in their belief that before teachers provide their children any education regarding matters sexual, parents have the right to be informed specifically about, sign off on, or opt out of the curriculum. Here in Colorado, it is state law. Nonetheless, late last year a principal at an elementary school in a small northern Colorado town approved highly controversial instruction on perhaps the hottest sexual topic of the day. Over the determined and fact-based objections of angry parents, she argued the program was related not to sex education, but to “gender identification” and “gender expression.” Its use will continue, she ruled. Days ago, the superintendent’s office backed her, setting the stage for a possible courtroom battle and alerting the nation to the Left’s latest loophole for imposing its views on our youth.
Superior is a historic coal mining, then ranching and farming, and now suburban town of 12,483, fewer than 20 miles east of Boulder, south of the Denver-Boulder Turnpike, and adjacent to the vast Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge. Superior Elementary School, one of two primary schools in town, is the only one for kindergarten through fifth grade. On the Friday before the Thanksgiving Day break, in an email filled with other time-sensitive information, Principal Jenn Bedford informed parents to “Save the Date!” for a musical performance by a transgender choir. The news went largely unnoticed until the next week when a few parents took a close look at purported anti-bullying videos to be shown their children before the performance. What they saw shocked them and word spread like wildfire across the dry, high country landscape, inflaming parents throughout Boulder County.
Unbeknownst to the parents, at least at first, the curriculum resulted from a close working relationship between Bedford and “A Queer Endeavor,” which describes itself as “an initiative focused on supporting teachers and school communities around topics of gender and sexual diversity,” a “partnership between the School of Education at the University of Colorado Boulder and the generous support of the Twisted Foundation,” which “support[s] equality, children and education, health & human services, community arts initiatives, LGBTQ issues, and the Tibetan Buddhist path.” Parents knew enough, however, when they saw the videos to be shown their youngsters: “No More Gender Roles,” “He, She, and They – What is Gender,” and “Expressing Myself, My Way.” Little wonder, for example, one-third of children in one classroom and one-half in another were absent that day.
On Nov. 28, 2018, families filed a formal discrimination complaint against Superior Elementary School and subsequently met with Boulder Valley School District Superintendent of Elementary Education Robbyn Fernandez. First, they asserted, SES violated its own policies for “Sexuality Information” as set forth in its Rights and Responsibilities Handbook by not explicitly stating the nature of the instruction and providing all parents an opportunity to opt out. Second, the videos presented “gender fluidity” as fact, that is, “some people aren’t boys or girls” and people change genders based on “how they feel inside” contrary to good science and deeply held religious views that God made people “wonderfully as male and female to become one flesh.” Third, the videos demonized all those with different opinions as “mean,” “confused,” and as people who, one day, “will know better,” which violates principles of acceptance, respect, and inclusiveness that are the hallmarks of Superior Elementary’s Handbook and supported by all parents.
The videos are nothing more than propaganda by activists with a radical political agenda using “catchy jingles and talking teddy bears” to indoctrinate children who are barely more than toddlers, argues the parents of three Superior Elementary students. That agenda, which the activists themselves characterize as “queering the classroom,” means using “every poster, every topic, every book, every test question” to escape oversight by parents and to inculcate children with their views.
On Feb. 22, BVSD Superintendent Rob Anderson’s office issued a report denying the parents’ appeal of Fernandez’s earlier ruling. Although Anderson is purportedly reviewing their appeal, they are now considering legal action. Sadly, with Colorado’s controversial sex education bill (H.R. 1032) on its way to the governor for signature, any victory will be short-lived as gender issues are specifically exempted by the bill from parental notification. What the rest of us ought to be considering is what we do to prevent this brainwashing program from coming to the schools of our children and grandchildren.
William Perry Pendley is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is the author of Sagebrush Rebel: Reagan’s Battle with Environmental Extremists and Why It Matters Today.
