Wisconsin School District Dabbling in Gender Identity Politics (By Deceiving Parents)

[The Nehor]

4 hours ago, Calm said:

It seems likely there would be warning signs of this type of family relationship. 
 

From what Rongo and Miserere have said, it is highly workable not to directly involve parents. It seems perhaps counterproductive to codified an approach as allowing for deceiving as it suggests to kids that they shouldn’t trust their parents. Better to just encourage teachers to be thoughtful and aware of child’s circumstances and act accordingly. That allows teachers to be protective of kids if they see a need whether that means not involving parents or involving them.  It also emphasizes support without building fear of parents or other adults. 

The teachers are not supposed to incite. They are just not supposed to report I to parents. I found the pretentious rubbish about what the school district has decided as truth overblown rhetoric but whatever.

[provoman]

Copy and paste from the policy:

School staff shall not disclose any information that may reveal a student’s gender identity to others, including parents or guardians and other school staff, unless legally required to do so or unless the student has authorized such disclosure.

[Calm]

31 minutes ago, provoman said:

Copy and paste from the policy:

School staff shall not disclose any information that may reveal a student’s gender identity to others, including parents or guardians and other school staff, unless legally required to do so or unless the student has authorized such disclosure.

That doesn't push deception, imo, simply confidentiality.  Thanks for posting it. 

[provoman]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Edited March 12, 2020 by provoman

[provoman]

24 minutes ago, Calm said:

That doesn't push deception, imo, simply confidentiality.  Thanks for posting it. 

Another section

All staff correspondence and communication to families in regard to students shall reflect the name and gender documented in Infinite Campus unless the student has specifically given permission to do otherwise. (This might involve using the student’s affirmed name and pronouns in the school setting, and their legal name and pronouns with family).

---------------------------

Infinite Campus is the District records system, name (and at some point orientation, I believe) can be changed by a student with the permission of one parent.  

To the parenthesis, a student can affirm - without parental permission - to School staff preferred pronouns, and school staff are obligated to use those pronouns. However, when School Staff are communicating with parents/guardians regarding the student, the School Staff are not to refer to the student by the preferred pronouns.   

[provoman]

• All MMSD staff will refer to students by their affirmed names and pronouns. Staff will also maintain confidentiality and ensure privacy. Refusal to respect a student’s name and pronouns is a violation of the MMSD Non-discrimination policy.
• Students will be called by their affirmed name and pronouns regardless of parent/guardian permission to change their name and gender in MMSD systems. See privacy section for additional information.

[provoman]

Gender Support Plans include:

• Student’s gender identity, name, and pronouns

• Level of privacy desired• Staff communication / Communication to peers

• Key contacts at home and at school

• Curriculum considerations

• Access to restrooms, locker rooms, and other school activities

• District policies and guidance that support trans transgender, non-binary, and gender-expansive youth

• Staff professional development

 

Parent(s)/Guardian(s) are not included in the gender support plan. 

And the District policy is such: In MMSD, with the permission of our students, we will strive to include families along the journey to support their LGBTQ+ youth

[sunstoned]

I teach at a university, and I have come to believe that as teaching goes, college is by far the less stressful, and probably the easiest to do.  Students are paying to be there, so there is almost no disciplinary issues.   By law, I cannot divulge student grades or other information about the student without written permission from the administration records/law offices.  This includes parents and guardians. So, I never see parents. No parent teacher conferences, I don't interact with parents at all.  I teach my classes, hold office hours, attend a meeting or two, and go home.

I have had some students change their gender identities and ask to be addressed by different names and pronouns.  I simply note it in my records and grade book and comply with their wishes.

Edited March 12, 2020 by sunstoned

[Scott Lloyd]

21 hours ago, smac97 said:

Here:

From the lawsuit itself:

The entire complaint is worth a read.

Back to the article:

I find it disconcerting to have governmental entities adopting formal policies not only allowing, but requiring government employees to deceive citizens - parents - about what those employees are doing with the citizens' children.

If you were a member of the Church living in Wisconsin, with children being subjected to this policy, what would you do?

Any other thoughts?

-Smac

I’m told that Mark Twain said God made idiots. That was for practice. He made school boards next. 

 

Edited to add:

I found the verbatim quote:

Quote

 “In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.” 

 

Edited March 12, 2020 by Scott Lloyd

[Bernard Gui]

8 hours ago, smac97 said:

A village where the other villagers conspire to lie to parents about their children?

Thanks,

-Smac

Sorry. I didn’t include the sarcasm icon. 
Washington is in the middle of passing controversial statewide mandatory sex ed for grades K-12. It’s really hard to determine what the truth about it is.

[Bernard Gui]

4 hours ago, provoman said:

Gender Support Plans include:

• Student’s gender identity, name, and pronouns

• Level of privacy desired• Staff communication / Communication to peers

• Key contacts at home and at school

• Curriculum considerations

• Access to restrooms, locker rooms, and other school activities

• District policies and guidance that support trans transgender, non-binary, and gender-expansive youth

• Staff professional development

 

Parent(s)/Guardian(s) are not included in the gender support plan. 

And the District policy is such: In MMSD, with the permission of our students, we will strive to include families along the journey to support their LGBTQ+ youth

I’m so glad I no longer teach in the public schools. Home schooling is rapidly becoming the only sane option.

[smac97]

Jordan Peterson has some good thoughts on the problems arising from ideologues appropriating educational venues for their own ends:

Transcript:

Quote

You may not realize it, but you are currently funding some dangerous people.

They are indoctrinating young minds throughout the West with their resentment-ridden ideology. They have made it their life's mission to undermine Western civilization itself, which they regard as corrupt, oppressive and “patriarchal.”

If you're a taxpayer—or paying for your kid's liberal arts degree—you're underwriting this gang of nihilists.

You're supporting ideologues who claim that all truth is subjective; that all sex differences are socially constructed; and that Western imperialism is the sole source of all Third World problems. They are the post-modernists, pushing “progressive” activism at a college near you.

They produce the mobs that violently shut down campus speakers; the language police who enshrine into law use of fabricated gender pronouns; and the deans whose livelihoods depend on madly rooting out discrimination where little or none exists.

Their thinking took hold in Western universities in the ‘60s and ‘70s, when the true believers of the radical left became the professors of today. And now we rack up education-related debt—not so that our children learn to think critically, write clearly, or speak properly, but so they can model their mentors' destructive agenda.

It's now possible to complete an English degree and never encounter Shakespeare—one of those dead white males whose works underlie our “society of oppression.”

To understand and oppose the post-modernists, the ideas by which they orient themselves must be clearly identified.

First is their new unholy trinity of diversity, equity and inclusion. Diversity is defined not by opinion, but by race, ethnicity or sexual identity; equity is no longer the laudable goal of equality of opportunity, but the insistence on equality of outcome; and inclusion is the use of identity-based quotas to attain this misconceived state of equity.

All the classic rights of the West are to be considered secondary to these new values. Take, for example, freedom of speech—the very pillar of democracy. The post-modernists refuse to believe that people of good will can exchange ideas and reach consensus.

Their world is instead a Hobbesian nightmare of identity groups warring for power. They don't see ideas that run contrary to their ideology as simply incorrect. They see them as integral to the oppressive system they wish to supplant, and consider it a moral obligation to stifle and constrain their expression. 

Second is rejection of the free market—of the very idea that free, voluntary trading benefits everyone. They won't acknowledge that capitalism has lifted up hundreds of millions of people so they can for the first time in history afford food, shelter, clothing, transportation—even entertainment and travel. Those classified as poor in the US (and, increasingly, everywhere else) are able to meet their basic needs. Meanwhile, in once-prosperous Venezuela—until recently the poster-child of the campus radicals—the middle class lines up for toilet paper.

Third, and finally, are the politics of identity. Post-modernists don't believe in individuals. You're an exemplar of your race, sex, or sexual preference. You're also either a victim or an oppressor. No wrong can be done by anyone in the former group, and no good by the latter. Such ideas of victimization do nothing but justify the use of power and engender intergroup conflict.

All these concepts originated with Karl Marx, the 19th-century German philosopher. Marx viewed the world as a gigantic class struggle—the bourgeoisie against the proletariat; the grasping rich against the desperate poor. But wherever his ideas were put into practice—in the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, and Cambodia, to name just a few—whole economies failed, and tens of millions were killed. We fought a decades-long cold war to stop the spread of those murderous notions. But they're back, in the new guise of identity politics.

The corrupt ideas of the post-modern neo-Marxists should be consigned to the dustbin of history. Instead, we underwrite their continuance in the very institutions where the central ideas of the West should be transmitted across the generations. Unless we stop, post-modernism will do to America and the entire Western world what it's already done to its universities.

Thanks,

-Smac

Edited March 12, 2020 by smac97

[Navidad]

15 minutes ago, smac97 said:

Jordan Peterson has some good thoughts on the problems arising from ideologues appropriating educational venues for their own ends:

First I like Dr. Peterson. I admire his thought process and acumen. Having said that, I think in this case he sweeps with too broad a broom. The vast majority of the folks I met in my life in education worked hard, were subject or grade level knowledgeable, wanted  to earn a decent living, were highly concerned about their health care insurance, and just wanted to go home at the end of the day feeling good about what they had done and looking forward to family and friends. They were a diverse religious community, many times reflecting the community in which they taught. They were passionate advocates for what impacted their classroom, school, or district. A small minority were ideologues for anything beyond their union affiliation and local sports teams. They didn't like it when "the district" (meaning central office or school board) made their job harder. The central office didn't like it when they were part of "keeping the cuts away from the classroom." Board members were at times there for the stepstool effect to a higher political position. They were the least effective. Thank goodness they were rarely a majority.

There were many forces and advocates working on the school system from the outside. My job was to protect those working with the kids from all of that. Kurt Lewin's force field analysis was never better illustrated than in a public school district. I think Dr. Peterson is primarily familiar with and concerned with the university. I taught in two conservative Evangelical/fundamentalist colleges. We had our own issues! Ha!

[smac97]

18 minutes ago, Navidad said:

First I like Dr. Peterson. I admire his thought process and acumen. Having said that, I think in this case he sweeps with too broad a broom.

I think he's focused mostly on colleges and universities. 

The story in this thread suggests that ideologues are working their way down into the lower levels of education.

Quote

The vast majority of the folks I met in my life in education worked hard, were subject or grade level knowledgeable, wanted  to earn a decent living, were highly concerned about their health care insurance, and just wanted to go home at the end of the day feeling good about what they had done and looking forward to family and friends.

Oh, same here.  I spent five years teaching full-time (or the equivalent class load as an adjunct) at Utah Valley University.  Most of the people there are good peeps.

But there are also ideologues there as well.  By way of example, I received a week-long training when I became a full-time employee at UVU.  One afternoon we had a long presentation about the necessity for every professor/instructor to introduce and emphasize "Social Justice" into the everyday curriculum.  I was not impressed.

Quote

They were a diverse religious community, many times reflecting the community in which they taught. They were passionate advocates for what impacted their classroom, school, or district. A small minority were ideologues for anything beyond their union affiliation and local sports teams. They didn't like it when "the district" (meaning central office or school board) made their job harder. The central office didn't like it when they were part of "keeping the cuts away from the classroom." Board members were at times there for the stepstool effect to a higher political position. They were the least effective. Thank goodness they were rarely a majority.

Well, at the college level the ideologues appear to be running the show.  I mean, if a state univerisity in Utah County is mandating daily indoctrination of a politically partisan ideology...

Thanks,

-Smac

Edited March 12, 2020 by smac97

[Navidad]

12 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said:

 “In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.”

Hi - I have been a consultant to the administration or board of trustees in over 100 school districts. I think this quote was somewhere on the wall in just about every board office I ever worked in! Many board members agreed wholeheartedly with it! Of course, many added that you have to be an idiot to want to be a school board member! 🙃

[Ahab]

9 hours ago, Bernard Gui said:

I’m so glad I no longer teach in the public schools. Home schooling is rapidly becoming the only sane option.

Gone are the days when children were expected to believe what their teachers told them and what their text books said in writing.  And good riddance. Now children are expected to only use that information when taking tests and answering questions from teachers while they know and understand that the truth may be and often is not in what the teachers teach and what the text books are saying.

The sooner we teach our children to seek guidance from God to know what the truth is, instead of just automatically believing what other people tell them or write in their books, the sooner our children will come to know God and learn from him.  Which is what we all should want.

[The Nehor]

18 hours ago, Bernard Gui said:

Sorry. I didn’t include the sarcasm icon. 
Washington is in the middle of passing controversial statewide mandatory sex ed for grades K-12. It’s really hard to determine what the truth about it is.

Without knowing if it is age appropriate it is hard to have an opinion on that. Ideally parents should teach that but many are afraid to or are just plain wrong. Add in porn and kids need to learn some things somewhere. Schools are not the ideal venue so the question is if they are better then the other sources kids are stuck with if parents fail?

This hits peripherally on another pet peeve of mine that the US education system generally teaches virtually nothing about personal finances and many parents are ignorant so false ideas proliferate. It should be non controversial to teach and is incredibly practical. I still sometimes hear people smugly talking about turning down a raise or some overtime because it would push them into the next tax bracket and they would lose money. Makes me want to bang my head against the wall. I sometimes wonder if that lack of education is intentional on some level. There are a lot of parties that benefit immensely from people not encountering a discussion on the real costs of credit cards or a mortgage or whatever.

[Bernard Gui]

9 hours ago, Ahab said:

Gone are the days when children were expected to believe what their teachers told them and what their text books said in writing.  And good riddance. Now children are expected to only use that information when taking tests and answering questions from teachers while they know and understand that the truth may be and often is not in what the teachers teach and what the text books are saying.

The sooner we teach our children to seek guidance from God to know what the truth is, instead of just automatically believing what other people tell them or write in their books, the sooner our children will come to know God and learn from him.  Which is what we all should want.

I'm not so sure that many kids know and understand that the truth may be and often is not in what the teachers teach and what the text books are saying. Not sure at all.

[Calm]

28 minutes ago, Bernard Gui said:

I'm not so sure that many kids know and understand that the truth may be and often is not in what the teachers teach and what the text books are saying. Not sure at all.

Yep, what is expected of kids and what they actually do often does not match.

[Storm Rider]

On 3/11/2020 at 1:10 PM, Analytics said:

It isn't about encouraging non-communication between parents and children. It is about honoring a request not to share an ancillary detail with parents. 
 

I'd love to see some actual examples about how schools handle real life situations surrounding these issues as opposed to reading legal complaints by right-wing culture warriors.

The highlighted phrase is just too rich to pass up. Culture warriors - you mean the ones doing whatever is necessary to change social norms? No, not those ones. Then the ones that support doing whatever is necessary to "disrupt the gender binary"; well, not those people either. Hmm, Oh, you mean the evil folks that are just trying to raise balanced children without the interference of the state and other social organizations that are desperate to destroy the family. Ya gotta love it.

Of course, that smug, self-righteous judgement is a winner too.  

[MiserereNobis]

On 3/12/2020 at 8:58 AM, smac97 said:

Jordan Peterson has some good thoughts on the problems arising from ideologues appropriating educational venues for their own ends:

Transcript:

Thanks,

-Smac

This is way too generalized and lacks any specific evidence. It thus relies on the emotional response of the listener/reader. The dark professor with a scowl on his face..? really? the title: "Dangerous People are Teaching Your kids" -- there's no better way to appeal to pathos than to bring in the children.

You usually deride such generalized emotional fear-based arguments, smac. What gives here? Are you slightly blinded to it because it aligns with your own position?

Yes, you can find examples of what Jordan Peterson says, but those are outliers. The idea that academia is going to destroy civilization as we know it (and your children, too!) is quite overblown.

And I say this as someone who teaches English in the public schools and adjuncts in the English department of a state university. I also aimed for a liberal arts degree by double majoring in English and philosophy, with a minor in history, and then got an M.A. in English. I point this out to say that I've got some background in English, liberal arts, and education.

[MiserereNobis]

On 3/11/2020 at 9:22 PM, Scott Lloyd said:

I’m told that Mark Twain said God made idiots. That was for practice. He made school boards next. 

 

Edited to add:

I found the verbatim quote:

 

Mark Twain also had some choice words about Mormons  

[Kenngo1969]

Kenngo1969, Ken, He, Him.

Sorry.

Couldn't resist!

[Bernard Gui]

On 3/12/2020 at 8:49 AM, smac97 said:

I think he's focused mostly on colleges and universities. 

The story in this thread suggests that ideologues are working their way down into the lower levels of education.

Oh, same here.  I spent five years teaching full-time (or the equivalent class load as an adjunct) at Utah Valley University.  Most of the people there are good peeps.

But there are also ideologues there as well.  By way of example, I received a week-long training when I became a full-time employee at UVU.  One afternoon we had a long presentation about the necessity for every professor/instructor to introduce and emphasize "Social Justice" into the everyday curriculum.  I was not impressed.

Well, at the college level the ideologues appear to be running the show.  I mean, if a state univerisity in Utah County is mandating daily indoctrination of a politically partisan ideology...

Thanks,

-Smac

Hmmm. I taught in a relatively conservative district in a very progressive state (Washington). Over a decade ago we were getting workshops and required readings to make us confront our white male privilege. Thank heaven I am now retired. Sister Gui continues to teach. We shake our heads at the nonsensical things that are being required by the state and school district. Today there are many new policies and procedures being implemented that follow the Social Justice parade. Our state is in the middle of a huge argument over newly passed legislation mandating a new sex ed program K-12.

It seems to me all this is really overstepping in loco parentis.
 

I share one example. There was a Federal program that would grant money to districts that included health teaching in every subject area. Our district signed on. I was selected as one of 20 in our junior high who would report on our implementation of the program. We were to keep a tick box tally of each time we discussed a health issue. Each tick counted 15 minutes towards the quota. At the end of the day, I turned in my tally...zero. I just didn’t have time in class to dedicate to health issues and it was hard to come up with things that would help. The secretary took my form and said, “You can’t submit zero minutes.” I replied that it was accurate. She asked how long it took me to fill out the form. I said long enough to sign it. She put a tick in the box for me and turned in my tally. My signature got us 15 minutes of Federal bucks.

Three things drive American education...listed in order of importance:

1. The fear of lawsuits

2. The thirst for Federal funding

3. The never-ending quest for the perfect program

All are powered, directed, and sustained by Social Justice.

Edited March 14, 2020 by Bernard Gui

[MiserereNobis]

29 minutes ago, Bernard Gui said:

Hmmm. I taught in a relatively conservative district in a very progressive state (Washington). Over a decade ago we were getting workshops and required readings to make us confront our white male privilege. Thank heaven I am now retired. Sister Gui continues to teach. We shake our heads at the nonsensical things that are being required by the state and school district. Today there are many new policies and procedures being implemented that follow the Social Justice parade. Our state is in the middle of a huge argument over newly passed legislation mandating a new sex ed program K-12.

It seems to me all this is really overstepping in loco parentis.
 

I share one example. There was a Federal program that would grant money to districts that included health teaching in every subject area. Our district signed on. I was selected as one of 20 in our junior high who would report on our implementation of the program. We were to keep a tick box tally of each time we discussed a health issue. Each tick counted 15 minutes towards the quota. At the end of the day, I turned in my tally...zero. I just didn’t have time in class to dedicate to health issues and it was hard to come up with things that would help. The secretary took my form and said, “You can’t submit zero minutes.” I replied that it was accurate. She asked how long it took me to fill out the form. I said long enough to sign it. She put a tick in the box for me and turned in my tally. My signature got us 15 minutes of Federal bucks.

Three things drive American education...listed in order of importance:

1. The fear of lawsuits

2. The thirst for Federal funding

3. The never-ending quest for the perfect program

All are powered, directed, and sustained by Social Justice.

Yes, with your level of cynicism, thank heaven you are retired