By DAVID BOYLE
If you thought the main purpose of sending your children to a public school was so they learn to read and write, you may be in for a surprise.
While only 43% of Anchorage students are proficient at grade level in English/language arts for the school year 2020-21, the Anchorage School District Office of Equity and Compliance has focused on how to assist transgender students and employees in a 10-page directive.
This agenda appears to be more important than teaching students how to read and do math.
To understand what this means, the “Administrative Guidelines: Working with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students and Employees” can be seen at this link.
These guidelines define a transgender individual as one who “consistently asserts a gender identity/expression at school that is different from the gender assigned at birth.”
The district fails to define the term “consistently.”
To ensure the transgender student is protected, the principal is charged with developing a plan to address the needs of the transgender student. However, parents can be left out of this planning process. The district says, “Parents and others…may be included in this meeting depending on what is needed to develop a plan for the individual.” They key difference are the words “may be included.”
It seems this power rests solely with the principal and the student. Parents need not be involved. Realize that supposedly up to this point, the school board/district has repeatedly said when students are failing, the parents are responsible. Yet in a major life changing, permanent decision, the transgender student can decide without parental involvement.
Aren’t parents responsible for the actions/behavior of their students? Why does the ASD believe that parents don’t need to be involved in such a drastic change?
It appears as if the ASD is also trying to conceal from parents by stating, “When contacting the parent or guardian of a transgender student, school staff should use the student’s legal name and the pronoun corresponding to the student’s gender at birth.” At this time, it doesn’t matter what the student allegedly wants to be called. This is a way to keep the parents in the dark.
This is even more apparent when the district addresses the gender transition of secondary (middle and high school) students. The district believes that it should work with the student prior to notifying the parent/guardian of a gender transition. This may include not notifying the parent/guardian of the gender transition.
Then the school staff controls the degree of parental involvement in the student transition process. Who is supposed to pay for this treatment? Is that when you involve the parents to get to their health insurance? Or is that not needed?
Most of these middle school students and high school students are minors and parents are responsible for these students’ actions. To leave parents out of the decision-making process, the ASD has provided a “Plan to Address Title IX Gender Issues” document template. Here is the document:
Note that parents are left out of planning for their students’ gender transition. The principal is the responsible person for this plan. This places a tremendous onus on a principal, who must assume most of the risk for this decision process.
What if a transgender student has hormone treatments and surgery and years later regrets that decision? Will the ASD and the principal be held responsible for encouraging this student to go forward with the gender-changing process?
Whose children are they?
It looks like the answer is “it depends.” If they are failing at school of are a problem student at school, the parents own it.
But if they’re in want of a sex change? The principal owns it. Parents need not apply.
David Boyle is former executive director of Alaska Policy Forum and is Must Read Alaska’s education writer.
They are subject to being fired.
Parents should ask themselves, “Why am I funding my own oppression”?
Why are we?
Our children are getting a second rate education- while we are paying first rate dollars.
Serious second question?
Everyone on the school board is overweight, it appears.
Don’t we all work harder, think better, make better decisions, have more energy when we eat right and workout?
Anchorage can do waaaayyyy better than this motley crew.
Our children certainly deserve better.
Russian students are required to take three times as many calculus and physics classes than American students (not counting university students). Let that sink in.
I totally agree. Follow the money and you will see it goes to the administration and overhead like this document. Totally not needed or should be funded. They are more worried about sex than math English and history. The taxpayer aging is I’ll informed and willing to hand over money for this crap.
Over my dead body.
They had the same document at least 10 years ago.
Been going on a long time!
That is even sadder!
This is just another issue with how education has transitioned into teachers believing they are more qualified and educated and “progressive” to understand what’s best for parents and their children, even when it comes to controversial subjects, especially when it comes to controversial subjects. That is the core issue. The soaring arrogance of liberal university professors is truly toxic for society. Conservatives need to return to the frontlines and encourage kids to be civilly outspoken and articulate and become teachers, actors, doctors, professors, journalists, climatologists, etc rather than retreat because leftists have intentionally and successfully made themselves insufferable to be around in many fields and overtly black ball and harass because they are that unself-aware and self righteous.
Either that, or by 2040 over 30% of the kids in this nation will be on some ADD medication and/or a SSRI and will have issues keeping anything simple and thinking independently, and they will depend on indoctrination and leftist dogmas and “elites” in order to know what to currently say and believe, and ironically they will probably be anti-religion and be in a constant state of cognitive dissonance. However, they will be in it collectively so they’ll find comfort and reassurance in that so they will be dependent on a cultish hive mind in order to keep themselves emotionally and mentally together. Shoot, we are already there.
This country is now on a fast track to self-destruction. Education priorities have been completely turned around. The parents are no longer in charge of their kids educational needs. Tests show we are failing our kids by allowing a small minority of sexual deviates to control the education and legal systems. Clearly, the wrong people are in charge. Other countries are making us the laughing stock and butt of jokes. If this crap doesn’t come to an end by the 2024 election cycle, we are sunk. America will be lost to insanity, pedophiles, communists, homosexuals, and lethargy of the masses.
America is the 2nd beast in Rev.13. Get ready for Christ’s Return.
‘https://www.bibleprophecytruth.com/
You did this to yourself, Anchorage. Stop complaining.
You’ve had how many chances to change the board? You’ve gone to how many PTA or board meetings? You’ve been down to your principals office to raise hell how many times?
The system does things like this because you’ve shown them they can.
Wow, so you are an expert on what I may or may not have done to protect my child? Perhaps it is you who should stop characterizing the rest of us, for once. I have met with teachers and principals, I have attended meetings and orientations, I have tried different schools, I have done plenty. What have you done, sir, that makes you able to judge the rest of us?
The communists, excuse me, Democrats, will control the government of the MOA and ASD as long as we have mail ballot voting and universal registration via PFD application. The mail ballot is on the voters of ANC who approved it; the universal registration is on the whole Alaska electorate. The PFD registration is perhaps the dumbest thing ever done in the history of Alaska.
We don’t recall Anchorage voters having any choice about mail-in voting.
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Ernie Hall, Dick Traini, and Forrest Dunbar were key players in forcing it on voters through a 2017 Assembly Resolution.
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The Traini-Dunbar Act even showed up at a Federation of Community Councils meeting, declared in stentorian tones mail-in voting’s here to stay, we better get used to it.
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Not sure what the whole Alaska electorate can do about fixing the universal registration problem when the Lieutenant Governor, the Conoco-Phillips guy who’s supposed to be in charge of elections, contemptuously dismisses voters’ concerns as “misinformation”.
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Open to ideas… We have the notion that bright, resourceful, pissed off people are already figuring out how to bust this racket.
It would be the assumption that we got a chance to vote on it if our assembly was somewhat normal, but no, we didn’t vote on mail-in ballots in Anchorage. It was foisted upon us.
You are absolutely correct. I was involved in all aspects of our kids schooling, volunteered for many many things. Fought the battles when needed. We bring our kids up as we want them to be and when they are adults they can go there own way. How many times have you heard the phrase “I’m a recovering catholic”. At some point when you are on your own, you make the decisions, until then the parents are responsible. Teachers are there to teach. Period. If you dont want that parental responsibility, dont have children, again, Period. If you think your can turn your children over to the schools to raise, you better think twice as we see how thats not working out very well and why we have this problem.
“Holy Cow Batman”, Your right on!
As with all past evil regimes, the goal is to take the children. Hitler youth, Pol Pot’s children soldiers, Stalin’s cult of childhood, Mussolini’s Fascist youth associations. Read up on these, there are so many parallels it’s scary.
Better yet, just read the Italian communist thinker, Gramsci, who laid out the whole plan for controlling Western institutions.
Art, another great read is “The Naked Communist” which lays out the communists’ plan to take over any nation.
I recently resigned from teaching at ASD, not just for issues like transgender or CRT concerns—but I was told 7 years ago that “outting” a teenager who wanted to identify as the opposite gender to his/her own parents was a violation of municipal code and human rights violation. It is so grievously sad that what is being purported to be “truth” is merely just a sad lie. I stopped using specific pronouns and explained to my students that they might want to tell their parent/guardians about the situation because “Jill” would be written on “Joe’s” papers, which would be seen at parent/teacher conferences potentially. Nothing is new under the sun, except that we give into counterfeits and lies consistently.
Now that all you parents have been educated on the dastardly behavoir, and are finding out you have no control, will you stop voting for these same ludicrous school board members?
Parents, stop voting them in!
Fight them every step of the way, get involved and informed.
Support Dave Donley and no others as they do not support we the people. They support a grooming philosophy that is endangering our youth and has already destroyed many families.
Vote them out, write to them to ensure they hear your voice, be active, be loud, vote next elextion and get rid of them.
Keeper- Dave Donley
Losers, Traitors: Carl Jacobs, Kelly Lessens, Andy Holleman! Dora Wilson, Margo Bellamy, Pat Higgins
Doesn’t look like any are keepers, Molly. They gave up the last of their credibility when they voted unanimously to award overpriced contracts exclusively to unionized contractors instead of doing their two main jobs: getting money and deciding whose bathrooms sexual deviants can use.
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Voting was the answer in the days before Anchorage’s easily corruptible mail-in voting scheme was forced on voters, before ballot harvesting reached its potential to decide elections.
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Practical answer seems to be disenrolling children from Anchorage School District, home-schooling, maybe organizing the twenty-first century equivalent of one-room schools around community blocks.
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Bottom line is ASD owner-operators don’t have to care what voters think, even if votes still mattered. But… voters can pull their children out of that cesspool, educate them at home, maybe organize (very) small community schools.
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Sure and school-district taxes’ll continue right up to the point ASD officials can’t justify their budget because so many children left, and parents sponsor a class-action lawsuit to recover tax money they’re forced to waste on Anchorage’s overpriced, underperforming woke education/grooming industry and its inflated, union-only contracts.
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Wreck enough children’s lives, make parents mad enough, it’ll happen.
Morrigan, as always you have written another comment.
I know of one sure fire way to protect one’s children. That is to vote, with your feet. Flee the corrupt system. Take over your child’s education. There are numerous options out there.
There is a difference between protecting someone from discrimination, and promoting an ideology. I fully support the schools stopping a student from being bullied or discriminated against because of their physical or mental state.
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However, this goes too far. This is the school removing the parents from the equation. It is figuratively promoting trans/queer/whatever ideology over the family.
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This is schools trying to get between a child and their parental authority.
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Reminder, the average leftists makes decisions and choices that place the all powerful State as your first and most important relationship. This is just another aspect of it.
While I respect everything Dave Donley has done, it’s time to resign in protest.
Staying only tars him at this point.
Dave Donley is the only board member to stand up to the Woke crowd on the board. I somewhat agree with you re resigning. But maybe Mr. Donley should start employing the tactics of Saul Alinsky. Bring everything out into the public domain so all can see what is happening. It could be done by bringing up “discussion” on every topic he has been shut down on. Use the bully pulpit. People, especially parents, are thirsting for the truth.
Excellent idea!
These people believe children are the responsibility of the government, not the parents. They want government to be the entity that instills values in children. It’s sick. It’s dystopian.
Some of those members need to spend a little more time at recess and less time at school lunch!
SHAME ON ASD!!!!
I am in agreement with the above plan.
Signed by Student and
Signed by Principal.
Looks kind of like a contract. From internet search via Cornell Law: “A contract is an agreement between parties creating mutual obligations with said contract being enforceable by law. The basic elements required for the agreement to be a legally enforceable contract are: mutual assent, expressed by a valid offer and acceptance; adequate consideration; capacity; and legality.”
In general, minors don’t have the legal capacity to enter into a contract unless a court approves the contract or a state’s statute allows it.
So can a student, who is a minor, even legally sign this thing without parental signature? I don’t know. Would be an appropriate legal question to have answered, I think.
Excellent point.
Don’t need Cornell Law for something simple like, “You troll my minor children about their sex life, you’ll get hurt.”
Parents have ownership of God-given familial rights. Alaska has not been a defender of these rights but other jurisdictions have. This state encouraged genderbending is a “taking” and theft of parental familial ownership rights and these public employees should be sued individually. God made us and not we ourselves. I no longer recommend public education to anyone. Alaska is less family friendly every day.
At bottom, this is criminal behavior. People need to speak out against it and stop excusing it.
Homeschool your children so they will learn something that may actually help them in life. If enough parents pull their children out of school the schools will be forced back to teaching the main subjects, excluding science since they don’t seem to understand basic science. We will teach our children morals at home.
I’m glad my kids made it through school before all this woke garbage polluted it, I feel for those of you that have to deal with these losers and their god awful policies.
The ASD Board is a huge joke. When I worked there we referred to Pat Higgins as “Charlie’s Angel” because he called into every board meeting because he didn’t work in Alaska (Truk Lagoon in the South Pacific) on a rotational period. I also find it funny that the paid shill who ran the teachers union (Andy Holleman) is back at the ASD teet for the 3rd time (Teacher-Retired, Union Head, now Board Member), and lets not forget the top cop of the EEO Nanny Squad when she was at ASD Margo Bellamy who again is a double dipper on the ASD Teet (Retired EEO Nanny & Now Board Member). Yet people keep voting for them. Wait till you see what the boy wonder Jharrett Bryantt does to the district and learning. I mean after all his huge 2 years in classroom instruction and professional college student credentials made him so appealing to the leftists hoards at ASD
remember it was Sleepy Joe himself who called parents who are conservative ” domestic terrorists ” …
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