By DAVID BOYLE

Those in the education industry, many local governments, and school boards tell us our schools are under “local control.” 

This implies that the local school boards and parents control the policies, curricula, and all elements of operating a school.

But many Alaska school districts surrender this “local control” to Outside organizations.

The recent implementation of transgender and gender identity policies/rules demonstrates this fact. What has been touted as “local” transgender/gender identity policy is exactly what the National Education Association — the teachers’ union — has been pushing nationwide.   

Several Alaska school districts have implemented the NEA gender ideology policies nearly word-for-word. These include the Anchorage School District, the Juneau School District, Nome Public Schools, Skagway School District, and the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District.

It is remarkable that school boards say they have local control, yet  these districts think alike and can write nearly identical policies at the urging of the NEA-National.

Meanwhile, these districts shut down debate and keep parents out of the discussion. They have made clear statements that they know better than parents as to what your children need.  

Here are links to those school district policies that show nearly identical policies/rules on transgender/gender identity policies:

Anchorage School District

Juneau School District

Nome School District

Skagway School District

Fairbanks North Star Borough School District

The NEA-National has much more say in local policies than parents and citizens. It has partnered with Advocates for Youth to develop standards for sex education. That group has a YouTube site called “Amaze” that has information on “Females and Masturbation”, “Porn: Fact or fiction”, “Gender Roles & Stereotypes”, and many, many others. 

You can see for yourself at the Amaze YouTube site.

The NEA has joined with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Gender Spectrum, the ACLU, and the Human Rights Campaign to provide this guide to school districts, “Schools in Transition: A Guide for Supporting Transgender Students in K-12 Schools.”

This is a 68-page document which provides much detail to school districts. It’s too bad the NEA doesn’t provide a comprehensive document on how to teach kids how to read. Apparently, the NEA is too busy to be bothered with actual education. It is more interested in pushing its version of sex education and gender identity.

Why does the NEA have more influence than parents and local citizens on school board policy?  

Ask your school board and superintendent why they have implemented the NEA policies.

Remember, the NEA is using members’ dues to provide this information to school districts.  Surely, many teachers are uncomfortable with these sex education standards. And many of these teachers don’t know they can opt out of the union and its “woke” policies.  Here is how teachers can opt out of their union.

Another Outside organization is leading the charge on which books should be in school libraries. This is the American Library Association, which most school librarians belong to.

Parents are showing up at school board meetings reading excerpts from library books that are not appropriate for young children.

Who has selected the books in the school libraries and who determines the appropriate grade level for some “porn” books? Not the parents nor the local citizens.

It’s the school librarian who belongs to the American Library Association who decides which books are appropriate for young children. These school librarians are merely implementing the doctrine of the ALA and they really don’t care what parents think.

The American Library Association is now led by self-proclaimed lesbian Marxist Emily Drabinski, who pushes anti-capitalist, pro-racist, and climate change rhetoric.

She strongly believes the books many parents want removed from the stacks should remain in the school libraries. The ALA and the NEA are fighting back against parents by accusing them of “book banning,” and referencing Nazi Germany and McCarthyism. 

That’s what Leftists do — name calling.

Drabinski believes that our nation is made up of white supremacists, imperialists, and climate change deniers. She has said she will use the libraries to implement her philosophy through collective power.

The ALA is responsible for pushing the racist books, “White Fragility,” and “How to be an Anti-Racist,” into our schools, indoctrinating our children to hate one another.

The federal government is another Outside organization that also controls local schools by threatening to claw back funding if a school district/state does not follow its guidance.

And now the U.S. Department of Education has introduced a change to Title IX, a change that would allow transgenders to participate in girls’ sports.

If this change is approved, a school could not ban transgenders from participating in girls’ sports or it could risk losing tons of federal money. And money is of primary concern to school boards.

Eventually, this will kill girls’ sports, an unintended consequence which would betray the original reason for Title IX.

There are many organizations that have much more influence over local K-12 policies than parents. School boards just bow to these organizations, implement their rules/policies, and ignore parents’ wishes and demands.

That’s because many school board members get teacher union support when running for election. And these NEA-supported candidates usually win. Why would they risk losing an election by going against the NEA policies? 

It will take an army of parents and local citizens to fight back against these organizations who want to control our children.

We cannot afford to let legislators, school board members, state officials and school superintendents hide behind the “local control” rock.  

Our children are too important to surrender them to the philosophy and values of Outside organizations. 

David Boyle is the Must Read Alaska education writer.