Ruling on MCPS LGBT curriculum case coming this morning

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:just let them stay home with excused absences. as long as they aren't creating a strain on school resources, go nuts. it's their education that they sacrifice.

yes, exactly. It's a win/win. Not sure why MCPS fought it so hard. There are kids who opt out of Family Life. Not a big deal.

i think it is because the religious were demanding alternative programming and babysitting for kids who can't be by themselves. If MCPS doesn't have to
provide that, then it's all good.

Another person didn’t bother me o read the case but still shoots off anyway. Doesn’t matter what you think. It matters what relief the parents sought. Allowing an excused absence would have saved so much time and money but now the County allowed things to be made much worse.

The county is not teaching respect and tolerance and this is segregation to separate kids. Parents have rights. You’d be upset if they choose a different direction to teach and you wanted different. The curriculum should be inclusive and it’s not.

You have no idea what I think about the curriculum because I didn’t post it. I observed that the poster doesn’t actually know the case details. It was a loser case and now makes things much more difficult for everyone.

The case showed how intolerant MCPS and some of the parents are about tolerance to others. They want tolerance and acceptance when it comes to their beliefs but not others. Thats not healthy for our kids. We live in a community with a huge amount of diversity and all that diversity should be respected, just not select groups.

What's up with these talking points about "if you don't welcome and support my bigotry you're intolerant"? I see this a lot... but it's just gotcha phrasing, and people don't actually believe this, do they? Like, obviously "I don't like Christians and don't want them in my school" is intolerant, but do these people actually honestly think it's "intolerant" to not accommodate everyone's prejudices by erasing the existence of people they're biased towards from schools, and if is somehow more "tolerant" to exclude any mention of certain kinds of people because someone doesn't like them?

The parents weren't asking for anyone to be erased, nor where they asking that the books be banned; they simply asked that their children be able to opt out, as they had previously, and still can for some classes.

That's it - the books aren't being banned.

Yes but the challenge that presents is that means folks can opt out of books for any reason. Which then means teachers have to prepare double lessons.

If a teacher is using the books they are reading then, using them to teach literary elements, comparing and contrasting. Families would be opting out of all those lessons.

Where do you think that would lead next?

An artificial problem created by activists in MCPS. A vast majority of non-regious families don't want all this LGBTQ talk for 5-6 years old kids. If any doubt, MCPS should run a survey about it and it will be clear.

Simple solution is to fire activists who are using taxpayers money for their agenda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In essence, yes it is. Parents had wanted to opt their kid out, but MCPS stated that if they do, it would be an unexcused absence. SCOTUS said, basically, it would be an excused absence.

First, "In essence" is meaningless in a court case like this. The only time "excused absence" is even mentioned is when the facts of the case as presented to the district and appeals courts are being discussed; that term is never used as part of the actual decision.

Second, if you read Justice Sotomayor's dissent, it's very clear to her that this means alternative instruction for those students who opt out.

Third, unless MCPS forces parents to keep their kids home under excused absence for other opt-outs, they can't do it for these students, as that would constitute not only discrimination but reprisal based on religious beliefs.

which of the other opt-outs deal with groups of people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes the best way to normalize things is to *not* make such a big deal about it.

Like others have said, it’s 2025. Everyone on the planet can rattle off a long list of beloved gay celebs and many know a gay person IRL. Our state embraces gay marriage.

The fact that kids feel comfortable enough identifying as LGBTQ or non-binary or even as a furry demonstrates that our MoCo community is in fact a safe place.

So why drill down sooooo hard in the schools?

It’s not necessary…particularly at the K-5 level.

As a Gen X’er, I was raised in MoCo to embrace and celebrate diversity…and it seemed to work. My Gen X friends and coworkers have diverse friends groups and a “live and let live” mentality. It wasn’t until the post-George Floyd era that race and then gender identity became some bizarre tribal thing where everyone decamped into strictly defined—and let’s face it, self-segregated—groups followed by a hard push to drill down on special interest everything…including curricula.

Enough already.

Embrace and celebrity diversity. Easy peasy. But please focus on academics, civics, and just treating everyone with the same respect you would expect.

+1

Activist taking over MCPS made it a big issue. It's a non-issue in our county.

Nicely said. A few lessons on it is fine, just like lessons about other groups and beliefs. But it is in every class, the priority and kids are fine with it in this area and don't care. The heavy push makes some families and kids uncomfortable. We've had teachers who condemn the kids for using he/she as their pronouns and want kids to change them. Teachers, Admin and MCPS need to get back to teaching and not keep politics outside. Many teachers think the kids are their friends and way over share. What ever is going on right now since they changed things and took away books isn't working as you can see the scores drop with all the changes.

If true, this is appalling.

it's not

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:just let them stay home with excused absences. as long as they aren't creating a strain on school resources, go nuts. it's their education that they sacrifice.

yes, exactly. It's a win/win. Not sure why MCPS fought it so hard. There are kids who opt out of Family Life. Not a big deal.

i think it is because the religious were demanding alternative programming and babysitting for kids who can't be by themselves. If MCPS doesn't have to
provide that, then it's all good.

Another person didn’t bother me o read the case but still shoots off anyway. Doesn’t matter what you think. It matters what relief the parents sought. Allowing an excused absence would have saved so much time and money but now the County allowed things to be made much worse.

The county is not teaching respect and tolerance and this is segregation to separate kids. Parents have rights. You’d be upset if they choose a different direction to teach and you wanted different. The curriculum should be inclusive and it’s not.

You have no idea what I think about the curriculum because I didn’t post it. I observed that the poster doesn’t actually know the case details. It was a loser case and now makes things much more difficult for everyone.

The case showed how intolerant MCPS and some of the parents are about tolerance to others. They want tolerance and acceptance when it comes to their beliefs but not others. Thats not healthy for our kids. We live in a community with a huge amount of diversity and all that diversity should be respected, just not select groups.

What's up with these talking points about "if you don't welcome and support my bigotry you're intolerant"? I see this a lot... but it's just gotcha phrasing, and people don't actually believe this, do they? Like, obviously "I don't like Christians and don't want them in my school" is intolerant, but do these people actually honestly think it's "intolerant" to not accommodate everyone's prejudices by erasing the existence of people they're biased towards from schools, and if is somehow more "tolerant" to exclude any mention of certain kinds of people because someone doesn't like them?

typical hysterical reaction. No one is trying to erase anyone from schools. now, the religious are definitely trying to erase content about other groups from schools. that seems to me pretty intolerant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes the best way to normalize things is to *not* make such a big deal about it.

Like others have said, it’s 2025. Everyone on the planet can rattle off a long list of beloved gay celebs and many know a gay person IRL. Our state embraces gay marriage.

The fact that kids feel comfortable enough identifying as LGBTQ or non-binary or even as a furry demonstrates that our MoCo community is in fact a safe place.

So why drill down sooooo hard in the schools?

It’s not necessary…particularly at the K-5 level.

As a Gen X’er, I was raised in MoCo to embrace and celebrate diversity…and it seemed to work. My Gen X friends and coworkers have diverse friends groups and a “live and let live” mentality. It wasn’t until the post-George Floyd era that race and then gender identity became some bizarre tribal thing where everyone decamped into strictly defined—and let’s face it, self-segregated—groups followed by a hard push to drill down on special interest everything…including curricula.

Enough already.

Embrace and celebrity diversity. Easy peasy. But please focus on academics, civics, and just treating everyone with the same respect you would expect.

+1

Activist taking over MCPS made it a big issue. It's a non-issue in our county.

Nicely said. A few lessons on it is fine, just like lessons about other groups and beliefs. But it is in every class, the priority and kids are fine with it in this area and don't care. The heavy push makes some families and kids uncomfortable. We've had teachers who condemn the kids for using he/she as their pronouns and want kids to change them. Teachers, Admin and MCPS need to get back to teaching and not keep politics outside. Many teachers think the kids are their friends and way over share. What ever is going on right now since they changed things and took away books isn't working as you can see the scores drop with all the changes.

If true, this is appalling.

it's not

Not true or not appalling?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes the best way to normalize things is to *not* make such a big deal about it.

Like others have said, it’s 2025. Everyone on the planet can rattle off a long list of beloved gay celebs and many know a gay person IRL. Our state embraces gay marriage.

The fact that kids feel comfortable enough identifying as LGBTQ or non-binary or even as a furry demonstrates that our MoCo community is in fact a safe place.

So why drill down sooooo hard in the schools?

It’s not necessary…particularly at the K-5 level.

As a Gen X’er, I was raised in MoCo to embrace and celebrate diversity…and it seemed to work. My Gen X friends and coworkers have diverse friends groups and a “live and let live” mentality. It wasn’t until the post-George Floyd era that race and then gender identity became some bizarre tribal thing where everyone decamped into strictly defined—and let’s face it, self-segregated—groups followed by a hard push to drill down on special interest everything…including curricula.

Enough already.

Embrace and celebrity diversity. Easy peasy. But please focus on academics, civics, and just treating everyone with the same respect you would expect.

+1

Activist taking over MCPS made it a big issue. It's a non-issue in our county.

Nicely said. A few lessons on it is fine, just like lessons about other groups and beliefs. But it is in every class, the priority and kids are fine with it in this area and don't care. The heavy push makes some families and kids uncomfortable. We've had teachers who condemn the kids for using he/she as their pronouns and want kids to change them. Teachers, Admin and MCPS need to get back to teaching and not keep politics outside. Many teachers think the kids are their friends and way over share. What ever is going on right now since they changed things and took away books isn't working as you can see the scores drop with all the changes.

If true, this is appalling.

it's not

Not true or not appalling?

not true and you know it.

[Anonymous]

next thing you know we'll have something claiming that their child was "transed" at school and put on hormones by a teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes the best way to normalize things is to *not* make such a big deal about it.

Like others have said, it’s 2025. Everyone on the planet can rattle off a long list of beloved gay celebs and many know a gay person IRL. Our state embraces gay marriage.

The fact that kids feel comfortable enough identifying as LGBTQ or non-binary or even as a furry demonstrates that our MoCo community is in fact a safe place.

So why drill down sooooo hard in the schools?

It’s not necessary…particularly at the K-5 level.

As a Gen X’er, I was raised in MoCo to embrace and celebrate diversity…and it seemed to work. My Gen X friends and coworkers have diverse friends groups and a “live and let live” mentality. It wasn’t until the post-George Floyd era that race and then gender identity became some bizarre tribal thing where everyone decamped into strictly defined—and let’s face it, self-segregated—groups followed by a hard push to drill down on special interest everything…including curricula.

Enough already.

Embrace and celebrity diversity. Easy peasy. But please focus on academics, civics, and just treating everyone with the same respect you would expect.

+1

Activist taking over MCPS made it a big issue. It's a non-issue in our county.

Nicely said. A few lessons on it is fine, just like lessons about other groups and beliefs. But it is in every class, the priority and kids are fine with it in this area and don't care. The heavy push makes some families and kids uncomfortable. We've had teachers who condemn the kids for using he/she as their pronouns and want kids to change them. Teachers, Admin and MCPS need to get back to teaching and not keep politics outside. Many teachers think the kids are their friends and way over share. What ever is going on right now since they changed things and took away books isn't working as you can see the scores drop with all the changes.

If true, this is appalling.

It's actually not. It's pretty brave of the teachers, though, I will say that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes the best way to normalize things is to *not* make such a big deal about it.

Like others have said, it’s 2025. Everyone on the planet can rattle off a long list of beloved gay celebs and many know a gay person IRL. Our state embraces gay marriage.

The fact that kids feel comfortable enough identifying as LGBTQ or non-binary or even as a furry demonstrates that our MoCo community is in fact a safe place.

So why drill down sooooo hard in the schools?

It’s not necessary…particularly at the K-5 level.

As a Gen X’er, I was raised in MoCo to embrace and celebrate diversity…and it seemed to work. My Gen X friends and coworkers have diverse friends groups and a “live and let live” mentality. It wasn’t until the post-George Floyd era that race and then gender identity became some bizarre tribal thing where everyone decamped into strictly defined—and let’s face it, self-segregated—groups followed by a hard push to drill down on special interest everything…including curricula.

Enough already.

Embrace and celebrity diversity. Easy peasy. But please focus on academics, civics, and just treating everyone with the same respect you would expect.

+1

Activist taking over MCPS made it a big issue. It's a non-issue in our county.

Nicely said. A few lessons on it is fine, just like lessons about other groups and beliefs. But it is in every class, the priority and kids are fine with it in this area and don't care. The heavy push makes some families and kids uncomfortable. We've had teachers who condemn the kids for using he/she as their pronouns and want kids to change them. Teachers, Admin and MCPS need to get back to teaching and not keep politics outside. Many teachers think the kids are their friends and way over share. What ever is going on right now since they changed things and took away books isn't working as you can see the scores drop with all the changes.

If true, this is appalling.

Mine just change the pronoun to make the teacher happy but it’s not reasonable to also not be mindful of kids who are not LGBT and support them as adolescent and teen years are hard enough and when teachers send these messages, kids don’t feel it’s ok to have opinions or thoughts outside the norm. We’ve only seen it with a select group of teachers but teachers need to keep their personal thoughts, beliefs and personal lives out of the classroom. Our kids don’t need adults to be their friends they need authority figures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:just let them stay home with excused absences. as long as they aren't creating a strain on school resources, go nuts. it's their education that they sacrifice.

yes, exactly. It's a win/win. Not sure why MCPS fought it so hard. There are kids who opt out of Family Life. Not a big deal.

i think it is because the religious were demanding alternative programming and babysitting for kids who can't be by themselves. If MCPS doesn't have to
provide that, then it's all good.

Another person didn’t bother me o read the case but still shoots off anyway. Doesn’t matter what you think. It matters what relief the parents sought. Allowing an excused absence would have saved so much time and money but now the County allowed things to be made much worse.

The county is not teaching respect and tolerance and this is segregation to separate kids. Parents have rights. You’d be upset if they choose a different direction to teach and you wanted different. The curriculum should be inclusive and it’s not.

You have no idea what I think about the curriculum because I didn’t post it. I observed that the poster doesn’t actually know the case details. It was a loser case and now makes things much more difficult for everyone.

The case showed how intolerant MCPS and some of the parents are about tolerance to others. They want tolerance and acceptance when it comes to their beliefs but not others. Thats not healthy for our kids. We live in a community with a huge amount of diversity and all that diversity should be respected, just not select groups.

What's up with these talking points about "if you don't welcome and support my bigotry you're intolerant"? I see this a lot... but it's just gotcha phrasing, and people don't actually believe this, do they? Like, obviously "I don't like Christians and don't want them in my school" is intolerant, but do these people actually honestly think it's "intolerant" to not accommodate everyone's prejudices by erasing the existence of people they're biased towards from schools, and if is somehow more "tolerant" to exclude any mention of certain kinds of people because someone doesn't like them?

The parents weren't asking for anyone to be erased, nor where they asking that the books be banned; they simply asked that their children be able to opt out, as they had previously, and still can for some classes.

That's it - the books aren't being banned.

Yes but the challenge that presents is that means folks can opt out of books for any reason. Which then means teachers have to prepare double lessons.

If a teacher is using the books they are reading then, using them to teach literary elements, comparing and contrasting. Families would be opting out of all those lessons.

Where do you think that would lead next?

An artificial problem created by activists in MCPS. A vast majority of non-regious families don't want all this LGBTQ talk for 5-6 years old kids. If any doubt, MCPS should run a survey about it and it will be clear.

Simple solution is to fire activists who are using taxpayers money for their agenda.

What about the books that just have married people… gay or straight? Or interracial couples? Why do you get to opt out of that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:just let them stay home with excused absences. as long as they aren't creating a strain on school resources, go nuts. it's their education that they sacrifice.

yes, exactly. It's a win/win. Not sure why MCPS fought it so hard. There are kids who opt out of Family Life. Not a big deal.

i think it is because the religious were demanding alternative programming and babysitting for kids who can't be by themselves. If MCPS doesn't have to
provide that, then it's all good.

Another person didn’t bother me o read the case but still shoots off anyway. Doesn’t matter what you think. It matters what relief the parents sought. Allowing an excused absence would have saved so much time and money but now the County allowed things to be made much worse.

The county is not teaching respect and tolerance and this is segregation to separate kids. Parents have rights. You’d be upset if they choose a different direction to teach and you wanted different. The curriculum should be inclusive and it’s not.

You have no idea what I think about the curriculum because I didn’t post it. I observed that the poster doesn’t actually know the case details. It was a loser case and now makes things much more difficult for everyone.

The case showed how intolerant MCPS and some of the parents are about tolerance to others. They want tolerance and acceptance when it comes to their beliefs but not others. Thats not healthy for our kids. We live in a community with a huge amount of diversity and all that diversity should be respected, just not select groups.

What's up with these talking points about "if you don't welcome and support my bigotry you're intolerant"? I see this a lot... but it's just gotcha phrasing, and people don't actually believe this, do they? Like, obviously "I don't like Christians and don't want them in my school" is intolerant, but do these people actually honestly think it's "intolerant" to not accommodate everyone's prejudices by erasing the existence of people they're biased towards from schools, and if is somehow more "tolerant" to exclude any mention of certain kinds of people because someone doesn't like them?

The parents weren't asking for anyone to be erased, nor where they asking that the books be banned; they simply asked that their children be able to opt out, as they had previously, and still can for some classes.

That's it - the books aren't being banned.

Yes but the challenge that presents is that means folks can opt out of books for any reason. Which then means teachers have to prepare double lessons.

If a teacher is using the books they are reading then, using them to teach literary elements, comparing and contrasting. Families would be opting out of all those lessons.

Where do you think that would lead next?

Would you please stop referring to us as "folks." We are parents. We are not random "folks" who have no horse in this race.

Or, the teachers could simply drop the objectionable books in the first place and teach everyone the same lesson, from the same books. Now there's a novel idea. If you want to read to your 6 year old DD about how she may really be a boy, do that on your own time, at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes the best way to normalize things is to *not* make such a big deal about it.

Like others have said, it’s 2025. Everyone on the planet can rattle off a long list of beloved gay celebs and many know a gay person IRL. Our state embraces gay marriage.

The fact that kids feel comfortable enough identifying as LGBTQ or non-binary or even as a furry demonstrates that our MoCo community is in fact a safe place.

So why drill down sooooo hard in the schools?

It’s not necessary…particularly at the K-5 level.

As a Gen X’er, I was raised in MoCo to embrace and celebrate diversity…and it seemed to work. My Gen X friends and coworkers have diverse friends groups and a “live and let live” mentality. It wasn’t until the post-George Floyd era that race and then gender identity became some bizarre tribal thing where everyone decamped into strictly defined—and let’s face it, self-segregated—groups followed by a hard push to drill down on special interest everything…including curricula.

Enough already.

Embrace and celebrity diversity. Easy peasy. But please focus on academics, civics, and just treating everyone with the same respect you would expect.

+1

Activist taking over MCPS made it a big issue. It's a non-issue in our county.

Nicely said. A few lessons on it is fine, just like lessons about other groups and beliefs. But it is in every class, the priority and kids are fine with it in this area and don't care. The heavy push makes some families and kids uncomfortable. We've had teachers who condemn the kids for using he/she as their pronouns and want kids to change them. Teachers, Admin and MCPS need to get back to teaching and not keep politics outside. Many teachers think the kids are their friends and way over share. What ever is going on right now since they changed things and took away books isn't working as you can see the scores drop with all the changes.

If true, this is appalling.

it's not

Not true or not appalling?

not true and you know it.

We have had three teachers push it. Two in middle school. One marked my kid absent from homeroom as they did not agree with what my child wrote with the check in. They wrote something very neutral.

This year we had a teacher spend class time ranting about why they are leaving and slamming everyone including admin. Zero boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:just let them stay home with excused absences. as long as they aren't creating a strain on school resources, go nuts. it's their education that they sacrifice.

yes, exactly. It's a win/win. Not sure why MCPS fought it so hard. There are kids who opt out of Family Life. Not a big deal.

i think it is because the religious were demanding alternative programming and babysitting for kids who can't be by themselves. If MCPS doesn't have to
provide that, then it's all good.

Another person didn’t bother me o read the case but still shoots off anyway. Doesn’t matter what you think. It matters what relief the parents sought. Allowing an excused absence would have saved so much time and money but now the County allowed things to be made much worse.

The county is not teaching respect and tolerance and this is segregation to separate kids. Parents have rights. You’d be upset if they choose a different direction to teach and you wanted different. The curriculum should be inclusive and it’s not.

You have no idea what I think about the curriculum because I didn’t post it. I observed that the poster doesn’t actually know the case details. It was a loser case and now makes things much more difficult for everyone.

The case showed how intolerant MCPS and some of the parents are about tolerance to others. They want tolerance and acceptance when it comes to their beliefs but not others. Thats not healthy for our kids. We live in a community with a huge amount of diversity and all that diversity should be respected, just not select groups.

What's up with these talking points about "if you don't welcome and support my bigotry you're intolerant"? I see this a lot... but it's just gotcha phrasing, and people don't actually believe this, do they? Like, obviously "I don't like Christians and don't want them in my school" is intolerant, but do these people actually honestly think it's "intolerant" to not accommodate everyone's prejudices by erasing the existence of people they're biased towards from schools, and if is somehow more "tolerant" to exclude any mention of certain kinds of people because someone doesn't like them?

The parents weren't asking for anyone to be erased, nor where they asking that the books be banned; they simply asked that their children be able to opt out, as they had previously, and still can for some classes.

That's it - the books aren't being banned.

Yes but the challenge that presents is that means folks can opt out of books for any reason. Which then means teachers have to prepare double lessons.

If a teacher is using the books they are reading then, using them to teach literary elements, comparing and contrasting. Families would be opting out of all those lessons.

Where do you think that would lead next?

Would you please stop referring to us as "folks." We are parents. We are not random "folks" who have no horse in this race.

Or, the teachers could simply drop the objectionable books in the first place and teach everyone the same lesson, from the same books. Now there's a novel idea. If you want to read to your 6 year old DD about how she may really be a boy, do that on your own time, at home.

Try to be a bit more inclusive. Some kids are not raised with parents and live with grandparents, other relatives, family friends, foster care, group homes, etc so folks is appropriate.

Not respecting their beliefs is the ultimate intolerance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an MCPS elementary school teacher and I have used Uncle Bobby's Wedding and Prince and Knight in my classroom to teach grade level literacy standards. We used these texts to sequence plot events, describe characters, and to compare with other stories. No teacher that I know uses these texts to teach about different family structures.

We have had units in our curriculum that provide read alouds featuring only white characters. I have substituted those texts as well, to show more diversity. (A version of Hansel and Gretel that takes place in Africa, Jack and the Beanstalk with a female heroine, Rapunzel with a Chinese main character, a folktale from Pakistan with a protagonist in a hijab, etc.)

If parents object to their children being exposed to stories, that makes me sad. The two-parent, hetero-normative life experience is NOT the experience of every family, and every child deserves to see themselves represented in the literature they read at school.

I’ve never once seen any part of our family represented in the elementary books read. I even got an email telling me to ask my child not to talk about things happening to them as it made the staff and kids uncomfortable. Every child does deserve to be represented but they aren’t.

Short of domestic violence, what was happening to a kid that they can’t talk about?

And frankly domestic violence is something the kid should be encouraged to talk to safe adults about.

Time to get out of your bubble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:just let them stay home with excused absences. as long as they aren't creating a strain on school resources, go nuts. it's their education that they sacrifice.

yes, exactly. It's a win/win. Not sure why MCPS fought it so hard. There are kids who opt out of Family Life. Not a big deal.

i think it is because the religious were demanding alternative programming and babysitting for kids who can't be by themselves. If MCPS doesn't have to
provide that, then it's all good.

Another person didn’t bother me o read the case but still shoots off anyway. Doesn’t matter what you think. It matters what relief the parents sought. Allowing an excused absence would have saved so much time and money but now the County allowed things to be made much worse.

The county is not teaching respect and tolerance and this is segregation to separate kids. Parents have rights. You’d be upset if they choose a different direction to teach and you wanted different. The curriculum should be inclusive and it’s not.

You have no idea what I think about the curriculum because I didn’t post it. I observed that the poster doesn’t actually know the case details. It was a loser case and now makes things much more difficult for everyone.

The case showed how intolerant MCPS and some of the parents are about tolerance to others. They want tolerance and acceptance when it comes to their beliefs but not others. Thats not healthy for our kids. We live in a community with a huge amount of diversity and all that diversity should be respected, just not select groups.

What's up with these talking points about "if you don't welcome and support my bigotry you're intolerant"? I see this a lot... but it's just gotcha phrasing, and people don't actually believe this, do they? Like, obviously "I don't like Christians and don't want them in my school" is intolerant, but do these people actually honestly think it's "intolerant" to not accommodate everyone's prejudices by erasing the existence of people they're biased towards from schools, and if is somehow more "tolerant" to exclude any mention of certain kinds of people because someone doesn't like them?

The parents weren't asking for anyone to be erased, nor where they asking that the books be banned; they simply asked that their children be able to opt out, as they had previously, and still can for some classes.

That's it - the books aren't being banned.

Yes but the challenge that presents is that means folks can opt out of books for any reason. Which then means teachers have to prepare double lessons.

If a teacher is using the books they are reading then, using them to teach literary elements, comparing and contrasting. Families would be opting out of all those lessons.

Where do you think that would lead next?

Teachers get a list of books for their class to choose from. They could poll parents or choose a more neutral book.