MCPS in National News

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Yeah I am not clicking on Fox News links for a "voice of reason" but nice try

LOL ! I agree with psychologist in this case. For a transition such as this, parents should be involved- the youth need support. To assume the parents will be bigoted and not supportive is ...wild.

If FOX news is for that it has to be pure evil.

The students ask us not to tell. I figure they hear their parents and dare not share that part of themselves.

And we’re talking about part-time social transitioning. No teacher is giving hormone injections or performing top surgery during their planning periods. Not to be little the positive effects of social transition on trans youth’s mental health, but teachers have called students by a preferred name rather than a legal name for decades, if not centuries. Even when the student changes the nickname two or three times in the school year (start the year as Beth and end as Liz, for example). We are used to it. We’re also accustomed to not batting an eye over the outfits they change into at school. Only pronouns are new and most of us don’t care what pronoun your kid uses. There’s no study showing it harms academic performance or mental health to use a preferred pronoun.

Yes, but in my 20 years of teaching I was never penalized for accidentally calling Bobby “Bob” when communicating with parents. Vice versa, parents have always been understanding when I’ve taught “Bobby” for 3 years before he decides to be called “Bob”. Trans families and students can be a lot more aggressive when teachers make mistakes. We have a lot of things to think about all at once and using the wrong pronoun or name is not a personal assault against your kid.

Who gets more upset - parents who support social transition and get mad when you make a mistake, or parents who don’t support social transition and get mad when you do use the child’s preferred name? (Sounds like a no-win situation, especially with the number of HS students each teacher has!)

I’ve never had a parent who doesn’t support social transition get upset when I use the child’s preferred name. I have had parents that are open about not understanding why their child assigned female at birth now wants to use they pronouns but they support a different name at school as long as official documents still show the birth name. The moms that have expressed concern that their daughter doesn’t want to be a woman because they identify with all the traits that made their mom successful in male dominated professions. Many moms consider themselves very progressive and feminist and feel like the world is taking a big step back when their child says “I can’t be like you because that’s not how the world sees girls so I must be non-binary or a boy”.

Gebder identity is more than "act like a man to do well in corporate America"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I am not clicking on Fox News links for a "voice of reason" but nice try

LOL ! I agree with psychologist in this case. For a transition such as this, parents should be involved- the youth need support. To assume the parents will be bigoted and not supportive is ...wild.

This happened to a friend of mine. Child changed pronouns at school and they were not informed. They are completely supportive but their son has many other things going on and they want to understand the root of the issues before going all in on a transition to female for an 11 year old. I think that parents need to know unless there is reason to believe that the child is in an unsafe situation.

If a child is in an unsafe situation, it should be reported to CPS. Teachers should not make that judgment call as they are not trained or qualified and with serious mental health issues, could put the child in greater danger, especially if they are suicidal. These kids need mental health and other supports that MCPS and teachers are not qualified.

Your first and second sentences are contradictory. On the one hand you say that teachers should report dangerous situations to CPS but on the other you say they are not qualified to make such judgements. MCPS rules don't require teachers to make any judgements. They use the pronouns that a student desires and don't have responsibility for informing parents. How would school personnel even know which families would be supportive and which wouldn't? Students can inform their families themselves if they believe they will be supported.

Agreed.

If your kid doesn't want to tell you about their gender identity but feels safe to do at school maybe think about why they are so afraid of you

[Anonymous]

Anyone whose kids go to mcps

be wary of Bethany Mandell. She is a troll whose kids don't even go to MCPS & she is trying to destroy schools with book bans, hate speech and utterly ignorance.