By DEACON MIKE MANNO
Lately there has been a slew of reports about how unhappy parents are confronting school officials for attempting to indoctrinate their children in ideologies the parents reject. Unfortunately, with the backing of the teachers’ unions and “woke” school administrators, the schools are fighting back sometimes even to the point of violating the law.
Unfortunately, these efforts have turned schools into war zones, whether over critical race theory, masks in the classroom, or even if the schools are to open for in-person instruction. It’s the parents vs. the academic community.
And also unfortunately, the academic community starts with the upper hand; for to them your children belong to the schools once one realizes that folks with titles and initials after their names are smarter than you, and if you persist in causing “trouble” the state can take you children away and find someone else to raise them. That’s not speculation, it has been done in the United States and even more spectacularly in Canada.
Recently, there has been one more hideous example of what the academic-industrial complex has been doing to kids.
This story comes from the great People’s Republic of Massachusetts, Baird Middle School in Ludlow, to be more specific.
It was only a few years ago that several parents exposed the school for its graphic sexual, homosexual, and transgendered themed books in the library and classrooms. According to reports from MassResistance, the outfit that is assisting the parents, the impetus came from the school’s cross-dressing librarian along with support from the school’s staff, principal, superintendent, and board.
Apparently things started leaking out when the librarian held talks with some of the children where they were given certain books to read and videos to watch — all with transgender themes. According to one of the teachers, many of the children chosen for this “education” were from troubled homes who were “easy prey for such messages.”
From there it went into the classrooms where children were asked not to use “boys” and “girls” but were given a list of non-gender specific terms that should be used instead. In addition they were asked to decide on a “preferred pronoun.” That was followed by the choosing of opposite sex names and identities. Of course, none of this was to be told to the kids’ parents.
To show how insidious this was, here is a copy of a note sent to staff about one of the girls:
“Mary has a preferred name of Michael/Mike and preferred pronouns of he and his. He understands that there will be times that ‘Mary’ and ‘she/her’ slips out and he is fine with that.
“Michael is still in the process of telling his parents and is requesting that school staff refer to him as Mary and use she/her pronouns with his parents and in written emails/letters home. When Michael has informed his parents of his preferred name and pronouns, we will change the name in the computer system if that is what he wishes to do at that time.
“I explained to him that we understand this is a complicated process and we will be as supportive as possible — but may make mistakes from time to time.”
You can probably see where this whole thing is heading: the “transgendering” of our children behind the backs of their parents.
In February of this year an 11-year-old girl sent this e-mail to her teachers and staff. See if this sounds like an 11-year-old:
“Hello everyone,
“If you are reading this you are either my teacher or guidance counselor. I have an announcement to make and I trust you guys with this information. I am genderqueer. Basically, it means I use any pronouns (other than it/its). This also means I have a name change. My new name will be Raymond. Please call me by that name.
“If you deadname me or use any pronouns I am not comfortable with I will politely tell you. I am telling you this because I feel like I can trust you. A list of pronouns you can use are: she/her he/him they/them fae/faer ae/aer ve/ver xe/xem ze/zir. I have added a link so you can look at how to say them. Please only use the ones I have listed and not the other ones. I do not like them.”
Of course I’m sure this sounds just like the little 11-year-old that is underfoot in your house. If not, what have you been teaching them?
This was followed up a short time later by the 11-year-old’s brother, 13, who then decided that he was really a girl and wanted to be called “Skylar.”
Unfortunately for the school, a teacher, identified only as “Bonnie” took a critical look at the situation and notified — against all school norms — (gasp!) the siblings’ parents.
In March, Bonnie was placed on administrative leave for “conduct unbecoming a teacher related to your inappropriate communications with the parents of a student.” In other words, according to the academic-industrial complex of the Peoples’ Republic of Massachusetts, parents had no need to know of the struggles their children face. Or, perhaps, the professional educators didn’t want the parents to know who suggested these ideas to their kids. After all, what 11-year-old knew what the words “genderqueer” and “deadname” mean, much less the wide variety of pronoun alternatives?
When Bonnie was called to attend an “investigative interview” with the school’s compliance officer she was represented by a local pro-life attorney because the teachers’ union refused to provide a lawyer. Shortly after that hearing, Bonnie got a letter from the principal stating that she was intending to terminate her employment. So much for telling the truth and respecting parental rights.
Now in a morality tale you’d expect it to end with a righteous comeuppance against the school administration. But this isn’t a morality tale. Stacy Monette, the principal of Baird Middle School who fired Bonnie, was named Middle School Principal of the Year by the Massachusetts School Administrators Association.
Yup, no morality tale here.
(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him on Faith On Trial on IowaCatholicRadio.com every Thursday at 10 a.m. central.)
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