Help Fairfax County Kids By June 19!!! Sign Petition Re Parental Oversight and LGBT Curriculum

Like you, we're an ordinary family in Fairfax County, Virginia. We have not circulated a petition before, but we find this issue too important to ignore.

Please join us so we can bring our collective voices to bear on keeping our school board properly accountable on a crucial decision it is considering to change the longtime Family Life Education curriculum (aka FLE, which includes but is not limited to sex ed).

Click on this link to sign the petition no later than June 19 (the deadline for submitting citizen feedback to the school board): https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FairfaxSchoolBoard

The petition calls for the Fairfax County Public Schools board to do three things: 

1. Prevent the removal of family-centered lessons from parent oversight and opt-out.
2. Provide comprehensive cross-references to Virginia health standards of learning for certain FLE lessons proposed to be transferred to "health education" (health ed is subject to less parental oversight).
3. Refrain from approving the teaching of LGBT topics in FLE (while acknowledging the importance of teaching respect for all people).

ONLY FAIRFAX COUNTY RESIDENTS SHOULD SIGN THE PETITION

In submitting this petition to the board members, we are appealing to these fine individuals' sense of duty and service, hoping they will recognize the urgent need to act as the last line of defense for children and parents against arbitrary and misguided proposals. For the who, what, when, where, and why, scroll down to the bottom to see the letter we drafted to the FCPS board, or read the "plain English" bullets below.

The board meeting to vote on the proposed curriculum change is scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 25, 2015, at Luther Jackson Middle School, 3020 Gallows Rd, Falls Church, VA 22042. To register to speak or to submit video testimony at the meeting, you should go to the following links at 6 a.m. on Monday, June 22, 2015:

http://www.fcps.edu/schlbd/meetings/requestspeak-online-rm.shtml 
http://www.fcps.edu/schlbd/meetings/requestspeak-online-video.shtml

We recognize that for many considering the petition, introducing LGBT topics into the public school curriculum is the overriding concern. We believe that people who hold a variety of opinions on public policy issues regarding LGBT may nevertheless oppose its teaching in public schools, for a number of reasons. We maintain that LGBT issues contain too many unknowns to be properly taught in a school setting.

Just as alarming, from our perspective, is the proposed removal of various family-centered lessons from parent oversight and opt-out. As we describe below, it is arbitrary and in express violation of Virginia law. We believe it is also unconstitutional. Perhaps of greatest concern is that it would establish a pattern of arbitrarily removing lessons from parental opt-out, eroding trust that opt-outs for LGBT and other sensitive or explicit matters would remain in place.

We're a little late to the game, but we've spent the last few days looking over the key materials, and here's the story as we see it in plain English...we encourage you to check it out yourself, but this is our best Cliffs Notes effort.

• A committee (including parents) known as the Family Life Education Curriculum Advisory Committee (aka FLECAC) was formed for the purpose of making proposals around a year ago and came up with these proposals. See them at http://www.fcps.edu/is/hpe/documents/FLECommunityReview20142015.pdf.

• FLECAC made a number of proposals, including the controversial ones to add FLE lessons on LGBT topics. The lessons on LGBT topics would be subject to parental opt-out (at least for now), but of course could be very influential on impressionable attitudes and behaviors of children who do not have strong parental oversight.

• The FLECAC proposals also include moving a number of lessons from grades K through 10 from FLE to "health education," claiming that the lessons proposed to be reclassified as "health" are identified in newly-revised Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) health standards of learning. See these revised VDOE standards at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/health/2015/stds_2015_health.pdf.

• Several of the lessons FLECAC proposes to transfer from FLE to "health" deal with how families are defined, structured, and function: K.1, K.2, 1.1, 1.2, 5.2 (Emotional & Social Health), 7.3 (E&SH), 8.7 (E&SH), 9.1 (E&SH). These topics are not found anywhere in the VDOE standards. So either FLECAC got it wrong, or they are overreaching.

• Virginia law in a number of places safeguards parents' rights to make decisions concerning the "upbringing, care, and education" of their children, including a legal provision that explicitly identifies FLE (not health) as the proper classification for instruction to students on "family living."

• How the other lesson objectives FLECAC proposes to transfer from FLE to health correspond with various VDOE standards is vague, and FLECAC did not provide any references.

• LGBT topics (again, all subject to parental opt-out) would be added to grades 7 through 10, and would include definitions for heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgender (grades 7 and 9); discussion of the "development" of individual [gender and sexual] identity over a lifetime and of different "components" of this identity (grade 8); claims that "sexuality evolves from infancy to old age" (grade 9); and a renewed discussion of the development of sexuality over a lifetime and how sexuality "encompasses attitudes, values, and behaviors" (grade 10). In grade 9, "Students with questions or concerned about their sexual orientation or gender identity will be advised to talk with a parent, member of the clergy, trusted adult, or counselor."

Jim & Julie Zanotti

TEXT OF LETTER ADDRESSED TO SCHOOL BOARD

Dear FCPS School Board,

We, the parents of four FCPS students, are writing to express serious concerns regarding the changes to the FCPS Family Life Education (FLE) curriculum proposed by the Family Life Education Curriculum Advisory Committee (FLECAC). We appreciate the opportunity to do so.

Of most critical importance to us is safeguarding the fundamental right expressed in Virginia Code §1-240.1 for parents “to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parent’s child,” which is also encompassed by freedom of conscience guarantees in the U.S. and Virginia constitutions. For this right to be upheld, it is important for parents to have full advance knowledge and oversight of any curricula having a bearing on how families function and are defined and structured, including the ability to opt-out on their children’s behalf.

By recommending the transfer of a number of longtime FLE lesson objectives into the health curriculum, thereby taking away the opt-out, the FLECAC’s recommendations infringe this fundamental parental right. The following points make this clear:

• FLECAC directly cites newly-revised Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) health standards of learning as its justification for proposing the transfer of a number of family-centered FLE lesson objectives to health education, but no corresponding standards exist for the following objectives in the VDOE revisions: K.1, K.2, 1.1, 1.2, 5.2 (Emotional & Social Health), 7.3 (E&SH), 8.7 (E&SH), 9.1 (E&SH).

• Thus, FLECAC’s claim that VDOE recognizes the above-referenced lesson objectives as falling within the health standards of learning is clearly incorrect. Given that the Commonwealth of Virginia does not classify the above-referenced FLE lesson objectives as “health education,” FLECAC’s professed rationale for proposing to take family-centered lesson objectives out of the Family Life Education curriculum fails completely. This is especially so given that Virginia Code §22.1-207.1 clearly states that FLE shall “include instruction as appropriate for the age of the student in family living.”

• Without any articulated, reasonable basis for changing the status of family-centered lesson objectives, any action to take away parents’ advance notice and opt-out rights would be purely arbitrary. We find it difficult to fathom that anyone would consider changing curricula with such important implications for the “upbringing, education, and care” of children on such demonstrably weak grounds, or feel comfortable justifying such a position to themselves or the public they serve, given the unwise precedent it would establish.

In light of these points, it is imperative that you exclude the above-referenced objectives from any curriculum changes you might approve. Knowing your distinguished record of service and tireless efforts on behalf of students, parents, and the FCPS community, we are confident that you recognize the importance of your duty as the last line of defense for core student and parental protections.  

Even with the objectives that appear to have some basis in the VDOE revisions, the precise link between the two is often difficult to discern. In the interest of full transparency, we further request that you (1) extend the review period for the curriculum changes, (2) ensure that comprehensive cross-references between the proposed lesson objective changes and the VDOE revisions are completed and publicly disseminated, and (3) allow adequate time for a final parents’ and citizens’ review to proceed on that basis.

Finally, with regard to new material being proposed for FLE curriculum objectives relating to sexual orientation and gender identity, we recognize the importance of teaching respect for all people. We request that this be done in FCPS without resorting to a discussion of LGBT identity, interaction, or behavior. These topics feature too many unknowns to be summarily “defined” to students. At most, public schools should encourage students to speak with parents, health care providers, clergy, or other trusted adults for any information beyond the existing lesson objectives on sexual identity, interaction, and behavior.

Sincerely,
Jim and Julie Zanotti