Ms. Cintia Johnson, Superintendent

Arlington Public Schools

2110 Washington Blvd
Arlington, VA 22204

 

 

Ms. Johnson,

 

I am concerned about the aggressive promotion and affirmation of gender dysphoria/transition and the associated policy-related issues for Arlington Public Schools (VA) and the children & families it serves.

 

• In July 2015 the school board inserted the words “gender identity” into the school board policy’s non-discrimination clause, inviting staff, teachers, and principals to interpret how to “not discriminate against transgender students” according to their own understanding and preferences.

• In January 2017 (See Line 14 of Link) the first incident surfaced of a GSA club student being given a platform to train fellow students on gender and sexual ideologies. (See PowerPoint slides from that presentation at bottom.)

• On February 28, 2019, Ashlawn Elementary School invited a transgender activist to read the transgender storybook I Am Jazz to two classes of kindergartners without parent approval or the option to remove their children from this event. Five-year-olds were taught that doctors and parents can make mistakes about gender, and that “you can be anything.”

• Throughout 2018-2019 the school board and administration moved forward to implement the J-2 PIP on Transgender Students with collaboration only between APS and the Arlington Gender Identity Allies, despite requests from the Arlington Parent Coalition and other parents to pause the process until all stakeholders had been given input. The policy was adopted at the school board meeting on July 1, 2019, after school dismissed for the summer.

• In September 2019 a counselor at Williamsburg Middle School entered a 7th-grade English classroom and gave a presentation on gender harassment, using a third-party video that is unavailable to parents without a licensing code. A student who tried to excuse himself was not permitted to leave.

• In December 2019 the Mosaic teacher at Oakridge Elementary School presented an interactive lesson on gender identity, again without properly informing parents about the subject she was about to teach. A child was asked to read a transgender storybook to the rest of the class.

 

It seems clear that Arlington Public Schools (APS) is intent upon indoctrinating children—with or without their parents’ permission—in ideologies related to homosexuality and transgenderism.

​

Parents hold the final authority over what their children are taught with respect to family issues such as sexuality and gender, and I expect Arlington Public Schools to respect that authority and cease overstepping it.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

_________________________________

​

​

​