We hope that everyone is staying safe and healthy during these strange days of social distancing. The news tells us that the Covid-19 virus has hit Arlington hardest of any county in Virginia.
While we're staying home, washing our hands, and not touching our faces, the Arlington Parent Coalition team would like to share updates on two important initiatives which affect families with children in public school.
BOOKS IN CLASSROOMS & LIBRARIES
APC has had multiple reports of books that can only be described as gay porn coming home as reading assignments, even in middle school classrooms.
Regardless of one's perspective on sexuality, no explicitly sexual material of any kind is ever appropriate in the classroom, and especially not in the younger grades. The use of the language arts classroom as a venue for arousing children's interest in sexual exploration is a back-door entry point for an agenda that seeks to sexualize children as early and as often as possible. This strategy exemplifies why the standard Family Life Education (sex ed) opt-out form offered by APS is ineffective, because language arts classrooms are not covered by the FLE opt-out.
If you've followed Loudoun County's Parent & Child organization, you know that they've been fighting an influx of sexually explicit and thematically controversial books in their school system. The situation is no different in Arlington.Parent & Child Loudoun has put together an excellent list of titles organized by elementary, middle school, and high school target audiences.Though the lists do not contain summaries or reviews, you can easily research specific titles at Amazon and Goodreads to find out what's in a book and what others are saying about it.
Per our understanding from speaking to school librarians, well-funded LGB & TQ activism groups have sent boxes upon boxes of homosexuality- and transgender-themed books to school libraries and classrooms, as educational "gifts". These organizations have worked strategically and tirelessly for the last several years, since "Marriage Equality" (legal recognition of homosexual marriage) was passed in 2015, to push their agendas into schools. Funneling sexuality and identity literature into students' backpacks is at the forefront of their goal to train children that any form of sexual imagination and any feeling one may have about his or her personhood is valid and should be enthusiastically explored. Librarians also tell us that the catalogs from which they select books are now replete with gay and trans content, and these sex- and gender-themed books are lauded, awarded, and loaded at the front of the catalogs.
You can access your child's school library catalog via Follett's to see what is shelved there.Search for specific books, authors, or by keyword/topic, such as "Homosexuality." Note that the results will only show what is housed in the school library. Classroom teachers have wide latitude, and often no oversight, about what they shelve in their own classrooms.
Following are just a few samples of the shockingly abundant new gay- and trans- lit listings that have replaced werewolves and vampires as the new "It" genre for children and young adults.
Prince & Knight (Kindergarten-Grade 2) by Daniel Haack and Stevie Lewis This book is shelved in the library at Claremont Elementary School, and likely other schools as well.
The prince met many ladies and he made them all swoon, but soon it was clear that he was singing a different tune. "Thank you," he told his parents. "I appreciate that you tried, but I'm looking for something special in a partner by my side." ... Alas before you fear our prince had to face the beast alone, along on horseback came a knight cloaked in armor that brightly shone. ... The plan had worked, the dragon was caught, its body was tied and bound, But the prince up high had lost his grip and was falling to the ground. The knight below jumped on his horse and they began to race. The prince was caught and free from harm, held in the knight's embrace. "You saved my life!" "And you saved mine!" they said to one another, and in a flash to each it felt there simply was no other. The knight took off his helmet to reveal his handsome face, and as they gazed into each other's eyes, their hearts began to race. ... (The king and queen and villagers "were overwhelmed with joy" that the prince would marry the knight.) ... And on the two men's wedding day the air filled with cheer and laughter, for the prince and his shining knight would live happily ever after.
Aside from the content and theme of the book, the awkwardly inconsistent meter, clichéd rhymes, and hackneyed storyline alone make this a piece of "literature" to which no one should subject children, who have much better reading material available to them from much more professional and reputable sources.
What If It's Us? (Teen & Young Adult) by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera This book was assigned in an 8th grade English class at Thomas Jefferson Middle School
And then, slowly, his fingers trail closer to my boxers, slipping under their waistband. "This still okay?" Holy shit. I laugh breathlessly. "Yup." So this is actually happening. It's happening. It's happening, and my whole body knows it. His hand slides down another inch. I don't think I'll ever not be hard again. (p. 291) And how does this work? No, seriously, how does this specifically work? Who puts what parts where and in what order and when does the condom go on, and what about lube? I know fucking nothing about lube. (p. 292) And it that moment, it hits me. Ben. At my apartment. With no parents. On my birthday. Just us and six unopened boxes of condoms and... Ethan and Jessie. I mean, talk about some fucking next-level parental interference. (p. 360)
Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out
(Teen & Young Adult)
by Susan Kuklin
This book is shelved in many APS libraries.
I was sexually mature. What I mean by sexually mature is that I knew about sex. From six up, I used to kiss other guys in my neighborhood, make out with them, and perform oral sex on them. I liked it. I used to love oral. And I touched their you-know-whats. We were really young, but that's what we did.
I was making out with girls too. I used to love making out with girls 'cause everybody thought I was cool. Everybody was encouraging me. "Look, Frank's not gay-- he's making out with a girl!" They wanted to know how the hell I learned to kiss like that. I didn't know how I learned. It was pretty weird.
Guys used to hit on me--perverts--pedophiles. I'd see guys giving me a look, and it kinda creeped me out. They would touch themselves, saying, "Come here, sweetie." Something told me not to go. I ran away. I ran to where there was a lot of people.
Please be cognizant of what your children are reading at school.
Look at the books they're bringing home, and investigate the reading lists teachers and schools post online. If you visit the classroom, peruse the shelves. Parents no longer have the luxury of trusting that schools are promoting classic literature which upholds values like honor, valor, courage, self-sacrifice, and wisdom. Instead, schools are taking every opportunity to re-code our children's value systems toward approval of unhealthy attitudes and behaviors toward sexuality and gender.
PARENT AND SCHOOL STAFF REPORT FORMS
The Arlington Parent Coalition has been receiving increasing numbers of emails and submission forms from parents and staff who are concerned about what is happening in our schools. To more efficiently collect and catalog these events, as well as to more easily identify and describe trends at various schools, APC has created two report forms:
"It Happened at School: Parent/Guardian Report Form"
Parents, guardians, and students can utilize this form to report to the Arlington Parent Coalition events or experiences at school such as:
Pressure to celebrate LGBTQ+ events
Inappropriate use of materials/time
Denial/obstruction of a student's rights
Failure to respect parental authority
Anonymously attributed quotes from these forms may be posted on the APC website.
"School Employee Response to Transgender Issues & Policies"
School employees can utilize this form to report to the Arlington Parent Coalition events or experiences at school such as:
Pressure to celebrate LGBTQ+ events
Inappropriate use of materials/time
Denial/obstruction of staff's rights
Other curricula/policy issues of concern
Anonymously attributed quotes from these forms may be posted on the APC website.
Please find the report link at the left in Spanish.
THINGS YOU CAN DO TODAY
Contact your child's teachers to obtain a list of books that will be assigned prior to your child receiving them. If an explicit book is to be read, request an alternate title for your child. (Staff Directory) If you have experience (positive or negative) dealing with books in your child's classroom please submit a Parent/Guardian Report Form to share your story with other parents.
Submit a Universal Opt-Out Letter, if you have not yet done so.
Ask your children what they're reading in school. Ask if they've read anything that concerned them, or that contradicted what your family has taught them.
Like Arlington Parent Coalition's Facebook page so you'll stay connected with up-to-the-minute news and information.
Forward this letter to other parents and community members who share our concerns about the direction public school is moving with respect to sexuality and gender.
Connect with other parents in your school and form a strategy to call your school into accountability to ALL parents. APC has parent contacts at every school in Arlington; you are not alone in your concerns.
As always, thank you for all you do to help keep all children safe in public schools. The Arlington Parent Coalition Team