School District: Don’t Call the Children ‘Boys & Girls’
Teachers in Charlotte, North Carolina, have been advised to stop calling the children “boys and girls,” according to a training presentation on transgender issues. Instead, the progressives who control Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools want teachers to identify the youngsters as either “students” or “scholars.” So what if a teacher has a student who is dumb as a rock? Would the child still be called a scholar? The transgender guidelines, which will go into effect later this month, range from the absurd to downright outrageous. For example, boys who identify as girls would be permitted to participate on overnight all-girl field trips. That’s a rule sure to be a hit among the 13-year-olds.
Teachers in Charlotte, North Carolina, have been advised to stop calling the children “boys and girls,” according to a training presentation on transgender issues.
Instead, the progressives who control Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools want teachers to identify the youngsters as either “students” or “scholars.”
So what if a teacher has a student who is dumb as a rock? Would the child still be called a scholar?
The transgender guidelines, which will go into effect later this month, range from the absurd to downright outrageous.
For example, boys who identify as girls would be permitted to participate on overnight all-girl field trips. That’s a rule sure to be a hit among the 13-year-olds.
Another guideline indicates parents could be left out of their child’s gender decision-making. Consider Regulation JICK-R: Privacy Concerns:
“Involvement of parents in the plan is determined in working with the student, considering the student’s age and health, wellbeing and safety concerns.”
In other words, Jack may be a boy at home, but at school Jack becomes Jill.
“Staff must take care not to ‘out’ a student to others, including the parents of an older student, without the student’s consent,” the presentation stated. “In contacting the parents, use the student’s name/pronoun on birth certificate unless student or parent says otherwise.”
The school district also wanted to embrace gender-neutral bathrooms, locker rooms and showers. However, those edicts were placed on hold pending federal court rulings.
The NC Values Coalition posted 57 pages of training material that the district used to education faculty on LGBT issues.
The district utilized a “gender unicorn” cartoon character to explain issues like gender identity and gender expression. The make-believe character was also used to explain terms like questioning, queer, cis gender, non-binary, genderqueer and gender nonconforming.
The workshop, titled “Transgender 101,” helped teachers learn to “define and use important terms and concepts related to gender identity and identify issues facing transgender and gender expansive students.”
How the teachers in Charlotte are going to have time to teach the kids Driver’s Ed and English 101 is beyond me.
The workshop urged teachers to avoid certain words of phrases that might offend transgender students — words like transgendered, transsexual, cross dresser and drag queen.
Under the guidelines, students would be allowed to dress in accordance with their gender identity. Dress codes at graduation and prom would be gender-neutral.
It sounds like the folks who run the schools in Charlotte are so liberal that their brains have two left sides.
“It’s a radical sexual revolution being forced on our kids,” said Charlotte resident David Benham.
Benham, a well-known businessman and conservative activist, has been outspoken about the district’s policies.
“What they are doing is highlighting and exploiting the transgender community and trying to pus their radical agenda on the rest of the students,” he told me.
Benham was especially bothered by the guidelines that would allow members of the opposite sex to participate in overnight field trips.
“How would you like your 13-year-old daughter to be sleeping next to a boy whose hormones are at peak level? It’s craziness,” he said.
Tami Fitzgerald, the executive director of NC Values Coalition, wrote in a statement that the new policies “will seriously endanger students’ privacy and safety, undermine parental authority and severely impair an environment conducive to learning.”
So I reached out to the school district for clarification on some of the most controversial issues — and I received several responses. I’m not quite certain they answered my questions, but it’s a response nonetheless.
First, the district confirmed that the new expanded anti-bullying regulation is districtwide. That means all you moms and dads with kindergartners should pay attention.
Spokesperson Renee McCoy told me any decisions on overnight trips “requires the consent of all impacted students and their parents/families.”
As for whether or not the guidelines are considered to be mandated policy or regulations, Ms. McCoy said they are “regulations.”
Regulations, she said, do not require Board of Education approval.
Also, boys who identify as girls will not be allowed to play on the athletic teams of their choosing because of North Carolina High School Athletic Association regulations.
“The current regulation states that a student’s gender is determined by the gender noted on his or her certificate of birth,” Ms. McCoy said.
I’m sure moms and dads in Mecklenburg County will continue to fight this nonsense — but don’t expect the school district to change course.
But I’d say there’s better chance of finding a purple unicorn at the zoo.