MN Education Dept. to Approve Radical Transgender School Guidelines
On July 19, a Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) council will vote on the adoption of a “transgender toolkit” for our state’s K-12 public schools.
The tool kit pressures schools to allow transgender or gender non-conforming students to choose whatever bathrooms, locker rooms and athletic teams align with their “gender identity.” (pp. 9-10) Students can gain access to the facilities and teams of the opposite sex even if they are only “socially,” not “medically transitioning.” (p. 4)
But the toolkit does much more. For example, it threatens parental rights in an unprecedented way by encouraging schools to report parents who are not deemed sufficiently supportive of their child’s self-expressed “gender identity” to government authorities for “child neglect or harm.” (p. 5)
RELATED NEWS: “Experimenting on the Young: Juvenile ‘sex reassignment’ and its risks” by Kathy Kersten in July 24, 2017 edition of The Weekly Standard.
The toolkit encourages schools to indoctrinate both students and parents in gender ideology. To guide this process, it recommends resources such as “Schools in Transition: A Guide for Supporting Transgender Students in K-12 Schools. (p. 5) According to “Schools in Transition,” “Experience shows that, with enough information, children of any age are able to understand that there are more than the two gender categories currently recognized by our society.” (Schools in Transition, p. 49)
In addition, the toolkit urges schools to promote gender ideology to parents and community members through regular “informational listening sessions” and other meetings. There, parents who dissent or raise skeptical questions are to be challenged, discouraged, and (apparently) effectively silenced. (p. 6)
According to the toolkit, school authorities can limit discussion at these meetings to “the needs of transgender and nonconforming students”, thereby placing what MDE calls discussion of these students’ “value” or “existence”—i.e., broader questions like the rights of other students—off-limits. (p. 6) The toolkit further discourages free speech by repeatedly warning that, by law, school staff must not allow so-called “discriminatory” language or a “hostile environment” at “community engagement” meetings.
And that’s just the beginning. The toolkit also does the following:
- States that “casual use of a student’s incorrect pronoun or incorrect name may violate” the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. (Rationale: “When students are referred to by the wrong pronoun by peers or school staff, students may feel intimidated, threatened, harassed or bullied.” (p. 7)
- Urges schools to “consider adding a customized data field for [students’ self-selected] pronouns in their student record system. (p. 7)
- Suggests that schools encourage teachers to “address students as ‘students’ and ‘scholars’, to be inclusive as opposed to ‘boys and girls.’” (p. 7)
- States that “schools may wish to consider revisiting existing traditions or establishing new traditions,” for example, replacing a homecoming king and queen with “prom ambassadors” or “royals.” (p. 8)
- Maintains that when a student raises “privacy objections” about sharing a bathroom, locker room or hotel room (on a school trip) with a transgender or gender nonconforming student, the objecting student may be “segregated,” so long as this does not “stigmatize” the transgender or gender nonconforming student. (p. 10). Presumably, this convoluted language means a girl who doesn’t want to share the women’s bathroom with a biological male must use the bathroom in the school nurse’s office, instead of the male being asked to do so.
The MDE council will meet to discuss and take action on the toolkit on Wednesday, July 19, from 3:00-5:00 p.m at: MDE, Conference Center B, Room 15, 1500 Highway 36, Roseville, MN
To express concerns about the toolkit contact:
MDE Commissioner Brenda Cassellius [email protected] 651-582-8200
School Safety Technical Assistance Director Craig Wethington: [email protected] 651-582-8364