School board also frowns on library display of Abigail Shrier book ‘Irreversible Damage’
by Parents Defending Education
Emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request reveal the Essex Westford School District administration and board members claim that “centering transitioning gender as damaging does not align” with the district equity policy and “can be hurtful to transgender people and youth.”
On February 6, a parent email to the school board and superintendent requested that “Detransition Awareness Day on March 12 be added to the calendar.” The parent also asked that Abigail Shrier’s Irreversible Damage be placed “on an easel atop the shelves in the HS library.”
The district’s response to the concerned parent states that “people who transition in any direction are recognized on national coming out day and during Pride month” and that the district would “support someone transitioning in any direction.” The response continues by stating that “centering transitioning gender as damaging does not align with the EWSD Equity Policy’s requirement of being LGBTQIA+ affirming.”
The administrator states that “detransition can be hurtful to transgender people and youth” and “we want to meet their mental needs.”
The district equity and inclusion administrator crafted an initial response to the parent but added that they “should probably grab a quick consult” from a local activist.
The response from the outside activist states that the “detransition awareness narrative and literature that this person offered as ‘evidence’ is not scientifically based nor is detransition as common as folks want others to believe it is.”
They continue: “folks (often TERFS) will claim that society, peer groups, and even doctors are forcing people to transition rather than experience the discomfort of puberty or that these people are following a fad” and that it is a “dangerous narrative that hurts efforts to get transgender people the affirming care they need.”
The activist also asserts that “often people who are talking about their detransition may be doing so after being subjected to conversion therapy or are being propped up by organizations that don’t support transgender people.”
Finally, they share that “if detransition awareness was truly a celebration of gender identity in all of its nuance we would view it in the same way the equity policy celebrates those marginalized voices who are often silenced.”
A second parent’s email on February 7, 2023, requested that the district add “World Detrans Awareness Day” to the school calendar. Administration responded that “because of the framing and purpose of this day, we will not be adding it to the EWSD calendar.” The administrator continues by stating that “there is harm to the trans community in the way the day is framed” and that “supporting trans rights and providing representation for trans folks does not cause detransition circumstances.”
The parent asked if “Detrans Awareness Day (DAD) is harming the trans community, does Trans Awareness Day (TAD) harm the cisgender community?”
The equity and inclusion administrator states that they “would not add a day to the calendar where the underlying narrative or content of the day points at others in harmful ways based on identity or for existing in the first place.” Examples of harm inducing narratives includes “conversion therapy, stories of trans rights creating harm and causing people to become trans, and access to information about trans folks being the reason that someone cites their original transition and their need to detransition is harmful toward the trans community.”
The administrator also shares that should a student detransition, they “give them access to trusted adults” and “shift names and pronouns in our system.” They continue by stating that the district seeks to “ensure that they are supported based on their own individual needs rather than the expectations of others, including family members.”
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The district board and administration also discussed how to deal with the request to include Abigail Shrier’s Irreversible Damage in the high school library. A school board member states that “red flags started to wave” after reading the district’s reply to the parent. According to the board member, placing Shrier’s book “‘on an easel atop the shelves in the HS library’ without vetting concerns me greatly.” They further add that they have “read mixed reviews about the book and the author.”
A district administrator added that they “too have great concerns” and that the book “actually goes against our equity policy and can cause harm.”
Republished from December 2 post on website of Parents Defending Education, “a national grassroots organization working to reclaim our schools from activists imposing harmful agendas. Through network and coalition building, investigative reporting, litigation, and engagement on local, state, and national policies, we are fighting indoctrination in the classroom — and promoting the restoration of a healthy, non-political education for our kids.”
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Categories: Education
I’d like to go back in time to my senior year at Essex in the ’80s, hand this story to a teacher or administrator, and watch them try to fathom what the future came to.
Stop asking permission from these people to get them to stop abusing your kids. Just pull them from that cult meeting center. God when will you people learn.
I cannot understand why people refuse to oppose this stuff. I think my parents are in a better place, this stuff would be killing them.
Because they’re weak and intimidated by the ignorant, unintellectual backlash they will face from loud, radical lefties that have infiltrated vermont and much of the nation. People must get comfortable saying uncomfortable things and be willing to pay a price, even if it means some short-term sacrifice on their part. Often times today we are left with a choice of doing what’s easy (path of least resistance) and doing what’s right. Have some testicular fortitude. Have some integrity.
The ludicrous doesn’t like it when they can’t even support the scope of their
hypocrisy. No More !
Book banners! Fascists! Until the federal DOE and state AOE drop their equity driven priorities, public (government is more fitting) schools will continue to fail. But they don’t care because afterall, universal failure is equitable.
None of this is real.
?? You don’t think this is really happening at that school?
The principal at Essex high actually allows and accommodates a select group of students dressed like cats and these students actually believe they are cars. What’s wrong is a confused disingenuous leadership within the Entire Essex school board that thinks this is normal and acceptable. Vermont has lost its collective mind.
I can’t believe I’m asking for clarification, but is it cats or cars??
Cats. I wish there was an edit feature for comments. Typing on a small screen in combination with spell check sometimes makes my comments change. Unbelievable though allowing mental illness to be acceptable as normality.
Nothing will change until multitudes of parents become educated and say enough is enough! They need to storm these meetings and demand change. This has nothing to do with equity . This is something kids should not have to deal with!! Their brains are still developing and they are highly affected by social pressures and acceptance. They want to be accepted even if that means going off the rails!
Everytime you read or hear the phrase “equity”, just replace it with communism….that’s what it is.
Or maybe all the normal people who are tired of this insanity leave VT. Just imagine an entire state full of nothing but mentally ill leftists, all competing for who’s a bigger victim. Pass the popcorn please.
Sue them. Freedom of Speech means just what it says.
Sue them for what exactly? Google Morse v. Frederick and Tinker vs Des Moines would find for the school
They are loony up in Essex!
What happened to gender fluid????? Lol….can’t make this stuff up.
Gender fluid is ok, but saying you no longer want to be trans isn’t?
The Board and its influencers display their ignorance of and/or disregard for English:
“Centering” is not “defining”.
The subjunctive verb is “were”, not “was”.
The misuse of PRONOUNs (oh the irony): “..those marginalized voices WHO are often silenced.” It’s either “voices THAT are silenced,” or “the voices of the people WHO are silenced.”
Call me nitpicky; but those claiming to be in education are hanging themselves with their own rope. Awful.
What is the age of consent for “gender affirmation surgery” or “gender affirmation hormones” in Vermont? Given that both cause permanent and irreversible changes to the body and mind, one would think it should be at least as high as the age of consent for say, sexual intercourse, or smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol. Right?
This whole ridiculous trans thing reminds me of a joke Woody Allen relayed on Annie Hall:
“A guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, ‘Doc, my brother’s crazy! He thinks he’s a chicken!’ And the doctor says, ‘Well, why don’t you turn him in?’ And the guy says, ‘I would, but—I need the eggs.’
Did you ever wonder if all these parents and teachers that are rescuing the trans kids…. if maybe they need the eggs?
Hypocrisy at the highest level. Ram CRT and gender studies down our children’s throats but don’t allow an opposing view that 98%+ of the general population subscribes to? Take a flying leap. This is not going to end well for the administrators. Wonder who will hire them down the road.
TAKE YOUR KIDS OUT OF THAT SCHOOL UNTIL THERE IS NO SCHOOL LEFT!!