By John Klar
A recent dispute involving a trans teacher hired to teach social studies at Randolph Union High School (RUHS) in Vermont raises important constitutional questions for all American students and schools. (The word “all” must be emphasized here, as in “Liberty and Justice for All“). The question at issue is who is allowed to teach what, and whether “all” teachers and teachings are welcome or appropriate.
Adin Buchanan, the new would-be teacher, identifies as “non-binary, bisexual, and easily confused” in an October 11, 2020 social media post, in which he [using the gender-neutral “he” here —ed.] also posted, “There’s no liberation for some of us until all of us are free.” (emphasis added).
But Adin’s liberties for all are quite free indeed, and clearly extended to a wider than customary span of social studying. In one March 14, 2021 post, he wrote:
Hey y’all I’m remixing one of my healthy sexuality workshops for my new job (target audience teenage boys) and I want your input! I’d love your 1-2 sentence examples of healthy, unhealthy, or even hamful sexual behavior pertaining to that demographic. Bonus points if you label them 1-10 (it’s for a spectrum activity)…. These boys have already gotten a lot of the basics down, so I’m looking for moderately nuanced examples.
Examples: Getting STI screened with your potential sex partner and talking through what you want, and what you don’t want, before having sex.
TLDR: What do you want teenage boys to know about sex?
An accompanying photo of Adin is headed “pre-COVID steamy/tired bar pic for attention.”
RUHS parents found this all a bit much. Helping children “get the sexual basics down,” defining as non-binary while targeting gender-binary boys, and posting steamy bar photos made many parents “easily confused.” When Adin announced his new RUHS job, he posted:
Hey RUHS, my name is Adin Buchanan (She/they pronouns) and I’m so excited to be joining the Social Studies team this year. … Nerd out with me about queer and trans issues, neurodivergence in the classroom.
Pictures of Adin included the caption “eat the rich,” an obvious socialist reference that in Vermont would mean eating mostly liberal elitists, so the cannibalism plug also “easily confused” parents. What else might they expect in the classroom?
Many parents asked school officials about this new hire. RUHS co-principal Caty Sutton responded:
Thank you for raising these important questions. As a school community, we need to uphold and protect the identity and right to free speech among all our school community members. … If the school year begins and there are concerns about the academic content of a course that you would like to discuss, please let us know.
But this gaslighting of parents only demonstrated that school officials were very easily confused. Parents asked, quite reasonably, whether gender-binary, monogamous teachers would be afforded the same rights of identity and protection and free speech rights. (As in, for all.) The response? Crickets.
In response to this question asked of School superintendent Layne Millington, parents received a boilerplate gaslighting tactic:
We have received your email and will look into your concerns. We strive to create and maintain a school environment where all are respected and safe. Thank you for being a partner in ensuring dignity and respect for all students and staff members. As you know, a safe school environment for all is one of our primary goals. If you have any concerns about the quality of instruction please let us know.
Clearly, the superintendent is confused — the quality of instruction was precisely the subject matter of the unanswered parental inquiry. Given recent revelations about schools illegally discriminating against “conservative” teachers, the question of what these schools (constitutionally) mean by “all” is a logical one.
RUHS has a serious problem improving the math and reading proficiencies of all its students and dealing with drug problems and behavioral disruptions. It is understandable why some parents might question the quality of instruction offered in the classroom by an easily confused non-binary neurodivergence teacher to young binary boys who advocates eating rich people with posts of steamy bar-hopping (and other) photos. This is all just bizarre stuff, whatever the sexual orientation of the teacher (which is not the issue here). This should be concerning to all.
Has RUHS hired gender-binary, monogamous Orthodox Jewish teachers lately? Perhaps that should be required — for diversity’s sake. Get a different perspective in the classroom (perhaps in biology class?). It is very likely that the systemic ideological imprinting of this school’s student body has contributed to the decline in test scores in basic subjects while racial division, drug use, bullying, and disciplinary chaos have erupted — for all. It is, after all, quite obvious that Mr. Millington would discriminate against Orthodox, monogamous Jewish teachers — isn’t it?
On September 9, the RUHS announced the following:
We are reaching out because your student is enrolled in grade 10 Modern World History at Randolph Union High School. The teacher we had hired to teach the course has resigned effective immediately, and in the short term, a long term sub will be teaching the class. We are seeking a highly qualified teacher to work with the class longer term.
How about a highly qualified, married, gender-binary man or woman, whose identity and free speech rights will be affirmed? Just so parents — and all staff and students — know what “all” means again.
The word seems misunderstood — not by parents and students, but by Superintendent Millington, et al.
Republished from American Thinker. John Klar is a 2022 Vermont state Senate candidate.
Categories: Commentary
Seems although almost every teacher at my child’s school is either a short haired (with some dye) female or a man that rolls his eyes and flashes his hands when he talks. Anyone else notice this trend? Are those teaching credentials these days?
Two words: Parochial Schools.
Our kids need normal well adjusted and mature teachers who are prepared to teach them to read, write, do math etc. They don’t need “confused” teachers intent on sharing their warped private lives with everyone and encouraging the kids to join in their lifestyles. Something has gone very wrong with our education system; and no, I’m not just discovering that!
And I suspect that the main point of hiring this teacher wasn’t “their” academic or professional credentials but to score woke points by hiring a trans teacher. No different than when schools, companies or governments hire black employees who aren’t necessarily the top candidates but are given the job to meet diversity quotas and goals. We’ve gone so far backwards now, when hiring decisions, college admissions, home loans etc are being based on “diversity “ goals and not quality.
Welcome to Pervmont. Children are being exposed to things that, under the law, should be prosecuted. VSA: Title 13: Crimes and Criminal Procedure
Chapter 25: Children And Persons Who Are Incompetent
The sick and demonic are running our school systems. Wake up!
Article in today’s Hell Times……Satan is extremely pleased with Superintendent Millington.
My grandchildren ages 5 and 7 were informed by their new teacher in a public school that she was not a girl or a boy. She informed the little children in her classes that she is a “mix”. It is not her place to discuss her gender with young children. The children are instructed to call her “Mix” . The public school is in Franklin County.
@ Ruth
The inmates are truly running the asylum!
Mixed-up is more like it.
All I can say is, “Wow!” If I went in the same school and prayed over my lunch or snack, I would be reported.
OMG Ruth………get them out of there……
This is the #1 reason I sold my family homestead and left Vermont. If this crap infiltrates my new home in Western KY, my retirement hobby will be homeschooling my grandson. So far, I’ve seen no sign of it in this county filled with free community events (harvest festival this weekend) and welcoming neighbors who know their gender.
The foundation of education is the expansion of understanding and the moving of the masses towards a comprehension of values and broader philosophies of the world so that a mass of people might move towards the general betterment of society.
The writing here is clearly not in support of the of the general education of people. The misdirection and intentional relabeling through a pathological argument, for the restrictions of individual freedoms, is the most outstanding example of why people like Adin need to be teachers.
The composition of paragraph one of your comment is a run-on sentence. The essense of your comment is word salad and a classic example how poor our education system truly is – thank you for displaying it perfectly!
Melissa,
Complex sentences aren’t necessarily run-on. The structure of a run-on sentence requires clauses that can stand alone without being properly joined. There was only one verb in the first paragraph.
As Bernie Sanders says – let me be clear. Stop using high intellect brain droppings to normalize sexual assault and abuse of minor children! The Devil’s trickery is to double talk, project, gaslight and outright lie as a means of mind control. You can use any high end word out of the Websters Dictionary – it does not change the fact that abusing children is not acceptable and should not be tolerated in a civil society. In other countries, such conduct would result in being imprisoned or executed. Perhaps that is what needs to happen here to stop this criminal and evil activity. Keep personal sexual preferences and lifestyles out of schools and children’s faces! It is child abuse!
I simply don’t care for your gobbled-gook “…values and broader philosophies of the world…” BS. It was bad enough in the 90’s; when my kids entered school. I ended up homeschooling for awhile, because this kind of rhetoric is damaging to the psyche of developing minds. Kids need boundaries. You clearly have none and then criticize those who do. None dare call it education.
This is beyond the pale. Teach or don’t teach, but leave your sexual preference and life at home. Kids today do not need the perversion shoved in their faces. At what point do they become sex offenders when asking kids sexually charged questions? Are we teaching sex therapy now???? Mix, has no business telling elementary school kids this. They are either Miss or Mister.
Exactly Cheryl! Get those photos of children and family off of teacher’s desks. It’s disgusting how they display who they are.
You are evading the issue of encouraging underage sex and delving into matters that go to the extreme. Simply teaching Sex Education is not the issue.
My experience as an educator tells me that kids will experiment with sex whether it is taught in the schools or not.
The religious school i taught in did promote abstinence but it only stuck in a handful of kid once puberty set in.