By Renee McGuinness
I attended the Addison County Supervisory District (ACSD) School Board meeting last night to listen to and comment on the materials reconsideration request submitted by two parents of a Mary Hogan Elementary school student who oppose gender ideology literature included in a kindergarten study unit called, “Who We Are.”
This was a second school board meeting in which attendees provided public comment, at the encouragement of resident Amanda Reinhardt for people to “rally against a small group of parents spreading disinformation,” according to a December 12 article in the Addison Independent.
The seven books being challenged are: “They He She Me: Free to Be!” By Maya Christina Gonzales and Matthew Smith Gonzales; “Bodies are Cool” by Tyler Feder; “It Feels Good to Be Yourself” by Theresa Thorn; “Julian is a Mermaid” by Jessica Love; “Introducing Teddy” by Jessica Walton; “Sparkle Boy” by Leslea Newman; and “Fred Gets Dressed” by Peter Brown.
It was apparent that two worldviews are butting heads.
On one side, the scientific, biblically-based worldview that God – referred to as our Creator who endowed us with our unalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence, and who also, by the way, created science – created male and female, and that we can see the scientific evidence for this in the XX and XY chromosomes that result in female and male physical features, and can measure physiological and cognitive attributes according to sex and gender.
On the other side, an ideology claiming there are more than two genders, and that sex assigned at birth is not necessarily aligned with one’s own gender identity: an ideology in which children suffering from gender dysphoria self-diagnose their medical condition, while allies and members frequently use gender stereotypes to make their arguments.
Ed Wheeler of Middlebury provided succinct comment on the history of education moving from a moral framework based on Judeo-Christian values, to an academic curriculum void of any moral perspective, to a humanist perspective in which the Judeo-Christian perspective is “not being respected.”
Commenters that support gender ideology literature in public schools claimed that by removing such books from a Kindergarten curriculum, a small group of parents are “dictating” what other parents’ children are reading.
This is nonsense.
No one submitted a form to Mary Hogan Elementary in an effort to block parents from reading false gender ideology to their children in their own home, damaging their children in the process.
Also false was the notion that a small minority is opposed to teaching gender ideology in public schools, when according to a Pew research poll from 2022, 60% of people believe gender is determined at birth; 58% think we should have laws that require trans athletes to complete on teams that match their biological sex; and 41% think it should be illegal for public schools to teach about gender identity in elementary schools; while 64% think that transgender people should be protected from discrimination in jobs, housing, and public spaces, yet only 27% think that health insurance companies should be required to cover medical expenses for gender transitions.
Vermont is uniquely, stubbornly, and ignorantly behind in current scientific conclusions on standards of care for children and youth who experience gender confusion. In Britain, hormone blockers for minors have been banned indefinitely.
Commenters in support of the gender ideology curriculum also inferred that if parents and community members do not support gender ideology being taught in public schools, then they do not care about transgender and gender diverse children and adults, that they are not viewed as “real people,” and that the only socially acceptable mindset toward children suffering from gender dysphoria is to accept their mental illness as a variety of one’s own personal reality, rather than heal the individual by affirming and celebrating the gender in which one is born.
It is, in fact, gender ideology proponents that want to force their beliefs on others in society.
It is the upholders and influencers of gender ideology that are confusing children, and in combination with the narrative that humans are an invasive species that are destroying the planet by using fossil fuels, and the “do what feels good, follow-your-own-heart” ideology that leaves children anchorless, ungrounded, confused, scared, hopeless, and without purpose, resulting in higher rates of anxiety, depression, suicidality, and self-harm, accounts of which were shared anecdotally by Middlebury resident and Middlebury Teen Center Director, Lyndsey Fuentes George.
It is also false that proponents of the scientific-biblical worldview – which is banned in public schools, by the way – are the ones causing mental-emotional distress for gender dysphoric children by stating that hormone blockers, cross-sex hormones, and “top” and “bottom” surgeries are damaging, and that God has a better plan for them.
Fran Putnam from Weybridge claimed that most schools have policies that provide alternative lesson plans when parents object to material.
Lyndsey Fuentes George claimed that Franny Gould, the kindergarten teacher who is implementing the “Who We Are” curriculum, “let every parent know exactly what was happening.”
I will be following up on these claims with a FOIA records request to obtain the written communication Franny Gould sent to parents to notify parents of “Who We Are” curriculum content, opt-out forms, alternative lesson options, and the library materials selection and reconsideration policy in its entirety, including which book review organizations are used to curate classroom and school library materials.
Taxpayers have a stake in the curriculum used in schools in Vermont and across the U.S., because it is molding the minds of our future adult citizens, workers, and leaders.
This is yet the latest in our State, and our nation, trying to answer the question: Should the government, through its public school system, have more authority over a child’s personal development than the parents? For more on the topic, see Dave Soulia’s article on FYIVT: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: School Edition”
The author is the Vermont Family Alliance Policy Analyst.