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By Guy Page
A Franklin County school board meeting October 1 drew a large crowd as parents and residents voiced sharply differing views over LGBTQ+ and diversity themes in area schools.
The comments were prompted in part by a September 16 VDC news article headlined Parent challenges LGBTQ, BLM hallway messaging at elementary school. The parent, Jarrod Vaillancourt, and his wife both attended and addressed the school board. So did others who agreed with them. As one commenter noted, the article sparked a movement within the Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union (FNESU) community. Parents subsequently created a group where they can voice their concerns and seek to affect change, and credit must be given to some very motivated mothers.
At the October 1 board meeting of the Northern Mountain Valley Union Unified School District (NMVUUSD), part of the larger Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union, some parents expressed fear of speaking out against these issues, for fear that their children will pay a price, or that there will be a penalty for practicing free speech. A second stated that their five-year-old cannot read, but they know about pride month; another noting that the labeling of children is the problem.
Opinions from those in support of current school practices included making claims of widespread racism within the community. One community member stated, “The reality is, is that racism runs deep in our community”. Another stated, “Post the Trump election they were told that they have no value”, and yet another urged the school board to not sign-on to the current Washington administration’s DEI and anti-pride bigotry.
Vaillancourt said there were VT State Troopers in attendance. “I assume that they were there at the request of the school board and/or school administration. In my opinion, this further displays a misuse of our tax dollars, while simultaneously appearing to send a message to community members that they may not be trusted,” he said.
The meeting opened at 6:35 p.m., with the chair welcoming the packed audience and laying out expectations for respectful public comment. “We understand that our community holds diverse viewpoints,” she said. “All comments tonight should focus on constructive dialogue rather than personal attacks.” Each speaker was allotted two minutes.
Criticism of school leadership and DEI programs
Vaillancourt expressed frustration with district leadership and curriculum priorities. “Parents are tired of the empty rhetoric and gaslighting we’ve gotten from this school administration,” he said. “We’re tired of the outright promotion of gender ideology in our schools… tired of critical race theory, and tired of anti-racist policies, which is just another way of saying racism.” Vaillancourt argued that despite increased spending, “our children continue to be well below proficiency,” adding that the education system “has grown larger, more expensive, and the educational results have gotten worse.”
Call for empathy and acknowledgment of racism
Caroline Elander, a Berkshire resident and longtime parent volunteer, said her family’s experience reflected both the strengths and shortcomings of the local schools. “We have never seen or heard about any staff or teachers trying to push an agenda,” she said. “What we have seen is teachers encouraging kids to think for themselves.”
However, she said her family was forced to withdraw their daughter in eighth grade “because of racism from other students.” Elander urged the board to “open a conversation about the many different backgrounds, cultures, and ways of living that make up our broader world.”
Opposition to federal DEI policies
Pat Farmer encouraged the board to reject what he described as federal overreach. “I would like to urge the board not to sign on to the current Washington administration’s DEI and anti-bias bigotry,” Farmer said, adding, “Don’t deny knowledge to any student just because somebody else thinks it’s wrong. Let people judge for themselves.”
Concerns over classroom materials and displays
Laura Bolan said some parents “fear speaking out” about what she called “disrespect for parents’ rights regarding their children’s health and wellness.” She cited pride-themed decorations and Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) materials displayed near young students as examples. “Our concerns are stemming from the stickers, flyers, and decorative boards supporting GSA and pride symbols in our schools,” Bolan said. “Parents are concerned this is happening without our knowledge. What else are we missing?”
Defense of inclusion
Emily Grims, a speech pathologist and Berkshire parent, said schools have a duty to teach respect and inclusion under state and federal law. “Preparing students for the real world means acknowledging and reflecting the world as it is,” she said. “Teaching respect for all is teaching civic responsibility.”
Grims said the controversy over a bulletin board with a rainbow design had been overblown. “The core message literally only says, ‘All are welcome here.’ That’s inclusive and universal. I see no problem with that.”
Testimony from LGBTQ/disabled families
Sarah Stewart, a Berkshire resident, said her child, who is disabled, biracial, and transgender, had faced repeated bullying. “Racism does actively exist in our community, as does homophobia, transphobia, and disrespect of disabled people,” she said. Stewart said her child “was physically attacked, verbally attacked… told they have no value.” She urged residents to “find ways to unify and support each other” rather than divide.
Accounts of racial bullying
One mother said her daughter was told by another student that “she couldn’t play tetherball because she’s Black.” She said the family eventually left Montgomery because of repeated racial harassment. “Kids in our community are being hurt right now because of the color of their skin and their gender identity,” she said. “Where is the concern for the mental health of these kids before more are hurt?”
The mother urged empathy across divides. “If you see me as a walking agenda, then you might see me as a threat,” she said. “But I care about your children, too.”
Concerns about age-appropriateness
Emily Cuddy questioned whether pride-themed messages were suitable for very young students. “My 5-year-old cannot read, but he does know what Pride Month is,” she said. “That is sexualizing children. School is learning — reading, science, and math — not that.” Cuddy also said parents should have been notified about “a pride assembly in the school gym.”
Plea for unity and discipline
The final speaker, Michelle Valent, said she had not planned to speak but felt compelled after hearing others’ experiences. “It all boils down to a disciplinary issue,” Valent said. “All of our students are equal… and it breaks my heart to hear that anyone is being hurt. The label is not the issue. The label is the problem.”
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Categories: Education
Headline fixed:
Parents, educators sharply divided on LGBTQ post-Modern, post-Christian, post-Western Civilization in school
Parents, educators sharply divided on LGBTQ messaging in school
Lust of the flesh is nothing new, these flames of passion do not need to be fanned.
We are teaching our children that lust is love and nothing could be further from the truth.
We need to teach love.
We need to reach the different kinds of love, brotherly love, does not mean you sleep with family members, despite what they push on the porn sites!
There is agape love, do our children know about this?
My guess is no.
TGBTG
How about all matters of sexuality and gender aside from disease and pregnancy prevention in health class and biology NO LONGER BE PART of any public school curriculum??? As a matter of First Amendment religious and expression protections, if you want to teach your own children in your own home that homosexuality is taboo and that God only made girls and boys, or if you want to fly 20 transgender and palestinian flags in your front yard, that’s fine. I dont want to invoke the word “closet” but how about just keeping the sex stuff OUT OF SCHOOL, at least until the yoots are proficient in math, science and english??? Return to the common sense concept that locker room policy and sports participation should be based on ANATOMY/GENETICS NOT PSYCHOLOGY. And put an end to this incessant, pathological obsession with race and colonization!!! In short, omit all the sick left-wing propaganda and get back to the original purpose of public education: to provide the yoots with the intellectual skills they need to be decent, productive members of a prosperous society.
Rich,
Please tell us all what a yoot is.
You’ve used that word repeatedly in more than one of your comments.
Yoot is Jersey-speak for “youth”. Kind of common parlance made light of in the movie My Cousin Vinnie.
Don’t Jersey Vermont
Re: ‘yoot’.
Hey, welcome to VDC University – where we learn something every day. 🙂
God bless these parents for speaking out.
No wonder we rank somewhere in the bottom in Math, Reading and Science against other countries of the world, most of which spend far less on education than we do. They teach those things while we feel it necessary to teach gender studies and race theory.
Science? Whatever science the media pushes nowadays. Take it from someone with a degree in science….no science is exact.
This is a perfect argument for dismantling the Public school system. The two sides will never agree on what should be taught in school. As it stands now, parents with traditional values, whether that be Christian based or not, are having their kids force-fed Leftist garbage. The call for being open-minded is a Leftist psyop which really means; never mind what you’ve been taught from the Bible or the Koran, you need to empty your head so we can fill it up with Marxism.
Leave the kids alone
Its the kids parents who should be ashamed of themselves. The parents are the loud voices. Let your child go through puberty wirhout trying to fix everything. Thats bad parenting
School choice solves this. Let parents decide what kind of curriculum and culture they want their children to experience.
Everyone should read Rob’s missive on ‘Act 73 Survey: Time to Tell ‘Em What You Really Think!’
And then FILL OUT THE SURVEY!… in support of School Choice.
As Tom Paine said, ‘ We should not, confuse society and government. “Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness . . . the one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron ( i.e. protector), the last a punisher.’
@John, Thanks for your blog post “Civil Society”. I read a few sections, difficult I thought, because of the flowery language. But the next day I reflected on what I had read and it illuminated many of the issues with our current politics. I am printing to pdf with link to your blog for future reference
The same occurred in Essex many years ago. Parents who communicated displeasure with their children learning about BLM, and DEI were labeled as radical political extremists. DEI is a Soviet Era Program created by Lenin and advanced by Stalin. It strive to create total equality of outcomes,va is required Russian chauvinists to subjegate themselves to the rural peasants. This program was then exported to China by Mao. In this instance, during the great leap forward, Hans Chauvinists were required to subjegate themselves. And last but not least, the communist program has made it to America where white men and all other white people are required to subjegate themselves to the LGBTQ+ demographic. This includes the 20 million migrants that flooded out country with the aid of the United Nations and army of NGOs that assisted them. Every white Western nation globally was simultaneously in this fashion. This is not a coincidence..
Thanks for explaining some of the history behind the situation. Practically everyone will roll their eyes when confronted with this information: too many people have roots in both sides of that, and the guilt will cause a fight or flight reaction. It is true the people behind the curtains of many organizations have been studying psychology and how to control people. The Slave lords who profited mightily (and never lost their true wealth even after the Civil War we fought) were very keen on how to control their stock. While I lived and studied in FL, I happened to get a good education from patriots who descended from such people. It is mind blowing that the same controllers have advanced their craft to the point where they can motivate people to implement self destructive behavior.
I have not the resources to study and elaborate further, but I believe the deliberate manipulation of people goes much further back in history: the fall of Rome was not an accident.
Thank God for VDC, where we can express our understanding of current affairs.
Pitting neighbors against each other about what they want on the menu when you’ve imprisoned them in one restaurant — a formula guaranteeing the customer conflict described here and insuring grudging satisfaction at best. Wouldn’t it be simpler to stop funding an organization with its featherbedded super-structure and directly fund the customers/constituents…the learners? You know, citizens buying what they want?
The “progressive” education establishment preserves their protection racket the same way the mafia protected theirs…with bagmen and enforcers. In this case the bagmen and enforcers go by the acronym VTNEA.
Anybody else notice Nick Rasato didn’t comment in this one, huh? Could it be Nick agrees with something Trump believes? Two genders? We don’t want our kids learning about gay stuff in school. We dont want them confused and eager to test the waters. This stuff was never taught when I was in school, Class of 98.
We just wanna get married, we just wanna have rights like other couples, we just want our cake made, we just wanna pretend to be a woman and peep over or under the stalls, we just wanna read your kids books while performing an adult strip tease, we just want these adult themed perverted books in the library, we just wanna be accepted with special ruling, but equal of course. Little by little, they slime in the agenda. Stay away from our kids. Plus, there are going to be so many confused kids whom have undergone irreversible hormone replacement, surgeries, etc. Can’t fully change back what God had already made perfect.
Oh, Josh you’re thinking about me! (I’d show a heart emoji if I could!) I do believe in two genders. I support school choice. But I think parents sheltering their children from discussions about gay and straight people does more harm to those children. I have two children in elementary school right now. I get zero sense that there is an issue about gender identity.
The way I view the problem about this topic is that social media and the news highlights incidents from around the country and local parents think the same things are going on in their schools. For instance, I do not care if Marlon Bundo (children’s book) is in the school library. Just because it is there doesn’t mean the teachers are actively indoctrinating my children to be gay.
I’d also advise, God has nothing to do with it. It’s kind of apropos that in Nietzsche’s The Gay Science is the quote “God is dead.” The morality I grew up with and that I teach my children comes from lived experience and parental guidance, rather than fealty to a book.
Josh, you had to go and knock on the cage…
PLEASE don’t forget that such medical intervention permanently damages the child’s body.
It’s well know that expressing sexuality in the workplace is inappropriate. It makes most people feel uncomfortable. It’s inappropriate. You are likely to get reprimanded. It’s unprofessional.
Why in God’s name are our minor children being subjected to adult relationship oriented material in school?
It’s not racism. IT’S COMMON SENSE.
And frankly, in the workplace, these LGBTQ+ types are the FIRST to accuse you of wrongdoing if you even breath a word they don’t like. They can’t handle reality.
If I wanted to be retaliatory, I would say “Hey! Why Don’t we institute a Heterosexual Celebration Month in our schools and we’ll call it even?”
But no, I don’t think our kids need to be burdened with more things they shouldn’t have to deal with yet. Their first priorities should be to learn Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and hopefully some civics, science, and other interdisciplinary arts while they’re at it. And being healthy, having some fun when they can.
We can leave the complicated fact that they only exist because of the love between a man and woman for a rainy day.
You make the best point in this discussion about the impropriety of “sex talk” in school. In this age where we dont tolerate sexual harassment in the workplace and punish it with firing and civil suits, why do we allow it in schools directed toward impressionable minor children in a captive audience? Any discussion prohibited in the workplace should be prohibited in a public school. Just have the same labor law posters that many workplaces require be hung on the wall prominently on display in the teachers’ lounge. There, that was easy.
Emily Grims claims that schools have a duty to teach respect and inclusion under state and federal law. I am not sure what law she is referencing. I would like to be enlightened. I would like to know the legal definition of inclusion. I suppose that it is context specific. At any rate, I believe that the teaching of values should be the duty of parents, not the school. In my day teachers were “in loco parentis” only while school was in session. Today’s educational system, just like the rest of the bureaucratic state is overstepping its traditional boundaries. This is not an educational failure as much as it is a societal one. We have forgotten God, lost our moral compass and are reaping the consequences.
Parents Protecting Childhood Facebook group was the first step for me to find out who was in support of DEI and who felt like I do. It made me realize that there is dozens of parents that feel the same way and more importantly it open my eyes to what is really going on in the school and that there is a lot that parents don’t know. By diving deeper into the department of education, their teachers guide to sex -for example…. which I suggest everybody reads is a prime example of the narrative they’re painting and anybody speaking out against it are segregationist and part of the problem.This sex ed is something that is their standard that rolling out in schools… This is Elementary School people. So really no matter what Emily Grims is saying that’s just a GSA board and it’s not that big a deal… This is elementary school kids and it is a big deal. So if you know somebody that is a parent, aunt, uncle or grandparent in the FNESU district as frustrated as I am please join this group. There’s a lot of articles worth reading and I guarantee you will learn something that you didn’t already know.
Since starting this whole thing, I have had parents message me and tell me that they feared speaking out. I’ve had people from all different professions reach out and say the same thing. I have had parents reach out and share their stories. I’ve also had parents reach out and give me examples of repercussions, Even so, I’m being legal! Anybody that is paying attention sees the corruption goes a lot deeper and these decorations in school. This is Lynn Cota, Michelle Irish, and Miss Saunders.
Hi Laura, please remember that I also said that I understand why parents might object to groups tied to national organizations that have baggage. I said I think the messages of “All are welcome” can be shared without using the GSA. I’m working to find common ground.
I totally support parents choosing to opt out if they feel the school curriculum doesn’t align with their personal beliefs — that’s your right, and I’m glad you have that option.
What concerns me is the push to change the curriculum for everyone’s children based on individual beliefs. I want my kids to learn about the world as it really is — diverse, complex, and sometimes uncomfortable. That includes learning about all kinds of people and perspectives.
If opting out works for your family, that’s totally valid. But please don’t try to reshape the entire curriculum to match your beliefs. I want my kids to have access to a full and honest education, not one shaped solely by your worldview.
Re: Emily Grimms said: ““Teaching respect for all is teaching civic responsibility.”
Then we should allow all parents, not a select few, to have access to Vermont’s School Choice ‘tuitioning’. If we truly respect everyone, we should respect all parent’s right to choose the education program they believe best meets the needs of their children.
Emily Grims said….. Sorry for the typo.
Weather its school choice and being encourage to read a book, this stuff going on inside our public schools is wrong and not healthy in growing children. Children have parents and/or guirdiams, this behavior has NO place in an academic stting for children.
These are children for heaven sake. Where is the common-sense in these educators and Administratotors.. Many educators are being forced to teach this stuff too, not
I hosted 7/8 public Townhalls meetings across Vermont in 2021,when President Trump identified this behavior was happening in the Federal government departments and in publice school in America. Edicators, parents, and grandparents came out and said to CRT-Equity, now DEI and Queer theory teaching. Children are growing in many ways and this should NOT be part of it.
There is so much more to say on this topic. Stay tune. Visit us at “Vermonters for Vermont” Initiative or contact us at V4V2018@aol.com
Please re-think this policy. This in NOT healthy for the children.
Re: “Weather its school choice and being encourage to read a book, this stuff going on inside our public schools is wrong and not healthy in growing children. Children have parents and/or guirdiams, this behavior has NO place in an academic stting for children.”
False dichotomy: School Choice doesn’t encourage anything… it allows parents and guardians to do so. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
David Davis: Don’t CALIFORNIA Vermont, k? And don’t remove “reply” icons either.
Kathleen,
Only original comments posted in these comment sections feature a “reply” icon. Any subsequent response to an original comment does not feature a “reply” icon.
In others words, you can’t reply to a reply, only an original, k?
This is a WordPress feature and cannot be controlled or manipulated by myself or seemingly even the editor of this website.
Any other unwarranted ignorant accusations you’d like to lob my way?
Kathleen,
That phrase doesn’t hold up as well on a bumper sticker.
And besides, I’m not from CA nor do I necessarily espouse certain characteristics often associated with that west coast lifestyle.
Perhaps a more appropriate phrase, and one of which many people currently reading VDC could agree upon is: Don’t Long Island VT
@David davis… rather harsh of you to suggest in any manner that Kathleen is “ignorant”, as I find her comments, over time, are quite well written.
…. let’s play nice, k
Jude,
I was accused point blank of manipulative behavior that is simply not possible on this forum. So much for playing nice.
I feel that anyone who has used this VDC comment platform over time and isn’t aware of its features is indeed willfully ignorant. And to cast accusations at others based on that ignorance is rude and unfortunate. Regardless of past well written contributions.
I find it disturbing that the principal of Montgomery Elementary appears to be cheering “Yes, everyone is leaving!” at about the 34 min mark.