by Richard and Molly Jesse
The Essex and Westford community group Students, Parents and Educators for Achievement Through Knowledge (SPEAKVT) is canvassing to collect signatures on a Parental Rights Petition to present to the School Board of the Essex Westford School District (EWSD).
To sign the petition come to Essex Junction Shopping Center (VT Rte 15-Pearl Street, next to the Champlain Valley Exposition) this Saturday, 8 am to Noon, February 10. Only signatures of Essex and Westford residents are valid.
If this does not work for you, send an email to speakvermont@gmail.com to arrange for a time and location that will work for you.
This petition may seem like basic common sense, but SPEAKVT believes EWSD needs to be reminded that parents do not abandon or relinquish their rights at the schoolhouse door.
Summary of the Petition
1. Parents are their children’s primary caregivers.
2. Children should be protected from discrimination, harassment and bullying.
3. School employees are prohibited from administering medical care or providing counseling to students under age 18 without parental permission. (Medical emergencies excepted.)
4. Parents—and taxpayers—have a right to know what educators are teaching their children.
NOTE: The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the state may not interfere with “the liberty of parents and guardians to direct the upbringing and education of children under their control”.
The full text of the petition appears below.
Parental Rights Petition for the Essex Westford School District
WHEREAS the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution provides that parents have a fundamental right to direct the upbringing and education of their children*;
WE THEREFORE PETITION the Essex Westford School District to adopt the following Guiding Principles on the Respect of Parental Rights, to be applied to all policies and procedures of the district and its schools beginning in the 2024-2025 school year:
1. Parents are their children’s primary caregivers.
Teachers, administrators, and other school personnel are required to affirm that parents are primarily responsible for their children’s education and health, as well as their moral and religious upbringing.
School officials must inform parents within 24 hours of any incident involving their child at school.
2. Children should be protected from discrimination, harassment and bullying.
No student should be compelled to affirm or profess any ideology—e.g., such as suggested by flying any flag other than the United States and Vermont flags—especially any ideological belief that violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Teachers, students, or anyone else within the school must not treat students differently because of race, ethnicity, sex, personal values, or religious beliefs.
Teachers and students must never be compelled to profess that they are guilty of racism based on their own race or ethnicity.
3. Barring a medical emergency in which a parent cannot be reached, school employees are prohibited from administering medical care or providing counseling to students under age 18 without parental permission.
Teachers and administrators cannot withhold information from parents about a student’s decision to assume a different gender.
4. Parents—and taxpayers—have a right to know what educators are teaching their children.
Parents have a right to view all teaching materials that are utilized. Parents should not have to travel to district headquarters or schools to view them. The district should post all materials online to provide access to parents.
School officials should inform parents, in advance, of all outside organizations that make presentations or provide materials of students.
Terms
The term “parent” or “parents” shall mean “any parent, guardian, legal custodian, or other person having control or charge of a child.”
The term “medical emergency” shall mean “a situation in which the condition of the student or sudden change in medical status requires immediate action – e.g. head injury, shock, respiratory distress.”
* As the U.S. Supreme Court has explained in Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57, 65 (2000) (this right is “perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by this Court.”); Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 232 (1972) (“This primary role of the parents in the upbringing of their children is now established beyond debate”); Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 534-35 (1925) (the state may not interfere with “the liberty of parents and guardians to direct the upbringing and education of children under their control.”)
WE THE SIGNATORIES INSIST THAT THIS PROPOSAL APPEAR ON THE APRIL 2024 BALLOT FOR APPROVAL BY THE VOTERS OF THE ESSEX WESTFORD SCHOOL DISTRICT.