Parents packed the June CVUSD school board meetings to send a strong message: Keep child sexualization out of K-12 classrooms. Hundreds of attendees were forced to stand in hallways and watch from overflow rooms. Outside, progressive activists, a number of them from outside the area, heckled and threatened local parents.
Below are some of the comments made to the board.
Steve Schneider, father of a Maple Elementary grade-school student: “At the [June 14] meeting, I was hopeful that the board would realize the importance of parental notification on sensitive identity issues, but they made it very clear that they were not legally required to notify parents and will not be doing so in the future.”
Shannae Anderson, a clinical psychologist in private practice in Thousand Oaks, where she and later her son attended CVUSD schools: “I am concerned that some of the board’s attempts at compassion and inclusion have clouded your judgment and are actually causing harm. … So when third graders are presented with an abstract concept of gender fluidity and transgender, they cannot comprehend the grayness of that construct. … Introducing such complex subjects years before these children can comprehend, creates confusion and misunderstandings that cause cognitive, emotional and psychological issues that are leading them to my office. … I am terribly concerned that psychological issues such as body dysmorphia, eating disorders, sexual trauma and identity confusion are being misunderstood and mislabeled as transgender concerns. Many of these individuals are actually struggling with other psychological issues that are being clouded by an excessive focus on gender. Please understand that I am sympathetic to the position that the board is in. But it is my job as a psychologist and my field’s job, not teachers, to address such complicated issues.”
Brendan, who attended CVUSD schools and graduated from Thousand Oaks High School in 2017: “I am shocked that we’re teaching that stuff here, and especially to third graders. … Gender has meaning to a lot of people… You don’t get to decide that meaning. It’s the role of parents to teach that meaning to their family. All these parents are here because they’re mad. Because you’re violating their human rights. Parents have the right to choose how their kids are educated.”
Tim McCarthy, county superintendent candidate, read from a statement to the board: “School uniforms was decided by a 12-year-old that left young children practicing how little they can wear and exposing too much skin causing distraction from learning and promoting sexualization. Teen sex talk was introduced that pitted children against parents and student against student. It outlined non-normal sexual behaviors as acceptable … with no mention of abstinence or the strength of a family. CVUSD should know that lack of fatherly figures in the home produces higher levels of suicide and crime.
“There’s a reason tens of thousands of kids have been pulled from our public schools. It’s because the school board has made poor decisions, and the parents are now awake and will not tolerate the same agenda moving into next year. Due to all these failures by the CVUSD, I ask that the board either terminate or control the superintendent for acting unethically and slanderously towards parents in this community. I also request the board members re-evaluate their alliances and go back to basics on listening to the parents instead of community activists interested in social indoctrination. … The parents are in charge of their children, and you are here to represent the parents.”
Karen Meyer, candidate for school board in November: “Mark, if anybody showed their true face last week, it was you. Your rant accusing parents and community members of being hateful was inappropriate. Your need to bring in lawyers to back you up shows just how insecure you are of your actions. You’re so busy trying to prove the legality of what you are doing that you are ignoring what is morally and ethically right. … To Mark and this board … your right to introduce sensitive, potentially confusing subjects to students ends with a parent’s right to say ‘no.’”
Jon Cummings: “A few weeks ago, I spoke to you with pride and appreciation for the support our son Jason received from teachers and administrators at Westlake High between 2017-2020. They were years during which Jason began his medical transition with hormones and then surgery. And during which his school, his friends and his broader school community all created an environment in which he could live authentically, become a leader and thrive academically and socially. … Imagine you’re a student that comes to the realization that you’ve been born into the wrong body. It can happen at any age. Not just to grown-ups. It happens to third graders and even preschoolers.”
Michael Spencer: “I feel like I’m in a cemetery. I’m looking at seven stone-cold faces. You have a lot of people here that pay taxes, and pay your salaries and have genuine concerns about what is going on in this valley. I’m a resident of the San Fernando Valley. I am here on behalf of [friends from the Conejo Valley] who have been painted to be people they are not. They are absolutely wonderful, incredible people. We differ on many, many things, but they are good parents. … I’m here to [discuss] the inappropriateness of sexual content with elementary school children. … If any of my children ever came home, if my son, who’s 12, came home in third grade and said, “Daddy, am I transgender?” I would go through the roof. That teacher, that principal — somebody needs to be fired. … I don’t have a problem with sex education when you get to be in 11th or 12th grade. But you’re putting concepts — masturbation, all sorts of other things — into potentially chemically prepubescent children. It’s not right, and you’re taking away my right as a parent to determine when is the appropriate time to have this conversation with my child. It’s not the school’s job. Their job is to teach my kid math, science, language arts and history.”
Sophia Dedomenico: “Through the entirety of this year, we have seen both the board and superintendent repudiate parental rights and notifications. In fact, we’ve seen all of those who bring inquiries or demur called, by our own district superintendent, haters. As a parent, my goal is to be an ally to my children in supporting their education. Our goals here are mutually aligned. However, how can this be accomplished when we as parents are cut out, silenced and dismissed? For true equity, diversity and inclusion to transpire, all voices must be heard and considered. This board, thus far, has done a grave disservice to both our students and this community.”
Whitney Miller, former CVUSD teacher and mother of three: “While I know the role of parents is critical in a child’s life and upbringing … I don’t believe that parents should be dictating the censorship of public education.”
Joelle Mancuso, candidate for school board in November: “Last week was both disappointing and illuminating at the same time. Parents from all over the district attended and spoke to the board, and two things happened — all five of you sat there and watched Mark call a room of parents haters, on multiple occasions, for saying they wanted to know what was being taught in the classroom. … It is you who decided parents wouldn’t get a heads-up before confusing gender material is forced in front of their children. The families of this district come from different cultural and moral backgrounds, and that is why schools should stay in their academic lane. It’s time for big changes on this board.”
Marni: “The titles of the new programs being taught here sound innocent – Teen Talk and California Healthy Youth. But that is a ruse. …They’re actually stealing our children’s innocence. I know in this state, these programs are legal, but that doesn’t make them right. I am here to tell you, not only do I not agree, but I oppose it, and I don’t want my tax dollars to pay for it. We are asking you, as our school board, to stand in the gap for us, to protect our children, because we do not want this curriculum for our kids. … Remove all books showing sex acts from the school. Stop teaching sex acts to our kids. That I even need to ask that of a school board is incredible. Why do you insist on exposing all of our kids to these perverse sex topics?”
Jim Anderson: “I’m astounded that your so-called inclusivity seems to come from only one side. Should anyone dare to have a different opinion or refuse to affirm or agree with yours, they’re labeled as haters. … Our children are not your petri dish.”
Julie Alley, longtime Conejo Valley resident: “Test scores, a ridiculous dress code, the mental health of these children, the absurd attendance rules. What is up around here? Anxiety, fighting, drug use, vaping, sexual exposure. The problem is with these Teen Talks; the kids are not learning respect and respect for one another and their bodies. They’re learning that everything is no big deal. Kissing isn’t sexual. First base is no big deal. They’re not being taught the right messages. Nothing means anything. This is what they’re being modeled.”
Superintendent Mark McLaughlin: “I would have done the same thing and would expect all of our teachers to do the same thing [show a pro-gender dysphoria video to grade-school students without notifying parents or asking permission]. This is a single incident that we will see happen again and again. … As a superintendent, I do support our [Maple Elementary third-grade] teacher. She did nothing against the law, against our board policy. … I know people want to hear that we only teach reading, writing, math, social studies, but the state of California demands to teach ethnic studies, California Healthy Youth Act. There are things above our pay grade that we don’t have the option to opt out of. … If you really want to make appeals to any changes you want, whatever changes those are, you’ve got to appeal to a higher authority than us. Because we have no authority in changing some of those laws and those decisions.”
Board member Lauren Gill: “We’ve heard loud insistences that parents are to be consulted in advance before stories are shared about families that include trans kids. This intolerance is not okay, not with me. Thinly-veiled bigotry is bigotry nonetheless. Let’s be very clear that these few loud voices are asking us to visit unconstitutional discrimination on children in our schools. There is no parental right to inflict discrimination on children in our public schools.”
I was one of the people at that meeting , and what I heard was not “intolerance ” as board member Lauren Gill states in her comments .
I ‘ll give her the benefit of the doubt that maybe she mistook parents emotion and passion in expressing their unhappiness with the way the State of CA has sneakily woven these policies into curriculum and effectively bypassed the Parents rights .
It seems to me that the CVUSD is taking a stance of “we’re just doing our jobs and following the law ” rather than asking the parents who spoke ,how can we work through this ?
From my point of view they are simply saying “Nope , you’re wrong to voice your concerns and in fact when doing so you’re are being hateful and discriminatory ”
What I see is a school board whom is unwilling to admit that something needs to change -it’s take it or leave it !
Well , be careful what you wish for CVUSD , we are already seeing a decline in public school enrollment -you may just get your wish .
This is a cry for help . My friend spoke out for this cause and now he is in jail ! Please help anyone a good lawyer ?