|
Board of Education Admits it has NO SUPPORT for Their Own Allegations of Student Gay Bullying, Stereotyping, or ANY OTHER Sexual Orientation Discrimination
Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum requested under the Maryland Public Information Act, that Montgomery County Public Schools provide documentation and support for Superintendent Dr. Jerry Weast’s repeated allegations of: “emotional distress”, “physical violence”, “unsafe feelings”, “bullying” and “hate” directed against Montgomery County Public School students because of their sexual orientation.
CRC recently received the school system's response, and the BOE says that MCPS does not have any such documentation or support for their own allegations!
In his letter to the CRC, Brian Edwards, Director of Public Information for MCPS, states:
“MCPS does not collect or maintain documentation concerning specific references or other sources of information that may have been reviewed or used by staff”
“MCPS does not collect or maintain data on the number of Montgomery County students who fall into any category of sexual orientation.”
These two sentences were the official answers to the following requests:
1. A copy of all references relating to the following statement found in Dr. Weast’s November 12, 2002 memorandum to the Members of the Board of Education:
“Students who have different sexual orientation, such as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and/or transgender, or who have sexual identity issues, often do not feel safe because of the emotional distress and physical violence displayed toward them by some students and adults in the general population.”
Specifically,
• All supporting documentation relied upon for the number of Montgomery County students falling into each of the “sexual orientations” enumerated by Dr. Weast.
• All supporting documentation relied upon for the numbers of the above enumerated Montgomery County students, by category, who are allege to have “felt unsafe” according to Dr. Weast, and documentation for the manner in which Dr. Weast or the Montgomery County Public Schools became aware of these unsafe “feelings” and documentation for the actual incidents or basis found to have cause these unsafe “feelings”.
• All supporting documentation for the number of Montgomery County students found by Dr. Weast to have had physical violence displayed toward them by students and adults because of their sexual orientation.
2. A copy of all references relating to the statement found in the file, http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/health/ “Montgomery Public Schools, Questions and Answers About Revisions to the Health Education Program” that says; “The revised curriculum defines terms such as gender identity, gender role, and sexual orientation and focuses on dispelling stereotypes and misconceptions in an effort to diminish discrimination based on sexual orientation.”
Specifically:
• Copies of all documents (including references) supporting the contention that teaching about gender identity, gender role and sexual orientation will diminish discrimination based on sexual orientation.
• Copies of all documents (with references) supporting the contention that teaching the dispelling of stereotypes and misconceptions may diminish discrimination based on sexual orientation.
• A copy of all materials, with any referenced scientific study, referred to by Dr. Weast describing “misconceptions and stereotypes”.
3. A Copy of all references relating to the statement found in the pdf file document entitled “Montgomery County Public Schools Facts About the Health Education Curriculum” found at http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/health/, that states;
“FACT: The MCPS curriculum regarding sexual variation includes terms and definitions, and provides information to dispel stereotypes that encourage acts of bullying, hate and violence.”
Specifically:
• A copy of all documents supporting (with references) the contention that including terms and definition of sexual variations will dispel acts of bullying, hate and violence.
• A copy of all references to “information” that is referred to in the above statement.
• A copy of all documents supporting (with references) the contention that this referenced ”information” will discourage acts of bullying, hate and violence.
And again, what was the answer to ALL of the above questions? The school system has no supporting evidence for any of their claims of Gay Bashing, Sterotyping, or any other Sexual Orientation Discrimination shown towards Montgomery County Public School students.
One of the most prominent arguments that has been advanced in support of the new Montgomery County School Sex-Ed Curriculum has been the safety and well being of students of ‘different sexual orientation’. So, where are the numbers that support the great concern expressed by Weast and BOE? One would suppose there is great documentation for MCPS to allege mistreatment of students. In light of the above, one of two situations exist; either the BOE does’t have such documentation because it does’t exist (because there is no problem?), or the BOE does’t want to let CRC see it, which would be in violation of the Maryland Public Information Act.
Here's the point: If the alleged problems are great enough to demand a radical change in the school curriculum, don’t parents deserve to know the extent of the problem?
Back to top
|
