{"id":168,"date":"2019-04-03T09:32:48","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T13:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salineparents.org\/?page_id=168"},"modified":"2019-11-11T09:04:50","modified_gmt":"2019-11-11T14:04:50","slug":"concerns-with-george","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/salineparents.org\/?page_id=168","title":{"rendered":"Concerns with George"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

George vs Ghost\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>
<\/a>Whats in George?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Community Members,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are writing to you on behalf of a community of parents in Saline, called the Saline Parents group, which we formed to advocate that parents have the primary authority and responsibility for their children\u2019s education and health, including on current social issues.  We began due to our concern about the Jazz<\/em> reading, a transgender book turned youtube clip and shown to all students at Saline\u2019s four elementary schools.  While our hearts go out to transgender children and their families, we believe that beyond encouraging kindness and compassion to all students, the school system should not celebrate or encourage gender dysphoria.  This issue has proven deeply controversial within our community.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several months after\nthe Jazz<\/em> reading, families in Saline\nfind themselves once again embroiled in controversy over a book that promotes transgenderism.  Under the guise of anti-bullying, an English\nteacher at Saline Middle School planned to read George<\/em> to her four English classes, a novel detailing a boy\u2019s\nstruggle with gender dysphoria.  The\noriginal plan was a read-aloud of George <\/em>as\nwell as class discussions on the issues presented in the book.  Parents quickly expressed concern about the\nbook\u2019s contents, and thankfully, the administration stepped in and suggested\nstudents be given a second option to read and decided against the\nread-aloud.  Although we are grateful children\nand families now have a choice to read George<\/em>,\nthis incident shows a recent pattern of the schools attempting to teach\ninappropriate sexual materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have two main\nconcerns with this second incident of a transgender celebration story being forced\non children in our schools:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) The content of the\nbook George is inappropriate for 11-12 year old children.                 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Topics about\nchildren\u2019s sexual health are normally approved by the District\u2019s sexual\neducation advisory board (SAEB). \nTeachers should never be engaging in readings and discussions with their\nstudents on issues of human sexuality without the SAEB\u2019s approval and parental\nconsent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon reviewing the\nbook, the Saline Parents group found many reasons this book is inappropriate\nfor 11 and 12 year old children.  Among\nour objections:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book casually talks about the subject of pornography (dirty\nmagazines) and implies it\u2019s ok to masturbate.  (Should the schools be promoting the idea\nthat it\u2019s normal and acceptable for middle schoolers to look at pornography?\n Portraying this behavior as normal to 6th graders is misleading and\npotentially harmful.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book teaches children how to hide their\nonline searches from their parents.  (Is\nhiding and dishonesty when searching online something we want to promote and\nencourage to our children?)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main character in the book explores the idea of\ntaking hormones to stop puberty as well as investigating\nsex-reassignment surgery. (Should middle\nschoolers going through puberty be told it is ok to stop these normal physical\nand biological changes through drugs? \nShould they be taught that it\u2019s an option to physically change and\ndestroy healthy body parts through elective surgery?)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main character expresses disappointment about his genitals\nwhile taking a bath.  (With low\nself-esteem already at epidemic levels for girls and boys, do we need to give\nchildren another thing to dislike about themselves?)<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are multiple examples of stereotyping and misandry\ndepicting heterosexual males as insensitive, disrespectful of women\u2019s bodies,\nand violence-loving.  (Does that\npromote positive self-image for the young boys in the class or positive images\nfor the girls about how men are?)<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book suggests that if a child is confused about their gender\nor just gender atypical, then perhaps something is \u201cwrong\u201d with\nthem and they need to change it. (What\nabout the large number of kids who are just \u201cgender atypical?\u201d  Isn\u2019t\nit OK to let kids be who they are without suggesting that they are transgender?)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adding to this troubling story is recent data\nwhich shows up to half of transgender boys have attempted suicide.  It warrants the question: how many children\nwith gender dysphoria are struggling with the idea of suicide but have not\nattempted?  Due to this troubling fact,\nany child who expresses gender dysphoria is extremely vulnerable.  The care these kids need is far outside the\ncore competency (or resource base) of the school system.  Families of transgender children with the\nhelp of mental health professionals are best able to support these children,\nand this should be determined on a case-by-case basis.  As parents and teachers, we must teach\nkindness and love for all children, but recognize that each individual child is\ndifferent in their needs and how their families want to handle their\nstruggles.  The schools can be powerful\npartners when they respect families on these issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, it\u2019s\nimportant to understand that an opt-out is not an ideal option for anyone. When\nchildren were opted-out from Jazz<\/em>,\ntheir parents were accused of being transphobic and withdrawing support from\ntransgender individuals.  This was not true and only served to deepen the\nrift that exists in our community.  Transgender children were hurt because\nthey and their parents did not understand why other children were opted out,\nand non-transgender children were hurt as well, as they felt awkward and\npainted with false negative stereotypes about their beliefs.  The real solution is to choose materials\nacceptable to everyone.  We are hopeful\nthat teachers and the district will hear our concerns as loving and thoughtful\nparents and exercise more caution in the future.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you for\nconsidering our letter and the opinions of our group.  In order to ensure accuracy, we appreciate\nyou contacting the Saline Parents group directly before quoting or using our\nmaterials in print.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on the Saline Parents Group\u2019s purpose and core beliefs, please visit our website at salineparents.org.  <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

George vs Ghost\u00a0\u00a0Whats in George? Dear Community Members, We are writing to you on behalf of a community of parents in Saline, called the Saline Parents group, which we formed to advocate that parents have the primary authority and responsibility … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":189,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salineparents.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/168"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salineparents.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salineparents.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salineparents.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salineparents.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=168"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/salineparents.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286,"href":"https:\/\/salineparents.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/168\/revisions\/286"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salineparents.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salineparents.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}