April 14, 2011
By Cedra Crenshaw
Cedra@thenumbercrunchers-bolingbrook.com
Regardless of where you stand on the gay agenda, we can probably agree that the classroom, during instructional time, should not be politicized. Yet that is exactly what will happen in some Valley View School District schools on Friday, April 15, 2011.
The Day of Silence, sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN), encourages students to remain silent - even during instructional time - all day at school to promote GLSEN's political goals, affirming the morality of homosexuality. In 2001, GLSEN started this political activism in public high schools but has increasingly moved to incorporate middle schools as well.
The DOS website states "On the National Day of Silence hundreds of thousands of students nationwide take a vow of silence to bring attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in their schools." Ever wonder about the heightened interest in ending bullying, even necessitating an initiative by the President? It all ties back to the gay agenda.
As a result, a group of pro-family organizations has responded by offering concerned parents an option to send a very loud message on the DOS. The Day of Silence Walkout encourages parents to pull their children out of school if their school permits students to remain silent during instructional time, disrupting the instructional experience of all students. The only way to get a message through to the public school bureaucracy in most cases is to deprive them of funds. They lose funding each time a child is absent from school. Parents are instructed to:
- Call your child's school and ask if they permit students or teachers to remain silent on April 15, 2011.
- Email your child's teachers and ask if they will permit students to remain silent and if they will prepare lesson plans to accommodate students who remain silent.
- Confirm the date of the event.
- Notify your child's school that you plan to keep your child home on that day and explain why. (a sample letter is provided on the Day of Silence Walkout website.)
- Notify as many people in your community/church as you can.
I emailed both high schools and five junior high schools in VVSD and asked if they permitted students to remain silent on April 15th. I received responses from two principals as of this writing.
Principal Mitchem's response was:
Ms. Crenshaw,
I have taken a stance that BHS will not officially sponsor the Day of Silence or sanction the Gay/Straight Alliance organization which is now called Open Door. It took the first two years of my administration to have BHS removed from the GSA website as an official sponsor.
Concerning April 15th specifically, we do not condone or deny the right of any student to remain silent as long as it does not interfere with the educational process. It is expected that all students fully engage in instruction, and if engagement requires verbalization, then that too is expected. If students want to remain silent otherwise, meaning during passing periods, lunch periods, or class time in which their silence is not negatively impacting instruction, then we do not draw attention to the issue. There are no announcements or attention brought to the day other than what students generate among themselves. We do adhere to the law specific to the right to exist and meet after school, but since the retirement of the GSA volunteer teacher sponsor two years ago, there have been no after school meetings, or organized effort at BHS.
Respectfully,
James Mitchem
Principal Ronald Krause's [Brooks Middle School, (BMS)] response was:
Yes, student's rights to remain silent are respected.
Ron, change can either challenge or threaten us. Our beliefs pave our way
to success or failure.
My twelve year old son attends BMS. I am deeply concerned that GLSEN is permitted to co-opt the young, impressionable and captive audience at BMS to promote their political agenda. What about the right of students to attend school and learn academics without political agendas being imposed upon them?
Even the ACLU has issued the following statement about the limits of political activism in school:
"You DO have a right to participate in Day of Silence and other expressions of your opinion at a public school during non-instructional time: the breaks between classes, before and after the school day, lunchtime, and any other free times during your day.
"You do NOT have a right to remain silent during class time if a teacher asks you to speak."
Given the precious amount of instructional time we have to impart needed knowledge to students, I believe that parents/citizens should be able to agree that this instructional time should not be stolen to promote anyone's political agenda. Unfortunately, too many in the public education bureaucracy don't agree.
VVSD taxpayer's pay $11,369/student per year for operational expenditures ($13,030/student per year if you include operational and non-operational expenditures) compared to the average private school tuition of $6,000/year. Are they paying for students to be subjected to the GLSEN political agenda or any political agenda? The public school bureaucracy thinks so. What do you think?
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