Parental Rights Natick has been working for months on behalf of parents and children to reject harmful school practices and restore healthy policies in Natick Public Schools. Why has the district done nothing to address the issues? Our School Committee and administrators seem to be avoiding our important transparency and accountability solutions to serious policy problems:
1. Gender Transitioning and Destructive Parental Exclusion Policy
On September 28, we asked the district specifically how Natick Public Schools implements DESE guidelines on gender identity and parental notification. Gender Support Plan documents and the Natick School Committee Policy Manual strongly suggest that your child can socially transition at school without your consent as a parent.
A recent parental rights legal victory in Wisconsin should be a lesson for Natick Public Schools (along with a host of other lawsuits around the country involving school boards and these issues). Parents’ rights to control the upbringing and education of their children is grounded in the 14th Amendment, the lawsuit states. Numerous mental health experts, two of whom presented affidavits for the case, said that identifying as another gender early in life can affect mental health negatively.
An amicus brief by The Manhattan Institute submitted to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit for a Ludlow, Massachusetts case points out that “social transition is not mere ‘teaching respect’ or ‘fostering an inclusive environment’ but constitutes a mental health intervention for children who would otherwise likely desist in their adopted gender identity before adulthood.”
Why does NPS think parents don't deserve to know the district's parental exclusion policy or the right to consent to their child transitioning at school if transitioning is considered a mental health treatment?
2. Non-Political Flag Policy Petition
On June 20, when the School Committee passed the proclamation to fly only the Progress Pride flag alongside the American flag on all school flagpoles, we knew we should investigate the process and find out more about public sentiment.
At the October 2 School Committee meeting, we presented a Flag Policy Petition for the Policy Sub-Committee to review and adopt—to keep government (school) flagpoles non-political. Nearly 500 people signed our petition, enough to rival the so-called resident support statement for the Progress Pride flag decision.
We also discovered that from June 20 through September 30, there were 2,796 email communications between the community and the district about the Progress Pride flag/policy. The district claims it believes in transparency but hides correspondence behind costly paywalls—Natick Public Schools wants us to pay $800 for these public records!
We think it's important to know if the district is really listening to Natick parents and taxpayers; your donation can help us fundraise for these records. We also filed an appeal with the State to have NPS reduce/waive this unreasonable fee.
Why does NPS think parents don't deserve a bias-removing flag policy that rejects placing a higher value on the struggles of any child based on their "identity"?
3. Student Exemption from Harmful Gender Identity Curriculum and Content
At the October 2 School Committee meeting, we presented a proclamation for Student Exemption from Gender Identity Curriculum and Content for the Policy Sub-Committee to review and adopt. We need to protect 7-year-old children from NPS instruction that says "when a baby grows up to be transgender, the grown-up who said they were a boy or a girl made a mistake."
As in the book Call Me Max, learning the idea that a baby can be born “wrong” or that a child could embody neither gender or both genders can cause emotional distress for a child, can cause gender confusion for a child, can cause anxiety around gender for a child, and can lead a child on a path to possible long-term medical treatments that produce irreversible, negative health outcomes.
Why does NPS think parents don't deserve a student exemption policy to shield their children from messages that can damage their mental health, cause gender anxiety or cause gender confusion?
4. Common Sense Education Transparency Resolution
On November 5, we sent the School Committee and the administration a request to review and adopt an education transparency resolution.
In particular, Natick Public Schools should promote and disclose online the instructional materials and curriculum used in K-12 schools, particularly content related to gender identity, sexual education, and critical race theory (i.e., “equity”). This information, including specific curriculum, course outlines, assigned reading, textbooks, and workbooks, should be easily accessible and readily available to parents at the start of the school year. The district’s current online resource libraries that include standards, frameworks, and expectations are not curriculum or specific materials.
Parents have a right to understand how the district’s strategic goal of ensuring “personalized education that follows each learner and embeds a social justice foundation throughout a student’s PK-12 experience” is showing up in curriculum at all levels of their children’s public education (such as in this NPS middle school L&L task).
Why does NPS think parents don't deserve to see how their children are being taught what to think (indoctrination) instead of how to think (critical thinking)?
Silence from the district on vital policy solutions has parents wondering: Is Natick Public Schools truly committed to upholding the district’s strategic plan to “establish communication procedures and philosophy that builds trust, transparency, and engagement with our community?”
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