Staffers of the the Eau Claire Area School District are being trained that the parents of students are “not entitled” to know their kids’ so-called gender identities, according to the Wisconsin Spotlight.
Empower Wisconsin obtained a copy of a training slide from a “woke” staff development session held on Feb. 25. The slide on Safe Spaces instructs teachers that “parents are not entitled to know their kids’ identities. That knowledge must be earned.”
A guide that accompanies the presentation elevates teachers to a place above the students’ own parents: “Teachers are often straddling this complex situation. In ECASD, our priority is supporting the student.”
This usurpation of parental rights and authority is not sitting well with some in the community.
“We are appalled that ECASD would display such blatant disregard for the parents and guardians of our community’s children. We are equally dismayed that current school district leadership would pressure teachers into breaking a social contract that we all know and understand — that parents and guardians hold primary responsibility and decision making for the welfare and care of their children,” declared school board candidates Nicole Everson, Corey Cronrath and Melissa Winter in a statement issued jointly with some parents.
A district court in 2020 issued a partial injunction against Madison Metropolitan School District’s policy that let children of any age to “transition” to a different gender identity at school without parents even being told. The case is now before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) and the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed the suit on behalf of parents opposing the gender identity policy “that violates the rights of parents to make important healthcare decisions on their children’s behalf.”
The school board candidates are demanding school district administrators issue an apology to teachers for “placing them at odds with families and also to parents and guardians for breaking the trust and partnership that is critical for thriving students and a stellar school district.”
Not surprisingly, the school district is digging in its heels against what they see as a usurpation of their own power. ECASD Superintendent Michael Johnson asserted to Empower Wisconsin that the district has a responsibility to maintain an educational environment that is “equitable, safe and inclusive for all students.”
