Join a national campaign to protect our children from the graphic and perverse sex education being pushed in schools. Parents all over the country area fighting back against the indoctrination of children by abortion and LGBT proponents, by pulling their kids out of school for a day. This will send a message to where the schools feel it the most - their wallet! The event is happening on April 23, 2018. Visit the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SitOutProtest/ for more information.
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Happy new year to all! Here are our notes for the first SHAC meeting of the year. Meetings are the first Wednesday of every month at 6:30 at the AISD offices. All are welcome to attend - especially parents!
SHAC Highlights for Wed, Jan. 3, 2018 The following three points were shared tonight by concerned citizens: 1. A New Report Shows Failure In School-Based CSE Programs This handout states key findings (click here for link) of a CSE Report that can be accessed at SexEdReport.org. The key components report data on the following criteria: Reducing teen pregnancy, STD prevention, Consistent Condom Use, CSE’s Intended Dual Benefit, Negative Effects, as well as Abstinence Education Findings. In addition, a hand out of questions was presented to the member to consider for future CSE curriculum: Does AISD have data to evaluate the sex ed program we are currently using? Does this data indicate that the sex ed program produces increased abstinence and/or or condom use for at least 12 months after the program? Does this data indicate that the sex ed program decreases pregnancies and STD’s for at least 12 months after the program? Does this program uphold our Texas Age of Consent Laws or does it tell under age minors that they can decide when they are ready for sex? 2. Hugo D., a parent of three, shared statistics from a 2013 AISD yearly report (click here for report) stating that AISD is comprised of 65% Hispanics and that a large percentage of those students are Catholic. He expressed concerns about whether the SHAC was addressing their needs and promoting initiatives that conflict with Hispanic Catholic values. He also shared a hand out titled Table 34 - Examples of Multiple Orgasm in Pre-adolescent Males by Alfred Kinsey, (click here for link) the “father of the sexual revolution”. The table is a record of males as young as five months to 14 years old that indicates how many orgasms they had. He shared that Kinsey used these findings to claim that children are sexual from birth and needed to be sexualized early. He shared that his research shows a connection to modern Comprehension Sex Ed and that it has ties to what AISD is teaching our children currently. 3. The last info shared with the committee was a copy of a Fact Sheet by Planned Parenthood that was passed out at Covington Middle School (click here for link) located in SW Austin that included Planned Parenthood's "Consent 101" videos depicting highly sexual situations and teaching kids how to give consent for sex. Although there are several pages to the handout that the students received, only the front page was shared at the SHAC meeting. Here are the questions that we asked: Did you know you were signing off on this material for our kids? Who’s checking to see if the materials are age appropriate and who decides if they are? If this material is appropriate for 12 -14 year old students, why are the actors adults? If 17 is the age of consent, why is consensual sex an issue in middle school? At the bottom of the handout was information about how to schedule an appointment for Planned Parenthood. Hmm, a multi-million dollar corporation is soliciting clients at middle schools. I wonder if they have a financial interest of being in schools! Please ask your children if they are receiving any materials sexual in nature, and let us know via email. We are here to help. Commentary on the SHAC meeting Nov. 1, 2017
The SHAC meetings begin at 6 PM every first Wednesday of the month except for the month of July at the main office downtown. Members give monthly reports and unless you are member you are NOT (and will be told so) allowed to speak except for 2 minutes at the very end of the meeting - and that's only if it hasn't reached 8 o’clock, when the meeting officially ends. I’ve only been attending for a few months, but the meetings I have attended have all finished within 10 minutes or so to 8 PM. The chair has been giving time to a few people to make comments. So, if any of you are planning to attend and want to express your thoughts, plan your remarks by writing them down and make sure you don’t go past 2 minutes. Also, be aware that only a few people are allowed to speak, so turn in your comment early. So, here’s a quick rundown of some of tonight’s topics and questions that crossed my mind. Mindfulness – a program modeled after YOGA and meditation, 8 schools have classrooms. What’s happening in those classrooms? Do they have a pulsating ball on a screen that speaks to kids, like the CALM app teachers can use on their phones? Why would a school promote the religious practice of Buddhism and Hinduism? Christians pray too, but I am not aware of any chapels or prayer rooms on any campuses. Is my child allowed to pray during lunch, before a test, for a friend, etc? And why is the moment of silence now called a moment of mindfulness? There are 14 Mental Health Clinics on campuses around Austin. A few of the campuses include LBJ, Akins, and Lanier. Students are assessed and prescribed therapies. Are parents given reports of topics discussed? Do any of these sessions include sexual topics, and if so, do therapists demonstrate condom usage and does Planned Parenthood or any of their affiliates participate? Are parents notified before therapy sessions are conducted? Red Ribbon Week – This emphasis teaches children to refrain from smoking, drinking, and taking illicit drugs. Anti-bullying is also emphasized. Before Welcoming Schools, and its special emphasis on LGBTQ families, anti-bullying meant everyone, no exceptions. Adolescent sex can be just as dangerous, even with condoms. Why not refrain from that? Will my child now be bullied because he or she does not participate in celebrating LGBTQ lifestyles and behaviors? On the Day of Silence in middle and high school, will my child be bullied if they speak? Nurses on campuses – It turns out that parents are very distressed about their children with special health concerns and the lack of professional care. Some the campuses are north of a 1,000 students and have been using student health aides and virtual care via a Seton program instead of nurses or even LVNs. Parents have questions, too: "When will my child’s campus get a nurse to help with his intravenous treatments? Why is AISD saying they are in compliance when I have consulted with an attorney and he clearly says AISD is not? Why won’t anyone talk to me?" In no way do I want to minimize the hard work that any of the SHAC members have done or are doing. Education can be a thankless job. I know because I taught school for many years. For the kids, Caryl Ayala Please join us for a parent information meeting on Sunday November 5, 2017 at 6:00 pm at Oak Meadow Baptist Church in Austin, TX. We will be covering current and planned sex ed/LGBT programs and content at AISD. The presentation will be bilingual English/Spanish. Childcare will be available. Hope to see you there! Oak Meadow Baptist Church
6905 S I-35 Frontage Rd Austin, TX 78744 Some AISD campuses will be hosting their Pride Week in the coming weeks. The purpose of Pride Week is to "highlight LGBTQ students, staff and families with the district's commitment to create a safe, supportive and inclusive environment for all." The stated purpose is because "LGBTQ students need to know that you accept them -- there are still too many people who don't." Therein lies the fallacy. The non-acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer sexual activity has nothing to do with accepting the person because a person is not defined by his or her sexual preferences! And in fact, sexual activity should not be accepted in any children (straight or otherwise), or outside of the bonds of marriage, due to the serious health and emotional risks alone. So why is AISD taking an entire week to celebrate sexuality choices when the truly healthy approach would be to discourage all sexual activity during youth and outside marriage?
The week includes events, activities, lesson plans, artwork, and school displays, as documented here, supported by the AISD SEL department. One teacher reported that her middle school campus has the students cross-dress in different themes throughout the week. For families for whom the promotion of LGBT sexuality conflicts with their morals or religious values, Texas education code 26.010 (a) states that "a parent is entitled to remove the parent's child temporarily from a class or other school activity that conflicts with the parent's religious or moral beliefs if the parent presents or delivers to the teacher of the parent's child a written statement authorizing the removal of the child from the class or other school activity." We have provided a sample exemption letter for Pride Week here, and a more general letter here. It will be important for parents to contact their principal directly to see what, if anything, their child's campus is doing for Pride Week. Some schools will do nothing, while others will go all out with displays and events. Some are having their activities after school or on the the weekend, as would be more appropriate so as not to obligate all children to participate. Other schools will by tying Pride Week celebrations into other events, like Red Ribbon Week. Usually, the only way to know is to ask, and we've had reports that some principals have been evasive in answering questions, so persistence is key. The following letter was presented to the members of the AISD School Health Advisory Council (SHAC) during their October 4th meeting. It's an amazing letter and we're grateful that Austin parents are attending the SHAC and making their voices heard!
First of all, I believe that all of us who take the time to be here, do so because we share a common ground: a genuine concern for our children to be healthy educationally, emotionally and physically. And that the way to do that given our great diversity of backgrounds in this great city of Austin is by treating others the way we want to be treated. Or as I was taught growing up, by loving our neighbors as ourselves. As a mom of two kids attending a school that has implemented Welcoming Schools, I want to thank you for giving the opportunity to express my deep distress and concern as to how AISD adopted such an obviously biased, one-sided, so called anti-bullying program under the deceiving name of Welcoming Schools. When I searched their website, all I found was an LGBTQ agenda! This minority group is one among many that needs to be defended against bullying behaviors. Everybody needs to be treated like a human being: from the confused child who suffers from gender dysphoria to the fat kid, to the special needs kid, to the colored-skinned child, to the Muslim child. I would be the first one to defend any transgender child being bullied since all humans need to be treated with dignity. But when I do so, I am by no means endorsing transgenderism nor am I accepting the way their parents are choosing to train their child. Additionally, my children do not need to see pictures in books of two same-sex people loving each other nor do they need to be told it is ok if a boy wants to become a girl nor does he need to accept these views as good or else he will himself be rejected and bullied. Respect for another human and acceptance of any and all behaviors are two separate issues and they need to be treated as such. A fair anti-bullying program will cover and focus on all minority groups "equally" (that should be a relevant word). Let's make anti-bullying about just that ... no hidden agendas heavily sponsored by "biased" groups (another familiar word). Respect for all people of all colors, shapes and ideologies, yes! Acceptance of what is morally good, that is up to each family to decide. Freedom to use public schools to push certain agendas, No! There are support groups, churches, clubs out there that each family can join to find like-minded people and gain support from that. That's not the role of a public school. As AISD gets ready to roll out the "All are Welcome" program and works hard at implementing the new anti-bullying program, please remember this petition. We, parents at AISD, want a fair, non-biased anti-bullying program. AISD does not need to lose more students. Thank you for your time and efforts to make our schools a safe and trust-worthy place. Bravo to this Austin mom! Based on planning documents obtained through an Austin ISD open records request (see documents here - scroll to bottom of page), the "All Are Welcome" teacher training that the District is developing to replace Welcoming Schools will still be placing a heavy focus on LGBT and gender variance. The differences with Welcoming Schools are that it will be written for teachers at all grade levels (K-12), it will include training on other groups (like refugees and disabled), and it may be made mandatory for all campuses (most likely because Welcoming Schools was not universally accepted). The stated focus is on gaining "acceptance" of differences rather than "advocacy" for them. It is not clear what the difference between those will be.
There seems to be a belief that some teachers and staff have biases against certain groups of students that affect their teaching. Reading between the lines a little, it is probable that the "biases" they are referring to are religious and conservative beliefs. However, they have not provided evidence that holding such beliefs negatively affects teachers' conduct toward students and teaching ability. In my estimation, they will probably be hard pressed to find any such evidence. SEL will be conducting a survey to collect data on teachers' biases. Many thanks to Mass Resistance for making the following videos of our August 12 meeting and presentation! Our first public meeting was held at 2 pm on Saturday August 12. After a huge social media storm about the meeting due to flyers left on doors, the room was filled nearly to capacity (with people standing and watching from the hallway). Our speakers delivered important, well-sourced information to the audience, many of whom clearly disagreed with our message before even listening to what we had to say. Some of those same people interrupted, laughed inappropriately, jeered, and mocked the speakers at times. Others participated respectfully and were actually there to learn something. We will hopefully be posting video soon! (The slides are linked below)
During the Q&A, the following general points were made by the protesters (paraphrased):
1. "Abstinence education doesn't work. Comprehensive sex ed does." - When the people making this comment were presented with the 2016 report conducted by HHS showing that only 15% of federally funded comprehensive sex ed programs had a positive effect, there was only silence. Furthermore, we presented evidence from peer-reviewed studies showing that many abstinence-based programs have great results. This was put down as "biased" research because it was compiled by an abstinence education organization (Ascend), but the actual studies were not done by Ascend - they simply reported on the data and showed the positive effects. 2. "You are saying the gay kids don't have a right to exist. They will be bullied and some will commit suicide without these programs" - We are against bullying and will stand up for any student in such a situation. All people have a right to exist (including the unborn), and deserve respect. However, we disagree that sexuality differences should be taught to children in order to prevent bullying. It should also be pointed out that threatening suicide (as the LGBT activists are doing on behalf of other children) is manipulative and abusive. 3. "Where is the proof that sex ed leads to all this pregnancy and STDs?" - We had presented a historical introduction, showing how the sex ed movement started with Kinsey's theory that children are sexual from birth - and idea based on experiments using criminal molestation and sexual torture of infants and children. Kinsey's associate, along with Planned Parenthood's Mary Calderone, later started SIECUS (Sex Information and Education Council of the US), which began to create (and still does) the national guidelines for sex education used by school districts. While the nature of cause and effect cannot be clearly delineated, we can ask ourselves a few questions: Has teen pregancy increased since before the 60s? Have STDs increased since before the 60s? Obviously they have, and obviously something isn't working in trying to improve those numbers in recent years. It could be that abstinence-based programs have been unequipped to handle the full assault coming through the media, which sends highly sexualizing images and content to children. Or that comprehensive sex ed programs give children permission to engage in high-risk activity under the guise of "safety". Whatever the case, we need a better way, and with the positive results seen with recent abstinence-based programs, we believe it would be prudent to pursue the avenue that seeks the highest possible outcome for kids: waiting to have sex. 4. During the presentation, one commenter said our statistic about 2 in 100 people being gay was untrue. We were unsure at the time whether we had made a mistake, but re-checked the data, and we were right, according to the CDC. Some people, however, cannot be convinced by facts and data. We are willing to look at all data, but have yet to be given any that refutes our position. Regardless, in the end it all comes down to interpretation. We hope that open-minded/undecided people will weigh both sides of the debate fairly, and that is why we are presenting our information. If any church or community groups would like to hear our presentation, please contact us! We would be happy to come talk to you. According to Pete Price, head of SEL at Austin ISD, the department is planning to replace the Welcoming Schools anti-bullying program with a broader program developed within house, which they will call All Are Welcome. It will be focused on fostering inclusiveness for ALL Austin ISD students. Hopefully, that includes Christians and those with traditional values!
We are happy that the school district will be taking this step, since the Welcoming Schools program, written by the Human Rights Campaign, is focused solely on gaining student acceptance of LGBT lifestyles. We will closely follow this new program to see what content is being included. Bullying should never be accepted for ANY reason and moreover, it is NOT necessary to 'educate' students about alternative lifestyles in order to reduce bullying. We already have the ultimate anti-bullying direction: The Golden Rule. Treat others how you want to be treated. As Christians, we respect and love others, even if we disagree with their choices. We also have compassion for people who, through no choice of their own, have feelings and inclinations that drive them toward LGBT lifestyles. But, as witnesses of love, we must speak the truth - not only about what God says on the issue, but about the negative personal and societal outcomes associated with sex outside a male-female marriage relationship. Whether Welcoming Schools will continue to be rolled out in new campuses remains to be seen. We have reports from one teacher that another campus will be trained this school year. In any case, moving away from Welcoming Schools is a step in the right direction and we must remain vigilant to see what it is being replaced with. |