Controversial gender lessons and surveys trigger parental backlash in 2 states

WASHINGTON (TND) — There is backlash in Washington state after parents said their elementary school kids got an alarming lesson on gender identity and transitioning and a controversial Illinois School survey is sparking parents to demand an investigation.

Parents Defending Education Director of Outreach Erika Sanzi joined The National Desk’s Jan Jeffcoat to discuss the issues.

First, Sanzi spoke about a letter sent to parents of fourth graders at Marvista Elementary School that said students would be receiving an equity lesson, specifically on gender transitioning.

"At 4 p.m. on a Sunday, families received a message from the principal that a staff member who worked with their children, again their nine and 10-year-olds, would be changing their name from Miss Angela, which is how the students had always known this person, to Mr. Angel, and that students were going to be expected to call this person by this new name, use their new pronouns, and that the lesson about navigating this gender change of this adult in their lives was going to be given the next day," Sanzi explained.

A book called "It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity" was also included in the lesson plan that Sanzi said parents weren't able to opt out of.

"There was no mechanism for opt-out apparently in part because I think that this lesson fell under some umbrella that they consider to be mandatory," Sanzi said. "But the other problem was because it went out on a Sunday at 4 p.m., a lot of parents hadn't even seen it yet by the time the lesson had been given. So there was no discussion with parents in advance and there was no conversation about being able to get their children out of this situation. So, it does seem like there's a lot of frustration on the part of at least some parents in that school."

Parents were also riled up in the state of Illinois after the state issued a survey in public schools for all children as young as nine years old, again fourth graders, asking questions like does your current gender match your sex assigned at birth.

"So these are called Youth Behavioral surveys or Youth Risk surveys and they're generally administered in every state, sometimes through a state agency. In this case, the survey is coming out through the University of Illinois. And I can say that where I live in Rhode Island, you know, 11-year-olds are asked on a survey have you ever created a suicide plan?" Sanzi said. "The question that you read, not only is it highly invasive and intrusive, questions about a child's gender identity, you know, starting at the age of nine, but it's also totally based in an ideology that our sex is assigned at birth, which the vast majority of people think is nonsensical."

Sanzi went on to explain what she thinks happens with the data the University of Illinois captures.

"I'm not positive but usually what happens is that they look at the data and then they find ways to justify programs, certainly in the school context, is what we'll see. We'll see big expenditures on initiatives around diversity, equity and inclusion. And even though that's a multi-billion dollar industry, we have yet to see a shred of evidence that it ever improves student outcomes or school culture."

Highline School District responded to Sanzi's comments after her interview, stating they wanted to "correct misinformation."

The school district alleges it was never contacted by Sanzi or anyone else with Parents Defending Education about the incident at Marvista Elementary School.

One parent of a student in the fourth-grade class contacted the school to opt their student out of the reading of “It Feels Good to be Yourself.” That student was excused from class at that time, as the parent requested. No other parents objected to their student being present for the lesson. Multiple parents contacted the principal to express their support for the lesson, the school district stated.

It also added that Sanzi's "there was no mechanism for opt-out" and "this lesson fell under some umbrella that they consider to be mandatory" statements were "inaccurate."

Editor's Note: Highline School District's response to Erika Sanzi's interview were added to this story on Friday, January 19, 2023.