Parent and Child Loudoun Newsletter

Issue 1: May 2019 Loudoun County, Virginia School Board Needs Your Supervision! On Feb 26, 2019, the Loudoun 1 County Public School (LCPS) Board voted to adopt sexual orientation and to the LCPS Equal Opportunity Policy (also known as Policy 1040). Current practices are now no longer in line with the new policy language.

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Recently, at an Arlington Public 2 school, kindergarteners were exposed to the “Welcoming Schools” and “Jazz and Friends” campaign led by the trans activist Sarah McBride of the radical which teaches children they can be born in the wrong body. This was done without parental permission and without adequate parental notification.

POLICY 1040: EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR LCPS News EQUITABLE, SAFE AND INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENT

Mental Health First Aid implementation The Loudoun County School Board is committed to providing for 3 an equitable, safe and inclusive working environment. The in select LCPS high schools. It’s a Loudoun County School Board affirms a commitment to this partnership of National Council of principle for all persons regardless of race, color, national origin, Behavioral Health and Born This Way religion, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, Foundation (created by ). sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, age, or Students are automatically enrolled genetic information without parental permission. It is the intent of the School Board of Loudoun County that every Systematic Equity Assessment policy, practice, and procedure shall reflect this commitment. implementation in select LCPS schools. Behavior that is not unlawful may nevertheless be unacceptable for the educational environment or the workplace. Demeaning or Students are automatically assessed/ otherwise harmful actions are prohibited, particularly if directed at surveyed without parental permission. personal characteristics, including, but not limited to Equality Loudoun’s #BigGayBookDrive socioeconomic level, sexual orientation, perceived sexual seeks to put hundreds of LGBTQ books orientation or gender identity. into dozens of LCPS libraries. School Board Needs Your Supervision Are you ready for the November election? We want to support candidates who will pledge in writing to As noted on the first page, current practices repeal changes that were made to Policy 1040. If we have 1 are not in line with the new Policy 1040 candidates who align with our values, freedoms and privacy language. The LCPS Director of School rights on the school board, we have advocates to vote against passing or changing policies such as Policy 1040. Administration has confirmed in writing that bathrooms, locker rooms, an overnight field trip lodging are designated based on the biological sex of the students. -identified students are On Read Across America Day, Sarah McBride, the offered a faculty or clinic restroom (a lockable, 2 National Press Secretary for the Human Rights unisex, single stall) to use or they can continue to Campaign (HRC), read I Am Jazz, a book use the restroom based on their biological sex. celebrating prepubescent transgenderism, to kindergarteners One of two things will happen: at Ashlawn Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia 1) Policy 1040 will be revised by the school board There was no offer for parents to pull their kids out to remove the controversial language, or of the transgender reading session. 2) Current practices will be changed to align with the new Policy 1040 language. Maria Keffler, a former middle and high school teacher whose children attend Arlington Public Schools, It is doubtful the current board will seek to wrote an excellent opinion piece for revise Policy 1040 before the November elections. titled “Gender Politics have no room in the classroom but What is more likely is that the current board Title IX Protections do,” dated April 5th, 2019. members, with a 5-4 majority, will seek to change current practices during the summer months when Keffler warns that what is going on in Arlington “is families are busy with vacations and camps. part of a larger set of trials to which I as a parent have not In February we learned a lot of lessons: consented for my children. David Aponte, co-chair of the • Policy 1040 was a personal Agenda of five local chapter of GLSEN, formerly the Gay, Lesbian and School Board members: Croll, Huck, Straight Education Network, said last year that Northern Maloney, Sheridan, and Marshall. Virginia and California have served as laboratories for policies regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender • Members of the Board lacked non- issues.” partisanship. • Catoctin was NOT represented by Groups like GLSEN, the Human Rights Campaign, constituents, but rather by someone the Transgender Education Association of Greater UNANIMOUSLY appointed by the other Washington, Equality Virginia, and Equality Loudoun and eight school board members. many others actively pressure school districts like LCPS to • The Public was inadequately informed. incorporate radical sexual theories and ideas into school policies and curriculum often in violation of parental and children’s rights. For more information about Policy 1040, visit our website ParentAndChildLoudoun.org

The LCPS 2019 Legislative Program seeks to remove protections for religious homeschoolers, and encourages the state legislature to adopt sexual orientation and gender identity language into Virginia law. 3 For more information about the Mental Health First Aid program, an LCPS parent has created this YouTube video: LCPS Needs Parental Supervision. CONTACT The Systematic Equity Assessment is being implemented by a private company called Equity Collaborative. When a parent made a FOIA request seeking the assessment questions to be PACL administered to students without parental permission, the request was denied due to the Vendor Proprietary Information exemption. • Is your child going through a A request for further information has so far been ignored: transgender identity or same-sex Documentation on what the financial costs to LCPS are for attraction crisis? Equity Collaborative’s work. • Do you need more information Are LCPS employees distributing or conducting the about this transgenderism assessments for students or will it be employees of Equity phenomenon? Collaborative going from class to class? • Does your child feel like his or How did LCPS and/or Equity Collaborative decide which her rights to religious freedom, schools to assess? privacy, and/or freedom of speech Equality Loudoun is a local LGBTQ activist group with ties to have been violated? other Northern Virginia, Richmond-based, and D.C.-area LGBTQ political groups. To get an idea of how extreme their views on • Has your child been negatively human sexuality are and what sort of agenda they seek to effected by the LCPS Family Life implement in Loudoun County schools, check out their online Education (FLE) curriculum? questionnaire distributed to candidates this spring: CLICK HERE. For months Equality Loudoun has been conducting a • Has your child’s participation in #BigGayBookDrive (their hashtag) with a goal of putting 750 athletics been affected by LGBTQ books into 32 LCPS schools. You can see more on opposite-sex athletes who Facebook: CLICK HERE. identify as transgender?

About Parent and Child Loudoun

Parent and Child Loudoun is a group of Loudoun County parents whose backgrounds include education, health care, and biology. We advocate for transparency and parental involvement in public education for the safety and rights of our children. On February 28, 2019, Parent and Child Loudoun expanded their mission to include monitoring the Loudoun County School Board to ensure the safety and integrity of policies and their effects on curriculum and the public school learning environment. Join one of our four committees: • Policy and Law • Resources • Community Engagement • Strategic Communication

Contact Us www.parentandchildloudoun.org