Current Events > Virginia to notify parents if schools intend teaching harmful material

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://tinyurl.com/2fwhzva4

Because Republicans literally think this has been a regular problem in the state.

Parents will need to given 30 days notice before any "sexually-explicit" material is taught to children, so they can determine if it violates their parental rights to protect children from content they deem harmful.

And no, they haven't specified the criteria since this all just bullshit "LGBTQ+ people are inappropriate for children" nonsense.

Some teacher is gonna get murdered over this stuff soon :(

hockeybub89 posted...

Parents will need to given 30 days notice before any "sexually-explicit" material is taught to children, so they can determine if it violates their parental rights to protect children from content they deem harmful.

This isn't new. At all.

teachers in republican states should all leave let them deal with no teachers because they are evil

Questionmarktarius posted...

This isn't new. At all.

Exactly.

I live in New York, and we will still get notice if the children are given reading material or are viewing something that parents could find problematic, whether it's sexual or violence in nature.

For Example, my son (8th grade) was reading The Outsiders in English/Literature, and they sent notice prior to starting the unit because of the language and violence in both the book and the movie (they watched the movie in class after reading the book).

Same thing when both of my kids started any sort of sex related lessons in Health class.

According to the VDOE policy, parents will be notified at least 30 days in advance if any instructional materials with sexually explicit content (as defined by the model policy) will be taught in their childs classroom. At that time, parents will be able to review the materials. On school websites, principals will maintain a current list of sexually explicit instructional materials by grade and subject.

Adding to my above post, this is exactly what my district does.

In my 12 years of grade schooling I can only recall twice where sex was explicitly taught. 5th grade and 6th grade. Now, our sex ed program in America has failed us in general but I'm curious to see what is "harmful material" as defind by these people. Because recently some of these snowflakes think a rainbow is considered harmful.

Questionmarktarius posted...

This isn't new. At all.

Which is exactly what makes this suspicious.

If it's already something, what new "harmful material" do they think needs to be addressed quickly, lest parents lose control over their children?

Math teachers should flood the parents with notifications every day that "69" will be used in their lesson.

hockeybub89 posted...

Which is exactly what makes this suspicious.

If it's already something, what new "harmful material" do they think needs to be addressed quickly, lest parents lose control over their children?

I'm all for sticking it to conservatives / the GOP but this really is overblown

What's the problem with this? Parents should absolutely be aware what their children are being taught.

Were_Wyrm posted...

Math teachers should flood the parents with notifications every day that "69" will be used in their lesson.

That's just being childish tbh

hockeybub89 posted...

Which is exactly what makes this suspicious.

If it's already something, what new "harmful material" do they think needs to be addressed quickly, lest parents lose control over their children?

It may not have been something officially on the books in Virginia.

Like, for my schools here in New York, I don't know if it's a district requirement or an actual State-wide requirement.

The article is a little ambiguous, so it may be as simple as them actually creating a state-wide guideline, as opposed to letting each district pick an choose whether or not that notify parents.

Every news story doesn't have to be "Damn that GOP!" Granted, this one 100% can end up being that, but from what I've read, it looks like they're just laying out guidelines.

Elections have consequences.

DarkRoast posted...

I'm all for sticking it to conservatives / the GOP but this really is overblown

Glen Youngkin hates gay people and this is all just part of the grand agenda.

The GOP does this thing where they say something that already exists need to exist. What that means is that they want to brand some new villains.

This "parental rights" meme is silly. Parents have not been systematically stripped of their parenthood over the years because society got a little more accepting of minorities. Don't send your children to school if you want no one else to teach them. Lock them in the house for 18 years so they don't accidentally learn something you don't like.

Meanwhile, Florida is suffering from a drastic shortage of teachers leading into the new school year. *Scratches head* I wonder what could have caused this...

Wanting to tell teachers exactly what to teach is like going to a restaurant and bossing the kitchen around. Or going to the doctor and telling them what your diagnosis is and how to treat it

bigblu89 posted...

It may not have been something officially on the books in Virginia.

Like, for my schools here in New York, I don't know if it's a district requirement or an actual State-wide requirement.

The article is a little ambiguous, so it may be as simple as them actually creating a state-wide guideline, as opposed to letting each district pick an choose whether or not that notify parents.

Every news story doesn't have to be "Damn that GOP!" Granted, this one 100% can end up being that, but from what I've read, it looks like they're just laying out guidelines.

Nothing happens in a vacuum. How convenient this happens under a governor who wants to shield children from "sexual topics" while there is a concentrated campaign from the GOP to brand all LGBTQ+ people as child predators.

Name something that's actually overtly sexual that has been spreading amongst schools and being seen by children lately.

TaylorHeinicke posted...

What's the problem with this? Parents should absolutely be aware what their children are being taught.

The people who I consider the enemy thought of it, so it must be bad

The GOP never gets bored of this shit, do they

hockeybub89 posted...

Wanting to tell teachers exactly what to teach is like going to a restaurant and bossing the kitchen around. Or going to the doctor and telling them what your diagnosis is and how to treat it

Depends on the subject.

Someone teaching 10th grade Algebra should probably stick to a script.

bigblu89 posted...

Depends on the subject.

Someone teaching 10th grade Algebra should probably stick to a script.

Has there been an epidemic of math teachers getting into harmful, sexually-explicit material between geometry lessons? Where is the fear and motivation coming from?

Ozarhok posted...

The people who I consider the enemy thought of it, so it must be bad

Parents have rights. They take care of their child when they aren't at school and can send the to private school or homeschool. Teachers don't need to be turned into babysitters passing out material that mommy and daddy came up with, just so they don't accidentally talk about Sally having two moms.

CADE_FOSTER posted...

teachers in republican states should all leave let them deal with no teachers because they are evil

This is exactly what Republicans want. They want to dismantle public education and replace it with private for profit indoctrination machines.

hockeybub89 posted...

Nothing happens in a vacuum. How convenient this happens under a governor who wants to shield children from "sexual topics" while there is a concentrated campaign from the GOP to brand all LGBTQ+ people as child predators.

Name something that's actually overtly sexual that has been spreading amongst schools and being seen by children lately.

Jesus Christ dude. You do an amazing job of getting people that actually agree with you to still think you're annoying.

All I said was the article is a little ambiguous and doesn't give many details.

Like I said, my left leaning, voted blue, school district in NEW YORK, does the same thing. And no one is doing it out of fear or any other motivation other than "we should let the parents know, incase someone has an issue with 12 year olds reading about gangs beating each other up and one of them dying (in the case of The Outsiders, the most recent example of my school district sending a letter home."

And I understand that covers violence and not sexuality, but read my next post for my take on that.

This may 100% be a Right-wing/GOP "hide our kids from everyone other than what WE want to tell them.

This could also just be pushing paperwork to cover themselves from lawsuits.

The article doesn't go into enough detail to let me know one way or the other.

Also, did anyone actually read the Draft?

This is what it covers. And if I had a kid in elementary school, I'd kinda like to know in advance if any teacher's lesson included any of this:

Section 2.2-2827 of the Virginia Code, which pertains to restrictions on accessing sexually explicit content via agency owned or leased computer equipment, states that Sexually explicit content means (i) any description of or (ii) any picture, photograph, drawing, motion picture film, digital image or similar visual representation depicting sexual bestiality, a lewd exhibition of nudity, as nudity is defined in Section 18.2-390, sexual excitement, sexual conduct or sadomasochistic abuse, as also defined in Section 18.2-390, coprophilia, urophilia, or fetishism.

The existence of Gay or Trans people will of course be inherently "sexually explicit" even if it's the most passing implication of their mere existence no doubt.

Fuck the GOP.

Two girls holding hands could be very loosely defined as "fetishism" by a conservative judge.

This may seem like a nothing burger, but Republicans want to expand what counts as harmful material. To them a female teacher mentioning theyre married to another female counts as harmful, telling students its okay to be gay counts as harmful.

bigblu89 posted...

Also, did anyone actually read the Draft?

This is what it covers. And if I had a kid in elementary school, I'd kinda like to know in advance if any teacher's lesson included any of this:

And again, what is making Republicans so scared about explicit sexual content being in schools? Why are they mad about this at this very moment? Because they equate anything LGBTQ+ with those things.

hockeybub89 posted...

And again, what is making Republicans so scared about explicit sexual content being in schools? Why are they mad about this at this very moment? Because they equate anything LGBTQ+ with those things.

Did the article anywhere say there were mad about anything, or just that they were putting pen to paper to create what the guidelines are.

Like I said before, I live in New York, in a Democratic county, in a town/school district with a Democratic mayor. And we have the same exact guidelines in our school district. And 99% of the time I look at the material they send home and go "Really? THIS is what they're wasting my time with?"

bigblu89 posted...

Did the article anywhere say there were mad about anything, or just that they were putting pen to paper to create what the guidelines are.

Like I said before, I live in New York, in a Democratic county, in a town/school district with a Democratic mayor. And we have the same exact guidelines in our school district. And 99% of the time I look at the material they send home and go "Really? THIS is what they're wasting my time with?"

Glen Youngkin is a "family values" Republican and we're in the middle of horrible rhetoric being spread across the nation to turn people on the LGBTQ+ community.

When you see all this talk about stopping child grooming in America these days, do you think it's genuine concern for children in the midst of a spike in pedophiles? This is exactly what they're trying to do. Confuse and obfuscate by blurring the lines between bad things and things they don't like, to remove the latter from society.

hockeybub89 posted...

Glen Youngkin is a "family values" Republican and we're in the middle of horrible rhetoric being spread across the nation to turn people on the LGBTQ+ community.

When you see all this talk about stopping child grooming in America these days, do you think it's genuine concern for children in the midst of a spike in pedophiles? This is exactly what they're trying to do. Confuse and obfuscate by blurring the lines between bad things and things they don't like, to remove the latter from society.

And I agree 100% with everything you say in this post.

I just find this particular Draft is putting the onus on the parents, not the school district. It's not detailing or trying to change what the curriculum will be, it's saying that material they plan on using will be distributed to the parents 30 before the lesson starts. It will then be up to the parents to exempt their child from it. It says nothing about them in-turn changing the material.

Maybe I'm just reading the actual document wrong. And if that's the case, it's better if I bow out of this conversation now.

bigblu89 posted...

And I agree 100% with everything you say in this post.

I just find this particular Draft is putting the onus on the parents, not the school district. It's not detailing or trying to change what the curriculum will be, it's saying that material they plan on using will be distributed to the parents 30 before the lesson starts. It will then be up to the parents to exempt their child from it. It says nothing about them in-turn changing the material.

Maybe I'm just reading the actual document wrong. And if that's the case, it's better if I bow out of this conversation now.

Do you believe the rule/law will be enforced equally? Or will be enforced the same way in Virginia as it is in New York?

Ruvan22 posted...

Do you believe the rule/law will be enforced equally? Or will be enforced the same way in Virginia as it is in New York?

Im sure it will vary by district, just like it does in New York, as there are a lot of deep red counties within NY, just as theres some blue counties in VA.

bigblu89 posted...

Im sure it will vary by district, just like it does in New York, as there are a lot of deep red counties within NY, just as theres some blue counties in VA.

And blue counties will let teachers teach while red counties will continue their brutal fight against innocent minorities "Results may vary" is the exact fucking problem. This is supposed to be the United States and there's supposed to be freedom, not tens of thousands of nation states doing whatever the fuck they want.

It's years past where we can give Republicans the benefit of the doubt with any rulings. It's all part of their grand agenda of their culture war. Assume the worst and still prepare to be surprised by the lengths they will go.

bigblu89 posted...

Im sure it will vary by district, just like it does in New York, as there are a lot of deep red counties within NY, just as theres some blue counties in VA.

So it will be applied even less equally in VA than in NY because the ratio of red to blue is higher? And you are okay with that?