From Virginia to Texas to Nebraska, parents and legislators are taking their state and local school boards to task for replacing substantive academics with Critical Race Theory (CRT), comprehensive sex education (CSE) and other woke curricula, forced masking, and an overall failure to teach essential skills.

In Virginia, one school board actually responded favorably to parents' demands that the district's radical comprehensive sex education program be rejected. Unlike Virginia's Loudoun County School Board, which has repeatedly thwarted parents' efforts to remove offensive propaganda from district classrooms, the Russell County board voted unanimously to honor the will of parents by rejecting the sex ed rules, despite threats from the Virginia Department of Education.

Planned Parenthood Peddling Sex to Children

Parents, grandparents, and concerned citizens may recognize the problems in their school districts but don't know where to begin to right the ship. Many teachers openly support CRT while school district officials deny it's being taught. And even though CRT and CSE programs have been infiltrating the schools for years, as Phyllis Schlafly often wrote about in the Phyllis Schlafly Report and Education Reporter, their content has become even more astonishingly destructive and explicit.

In its July 19 Washington Watch, the Family Research Council reported that while the eyes of parents are justifiably focused on CRT, "they're also getting a good look behind the curtain at what their children are hearing about sex." Family Watch International's Sharon Slater told FRC that the sex education "is out of control, and it's only going to get worse."

Phyllis also warned about the connection between the federal government and Planned Parenthood in promoting explicit sex education in the classroom, which Slater confirms. "If you're wondering who's driving these wildly inappropriate sex ed programs, look no farther than Planned Parenthood," she said. "They actually brag about being the largest provider of comprehensive sexuality education or sex education in the United States.... And they mostly have a monopoly on all the curriculum that is being ordered through the U.S. government."

Schools that receive federal grant money through the $100 million-dollar CSE program started under the Obama administration and which has become even more extreme under Biden, are typically getting the programs through Planned Parenthood. Incredibly, noted Slater, they market some of these pornographic curricula as "abstinence education."

The intent of CSE indoctrination is to get kids hooked on sex. Once they do, Planned Parenthood sells them condoms, contraceptives, and of course, abortions.

X-Rated Curriculum in Ohio

Just this month in Hudson, Ohio, located between Akron and Cleveland, Mayor Craig Schubert threatened the entire local school board with criminal charges for "highly sexual writing prompts" given to 17-year-olds. The mayor spoke not only for himself but for outraged parents attending the same school board meeting. A few of the prompts, which the mayor called "child pornography in the classroom," include: "Write a sex scene you wouldn't show your mom"; "Write an X-rated Disney scenario"; Write a sermon for a beloved preacher who has been caught in a sex scandal"; [Describe] the first time you had sex." Many other prompts were equally horrific, although some were benign.

Cleveland.com reported the incident on September 15 and The Daily Mail.com did likewise on September 16. Parents are calling for school board members as well as the teachers involved to resign.

During the meeting, Mayor Schubert told the board: "It has come to my attention that your educators are distributing essentially what is child pornography in the classroom. I've spoken to a judge this evening and she's already confirmed that. So I'm going to give you a simple choice: either choose to resign from this board of education or you will be charged." Both news outlets reported that Ohio law is "murky" as to whether the teachers and board members could be criminally charged.

Police officer Erik Dirker also addressed the board, calling for the installation of cameras in the classrooms. "Police officers wear body cameras to monitor their behavior, and they have brief interactions with the public," Dirker said. "You guys have our kids all day and we don't know what's going on in the classrooms."

Parent Monica Havens, a former teacher, said: "I can't even wrap my brain around [it] as a teacher, I don't care if it's for college credit, these are minors. When these topics are encouraged and read by adults, that is pedophilia." But school officials, including Hudson High School Principal Brian Wilch, claimed to be unaware of the pornographic prompts.

Fighting Back in Nebraska

Nebraska State Senator Steve Erdman is calling for "the entire Nebraska Board of Education to be replaced." In his August 6 "Straight Talk" column, which is posted weekly on his official webpage, Erdman bemoaned the fact that "the board has failed to listen to the people of Nebraska, failed to adequately reform the sex education standards, and has failed to educate Nebraska's students. Instead of doing what the vast majority of the people want and what is best for our students, they have insisted upon promoting their own Left-wing ideological agenda while failing to adequately educate Nebraska's K-12 students."

Despite revisions in the second draft of the standards, Erdman says the board has "effectively changed nothing." Erdman cited section H.E. 7.7.2.d of the standards, which "teaches students to: ‘Recognize that biological sex and gender identity may or may not differ.' Worded this way, the new state standards will allow even the most extreme activists for the LGBTQ+ movement to indoctrinate students inside our schools with their own views on sexual orientation and gender identity. Nebraska's parents asked the State Board of Education to remove this item altogether, not to reword it in a more palatable and less offensive way. So, the board has refused to listen to the people."

CSE is hardly confined to schools in the Nebraska panhandle, which Erdman represents, but infects classrooms to varying degrees across the country. Family Watch International provides a map on its StopCSE.org website where parents can find information about federally funded CSE programs in their state, as well as state statutes addressing parental rights.

Reclaiming the School Boards

Parents and citizens interested in changing the course of their public schools can start by finding out how their state and local school board members are selected, and then running for school board themselves or seeking out good candidates. The Education Commission of the States is an excellent resource; its website includes a list of both the K-12 School Board Governance by State and the K-12 State-Board-of-Education Governance by State. These lists also cite applicable laws governing the selection process in each state.

Local school board members are elected by the voters in all but a handful of states. Massachusetts, for example, allows regional school planning boards to determine the number, composition, and method of member selection. In Minnesota, members are "appointed by the school board or governing board of each member district." In New Jersey, some district school board members are elected while in other districts they are appointed by the mayor "or other chief executive officer of the municipality." In some Virginia counties, school board members are appointed by a school board selection commission.

Members of state boards of education are typically appointed by the governor, often with input or approval by the state senate. In California, state board of education members must be confirmed by two-thirds of the senate. Engaged citizens can research their state's requirements to determine how they might influence the selection of state board members.

School Board Boot Camp

The Family Research Council (FRC) offers a webinar series called School Board Boot Camp. This resource provides information about serving on a school board and encourages parents "to take control of their children's education in their communities."

The boot camp includes real-life testimony and guidance from current school board members, who describe their experiences and explain what it takes to serve on a county school district board. And it provides opportunities for ongoing information updates, such as how to file Freedom of Information Requests so parents can find out what their children are learning.

LifeSiteNews - Planned Parenthood Spearheading Pornographic Sex Ed
Family Watch.org
FRC Action.org

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