"Recall" Web Site Threatens School Board

This morning's Gazette has an item of interest. It seems that some members of the school board were planning to meet with citizens in Germantown Monday. The anti-gay group that wants to recall the school board apparently was very excited about this opportunity to express their opinions to the board members. Their site, RecallMontgomerySchoolBoard.com, has a message board, where members of the group can communicate among themselves. Apparently, those messages were getting a little too inflammatory for the board members' comfort.

(I have apologized to The Gazette before, and must do so now. Their reporting is so good, I end up copying-and-pasting the whole article. Readers of this blog are requested to click on http://www.gazette.net/, search for sponsors, and buy something from them.)

(PS Read the letters to the editor while you're there.)

While you're reading this article, and hearing them try to blame "outsiders" for the comments in question, please note that the recall group's message boards are not open to the public. You have to submit your name and be approved before you can comment there.

Cox avoids Germantown meeting after receiving threats

Members of the Board of Education canceled their appearance at Monday's Germantown Citizens Association meeting on the proposed sex education curriculum after receiving threats and slanderous comments on an anti-curriculum Web site.

"The postings started having some direct threats to school board members," GCA board member Sheila Myers said. "Evidently Sharon [Cox] got some very specific ones. ... She became concerned about coming into a public meeting" where someone might threaten her physically.

"Prior to [the postings] she had said 'yes' on coming," Myers said. "She seemed very open minded about having that discussion on a community forum."

Cox and fellow school board member Patricia O'Neill were originally invited to attend. Cox and O'Neill could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

The site on which the comments were posted, www.recallmontgomeryschoolboard.com, is monitored by a Damascus-based group called Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum. CRC members who attended the meeting denied that anyone from their group posted the comments or threats.

Mmm, yeah. So the board members are lying? Or did somebody hack into their site? --This would have been a different story if that had happened. Maybe they're trying to say there really weren't any nasty comments on the message board. I'd like to know.

"We're just moms," member Michelle Turner of Kensington said. Other members speculated that someone outside their group posted the comments on their site ­ adding to CRC's already negative image, they said.

Group members have been called "hateful, fearful and homophobic," none of which are true, Gaithersburg resident Laura Quigley said.

Tweeeeeet! The ref blows his whistle. Fearful? Nobody's ever called them fearful. But TeachTheFacts.org declines the penalty. Proceed.

--No, wait, just a minute... Kensington? Gaithersburg? I thought this was a Germantown Citizens Association meeting. Why, it almost sounds like they were planning to stack the deck by bringing in outsiders...

The curriculum includes an eight-minute video that features a young woman discussing how condoms can reduce the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases or becoming pregnant. She also demonstrates the proper way to put on a condom, using a cucumber. It also discusses "sexual variations," including homosexuality, which up until now teachers were not allowed to bring up as a topic for discussion -- only address specific questions from students.

I would like to again thank The Gazette for their even handling of this topic.

In addition to their belief that the school's proposed curriculum veers away from "traditional values," CRC members also believe the Board of Education did not follow the proper procedures for submitting a new curriculum.

Members compared the treatment of the sex ed curriculum to the school board's treatment of the grading and reporting policy, which has received a lot of public exposure, they said.

"[The curriculum] has not been given the time and attention it should have been, even compared to their own policy," CRC member Tom Reinheimer said.

Look, this really is annoying. The people who started the recall group were on the committee that proposed this curriculum in the first place. They had approximately three years of discussing this stuff. The fact is, they wanted to include extremist, anti-gay propaganda, and they were outvoted. The commmittee had numerous members representing conservative groups. They were outvoted. There was nothing wrong with the process, this is exactly how it's supposed to work.

CRC members said they are asking that the school board delay the pilot of the curriculum until a public hearing has been held and enough community input has been gathered.

The GCA will draft a letter to the board vocalizing Germantown residents' opposition to the curriculum, board member Alice Gordon said.

However, because the GCA must remain impartial, she said the letter would present both sides of the issue.

"There's no way that we can choose sides, we have to remain open-minded," Gordon said.

Mmm, OK, so they'll write a letter that says, some people in Germantown don't like this curriculum, but some do. I'm sure this is a great victory for those sore losers who are trying to undermine the democratic process in Montgomery County.