Board Settles: CRC/PFOX Give Up: Taxpayers to Pay Lawyers
We just returned from a school board meeting where, before public comments, Dr. Weast and the board announced that they had come to an agreement with the lawyers that sued them over the sex-ed curriculum. Dr. Weast read a statement, but didn't say what was in the agreement.
After public comments, some copies of the agreement were handed out. There was ... nothing to it. Two things that might be worth mentioning. 1. CRC and PFOX will each have one member on the new citizens committee. OK, they had more than that on the old citizens committee, they didn't gain any ground there. 2. "MCPS agrees to reimburse Plaintiffs in the amount of $36,000, representing attorneys' fees incurred in connection with the proceedings on the temporary restraining order." In other words, you the taxpayer get the bill for this prank. The far-right extremist law firm Liberty Counsel, it turns out, weren't working out of the goodness of their little hearts; their clients end up winning nothing, and Montgomery County residents pay the bill.
There is nothing else in the agreement but some legal stuff. I imagine it'll be on the MCPS web site by morning. [Later: HERE IT IS]
So -- work can now start ... all over again ... on a new sex-ed curriculum. As Dr. Weast reminded the group, the only section under contention is two 45-minute classes. It was also announced during the meeting that the Board plans to begin discussion at their July 6th meeting to reconstitute the citizens advisory committee.
After public comments, some copies of the agreement were handed out. There was ... nothing to it. Two things that might be worth mentioning. 1. CRC and PFOX will each have one member on the new citizens committee. OK, they had more than that on the old citizens committee, they didn't gain any ground there. 2. "MCPS agrees to reimburse Plaintiffs in the amount of $36,000, representing attorneys' fees incurred in connection with the proceedings on the temporary restraining order." In other words, you the taxpayer get the bill for this prank. The far-right extremist law firm Liberty Counsel, it turns out, weren't working out of the goodness of their little hearts; their clients end up winning nothing, and Montgomery County residents pay the bill.
There is nothing else in the agreement but some legal stuff. I imagine it'll be on the MCPS web site by morning. [Later: HERE IT IS]
So -- work can now start ... all over again ... on a new sex-ed curriculum. As Dr. Weast reminded the group, the only section under contention is two 45-minute classes. It was also announced during the meeting that the Board plans to begin discussion at their July 6th meeting to reconstitute the citizens advisory committee.
posted by JimK at 10:16 PM
20 Comments:
Sooo... when you describe Weast's actions you say "CRC got everything they want" and deride them for not being happy.
Then when the settlement is announced you claim that CRC got "nothing."
I realize that this is a propaganda and personal attacks website, but you should at least shoot for consistency.
Never satisfied...From Recall website:
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The BOE REFUSES to include including ANY health risks associated with oral and anal sex in the settlement agreement
>> Why is the BOE purposely and deliberately denying this serious health information to children?
>> Isn’t this ‘health class’ supposed to TEACH THE FACTS that children should know in order to ‘protect themselves’?
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MCPS BOE observers remark; "Monday night's BOE public comment time was a well orchestrated anti-CRC (anti-4,500+ citizenry...) campaign, complete with sycophantic sign wavers and speakers intimating views to the CRC that the CRC has never avowed to."
*********************
Recall and buddies PFOX did not get much for the 36,000 dollars taxpayers are now paying.
Kay R
No, Gleeful- CRC got everything they wanted- but to us, it was actually nothing.
I'm not quite sure what you're saying, Gleeful. In the judge's ruling and afterwards, CRC got what they wanted, they shut down the curriculum. In last night's announcement, they didn't get anything. Their comments in the press this morning reinforce that this is the way they see it, too.
This is a long-term struggle. CRC tricked the judge into ruling their way, and they succeeded in costing the taxpayers a fair amount of money and wasted time. But last night's announcement just puts them back to where they were.
Why are you guys so hell-bent on using GOVERNMENT employees, GOVERNMENT facilities and TAXPAYER dollars to ram your immoral views down the throats of *** OTHER PEOPLE'S *** kids?
Just curious.
Live and let live. Teach your own kids whatever you want. Just leave ours ALONE.
Feel free not to sign the permission slip for your kids to take the Family Life and Human Development section of the Health Curriculum. Teach your kids whatever form of sex education you prefer yourself. The majority of MCPS parents want our kids to know how to protect themselve and to be tolerant of all people, even people like you.
Aunt Bea
The legal fees of 36,000 dollars are to be used for Liberty Counsel and local attorney fees.
Who is the local attorney getting paid?????
Is it John Garza...?????
Curious....
Kay R
Anonymous said...
Feel free not to sign the permission slip for your kids to take the Family Life and Human Development section of the Health Curriculum. Teach your kids whatever form of sex education you prefer yourself. The majority of MCPS parents want our kids to know how to protect themselve and to be tolerant of all people, even people like you.
Aunt Bea
Dear Aunt Bea,
It is really not as simple as keeping my child out of a sex ed curriculum that is deeply immoral since the same school children that attend these sexual license indoctrination classes sit next to and socialize with my child all the rest of the school day. The MCPS curriculum was not about teaching tolerance, it was about the public legitimation and normalization of an anything goes sexual ethos (including affirmation of homosexuality). And as long as TeachTheIdeology.org is pushing their agenda, you can expect others to push back.
Orin Ryssman
Orin, you have clearly represented the problem for us all, and I thank you for that.
At least you got the ".org" part right...
Jim
Uncle Orin,
Your hometown newspaper is in Colorado. As the wife of a fifth generation native born Coloradan, I will reply to your posted comment.
Get a grip, buddy! Just because your state of Colorado is becoming bluer and bluer, you don't have to blame me! It's people like you who make a bad name for yourselves. To wit: On October 11, 2004, members of a homophobic Kansas church protested the formation of a Gay Straight Alliance at Palmer High School in Colorado Springs (the home of James Dobson's Focus on the Family) and were met by over 500 Coloradan counter protesters. In January 2005, the public school district there decided to retain Planned Parenthood sex educators, who for seventeen years have taught comprehensive sex education in the public schools. I'd suggest you take care of the "indoctrination classes" in your own backyard before you stick your unwelcome nose in ours.
Aunt Bea
Dearest Aunt Bea,
You write,
Uncle Orin,
Your hometown newspaper is in Colorado. As the wife of a fifth generation native born Coloradan, I will reply to your posted comment.
>And your point in telling me this is???
Get a grip, buddy! Just because your state of Colorado is becoming bluer and bluer, you don't have to blame me!
>Well, we shall see...now if Marilyn Musgrave is defeated then I will get concerned...until then, the case for some sort of political realignment is a tad premature.
It's people like you who make a bad name for yourselves.
>Oh, I see...it is people like me...now I get it. Not only am I wrong, but I am bad/evil as well. Charming...
To wit: On October 11, 2004, members of a homophobic Kansas church protested the formation of a Gay Straight Alliance at Palmer High School in Colorado Springs (the home of James Dobson's Focus on the Family) and were met by over 500 Coloradan counter protesters.
I am personally aware of GLBT safe zones at my daughter's high school (I know this because I volunteer in the library), and I support these zones as a safe place for students to go for help. I am equally concerned though with maintaining broad public support for our public schools. Having student clubs organized around sexual orientation endangers that support.
In January 2005, the public school district there decided to retain Planned Parenthood sex educators, who for seventeen years have taught comprehensive sex education in the public schools.
>Well, here in Fort Collins ALL outside groups will be banned and only certified teachers will be teaching sex ed.
I'd suggest you take care of the "indoctrination classes" in your own backyard before you stick your unwelcome nose in ours.
>Aunt Bea, Aunt Bea...frankly I would rather not see sex ed taught at all, esp since it generates more division and controversy than education, but since you and the crowd you represent INSIST on having it included in public school curricula (curious, but most private schools simply don't have this problem since they are focused on the task at hand...and that is NOT using the classroom as a platform for indoctrinating impressionable minds), I and the crowd I represent (that crowd being parents that do NOT want our perogative as parents to morally and ethically instruct undercut when we send OUR children to school) will butt out just as you butt out. Until then...well, tough crackers!
Aunt Bea
>Uncle Orin
Well, there you have it! Uncle Orin "would rather not see sex ed taught at all."
Enough said.
Aunt Bea
I think that is a perfectly reasonalble and legitimate wish. I also believe that schools can teach the basic facts about the biology of sex and should leave the rest to parents and church communities. The question remains, if schools must be teach everything about sex, where does it end? Today we argue about GLBT issues and condom demonstration videos. Tomorrow we might have to deal with auto-erotic techniques or S & M because, you know, some people engage in that kind of sex and we don't want to marginalize them or make them feel bad about themselves :(.
It won't end here. As long as people think that the schools must maintain control over the currciulum of our children, anything goes. That is why the BOE elections are so important and why these public servants must realize that they work for everyone in the county.
I think that is a perfectly reasonalble and legitimate wish. I also believe that schools can teach the basic facts about the biology of sex and should leave the rest to parents and church communities. The question remains, if schools must be teach everything about sex, where does it end? Today we argue about GLBT issues and condom demonstration videos. Tomorrow we might have to deal with auto-erotic techniques or S & M because, you know, some people engage in that kind of sex and we don't want to marginalize them or make them feel bad about themselves :(.
It won't end here. As long as people think that the schools must maintain control over the currciulum of our children, anything goes. That is why the BOE elections are so important and why these public servants must realize that they work for everyone in the county. They can ignore us allthey want, but they are accountable to ALL taxpaying citizens and parents in this County, not just their liberal constituency.
I think that is a perfectly reasonalble and legitimate wish. I also believe that schools can teach the basic facts about the biology of sex and should leave the rest to parents and church communities. The question remains, if schools must be teach everything about sex, where does it end? Today we argue about GLBT issues and condom demonstration videos. Tomorrow we might have to deal with auto-erotic techniques or S & M because, you know, some people engage in that kind of sex and we don't want to marginalize them or make them feel bad about themselves :(.
It won't end here. As long as people think that the schools must maintain control over the currciulum of our children, anything goes. That is why the BOE elections are so important and why these public servants must realize that they work for everyone in the county.
Anon, I was going to try to "clean up" by deleting two of your three comments, but I see each one is slightly different, so I'll leave them up.
Sometimes Blogger is very slow, and it'll crash before you can tell if your comment was submitted or not. That's what you get for free!
Jim
Well, there you have it! Uncle Orin "would rather not see sex ed taught at all."
Enough said.
Aunt Bea
Dear Aunt Bea,
To be perfectly honest, I would like abstinence taught to our school children because I think children ought not to be having sexual relations and simply for no better reason than they are not prepared developmentally for sexual relations.
With that said, I am willing to set that desire aside and teach the basics...just the facts about human reproduction. But then along comes Teach the Ideology, wanting to push a libertine worldview, and I and others like myself that support public education are simply suppose to roll over and play dead???
And the compromise? Stop making excuses, rationalization and the like and eliminate sex ed for public education. Why is it that most private schools don't teach sex ed? Could it be because they know why parents are sending their children to school because those same parents are paying the tuition to have them learn to read, write and calculate...and not to learn how to put on a comdom?
Orin Ryssman
Orin Ryssman said, "And the compromise? Stop making excuses, rationalization and the like and eliminate sex ed for public education."
Oh wow! What a great compromise, Unky Orin! Why didn't I think of that? You get your way and MCPS kids get nothing, no sex education at all.
Um, Orin. No thanks.
Interestingly, you also decree only "human reproduction" should be taught. I've got news for you Opie, er Orin. Reducing a course on "human sexuality," to simply "reproduction" is pushing an ideology, dear. Your failure to see that is telling.
Kids deserve all the facts about human sexuality so they can be as safe as possible. I agree with you that abstinence is the safest choice for teens, but for sexually active teens (and the truth is there are lots of teens who become sexuality active in high school), using condoms is safer than not using them. Leaving our students ignorant leaves them unprotected.
Shame on you for advocating ignorance over knowledge for teens.
Aunt Bea
Teaching about reproduction is 'ideology'??? You have got to be kidding! Now your ideology is showing!
Teaching teens *only* reproduction is insufficient and irresponsible. Recreational sex happens and even teens in high school do it. Those teens who will have sex must be taught to protect themselves and others. This is an issue of public health.
Bury your head in the sand if you want to, but we will not bury the teens in MCPS because your myopic views.
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