PTA -- Be Careful
We see that the CRC is putting out the word to PTAs. They are saying:
In my experience, the PTSA at a school represents the parents, teachers, and students of the school community. It exists to enhance the educational environment, not to undermine it.
If you are a PTA officer, you will be doing your community a terrible disservice by inviting the Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum to present their biased view of the new curriculum. They do not represent the community, and they have not been truthful with the people of our county. They have cost us thousands of dollars in wasted legal fees, and their viewpoint is not in synch with that held by the public in Montgomery County. If you doubt that, just look at the recent election totals.
If you want information about the curriculum, you can contact MCPS directly, through their Department of Communications. I'll bet you could get a couple of members of the citizens advisory committee to come to your school to explain what the curriculum does and does not include. I doubt that District staff are available, but they may have someone.
In fact, the Montgomery County Council of PTAs has a representative on the citizens advisory committee. It's possible you could work with her to find speakers and information for your school community.
Please, work with the system; the PTA should be supporting the school district's hard work.
Let us know if you are an active participant of your PTA.
We will be happy to come talk to them at your school about the new curriculum.
In my experience, the PTSA at a school represents the parents, teachers, and students of the school community. It exists to enhance the educational environment, not to undermine it.
If you are a PTA officer, you will be doing your community a terrible disservice by inviting the Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum to present their biased view of the new curriculum. They do not represent the community, and they have not been truthful with the people of our county. They have cost us thousands of dollars in wasted legal fees, and their viewpoint is not in synch with that held by the public in Montgomery County. If you doubt that, just look at the recent election totals.
If you want information about the curriculum, you can contact MCPS directly, through their Department of Communications. I'll bet you could get a couple of members of the citizens advisory committee to come to your school to explain what the curriculum does and does not include. I doubt that District staff are available, but they may have someone.
In fact, the Montgomery County Council of PTAs has a representative on the citizens advisory committee. It's possible you could work with her to find speakers and information for your school community.
Please, work with the system; the PTA should be supporting the school district's hard work.
posted by JimK at 9:47 PM
28 Comments:
If anyone, CRC, CAC, or BOE comes to talk about the curriculum, read it first for yourself. It would be a good idea to print out the curriculum for you child's class and have it at the meeting with you. If someone says something that doesn't sound quite right to you, ask them to show you where it appears in the curriculum. That way you can be sure, not only of the accuracy of their quote, but also of the context in which it is presented to the students.
Find the final draft ot he curriculum here:
http://www.teachthefacts.org/Curricula.html
Montgomery County Council Of PTAs
Resolution Adopted By The MCCPTA Executive Board June 2, 2005
WHEREAS each school year the local PTA units of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs (MCCPTA) typically compile and publish student directories that include personal and potentially sensitive information such as the names, street addresses and telephone numbers of students whose parents have agreed to have such information included, and
WHEREAS by common knowledge and accepted practice these directories are intended exclusively for the private use of the PTA and the local PTA communities to facilitate communication within their communities, and are not intended to be used for any other purpose, and
WHEREAS the president of an organization calling itself the Citizens for Responsible Curriculum (CRC) has privately to conceded to MCCPTA officers that CRC surreptitiously obtained copies of selected student directories and used the information in these directories to develop a mailing list for a purpose inconsistent with the intended or appropriate use of the directories, and
WHEREAS this misuse of student directories by CRC has caused substantial concern among parents within the affected PTA communities, and
WHEREAS the PTAs in the affected communities are justifiably concerned that fears about potential future misuse of student directories could lead parents to withhold student directory information, thereby impairing a critical PTA asset,
NOW BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the MCCPTA Executive Board objects in the strongest terms to the misuse of student directories by the CRC, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the MCCPTA Executive Board strongly believes that the CRC should respond promptly and completely to all questions and concerns raised by local PTA units about the sources and intended uses of their student directory information, specifically identifying any instances in which this information may have already been sold or otherwise made available to another individual or entity, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the MCCPTA Executive Board strongly believes that the CRC should agree in writing to cease using information obtained from PTA student directories, and to return to the affected PTAs all copies of their directory information now in the possession of CRC, in whatever form the information may exist, or certify in writing that this information has been destroyed, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the MCCPTA Executive Board strongly believes that CRC should concede in writing that its use of student directory information was inappropriate and agree that it will refrain from any future similar use of PTA student directory information.
Is Ms. Jamison going to pay the postage for us again this year?
http://www.teachthefacts.org/2005/04/dumb-plan-backfires.html
PTA
Susan Jamison-what a sad person- not to be confused with Susan Jamison the artist. Is she still working on telling the schools what my kids should read? She better get out there- there is a new Harry Potter coming out this year- death, witchcraft, demons- oh, no!
It's says something that TTF doesn't even want CRC's voice heard. If CRC is saying something incorrect, TTF can send someone to point that out. Indeed, if they are so out of sync with the community, surely someone in the audience will respond to their points.
Truthfully, though, TTF knows that CRC's POV is much closer to the community's than theirs. Just reading through the case studies to be presented will scandalize any typical group of parents.
There is no other explanation for the attempt to silence all criticism of TTF's positions.
CRC has every right to express their views as vehemently as they wish. As far as they conflate bigotry with faith and morality, they will find some poor souls willing to go along with them. I think the whole country has figured out, in the past six years, that betterthanyou self-righteousness is often just a mask for something else. If they choose to go along with it, fine, but most people, especially in a diverse and educated county like ours, will not.
In any case, what is happening here is that the CRC is trying to use the PTA to drive a wedge into our community. If PTA leaders want to participate in that, they can, but they need to think about it before they dive in.
JimK
Shorthand:
Jim doesn't want CRC to speak at PTA meetings because he knows many people would agree with them and he doesn't want anybody to have a chance to consider their viewpoints.
Because most would agree. The radical left overplayed their hand this time.
Word will get out. You can't avoid it.
"Please, work with the system; the PTA should be supporting the school district's hard work."
What's this supposed to mean? the PTA shouldn't disagree with the school board?
I think it is up to the MCPS system to communicate with the schools on this issue. Just as the CRC should not be allowed to come in with their spin, TTF should not either (though it does appear that they don't have to since their POV seem to have plenty of representation on the CAC...right?
The PTA is not a governmental body, Orin. The idea that groups that have insight on school policies shouldn't be allowed to speak there is wrong. It's up to the PTA leadership who to invite. CRC certainly is not out of line suggesting that they be allowed to speak.
I highly doubt that there are a great many involved MCPTSA parents who support or would buy into the CRC nonsense. Wishful thinking on CRC's part -most of their "supporters" do not have kids in MCPS. MCPS might just turn their kids into freethinkers instead of little automatons. And from my own daughter's view- the 2 CRC "kids" she knows are not what their parents think.
Oh, my, Andrea -- those little CRC darlings are not what their parents think?
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PTSAs represent all members of the school community. If a PTSA were to plan a meeting to discuss the proposed health education curriculum, they should invite representatives of MCPS who could provide copies of the curriculum and answer questions about it.
If the PTSA is also interested in presenting community views of the proposed curriculum, I'd hope they'd invite both CRC and TTF because both sides should be heard. Any PTSA that invites only one side to discuss these revisions exposes itself to charges of bias.
MCPS Mom
Hey, I agree with MCPS Mom.
So, despite global warming, maybe hell will freeze over.
An agreement on something? Really? Wow!
Just think -- what we actually will have here is a Board of Ed Public Hearing road show, except with interaction. Should be interesting.
Glad to do my part to reverse global warming!!
But seriously, I'm glad Anon agress that both CRC's and TTF's views of the new revised curriculum should be presented if PTSAs hold meetings to discuss it, and that any PTSA that invites only one side to present its views would expose itself to charges of bias.
It would really be helpful if MCPS could send reps with copies of the revisions to these PTSA meetings. Parents need all the information they can get so they can decide what's best for their students and community. Having MCPS reps at PTSA meetings would make it real easy for MCPS parents to tell and MCPS staff to hear how parents feel about the revisions.
MCPS Mom
The CRC consists of a handful of people (maybe ten) and a mailing list. They can get people mobilized by lying to them and exaggerating, but the truth is, hardly anybody in Montgomery County believes what they believe.
To invite the CRC, who were in the minority of the citizens committee, who sued the county because nobody wanted to teach the way they wanted, who have tried to go to the state to get the county to do what they want ... is an especially bad idea, if you are trying to get information to parents.
With the CRC, you are only going to hear what's wrong with the curriculum, and a lot of what they say will be false.
If you invited somebody from Teach the Facts, they could tell parents what is actually in the curriculum, without expressing an opinion about it. Big difference.
JimK
Anon- you think the county's POV is close to CRC's? Well, in the Gazette article on Steve Abrams and his repulsive outburst and action, it was noted that MC voted in no Republicans in the last election. I suggest Steve Abrams whose behavior deserves censure and more will not find himself elected to anything the next time he comes up for election. To think that racial slurs and fighting are being covered up because the Republican party of MC is already so fractured is a sad statement- although not so sad to me.
"If you invited somebody from Teach the Facts, they could tell parents what is actually in the curriculum, without expressing an opinion about it."
That's a good idea- invite an unopinionated party like TTF.
Oh, wait a minute. We could just invite the school board. They too have the same non-opinion.
You've got a good point there, Anon. The school board does agree with us. That's why the public elected them.
JimK
Your fantasy that the public ever gave a thought to sex ed when they entered the voting booth is amusing.
They probably never will give it a thought if TTF is successful in its quest to keep parents unaware of the details.
TTF posts all three curricula, the existing, the canceled revisions, and the latest revisions on the RESOURCES page of this website. That indicates to most rational people that TTF wants readers, many of whom are MCPS parents to be informed about the proposed changes to the health education curriculum. CRC on the other hand, posts pure fiction, like the appeal the suers' filed with the State BOE last week on theirs.
PTA
Warning, facts ahead.
The curriculum is linked on the first page of our web site, folks.
That's nice that the CRC website links to the newly revised curriculum, Theresa, but I have to ask, Did anybody over there bother to read it? I doubt it because the appeal CRC filed at the SBOE doesn't "link" to the curriculum at all.
The appeal is full of lies about the curriculum. For facts from the curriculum that refute one of the more blatant lies in the CRC's appeal, see my comment at http://www.teachthefacts.org/2007/02/unpopular-positions-and-social-pressure.html#comments
AB. You can't talk about lies until you come clean about Jim's saying family groups only care about gay promiscuity and not straight. That was not true and you won't admit it.
I speak for myself. Not only is the CRC's appeal full of lies, but it is full of typos and grammatical errors as well. If it was done pro bono, well, you guys got what you paid for.
Nice design of blog.
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