Posted on 08/19/2006 3:26:43 PM PDT by Zack Nguyen
More news on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals continued war against reason.
In the case Fields v. Palmdale (November 2, 2005), parents sued the Palmdale School District for giving a survey, which included ten questions of a sexual nature, to students between the ages of seven and ten.
The School District sent a note home to parents asking for parental consent to engage their children in a survey of early trauma. The note did not mention sex.
The School District, collaborating with the School of Psychology and Seymour, developed and administered the questionnaire to first, third, and fifth grade students. According to the decision (p. 15066), "The children were asked to rate the following activities, among others, on a scale from "never" to "almost all the time.""
According to p. 15066 of the Fields decision, the following is a list of the questions included on the student survey:
8. Touching my private parts too much
17. Thinking about having sex
22. Thinking about touching other people's private parts
23. Thinking about sex when I don't want to
26. Washing myself because I feel dirty on the inside
34. Not trusting people because they might want sex
40. Getting scared or upset when I think about sex
44. Having sex feelings in my body
47. Can't stop thinking about sex
54. Getting upset when people talk about sex
According to the decision (p. 15066), "The children were asked to rate the following activities, among others, on a scale from "never" to "almost all the time." Other choice questions included "Wanting to kill myself" and "Wanting to hurt other people."
Seven year olds were asked these questions. The parents of the children learned of the survey questions when their children started telling them about the survey.
Horrified, the parents complained to the school, arguing that had they know the true nature of the survey, they would have never offered their consent. The school district rebuffed the parents, and the parents sued.
The trial court rejected the parents arguments and today, in stunning language, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the rejection. In fact, the Ninth Circuit, in its opinion stated:
We agree, and hold that there is no fundamental right of parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to their children, either independent of their right to direct the upbringing and education of their children or encompassed by it. We also hold that parents have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed while enrolled as students. Finally, we hold that the defendants’ actions were rationally related to a legitimate state purpose. [Emphasis in original.]
Only if there is suspicion in a particular case.
What is coming out of our courts is very scary.
It's really no different than the communist (like Cuba) model where the children belong to the government or fascist (like NAZI Germany) where children are only wards of the parents to be raised as the government see fit.
It really is a stunning assertion that parents have only the rights that government allows parents, given their children.
Mark
Liberals are not able to develop a sane concept of family, which is at the basis of our society. Anyway, questionnaires (perhaps, not this one) are not useless at all. In some cases they may help to find problems not detected through observation of the child's behavior.
Which of the choices below can engage in sex-
(A)the school
(B)the parents
(C)the State
Answer....B!
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If neither the school or the State can engage in sex, what makes them think they have the authority to teach kids about it?
Does that mean I get to start wring laws and tell everyone the must obey?
Geesh!
I have updated my FMCDH (From My Cold Dead Hands) sign-off with the addition of (BITS).....Blood In The Streets, which I foresee coming soon, due to the enormous increase of the Marxist progressive movement being shoved down the throat of this failing REPUBLIC through the Judicial tyranny of fiat law, the passing of unconstitutional laws by the Legislative and Executive branches of our government and the enormous tax burden placed upon the average American to support unconstitutional programs put forth by Marxist ideology. I do not advocate revolution. I only think of what I foresee.
FMCDH(BITS)
Sexual abuse of children in school is also very common. This type of survey can be used as a screening tool to locate children that are confused about sex.
Schools have a responsibility to alert authorities if signs of abuse are reflected in a child's behavior, not to go prying to see if they can uncover anything.
In most cases they are doing such a miserable job of their primary responsibility, which is teaching, that it doesn't make sense to assign them any additional duties.
This part makes sense. Children will be exposed to other ideas unless the parents lock them in the basement.
"We also hold that parents have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed while enrolled as students."
This part is nuts. Parents have no due process rights? So if they elect a school board that reflects their views, and then the board selects a curriculum, the courts or the teachers can just ignore it, I guess.
Talk about a power grab, the ninth circuit is totally out of control. We need them to be removed from power before they do any more damage.
WOW. I haven't read anything this outrageous in a long, long time, and with regard to the 9th Circuit Court, that's saying something.
Two responses -
1. Thank You, my heavenly Father, that I don't live under the umbrella of the Ninth Circus (they are truly deranged).
2. and thank You, also, for bestowing upon me the honor and the privilege and the means with which to homeschool my precious children.
Just another "normal ruling" from the 9th circuit.
Are we sure of this? I worked in politics for years and never quite figured out what power locally elected school boards had over the bureaucracy. In Texas, the State Board of Education has little power; they okay text books by a restrictive criteria, and that's about all.
The local board may or may not have known anything about it, and who knows whether they have the ability to fire everyone or not.
"Any judge who gave this intrusion a blanket OK is himself ipso facto unethical and unfit to sit on the bench."
You just described about 1000 of our federal judges. Pretty much any of those appointed under Carter or Clinton.
"Any judge who gave this intrusion a blanket OK is himself ipso facto unethical and unfit to sit on the bench."
You just described about 1000 of our federal judges. Pretty much any of those appointed under Carter or Clinton.
I suspect the purpose of the questionnaire to at best be a dual one - with the other being indoctrination.
And the court's decision is awful. The state has no rights to my children's brain at all.
This is true, but in my opinion is not the point. Of course my kids will be exposed to ideas other than mine. The point is that I, as the parent, have the moral (and, until this decision, the legal) right to override all these decisions until they turn 18.
In effect, you are correct. But I believe ZN was not only objecting to the decision, but objecting even more strenuously to its philosophical underpinnings.
I remember that one, I work in palmdale. For those of you not familiar with Palmdale, it's approx 70 miles north of L.A... It is the home of the B-1, B-2 Bombers and also where the Space Shuttles were built.
The buck stops with the School Board. I have been an elected local official. Its very very simple. Make a motion to instruct staff not to send any questionairies of a sexual nature! If school board member don't take control staff may do stupid things but the public only elects the members of the school board...not the judges. I don't want federal judges deciding anything about our school because if they get it wrong there is no redress. If the local official gets it wrong you can vote him out of office. Its called self government.
The ruling did not impose this survey on the school district. The ruling merely deferred to the local officials. Isn't that what conservatives have asked for? Local control?
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