Planned Lessons on LGBT Tolerance at San Ramon School Spark Outrage

NBC Bay Area ^ | Mar 31, 2016 | Iab Gull

[nickcarraway]

Some parents have launched a petition and are threatening a student walkout

Planned lessons on LGBT tolerance at a San Francisco Bay Area middle school have sparked outrage from parents who call the material inappropriate or insensitive to "those with religious, cultural and personal convictions not in agreement or acceptance with the promotional campaign."

Some parents whose children attend Windemere Ranch Middle School in San Ramon have launched a petition seeking to have the lessons limited to one day. Parents are also threatening a student walkout April 11, the day lessons are set to begin, if changes are not made.

"Inequalities in such efforts are evident when comparing the time, resources and intensity devoted to lessons, activities, and promotional fanfare dedicated to the acceptance of the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, and Transgender group while ignoring acceptance and promotion of values represented in other diverse groups within our community," the petition reads.

The lessons, set up by a student leadership group, are part of the school's second annual LGBT awareness week, which will feature lessons on safety and respect for all students with a specific focus on the LGBTQ community, the San Ramon Unified School District said.

The week leads up to the national Day of Silence — April 15 — meant to raise awareness of "the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and discrimination," according to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

Some parents opposed to the lessons do not want a full week devoted to the topic.

"There is a time for everything in life. I don't think Middle school is the right time to expose kids to all this stuff," one parent wrote on the petition page.

Another parent commented: "This is a discriminatory action fully biased in support of a specific group and not taking consideration the diversity and religious views of our community."

In response to the backlash, students were allowed to opt out of lessons, which the principal revised and sent home to parents for review, according to the school district. Parents are scheduled to meet with district officials on Friday.

School district spokeswoman Elizabeth Graswich on Thursday provided the following statement:

During the week of April 11, Windemere Ranch Middle School has planned a week of lessons around the theme of “acceptance.” The idea came from the school’s leadership students who wanted to plan lessons to address acceptance and respect for all leading up to the National Day of Silence on Friday, April 15. The lessons are on safety and respect for all students with a specific focus on the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Questioning) community.

This is the second year in a row that the Leadership students have created and presented lessons on this theme. The presentations are part of the student leadership program. Throughout the year, each week, leadership students present “character education” lessons to their fellow-students. Other topics that they students have addressed include bullying, “Words Matter Week” and “Holocaust Teaching Week.”

This week, the principal, Dave Bolin, shared the intended lessons for the Week of April 11 with all the parents, in order to provide them an opportunity to review the lessons and choose to opt their children out. This is part of a common practice to provide parents an opportunity to review and opt out of lessons of a sensitive nature. Another example would be sexual education lessons.

Since sending the lessons to parents, the principal has received some feedback that has led to revisions to the lesson plans. A follow-up email was sent to parents today with the revised lessons for parents to review and provide input.

[Sgt_Schultze]

Any normal people who live in San Fransicko have no reason to be surprised by sex deviance advocacy. You have to remember that city holds the Folsom Street Festival annually, where degeneracy is openly advocated.

[nickcarraway]

This is not in San Francisco.

[Political Junkie Too]

Best place on earth. Safest, too. It was tough to leave, but I had to get out of California.

-PJ

[Fiji Hill]

Best place on earth. Safest, too. It was tough to leave, but I had to get out of California.

San Ramon is also the home of Zachary's Chicago Pizza, where we eat when we stay in the area.

[Political Junkie Too]

That's actually the third location, after Oakland and Berkeley. My family preferred the flat style of Z Pizza on the other side of the shopping center.

-PJ

[Fiji Hill]

That's actually the third location, after Oakland and Berkeley. My family preferred the flat style of Z Pizza on the other side of the shopping center.

-PJ

We actually wanted to go to the one in Oakland, but it was too crowded, and we figured the same would be true for Berkeley. This was the night after the USC-Cal football game.

I recall seeing the Z Pizza. There's one in Brea, near where I live, so I'll have to try it.