''The issue is, who are the kids in our schools?" said Laura Tulley, spokeswoman for Lexington CARES, which stands for Community Action for Responsible Education and Safety. ''We have families with two moms in almost every school in our school system."
Her concern is the negative message sent to the children of same-sex parents if discussion of their families is shunned in the classroom.
It's an issue that hits close to home for Meg Soens. She and her partner are raising two sets of twins. The two youngest are students at Estabrook, and the older two, who are now in junior high, attended Estabrook until last summer.
At the courthouse last week, Soens said, ''We need to make sure that teachers can talk in ways that include all families." She likened the debate to the challenges biracial couples endured in recent decades. Soens said she and her family moved to Lexington for its tradition of being inclusive and the schools' excellent reputations.
Parker's lawyer, Jeffrey Denner, said his client also chose Lexington for the high quality of its schools. Asked if the Parkers considered leaving on account of their dispute over the diversity program, Denner said, ''They moved here for the school system, so it seems a little incongruous that they be forced to leave because the school does not adhere to state law."
The Parkers wrote on their website that they do not think the Lexington schools are following a Massachusetts law that allows parents to pull their children out of classes dealing with ''human sexual education or human sexual issues."
According to the Massachusetts Department of Education, the law pertains to sexual education classes offered to middle and high school students.
Irwin Blumer, a professor of education at Boston College, said the law does not pertain to the Parkers' case.
Lexington school officials said the diversity education class for kindergartners was not intended to be a sex education class, but one promoting understanding. By showing students a breadth of family structures, they said, children learn that no two families are alike.
''The world is made up of many different people," said Blumer. ''You're teaching kids respect for human differences."
Blumer, a former superintendent of the Newton and Concord public schools, said teaching tolerance is a cornerstone of public education.
Gerry Wambolt, a spokesman for the Lexington-based organization Parents for Respect, said the Parker debate is about family values. ''Family values are taught by families. They're not taught by paid officials," he said. Wambolt supports secular education in schools, limited to mathematics, reading, and writing.
Some parents, like Robert Bennett, agree that diversity education goes too far.
''I don't want the schools determining the values taught to my kids," said the father of eight children, six of whom still attend Lexington schools. Bennett turned up at the courthouse last week to support Parker, whom he views as a role model. Bennett said young children do not have the capacity to understand homosexuality. He said he wants his children to learn their belief system at home.
''Values, expectations, goals -- I have a right to instill those in my children," he said. Bennett prefers that school officials don't teach his children about morality. He said he plans to meet with the school superintendent, Ash, in early November to discuss the path of his children's education.
For his part, Ash said he is happy to meet with all members of the community. ''This community is very committed to creating a warm and inclusive environment for all families," he said in a phone interview. Ash plans to propose a meeting with Parker to discuss lifting his ban from school property, put in place by Ash's predecessor after authorities arrested Parker for trespassing.
''What I need to know is that he'll follow the law and won't do anything that will disrupt the educational process," Ash said.
Denner, Parker's lawyer, said they had not yet heard from Ash but would welcome a meeting. ''There is no good reason for the no-trespass order to be in place," he said.
------
FREEPERS! Support David Parker ! Visit:
David Parker Ping
The school ought to be sued for endangering the welfare of a minor.
This is in Lexington, MA? Where the battle for freedom from England began? Samuel Adams must surely be rolling in his grave....
Enroll the boy in another school, preferably private.
from the article
>>Parker, his son is now a first-grader at Estabrook Elementary School,refused to leave the elementary school during a meeting with school officials until they assured him he would be alerted before his son's class discussed families with same-sex partners. He and his wife, Tonia, had become concerned in January when their son came home with the picture book ''Who's in a Family?" which depicts two gay couples among a dozen other families. Parker and his wife referred all questions from the Globe to their attorney. But they wrote on their website, davidparkerfund.org, that it is their right and duty to teach their son about the ''boundaries of gender," and that they prefer their son not be exposed to conversations about ''gay-headed households."<<
from 1 posted on 10/27/2005 5:37:10 PM PDT by lexfreedom
>>Blumer, a former superintendent of the Newton and Concord public schools, said teaching tolerance is a cornerstone of public education.<<
This is what I was talking about in the FReep mail.