Official says father's view on gays didn't spark fight (David Parker insulted by Superintendent)

Boston Globe ^ | June 20, 2006 | Maria Sacchetti

[lexfreedom]

Lexington's school superintendent yesterday denied assertions that a first-grader was beaten up on a playground last month in retaliation for his father's campaign to stop the school from teaching his son about homosexuality. School officials, citing interviews with the children involved, said the fight actually started over where students would sit in the cafeteria and then spilled onto the playground. The student, the 7-year-old son of David Parker , who filed a federal lawsuit in April over the teaching of homosexuality in school, was punched several times during the May 17 fight. ``These were two first-graders having a child squabble on a playground," said Superintendent Paul Ash . ``Some adults are exploiting these children for political purposes." The playground fight ballooned into a School Department inquiry after a Waltham-based parents' group, MassResistance, alleged that a group of children pounced on the boy on the two-year anniversary of the legalization of gay marriage. According to school officials' investigation, one child hit Parker's son two to four times during recess, and the boy fell to his knees as about five students watched . A teacher's aide intervened. The child who hit Parker's son was sent to the assistant principal's office, where he wrote an apology and was denied recess for two days. Parker's son and the boy have since had a play date, Ash said. School officials contacted authorities, who declined to investigate, Ash said. Parker said he was unconvinced that the fight had nothing to do with the outcry. He said other students have talked to his son about the issue. Parker was arrested last year when he refused to leave Estabrook Elementary School without a guarantee that his child would not be exposed to teachings about homosexuality. In April, he filed a federal lawsuit over the issue.

[MACVSOG68]

Joni Jay, who was responsible for David Parker's arrest is moving on to another school in a neighboring town, Sudbury.

No one was responsible for Parker's arrest but Parker.

[CindyDawg]

That too:') I was thinking more along the line of apologies though.

[MrCruncher]

Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

[DBeers]

No one was responsible for Parker's arrest but Parker.

It actually takes at least two to make an arrest happen...

[MACVSOG68]

This little boy was assaulted by seven other boys who knocked him to the ground and then kicked him in the head, the groin area and his stomach.

Afraid not. This myth has been debunked. Two first graders, both friends...and apparently still friends.

[MACVSOG68]

It actually takes at least two to make an arrest happen...

Yep. In this case, Parker and the arresting officer.

[DBeers]

Afraid not. This myth has been debunked. Two first graders, both friends...and apparently still friends.

Actually the debunking has been repeatedly debunked YET keeps on attempting to rebunk itself...

It is all a matter of persecutive -those on the left attempt to debunk that which they consider bunk on the right and those on the right attempt to debunk that which they consider bunk on the left.

Implicit in your premise is the fact that the information coming from the right is presumed bunk while the information from the leftists is embraced hook line and sinker... very odd, very odd indeedy...

[AmericaUnited]

Implicit in your premise is the fact that the information coming from the right is presumed bunk while the information from the leftists is embraced hook line and sinker...

I've read tens of thousands of stories here on FR. I've sided with the conservative side 99.99% of the time.

I've read the report put out by the school. They may be lying through their teeth, but at least the story itself is not misleading in any way shape of form. That can not be said about Mr Parkers story.

Parker said that THE ADULTS put the kids up to beating his kids. THERE IS NOT ONE SHRED OF EVIDENSE THAT THAT IS TRUE! NOT THE SMALLEST BIT! I believe that is a lie.

He also characterized the beating as a viscous assault, but then let his son go over the house and play with the kid. THAT IS VERY ODD, if Mr. Parker story is 100% accurate and he has not distorted/exaggerated the facts.

Parker's statement as to why he got arrested is also misleading.

[DBeers]

Parker said that THE ADULTS put the kids up to beating his kids. THERE IS NOT ONE SHRED OF EVIDENSE THAT THAT IS TRUE! NOT THE SMALLEST BIT! I believe that is a lie.

I suggest you peruse the several news stories and read again Mr. Parkers statements (quotes).

Once done -this capitalized diversionary straw man will be no more and the excruciating debunking tasks you are saddled with will be a somewhat less a burden...

[MACVSOG68]

It is all a matter of persecutive -those on the left attempt to debunk that which they consider bunk on the right and those on the right attempt to debunk that which they consider bunk on the left.

And most who cherish truth will sometimes have to debunk both.

Implicit in your premise is the fact that the information coming from the right is presumed bunk while the information from the leftists is embraced hook line and sinker... very odd, very odd indeedy...

Indeedy?

Ladies and gentlemen, for our main event tonight, on the left we have the superintendent of schools, the teachers, the school-ground aids, the police chief, the district attorney, Dept of Social Services representing that a fight between two boys (friends) broke out over lunch seating on the playground, and was resolved amicably that day.

On the right we have Mr. David Parker, who a year earlier lied about his arrest, and now waited a month before any report, representing that a gang of 8 to 10 boys in a well planned attack prompted by homosexual activist parents plotting against Parker because of his lawsuit dragged Parker's seven year old son behind the school and beat him, kicked him and one said, "Let's finish him off".

But even without an apparent single witness, Parker, the brave yeoman he is, won't give up. Though he's a tad busy fund-raising on FR right at the moment, soon, he'll find time to notify the school, police, court, social services, and have the boy checked out for internal injuries by a doctor.

The fight rages on, but ladies and gentlemen, we know who the hero is here, and we're all behind him, in spite of an ever so slight embellishment in his story....

[DBeers]

You should get a job with the Boston Globe...

[lexfreedom]

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/opinion/articles/051010/10john.htm

The Parent Trap
By John Leo

10/10/05

David and Tonia Parker of Lexington, Mass., saw a red flag when their son came home from kindergarten last January with a "diversity book bag" that included Who ' s in a Family, a book promoting acceptance of gay marriage. The Parkers thought it was their right, as parents, to decide when and how to introduce their son to the issue of homosexuality. The Parkers believed the public school, Estabrook, is right to be teaching tolerance of gays but wrong in raising the subject in kindergarten and then indoctrinating 5-year-olds on gay marriage. Tonia Parker says gay parents are allowed to come into class and read their material to a captive audience of the very young.

The Parkers did not attack the "diversity book bag" program. They requested notification of any future school discussions of homosexuality so they could have their son opt out. They pointed to a state law defending the opt-out right of parents. The school argued that the law pertained to sex education, not discussion of family forms. In a series of E-mails, the school agreed to a meeting, where the Parkers thought an accommodation would be offered. When the school took a hard-nosed stance instead, David Parker refused to leave school property. He was arrested, led off to jail in handcuffs, then allowed out on bail. His trial for trespassing has been delayed for months. A restraining order, still in effect, bans him from the school and its grounds. He cannot attend meetings of the school committee or pick up his son after class. He cannot even vote, since the school is his voting site. The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts said the school is on sound legal ground (no surprise there), arguing that "public education would grind to a halt if parents had the right to demand classes tailored to each child based on the parent's moral views."

Occasionally, the school and its anti-bias committee, with strong gay membership, have argued that the book bag program merely acknowledged the plain fact of same-sex marriages. But the committee's website was more candid, stating that the book bags are intended "to build an atmosphere of tolerance and respect" for "family structure diversity." The site says children "have the option to bring home a diversity book bag," and the school says it gave ample notice to parents. But Tonia Parker says she carefully files every notice and never received one on the book bag. The school said the book bag was on display at back-to-school night. Tonia Parker says she attended that event but was never told about the bag. Brian Camenker, head of the pro-family group Article 8 Alliance, which opposes gay marriage, says the diversity bag was there but in an inconspicuous place with no indication of what was in it. Another couple, the Parkers say, knew about the book bag and told the school not to send it, but their child was sent home with it anyway. That family has since left Lexington.

" Left-wing town. " The strongly liberal Boston Globe offered some questionable reporting on the controversy. In one report last May, it blandly referred to Who ' s in a Family as "a book that depicts a same-sex couple." Another report quoted a smug educational bureaucrat comparing the Parkers' argument to that of a parent who wanted James and the Giant Peach removed from a school. But the dispute isn't about censorship, oversensitive parents, or even gay marriage. The Parkers have made no antigay statements and have kept their argument tightly focused on parental rights to allow their children to opt out on issues of sexuality and lessons that implicitly approve gay marriage. Parker refuses to plea-bargain on trespassing until the school lifts its restraining order. The Parkers have assembled a strong legal team to handle the criminal case and a civil suit they plan to file against the school system...

[panthermom]

I have to agree with you, there were probably 7 other boys watching. Playground fights tend to attract a crowd. With 3 boys, I have pulled the boys and their friends off each other on numerous occasions, once they cool off they get back to playing.

[gidget7]

I'm with you, Bostonian, Northampton isn't much better. It is very difficult for those who haven't seen these areas first hand, to believe it as truth. If I didn't, I wouldn't either. It is truly unbelievable what MA has become.

That said, I would believe Mr. Parker before anyone who rights for any of the rags they flatteringly call newspapers in MA. I would also believe him long before any school board member, including this dolt Ash, who is extremely condescending and insulting, and suggest such things as "play dates" take place. It is not at all beyond my belief that people who would bring these young children with them to protest against Mr. Parker, and tell those children he is why their principal left, are not aware that in their indoctrination of these children they are knowingly or unknowingly making Mr. Parkers son a target, by their very actions.

Thinking about children being fed a vocabulary of hate toward this man, and knowing who his son is, I cannot fathom how people can assume it is just a quarrel between 2 kids.

[L.N. Smithee]

``These were two first-graders having a child squabble on a playground," said Superintendent Paul Ash . ``Some adults are exploiting these children for political purposes."

Oh, and of course that never happens when some kid says s/he doesn't feel "safe" in school because people murmur or look at them sideways because they look butch or swishy. Nawwww, nobody sponsors state law that forces everyone to be subject to one-sided discussions and assemblies asking why people don't accept homosexuality as normal. And nobody would dream of retaining a lawyer so a discrimination case could be filed against a school that has a dress code prohibiting boys from wearing dresses at the prom.

Nothing like that evvvvver happens.

[Aquinasfan]

If this man truly believes this, why is his son still there?

I tend to agree, but apparently he thinks that pulling his child would represent a form of surrender. It would, but sometimes you have to cut and run when your child's moral and spiritual health is at stake.

Then again, why are 99% of the parents leaving their children in a school where homosexual "marriage" (i.e., sodomy) is described as normal?

That's a rhetorical question. I live in MA, and I know how it works.

[Aquinasfan]

Who do you think is causing the teasing and taunting in the classroom other than parents who are taking out their anger on the Parkers through their own kids. Sure it might have started as a playground fight, but one that may have been escalated by kids egging each other on.

That's a possible if not probable scenario, but it will be almost impossible to determine the facts at this point. And the last person I would trust is a school superintendent.

[Aquinasfan]

No one was responsible for Parker's arrest but Parker.

That's a pathetic attitude. You seem more concerned with Robert's Rules of Order than the fact that the school was corrupting the morals of a minor. If some idiotic teacher gave my child "Heather Has Two Mommies" or some similar garbage, I don't know what I'd do. Let's not forget that the perpetrator of the crime was the teacher/school/super/school committe, not the parent. Parker's reaction was remarkably restrained.

[Aquinasfan]

Afraid not. This myth has been debunked.

When I was in school the bullies usually denied bullying anyone. Maybe they had honest bullies where you grew up.

[Aquinasfan]

You should get a job with the Boston Globe...

LOL! I think he already does.