On Sunday, the head of Arizona’s largest teachers’ union advocacy groups, Save Our Schools, left parents and lawmakers stunned when she went on Twitter to accuse them of being “drama queens.” Dawn Penich-Thacker, co-founder of the progressive organization, was referring to parents who support curriculum transparency.
“Kids’ schools sent home the annual Sex Ed handout reminding us the curriculum is available to preview. Just like they do every year,” tweeted Penich-Thacker. “Bc *everything* district public schools teach is *already* available to parents. Bills mandating what’s already happening are for & by drama queens.”
Presumably Penich-Thacker was referring to a handful of bills intended to strengthen parents’ access to their kids’ learning materials.
One of those bills, SB1211, Sen. Nancy Barto’s legislation increasing curriculum transparency, is up for a vote this week in the House of Representatives.
The bill, which is considered modest, has been targeted by Save Our Schools and other progressive groups although it simply requires the posting of the titles of lesson plans. The bill merely expands “statutorily-outlined requirements providing parent or guardian access to materials used for student instruction. It requires each school operated by a school district or charter school to post on its website a list of learning materials and activities including specified information and according to specified time frames depending on the topic.”
Sen. Kelly Townsend, who voted for the bill in the Senate, said she was “astonished” by Penich-Thacker’s “brazen disregard for Arizona’s parents, who have a legal right to direct the upbringing of their child, according to A.R.S. 1-602.”
“Yet here we have again the disdain of anyone who dares to question what is going on within the walls of the government-run schools,” said Townsend. “God forbid that legislators codify policy to protect children from the grooming and pre-sexualization that has found its way into curriculum more than once.”
“The job of the legislature is to protect the public, and if there were no violations then we would not have to act,” said Townsend who pointed to “a Flagstaff class that shocked parents who gave their permission to have their child participate in an anti-bullying presentation turned out to be an unapproved crash course called “Genderbread,” and 7th grade students at Mount Elden Middle School. The kids were taught by a visiting “teacher” that there are about 60 or so genders, to include glitterbutch, cyborg, and pangender.”
“Recently, parents were misled in Tucson that a class on how to be a drag queen was organized by the students. It was, indeed, organized by adults. I can imagine that this type of deception would make a drama queen out of any parent, and rightfully so,” concluded Townsend.
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“Sadly, once again we are seeing gender-confusion advocates fighting transparency in our schools. That any organization isn’t committed to anti-grooming of children is shocking and speaks more about their values than parents who truly care about their kids,” said Jill Dunican, a Scottsdale Unified School District mother.
“Parents have every right to ask questions in all aspects of their children’s lives. This is called parenting 101, not “drama queens,” said Peoria Unified School District mother Heather Rooks.
“The education world right now has been pushing parents aside and taking over their children,” said Rooks, who because of the union’s effort to alienate parents is now a candidate for the school board. “Maybe the White House, National Education Association, U.S. Attorney General and all the other organizations including Save Our Schools should stop pushing against parental rights.”
The effort to drive the public from public education has driven a number of women to run for office on every level of government in Arizona.
“If schools are already disclosing everything then they wouldn’t care about new rules. The fact is that there is now a trust issue between parents and schools thanks to the national teachers union and national school board association deciding to brand and treat concerned parents as domestic terrorists. Calling them drama queens only reinforces the idea that too many people who run our schools view parents as an unwelcome participant in the system. That is regressive and has to change.” said Nicole Cantelme, a former Cave Creek Unified School District employee who is now a Republican candidate for State House.
“Another reminder that many of the left-wing groups that pretend to care about schools and kids really just care about money and control. The kids are just a means to their end and they view parents as being in the way. The good news is that parents are waking up, more are running for school boards, and accountability is coming, whether the left likes it or not.” said Janae Shamp, a candidate for State Senate who has made school choice a central component in her high-profile campaign against school choice opponent Joanne Osborne.
Osborne has been one of the few Republicans in the Legislature who has actively worked to block the funding of students rather than the funding of schools.
“ARS 15-102 (A)(2) requires districts to have a procedures for parents to “review learning materials.” Likewise SBE R7-2-303 only requires parents be informed of “their right to review” sex education materials. There is a big difference between being “informed” and materials be readily, publicly available. ALL materials for ALL subjects in ALL grade levels should be easily accessible on the districts’ websites for parents (or any taxpayer) to review or preview without having to be “requested.” First, the National School Board Association and U.S.A.G. Merrick Garland deem parents “domestic terrorists” for attending board meetings. Now, Save Our Schools board member Dawn Penich-Thacker calls parents “drama queens” simply for wanting to have access to the materials being used in their children’s classrooms. Parents, if this doesn’t give you some indication of how little respect the education establishment and organizations – such as Save Our Schools – which endlessly advocate to pick your pockets for more money for a system that is failing at teaching your children to read, write or do basic arithmetic, have for you and your children I don’t know what will. God gives children to parents not government bureaucracies and educrats,” concluded Arizona’s former Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas.