UPDATED 9/13 3:42 p.m.
An Arizona teacher, Alex Naomi Parker, has become the subject of the popular @libsoftikok after she instructed her fellow teachers how to dodge Arizona law on the subject of gender identity.
Second grade teacher explains “workaround” she uses to discuss gender ideology with students in her district which has rules against it pic.twitter.com/kMqj9HAPGd
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 9, 2022
In the TikTok video, Parker discusses a comment section on a social media post and the fact that some schools will not allow teachers to ask their students about their chosen pronouns. She begins, “Man, there were so many teachers in that guy’s comment section that said their district won’t allow them to ask children for their pronouns so here’s a little workaround. This is an icebreaker I called “Call Me” because I am bad at naming things, that I use with my second graders. So we sat in our community circle, and we’re around the circle and we’re around the circle and it is just ourselves and our introduction sounded like this: my name is Ms. Parker and when you talk about me you can call me she. They went around, they did the same thing, and they were (inaudible), but afterwards we talked about why that’s important and all my kids go by pronouns of the gender they were assigned at birth. But one of the little boys has long hair and we talked about how he gets really frustrated when people call him ‘she’ because they see him from behind and think he’s a girl. One of my little girls said that she had shaved her head one year for lice and people kept calling her he and it made her really sad. So, we kind of framed it in that way. You might not know who someone is or what they want to be called by just looking at them. I hope that helps.”
Her LinkedIn profile shows that she is a teacher mentor at Solano Elementary School in the Osborne School District in central Phoenix. She remains featured on the school’s Facebook page in several posts, her teacher profile however is no longer on the school’s website.
Parker claims that she has received threats since the video was posted by @libsoftiktok.
The Arizona Daily Independent reached out unsuccessfully to District administrators and the school’s principal, Ms. Lisa Norwood, to find out what steps administrators are taking to protect Parker, and students from teachers who violate state law.
Last Legislative Session, Arizona lawmakers passed H.B. 2035 which codified into law the curriculum transparency and parental notification measures included in Executive Order 2021-11, which Governor Ducey issued on April 20. The legislation provides parents with an opportunity to participate in, review, and provide input on any proposed sex education course of study before it is adopted. This legislation also prohibits sex education from occurring in kindergarten through fourth grades.
Ms. Parker shares quite a bit of her teaching philosophy in videos she posts to TikTok, including a series on holidays. In one video, Parker dances to music and invites those who “think you need to celebrate Christmas to give students a fun winter experience,” to kiss her ass.
Parker, who identifies as a Jewish female, explains that because she is “aware of the dominant culture” and an adherent to the concept of “windows and mirrors,” and “White Christian children have mirrors everywhere” she only spends 1 1/2 days of classroom time on Christmas, 3 days on Solstice, 3 days on Kwanzaa, and 5 days on Chanukah.
Editor’s note: Because the Osborne District refuses to respond to our multiple requests for a statement and/or information, we have edited the story and removed the reference to Solano Elementary School.