Scottsdale Unified: Transphobic Curriculum Is “Instructionally Appropriate”

scottsdale bus

After a parent raised concerns about Scottsdale Unified School District’s use of PebbleGo, an online resource that encourages discussions about gender selection and promotes activism to kindergarten through fifth grade students, new criticism has come out from an unlikely corner. Some have found certain parts of the curriculum to be transphobic and dismissive of the role a trans parent can play in their children’s lives.

One of the lessons in question taught 3rd graders that “a father is a person who identifies as a male” and “a mother is a person who identifies as a female.”

Some, like SUSD parent Patricia Pellett feel that “lessons such as this aim to normalize the idea that a child may choose his/her gender,” as discussed in her opinion piece for Yourvalley.net. However, some feel that the curriculum dehumanizes members of the trans community.

A community member, who asked to be identified only by his first name Frank, told the Arizona Daily Independent that the lesson can create confusion in the children of trans parents. “My father medically transitioned to a woman,” stated Frank. “Even though dad identifies as a woman now, she is, and still refers to herself, as my dad. To teach children that men who identify as women are no longer their children’s father is hurtful and transphobic. Scottsdale Unified should not only be ashamed, but they should also offer a public apology to the entire trans community,” Frank continued, “I love my father and to have my children see this message diminishes the humanity of her.”

Karen Benson, Associate Superintendent of SUSD, has given PebbleGo’s gender non-conforming lesson her stamp of approval. In an email dated December 3, 2022, she wrote that “an initial review conducted by site and district leaders found the teacher’s use of the supplemental resource to be appropriate and the resource to be instructionally appropriate for our students.”

When presented with Ms. Benson’s statements about the appropriateness of PebbleGo’s definition of mother and father, Frank lamented, “It is unfortunate that SUSD promotes this level of ignorance and lack of understanding of the trans community. To say that my dad is not my dad because she identifies as a woman is painful to hear, and even more painful to know that SUSD would be teaching my children this.”

It is unclear if SUSD understands the concerns of Frank and others in the trans community, but they expressed hope that SUSD would reconsider how the PebbleGo lesson in question might be hurtful to those who may not have a traditional father, mother, child family structure.