Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Growing opposition to Welcoming Schools

Sources indicate that the growing group of parents opposed to Welcoming Schools are digging in for a couple of reasons including the alleged bullying of a Hale parent by Principal Bob Brancale at a school event in a public park. The parent, who is under threat of arrest if she sets foot on the Hale campus without permission, was told to leave the park as it was a school event. It is the opinion of our sources close to the issue, that the parent is being bullied by Hale officials for her vigorous opposition to Welcoming Schools.

I personally witnessed Principal Brancale verbally abuse a Muslim parent for her faith-based opposition to Welcoming Schools at an informational meeting in March. Allegedly, Brancale is under review by District officials for his remarks. Feel free to comment if you have more recent news.

The recent C&I recommendation has galvanized the group as it approved large portions of WS. One of the chief grievances is the belief that WS is unnecessary because the bullying statistics were compiled after the decision to implement WS was decided. There may be some merit to this as some Hale teachers have shared in confidence that they were pressed for bullying statistics to justify WS after the fact.

MFC has been told that many teachers are opposed to WS but are afraid to speak out for fear of loosing their jobs.

MFC understands that several families are working hard to share the eality of WS with Hale parents. One of the observations that causes parents to question WS is the push towards eliminating terms like boy and girl - or at least fostering the confusion between the two. Minimizing bulling is one thing, encouraging gender confusion amongst elementary children is unacceptable to many.

MFC agrees. Bullying is unacceptable. So is forcing an unnecessary pilot curriculum on elementary children to promote homosexual behavior.

No comments: