As you can see from reading it, the program is focused on name-calling and teasing. Only in the later years does it brings up homes with two mommies or daddies. Nowhere does it discuss homosexual children or students.

Mind you, this portion of the Caring School Curriculum consists of one 45-minute session per year.

Your daughter will be taught, along with her classmates, she should feel fully free to love and be proud of her family. She’ll also learn that kids who are different or who have families that are different from some arbitrary norm should be treated with respect.

There are so many myths being pushed about this curriculum, I sympathize with parents trying to make sense of it all. The definitions of words like “gay” are not part of the curriculum, but provided to teachers so that they have a neutral alternative to respond when these are used as an insult.

Imagine that your daughter hears (as I think she probably will) a classmate use “retarded” as an insult, even if directed at someone else. Luckily, her teachers have been trained over the years about how to stop that sort of insult and use neutral, functional language to say what a developmental disability really is. And teachers are empowered to do so even though some parents (not this one, for sure) think that kids with mental retardation should not be mainstreamed.

Teachers asked for this enhancement to the curriculum because they didn’t have the same toolbox for anti-gay harassment.

The fact that this is a public school system requires that we understand and tolerate the differences that exist between people, whether we care for those differences or not. My child has had numerous experiences in school that I have had to correct at home, that do not match my values.

In addition to the already identified experiences of gay youth, there are also gay parents, siblings, teachers and administrators – who whether they are “out” or not deserve understanding and basic human respect. Bullying is one aspect, but the day to day experiences of all of these people in our communities is the reality of we are addressing.

The bigotry being raised here cannot and will not be tolerated.

As a volunteer Noon Supervisor at Franklin School (3-5 days/week for 3 years) I saw extensive teasing and bullying of kids who were perceived to be “different”: sons and daughters of gay and lesbian or single parents, kids with learning disabilities and physical distinctions, and kids who were thought to be gay or lesbian. The “Safer Schools Curriculum has nothing to do with sex–it is all about the moral imperative to “love one another” and accept each other as equals in the classroom and on the playground.

There is no place for bullying or hateful speech in our schools, and that is the entire reason for the BOE’s action on May 26. There is no discrimination in this policy against people of faith, nor is it “sex education.” Those who make such claims simply do not understand the BOE’s new policy and the state laws behind them.

If you want to retain local control over our schools, please oppose the recall, which is being engineered, managed, and run by partisan politicians in Sacramento like the Pacific Justice Institute with money from right-wing churches. Don’t let carpetbaggers from out of town pollute our schools and our political conversation…

Unfortunately, this out of town organization is trying to redefine CA education law in order to create an issue that doesn’t actually exist. (required opt-out for tolerance and bullying lessons).

There was definitely vociferous opposition to the program by a few parents, however there was equally vociferous support.

To sign a petition supporting the board members who voted to approve these lessons and to show your support for tolerance of diversity and protection from bullying of all people, visit:

http://johnknoxwhite.com/2009/08/12/stop-the-recall-sign-the-petition/