In March of 2021 many Grand Haven Area Public School children ages 5-9 were encouraged to read the electronic book provided to them by their teachers, Call Me Max by Kyle Lukoff which features a transgender main character. One line in the book reads, “When a baby grows up to be transgender, that means that the grown-ups who said they were a boy or a girl made a mistake.”
Be sure to read previous articles on this topic if you haven’t already.
Parent complaints started pouring in immediately. They were interesting because even though they were numerous, not one of them suggested censoring. Almost all of them questioned age appropriateness and lack of parental consent. Some mentioned trust. Here are a few sample emails from concerned parents.
The next parent complaint includes an interesting response from Tom Stream who was the child’s teacher during 2021, but is now the librarian for all GHAPS elementary schools.
The line I find disturbing in this response is, “The district has empathy for families who are trying to extend childhood as long as possible.” So how do the elementary schools see children if not as children who should be left alone to enjoy childhood? They are robbing these children of their innocence. What is to be gained by educating all because of one confused child?
Parents were extremely upset. They voiced their concerns and most school leaders told them things like thank you for supporting your children, parents and caregivers are the most important teachers children have, schools cannot do it alone, we hear your concerns and we want to be transparent. Coincidentally, this is the same response any parent who complains about any curriculum issue receives. Then after telling parents their input is valuable, school leaders continue on as if nothing happened.
School officials did not address the fact that they did not follow Board Policy 2240 Controversial Issues. With this book they taught children that gender is a choice they get to make. They did not attempt to offer children the opposing view shared by many of their parents; There are two genders. Gender is not a choice, but observed and obvious at birth.
This was Young 5s to 4th grade. What else are they teaching our children?