Dear Everyone;
If you have children in government run California schools - get them out as quickly as you can. This article says it all. A survey questionnare was circulated among first -third - fifth graders. One question asked about sex and whether they were touching their private parts too often......
The parents had approved ( no mention on how many parents approved ) the survey - they just didn't know what the questions would be. After the survey came out there was the expected uproar and the survey was pulled. One group of parents sued for damages. Although the suit for damages was denied the response to the suit by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals as reported in brief is worth reading.
I have highlighted it as it appears parents according to the 9th Circuit do not have the right of input as to what their children are taught - everyone else knows better - the worse part is you can't sue government schools for malpractice - you just keep paying school taxes and more to come if various parcel taxes win out at the ballot box for more teachers pay.
Ron Getty
SF Libertarian
CALIFORNIA
Suit over sex questions reaches Supreme Court
Palmdale parents object to survey of school children
- Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Southern California parents represented by a conservative organization have gone to the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge an elementary school's right to survey their children about their sexual feelings.
The appeal was filed Monday by Liberty Counsel on behalf of seven parents of children at Mesquite Elementary School in the Palmdale School District in Los Angeles County. The parents' suit was rejected in November by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The survey, which the district sent to first-, third- and fifth-graders in 2001, was intended to measure children's exposure to early trauma and included 10 questions about sex.
Among the questions was how often they thought about sex and whether they were "touching ... private parts too much.''
Parents had consented to the survey in advance after being told of its nature but had not reviewed specific questions. The survey was dropped after parents complained.
In rejecting a suit by parents seeking damages for violations of their rights, the Ninth Circuit ruled in November that a parent's authority to make basic decisions about a child's upbringing does not include a constitutional right to control what the child is taught at school.
"Schools cannot be expected to accommodate the personal, moral or religious concerns of every parent,'' Judge Stephen Reinhardt said in the 3-0 ruling.
In a statement accompanying the Supreme Court appeal, attorney Mathew Staver, chairman of Liberty Counsel, called the ruling "an assault on every parent whose child attends public school.''