School Complies, Provides Links to Videos That Violated Parents’ Rights
The East Penn School District has submitted to Liberty Counsel’s demand on behalf of concerned parents and complied with Pennsylvania law, by providing the links to the YouTube videos that were shown to more than 2,000 high school students as part of the district’s “Unity Week” and promotion of GLSEN‘s “Day of Silence.”
Emmaus High School required the students to watch the videos, which promoted homosexuality, same-sex “marriage” and gender dysphoria, on the school TV system without prior notice to their parents or an opportunity to opt out.
The school counselor, Kristen Grim, who is also the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) faculty sponsor, previously sent a suggested list of YouTube videos to a school employee to be shown during the “Unity Week.” However, the school district denied parents’ requests for the video links, stating the videos “were pulled from YouTube and other online sources by the students in our GSA club and sent to the TV studio as part of their ‘Day of Silence’ project.”
The district’s attorney advised “that these videos cannot be sent to parents, because they are part of a student project,” despite the district playing the videos for all students. Parents were left to try to find the videos on their own based on descriptions of the video content provided by the school district and descriptions of the video content as related by their children.
The videos released in the records request are:
- Buzzfeed’s “9 Questions Gay People Have About Straight People.”
- A CBS News story clip “Non-binary: The gender beyond he or she,” promoting “gender fluidity.”
- “Bill Nye on Sexuality and Gender Spectrum”
- YouTube spotlight “Show your pride. Share your love. #ProudToLove”
Liberty Counsel is now reviewing all public records relating to the 2018 event. The records show significant teacher-led involvement and editorial control and faculty promotion of the “student-led” activism of the GSA. In fact, Principal Kieres rewarded faculty who showed support for “Day of Silence.”
Kieres stated, “I’m all in for whatever you need. I like the idea of teachers wearing GSA or NPFH shirts if they wish. I am delighted to go on the announcements and read a script. Basically, you tell me what the kids need and I’m in!” An email from Grim to a teacher further reveals the support and promotion of the “Day of Silence” while isolating those faculty, staff and students who chose not to participate.
“The East Penn School District finally submitted to Liberty Counsel’s demand and Pennsylvania law and released the links to the four videos and all public records regarding ‘Unity Week’ and ‘Day of Silence,'” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “It is outrageous that school personnel are violating parents’ rights and the law regarding teacher involvement in noncurricular, politically-oriented clubs to promote special-interest propaganda to students.” {eoa}
For the original article, visit lc.org.
