The School Board Director

Inclusion is for everyone, right?

I just sent that letter to the school board. Within the hour I received a response, from the school board director, Sonia Robertson*:

Dear Felice,

Thank you for your email, which I have shared with my colleagues on the Board of School Directors. Administrative Regulations are developed by the District Administration, in consultation with the District Solicitor, to guide implementation of District Policies.

District Policies are discussed and reviewed by the Policy Committee at public meetings during which community input and feedback are solicited. The District's TGD Policy, which was one of the first in the Commonwealth, has become a model for numerous other districts. Its passage in 2016 received wide community support -- there was actually audience applause when the Board voted to approve it! Modifications last year to the Policy were mainly to update the language from "Gender Expansive and Transgender" to the now-preferred "Transgender and Gender Diverse."

—— continues to work with Dr. Jeanne Stanley of Watershed Counseling and Penn's Graduate School of Education for professional development and consultations for students and staff.

Sincerely,
Sonia

Sonia Robertson
School Board Director
—— School District

My first thought was not a thought at all but a feeling—blind rage. Not that I didn’t foresee pushback—I suppose I’m surprised I got a response at all, especially since the initial emails I sent to Sonia went unanswered. A month ago I’d asked who wrote Administrative Regulation 259 and who advised on it. And the resulting answer was… crickets.

Once my white hot rage settled into a warm broth and I could see straight again, my eyes kept returning to this passage:

…there was actually audience applause when the Board voted to approve it!

Duh, I thought. Of course there was applause. We live in a culture that champions gender ideology, and which disparages whoever doesn’t. I also thought, does applause for AR259 mean it’s the best and only approach to inclusivity, and that my thumbs down is worthless and irrelevant?

Then there’s this:

District Policies are discussed and reviewed by the Policy Committee at public meetings during which community input and feedback are solicited.

Obviously I missed those meetings. I missed every meeting. I’m one of those parents who goes about her business believing that her kid is in good hands. I trusted the school to do right by my kid. Am I now being scolded for not being there from the start? Perhaps. Do I scold myself already? I do. And I also forgive myself. (Because #selfcare.) Also, is Sonia implying that I missed my chance? Is my letter too little too late? Is she really saying, sorry Karen, but you were absent that day so deal with it.

Moving on, this little morsel does not go unnoticed:

Modifications last year to the Policy were mainly to update the language from "Gender Expansive and Transgender" to the now-preferred "Transgender and Gender Diverse."

Of course they had to update the language. Gender Ideology is like quicksand. The terms are always shifting, treacherous, threatening to drown you in accusation and contradiction. What exactly is the difference between “gender expansive” and “gender diverse” anyway? Has “gender expansive” become somehow offensive, similar to how the word “transsexual” makes my daughter flinch, but not so with the term “transgender?” Don’t even get me started on the word Woman. And what is the significance of changing the order of the terms? Maybe it’s simply to keep the heads spinning. It’s BITE Model information control 101. Here’s a word, Sonia: CULT.

Finally I am provided with a name and organization:

Dr. Jeanne Stanley of Watershed Counseling and Penn's Graduate School of Education for professional development and consultations for students and staff.

A quick search reveals the Counseling and Consultation Trainings Brochure. For just $650 an hour my daughter’s teachers learn how to be gender ideology zombies. Naturally at first glance the PDF looks like a no-brainer. Only a monster would disagree with words and terms like “belonging,” “inclusion” and “emotional well-being.”

I guess that makes me a monster then. Along with all the other TERFs—groups like Gays Against Groomers and Lesbians United, outspoken public figures like J.K. Rowling, Ricky Gervais, and Dave Chapelle, transsexuals like Buck Angel, Blaire White, Corinna Cohn and Scott Nugent, lesbians like Arielle Scarcella, gay men like Andrew Sullivan, and detransitioners like Helena Kerschner, Keira Bell, and some of the 37,000 on Reddit.

So Sonia, what was that about inclusion again?