Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The battle for the hearts, minds and genitals of children rages across the nation.  There is no sign—yet—the forces that want to sexually and politically indoctrinate and groom Wyoming’s children are as well organized and successful in Wyoming as they are elsewhere. Drag queen story hours and LGTBQWERTY++–indoctrination are not yet a significant “thing,” but there are certainly those who would love to see just that, even in kindergarten.

As I’ve previously written in this series, Democrats/Socialists/Communists always play the long game.  Enter “Wyoming School Porn” in the SMM home page search bar to find every article in this series.  They work to seize  and subvert the language, to make the outrageous and obscene seem normal and acceptable.  To redefine deviance, so pedophiles become MAPs—“minor attracted persons.”  Why, just because someone is attracted to minors doesn’t mean they want to have sex with them.  Perish the thought.  You’re a MAP-phobe for even thinking such things!  You’re racist too!

Books holding a place in a school library have a veil of normalcy, of acceptance, even virtue, for libraries are repositories of the best in literature, history, science, the sum of human knowledge—or at least they’re supposed to be.  As I’ve also previously written, once any sexual content finds its way into a school library or curriculum, there is no stopping all sexual content as the process of societal desensitization has already begun.  Once it has a foothold, the “debate” is never ending, and is already lost.

We stop, first, at Cowboy State Daily, where Leo Wolfson reports on the outgoing Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction:

Brian Schroeder
credit: cowboy state daily

Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Brian Schroeder says children are being indoctrinated and over-sexualized with graphic content found in public schools across the state and nation.

With a few months left in office, he used his position to host a Stop the Sexualization of Our Children press conference in Cheyenne.

‘What this press conference is all about is not indicting Wyoming schools, but protecting them,’ Schroeder said. ‘Because we are living in unprecedented times, like nothing we’ve ever faced in our nation’s history.’

An ongoing dialogue in Natrona County about a pair of sexually explicit books in the Kelly Walsh High School library is an example of what Schroeder said is a troubling move in exposing children to inappropriate material and issues.

credit: cowboy state daily

‘Now, here we are, actually debating the availability of sexually obscene and or pornographic material in our school and public libraries,’ Schroeder said, his voice cracking with emotion.

It’s a controversy he said would have been ‘entirely unthinkable not too many years ago. We now have to contend for common sense and common decency in our schools and in our communities, another sign of the times.’

Unremarkable observations, but as one would expect, not everyone agrees:

Marcie Kindred, a Democratic state senate candidate in Cheyenne, described many people in the audience as ‘frantic’ and ‘frenzied.’ She said society has changed over the last few decades, particularly on the topic of sex, and many people have a hard time understanding these changes.

‘The most concerning thing about the whole meeting was the discussion around LGBT youth, particularly our trans and gender non-conforming youth,’ Kindred said in an email after the event. ‘Our children need to be protected and loved fully and wholly, just as they are. All of them. That was not love in there. That was fear – fear of things they don’t and won’t make the effort to understand.’

For Kindred, and many like her, the standard of treating all kids professionally and kindly, of expecting them to pay attention and do their work, is insufficient.  Praising them and exposing all kids to gender dysphoria and obsessive sexual practices is quite another thing, but it is that Kindred seeks.  Kids are in schools to learn the curriculum, to build bigger, better brains, not be “respected” for their mental illness or sexual proclivities.  All kids must behave and be focused on learning, nothing else.  They should be rewarded for good behavior and academic excellence, not sexual desire, not political agitating.

‘Morality is personal, you can teach that in your homes,’ she said, mentioning how parents also have choices to enter their children in private schools or homeschool them.

Implicit in that statement is “we’re taking over the schools, we’re teaching our morality, and if you don’t like it, you can pay for private school or get out entirely.”

The topic of books containing sexually graphic material in Wyoming’s school libraries has enthralled many parents and other residents over the last few months. Many of these books, considered by some to be graphic, are presented by their authors as a form of sex education, not practice, often geared to an LGBTQ audience.

‘A comment like that reflects a complete void of understanding of the nature of sexual addiction,’ Schroeder said. ‘When a young third or fourth grade boy is exposed to pornography, or any sexually explicit material, it’s like throwing a bomb in his life.’

One can argue over what constitutes “sexual addiction,” but what is clear is there is so little time in classes for actual learning, and anything—sexual drives are overpowering, particular with the onset of puberty—interfering with that time is counterproductive.  Exposing younger kids to any sexual or political indoctrination is fraud, educational malpractice.  They aren’t sufficiently developed to understand such abstractions.  All they can do is parrot propaganda, which is precisely the point.

Three parents spoke at Schroeder’s press conference, including Gloria Courser, a parent and political activist who had a daughter who attended Jackson Hole Middle School in Teton County.

Courser said her daughter was given an opportunity to provide alternate gender pronouns for herself by her math teacher. When Courser inquired with the school district about the lesson, she said she was told that this was not a district philosophy but up to individual teachers to discuss with students.

‘I never considered that there was an option,’ Courser said.

The Teton School District confirmed this practice to Cowboy State Daily after the event.

‘As part of creating an accepting and bully-free environment, some teachers invite students to share their pronouns privately with the teacher,’ said Charlotte Reynolds, executive director of communications and district services for the school district. ‘It is at the discretion of the teacher if they choose to include this in their beginning of class welcome.

‘Gender pronouns are not ‘taught in the classroom;’ however, teachers respect student preferences.’

This, gentle readers, is not assisting kids, but is allowing them to dictate to adults who will be forced to accept and praise their demands.  It also prepares the way for more overt indoctrination.  In such schools, this is the foothold, the first step.  School district “leaders” well know this.  Teton County—Jackson Hole—is a blue, D/S/C island in red Wyoming.  Take the link, take all the links in this article, for more information.  We now visit Cowboy State Daily again, where Clair McFarland introduces The Republican nominee to replace Schroeder:

Megan Degenfelder
credit: cowboy state daily

Wyoming’s Republican nominee for Superintendent of Public Instruction on Monday publicly opposed the inclusion of two sexually-graphic books in a Casper high school library.

‘Trans Bodies, Trans Selves’ and ‘Gender Queer,’ which survived a book challenge last month, now are under review by the Natrona County School Board. The board received an appeal Thursday of a district-appointed committee’s decision to keep both books in the school.

Megan Degenfelder, who won the Republican nomination for the state’s education superintendent seat in August, said during a Monday school board meeting that both books are inappropriate for a public school setting.

‘Having reviewed these excerpts, such explicit images – of any sexual orientation – are not only beyond the scope of the content and performance standards of our sexual education and health standards, but they’re not suitable for minors that are under the age of sexual consent,’ said Degenfelder. ‘And they are an inappropriate use of taxpayer funds.’

The books contain ‘graphic images of sexually explicit and arousing acts,’ she said.

That they do. 

Degenfelder said that if elected in November, she will work with all Wyoming school districts to navigate the issue. She also said that she’s a firm believer in local control, including a school board’s authority over books and curriculum in its district. That authority is vested in the Wyoming Constitution and statute, she noted.

‘The decision on the books is entirely one for a local school district, and I come to you tonight as a candidate for office, responding to the needs and voices of voters across the state and within your community,’ said Degenfelder.

Quite so, which means the battle must take place in every school district.  to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, the price of a professional, moral curriculum is eternal vigilance.

Natrona County’s district-appointed committee opted in September to keep both ‘Gender Queer’ and ‘Trans Bodies, Trans Selves’ in the Kelly Walsh High School library, issuing a report that said the books help to represent a ‘balanced collection representing various views.’

There’s the foothold.  Once that principle is established, what “views” would ever be out of bounds?

Dr. Charlotte Gilbar, chair of the reconsideration committee, signed the report, but the other members were not identified in it.

The Natrona County School Board received an official appeal last Thursday, according to board member Rita Walsh.

Walsh said the school board will review the reconsideration committee’s recommendation and have a public vote by the end of November.

Wyoming parents tend to be involved and demanding of transparency.

Board members spoke in support of greater transparency going forward, following the revelation that ‘Gender Queer’ has been available in the Natrona County High School library without the knowledge of community members.

The book was challenged because of its presence in the other district high school, Kelly Walsh.

District spokeswoman Tanya Southerland told Cowboy State Daily in a Monday email that on Oct. 20, school district officials learned the book had been ordered in January but not put into the library database or placed on the library shelves.

However, a student read the book, Southerland said.

‘We understand there is an increased stakeholder interest regarding the availability of books in public school libraries,’ said Southerland, adding, ‘We are committed to continuing to inform stakeholders of learning resources and materials available to students.’

Walsh addressed public commenters’ concerns at the meeting after some community members said they had been ‘lied to.’

‘The comment that you were all lied to – that upsets us that the book wasn’t in (the database),’ said Walsh. ‘We try to be very transparent. It was news to us, and so that has been brought forward to the administration and will be addressed and taken care of, and hopefully these things don’t happen again.’

If teachers, librarians and school administrators are indoctrinating rather then educating, of course it will happen again.   Our final stop is in Gillette, WY, the state’s third largest city, where Clair McFarland reports on controversy in the public library:

credit: cowboy state daily

After more than a year of controversies over sexually graphic library books in Gillette, the Campbell County Public Library board has voted to cut ties with the American Library Association.

The move also cuts funding and affiliation with the Wyoming Library Association, which is a chapter member of the ALA.

Numerous members of the public commented during Monday’s regular meeting of the Campbell County Library Board in what became a contentious volley of opinions on whether the ALA has an agenda to indoctrinate and sexualize children.

credit: cowboy state daily

People who supported cutting public money for ALA membership and events said the organization is run by a “Marxist” and it wants to overhaul traditional Western society. Those who opposed the change said the ALA is a valuable resource for librarians and seeks to expand children’s literacy.

The board voted 4-1 to cut public funding and official involvement with the ALA, though librarians may pay for their own membership without being penalized. Those in favor of the cut were board chair Sage Bear and members Charles Butler, Chelsie Collier and Darcie Lyon.

I am not intimately involved with the ALA, but my experience with the National Council of Teachers of English, the NCTE, may be instructive.  I was once a member of that organization and received its flagship periodical.  In a short span of years, I noticed the quality of academic articles declining as its leftist political advocacy replaced academic concerns, conflating political, and eventually sexual, indoctrination with academics.  I ended my association with that organization.  I’m sure they didn’t miss me.  It would appear the ALA has taken the same path as the NCTE.  

credit: cowboy state daily

‘The American Library Association was once a trusted resource,’ said a public speaker during a lively debate at the meeting. ‘Its agenda (now) is to experiment with and contaminate the lives of innocent children, which is deceptive, unappreciated, immoral and not welcome in children’s education.’

The next speaker countered, saying the ALA’s only agenda ‘is to promote reading, libraries, library professionalism. They’re not a political entity.’

Another ALA proponent said that Gillette librarians now will have a difficult time reviewing books because the ALA helps them understand and categorize books without having to read them.   ‘

‘Sounds like we already have somebody to review every book in this library,’ he said, with possible sarcasm. ‘Have fun with that.’

One might reasonably believe a librarian’s job is to actually read books to ensure they meet community standards.  This might be particularly true of school librarians.

The library for roughly 18 months has been embroiled in a public debate regarding sexual content in children’s and young-adult books.

About a year ago, Campbell County appointed an outside state prosecutor to consider obscenity and sexual-solicitation charges against library staff and board members. The prosecutor found that Wyoming law exempts librarians  and educators from criminal obscenity charges. He also said the books might have ‘scientific’ value and don’t fall under the law’s obscenity definitions – exemption or not.

credit: cowboy state daily

The books in question were ‘How Do You Make a Baby’ by Anna Fiske, ‘Doing It’ by Hannah Witton, ‘Sex Is a Funny Word’ by Cory Silverberg, ‘Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Teen Boy’ by Andrew P. Smiler. Critics also questioned ‘This Book is Gay’ by Juno Dawson, but the prosecutor said that one was not delivered to him.

Multiple legislators now are considering repealing the obscenity exemption for librarians and educators.

Final Thoughts:

During my English teaching days, I constantly explained why we read the best of literature, why we strove to improve our vocabularies, why we learned to critique art based on valid criteria, why learning to write with clarity and style were vital.  Studying English builds the brain in ways the study of nothing else does.  The neural pathways built, the skills attained, transfer to and enable every other human endeavor.  If we never expand beyond our daily vocabularies, our daily discourse and interests, if we never read the best of which human beings are capable, we never see what we could become.  We remain mired in the present.

English is a skills class, and one builds any skill, intellectual or physical with constant, correct practice under the guidance of those who not only have superior knowledge, but the ability to impart those skills to others.  Not everyone can be a teacher; even fewer can be excellent teachers.  That’s why the importance of class time is so vital, and so often overlooked.  That interest of every professional educator, to retain, even expand every minute of class time, should by itself argue conclusively against any kind of political or sexual indoctrination, of any interruption to the real curriculum.  As Ms. Kindred noted, that sort of thing can be taught at home, and if one can’t get it in school, why, they can find a private school or home school.  Grooming is pedophilia– child abuse–and must be prosecuted as such.

It’s obvious in various places in Wyoming footholds are already in place.  However, it seems equally likely parents and others in the Cowboy State are not going to stop working to dislodge them, and to prevent them from making more illicit progress.

This, gentle readers, is commonly known as a good thing.