Elk grove unified school district curriculum review gay
ELK GROVE (CBS13) — Textbooks in Elk Grove advocate in the spotlight Tuesday night. Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD) unanimously decided to adopt recent curriculum including LGBTQ leaders in updated textbooks.
"LGBTQ people exist in society and are not monsters or freaks," one parent said to the board. "It really hurts my heart to hear what members of my community ponder about my son, and how he should be hidden."
Others did not divide those same sentiments.
"You are raping the innocence of our children," said one parent, who was strongly opposed to the brand-new textbooks.
A long-running debate finally came to its finale at Tuesday's school board meeting. The decision was finally made just before 10 p.m., but only after hours of listening to concerns from the community.
READ ALSO: LGBT Groups Quarrel California Textbooks Don't Travel Far Enough
"I never once saw myself represented in textbooks and I believe it would have meant a lot to me," said Kim Angulo, Vice President of the Sacramento Stonewall Democrats.
"You don't own the power to simply indoctrinate students to have faith the way you do!" said Greg Bert with the California Family Council.
EGUSD has spent mont
ELK GROVE — Some Elk Grove Unified School District parents feel like they were kept in the dark about an Gay club they said a third-grade teacher started on Pleasant Grove Elementary School's campus.
"The teacher came in and spoke about how boys like boys and girls like girls," said Brittani Cortina who has two children at Pleasant Grove Elementary, one in second grade and the other in fourth.
Cortina said her fourth grader told her the teacher went into classrooms and told students he was creating the UBU, pronounced you be you, club as a safe space for LGBTQ students.
"These little minds just can't wrap their heads around what these types of things imply to them," said Pamela Davila, a parent at Pleasant Grove.
Davila said it has been causing what she calls confusion for her second grader, and she is concerned about why parents were not notified about the lunchtime club. She told CBS13 this was not a conversation she was ready to have with her child.
The Elk Grove Unified School District gave CBS13 this statement:
"EGUSD is attentive of the UBU club at Pleasant Grove Elementary but the club is currently on pause while the District reviews all pertinent policies and
Elk Grove Unified Trustee Carmine Forcina scorches, clashes with colleagues over proposed educational facility library policy
Elk Grove Unified Educational facility District Trusteee and board chair Nancy Chaires-Espinoza defended institution librarians but was called a liar by a fellow board member during the Tuesday, October 17 meeting. | During a lengthy continuous hearing and deliberation, the Elk Grove Unified School District heard recommendations on the district's school library policies during their Tuesday, October 17 meeting. Nationally and in Elk Grove, school libraries hold become a focal point in continuing battles initiated by parents seeking to remove material they deem objectionable or age-inappropriate.
The recommendations were made by a three-board member subcommittee that included trustees Carmine Forcina, Nancy Chaires-Espinoza, and Michael Vargas. The group had spent 12 hours in meetings.
After hearing a presentation by Deputy Superintendent Mark Cerutti, Forcina read a statement he sent to Superintendent Christopher Hoffman in dissent of the recommendations. Forcina toched the policy recommnedation approved by two fellow trustees and said it maintains
Furious parents rip California school board after elementary teacher establish up 'secret' LGBTQ club for children without informing them
Parents at a California elementary college have been left outraged after finding a 'secret' LGBTQ club place up by a teacher.
The third-grade staffer, who was not identified, formed the 'you be you' at Pleasant Grove Elementary School in Elk Grove.
The instructor invited students in the fourth through sixth grade to attend the confidential meetings.
Parents gathered at Elk Grove Unified's School board gathering last week to voice their concerns about the the lack of transparency from the district
Pleasant Grove School Leading Deidra Wood
Pleasant Grove Elementary School in Elk Grove, California
Brittani Cortina, who has a second and a fourth grader at the institution, said her older child told her the teacher went into class and told the students about the club.
Cortina said: 'The lecturer came in and spoke about how boys like boys and girls enjoy girls.'
Parents gathered at Elk Grove Unified's School board conference last week to voice their fury about the the lack of transparency from the district.
Kirk Thomas, who attended the meeting, tol
Can a textbook save lives?
After a nine-month review process and several hours of passionate testimony, the Elk Grove school board last week unanimously approved more inclusive history and social sciences curricula for K-8 students.
The McGraw-Hill Impact California textbook came under intense public scrutiny because it includes historical and contemporary LGBT figures such as Harvey Milk and Ellen Degeneres, which some parents and community members felt was inappropriate content for elementary school students.
The textbooks place these stories alongside the contributions of other sidelined communities in a more realistic depiction of the state’s history. In a district struggling with a growing bullying issue, the school board was swayed by personal and professional arguments that inclusion is fundamental to building understanding and respect.
The choice to adopt new textbooks, which will go into classrooms in the drop, came from changes in education requirements at the state level. The district’s current materials were adopted in 2007 to comply with a framework established in 2000, and don’t comply with increased content requirements for history and social sc