Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 495 | The Truth About ‘Social Emotional Learning’ & What Your Kids Are Reading | Guest: Sherry Clemens

Episode Date: September 27, 2021

Today we're talking to the subject of a somewhat viral video, Sherry Clemens. Sherry is attracting attention after a video of her speaking at a school board meeting, bringing attention to the sexually explicit material that was available for schoolkids to read in her kids' class. We'll discuss what her daughter showed her that led Sherry to go before the school board, as we also discuss "Social Emotional Learning," a progressive activist program that is probably in your kids' school right now. --- Today's Sponsors: Annie's Kit Clubs are a fantastic way to build lasting memories with your kids while encouraging their creativity. Go to AnniesKitClubs.com/ALLIE & save 75% off your first shipment! Alliance Defending Freedom has been standing up for religious liberty, the sanctity of life, freedom of speech, marriage, and parental rights in America's highest courts. Go to ADFLegal.org/ALLIE & join the growing number of Americans pledging their support for freedom and liberty. Good Ranchers have met with the actual farmers that raise the livestock to ensure the product they're sending to your table is the very best. Go to GoodRanchers.com/ALLIE to place a one-time order OR subscribe today & save 20% on each box of mouth-watering meats. Plus, get an additional $20 off & free express shipping if you use the code 'ALLIE' at checkout! --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.

We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Hey, guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Monday. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Today, I've got a treat for you.

I am talking to a mom, Sherry Clemens of Richardson ISD in Texas, who went semi-viral for her speech before the school board about. a terribly pornographic book that was recommended to her eighth grade daughter. Before I give the rest of my introduction to this conversation, I'll just go ahead and play you the speech that she gave before her school board. Hello, Dr. Stone and school board. My name is Sherry Clemens. I have a daughter. You saw her at North and three children at PCE. Tonight, you're discussing the RISD accelerated learning plan. I'd like to shed a line on probable reason why RISD star reading scores have been declining since 2017. Warning explicit content available right here. My daughter recently showed me a list of eight books to choose from her book club given to her by her eighth grade G-T-E-L-A-R teacher

because she was concerned that one of them had a bad, bad language. This concerned me, so I spent over ten hours investigating the books. I'm shocked, I'm sad, I'm furious. The strong language and sexual content in seven of the ten books is enough for any parent to be outraged. The F-word is used over 30 times in one book and over 40 in two others. Another book discusses in detail a gang rape of a boy in the locker room at a school. Here's a quote from everybody sees the ants. Then he grabbed the shortest, scrawnyest kid in the locker room and threw him in the corner bench. He had his friends, hold him down, take off his clothes, and blindfold him with smelly gym uniform.

The more the kids screamed and kicked, the more of Nader's minions helped to hold him down, legs open. I could see him struggling against their hands, trying to bring his knees together. I could see him shaking, breathing heavily, panicking, gagging. While the other boys chanted, don't barf pussy. Nader produced a banana from his gym locker, walked over to the toilets, dipped it and said, watch closely, Linderman, because this is what snitches get. There is sexual content in seven out of the 10 books, one of them having 53 incidences of sex.

Example from Burn Baby Burn. Angel was my first experience with the guy, a fact that I try to forget daily. One minute, we were kissing in Angel's room, and a little while later he was driving me home, my shirt button wrong, and a wadet of toilet paper in my underwear to catch the blood. Lindsay Mickelis, RASD, director of ELAR, let me know there's no approved book list and teachers are given full autonomy as to what books they select. How can every teacher be responsible to know the appropriateness of every book? How is it my daughter could be reading books with major profanity and sexual content that in the end,

she said because it was the goal of RSC to reach all students. I demand better for my children. You focus on education. I would tell you to stay in your lane, but guess what? You're not even in the right direction. All right. So if you were disturbed by what she described, I don't blame you. I think everyone was.

Now imagine a 14-year-old being recommended that book by her teacher. So we're going to talk to Sherry all about the battle that she has. is fighting with other moms for the kids in this district. We're also going to talk about the choice of sending kids to public school, knowing that this is the kind of stuff, unfortunately, that they are being recommended and even requiring to read by some teachers across the country. We're talking about Texas. We're not talking about a city that you might expect this to come from, a more liberal city. We are talking about a fairly conservative area in the country assigning this kind of material, or at least in this case recommending this kind of material to minors.

And Sherry Clemens, of course, is not the first moms to go viral with one of these speeches. If you're on Twitter, if you're on social media, you've probably seen this. This is a trend. Moms are learning what their kids are reading some books in the library of junior high, of high schools, and moms are speaking up, and they're pushing back. And so I'll read you some headlines that just shows you that this is something that is happening across the country. According to The Blaze, an angry mom reads, and let me just say,

before I read this headline, if you've got kids in the car, if you're listening with kids, probably not a great episode to listen to with kids because some of the things that we're going to say are pretty graphic, and one of the things that I'm about to read in this headline is graphic. So there is your warning. So according to theblaze.com, Angry Mom reads anal sex passage from junior high library book to school board. The mom. mom's mic is cut off, but district pulls the book for review. The article says, Kara Bell, a local mom and former board member candidate, was livid during the school board meeting last week over a middle school library book she deemed explicit. Take her out back, we boys figured,

then, well, I can't even, I can't even read it. I can't even read it on relatable. I'll just say, she read a passage from this book that I can't even read because it is talking about rape of a minor. here's another headline from the Blaze. Watch, Angry Virginia Mom's line up to read pornographic excerpts from books assigned to ninth graders, a group of furious parents lined up before Virginia's Loudoun County School Board this week to read several pornographic passages from books assigned to ninth graders in the district amid a recall effort against several members of the board. And then the passage that I, again, cannot read. is a passage about domestic violence, about abusing a minor in a sexually explicit way.

Then there was this terrible story coming out of Hudson, Ohio, where the mayor actually spoke up, according to the Blaze, to the school board about a book that included child pornography and also an assignment, actually, that prompted students in high school. to write out a sex scene that they, quote, wouldn't want their mom to read. So this is happening across the country in a sexually predatory way. Now, this is amidst other complaints that we are hearing from moms and dads about very divisive, divisive lessened about race, about so-called diversity and inclusion that really aren't about cultural appreciation or appreciating other people from different backs.

backgrounds of different skin colors, of different socioeconomic classes. It is pitting class against class. It's pitting white against black against Asian. It is demonizing American history, not just objectively looking at the good, the bad, and the ugly of American history. And parents are upset, rightfully upset. Now on this podcast, obviously, we talk a lot about some of the dangers of public school. And we'll get into that in this conversation. We're certainly not going to ignore that in what I, in my opinion, is the important step to take to actually remove our children from these institutions. And so if that's what you're wondering, yes, we will cover that. But now I want to have this conversation with this mom who's going to give us all the details. Also give you some

encouragement and some instruction at the end if you are a parent who finds yourself in this same kind of troubling predicament. So without further ado, here is Sherry Clements. Sherry, thank you so much for joining us. Can you give us a little bit of context. We already listen to your speech. What was going on that led up to that? Okay. So gosh, three weeks ago, my daughter comes, my eighth grade daughter, she's G-T-E-L-A-R, so gifted and Talented language arts class, you know, high, high, you know, performing kids are in this class. And she comes home with a list of books for a book club. And it wasn't optional. It was a recommend we had to do the book club with her, with her class. And there was going to be assignments attached to it. And I didn't

think much about it. She said, mom, there's four on the list that have a permission slip with them. I'm not going to look at those. One was about adoption and we have adopted kids. So I think she was kind of drawn to that one, but then she realized it had permission slip and she just didn't even want to go there. So there were 10, there were 10 books on the list. And the four books that came with permission slip, what does that mean? Like, they're a little bit more mature and the parents have to sign off on it? That's what I assumed, right? I assumed that it was, they were just a little more mature, maybe some hot topics, things like that. We've had this teacher for a year. And I kind of know her belief system.

And so in my head, I'm assuming that there's probably some topics that would be kind of off limits for Chloe. And she's very, she's very wise Chloe is. And so she would know kind of what to pick and what not to pick without me even being involved. Because that's just who she is. She comes to me with everything. So I could trust her with picking that, you know, a book. And so she picked a book because she said, you know, I already read the author.

And I know it's a good book. And we moved on. So I didn't think about it. Until the next week, she comes home and it's late at night. She's going to bed. And she's like, you know, mom. I'm really worried today. My friend went up to the teacher because she's concerned that her book had so many F words in it.

And I was just like, no many F words. You know, and so in my head, I'm thinking the permission slip to me was like maybe one or two. Or like we had to sign a permission slip last year in the same class because she wanted the kids to watch a movie freedom writers. And it had a bad language in it. And so in my head, I'm thinking, oh, I had a couple or something like that. So when she came to me worried, you know, the teacher just had said, something to the effect of, well, this is how these people talk. And so you need to be immersed in their culture to understand where they're coming from. And that was kind of her response to the

student. And so I just started Googling a little bit. And I wrote down all the titles of all 10 books, let Chloe go to bed. And I googled like three. And I couldn't believe it. And what were those books? First, what was the book, if you remember, with all of the F words in it? And that was not a permission slip one. And it was called All American Boys. All American Boys. So that had a bunch of F-words in it. Yeah. That didn't even come with the permission slip. So this student just picked the book thinking, whatever. It's got to be. It looks good. And so, and when she went to the teacher with concern, the teacher said, well, that's cultural. Yeah. Got it. Okay. Yes. Yes. And then another book that wasn't a permission slip was called every day. And it is a, there's a, there was not permission slip. It's a

movie. It was a movie. I don't know if the book or maybe it came first, but I had heard about the movie last year because My daughter came downstairs very upset. It was during virtual school at the beginning of the year. And she came downstairs crying. And I said, you know, what's going on? And she said, well, in my English language arts class, I'm having to, I had to watch this video that was very upsetting to me. And it was a preview for this movie called Every Day. And I don't, I haven't watched the movie.

I have watched the preview. It seems to be about a character who wakes up every day a different, different person. So one day they're a boy, one day they're a girl. Sometimes they're Asian. Sometimes they're, you know. And so it's. And then they have relationships with same sex, with opposite sex. And so in the video, two girls kiss in the video.

And my daughter, we have a strong family faith and biblical values. And that's something that we haven't exposed her to yet. Have we talked about sexuality a ton? Yes. Have we had so many conversations and really trying to educate her on that? But anyway, so she was shocked that she had to watch that at school. So we already had a conversation with the teacher. about our beliefs. And so anyway, so then I saw that book on the list and it was just like,

okay, well, I know that this one. So I started reading it. And it's the one that had the word sex or reference to sex 53 times. Wow. And so those two alone without permission slip, I was, I was so upset, you know. And so the next morning I emailed the teacher. And it was very nice. My email just said, you know, dear teacher, I'm concerned about the books that I found in the book club. I gave her a couple of quotes. One was one of the questions. One was one of the that I wrote that I had found, not the, not the gang rape one, but the second one that I read on the video. It was in there and just asked really some, I tried to ask some very open-ended questions, you know, what are you going to be teaching from these? As far as the Texas Central

Knowledge of Skills is what she's supposed to be teaching. So what are you teaching me from these texts? You know, what kind of activities are my, is my daughter going to see from these that maybe would expose her to things that I'm not ready for? So is there going to be a presentation where she's listening to other kids and their perspectives on something that they read. And then could there be other books instead that could do the same lesson without so much kind of controversial hot topics? And I didn't get a reply from her, which was surprising because I felt like we had a very good back and forth relationship last year.

But she had forwarded it to the principal. So I got an email back from the principal that just said, I've got your concerns and I forward them on to the district. And so it was this girl, Lindsay Mackey. She's the director of ELAR, I think, third through 12th grade. And so the next morning, or I guess that next, anyway, the timeline is off. But a couple days later, she reached out to us. And my husband was home, working from home that day.

So we got on speakerphone and just visited with her for about an hour. And, you know, she had read the quotes that I'd sent the teacher. And this is before I had read all the books. And so this was before maybe the most graphic scene that we heard you saying, which I just can't imagine. But yes, yes. And I had given her all the book titles. So Lindsay had all the book titles in that email and told her, you know, that there was profanity and there was sexual content. And I was just surprised that this would be on a book list for Richardson ISD.

For eighth graders. For eighth graders. And then she told me that there's no book list. So RISD doesn't have a formal book list at all. So teachers literally, she said they can choose any book they want. Okay. So this was a teacher issue. This teacher just decided these are the.

the 10 books that I want my kids to read. Wow. Yes. Yes. And that was really surprising to me. And, you know, we had a lot of great conversation. I appreciated her phone call. It was very, you know, no one was mad or anything. It was very, I feel like we both mutually respect each other's position and learned a lot. And, you know, she said a few things like, you know, we're trying to reach 37,000 students. This is a way to reach them. And at the time. What's a way to reach them? I guess reading these, these stories that have. have characters that they identify with. That that makes them feel more known.

And one of them was, you know, if that second one that I read, you know, you could read it as either a rape scene or just a girl's first time. And that's how I had kind of read it. And, you know, so she, she, I guess, thought it more was a rape scene. And anyway, she said, well, what about the girls that have been raped? You know, they identify with that. And to me... You're talking about the scene that you described in the speech?

Yes, the second one. The one about the girl that gets into the car with the button shirt and, you know, and she says, you know, if a girl that had been raped, a student at RISC had read that, she might identify with that. And to me, I just would question that as far as mentally, I have a kid that has some trauma background. Right. Opening up that kind of wound in that kind of situation, who knows what that would provide for that kid? Would it be comforting for them? I don't know. And who says that the most important thing for a child's emotional. and intellectual development is identifying with characters, not necessarily, especially when it comes to trauma. Right. And so, but I could kind of see how this whole mentality that we have, that representation in every single aspect of someone's life is the most important aspect of education could lead to that kind of thinking, but I don't see how it adds to the benefit of a child's

development at all. That's so strange. Yes, exactly. That was our question, you know, and I had mentioned, so, you know, Chloe has a friend in Frisco that just is the same grade, eighth grade, and it's GT, and he learned, he just memorized Sonnet 29 by Shakespeare, and he's reading Robinson Crusoe. And so I asked her that, like, why aren't we reading some of these things and why aren't we learning? And her response was really twofold. One, you know, RISD academically, we're not where we need to be. And so we've got to get kids just roped into reading by offering these books. I mean, she said that. Wow. And my husband said, you're talking about a G-T-E-L-A-R pre-A-P class. This is the kids that really should be reading, like, higher level.

Yeah, at least eighth grade level. At least eighth grade level. And so, you know, I start thinking about like SATs. I mean, she's not that far away. And if we're reading a book that has the F word, I mean, she's not, but other students are. And I'm fighting not just for my daughter. I'm fighting for all the kids reading a book with the F word 50 times. And yet there's these, you know, a song.

it out there with this this complex syntax and these this the vocabulary that I know is what's going to be on the SAT. I know what's going to get her a better college interest exams, you know, scores and things like that. And and so it just doesn't quite make, it doesn't quite make sense to me. And, and, you know, so that was disappointing. And then when I mentioned the classics, she said, you know, there's talk that classics are romanticized and that there are a lot of them are one-sided. And that was- Now, what does she mean by that? I don't really know. I mean, I'm assuming that she means that they only tell one side. Yeah.

And male, patriarchal maybe. Yes. And so, and you know, my argument back was, well, if these other books are telling one side, shouldn't some of the classics be included to tell another side? And there's a rule in the RASD role, like I can't remember if it's a student role book. I don't have the exact thing. But it was a role in RASD that talks about when you bring up controversial topics in a classroom, here's the things you have to do as a teacher.

And one of them was to provide all. sides of the story. And so, you know, if only one side is presented, you need to make sure the other side is presented also. And so that's where I told her, you know, I, the profanity and the sexual content alone is enough for me to be furious, right? And this is before I even found the worst stuff. But, and I was still already upset. But the other side of this is that seven of the 10 books, as I got my research going were left-wing ideology. They really are. There's a homosexuality. There's a lot about gender identity, which I think is a huge hot top. right now and and scary for our girls to be to be exposed to. And so, so anyway, so that, the conversation ended with like two main takeaways. And the takeaways were we should have permissions lips for everything if we're going to have permission. Like, because I think she realized that those two that didn't have a permission slip, at least the one that had the 50 or 40 F words, might have been a good idea to have a permission slip on that one. And so, you know, she and then, and so, and as I was thinking about that in my head, I'm thinking, okay, but not just a yes, no permission slip.

And even not just a, here's a synopsis, which is I think what they got. I'm not sure because I still haven't talked to the teacher as of today. But what I think they got is like a synopsis of the book that maybe said what it's about. And then the parent had to sign it. But it didn't say it has graphic details. It has the F word for you. They should have to say, which I think would probably inhibit them from assigning or recommending those books in the first place, if they had to lay out for the parents in,

you know, verbally say, explicitly say, okay, here are the troublesome or the potentially controversial parts of this book. Here's the language that it uses, here are the scenes that it depicts. That in itself would probably stop a teacher from assigning some of those books because they would have to explain something like you depicted in your speech. Yes, exactly. And I know two friends personally in that class that are, that believe the way we believe biblically and they signed a permission slip. And it's because they trusted their teacher, the teacher to give a overview of the book in a way that their child felt comfortable.

And like, when they approached their mom, I think one of them said, like, you know, I want to learn about this topic. And she just said, okay. And she feels so bad, you know, that she said that. It's not hurt to me. It's not her fault. Like, I've got four kids. I sign permission slips all the time.

I think that there, I think so many parents were out. after my speech because they trust teachers to take care of their kids. Well, and we're told to trust teachers. We're told to trust teachers. And I think a lot of teachers are trustworthy. Totally. And I know that you believe that too. But I think we're realizing, especially today, is that there really is no neutrality.

And that we can't necessarily trust institutions the way that we once trusted them. And that doesn't mean that everyone within those institutions is untrustworthy, but we can't take anything for granted anymore. Yeah, it's for sure. And that's what, I mean, I was a teacher for six years. I, my sister's in education. My mom was an education. I, I fully love public school. But I do think there is a, you know, a feeling that we are to trust all teachers. And yes, there are so many good teachers out there. And that's what's disappointing is that that I think we, we just teach parents just don't always know. And then, okay, those are the parents that are educated that's been, so much time to talk. These are great parents that's been so much time talking their kids. Then I wonder who signed it that literally never even talks to their kids about anything. Or maybe doesn't speak our language. I mean, it was only in English. And I have no idea because I haven't talked to a teacher. Maybe there's no other speaking languages in that classroom. I don't know. But it is what I wonder,

like, was it really fair to put a permission slip out there that wasn't fully detailing what was happening? And because I know that I could have 100% signed something without. With that's my, I mean, as a parent, you know, I know there's, there's people out there going to say, well, parents aren't doing their job. And it's true. And I think that I'm, that's one of my goals is, like, I only have been fighting this battle, this whole school battle for about a month. And my kids have been in school for eight years. And you're nine years. And I think that that's, we are going to have to realize that, that yes, there's great teachers, but we have to step in and really understand what our, you know, kids are really dealing with on a daily basis. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality.

We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day Show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. I want to talk a little bit. Well, I will talk because I know some people are wondering. We talk a lot about public schools and public education on this podcast.

And so I'm going to ask you about that and the decisions that you guys made for your kids because I know some people are curious about that. But I do, even before we move into some of the other things that we're going to talk about, I want to, I want to hear what happened when you saw or read the particular part of a book that you talked about in your speech, the very graphic gang rape scene in a locker room. How did you stumble upon that? What was your reaction? Is that really what the impetus was that led you to make that speech? Yes. So that weekend, I still hadn't heard back from the teacher about finding a time to meet.

That was my next request was, again, can we please meet? I'm not getting full answers from the district, so I'd love to meet with you again. She didn't get back to me on a time or date. And so I just really felt compelled to start looking deeper into these books. I don't really know what prompted me. I just wanted to know if that was all there was. And so I had to buy the books. And then thankfully there's a search bar where I can search for terms.

And the one that I, the worst one was everybody sees the ants. And I pretty much read the whole book that night because the very first chapter is all about suicide. It's a young boy and he has a prompt at school that some, or he gets to choose a prompt for school writing assignment and it says if you were to commit suicide, how would you do it? And it is probably, that book probably has, I don't know, I don't want to exaggerate at least 30 ways to commit suicide, different ideas. And it was shocking to me because we, like my son who's in sixth grade has a suicide prevention class. next week. The counselors this week on Wednesday, the counselors are coming to the classrooms and are

teaching them about suicide prevention. And then yet we have a book that's literally telling you ideas on how to commit suicide. It was shocking. So I'm reading this book and it's, I don't, I'm speechless. It's, it's crazy. So I start reading this book and it's a, it's just a very disturbing, disturbing book. It's for an adult, for me at 41 years old, it was content that was, that I was disturbed by before I even got to the rapese. And then my husband happened to be in the room when I got to that scene. And I just had tears in my eyes because I think about my son who's in sixth grade and thinking about him at a middle school locker room.

Like you have a picture. And that's a thing too is, you know, I know that it's just reading material and not a video that they are exposed to. But you put your own video in your mind. Like that's what you're doing is creating a picture. And so I have that picture in my mind now. And that thinking that my, that the kids in Chloe's class could have that picture in their mind is, is, is, is, is just so sad. And that kind of stuff sticks with you, even as an adult, if you see or hear about disturbing content, whether it's sexually disturbing content or other kinds of disturbing content, like you don't, you don't want those things in your mind because they haunt you when you're falling to sleep at night and you're like, you know, if you watch the news and you see something that's terribly violent or scary, that can really stick with you and haunt you.

And I imagine for a child whose brain is still developing, they're still learning about this stuff. God made their brains to be able to retain information and retain new things that they're learning. To put that in their mind, ways to commit suicide. Who wants that to pop back into their kids' head when they're 16 and insecure and they haven't been invited to a party and they're struggling with cyberbullying and things like that? Who wants a kid to be imagining gang rape when they fall asleep at night? Yeah. Yeah. It was just shocking. So shocking. So, I mean, of course, how Mama Bear came out. I was mad at that point. And, you know, the question is, you know, well, your kid didn't have to read that book. It doesn't matter. It was in the hands of children. There were four kids that I think. I mean, this is not confirmed. But what Chloe thinks is there were four kids that had that book. Yeah. So four kids are reading this and their parents don't know. Their parents, there's no way their parents know. Maybe they do, but I have to assume they probably don't. You know. It doesn't matter. Even if it were zero kids, a teacher recommended that book specifically. Did it come with a permission slip? It came with permission slip.

Not that I think helped it, but still. But it did come with the permission slip. So the next morning, I am trying to calmly figure out what to do without just going up to the school and, you know, causing a crazy scene. Oh, yeah. That's what I didn't want to do. Just bust down the doors. Like, what is it happening? So I emailed the principal and asked if I could come in and meet with him.

And he had just, I mean, and I know he's so busy. And I totally understand and respect his time. So we just had a few minutes together, went into his office. And my questions, my first question was one, you know, why won't she meet? with me. I would love to discuss this with her. It's not resolved yet. And he said that they're trying to work on a time. He needs to be there. It's trying to work out of time. The second, my second point was, okay, I'm probably going to speak tonight at the board meeting. And I'm probably going to say some of these quotes that I found last night that are really disturbing.

And I didn't get any pushback from him. He didn't, he didn't really say anything. I think he said okay. He didn't really have a response to that. And so I didn't, I didn't know what else. else to do. I felt at that point that I'm not being heard by the teacher. I'm not really being heard by the district. The district now has a list of these specific books and no district member person has researched these like I have and determined that they're inappropriate and nobody knows about this. Parents don't know, you know, and I'm worried from our kids and I want this to be exposed at this point. And that is in part because, and we'll probably talk about this later, but the social emotional learning curriculum that's been kind of put in our schools this year and adopted into our classrooms

is controversial. And so I've already been kind of on high alert about just topics being exposed our kids being exposed to topics and ideologies that we don't necessarily believe in or want exposure at school. It's something we want to talk about at home. And so, you know, obviously the sexual content and the and the profanity alone were enough for me to be upset. But then also, there are seven of ten books have this left-wing ideology. And so it's a big concern for me. But yeah. So anyway, so then the board meeting happened. And, you know, I wanted, I don't think that our board knows a lot of what's going on in our schools. Based on the questions that they were asking that evening after the parents' comments, they didn't know a lot. And so I'm

thankful that I feel like hopefully this was a good step in the right direction of, of opening their eyes. And then all of the parents, obviously, I mean, so many parents. And I think this is something we can all agree on whether we are left or right, you know, that this profanity and this sexual content is inappropriate. And so that was a good way for us to come together on something, I think, and be united and saying, you know, we want better, you know, for our kids. Yeah.

And so then the next day, I didn't hear from anybody from the district, which just on a personal note was really disappointing to not hear one person. not the principal, not somebody up higher, not the teacher. No one's saying, you know, let's talk about this. You know, thank you for your sharing your concerns. Not even you were right or anything like that. Just a acknowledgement. Well, I imagine that they're embarrassed. It's kind of like when a child knows that they did something wrong and they don't want to apologize to their sibling because it's humiliating to do that. Yeah. I know that these are a bunch of grown adults that we're talking about, but it's hard for me to see any other reason why the teacher won't meet.

with you, except for embarrassment. I mean, that's really embarrassing to be an adult who reads a book, who I guess read the book that you're describing, especially the one with suicide and gang rape of a child, and then to say, yeah, you know, I thought that this was probably be good for my 14-year-old students. That's really embarrassing for her. Yeah, I agree. And so that evening, the principal did email the GT parents of that class and said that book clubs would be paused momentarily. And if you would like your child to stop reading the book that they have been given, you need to let the teacher know. And that was basically what it said.

I think that email also did say that RISD has decided that some of the content was inappropriate for junior high kids. It did say that. And then so they be pausing book clubs. And that was kind of it. And then the next day, a big statement came out from Richardson ISD. And in it, it talked about basically the vetting process that they have. and kind of the different ways teachers can get books into their classroom and put them into the

kids' hands. And one of them, you know, was teacher choice. And they admitted there that they did also find that some of these books had inappropriate content for junior high students, and they would be re-looking at their vetting process. And so that's a win, right? Maybe they should re-look at their vetting process for their teachers. I know. I know. I mean, I personally, I don't know who the teacher is, I'm not asking for that identity. I just think that that is such an easily fireable offense. I agree. I agree, especially when this isn't the first time we've had these instances come up. And, you know, on the last, the Thursday conversation with the district, she specifically said, there is no teacher in RISD that has an agenda. And I said, there is no way

that she doesn't have an agenda. She has a Black Lives Matter and a pride, flag sticker on her board. She wears a black or a fist on her like on her label on her whatever shirt every day. So to me when you do that and then you talk about things like the Trump rally or the Trump riots the next day in class, in an English class for the entire class. And you show slides that are definitely one-sided on left and right ideology. It in and you know what medias are biased and CNN's in the middle. It's not biased. It's hard for me to not think there's an agenda there.

Of course. And so there's all these. And so, and again, and maybe this is when we talk about this, we're in public school for a reason. We want our kids to have experiences in real world. And some people are going to agree with that. A lot of people are going to disagree with that. I think, too, I have a lot of faith in the public school that I'm starting to realize

maybe shouldn't be there. Yeah. And I think for so. long we're in a sweet little elementary school with all of our neighborhood friends and our principals this grandpa amazing guy and and it's just really sweet and so i think that i was was naive in thinking that it wasn't going to get harder and then we got the teacher we got last year and i realized immediately it was going to get harder and um and then all the scel stuff that's come out and and it's you know i i i i we are our initial decision and

sending our kids there was out of wanting them to be exposed to other ideas and other kids and diversity and all these things. And then we would come back home and talk about these things at home and address them at home and help them walk through real world, you know, problems with us, not knowing we were going to be exposed to this degree. Yeah. I thought we were going to be exposed to just different, different, you know, political ideas and like different forms of faith. And yeah, and I'll just give my opinion on that. And I hope this doesn't come across as criticism because it, you know, it represents a lot of people who listen to this podcast and watch this podcast. We talk a lot about, and this isn't necessarily a problem in Texas, but a little bit.

The Teachers Association is basically the same thing as Teachers' Unions, the corruption of the teachers' unions, teachers with agendas and things like that. And how sitting your kids to private school or even private Christian school is not necessarily a guarantee that they are going to be free of this kind of agenda. and the bad kind of indoctrination. But we do talk about how, especially nowadays, sending your kids, especially to public school, is sending them to the front lines sometimes, before they're actually big enough to pick out their proverbial shield, before they're even big enough to defend themselves against these ideas.

And it's very difficult, I think, if you've got a child who is learning eight hours a day, a worldview that is not neutral, but is specifically contradictory to a biblical worldview and then just to hope for a couple hours at night after they're done with their homework to contradict that is really hard. And it just doesn't always happen. And so we've talked a lot about how really there is no neutral ground anymore. Either our kids are learning from a biblical worldview and we're deciding, okay, this is how we're going to talk to you about sexuality. This is how we're going to talk to you about gender.

This is how we're going to talk to you about suicide. Because what you're talking about is not that you desire to insulate your kids from all of those things, but that you are hoping to be able to choose how and when. And that's what I think is important. And today, it seems almost impossible for parents to get out ahead of what the public schools are going to teach them when and how they're going to teach them. And so that's why I do typically encourage say, okay, well, I think it's so important to speak up at school board meetings, whether or not your kids go to public school, I think maybe it's time for some parents. to think about should my kids even be in these institutions in the first place.

And that's really hard. It is hard for a lot of parents to make that decision. Yes. And, you know, we have always said a year by year from the beginning. You know, we're going to take it one year at a time and see where we're supposed to be. And so we're still taking it one year at a time. And, you know, I guess one of my biggest fears of leaving. And I mean, I can give you 20 names of families that I know that I'm very close to that have all left the public school, all live, Richardson.

And they have great houses around us. And it's still this community that's supposed to be so sweet, but yet they had to pull out because of belief systems and and just agreeing with just what you're saying, you know, agreeing with what you're saying about pulling them out. Yeah. And, you know, my biggest fear is, and this may be a reality already, and maybe I'm just now learning this. But my biggest fear is that if all Christians leave the public school, then the public school then becomes 100% indoctrination on their, on what they want to the agenda they want. And so then in 10 years, you've got a whole decade of kids, a whole generation of kids that have only, you know, they're only hearing one side. And so that's, you know, instead of me fighting and saying, okay, no, I'm taking these books out of these kids' hands through fighting. That's at least helping some kids maybe not be exposed to as much.

So, but there's a fine line. And we're not, we're not sure. I mean, every, every, and I think, you know, selfishly, maybe I'm the only one that feels this way. but part of our reasoning too is is what we had. You know, I had a public education and I had the Friday night lights and I had all the experiences in school sports. And that sounds like a really silly, selfish reason to want your kids to go to public school. But it is this like you think this Texas, this is what we grew up with.

And so that's what we think we're going to give our kids. And we're realizing it's just not the same anymore. And so anyway, that's kind of how we landed where we are. And again, who knows what we'll end up doing. Tell me a little bit more. I mean, there's a lot of things that a lot of parents had complaints about in the school board meeting. One of them was masks, which maybe we'll get to.

But another thing that I heard some parents talking about was this social, emotional learning. And a lot of people have reached out to me about this. I haven't covered it specifically on my show because I just haven't looked into it. And then some teachers who follow me say, you know, it's really not so bad. It's really, you know, it might even be a. productive for kids to kind of learn this. And then I have a lot of parents and teachers who say social emotional learning is not social emotional learning. It's really just more pushing a progressive agenda in the name of empathy and inclusion and things like that. So what is it from

your experience and kind of what's your take on it? Yeah. So I didn't even know what SCL meant until about a month ago. I had heard. So one of the biggest problems is the lack of transparency and communication within the district. So I didn't even know what it was. Our kids have been in the schools, you know, eight years. And I remember hearing a couple of parents last year talk about during junior high advisory period. They have an advisory period. So when you think of advisory, think of study hall, right?

That's what I thought of where you go, you know, you have kind of break from your regular classes and you go and maybe ask questions about other, you know, subjects that you're having trouble with or, you know, take, do, I don't know, things that can't be covered in the other classes. and Chloe got her band teacher for her advisory. So instead of doing anything else, they just practiced band again. So Chloe had banned basically twice a day on those days. And so, but other parents were saying that during advisory period,

their kids were coming home learning about these social justice issues and these, you know, ideas and learning about, you know, racism and things like that. And so what we were just kind of surprised and didn't really know that they were. Well, so apparently they started sometime last year. implementing this SEL, social emotional learning in the advisory periods at the secondary level. And then in August, I randomly got on a Facebook group with about 300 moms that have been fighting this way longer than me. I didn't even know that this group existed.

And it initially was about masks because we were told two days before school started that our kids then, yes, had to be in masks. And that's originally— And that's in defiance of Governor Abbott's order that says the districts cannot force they can't force students to wear masks. It has to be a choice. Yes. And so Richardson ISD has said too bad.

Too bad. And there's no exceptions. My child's in special education. And she has no, there's no waiver or opt out for her, even though her issue is a communication issue with her. And emotional learning issue where it's hard for her to understand socially what you're feeling without looking at you. And looking at your mouth and looking at, you know, your expression.

And so we have fought that. This is another daughter. Yes. Not the eighth grader. Yes. She's in third grade. And so, so yeah. So I initially got on.

And we can talk about more about masks too. But initially I got on that about just wondering how can I fight this with masks with her specifically. I mean, for all my kids, but especially for her. And found this group. And then that's when they started talking about this thing called SEL. And that's when I learned that it meant social emotional learning. And they were talking. they were talking about how it's going to be in K through sixth grade for 25 minutes every morning.

And I am like, what are we, what is this? Okay. So I start researching more. And it's under the EDI, which is the equity diversity and inclusion department. They have created. They created it, I think, about five years ago at Richardson ISD. And that all started because, I don't know if you remember this story, but at Pierce High School, there was a really bad meme that went out in 2017.

It was a very racist meme about Pierce High School. school was the KKK and their rivals were the Richardson High School. And it was very vulgar and very upsetting. And that really is what we think has that kind of started this whole spark of creating diversity and inclusion in the classroom. And so maybe understandably, they saw a real problem and someone said, hey, we need to address this and make it better. That's probably how it started. For sure. And I think it's a great thing. I think it needed to happen that, you know, kids that do not need to be making memes that are so that that is racism right and so we that's blatant and and should not be you know accepted at all and so so they started this this you know

division or whatever of the district and under that is social emotional learning and connecting cultures which is a separate curriculum and that's something that I learned from my friends I did not learn from anybody at school in the district level and so we did get this flyer that said scel preview nights or preview days it was a Tuesday or Wednesday and a Thursday 8th. to three, you could go up and review your child's lessons. Okay, well, I have, they only give you an hour and a half window. I have four kids. It's about 50 lessons a kid. Wow. So there's no way. Yes, there's no way. And you can't take pictures because it's supposedly, supposedly it's copyrighted. And so you can't take pictures, so you have to take pen and paper notes. And so I had, I didn't even go

because I work and I couldn't make it those days. But my friend went that we have similar believes and she's are taking notes for me for eighth grade and she she you know just ran out of time in the hour and a half to do one she i think she got through four lessons wow and because you have to watch the videos because there's videos attached to each lesson and they're on youtube or tic-tok or these you know platforms that we're not even letting our kids have a have on their phone and yet they're getting exposed to this so so that's how we kind of learned about it um and and through the the research from a one all these parents um in this group that have all spent time researching it and through just different, you can access one of the curriculums online. It was the K through

six. And so I started looking at kindergarten because my son's in kindergarten and thinking, you know, what is he going to be exposed to? And, you know, right away, it's a little alien named Z who is not a boy or a girl and his planet does not have boys or girls. And they talk about gender identity. I mean, it says in the notes. It says, yes, in the notes on the side, it says, teachers come up with a class name like the Panthers or the Patriots or whatever you want to call it because you shouldn't be able to say you shouldn't say any more boys and girls line up you should say Patriots line up or whatever you know tigers line up oh my goodness so it says it in there it also talks about you know really trying to get away from boys do this girls do this as far as you know

what they can play with or what they what colors they like and and why I agree that some of that obviously my daughter is in a is a and she would be she would be known as a tomboy, right? She loves sports. She's real, you know, she's tough. Totally fine. Yes. So there's, there's totally room there for, for, but it, it seems to be a undermining way

to discuss gender identity. For sure. For sure. And I was shocked, right? So I'm reading this tonight. So, so I find out through my friends, not from the school, that I can opt out my kids. And so I email the principal and opt out my kids at junior high and elementary. That's what you can do.

And so you just send an email and you can opt out. out. So, but when they get opted out, they go to the library and sit by themselves for 25 minutes at the beginning of the day. So instead of being with their teachers, so, you know, in the district on, you can look, read, you watch this video, um, from Monday night, but the, the superintendent, there's some discussion about SCL at the, the board meeting, because parents are getting upset and, and sharing this. And the board doesn't really know what's going on. And when the board members, you know, he was, he said, this is K through six. I thought it was, or K through 12, I thought it was just K through six, he didn't even know that they've implemented in the high schools and the junior

highs. And he didn't even know what the curriculum was. He has three kids in the district and he didn't even know he could go review the curriculum. And so he himself doesn't know. And so he's asking these questions and how much time of it is it a week? Well, you know, this is assistant superintendent's talking and she says, oh, it's just once a a week. And there's a parent behind me that I know.

And he stands up and yells, even though we're not supposed to speak back and yells, my kid gets pulled out four days a week and sits in the hallway by himself for 25 minutes a day for four days a week he's sitting out there. And so it's unclear. There's not, we don't even know how many days it is a week as a parent because I think mine's five for my little kids. I think it's one for my big kid. And then like, you know, Chloe, she has to be pulled out.

And she sits in the library with, you know, at a separate table from any friends when all of her friends are in there having fun doing this lesson and then getting to chat at their tables. And it's not six feet apart. There's no COVID, but they told her it was because of COVID in the library. That she had to sit six feet apart, which we don't even have that role at all in RISD right now. So it's almost, it feels kind of like a punishment. For sure, especially for her. You know, it does.

It feels like a punishment. And the last thing that you want to be when you're an eighth grade girl, really any age, but especially that Tinder age, is ostracized or seen as different or for your parents to seem like fuddy dutty who don't allow you to do something. So that's really difficult. It is. It's really hard. And the first week, she was, there was only two kids that got pulled out. And I think the last week there was maybe 12.

So it's growing, which is helpful to her to not feel like she's the only one. And that has been hard for us to watch her. And so, you know, throughout the rest of this week, we ended up deciding to pull her from that class as of today. So today should have to start in a new class with a new English teacher. And thankfully, she didn't have to rearrange her whole schedule, but she did have to rearrange that class. And I hate it for her to now, again, have to walk into a new class and people asking, why are you switching out of GT? Why are you, you know?

And just one more. And she's tough. And she, she, she's okay. Like, this is, this is okay. She can do this. You know, when we talk about how as Christians, we are called to do hard things. And so she's prepared for it. But I still hate it for her to feel like she's so different and to not feel.

and the reason why we did that is because we could no longer trust that the teacher had Chloe's best interest in mind. Yeah. The rest of the story with the books is on Thursday, Chloe came home and she said, Mom, the teacher passed out every single one of those books back to the kids. Wow. And I was like, even the aunts one, even the worst one. And she said, yeah, Mom.

So she passed him back out. They, yes, on like Wednesday or Tuesday morning, one morning. I think it was Wednesday morning. She came in and said, okay, everybody, bring your books to this table. You have to leave him here. Something about this is the consequences. And Chloe didn't really know what that meant. And she was angry.

This is the consequences of your parents knowing what you're reading. Basically. And so she, you know, she. So this was in reaction to your speech, to everything. She gathered the books back up. And then a few days passed and she passes the books back out. Yes. Even the one with gang rape and how to suicide sections.

And even after RASD made the statement that said, you know, no, there are some inappropriate books in here. There are some with mature content that we deem inappropriate for junior high kids. She gave them back. It's not even just mature. It is pornographic. I mean, truly, I think exposing a child, like we understand that a child when it comes to actual sex, like a child cannot consent to those things. So any predation on the part of an adult toward a child in that way is always assault. It's always, it's always predation. It can't even be seen as any kind of consensual relationship. I think it is absolutely the same principle that applies when it comes to exposing children to pornographic material,

even if there's no interaction there. That is a form of child abuse. The child cannot, did not consent to that. Exposing a child to pornography, it's just a child. It's just, child abuse. And the fact that she is not only re-exposing that to, re-exposing them to that, but also is suffering no consequences. And again, I want to remind people, we're not talking about Portland, Oregon. We're not in L.A. We are not in Manhattan. We are talking about a little, not a little suburb outside of Dallas, Texas that is known to be pretty conservative. For sure. Yeah, that's, you know, that's one of the reasons why we're not in D-I-S-D, right? because we had heard over the years that DIST was not as conservative.

Dallas proper. Yeah. Was not, you know, as Richardson. And that's one of the reasons why we moved there, hoping that our kids would get a neutral education, you know. And so, yeah, so when she passed the books back out, I immediately called somebody high up. I just found a number because I, and I am talking to the director of language arts

overall. Oh, so she's higher than Kristen. I mean, sorry, Lindsay. I said Christopher, but her name's Lindsay. But the person higher than her, Dr. Butel, I think is how you say her name or Boutel. And I just really quickly said, I know you probably don't have time to talk to me. I just wanted you to know that my daughter texted me and the books are being handed back out. This is not okay.

This is now back in their hands. You know, what kid isn't going to go flip to their crazy pages immediately in the next class? You know, does every parent have the time tonight to vet that book? Do they find all the bad scenes? You know, some parents work late. Some parents, I mean, and I know parents need to do their job. I know that. But at the same time, we don't need to be expecting our parents to have to have to.

to flip through books to make sure there's no porn in them. Right. You know, that doesn't make sense. I mean, you should be on the same team. Yes, it is parents' responsibility. Yes. 100%. Yes.

God has entrusted parents with the responsibility of raising their kids, not teachers, but they should be on the same team. That's right. They should have the same goal. Even if teachers disagree politically with the parents, that's going to happen. Yes. Even if maybe they expose them to some political opinions that you might disagree with. But when it comes to objectively pornographic and abusive,

material, you would hope that the teachers and the parents are on the same page, though, that you're basically an adversary against the teacher in the district, and that's not what you want. That's right. That's right. So we realized, you know, after she did that and gave the books back to the kids, we could no longer trust that she had Chloe's best interest. And it's sad because, you know, my husband talked about just this missed opportunity with her because here she has this very sweet, fun, consider.

conservative Christian girl in her class who has, yes, a very firm belief system and has for a really long time. And you have this, yes, liberal teacher that has a different viewpoint. And part of our reason for going to public education was for that relationship to be okay for for her, Chloe to feel safe in that classroom and talk about her beliefs as they came up for the teacher to even sometimes share her beliefs that maybe were different, but that Chloe could then mutually, they could have a mutual respect and she could respect her teacher. in, and hey, here's an adult that I really like and she's really fun, but she believes differently than me. But guess what?

She respects me and she respects my beliefs. And I can be okay in her classroom knowing I'm safe and knowing that she's not going to push her beliefs on me and that we can have this mutual great relationship. And what a miss for her because it became now where Chloe doesn't trust her. Chloe is upset and hasn't heard one word from her about being sorry or caring it all about Chloe's heart. how Chloe felt in this. And that was just really disappointing that we didn't hear any remorse, no apology, and no even addressing it at all other than to say, put your books on the thing. And there was no.

And so we realized at that point, it just wouldn't be in the best interest of Chloe to be to be there again. Let's talk a little bit more about SEL. So we talked about what's your son, who is five, was exposed to as far as gender identity or would have been exposed to. What else is being covered? You mentioned talks about racism. and I'm guessing it's not just as simple as, hey, racism exists because we obviously both agree with that. That's not controversial.

What part of SEL as far as social justice and so-called racial justice is implemented? Do you know? Yeah, I do. I mean, there's, you know, my son's friend came home last week and said that their teacher told them that if you are white, you are intrinsically born bad. So that came from a teacher's mouth. So maybe not word for word, but that's what he felt that he learned. On the side of the oppressor, privileged. Yes, yes.

So we know that there's nuances of that. I've got a ton of notes about all of the different, you know, cultural appropriation versus cultural appreciation. Just everyone can concede if you work hard, identity and belonging. I'm trying to think of this. Everyone can succeed if you work hard is actually, they're probably saying it's negative and actually more a construct of whiteness than something that is actually true.

So it's a bunch of, and we don't have to get into all of the details, because I know there's a lot we can. But we talk a lot about on this podcast critical race theory, what it is, what it isn't. And I don't think anyone objects to children learning about different cultures or learning about the goods and bads and the ugly of American history. Of course. We want all of that. Whether your kid goes to private school, public school, or is homeschooled, all of that stuff is important. But it's how it's presented.

I also think that these teachers aren't actually trained in educating kids in this. way, especially without some kind of agenda. That's part of the problem, right? Yes, yes, for sure. And, you know, I have two of our kids are Chinese and I have a passion for wanting them to feel known and loved for their heritage and their culture. And so do I want, when it comes time for Chinese New Year, do I want their friends to learn about that and to celebrate with them where they're from and get to see the beautiful parts of the country of China, like the beautiful city and the people there. There's so many sweet people that we met there when we traveled there both times. And just their culture and where they're from, do I want that to be celebrated?

Yes. But then in one of the lessons it talks about Asians being the model minority in third grade. And so my daughter's in third grade. So if she's in SEL, she's learning about that. When I didn't even, I had to like really learn what they even meant by that. And I have a hard time understanding how pointing out our differences in a seemingly to be negative way is helping them in the end be more loving and accepting of everyone. To me, it's divisive.

It's divisive. And there's all these divisive, just little. Yeah, and I'll explain what model minority myth is as well. So they call it model minority myth. And basically, according to critical race theory, and this is not just me. saying it's critical race theory. It is in the book by Delgado and Stefan Sick. I think that's how you pronounce her last name. Introduction to critical race theory, they talk about how there is a model minority myth when it comes to Asian Americans because when people point out, hey, Asian Americans

have a higher median income, they have higher test scores, higher graduation rates, lower divorce rates within their families, lower crime rates. They say that critical race theorists would say, well, that's a model minority myth. I don't know exactly why it's a myth because those facts are facts. And they would claim it is a tool of white supremacy to try to denigrate black Americans. And so again, I would say that that, and I'm sure you could correct me if I'm wrong or if I missed anything. But I do think, one, that it's a strange, it's a strange concepts because it does divide and it even demonizes the success of a student who happens. to be Asian. And it just pits, you know, white people against Asian people, against black people,

rather than bringing people together. And it does seem like that is either an intended or unintended consequence of a lot of social emotional learning. That's right. And it depends on the teacher, too. And so I think, you know, you get this curriculum that's already some of it has ideologies that I don't agree with or that aren't the kind of the neutral ground that don't just discuss things. neutrally. And then you have a teacher that has to then end up teaching this curriculum. You just said it. They're not certified to teach this. When I had my E.C. through four at early childhood through fourth grade certificate, it was for the four main core subjects. I wasn't allowed to teach music. I wasn't allowed to teach band or or choir or whatever because I wasn't certified. And so these teachers are

teaching this without being certified counselors, without being certified in this. And so we're then again giving them autonomy just like we did with the books on then you do end up putting, if you can talk about things like whether it's critical race theory or not, but what it seems to be that, and then you put your slant on it, it can come across as one-sided. And that's where the problem is. And so, you know, our superintendent painted this picture at the board meeting on Monday night that, you know, I don't understand why any parent wouldn't want their kid in SCL. And she said, I'm befuddled that any parent would not want this for their kid. And the thing is we do want that for our kids. We want emotional,

healthy, mental, we want them to be healthy in the classroom. And I understand that there's a lot of kids in there that we're serving in Richardson ISD that don't have a good family life, that don't even see their parents at night. And so that's, I think, where their heart is, supposedly is trying to reach those kids. And so, but they have created instead of this sweet time of connection with the teacher where the teacher maybe asks questions or pulls that kid aside like I would have when I was a teacher, when the kid walked up and had a bad day, I would, you know, talk to them about their home life. And, and, you know, ask, you know, some questions and then maybe refer them to the counselor or talk to the parent about what they shared with me. So I'm checking in as a teacher with their emotional and mental health without having a curriculum in front of me that is scripted. That is talking about topics that we feel are in the parent lane. And so that's like one of my our biggest, like me and I'm saying ours and the collective people that I'm speaking for right now. You know, we believe that the parent lane should be where we talk about these things on a deeper level, and the school lane should be education.

And when you look at our test scores in Richardson, ISD, they're bad. Yeah. We've been failing since 2017. Our scores have been dropping. And not just my kid or the, it's all races, all socioeconomic. We're all dropping. And it's hard to understand why we're putting this much emphasis on a controversial

section of curriculum instead of focus. on getting our kids ready for college, getting our kids ready for success and whatever they do. Yes. And so it's, that's the hardest thing for us to understand is why we're spending so much time on this. It's not a sweet little meeting with the teacher where they discuss emotions. And maybe, and maybe some it is because maybe some teachers don't want to teach this exact curriculum and because they have autonomy, they don't maybe go over at all. I don't think every single teacher is reading verbatim, what's going on in the classroom, they do get to decide, which is good and bad. It can be really good, but also really scary. Yeah, there's probably some who are

ideological, and so they're going to even take it further to the left, and then they're probably teachers who just don't know because they're not necessarily trained in this, who do read it verbatim, and they don't realize the kind of influence, the kind of influence that they're having. And I do think that, you know, we were talking about before the camera has turned on how only seven, percent of kids in the district are even meeting the standard for the statewide math standard. The seventh grade math. And I think that we're seeing this across the country. And yes, we can blame some of it on the virtual learning and the interruptions from the past year. But like you said, this has been happening, at least in this district, since 2017, in other districts,

it's been happening for a very long time. And unfortunately, it seems like somewhere. I don't know where it starts, whether it's on the teacher level, the district level, the union level. I think it's probably a little bit of all of it. They're more concerned about making children who are political activists than making children who are prepared to do math, to do science, to be able to read and understand the classics, to be able to perform well on the SATs and ACTTs and to be able to work hard and problem solve. That is going to have a generational societal impact that is not going to be good. Yes. It's not good. Yes.

Do you have any just final words, encouragement for parents. who find themselves maybe in the same situation or trying to find the courage to speak up, but they don't even know where to start. Yes, that's a great question. I mean, I would say we love, we've loved our time in public school so far. This is all new. And there have, there's not, it's not imperfect by any means, but we've been able to really talk to teachers when they weren't on the same page and get through conflict and things like

that. And, and I was so worried about sending my kid to junior high at public school and she loves it. She has a great group of friends. She has wonderful teachers. that are impacting her life both just personally and then obviously academically. And so I would encourage, you know, from the Richardson-IAC specific perspective, I want us to stay in fight at least momentarily. I don't know next year what I'm going to do, but right now we're here.

And I want other parents to start making sure they're sending emails to everyone, to the principal, to the teacher, to the district, talking about their perspective on SEL, their perspective on on these books and and and their perspective on just the the teacher autonomy that the teacher has in the classroom and how that can be detrimental for for their children and and then being at the board meetings I mean when I went to the my I went to my first board meeting this year and it was in August and there was probably 30 people there and then when we had this last week where I spoke there was probably I can't maybe a couple hundred and so it's it's growing and people

are are realizing okay the board doesn't even know what's happening parents, parents didn't know what's happening. Now we're realizing the board doesn't even know what's happening. And so we have to be all telling them what's happening. Because my story with Chloe and the books, that's just our story. I know other parents out there have different stories about what they've seen on the SCL preview nights or what they're seeing in their kids' classroom or books that they're coming home with, that they need to be raising flags and saying, this is not okay. This is not okay for our kids. And we want better.

And one of the board members actually resigned, right? Yes. Was that the woman who said that she was befuddled? No, the superintendent said that. The president of the board, she resigned and that, you know, there's no reason given really by the district or by her of why she resigned on Friday. And so I don't know her. We've emailed back and forth, especially about masks.

I know this last month has been really difficult for her because she, from what I learned, she responds to all emails from the whole board. Like if you email certain board members are not supposed to respond, but she will respond to you. So it's just been a lot. Yeah. So I think it's been very heavy. I don't know her personally to know where she stands on anything or anything like that. I just know that as a, gosh, as a teacher and as a, you know, it would be really hard for me to assume that role and not be totally overwhelmed by how much craziness is going on.

Right. Right. Well, you've set a really good example for parents, for moms to speak up, to be courageous, but also to be very strategic. You've banded together with a lot of other like-minded moms who care. And gosh, I hope dad. I hope dads too. We've been getting them involved too. It's so easy because the moms were the first ones to show up.

But now there were a lot of them in there. And that is so true. Men need to speak up to. Yes. And our doctors too and our diversity folks that don't maybe because what's happening is it can be like the little white soccer mom is over here complaining about her kids' education. And that's it. Right.

And so we need dads. We need diversity. We need doctors speaking up against masks because they're going to vote next week, whether they're going to continue the mask mandate, even though it's against. the law. They're still going to vote on it. And so we want people that believe differently than what they've been, you know, getting from the district to start speaking up at these board meetings more often. Well, thank you so much for your courage, for your kindness, for your Christ-likeness and doing this because not everyone who confronts their school board does it in the same kind of respectful way that

you did. I think that takes away from our message sometimes when there are parents who are understandably very angry and upset, but maybe they're more disrespectful. and the things that they say, which I have not seen happen in Richardson, but I've seen in some viral videos across the country, which very understandable to be frustrated, but I do think it's important how we convey our message. You did a really good job. I'll just end by saying dads, dads, dads. It is time to speak up. I know lots of dads have, but what I see is there are a lot of women who are going viral. Mama bear instinct totally understand. But when I look at the composition of public school teachers, public school administrators and teachers unions, what I see is that it is dominated by women.

And sometimes I kind of understand if, or I kind of wonder, I mean, if that is where some of these problems are coming from, if women are just kind of more easily pulled in that kind of ideological direction. And I do wonder if it would be more effective. if you actually saw an army of involved dads stand up, men stand up and say, no, this is not, this is not happening. This is not going to happen with my kid. I think sometimes, unfortunately, women can be dismissed with their concerns. Like you said, they just say, oh, you know, she's just the soccer mom who has being too uptight about something. But I do wonder if you just saw a wall of dad stand up and say, no, you're not going to approach my kid with that.

Yeah. Well, thank you so much. Thank you for taking the time. I know a lot of people are going to be informed and encouraged by this. So thank you. You're welcome. Thanks so much for having me. Yes. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the heart. hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed,

you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us.