Should parents be forced to send their children to a school that doesn’t reflect their values?
That’s a question I recently explored in an article highlighting several pro-LGBTQ bulletin boards in a Hopkins, Minn., middle school. Some parents who send their children to North Middle School in Hopkins likely approve of those values. Others, however, do not, and as such, it seems a bit unfair to force that latter group of parents to send their children to a school promoting a values system that opposes their own, does it not?
Unfortunately, it appears this divisive ideology and values system present in the aforementioned Hopkins middle school has also trickled down to at least one of the district’s elementary schools.
A concerned parent from the Hopkins district sent me the above picture she snapped last spring in Eisenhower Elementary School. This bulletin board, she explained, was posted in the hallway from March 2023 until the end of the school year, and heavily promoted transgender ideology. A similar one is expected to appear at the school this year.
Disturbed by the values this bulletin board was promoting to her child, a student at the school, this parent approached leadership and found her concerns dismissed. The purpose of the bulletin board was not advocacy, the principal assured her, it was support. “It is very important to me that all of our students feel safe and welcome at school,” the principal said.
That’s all well and good for the students and parents who share the values promoted by the bulletin board … but what about those students and parents who don’t share or ascribe to those values? Are their values and beliefs safe and welcome at the school?
Furthermore, if the goal of such bulletin boards is not advocacy—a passing along of certain values—then how does one explain the almost cultlike mantras which grace the above bulletin board? They read:
“Trans Existence Is Power”
“Trans Health Is Power”
“Transness Is Power”
“Trans Brilliance Is Power”
“Trans Strength Is Power”
“Trans Joy Is Power”
“Trans Expression Is Power”
For the young, impressionable minds in elementary school which saw these messages on a daily basis for roughly three months last year—and will likely see something similar this year—the message which comes through is that power = trans.
Like its corresponding middle school, Eisenhower also has a special message on its statistics page on the Minnesota Department of Education website, prominently highlighting its commitment to “excellence and equity” for every student:
We are committed to excellence and equity for every student, every day. Beyond the basic skills of literacy, math, sciences, social studies, arts, Spanish language, and physical education, our caring teachers tap into the unique needs of each learner and inspire them to reach their potential.
We are a leader in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning, using Engineering is Elementary (EiE), developed by the Museum of Science in Boston. We are one of only three school districts in Minnesota to have this advanced curriculum.
Yet given Eisenhower’s academic proficiency rates in the last five years, it seems the school may be working harder to promote equity than excellence. In 2023, the same year the above bulletin board was posted, only 31.6% of Eisenhower students were proficient in reading, only 18.5% were proficient in math, and only 13% were proficient in science.
What are parents like the one who supplied the above photo supposed to do in this situation? Must they be forced to keep their children in a school that seems more focused on instilling these divisive values in their children’s minds than in teaching them the foundational basics of a good education?
Unfortunately, it’s likely that such a situation is not limited to the parents and students in the Hopkins district. Chances are, there are many more parents in districts across the state who have also snapped pictures of billboards or curriculum teaching values different than those they want to pass along to their children, yet because of financial constraints, they feel they are stuck.
Given this situation, why don’t we just let education dollars follow the student to the school of their choice? That way, individual schools could promote the values they want, using them to attract parents and students to spend their education dollars at a school whose values align with their own, whether they be in line with the “trans is power” mantra or more traditional standards of morality. Doing so may be the only way out of the values-based disagreements which increasingly threaten to rip communities apart.
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Image courtesy of a concerned parent in the Hopkins Public School District.
