Why Does "Book Banning" Workshop at Natick High School Equity Co-op Dismiss Parental Concerns (and the Hoax!)?

Biased workshop on banned books misrepresents legitimate complaints

Every March, Natick High School devotes a full school day of learning to its mandatory Equity Co-op. At this event, students are required to explore social and controversial issues through workshops prepared by many NHS clubs, students, teachers, staff, and community organizations.

Among this year's workshops hosted on March 20 is this "Banned Books Discussion:"

This NHS Equity Co-op workshop claims legitimate concerns about inappropriate books stifles diverse viewpoints.

Ironically, this workshop describes the need for other points of view but seems to claim that legitimate concerns (which are mostly from parents with school-aged children) about explicit, age-inappropriate books are just a way to ban historical and LGBTQ+ content in particular.

Thankfully, the federal government now recognizes this "book ban" hoax along with the rights of parents to guide the education and upbringing of their children, which includes opposing age-inappropriate materials for students in public schools.

The federal government has dismissed civil rights complaints related to so-called book bans.

Here's just one awful example (and there are many more) of a sexual grooming book provided by Massachusetts Public Schools:

This is one of the sexual grooming books provided by Mass. public schools that has parents concerned.

Content from the book Let's Talk About It packages pornographic content as a guide to sex and relationships.

Is this explicit content geared toward kids just "the same story from another's viewpoint?"

Now, we suppose one could argue this book is simply a different point of view on sexuality and sexual activity. But the more rational and reasonable perspective is that parents rightfully have serious concerns about the packaging of pornographic instruction for children.

To make matters worse, the characters illustrated in this book are often intentionally gender-ambiguous, and it's made clear repeatedly that the authors don't believe in a gender binary. Terms such as cisgender, agender/genderless, bigender, gender-fluid, gender nonconforming, nonbinary, genderqueer, and transgender are promoted as factual, and the young reader is told, “You and your gender can change as often as you want!” (pp. 48-49). Not surprisingly, the use of preferred and atypical pronouns is reinforced throughout the pages of Let's Talk About It.

Let's Talk About It also tells kids "you and your gender can change as often as you want," which includes having no gender at all!

Many NPS families are fed up with the social engineering of students

We know many families are fed up with the indoctrination of students and the biased education imposed on children in Natick Public Schools, particularly around issues related to gender identity (i.e., indoctrinating students in false, anti-science "sex assigned at birth" ideology) and race (i.e., indoctrinating students in so-called current day "white privilege" ideology is not educating students about the history of racism).

In fact, for several years, Equity Co-op attendance has been an issue, mainly because of the ideological dynamic of the event as a whole and the lack of diverse ideas and information on specific social and controversial issues (like this year's "Banned Books Discussion"). In March 2022, 380 high school students (25% of the student body) and 24 teachers called out absent the day of the Equity Co-op. In March 2023, hundreds of students also chose to stay home.

So, this all begs the question: how does hosting a day of biased workshops on social and controversial topics achieve the false promise of "equity"(equal outcome) for Natick High School students? To truly foster a culture of unbiased education, critical thinking and real diversity, the NHS Equity Co-op should ditch discussions and presentations that act as the moral or political authority on controversial issues like "banned books" and other topics such as racism, immigration, LGBTQ+, and more.

Let’s hold Natick Public Schools accountable and make sure your tax dollars are funding your child's quality education, not "equity" and indoctrination.

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