We are pleased to bring you this exclusive, original column from Meredith Turney, about a startling and biased memo sent from State Superintendent of Public Intruction to County and District Superintendent’s around California…
Jack O’Connell, Superintendent of Public Misinformation
Meredith Turney
As the public anger over Senate Bill 777 continues to increase, the campaign to discredit the Save Our Kids referendum has begun. Liberal California lawmakers often pass laws hoping the public will not be paying attention. However, SB 777 has awakened the public and the prospect of being held accountable to the people has many politicians very nervous.
SB 777 is the radical homosexual indoctrination bill recently signed into law by the Governor. In response to public outrage over this extremist law, the Save Our Kids referendum campaign is currently circulating petitions to overturn it.
In addition to the referendum effort, some parents recently organized an SB 777 public school walk-out to protest the law. This prompted Superintendent Jack O’Connell to send a letter to all county and district superintendents and charter school administrators warning them of the “misguided protest” of SB 777.
Mr. O’Connell, the bill’s author Senator Sheila Kuehl and Governor Schwarzenegger have all maintained the party line that SB 777 merely “streamlines” existing anti-discrimination laws. However, these attempts to discredit the public outcry against SB 777’s policies are disingenuous and misleading. In fact, SB 777 goes far beyond implementing anti-discrimination and harassment policies for public schools.
In 2000, then-Assemblywoman Kuehl authored AB 537, the California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act. This law specifically prohibited discrimination against and harassment of students who are homosexual, bisexual, transsexual or transgender.
AB 537 explicitly stated that nothing in the bill “requires the inclusion of any curriculum, textbook, presentation, or other material in any program or activity” in public schools. The language of the bill is very clear that the anti-discrimination policies it would implement would not be “violated by the omission of any curriculum, textbook, presentation, or other material in any program or activity” in public schools.
SB 777 specifically includes school instruction and activities—the very items excluded in AB 537’s anti-discrimination protection. The new law states that “No teacher shall give instruction nor shall a school district sponsor any activity that promotes a discriminatory bias because of” the same characteristics referred to in AB 537 (i.e., homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexual or transgender status). Including instruction and activities in the anti-discrimination law goes much further than “streamlining.” This incremental and deceitful approach to achieving their goals is a favorite and effective tactic of liberals. Expanding the law is not “streamlining” the law.
Mr. O’Connell’s doublespeak reveals his—and his peers’—arrogant attitude toward their “gullible” constituents. In fact, parents are not stupid and they recognize that their authority is being undermined by such subversive school policies. This is nothing less than an attempt to confuse the public about the true intention of SB 777.
One other interesting aspect of Superintendent O’Connell’s letter to school administrators is his concern that “student absences may lead to missed opportunities for them to learn and that this lost time may not be recaptured.” Is Mr. O’Connell aware that every year the homosexual lobby encourages students to participate in the gay Day of Silence, where students spend the entire school day refusing to speak? Certainly there are valuable learning opportunities lost when students refuse to talk with their teachers and peers, all in the name of understanding the homosexual community’s struggle for equality. Yet a similar letter from the superintendent of public instruction has never materialized.
Perhaps Mr. O’Connell’s real concern about SB 777 walk-outs is revealed when he states that “there may be fiscal consequences to school districts for funds lost due to student absences.” For the education bureaucracy, it all comes down to money—not the true education of students.
In closing his misleading missive to school administrators, Superintendent O’Connell states that it is his department’s duty to “implement the laws about public instruction that are passed by the State Legislature and the Governor.” It is also your duty, Mr. Superintendent, to tell the truth to the public.
Meredith Turney serves as the Legislative Liaison for Capitol Resource Family Impact, an affiliate of Capitol Resource Institute. She is also a board member of the California Republican Assembly.
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