Anoka-Hennepin teachers test requires affirmation of district’s LGBT policy

The test question is a transparent sham, an attempt to compel conformity to a lie–everyone can see this. Somehow the school administrators don’t understand this.

It’s reminiscent of a communist party bureaucracy requiring job applicants to answer in the affirmative to, “Our Dear Leader Joseph Stalin is a national hero whose judgment is beyond criticism: true or false.”

How many more lawsuits have to be filed before these conservative cretins grow up or learn to keep their religious prejudices in their churches?

It’s sad really.

Plus, it’s not really “neutral” if they’re allowed to talk about heterosexuality. Seems to me like “straight” is as much of an orientation as anything else.

Mr. Birkey is playing loose with the facts. This is not a pass/fail test. This is a verification that teachers have reviewed the information available to them. The district heard that teachers wanted clarification about the Sexual Orientation Curriculum Policy, which is what this online training provides. The most serious consequence related to this online training would be a reminder to a teacher to please review this information. But when you need an anti-GLBT villain, I guess anything the Anoka-Hennepin School District does is wrong. Nevermind that teachers and staff in the district might actually care about kids and want them to be smart, safe and happy. This would be the reason they went into education in the first place.

“I guess anything the Anoka-Hennepin School District does is wrong.”

Yes, I would agree. They do seem to screw up more than anyone else don’t they? The lawsuits along with the suicides – more than just another liberal distraction wouldn’t you say?

@Brett,
If you are asked to review information your answer is yes/no. True false is a question of agreement not review.

Brett, you just don’t get it. The question asks people to agree with the fact that the policy’s goal is to “ensure all of our students feel safe and respected in our classrooms and/or while participating in school activities,” and if people disagree that the policy does promote this goal, how could they possibly answer “true”?

Obviously many students DON’T feel safe and respected, and the teachers with a conscience realize it, and won’t mark “true” out of principle. And they’re punished for it by being failed. That’s wrong. How does disagreeing with this make someone an incompetent teacher? Why is this even on the test?

I teach in this district and objected to the wording of the question. When I, and some others, raised objections to the wording of the question, the district did change the wording. Please know that I and my colleagues genuinely care about our students – every single one of them.

@Jann – That’s great to hear! What’s the new wording?

I know several of the teachers in that district. They truly do care about ALL the students in that district. The problem for them is that though they may be supportive of ALL the students, how the hell can they help any student that has problems and wants to discuss their sexual orientation. The teachers are by policy forced in a position where they can not be affirmative vocally to those students. Secondly, how do you discuss this issue when you are under a gag order that describes itself as “neutral”? In my day being ordered not to discuss abortion, homosexuality, questionable books etc was called CENSORSHIP and that has no place in public education. I hope that the lawsuits get resolved in the students favor and that the nutty administrators who came up with this neutral policy gets fired. Thank you to all the teachers who are supportive of ALL the students.

@Kevin – 9 suicides is not a “distraction.” It’s a serious problem, especially since over half were LBGT-bullying related. These were children with parents and futures. Any school district who gave a damn about education would do everything in its power to prevent future suicides. They aren’t even trying from the news coverage I’ve read, just circling the wagons. It’s not the teachers, it’s the administrators who are the problem and the homophobes who think their inaction is justified.

What is so hard about agreeing to keep ALL students SAFE? This statement doesn’t ask anyone to agree or disagree with whether or not teachers should be required to teach about various sexual orientations (and yes, “straight” is one, too); whatever your beliefs, children beating up or ridiculing other children should NEVER be allowed. AND NO ONE SHOULD HAVE ANY TROUBLE AGREEING WITH THAT!

The people who seem to object to things the loudest are the very people that abuse the system or in this case try and hide their homophobia.

I find it troubling that any teacher would object to anything that would make the classroom safer. Teachers are impacted with threats just like the children are. Only in adults who should know better aren’t grasping fundamentals and probably shouldn’t be teaching.