Back To Basics
October 7th, 2022
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A Petition to Preserve the Integrity of Van Meter Schools


We are calling for the following:

  • The removal of sexual and sexually graphic content.
  • The removal of gender ideology, and of divisive critical race ideology per (HF802).
  • A return to a neutral “non-political” form of education. 
  • An "Opt-In” model for any surveys, SEL, or content being taught that is questionable. *This ensures parents have informed consent.
  • A "Back to Basics” initiative and committee, made up of representatives of the community, to review all curriculum being taught.

* By signing and sharing this petition, we are letting the administration and our elected school board officials know that we want to see these changes made and are concerned about the preservation of our community's values.  

These are issues that we never dreamed would make it to Van Meter; concepts that challenge our influence as parents and expose our children to ideology and situations that are impactful, irreversible, and potentially harmful to the family unit. Ideology around gender identity and sexuality is showing up in nearly every subject and classroom, even in 3rd-grade math problems. Our children are being asked their preferred pronouns, priming their developing brains to question things that are in most circumstances beyond their level of reasoning.

Our children are being surveyed often and have been inundated with inappropriate questions about themselves, their families, and their sexuality, under the guise of “gauging their mental health”. These surveys, however, are leveraged to baseline children against what the “culture” views as right or normal. Furthermore, the risk to school-aged children is much broader than a seemingly harmless survey. Many of these data collection organizations have data policies and contracts that allow for that information to be sold.

The delivery system for these concepts and ideologies is vast; ranging from books like Melissa, (follow the link for a shocking description) being offered to 6th graders and younger, surveys that prime our children with harmful thoughts, to programs as elaborate as SEL (Social Emotional Learning), a system that deprioritizes the important role of parents in their children’s development and shifts the focus of validation from internal acceptance to external sources (like peers and other non parental authority figures). This doesn’t support critical thinking or celebrate being an individual. In fact, the intention seems to be to guide children into selecting a category or identity which is often distorted and further separates them from their peers. These programs grade and log how your child measures up based on a belief system that likely doesn’t align with our district's family values.

It is imperative for parents to question the privacy policies around the school district and the programs it selects. The privacy practices and data collection policies in many of these platforms puts our children at risk for ramifications that are undefined. Could an organization buy this data to profile our children for a job they may desire in the future?

Our governor signed a bill into law (HF802), in June of 2021 that was designed to protect our children from some of these examples, but it wasn’t enough and much of this law is being ignored and circumvented. It’s time to get “Back to Basics” and preserve the integrity of our education system. It’s time for our elected school board members and for the administration to stand up and to stop allowing our children to be exposed to these harmful and divisive concepts, which are stepping on family values, and disrupting the family unit.

The curriculum at the Van Meter School system should reflect the values of the Van Meter Community not some pop culture psychology. Our curriculum should be chosen by its quality not by how much grant money is awarded for utilizing it. Our dedicated teachers should be allowed to have professional relationships with our children and should be free to teach reading, writing, math, science, and the arts, without the burden of having to involve Gender, Race and Political Ideology.

The responses that parents are receiving from the administration when they share their concerns about this type of content are that “society is changing,” and or “education is evolving.” Our response to this is “not all change is positive change" and "the push for this type of change and indoctrination is not something we want to be a part of."

 

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