Dear Friends,

This Thursday, June 10, the Senate Health Committee will hear Senate bill 3801 and Assembly bill 5597. This bill already passed the Assembly Health Committee on May 20.

It would amend the current law that gives schools the ability to administrate student surveys on sensitive issues including sexual behaviors and attitudes, drug use, physical activity and eating habits. Presently, schools in New Jersey must send home forms for parents to grant permission for their student to participate in this personal and probing sexual health survey.

The proposed change in New Jersey law would remove the requirement for parents to actively opt their student into the health surveys. Instead, every student would be passively opted into the survey unless their parent in writing requested for them to be excused from the survey. If a parent overlooks an email, misplaces an unopened letter, or the child forgets or even intentionally does not give their mom the opt out form – then the student will be surveyed about their sexual beliefs and activity. A parent’s silence does not mean a parent’s consent.

What is the reason for this change? According to the language of the bill, not enough parents are giving schools the permission to ask their children these sex-based health questions. What do the bill sponsors recommend as the solution? Simple: stop asking the parents for their permission!

The level of mistrust and deception parents already feel in their interactions with public schools will only be exacerbated by this overreach of state government to remove the parent once again from the equation!

Tell the Senate Health Committee to respect parental authority by voting NO on Senate bill 3801 and Assembly bill 5597.

Protecting your family,

Shawn Hyland
Executive Director

 

URGENT! We need all subscribers from the state of Wyoming to help us TODAY. An issue has arisen again in Laramie County School District #1, and all of Wyoming must take action to stop it or it will likely come your way.

As you know, waves of progressive ideology are sweeping the nation. These include the ideas that America is a racist nation, and that gender is based upon a spectrum of feelings rather than biology. Both have been used as wedge issues to drive children to adopt a new iteration of Marxism, an ideology our country fought to preserve the world from in the Cold War one generation ago.

The battleground for this ideological takeover? Our schools. There is an effort to make teachers take classes that teach the ideas of “Critical Race Theory” and use gender preferred pronouns. These teachings are enforced by “diversity coordinators” who are given authority over the future of a teacher’s career as they enforce this new ideology. Then, the teaching trickles down to our kids.

And now, it’s hitting home right here in Wyoming.

Recently proposed policies in Laramie County School District #1 would require teachers to teach divisive critical theory. The policy goes so far as to specifically ask them to name differences among students. Below are two slides from training given to LCSD1 employees:

If we do not stop these policies, diversity enforcers will have unbridled power to punish even unintentional infractions. The policy is not only a danger to our children, but also threatens the constitutional rights of teachers.

I am asking you to write to the LCSD#1 school board TODAY and ask them to reject any policy that would eliminate the due process rights of a teacher.

These comments are needed by tomorrow morning.

Please email these addresses:

darlene.davis@laramie1.org, RoseAnn.MillionRinne@laramie1.org, Marguerite.Herman@laramie1.org, Rich.Wiederspahn@laramie1.org, Alicia.Smith@laramie1.org, Brittany.Ashby@laramie1.org, Tim.Bolin@laramie1.org, christy.klaassen@laramie1.org

Please email the above addresses with a subject line something like “Comment on proposed LCSD1 School policy” and a paragraph like the following. Some changes to wording is good, but not vital.

Dear LCSD1 School Board Trustees:I am a concerned citizen of Laramie County. Please correct wrongful policy proposals now under review. The proposed changes to Chapter 6 (Personnel) and Chapter 8 (Students) for handling harassment and discrimination charges give inadequate regard for justice, due process, and constitutional rights. Extensive changes are needed. Please provide for constitutionally protected speech, change the standard of evidence to “clear and convincing,” broaden the bases for respondent appeal, and limit the extraordinary and excessive power of the “Title IX Decision Maker.” Respectfully, {name}

In recent years, the far Left has been pushing radical policies in local school districts. This agenda forces girls to share locker rooms with boys, allows boys to steal sports opportunities from girls, and forces children to learn about gender ideology at a young age.

Now, the U.S. Department of Education is working to do the same thing- nationwide.

But you can help STOP THIS.

Similar to a local virtual school board hearing, on June 7-11 the President Biden’s Department of Education will be hosting a public hearing about incorporating “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in national education policies. These policies will force girls to share locker rooms and showers with boys, impact girls’ sports opportunities, and punish those who disagree.

You can weigh in at this “national school board meeting” and tell the Department of Education you STRONGLY OPPOSE ANY CHANGES in their education policies that redefine “sex” to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” Biden’s Education Department has no place attempting to implement this radical agenda into every local school district in the country.

Click here to submit your comment NOW! We’ve provided some comments for you to use, but the more personalized you can make your comments, the better!

Thank you for using your voice to protect children!

You can also sign up to speak for 3 minutes and tell the Department of Education to STOP their implementation of these radical and dangerous policies that violate children’s privacy, steal girls’ sports, and implement radical ideologies in schools.

REGISTER TO SPEAK HERE.

Please note:

• You can only choose 1 topic to speak on (We recommend speaking on “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination in K-12”)
• Registration is still open to be added to the waitlist.
• The Department states, “Even after all slots are filled, we anticipate that a small number of slots may become available prior to or during each day of the hearing as a result of cancellations.  We encourage those who do not register in time to receive a hearing slot to recheck the registration link for slots that become available in this way.”

Don’t want to speak? No worries – simply submit your written comments here to make sure the Department of Education hears your voice!

For our children,

Nicole Hudgens
Government Affairs

A proverb often attributed to George Washington states: “Government … Like fire, is a dangerous servant, and a fearful master.”

While it’s uncertain that George Washington really spoke those words, the proverb still rings true and captures the challenge that has faced humanity since the first governments were formed in history. Government can not only allow us to protect ourselves from external aggression but can also be used to oppress and coerce citizens.

Unfortunately, history demonstrates that governmental oppression has been far more common than liberty – and this fact proves painfully true in the realm of education.

Last month, a parent from Sweden emailed a pastor named John Piper with a concern that struck close to home. In his email he described a national education system overtaken with the radical extremes of modern Marxist thought, specifically with ideas that teach that maleness and femaleness is defined by how you feel about your body rather than biology. He added that Sweden has placed so many restrictions upon Christian and private schools that they are forced into the position of teaching that same ideology. In Sweden, an attempt to remove your child from such indoctrination by teaching them within the home is grounds for the government to remove them from home and force them into foster care.

Such stories are rightly shocking to families in America, but we have to understand that it is a clash of worldviews that creates stories such as these. Central to the clash is the question of whether families or governments should have the primary responsibility of raising children.

There is no doubt that families can benefit when government supports the family structure. Also, government and civil society receive tremendous benefit from the traditional family.  The clash comes when some view government as the prime authority deciding what is best for the child.

That mindset is popular among some within the government and in academia. And because of that mindset among the liberal elites, Americans face growing pressure to bow to certain “experts” within the public school system. These “experts” teach ideas such as “Critical Race Theory” and the gender spectrum (including a “non-binary” gender in which someone is neither a man nor a woman). They teach that boys should be allowed to play in girls’ sports (disregarding the very real physical advantage boys have), and they instruct our children that the whole world is subdivided by a Marxist narrative of “The Oppressed” and “The Oppressor.”

When such ideas grow within a government, that government is on the cusp of changing from servant to master. Having recently fought against that change here in Wyoming, I ask all of you to stand firm in your calling to speak the truth in love as Christians and as American citizens.

Because of your help, Family Policy Alliance of Wyoming has been blessed to provide a greater voice in speaking about these crucial topics as they surface in Wyoming. Thank you for standing with us to ensure that the government is a source of protection, not tyranny.

For freedom,

Nathan Winter
Executive Director

You might be wondering, what is a “Vaccine Passport?” That’s a good question, as the term has been used to mean a variety of things. At a basic level, it means proof of vaccination against the COVID-19 virus (or, in some cases, proof of immunity either through vaccination or a recovered case of COVID-19). Countries could require this proof of vaccination or immunity for entrance. Domestically, private business owners might choose to require the same in order for patrons to enter their establishment. For example, someone might require that to attend a sports event, concert, or even college, you must provide proof of your vaccination (or potentially of your COVID immunity).

Should private businesses be allowed to make these requirements?

Two reputable Rhode Island physicians with national recognition do not think so. Dr. Michelle Cretella and Dr. Andrew Bostom contacted me for help to pass a bill that would ban vaccine passports in our state.  Rep. David Place (R-Burrville) also shares our concerns about government overreach relative to COVID-19 and the negative effects it has had and continues to have on families, schools and the economy. He views vaccine passports as another instance of that, at our request he submitted House Bill 6302 to protect Rhode Island citizens. It would ensure people in our state do not have to present proof of vaccination in order to access businesses, government property, or colleges and universities.

Both Dr Cretella and Dr. Bostom have been actively working to share their concerns about vaccine passports in recent weeks.

Dr. Michelle Cretella is the Executive Director of the American College of Pediatricians.  This was her testimony at the hearings H6302:

“The bill to ban on vaccine passports is critical. Vaccine passports are far more insidious than just mandates because they would punish those who make the informed choice not to take one of these experimental vaccines. Vaccine Passports would render all those unwilling to submit to these experimental injections second class citizens. A digital vaccine passport system is also such a gross violation of our right to privacy that even the liberal ACLU opposes it. No one has a right to our private health records, yet a vaccine passport system would make this private information available to government, businesses and others such that our COVID vaccination status would be used to deny unvaccinated individuals their most fundamental civil rights. “From a scientific pediatric perspective, children and young adults have a near zero risk of suffering serious illness let alone death from the COVID-19 virus. Children and asymptomatic adults are not drivers of this pandemic; regarding COVID-19 children generally do not infect adults. Therefore, without long term data on the impact of these experimental vaccines on the young, it is both unethical and unscientific to mandate mass vaccination of young adults and children. Mass vaccination of this age group could result in significantly greater harm to them compared to their near zero risk from the COVID-19 virus itself.”

Dr. Andrew Bostom is a physician/epidemiologist affiliated with Brown University. His comments can also he heard on the Matt Allen program (WPRO). He said,  “…a rational, ethical, true prevention model alternative to ‘vaccine passports’ would be simple notifications, as part of formal policies, by public agencies and businesses that persons with active symptomatic, febrile (feverish) respiratory illnesses stay home from work, and refrain from patronizing businesses.”

Please let your legislators know that you are in favor of House Bill 6302 and a BAN on vaccine passports. It only takes a few seconds to send a message through our Action Center.

For Faith and Family in Rhode Island,

Dave Aucion
Chairman, Board of Directors – Rhode Island

You are not defined by your race.

You are not inherently either an oppressor or someone who is oppressed.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made by your Creator.

That’s why we stand against Critical Race Theory, and we’re vowing to lead the charge for legislative action next session.

TAKE A STAND with us by donating $50, $100, $250, or greater to reach our goal of raising $4,456.50 by the end of the month!

On Thursday, Governor Kemp sent a letter to the state Board of Education urging “immediate steps to ensure that Critical Race Theory and its dangerous ideology do not take root in our state standards and curriculum.”

We stand with Governor Kemp to prevent this hate-filled attempt of indoctrination from being forced into the minds of children.

CRT is regressive, racist, and immoral. It has no place in our classrooms. This is the first step to make sure it never gets there.

Now, we look forward to working with the legislature to ban this curriculum entirely.

Since the end of the 2021 legislative session, we’ve been working on an aggressive agenda for the 2022 session. Ensuring that every child is never made to feel “less than” or defined by their race is among our top priorities.

Next session, we’ll be fighting to end Critical Race Theory with legislative action.

Soon, we’ll email you asking you to join our action team. In the meantime, we’re excited to share this news of Governor Kemp’s action from Thursday and a promise of ongoing efforts to protect our kids.

Because we are all made in His image,

Cole Muzio
President and Executive Director

 

 

PS. We fully expect intense pushback from the media and the left. Can you help us reach our end-of-month goal and stand for our values with a generous donation of $50, $100, $250, or greater – whatever the Lord is calling you to do – today?

This past Monday, May 17, the Assembly Health Committee met through Zoom as the statehouse continues to operate under draconian emergency shutdown orders. One particular bill that was discussed in the public hearing that should be of concern to parents across the state is A5597. This would amend the current law that gives schools the ability to administrate student surveys on sensitive issues including sexual behaviors and attitudes, drug use, physical activity and eating habits.

Presently, schools in New Jersey must send home forms for parents to grant permission for their student to participate in these personal and probing sexual health surveys. According to the federal Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, schools must allow parents to opt in or opt out, but no student is required to take part in these surveys.

The proposed change in New Jersey law would remove the requirement for parents to actively opt their student into the health surveys. Instead, every student would be passively opted into the survey unless their parent in writing requested for them to be excused from the survey. If a parent overlooks an email, misplaces an unopened letter, or the child forgets or even intentionally does not give their mom the opt out form – then the student will be surveyed about their sexual beliefs and activity.

What is the reason for this change? According to the language of the bill, not enough parents are giving schools the permission to ask their children these sex-based health questions. What do the bill sponsors recommend as the solution? Simple: stop asking the parents for their permission!

Jennie Lamon, of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, testified that this type of major change would further damage relationships the public schools have with parents. She expressed the level of mistrust and deception parents already feel will only be exacerbated by this overreach of state government to remove the parent once again from the equation!

I could not agree more.

I spoke to the policy director of the primary sponsor Assemblyman Herb Conaway last Friday about our concerns. Unfortunately, those concerns went unaddressed. Look for a future call to action if the bill is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Health Committee.

Here are the votes of the Assembly Health Committee from this past Monday:

YES vote = I do not believe schools should ask parents for their permission	NO vote = I do believe schools should ask parents to actively grant permission
Herb Conaway, Delran (D) – Chair	DeAnne DeFuccio, Cresskill (R)
Angelica Jimenez, West New York, (D) – Vice-Chair	Nancy Munoz, Summit (R)
John Armato, Northfield (D)	Erik Peterson, Clinton (R)
Daniel Benson, Hamilton Square (D)	Brian Rumpf, Forked River (R)
Jamel Holley, Union (D)
Shanique Speight, Newark (D)
Sterley Stanley, East Brunswick (D)
Christopher Tully, Paramus (D)
Anthony Verrelli, Trenton (D)

 

Protecting your family,

Shawn Hyland
Executive Director

Every Wyoming parent and citizen concerned about children’s education should read this.

On Monday, the 10th of May, Family Policy Alliance of Wyoming entered our first legal action on behalf of families in Wyoming. Laramie County School District #1 (LCSD1) was set to administer a “Student Climate Survey” designed by the Metropolitan State University-Denver’s Western Educational Equity Assistance Center (WEEAC).

Thankfully, the same day the lawsuit was filed, the survey was postponed. An extraordinary number of you emailed school board members to thoughtfully express your concerns and ask them to not administer the survey. They listened to you; you have been heard. We want to thank the Board of Trustees for any influence they had over the postponement.

Let’s look into the events that led to this last-minute action.

Family Policy Alliance of Wyoming had been engaged with the issue from the very beginning. In late 2019, at a community meeting with LCSD1 staff about how to address issue of bullying and harassment in school, we objected to the district’s adoption of WEEAC’s programs that promote extreme ideology far beyond what was appropriate to address one incident by one student at McCormick Junior High.

As we mentioned last week, WEEAC provides teaching resources from:

1. The Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that has placed two highly respected organizations on its “hate list” and places them in the same category as Nazi skinheads and extremist groups.
2. The Anti-Defamation League which has, over the last several years, promoted legislation that would target people of faith who hold to a scientific and biblical understanding of human sexuality.
3. A list of 24 “anti-racist” books, including authors Ibrim X. Kendi and Robin Diangelo, which promote Critical Race Theory, a theory derived from Marxism. Kendi calls Capitalism and racism “cojoined twins” and attacks capitalism as racist. Diangelo asserts “only whites can be racist,” and “white identity depends on the oppression of blacks.”
4. A resource list (under the heading of “LGBTQ+”) that recommends controversial gender ideology concepts like “intersectionality” and promotes LGBTQ+ activist groups.

Missing from the WEEAC resource list is any group that would provide a balanced worldview. For a number of years, LCSD#1 has used a peer-reviewed program from the Olweus Institute that has shown a steady and dramatic drop in bullying incidents over the past decade. Ignoring the Olweus program and survey, and touting the WEEAC survey, is more about promoting a political agenda than addressing the issue at hand.

Over the past year and a half, the district hired a “Diversity Coordinator” and advanced radically divisive ideas that would flabbergast the majority of residents in Cheyenne.

As parents saw the direction the new “equity and diversity” conversation was going, many turned to Family Policy Alliance of Wyoming to ask what could be done.
We submitted a Wyoming Public Records Act request asking to:

1. See the Survey
2. Look at correspondence leading to the selection of the WEEAC survey
3. View the success of the Olweus anti-bullying survey already in use
4. See the cost of the new diversity efforts
5. View diversity training materials already given to teachers

In response to the first part of the request, LCSD1 told Family Policy Alliance of Wyoming that the “student climate survey” from WEEAC was proprietary and parents wouldn’t be able to see the questions before it would be administered. LCSD1 was largely unresponsive to the other four parts of our Public Records request, too.

The School Board had been assured that the parents would receive correspondence that would describe the survey and then they would have a chance to opt-out if they were concerned with the nature of the questions.

However, parental notification was a text message that said little and provided a link that would take a parent through a convoluted process to finally opt-out of the survey. The link was only available briefly, and the chance to opt-out ended a couple of weeks before the survey was to be administered. This process was not adequate for hard-working parents to make informed decisions about what their children are taught.

Late Thursday evening, we learned that when the survey was administered in Albany County, that school district provided an opportunity for parents to view the survey beforehand. So why couldn’t they provide it to Laramie County parents? Furthermore, it’s simply implausible to claim that a proprietary survey must be kept from the parents when the questions will be given to every student from 5^th grade and up! At Family Policy Alliance of Wyoming, we believe that nothing taught to students should be withheld from parents.

After learning this, we engaged a lawyer to stop the survey at least until parents could look at the questions. This was a last resort after LCSD1 ignored months of polite requests, and our official and mandatory request for public records was treated capriciously. While the survey has been postponed for the moment, we believe it is largely because of the pressure of many concerned citizens and the intervention of certain conscientious members of the school board. We recognize that the underlying concern with LCSD1’s lack of transparency will remain as we seek to learn where and how deeply radical ideology has moved into Cheyenne Schools.

Please share information you may have related to these concerns with us when you have it. Know that Family Policy Alliance of Wyoming will be standing with you. Most importantly, continue to pray and stand for truth.

Sincerely,

Nathan Winters
Executive Director

Right in their own eyes. This phrase is taken from the Book of Judges and it characterized a morally dark period in the history of Israel when as a nation they had abandoned living by God’s laws and people did whatever they felt was right in their own eyes. This could easily describe America today. God’s moral and spiritual laws are being set aside. That leaves our families open to the work of the devil whose goal is to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). His target of choice is the most vulnerable – our children – and he is doing it in the public schools.

Rhode Island Rep. Rebecca Kislak and Sen. Tiara Mack recently introduced H5604 and S0463, respectively, which read as follows: “Every secondary school grades six (6) through twelve (12), along with abstinence, shall further provide, courses in family life or sex education appropriate for students of all races, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic and cultural backgrounds; affirmatively recognizing pleasure based sexual relations, different sexual orientations and be inclusive of same-sex relationships in discussions and examples. In addition, comprehensive course instruction shall include gender, gender expression, gender identity, and the harm of negative gender stereotypes.” (Emphasis added)

These bills might otherwise have gone unnoticed, but Family Policy Alliance exposed their content and rallied parents to speak against them at the hearings!

For now, these bills are tabled for further study. But comprehensive sex ed and the transgender craze are still very real threats and they are sweeping across America – and even across parts of the world.

The Ruth Institute (a wonderful resource for parents) recently hosted Sharon Slater, president of Family Watch International (FWI) and chair of the United Nations Family Rights Caucus. She points out that the best way to stop Comprehensive Sex Education is to expose its content, which she does in this video. Note: Viewer discretion is advised. What’s shocking is that I have to advise your discretion – and this material is meant for children to see!

Meanwhile, the transgender craze has caused what investigative reporter Abigail Shrier calls “irreversible damage,” especially to teenage girls. In her book by the same name, Shrier cautions that this craziness is targeting children as young as Kindergarten with material like the Genderbread Person (depicted below). It teaches children to separate their “sex” and “gender” from an early age, setting up minors to later decide that they need to change their body (their sex) to match their feelings about it (their gender).

Proverbs 22:6 says to “start a child in the way he should go, and when he is older, he will not turn from it.” Young minds and thought patterns are formed early. Sadly, some on the progressive Left are pushing a moral agenda on these children that may be “right in their own eyes,” but not right in the eyes of God.

Here at Family Policy Alliance, we stand firmly opposed to this dangerous agenda. We are committed to keeping parents informed so their families can THRIVE! 

Sincerely,

Dave Aucoin
President, Board of Directors – Rhode Island

P.S. If you want to help stand against dangerous agendas like Comprehensive Sex Education and transgender ideology, please consider supporting us monthly. Your partnership will help us stand up for truth in Rhode Island!

 

In March of 2019, an incident happened at McCormick Jr. High School in Cheyenne that shocked the entire community. One junior-high student placed four or five posters with terrible and unconscionable statements in the school. The posters were taken down before the school day began and the student was suspended.

In the following months, Laramie County School Board #1 hired a “Diversity Coordinator” and began to implement new strategies in an effort to ensure that such incidents would not happen again. Sadly, as part of that effort, LCSD#1 turned to a program from Metropolitan State University-Denver called the Western Educational Equity Assistance Center or WEEAC.

WEEAC is an organization that:

1. Provides teaching resources from the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that has placed two highly respected family policy organizations on its “hate list”, putting them in the same category as Nazi skinheads and extremist groups.
2. Provides resources from the Anti-Defamation League, which over the last several years has promoted legislation that would target people of faith who hold to a scientific and biblical understanding of human sexuality.
3. Provides a list of 24 “anti-racist” books, including books from Ibrim X. Kendi and Robin Diangelo, among others, which promote Critical Race Theory, a theory derived from Marxism. Kendi calls capitalism and racism “conjoined twins” and attacks capitalism as racist.
4. Includes a resource list that, under the heading of LGBTQ+, features an entire list of materials promoting ideas such as “intersectionality” as well as “queer and trans artists.”

But here’s what’s not on the resource list: any group that would provide a balanced worldview.

Now, in Laramie County School District #1, a new private “Climate Survey” from WEEAC will be administered to students on May 12. In spite of calls for the survey questions to be made public to parents, the school district has claimed that the information is proprietary. The idea of this being proprietary when the questions will be given to every student from 5th grade and up makes the claim implausible at best. At Family Policy Alliance of Wyoming, we believe that nothing taught or given to students should be withheld from parents.

For a number of years, LCSD#1 has used a peer-reviewed program (and survey) from the Olweus Institute that has shown a steady and dramatic drop in bullying incidents over the past decade. Moving from the Olweus survey to the WEEAC survey is more about promoting a political agenda than addressing the issue at hand.

We are asking for you to write to the school board and stop the survey. Please Click here to email the school board today.

And please share with others in Wyoming – and especially anyone in Laramie County!

Sincerely,

Nathan Winters
Executive Director