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}

 
Thank you for taking URGENT action!Nathan Winters w/caption

Nathan Winters

Nathan Winters
Executive Director

 

P.S. If you’d like to reference our more detailed recommendations, they are listed below. If you wish, you may use any or all of these in addition to the above paragraph for your email. However, the most important thing is to communicate the short paragraph, above.


Existing policies and proposed policy amendments posted here: https://go.boarddocs.com/wy/laramie1/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=9XRKQU508FF2

  1. Provide for constitutionally protected speech. A clause appears in one section, but this is needed in the overarching paragraph of each section governing discrimination for students and employees. In particular: Chapter 6 Section 23 page 257, Chapter 6 Exhibits Admin regs page 266, Chapter 8 Section 25 page 507 second paragraph, Chapter 8 Exhibits Admin regs pages 507 and 519. In these places, add a provision to read: Constitutionally protected speech, including reasonable expressions of academic, religious, or political viewpoints appropriate to the setting, may not form the basis of a finding of any form of discrimination, harassment or other violation unless it is sufficiently and objectively so serious as to: 1) cause substantial disruption in, or substantial interference with, the orderly operation of the school; or 2) substantially limit or deny a student’s ability to participate or benefit from an educational program.
  2. Change the Standard of Evidence from “Preponderance of evidence” to “Clear and Convincing evidence.” Finding teachers or students in violation of discrimination or sexual harassment policies is likely career-ending for employees, and expulsion would be emotionally and educationally crippling for students. Preponderance of the evidence is merely “50% likely, plus a feather.” The clear and convincing standard requires the decision maker to be clearly convinced that a violation happened in order to find anyone guilty of such weighty charges. This change should be made anywhere the “preponderance” standard is cited, including Chap6 page 275 5.c, Chap8 Sec25 page 275, Chap8 Exhibits page 529 IV.C.5.c.
  3. Broaden bases for appeal. If a broader scope for appeal is not provided, an unjustly accused respondent’s only recourse is to take the case to court: an expensive and divisive process for everyone. Anywhere bases for appeals are listed, insert as basis #1: “Unequal treatment under the policy based on protected class, denial of free speech or academic freedom, denial of due process of law, or violation of fundamental fairness.”
  4. Limit the extraordinary and excessive power of the “Title IX decision maker.” A specially trained advisor with such limited duties may or may not be needed, but the regular disciplinary process should determine guilt and disciplinary action. Currently, Title IX staff are being equipped with training materials provided by the activist organization WEEAC and certified in accordance with the gender-ideology of the ATIXA organization. They are not well suited to finally adjudicate these controversial cases in K-12 schools. Correct this problem by changing duties and process flow in the appropriate sections of Chapters 6 and 8 (including Exhibits).

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 5th 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

 

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