DV Journal

On Dec. 13. the new Democrat-controlled Central Bucks School board had its first policy meeting, and if you are a resident here, you should be very concerned.

During the election, I helped run a PAC to elect candidates to protect girls sports and spaces because they are under attack by the Democratic Party.  In June 2023, state Sen. Steve Santarsiero  (head of the Bucks County Democratic Party) made a speech stating that he supports “The Fairness Act,” which sounds good from the title but in reality what it does is allow biological males to play in female sports and use their locker rooms.   This act is also supported by Governor Josh Shapiro.

During the Democratic run boards’ first policy meeting they decided to halt policy 321.  This policy keeps politics out of classrooms.  So now a teacher is free to hang up a Palestinian flag or a Trump flag.  This is terrifying given the amount of antisemitism that is in our area.  Universities all over the country are being reprimanded for antisemitism and our new board just invited it into classrooms.  As a Jewish person I find this appalling and it speaks to their lack of awareness of our current political climate regarding antisemitism.

Secondly. the new board wants biological boys to play in girl sports but they tabled that policy because too many residents were upset. They want to wait for further clarification from the PIAA.  The PIAA doesn’t set these types of rules.  They allow for each school district to set a policy.  This is exactly what they did with masks during COVID.  If any of the new school board representatives were paying attention they would understand how the PIAA operates.   This is exactly why our previous board created a policy to protect girls sports.

Girls all over Pennsylvania are in a lot of trouble if the new board allows biological males to play in female sports and use their locker rooms because we are basically the largest suburban district and other school districts will model us.  This isn’t going away either.  Parents with biological girls need to make sure their girls are protected and looking back to Board President Karen Smith’s previous votes I have no faith this board will help girls.  The Pennsylvania Democrats funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into the new candidates campaign and these elected candidates have an agenda to follow.

The board also halted policies 109.1 and 109.2 which ensure children only have access to age appropriate material.  So now it’s a free for all.  Any type of book will be allowed to enter the libraries in school.  Parents this is your chance to donate whatever you would like!

Lastly, the board will vote on allowing student representatives to have a say on the board.  So if you ever wanted your 7 year old to help create board policies for a school district with a $360 million budget this is your chance!  Stay tuned for details.   Central Bucks residents these representatives were highly endorsed by Sen. Steve Santarsiero.  Gov. Josh Shapiro attended their victory party.  They are a reflection of their beliefs.  Remember that going forward.

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When Fenicia Redman organized a group of Delaware Valley parents to travel to Harrisburg this week and argue that public schools are exposing children to inappropriate content, she didn’t know the state Capitol police would help make her case.

Redman, whose son attends Great Valley High School, supports two bills limiting sexual content in the curriculum and discussions of gender identity. Both advanced out of the state Senate Education Committee this week, She has been leading the charge against sexually explicit content in some school library books.

While at the Capitol, Redman talked with state Rep. Barbara Gleim (R-Carlisle) and state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin), garnering support for her cause. She showed them posters of obscene illustrations in school library books available to children.

Books the parents object to include, “Gender Queer,” “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” and “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Tantric Sex.”

Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor and member of the education committee, said in a statement the two bills will “empower parents to ensure their children are not exposed to sexually explicit materials and bizarre discussions about gender identity. Just this week, I had a visitor (Redman) to my office who showed me some of the explicit materials found in her child’s school library. It was shocking, to say the least. Schools need to be focused on educating–not indoctrinating–our students. The classroom needs to be a place for learning, not a place for gender theory lessons and grooming.”

SB 1277 requires districts to notify parents about sexually explicit content in the school curriculum and whether their child’s coursework includes that content. SB 1278 would prohibit classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation for pre-kindergarten through 5th-grade students. Both passed the committee on Tuesday and will be taken up by the full Senate.

Redman and other parents who were with her, including a pastor who usually votes Democratic, wanted to show legislators that “this is real. We were out there peacefully…I am a parent, and I have a child who is being victimized by the mere presence of these books in the school library.”

And while Redman’s group was in the Capitol holding signs showing the explicit illustrations in books found in local school libraries, they were ordered by police to take them down. Too graphic.

“Capitol Police Lt. Devlin ordered me to remove the most graphic pictures because someone complained. ‘Children walk these halls,’ he told me.”

“I replied, ‘But these books are in school libraries and—‘”

“‘I don’t care. Get rid of them, or you’re OUT!” he told her. So, she packed up the posters of the obscene book illustrations. As she was walking down the hallway, Redman saw Mastriano’s office and went in and showed his staff the book illustrations and asked what “his position is on the criminal exploitation of our children, of minors in school is.”

The staff member went to a back office and ushered Redman in a minute later.

“And when I showed it to him, his jaw dropped,” she said.

Another senator’s office had an easel with a sign warning against banning books. Redman put one of her illustrations beneath it to juxtapose that message with the pornographic illustrations.

State Rep. Brian Sims (D-Philadelphia) posted on Instagram about banning books: “DYSTOPIAN: Banning books is antithetical to the pursuit of knowledge — especially when this draconian ban targets books that address race and racism. PA students deserve better.”

Gleim says she first saw the books with lurid illustrations that she called “pornography” at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference in March and was surprised they were available in public school libraries. Since then she has been alerting her colleagues in the House, including Speaker Bryan Cutler, about the issue.

She has also heard from various parent groups and talked with the Pennsylvania State Education Association, and the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.

“The content is not appropriate,” Gleim said. “We’re working on ways where we can define what is age-appropriate for minors in school libraries.”

And she believes showing this content to minors may also violate federal laws.

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