NY Transsexual Teacher Inappropriate Role Model, Says Knight
by Jim Brown
September 13, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A school district in western New York has denied requests from five parents who asked that their children be taken out of high school classes being taught by a transsexual teacher. In doing so, says one pro-family leader, the school is deliberately placing children at risk.Batavia schools superintendent Richard Stutzman says the reason the written requests were denied is because they did not meet the guidelines set out by the district. Without providing specifics, Stutzman told Associated Press "That's all between the school, the teacher, [and] the parents."
The community has been embroiled in controversy since school officials announced a male teacher at the high school -- who has been diagnosed with a "transsexual disorder," says AP -- is going through a medical transition and is dressing as a woman. Bob Knight with the Culture and Family Institute says the district should be putting the interests of its students first, but "like much of the public educational blob, is [instead] showing utter contempt for the parents."
Knight contends that, by its actions, the district is telling parents it does not care if children become "sexually confused" by the transsexual teacher, or that someone "with a serious gender-identity disorder is being placed as a role model" in front of the students. In addition, he suggests the district is so committed to what he calls the "pansexual revolution" that it is telling parents "you're going to go along with it, and we're not even going to give your kids an out."
Such an attitude, says the pro-family spokesman, is "arrogance at its worst." He also feels the district, which has instructed students to refer to the teacher as "Mrs.," is failing to ensure students have the best possible role model before them.
"I think that the district is well within its authority to tell the teacher ...'If you can't figure out that you're really a man -- you've got the DNA, the genetic sequence for being a man -- you can't be a teacher,'" says Knight. "I think a serious gender identity confusion like this would rule this man out as a good teacher, regardless of his other capabilities."
School officials says the teacher will instruct about 100 students this year. Knight contends that because the district is putting children at risk by allowing the teacher to continue classroom instruction, the parents have grounds for a lawsuit.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
