#Essex Westford School District

[coochiequeens]

A "Detransition Awareness Day" would harm students, but not informing them of the long term impact of transitioning is just fine.

Officials within a Vermont school district said that celebrating “Detransition Awareness Day” is hurtful and students who identify as “trasngender” and that it does not align with the districts “equity policy,” according to documents obtained by Parents Defending Education and shared exclusively with Townhall. 

The documents show that on Feb. 6, 2023, a parent emailed the school board and superintendent of Essex Westford School District requesting to add “Detransition Awareness Day” on March 12 to the school calendar. In addition, the parent requested that the book “Irreversible Damage” by Abigail Shrier be available to students “ “on an easel atop the shelves in the HS library.”

In response, the school district claimed that students who transition genders “in any direction” are recognized during Pride month, which occurs in June (via PDE):

People who transition genders in any direction are recognized on national coming out day and during Pride month. We would, of course, support someone transitioning in any direction. Centering transitioning gender as damaging does not align with the EWSD Equity Policy's requirement of being LGBTQIA+ affirming. This particular frame on gender transition -- moving from a trans status to a status of gender assigned at birth because of damage done -- is not something we would center. Instead, we would support any person transitioning for any reason through the current days and structures we recognize and be supportive of their transition by recognizing the gender to which they identify. Detransition can be hurtful to transgender people and youth. We want to meet their mental needs.

PDE noted that the district equity and inclusion administrator “crafted an initial response to the parent but added that they ‘should probably grab a quick consult’ from a local activist” (via PDE):

The response from the outside activist states that the “detransition awareness narrative and literature that this person offered as ‘evidence’ is not scientifically based nor is detransition as common as folks want others to believe it is.” They continue: “folks (often TERFS) will claim that society, peer groups, and even doctors are forcing people to transition rather than experience the discomfort of puberty or that these people are following a fad” and that it is a “dangerous narrative that hurts efforts to get transgender people the affirming care they need.” The activist also asserts that “often people who are talking about their detransition may be doing so after being subjected to conversion therapy or are being propped up by organizations that don’t support transgender people.” Finally, they share that “if detransition awareness was truly a celebration of gender identity in all of its nuance we would view it in the same way the equity policy celebrates those marginalized voices who are often silenced.”

Shortly after, a parent requested that the district add “World Detrans Awareness Day” to the school calendar. The district struck this down, claiming it was due to the “framing and purpose” of the day. 

The district equity and inclusion administrator added that they “would not add a day to the calendar where the underlying narrative or content of the day points at others in harmful ways based on identity or for existing in the first place.”

In other email correspondences, a district administrator claimed that they “have great concerns” about Shrier’s book and that the book “actually goes against our equity policy and can cause harm.”

Erika Sanzi, director of outreach for Parents Defending Education, told Townhall: “"Schools should get out of the habit of celebrating all these silly days on the calendar but if they are going to do so, they can't choose sides. And if school officials think that detransition awareness violates their equity policy, they'd be wise to get rid of that policy because it's clearly not equitable or inclusive despite claims to the contrary."

I hate that this is from conservative site. But they do have a point. If the school board wants to honor Pride Month and other TQ+ days then they should also honor those who realized being trans wasn't for them afterall. You can't take sides and claim your inclusive

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Anna North at Vox:

The day after the presidential election, LaToya Bufford’s 16-year-old daughter got a text saying she had been “selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation.” The text came from a number Bufford’s daughter didn’t recognize, but it addressed her by her full name. The teenager told her mom that some of her friends had gotten the message, too, but only those who, like her, are Black.

Bufford said her daughter didn’t have much visible reaction to the text. But Bufford herself was left frightened and on high alert. “I was just shocked and so angry,” Bufford, who lives in Sacramento, California, told me. “If this could happen to my 16-year-old child,” she said, “I’m just scared about what could also happen.” Bufford’s daughter was one of the middle school, high school, and college students in more than 20 states who received similar racist texts in the days following the election. The attacks have continued and broadened in the weeks since, with Latino and LGBTQ+ recipients getting messages threatening them with deportation or being sent to “reeducation camps,” according to the FBI. Some messages purported to be from “the Trump administration,” though the Trump campaign has said it had nothing to do with the messages. The FBI is still investigating the wave of harassment, leaving kids and families wondering who got their names and phone numbers and sent them terrifying, personalized messages.

Meanwhile, other children across the country encountered hate speech and harassment at school immediately following the election, from a racist note left in a Wyoming high school bathroom to a spate of anti-immigrant and other discriminatory incidents in a Vermont district. There’s not much comprehensive data yet on how many kids have been harassed in the wake of last month’s election, but experts and school officials say the incidents documented so far, like the texts Bufford’s daughter and others received, reflect a continuation of a disturbing pattern.

After the 2016 election, Donald Trump’s xenophobic rhetoric about immigrants and other groups made its way to high school, middle school, and even elementary school campuses, and children began shouting “build the wall” and threatening their classmates with deportation. News reports between 2016 and 2020 document more than 300 incidents of students or school staff using Trump’s words or name to harass children, according to a 2020 Washington Post analysis. I reported on hate crimes and harassment in 2016 and 2017. Schools, unfortunately, were a big part of the story, with swastikas and racist slogans defacing the places where children, one parent reminded me, are supposed to be safe. Kids, especially teenagers, don’t always open up to adults about how harassment makes them feel. But hate speech can cut deep, particularly when the target is a child whose brain and sense of self are still developing. Kids can experience physical symptoms like stomach pain and headaches; others can have panic attacks or insomnia.

Harassment can also deprive young people of their legal right to an education, making them too afraid to stay in class or even to come to school at all, said Erin Maguire, director of equity and inclusion for Vermont’s Essex Westford School District, which experienced a steep increase in harassment reports the week of the election. While complaints there have leveled off, some experts remain concerned about the impact a second Trump administration could have on kids across the country. Kids continued lobbing Trump-inspired insults at their peers throughout his first term, according to the Washington Post analysis. Schools can make a big difference in supporting students who have been targeted and creating environments free from discrimination, experts say. But they may face an uphill battle in an administration that’s already broadcast its opposition to equity and inclusion initiatives, as well as its intent to dismantle government education agencies that enforce civil rights. Now some parents are left preparing their children on their own for what they see as a new reality.

[...]

How to help kids who have been harassed

Families shouldn’t be on their own to protect kids from hate speech; political leaders have an important role to play, experts say. “Any message that public officials send can trickle down to children,” Aziz said. “The more public officials that denounce hateful things,” she said, “the more examples our children have to look up to.” Educators, too, “are looked to across communities to really offer a way forward,” said Liz King, senior program director for education equity at the Leadership Conference. “It is meaningfully important when they get up and say, ‘This is awful.’” School leaders can also counter hate speech and discrimination by using curricula that are inclusive of all students, King said. The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights also offers resources for preventing and responding to discrimination in schools. Trump has pledged to eliminate that department, but the laws that protect kids’ right to an education aren’t changing, King said. “These laws are not going anywhere, and so each of us has a responsibility to ensure that this administration meaningfully protects all of us from discrimination and enforces our civil rights laws.”

Children across America, especially if they are Black, Latino, and/or LGBTQ+, are the most vulnerable to being victims of post-election bullying in the wake of Donald Trump’s return to office.

[turningcareer]

Covid-19 Jobs, Employment in Vermont

Covid-19 Jobs, Employment in Vermont

COVID-19 Response Assistants Job details Salary $18 an hour Full Job Description The Essex Westford School District is seeking several temporary COVID-19 Response Assistants for the beginning of the 2020-21 school year to assist the District COVID Coordinator with the implementation of health and safety protocols for the district in response to COVID-19 while schools are open to in-person…

[jobofthehut]

Location : Essex Junction, United States Company: Essex Westford School District Description: This is a key administrative support position, which receives, prepares and transmits student   No experience required Citizenship, residency or work VISA in United States required Application  Apply Now ➣

[waylandenews]

Best Public School Districts in Boston 2017

Boston Magazine September 2017: Best Public School Districts in Boston 2017.  Boston Magazine’s top 10 districts are: Dover-Sherborn, Concord-Carlisle, Weston, Lexington, Wayland, Westford, Newton, Wellesley, Manchester Essex and Harvard.