Education

EXCLUSIVE: Pennsylvania Elementary School Training Introduces 5-Year-Olds To Transgenderism

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• Fern Hills Elementary School in West Chester, Pennsylvania, featured a teacher training for educators to learn how to create a gender-inclusive classroom that is respectful of all LGBTQ identities. 
• The training included lessons and books aimed at kindergarten students so the educators may integrate transgenderism into their curriculums. 
• “Why are our elementary school teachers focused on gender ideology rather than teaching our children reading, writing, arithmetic, history and science?” Yael Levin, chief communications officer of No Left Turn in Education, told the DCNF. “Why are our schools even touching on subjects that belong with the parents, especially in children ranging from 5 to 11?

A Pennsylvania elementary school held a training for educators to teach them how to create a “gender-inclusive” classroom and affirm LGBTQ identities, according to documents provided by No Left Turn in Education to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Fern Hills Elementary School in West Chester, Pennsylvania, hosted an Aug. 24 teacher training titled “An Intro to LGBTQ Education: Cultivating Gender Inclusive Classrooms” put on by LGBTQ activist Aneesah Smith, according to documents obtained by the DCNF. The training provided the elementary school teachers with picture books and lessons for kids as young as kindergarten on transgenderism to incorporate into their classroom.

“Why are our elementary school teachers focused on gender ideology rather than teaching our children reading, writing, arithmetic, history and science?” Yael Levin, chief communications officer of No Left Turn in Education, a group focused on parental rights in education, told the DCNF. “Why are our schools even touching on subjects that belong with the parents, especially in children ranging from 5 to 11? And more importantly, why are our children being evaluated based on whether they are using the term gender expression and if they understand the meaning of the word.”

Smith is a “queer, Christian, cisgender, woman of color” and the director of diversity equity and inclusion at Penn State Abington who has been in social justice activism for more than 12 years, according to her website. She hosts a variety of training sessions including “understanding & supporting your LGBTQ+ child” and “cultivating campus climate considering intersectionality,” a workshop on addressing unconscious bias within campus offices and programs.

The training asked teachers to first identify when they learned about “L,G,B,T,Q,Q or A,” the Qs standing for queer and questioning while A stands for asexual, and how that might affect their support of “students/families who hold these identities,” the documents stated. Teachers were asked to do a “classroom assessment” by asking themselves “do I currently address LGBTQ+ people/families in my classroom currently? Why or why not?”

Using the “Gender Bear,” a diagram of a bear used to explain how genitals give people their sex and the brain gives people their gender identity, the training explained to the teachers that sex assigned at birth does not need to match an individual’s gender or gender expression, the documents stated.

In breakout groups, educators discussed how to incorporate the training into their curriculum, the documents showed. The educators were given recommended reading for their classrooms such as the picture book “Julian Is A Mermaid,” a book about a boy who realizes he wants to dress like the female mermaids, but worries what his grandmother will think.

Recommended for kindergarten through second grade, the training suggested the book “Red: A Crayon’s Story,” a book that teaches gender identity by describing a crayon who is labeled as red but is actually blue, the documents stated. The book comes with an activity for teachers to help explain the mismatch between gender and biological sex because there may be “more to me than you see.”

As a part of the “more to me than you see” activity, students are encouraged to share something about them that others may not know just by looking at them. Examples of what a student might share included “someone who looks at me might not know that I have two dads” or “someone looking at me might think I am a girl, but I am non-binary and my pronouns are they/them.”

The book “They, She, He, Me: Free To Be” was also recommended in the breakout groups during the training, which comes with a lesson on understanding pronouns, the documents showed. The activity paired with the book on pronouns is written by the Human Rights Campaign, a group focused on LGBTQ rights and equality.

The activity by the Human Rights Campaign to accompany the book “They, She, He, Me: Free To Be” offers discussion questions for introducing elementary students to gender-neutral pronouns and how to choose their own pronouns. The lesson states that calling someone “he/she” is transphobic.

For third to fifth graders, “I Am Jazz,” a true story about a 2-year-old boy who realizes he is actually a girl, is suggested to teach students about transgender children, the documents stated.

The training taught the educators how to address concerns about “LGBTQ inclusivity” in the classroom by reminding those concerned that “schools should be a place to learn and grow” and that “diversity is important for all.”

“The West Chester Area School District is continuously looking for areas in which we can improve our ability to effectively educate our students as well as provide supportive welcoming environments for them and their families,” the school district told the DCNF. “District and school-level trainings are made available to all building educators and staff whenever possible to ensure that they are able to incorporate age-appropriate practices into their classrooms or to support the building’s culture as a whole. The training at Fern Hill Elementary School focused on the importance of creating an environment where all students can achieve their best and where all families feel welcome, valued and respected.”

Smith and the Human Rights Campaign did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.