On May 9, Fairfax County’s school board held its regular meeting during which the board was scheduled to discuss the recommendations of its appointed Family Life Education Curriculum Advisory Committee, or FLECAC.
Fairfax County’s school board members, however, skipped the vote on the committee’s recommended changes to Virginia’s largest school district’s sex education curriculum — and notably, not for the first time. The school board also refused to act last year when the leftist committee unanimously approved controversial recommendations during the 2022-23 school year shortly before a local election.
Before the November 2023 election, FLECAC advised Fairfax County’s 12 Democratic-endorsed school board members to consider changes to the sex education curriculum, to which the vast majority of parents objected. These recommendations included putting boys and girls together in sex education classes beginning in fourth grade, changing all terms “male/female” in the curriculum to “assigned male/female at birth” and gender identity instruction beginning in fourth grade.
In a survey meant to gauge the community’s reaction to these ridiculous recommendations, 84% of respondents objected. The district’s superintendent, Michelle Reid, responded to the survey at a public work session with dismissal. She said, “Honestly, the majority doesn’t always dictate, right?”
Nearly one year later, after its last 2023-2024 meeting in April, FLECAC submitted a new report requesting that school board members consider its recommendations from last year as well as a few new ones from this academic year.
One of the new recommendations is that children in fourth grade should be subjected to graphic descriptions and images of the genitalia and development of the opposite sex. The advisory committee, in a 9-6 vote, recommended the video “My Changing Life: Puberty for Girls and Boys.” The video contains information intended for both boys and girls about breast growth, menstruation, wet dreams, and erections.
Ultimately, FLECAC advises that our nine-year-olds learn about all of these mature and arguably age-inappropriate topics together in a shared-sex space. Most adults do not want to discuss topics such as nocturnal emissions and menstruation with the opposite sex. Why would we ask children to do this?
This year, the committee members also reiterated their commitment to teaching gender identity to children in elementary school. The report states, “The exclusion of gender identity at the elementary level does not create an environment that is open and accepting of all students or provide a safe space for students to learn about themselves and others.”
This is the reality: The school district intends to shape your children’s perceptions about gender ideology and potentially suggest experimentation, regardless of what the parents believe or think is suitable material in public education. And make no mistake: The only reason the school board has not officially adopted these recommendations is because they are waiting to do so when fewer people are paying attention.
When Fairfax County’s school board arrived at FLECAC’s overreaching recommendations under new business during its meeting last week, the board’s chairman, Karl Frisch, said, “There will not be a vote on these items this evening. But action is scheduled at a future meeting.”
Frisch did not specify when the board would vote on these recommendations. The mystery surrounding the vote schedule likely is intentional because of the community’s previous rejection of the proposed recommendations. In the past, school board members seem to pass controversial agenda items in the summer months, when families are on vacation and less likely to be paying attention.
Why would our district’s school board members and administrators try to force gender ideology into primary school curriculum and sexualize our young children with images of the opposite sex’s genitalia and puberty journeys?
There is a word for this belligerent push for politicized and sexualized material in early education: grooming. We the parents must remain vigilant and protect our children from abusive government power — and worse.
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Stephanie Lundquist-Arora is a contributor for the Washington Examiner, a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, an author, and the Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women’s Network.
