Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Court says parents not sole providers of kids' sex education
AP ^ | 11/2/5 | DAVID KRAVETS

Posted on 11/02/2005 2:26:45 PM PST by SmithL

an Francisco (AP) --

A federal appeals court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit by elementary school parents who were outraged that the Palmdale School District had surveyed students about sex.

While the surveys asked students how often they thought about sex, among other questions, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said parents of public school children have no "fundamental right" to be the exclusive provider of sexual information to their children. The parents maintained they had the sole right "to control the upbringing of their children by introducing them to matters of and relating to sex."

The plaintiffs had sought unspecified monetary damages.

In upholding a lower court that had also ruled against the parents, a three-judge panel of the appeals court here dismissed the case, ruling unanimously that "parents are possessed of no constitutional right to prevent the public schools from providing information on that subject to their students in any forum or manner they select."

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: 9thcircus; firsttheycameforkids; homosexualagenda; judicialtyranny; nannystate; ninthcircuit; parentalrights; pspl; ruling; sexeducation; sexindoctrination; timetohomeschool
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 141-158 next last
To: DTogo
This goes far beyond a biology discussion into unacceptable territory for any grade K~12.

I'll agree with that. I would not have given the survey at all.

41 posted on 11/02/2005 3:14:11 PM PST by moog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

This decision was absolutely correct. Any other decision would have been judicial activism run wild.
The parents didn't like what their kids were being taught in public school. They didn't try to get the elected local school board to change it; they didn't take their kids out of public school and send them to private school or homeschool them. They sued in federal court for money damages. The 9th Circuit said there is no federal constitutional right to decide what your kids learn in public school (but also held that the parents can still sue in state court if they think state law was violated.)

If the federal court had ruled any other way, each parent could demand an individualized curriculum for their own child, and federal courts would be running every detail of every public school.


42 posted on 11/02/2005 3:19:20 PM PST by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

The government should be prohibited from mandating any portion of the curriculum taught in schools. Any politician or bureaucrat caught extending favors to influence or dissuade a curriculum should be fired.


43 posted on 11/02/2005 3:24:17 PM PST by Zon (Honesty outlives the lie, spin and deception -- It always has -- It always will.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL
The 9th Court. . .probably the 'field' from which Hillary will call forth a Supreme.. .should she have the chance. . .

Imagine a 'Supreme Court' fashioned with the same Leftist hand as the 9th'. . .a sadistic and. . .masochistic thought. . .

44 posted on 11/02/2005 3:26:04 PM PST by cricket
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jwalsh07

Well I would phrase it as on "thin ice" myself. :) Even if SCOTUS has not ruled regarding the right or lack thereof of parents to restrict what a public school does with their kids during normal school hours, a sex questionaire seems beyond the mission of an educational institution, and thus the thin ice.


45 posted on 11/02/2005 3:27:05 PM PST by Torie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Whitewasher
My children will attend Government schools over my dead body.

That's probably too broad a brush. There are good public schools, as well as bad ones.

46 posted on 11/02/2005 3:28:48 PM PST by Palisades (Cthulhu in 2008! Why settle for the lesser evil?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: jwalsh07
Meyer v. Nebraska

Thankyou! That's the case of which I was thinking. I guess the question is will this be overturned next year 9-0, 7-2, 6-3, or 5-4?

47 posted on 11/02/2005 3:29:43 PM PST by NeoCaveman (Confirm Judge Alito now. Yes I am an Alitist)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: SmithL
The district had dropped the survey in 2002 amid complaints from parents. The poll was given to children in the first, third and fifth grades.

I cannot imagine why any parent would have a problem with this. The school district said it was all for the children.

48 posted on 11/02/2005 3:30:07 PM PST by Torie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Torie
I cannot imagine why any parent would have a problem with this. The school district said it was all for the children.

Neither could the estimable Reinhardt, who writes very well, attended the right schools and has years of experience composing fantasy gleaned from emanations of penumbras.

49 posted on 11/02/2005 3:37:21 PM PST by jwalsh07
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: SmithL
"parents are possessed of no constitutional right to prevent the public schools from providing information on that subject to their students in any forum or manner they select."

"Good morning, class. Today we will learn about the joys of alternate lifestyles. Meet Chip and Bruce, here to demonstrate for you how they express their love for each other..."

50 posted on 11/02/2005 3:39:37 PM PST by workerbee (A person's a person no matter how small.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Palisades

That's my personal opinion. Children in government schools are nothing but livestock to be indoctrinated into, at the very least, Socialism and anti-American concepts. Again, my opinion, based on numerous experiences from coast to coast and border to border in America.


51 posted on 11/02/2005 3:45:41 PM PST by Whitewasher (Would u like America to be a goat nation in the millennium to come? Keep pushing the "Roadmap" bull!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: SmithL
The district had dropped the survey in 2002 amid complaints from parents. The poll was given to children in the first, third and fifth grades.

If they'd asked me in first grade how often I thought about sex, I wouldn't have known what the hell they were talking about.

What makes these morons think they would get straight information from such a survey? How many of the kids could even read it? Was this conducted by interview? In private???

52 posted on 11/02/2005 3:46:33 PM PST by Carry_Okie (The fourth estate is the fifth column.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sitetest
He who pays the piper calls the tune.

Exactly, time to really de-fund the public schools. Problem solved.

53 posted on 11/02/2005 3:54:19 PM PST by Mark was here (How can they be called "Homeless" if their home is a field?.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: tutstar

home school ping


54 posted on 11/02/2005 3:55:02 PM PST by Nightshift (Faith is something everyone has. The question is faith in what?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

Sickfreak pingout for this one too.


55 posted on 11/02/2005 4:11:27 PM PST by little jeremiah (Anti-Guv says little jeremiah is immoral.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Publius6961
I hope some bright legal type can explain to me how the clowns found in the Constitution such a right accruing to schools when schools are not even mentioned in the Constitution.

Just because the Constitution for the United States doesn't mention public schools, doesn't preculde the several States from instituting them. See the Tenth Amendment.

I know it's called an opinion, but it can't be an arbitrary one.

From what I can tell, it's a matter of in loco parentis, IOW when you drop off your kids to a public school, you have tacitly assented to accepting what they do per the written policies and procedures of your local school district. You have every right to bitch about it at the school board or elect different offals who'll fire the principal, but that is your recourse.

56 posted on 11/02/2005 4:47:05 PM PST by Carry_Okie (The fourth estate is the fifth column.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

This scares the daylights out of me. My first is still three years away from starting school and the more I look at it, the more I want to homeschool.

Almost everything about the public school system is twisted joke, not an education.


57 posted on 11/02/2005 4:56:22 PM PST by Hawk1976 (DU, more toxic than New Orleans water.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

San Francisco (AP)

'nuff said.


58 posted on 11/02/2005 4:57:28 PM PST by Fruitbat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Carry_Okie
when you drop off your kids to a public school, you have tacitly assented to accepting what they do per the written policies and procedures of your local school district.

Not everybody has the financial resources to send their kids to a private school.

59 posted on 11/02/2005 5:13:13 PM PST by He Rides A White Horse (unite)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: moog
Is this story actually true? I can't imagine anyone asking my students questions like these. It doesn't belong in an elementary school.

LOL, Massachusetts is even worse, if that's possible. In Massachusetts they teach "fisting" in the elementary schools. The teachers and their union have a real fun time in Massachusetts.

60 posted on 11/02/2005 5:16:44 PM PST by Lancey Howard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 141-158 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson