WASHINGTON TWP. >> A mass Jan. 15 email issued by Boyertown Area School Board member Clay Breece spurred several parents to call on him to stop dividing the community – and one to call for his resignation – during Tuesday night’s board meeting.
Among the issues Breece addresses in his email is what he labels “gender confusion.”
“I support the parent’s rights to not accept gender confusion,” Breece wrote. “I support parents who want to instead help their children work through their gender confusion.”
“We have some on this board who do not wish to trust parents with critical information of their children,” Breece wrote in the two-page missive. “It is not our business to mislabel parents who do not have a ‘gender affirmative approach’ as child abusers.”
Breece also criticized “preschool curriculum in many schools that deals with issues that have nothing to do with a child’s academic development – like gender, gender identity, careers, environmentalism, multiculturalism, and all of that – things that don’t amount to a hill of beans as far as a child learning how to read.”
The email is particularly relevant in Boyertown, where a lawsuit about the high school’s bathroom policy governing transgender students brought the district statewide notoriety.
In August, a federal judge upheld the school district’s policy, but one month later, that decision was appealed by the plaintiffs.
Also on Tuesday, the Anti-Defamation League joined the fight, filing an amicus brief in support of the school district’s position.
The brief also highlights that “Boyertown’s policy is not only constitutional, but necessary to ensure compliance with anti-discrimination protections under federal law,” according to a press release.
“Policies like Boyertown’s help prevent discrimination and harassment. They foster a unified and cohesive school environment and benefit the student community as a whole,” said Nancy K. Baron-Baer, regional director of the ADL.
But the policy, and the lawsuit, have also divided the Boyertown community and many have expressed their disagreement with the policy and spoken out against it.
Those who support the policy, spoke out Tuesday night.
“The lack of understanding about how kids identify in the 21st century is a little concerning to me,” parent Melissa DeStefano said of the content of Breece’s email.
“We are all aware of male and female. But have some of you heard of transgender? Cisgender? Gender not-conforming? Gender queer? This is real,” DeStefano said. “I believe sensitivity training is a must for all board members.”
She concluded, “we can disagree and still love each other, unless your disapproval is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.”
“Instead of discussing your policy concerns in the policy committee; instead of discussing your curriculum concerns, you put them in this mass email and you intimate that the administration is choosing certain curriculum items in order to try to influence children,” said Jon Emeigh. “This is destructive behavior.”
Holding up what was presumably a printed out copy of the email, Emeigh tore it in half and said “this behavior must to stop.”
Parent Michele Barrett told an anecdote about her daughter’s best friend, an African-American, who moved out of the district because of being constantly teased about the color of her skin and texture of her hair.
“Mom, how can they keep hanging these signs declaring this is ‘No Place for Hate’ when this is exactly the place for hate,” Barrett said her daughter told her.
She pointed to Breece’s email “saying there is no place for multiculturalism for gender identity in the teaching of literature. Being a reading, writing teacher myself, I am appalled and I call for the resignation of Mr. Clay Breece from the school board.”
During his comments, Breece did not address the call for his resignation, but outlined his reason for running on the board, saying “we have to focus on the education outcome.”
“Children can and often see society through a different prism, their minds are constantly developing. What has happened to the American spirit? We’ve gone from Patrick Henry’s ‘give me liberty or give me death’ to ‘take care of me please.'”
Reading from an electronic device, Breece continued “we’ve gone from free speech to speech codes. We’ve gone from individualism and rewarding independence, to rewarding victimhood. Parents once taught kids how to fend for themselves. Now any parent who tries may get a visit from social services,” said Breece.
“We now have a demand for stasis and passive-aggressive trigger warnings everywhere. Many in our nation are now committed to collectivism,” said Breece. “This is a dangerous practice that Karl Marx talked about. It’s dividing our community, that’s what it does, it divides people into small groups and marginalizes each group, makes them victims, makes victims of almost everyone.”
If Boyertown Schools “supports parents and families, we can help guard” against the influences of society and the media and ensure children cleave to “the virtues and values that their parents are instilling,” Breece said.
Prior to the public comment period, school board President Donna Usavage said “the Boyertown community is passionate about education and board has diverse viewpoints. We must use diversity as a strength instead of a source of division.”
