Global Courant
Hundreds of interfaith parents, including Christians and Muslims, gathered outside the headquarters of Maryland’s Montgomery County Public Schools on Tuesday to demand that their children be given the right to opt out of the district’s controversial LGBTQ curriculum.
MCPS, Maryland’s wealthiest district, announced efforts last year to include an LGBTQ reading list as part of its English-taught arts curriculum.
Through Family Rights for Religious Freedom or @FrrFusa on Twitter (@FrrFusa via Twitter)
Many parents asked for a policy for their children to opt out of these books, but the school board insisted that students will be required to “engage” with these materials.
An MCPS policy stated that students and families “shall not choose not to engage in instructional materials other than the ‘Family Life and Human Sexuality’ instructional unit specifically permitted by Maryland law. As such, teachers are not sending letters home informing families when inclusive books will be read in the future.”
The policy is intended to be introduced in the academic year 2023-2024.
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Despite the policy, parents continue to push for the choice of which books and curricula their child should be exposed to in school.
Ahead of Tuesday’s demonstrations, MCPS said it was restricting participation in a Board of Education meeting due to “security concerns”.
Access to the meeting was limited to “scheduled speakers, invitees and other guests according to the capacity of the room”.
Through Family Rights for Religious Freedom or @FrrFusa on Twitter (@FrrFusa via Twitter)
Tuesday’s protesters included parents of Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Hindu faiths. One of the attendees, Bethany S. Mandel, told Fox News Digital that politics was not discussed at the meeting and that all parents wanted was for their children to get a good education.
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“Parents in general in Montgomery County are starting to realize that this neighborhood doesn’t care what they think. They think (the kids) are theirs,” Mandel said. “Test scores are absolutely catastrophically bad. But… the school district is spending its time and energy on ideological activities rather than just overtaking kids.”
Muslim activist speaks out at a meeting of the Montgomery County Public Schools Board of Education, June 27, 2023. (Fox News digital)
Earlier this year Kristin Mink, Montgomery County City Council member and former public school teacher, accused Muslim children of being on the side of “white supremacists” after speaking out against sexuality discussions and materials in classrooms during a heated school board meeting earlier this year. month. She later apologized for her comments.
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MCPS did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions on Tuesday about any incidents that may have warranted these concerns.
Lindsay Kornick of Fox News contributed to this report.
Bradford Betz is a Fox News Digital breaking reporter covering crime, political issues and much more.
