Editor’s Note: The School District of Indian River County has since acknowledged the issues with the Administrative Resource Guide and have been working to fix it. Please disregard this Editorial as current information, as of July 5th, 2022. You can click here and here to read the articles about the discussion regarding this issue that occurred a few days after publication.
The School District of Indian River County allows Boys in Girls Bathrooms, Girls in Boys Bathrooms and More.
How was this done? This was through an Administrative Policy. This is something that the School District Staff under the Superintendent can do, without the approval of the School District of Indian River County School Board.
The name of this policy is LGBTQ+ Administrator Resource Guide.
This policy was discovered through a records request done by Moms for Liberty Indian River, Florida Chairman Jennifer Pippin, on the behalf of her Moms for Liberty Chapter.
This policy was most recently revised on April 20th, 2022.
I’m going to break down the LGBTQ+ Administrator Resource Guide to show the areas where parts of this is currently violating Florida State Law, parts that will be violating Florida State Law as of July 1st and others that are just plain wrong with no current legal issue. I always stand to make sure everyone is being treated equally and fairly (where possible), but not to where people can get physically harmed.
Action 1: Dress Code; Action 6: School Functions; Action 7: Clubs
I don’t see any issue with these parts of the LGBTQ+ Administrator Resource Guide.
Action 2: Student Privacy
The part that says “will not be shared without the students’ or parents’ consent” is a problem, specifically the “without the parents’ consent” part. Under Title XLIX Parental Rights, Chapter 1014 Parents’ Bill of Rights in the Florida State Legal Code, children essentially have to no privacy when it comes to what their Parents’ can know about their lives. The parents also have the sole legal ability of directing the upbringing and care of their child.
I’m going to cite below 1014.02(1), 1014.03 and 1014.04 from the Parents’ Bill of Rights in the State Legal Code:
1014.02(1) Legislative findings and definition.— The Legislature finds that it is a fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their minor children. The Legislature further finds that important information relating to a minor child should not be withheld, either inadvertently or purposefully, from his or her parent, including information relating to the minor child’s health, well-being, and education, while the minor child is in the custody of the school district. The Legislature further finds it is necessary to establish a consistent mechanism for parents to be notified of information relating to the health and well-being of their minor children.
1014.03 Infringement of parental rights.— The state, any of its political subdivisions, any other governmental entity, or any other institution may not infringe on the fundamental rights of a parent to direct the upbringing, education, health care, and mental health of his or her minor child without demonstrating that such action is reasonable and necessary to achieve a compelling state interest and that such action is narrowly tailored and is not otherwise served by a less restrictive means.
1014.04 Parental rights.— (1)(a-b, d) All parental rights are reserved to the parent of a minor child in this state without obstruction or interference from the state, any of its political subdivisions, any other governmental entity, or any other institution, including, but not limited to, all of the following rights of a parent of a minor child in this state: (a)The right to direct the education and care of his or her minor child. (b)The right to direct the upbringing and the moral or religious training of his or her minor child. (d) The right, pursuant to s. 1002.20(13), to access and review all school records relating to his or her minor child.
Action 2: Student Privacy, is basically saying that the School District can withhold information regarding their child’s gender identity without informing the parents more or less is what this is coming down to.
As shown with the three Florida Statutes, the State of Florida cannot withhold information that would be important for the upbringing of the child. I would argue that the gender identity of a child should not be withheld from the parents.
The basic idea of Parents Rights, from what I’ve been told, is that the Parents have full control over how they would like to raise their children, shape their lives, and what morality they would like to instruct them with, among other things.
School Districts have no right to infringe upon Parental Rights, per State law.
So bottom line in this case, if the School District gains knowledge that one of their students who is under the age of 18 is going by a different Gender at school than the one found on their birth certificate and the Parent goes asking about that, the District cannot withhold that information from the Parent. Specifically, I think it would be the right thing to do, to inform the Parents of information such as that.
Action 3: Names and Pronouns
The School District of Indian River County is now allowing the teachers and staff to now address students by their preferred pronouns. This is great and all, except there’s a few problems.
First, where is the Parental Consent on this? I personally think the School District should only call students by the Pronouns on their birth certificate.
Second, there is problem of teachers who may not morally agree with referring to students by pronouns different from what the student’s birth certificate says, going against the teacher’s own moral code. I very much would like to make sure the district’s educators can follow their moral grounding and not have to go along with this.
Now lets look at the legal side of things. This year the Parents Rights in Education HB 1557 (2022) was signed into law this year by Governor Ron DeSantis. One of the things this piece of legislation did was it prevents teachers in grades Kindergarten through 3rd Grade from talking about sexual orientation and gender identity with their students.
For those who are not aware, the Parents Rights in Education Bill is not a “Don’t Say Gay” bill. That phrase is nowhere to be found in the bill. I would encourage you to click here to read the bill in its entirety.
A recent Libs of TikTok video shows a clear example why this law had to be passed. For those that are not aware, Libs of TikTok is someone who consistently exposes the left and notably caught the ire of Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz. Special thank you to Libs of TikTok for consistently exposing the insanity of the American Left. Your work is greatly appreciated.
This is a middle school teacher. pic.twitter.com/pVoCTcv7h2— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 12, 2022
There’s plenty of videos out there like the one above that I have shown in this Editorial as an example of how some educators across the United States are really pushing the Transgender Ideology onto children.
Action 4: Restrooms and Locker Rooms
You want to see how bad these Bathroom Policies are capable of being? Just watch this video from Libs of TikTok. It literally shows High School students protesting insane policies out in Oregon. The students are specifically protesting the bathroom policy at their schools that allows whoever to go into whichever bathroom they want. As the female High School student describes in the video, she’s basically felt violated. Watch below to see for yourself
SCOOP: Students at an Oregon high school speak out over school’s bathroom policy which allows males to use the girl’s bathroom.
They voiced concerns of being sexually assaulted and a parent tells me the staff was completely dismissive.
Watch one student share her experience: pic.twitter.com/b4PjALfWye— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 18, 2022
This is what I find could very well happen in our Schools here in Indian River County if this policy is not immediately changed.
I can see why School Board Member, Ms. Jackie Rosario has been advocating so much for Single Use Bathrooms (as in one person at a time using a bathroom and built for only one person at a time to use). She’s found that these bathrooms can help to cut down on various issues schools in the District have been having, such as fights and vaping. To elaborate on the fights, students have gone into the bathrooms for the sole purpose of having fights. Sometimes, these fights have been planned by the students.
Action 5: Interscholastic Athletics
In short, boys can play in girls sports and girls can play in boys sports.
So when a student wants to play on a school sports team that is a biological male that identifies as a female, they could, per this policy, go play on the women’s team, which would leave biological women at a massive disadvantage, due to the biological differences between men and women.
Basically the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, which was signed into law in 2021, is being violated by the School District of Indian River County, with this policy.
The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act basically says that public school sports teams cannot have mixed sex members, unless it is explicitly advertised as “coed or mixed” according to the State Law regarding this, 1006.205 Support for Learning Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.
The School District is giving their excuse that they want to make sure the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act does not conflict with legal protections under Federal Law. They point to Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause that is found in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, Section 1.
I will address what the Equal Protection Clause and the Supremacy Clause in the U.S. Constitution are, along with Title IX later in this editorial.
Bottom line though, Mens sports are for biological Males and Womens sports are for biological Females.
Click here if you would like to read more on the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.
Action 8: Pride
This part of the policy allows faculty and staff to “feel empowered to be open” about their sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression during school. The policy also encourages this for students as well. This will be illegal for faculty and staff to do under Florida State Law as of July 1st, 2022 with students in grades Kindergarten through 3rd Grade. This is when the Parents Bill of Rights in Education goes into effect. Notably, the bill bans being able to talk to students in grades Kindergarten through 3rd Grade about Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.
Specifically the bill says:
“Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
One has to wonder, why is it of any importance for School District faculty and staff to discuss their sexual orientation and or gender identity with Kindergarteners? No one has any business discussing sexual orientation and gender identity with minor children, especially at the young ages of Kindergarten through 3rd Grade.
Title IX, Nullification and the U.S. Constitution Supremacy Clause
The School District could end up saying, at least for the Sports participation by gender identity and gender expression, that they would permit an individual to participate, because their rights under Title IX would be getting violated under Federal Law. Title IX was codified into law from the Education Amendments of 1972. This is to prevent people from being discriminated against, due to them being a man or a woman. My take on this is, Title IX is intended to infer biological sex at birth, not socially selected gender identity. This is where I find the Federal Government is abusing Title IX.
The District could also (wrongly) point to the Supremacy Clause in the U.S. Constitution. The Supremacy Clause in Article VI of the U.S. Constitution says “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”
See where it says “Pursuance thereof”, that means all laws made by the Federal Government have to be made in Pursuance of the U.S. Constitution. If Title IX is not being used in Pursuance of the U.S. Constitution, then the wrongful use of the Title IX it should be Unconstitutional. The initial use of Title IX, to ensure biological men and biological women are being treated equally under the law is Constitutional, per the Equal Protection Clause in the 14th Amendment, Section 1, which reads “nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
If the Federal Government is wrongly and or Unconstitutionally applies the Equal Protection Clause, the State Governments are able to Nullify those laws. Nullification is basically where a State Government passes a law that voids application of an Unconstitutional Federal Law or voids a law that some States find should be repealed, such as regulations on Cannabis being an illegal substance.
The United States seems to have a habit of mass disobeying unjust laws, whether it be the various taxes Great Britain attempted to levy on the 13 colonies post-French and Indian War or the illegal bootlegging that occurred during the Prohibition era in the United States.
In this case, the State of Florida can theoretically Nullify any nonsensical laws that are passed regarding Education.
My hope is the School District will lean into the what will now appear to be, Nullification of a part of what I consider to be a misuse of Title IX. The Nullification would be done through application of The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, which can be found in Title XLVIII Chapter 1006.205 in the Florida State Legal Code.
Click here if you would like to read more about Nullification from the 10th Amendment Center
The Constitution does not give the Federal Government power to dictate Education, in my opinion. That power should be reserved to the State Governments, per the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Also, the U.S. Government has no authority per the Constitution, to regulate such a manner of using preferred pronouns, what restrooms students are allowed to use or any of the such regulations that I have called out in this Editorial, again per the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. I’m sure the left will attempt to abuse the Equal Protection Clause found in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Ending Thoughts
It’s interesting the fact this policy got approved, with the variety of laws on the State level that have been passed in the last year or two, yet these things still occur.
Dr. Moore I say this genuinely to you, I highly recommend rescinding the problematic parts of this policy that I pointed out in this Editorial. You’re starting to get a pile of people who want you fired. I know you have done a lot of good work (specifically the “transformative” work) and I would really like to see your talents benefit the School District of Indian River County. If you want to turn things around for yourself, as I’ve seen recently with the good things you’ve been doing for some of the students in the School District, rescind the problematic parts of this policy. It would be in the best interest of not only the students, but the community as a whole. I’m with you Dr. Moore and I give you the room to do this. Please do the right thing and rescind the bad parts of this Administrative Policy.
Best thing I can tell anyone concerned about this is to keep supporting Moms for Liberty Indian River, Florida and show up to the upcoming School Board Meeting on Monday, May 23rd to speak out about this policy. Just make sure you arrive before 5:40PM to fill out your public input form; I recommend arriving before 5:30PM. When you first walk into the School District building, the window on the right when you first walking to the lobby is where you will fill out your public input form. Once it’s filled out, hand it to person at the window. Once that happens, you’re in to talk during public input at the General Business Meeting.
Where a society chooses to go in its morality is the decision of that society alone. I cannot dictate where it goes, aside from giving my input that hopefully adds to the full picture. A society or a community as a whole has to collectively determine where it wants to put its morality down as. This is where community members have to say “this is where I want the morality of our society.” Part of how we can do this is Indian River News’ Letter to the Editor section. Please feel free to write in about this topic. I would also forward a link to your Letter to the Editor to the five School Board Members and Superintendent Dr. Moore. Just make sure to email everyone separately. This is so that we can make it easy to ensure all School Board members stay compliant with the Sunshine Law here in Florida.
Below is the Facebook Live I did with Moms for Liberty, Indian River, Florida Chairman Jennifer Pippin last Thursday, May 19th, after their monthly meeting.
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