A nonbinary elementary school teacher in the Cupertino Union School District was put on leave due to complaints from parents back in August that the educator was not teaching students age-appropriate content relating to gender. Allegedly, the teacher provided students with a book about transgender people, displayed a “Free to Be You and Me” poster featuring various pronouns in their classroom and expressed sentiments such as supporting boys wearing dresses.
One argument made by people all across the political spectrum is that elementary school students are simply too young to understand gender on a complex level, and that gender instruction beyond the binary should be introduced later when students are older.
“I think they should start off with teaching the standard; don’t enforce or expect the standard, but teach what a boy is, what a girl is, and always encourage [students to] be yourself,” FHS senior Caroline Suzue said. “If there’s a kid and he’s a boy and he wants to try wearing a tiara or something, just let the kid wear the tiara. But I would wait until middle school to start teaching about what nonbinary is, or what trans means, just because I don’t think [elementary] students are that mature.”
However, despite the belief that children are too young to be taught about gender in elementary school, FHS math and AVID teacher Tara Wojcik stated that science has shown that children generally already have a stable understanding of their gender identity by the age of four. Additionally, the fact that typically exclusively transgender or nonconforming identities are framed as being inappropriate represents the bigger problem: transphobia and prejudice remain at large in society today.
Wojcik attended a recent meeting on the issue and was disturbed by the animosity displayed by attendees. Tensions were running high at the meeting, where some parents grew aggressive toward those with opposing opinions.
“It was really upsetting,” Wojcik said. “There were a lot of people there in support that do identify differently, beyond the binary. And some parents kind of lunged toward them after they made their public comments, and it was just, it was really disgusting […] There were a lot of parents there who were very angry and very eager to spill out hate.”
Wojcik also believes the parents’ concerns regarding education about transgender people to be generally irrational. While these parents likely did not really intend to cause harm, ignorance and societal prejudice against those in the LGBTQ+ community may have fueled their fears and actions.
“I feel like a lot of parents are scared because they don’t understand,” Wojcik said. “They talked about being gender fluid, and how you’re gonna say one day you’re a boy and then say you’re a girl, and it just seemed very fear-mongering. It was definitely like the comments were meant to scare people. And I feel like it was working.”
FHS instrumental music teacher Joseph Kelly agreed that no real harm seems to have been done by the teacher who was put on leave. Although not much information regarding the issue has been made public, Kelly felt that since there is no objectively alarming evidence against the teacher that he is aware of, the issue has likely been blown out of proportion due to the kind of fear-mongering Wojcik mentioned.
“Let’s be honest, if they use ‘they’ [pronouns], the paranoia is that you’re indoctrinating my child, right?” Kelly said. “That’s the concern. And the reality is, that’s just not very accurate, and that’s not very true, at least from my perspective.”
Title IX — a federal law passed in 1972 — protects students and faculty members from sex-based discrimination, harassment and violence. Kelly disapproved of the district’s conduct in relation to Title IX.
“There’s a very clear, in this case, Title IX type of legal requirement and also district policy,” Kelly said. “So I was disappointed it took months. In fact, was it last Friday, the superintendent finally put out a three-minute video [on inclusivity.] That’s a long time for a teacher to feel unsupported by their employer.”
Even though the only teacher directly impacted by this situation is the teacher on leave, all teachers are affected indirectly. Many teachers have always openly talked about gender and sexual orientation, and are now nervous in light of recent events.
“I would like some resolution for the teacher and some clarity for my own self as a teacher because it’s very scary thinking that, like, I have a [pride] flag in my classroom and what things are going to be attacked under the guise of appropriate education,” Wojcik said. “It’s very scary, I think, for anybody in the profession right now, that you could have things twisted and be put on leave for, who knows how long of a time. And that’s what one of the people [in the meeting] said, like, this is this person’s career. This is their future.”
At the moment, the South Bay teacher is still on leave and there is no word on when they will be allowed to return to teaching at their school. But teachers and students alike will be watching to see how the situation progresses.
