ARPA among 6 organizations waiting to hear back from BC Ministry of Education
ARPA Note: We have been a part of Take Back Our Schools since it started a few years ago. We encourage you to check out the new website and like the new Facebook page to follow developments regarding the education system.
VANCOUVER, Nov. 4, 2011 (TBOS) — A consortium of groups concerned about parents’ and students’ rights wants to know why the Minister of Education won’t communicate with them. With the recent revelation that the teachers’ guide Out in Schools includes links to gay pornography as a “resource” to be recommended to students, the Ministry’s refusal to listen to parents has become critical, says Take Back Our Schools (TBOS).
“More than a year has passed since www.TakeBackOurSchools.org first wrote to Education Minister Margaret McDiarmid by means of a registered letter,” says TBOS spokesman Ron Gray (pictured on right, speaking at an ARPA event about education). “Since then we have sent e-mails to ask if our letter has been read or considered. We haven’t yet received a response or even an acknowledgement from the Minister’s office.”
Executive members of the following six organizations, comprising hundreds of members, signed the letter: ARPA Canada (Association for Reformed Political Action); BCPTL (BC Parents and teachers for Life); Canada Family Action; CASJAFA (The Canadian Alliance for Social Justice and Family Values Association); Parents for Democracy in Education; and REAL Women of BC.
“TBOS is concerned about the way the Corren Settlement Agreement was arrived at,” Gray said today. “It was a secret agreement, entered into by the Minister of Education and Attorney-General of the day, but never ratified by the BC Legislature. It gives rights over education policy and curriculum to two homosexual activists—one now dead—authority such as no other unelected citizens have ever had.
“Today, with the connivance of the BC Teachers’ Federation, that agreement is being used to indoctrinate students into accepting homosexuality as ‘praiseworthy’; this was recently revealed by a Culture Guard news release and video showing how a program called Out in Schools recommended links to gay pornography sites as a ‘classroom resource’. Such indoctrination is in the open violation of both government and BCTF policies, which say clearly that classrooms must not be abused in that way.
“But the Ministry of Education has rejected all appeals from parents to be given similar oversight into what their children are taught, and now refuses even to answer its mail. If this stonewalling persists, it will surely become an issue at the next provincial election,” he said.
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Contact: Ron Gray
Phone: (604) 534-3319
e-mail: [email protected]