To the editor:

Are you aware that the Barrington School District has been implementing a protocol that circumvents fundamental parental rights?

At a minimum, it undermines parental rights in the elementary grades and ultimately violates parental rights in the secondary grades. This sets up dangerous precedent that undermines the foundation of the family. 

Our school district has adopted the Rhode Island Department of Education’s Protocol for Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, and Transitioning Students which carves out a pathway for K-12 students to formally change their name and pronouns without required parental knowledge or consent. A student must only verbally express the desire to change their gender identity to initiate the protocol at school. This results in the creation of a confidential Gender Support Plan and a potential Gender Transition Plan, changes in records according to the student’s wishes, and the implementation of the Plan in all school settings.

This protocol was adopted from an activist organization that has convinced sectors of our society to conform with their dogmas. At the heart of their ideology is that feelings determine reality and they expect passive compliance by all. Parents may have seen kid-friendly graphic materials such as The Gingerbread Person or the Gender Unicorn which are being used to indoctrinate young students.

The school district is not your child’s parent and you have the right to decide what’s best for your own child. To verify and to become informed, see the link below. 

Jean Ernster

Barrington

https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/385703/Transgender_Protocol_and_Support_Plan.pdf