This is an e-mail from Dr. Richard Zeile, member of the Michigan State Board of Education, sent on October 1, 2016. He is one of the two people who voted against the transgender policy. In the email he states that the two republicans running for the Board of Education this November are both opposed to this transgender policy. They are Nikki Snyder and Tom McMillin. If they are elected, one of them would replace Board President John Austin who pushed hard for this policy to be passed, and another board member who voted for it. Please be sure to vote for Nikki Snyder and Tom McMillin on November 8th.
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(The Honorable) Dr. RICHARD ZEILE Member of the STATE BOARD
of EDUCATION
15 Timberlane Court, Dearborn, MI 48126 (313) 802-1146
Dear Concerned Citizen:
You may be unhappy as I was that the State Board of
Education adopted the LGBTQ Guidelines. They purport to help sexual minorities
in our schools by allowing children as young as Kindergarten to declare their
sexual identity and orientation, ask that this not be shared with parents, and
further, to participate in sports based on a psychological gender identity
rather than physical gender. The Guidelines further call for the hiring of
LGBTQ teachers and counselors to serve as role-models for these students, as
well as for calling attention to LGBTQ individuals' contributions across all
areas of the curriculum. You can read the actual text of the Guidelines at http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/SBEStatementonLGBTQYouth_534576_7.pdf.
The intentions are good, but if policy is to guide decisions
and make outcomes predictable, this is very bad policy indeed because it leaves
the decisions to be made by children on the basis of subjective changeable
feelings rather than objective criteria such as birth certificate or a
physician's assessment. Expectations of dress, bathroom, and locker room
procedures are upended by these policy Guidelines.
Unfortunately, the Michigan Department of Education spent
many hours processing the over 13,000 responses, most of which opposed the
Guidelines, and the State Board itself spent three of 9 meetings this year on
an issue some have called social engineering, outside the mission- and
competence- of the teaching profession. This was a great distraction from the
new state Superintendent's efforts to develop a plan to overcome
Michigan's chronic failure to achieve academic goals generally, and especially
for urban students.
Claiming responsibility for passing these Guidelines is
Board President John Austin (See his campaign website http://www.austinformichigan.com/news/category/lgbt ). He
must stand for re-election this November on the Democrat ballot. The other
Democrat nominated for State Board of Education, a former Department of
Education employee, also supports these Guidelines.
The Republican nominees for the State Board of Education,
Registered Nurse Nikki Snyder (rhttp://www.nikkisnyder.net -no
relation to the Governor), and former State Representative Tom McMillin (http://www.tom4sbe.com)
share my objections to these LGBTQ Guidelines. Even if you normally vote
Democratic, I ask you to consider sending a message to the Michigan
Department of Education by voting for these two candidates this November and
encouraging friends who share our disapproval of these Guidelines to do so as
well.
You may wish to forward this message to others concerned by
recent Board priorities.
Yours for the welfare of Michigan's children,
(The Honorable) Dr. RICHARD ZEILE Member of the STATE BOARD
of EDUCATION
15 Timberlane Court, Dearborn, MI 48126 (313) 802-1146
(The Honorable) Dr. RICHARD ZEILE Member of the STATE BOARD
of EDUCATION
15 Timberlane Court, Dearborn, MI 48126 (313) 802-1146
website- DrZeile.net
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