It looks like State Rep. Rich Collins is taking aim at proposed regulations dealing with gender discrimination according to the weekly newsletter from the Republican Caucus of the Delaware House of Representatives. I felt the need to redline this because there are some points I agree with and some I don’t.
State Lawmaker Says Proposed Education Regulations Could Violate Parental Rights, Spark Lawsuits
A proposed anti-discrimination policy and regulations that could soon be applied to Delaware public schools are raising questions and concerns.
I’m sorry, but how often does Rep. Collins take an active role on education issues in the General Assembly? How much education legislation has he put forth? I think this has more to do with transgender issues than potential legality of the Governor’s actions. Cause if Collins wants to poke holes at legality in state code, I can think of a few dozen issues that need the spotlight more than this.
“It opens Pandora’s Box,” said State Rep. Rich Collins, R-Millsboro. “It has the potential to twist schools up in knots.”
A little overdramatic there.
The process began in mid-July with the issuance of a brief memorandum from Gov. John Carney to Sec. of Education Susan Bunting. In the memo, the governor directed the agency to promulgate regulations providing clear guidance to schools “to prohibit unlawful discrimination in educational programs, and activities for students, on the basis of any legally protected characteristic.”
This is Executive Overreach. Something Carney does very well. He has been doing this a lot lately.
The memo set a deadline of November 1st for the proposed rules to be posted in the Delaware Register of Regulations, a needed step preceding implementation.
If you ask me, any regulation should be based on a bill passed by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor. No questions asked.
Four “community conversations” were held — one in each county, and one in the City of Wilmington — to gather public input.
These community conversations are usually poorly attended. The results of these meetings are predetermined as usual.
State Rep. Ruth Briggs King, R-Georgetown, attended the Sussex County event last week. She said the meetings – which all took place between 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. over a period of just ten days – were, perhaps intentionally, inconveniently staged for parents to participate. “They were held when families are collecting students from school activities, having dinner and assisting with homework,” she said.
I like Rep. Briggs King. But my question would be when is an opportune time? When parents are at work? Is after 8pm better when parents are trying to get kids to bed? I would say sufficient notice and having schools send out robo-calls paid for by the state would work better. Or hell, have the state send out robo-calls.
Rep. Collins noted that the forums appeared to have been deliberately engineered to thwart public criticism, with participants broken into small discussion groups, limiting interaction and open debate.
Welcome to DOE 101 Rep. Collins! This is how they roll. I’ve been dealing with this kind of nonsense for years.
He added that an online survey form for public feedback on the proposed policy and regulations posed questions that specifically called for participants to provide three things they liked about each but avoided any such pointed solicitation of negative comments.
Once again, we go back to the predetermined thing. The Delaware DOE will never put “This sucks” as an option!
The draft regulations include “gender identity or expression” among its protected characteristics.
Among the more controversial aspects of the proposed rules are the following:
- All students enrolled in a Delaware public school would be able to self-identify gender or race. (Rule 7.4)
I watch the show Shameless. In an episode from last year, a character named Carl wanted to get a DNA test to prove he had African-American ancestry so he could get into a military academy. The white teenager couldn’t get in but the school did have openings for different minorities for 20% of their population. Even though he did not have any African-American ancestry, he did find out he was 3% Apache so he got in. Not sure where I’m going with this, but I thought it was kind of funny. In these episodes dealing with Carl’s situation, another brother named Ian is dating a transgender. The writers did a great job of conveying some of the issues transgender people go through. But I digress.
- A student would have the opportunity to participate on the sports team that is consistent with the student’s gender identity, regardless of the student’s assigned sex at birth. (6.4)
I really don’t know how to comment on this one. I have no issues with gender identity whatsoever. But calling it “assigned sex”? Is that a legal term? I don’t know.
- A student would have the opportunity to participate in the program of instruction dealing with human sexuality that is consistent with the student’s gender identity, regardless of the student’s assigned sex at birth. (3.4)
I would think this is appropriate.
- Regarding physical education programs – goals, objectives and skill development standards could not be designated on the basis of gender. (5.2)
Why does everything have to be a “standard”? What happened to the days when kids went to gym to release energy and play basketball or floor hockey?
- School districts and charter schools would be required to work with students and families on providing access to locker rooms and bathrooms that correspond to students’ “gender identity or expression.” (8.1)
What does “work with” mean? This is a good point. I’ve seen how schools are “required” to work with parents, but sometimes you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.
- Even if a student does not legally change his or her name, he or she can select a “preferred name” based on a “protected characteristic” that school officials would be obligated to use except on official records. (7.3)
I don’t mind this. My son’s name is Jacob. He likes his name. He doesn’t like to be called “Jake”. If he wanted to be called “Bob” in school, I would respect that, as long as he is consistent with it and not changing his “preferred name” every other week.
The proposed regulations direct school districts to establish antidiscrimination policies within 90 days of the rules’ implementation or the start of the next academic year, whichever is earlier. The policies would be required to contain informal and formal complaint procedures.
A procedure isn’t the same thing as reality. Just gonna throw that one out there.
“The regulations and policy contain no mention of a student’s age, so I question the wisdom of allowing very young students to make some of these decisions,” Rep. Collins said. “These proposals also seem to undercut parental authority; giving parents less say in some of these processes then I think is appropriate.”
Then and than mean two different things. Just saying. But I kind of agree with Rep. Collin’s point here. A five-year old making these decisions, without parental consent, could be a slippery slope. A thirteen-year old, who is more aware of their body and their wants… that could be a different thing.
State Reps. Collins and Briggs King say the proposed regulations are invalid, noting that “gender identity or expression” is not a legally protected classification under the Delaware Code covering public education.
Then perhaps Reps. Collins and Briggs King should write legislation which would put it as a legally protected classification.
Delaware’s Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Act of 2013 — which forbids discrimination on the basis of gender identity in housing, employment, public works contracting, public accommodations, and insurance – added new language to seven titles of the state code. However, those changes were not applied to Title 14, which covers public education.
See above.
“Neither the proposed regulation nor the model policy document, are legitimate because they are not based on any legal authority granted by the General Assembly,” Rep. Collins said.
That’s because Carney wants to circumvent the General Assembly whenever possible. He is becoming very proficient at that. But the House Republicans had a Carneypalooza in their newsletter this week with pictures of him all over the place.
Rep. Briggs King points to language in House Joint Resolution 6 – which is still pending action in the Senate – as further proof. The measure contains a provision explicitly stating that Delaware’s laws on public education do not “prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or expression.”
Carney likes to flex his gubernatorial muscle. If he wanted this so bad, he should have done his posturing on June 30th (and July 1st, July 2nd) and gotten the General Assembly to pass a simple Joint Resolution.
Rep. Collins said there has been a rapid push to implement the anti-discrimination regulations, outside the authority of law and escaping the attention of most parents and elected officials. He said the new rules would produce confusion and likely create additional disputes and lawsuits.
John is all about the rapid push. Patience is not his strong suit. The only authority he seems to recognize is his own authority.
In a recent communication to the Department of Education, Rep. Collins urged the agency to delay action to address the growing concerns about the proposals.
How much you want to bet the response will be as empty as Legislative Hall between July and early January?
I am really torn on this one. Collins offers up some valid points. The biggest is that Governor Carney once again operated under the guise of Executive Power to do whatever the hell he wants. He is the most non-transparent Governor in Delaware history. He is flaunting this power a lot lately. Much more than Jack Markell did. It does not bode well for Carney. I’m sure the DOE, Rodel, and the Delaware Business Roundtable love it though!
I dig into a great deal of education happenings. I don’t mind any rights of students being clarified. But there are some parental no-nos in the below draft of the proposed regulations. I don’t think any educational setting should determine what is best to tell a parent or NOT tell a parent. Parents have rights when it comes to their children and I can understand the concerns by some parents in feeling those rights are being stripped away. I don’t see it as a “left-wing liberal snowflake” agenda though. I see it as an overall concern I have with education policymakers who pretend they want parental engagement but operate behind the scenes and make decisions which ALL parents should know about. They should also be a part of those conversations and no back-door meetings should take place.
The reason I’m so torn on this issue is because for me it is relatively new. I’m not in schools enough and I don’t know many transgender folks. While this isn’t a brand-new issue, it has gotten the spotlight the past few years. I’m against any kind of discrimination, period. Equal rights for all. But many Republicans are against transgender folks, as well as homosexuals, because of what the Bible says. I’m sure I won’t win any friends here, but the Bible was rewritten in the Council of Nicea some 1,500 years ago. By a group of men. It wasn’t rewritten by God. And while the Bible doesn’t address gender identity or expression, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a big debate in the Council of Nicea. I’ve heard some say the Bible is “God-breathed”, meaning it is infallible. But I’ve seen one message in the Bible taken in so many different ways that it seems folks forget the basic message of the good book: love your neighbor. Be nice. Be kind. To me, that is the message I take from the Bible. Did you learn to forgive others? Do you give more than you take? Do you do your best to set an example for your children? To me, those are the important things. I believe in the Ten Commandments. I do my best to obey them. I don’t covet my neighbor’s wife. I know the couple next to me are moving out and I haven’t met my other neighbor yet. I haven’t killed anyone. And so on. I will never understand hating someone for what they are or the choices they make. If they get all the stuff I take from the Bible, I’m pretty sure their passage to Heaven (or whatever afterlife you choose to believe in) is assured.
If Delaware Republicans and Democrats want to make some real headway, how about they band together to get rid of the rot in our state government? We did a pretty good job on opt out a couple years ago. Imagine what we could do together if we REALLY got organized?
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