Dozens of Carroll County parents are asking the Board of Education not to exclude two books from Family Life curriculum that they say would help children understand that their families are as valid as any other family.
Dana Parisi, who spoke at the June school board meeting, said she and her wife are concerned about the effects of this debate on their sons.
“Both my boys have expressed it in their own ways, like, ‘Is our family not as good as everybody else’s family? Do we not matter as much as those families do?’” Parisi said. “It’s one thing when it’s not part of the curriculum, it’s another thing when you’re going to have folks in charge of the curriculum and the Board of [Education] say that our family can’t be represented in the curriculum.”
Parisi said she believes by debating if the two books are age-appropriate, board members are actually inserting “adult topics into two children’s books.” The books in question, “The Family Book,” by Todd Parr, and “The Great Big Book of Families,” by Mary Hoffman, each depict different family structures, including families with same-sex parents, adopted children, single parents and stepparents, and do not include any discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Carroll County Board of Education is scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to exclude the two books from prekindergarten and kindergarten family life curriculum, as suggested by the Family Life Advisory Committee.
CCPS Parents for Honest Education, a group concerned with county education policy, called on community members to submit public comments and email board members in support of the two books in a July 5 Facebook post.
As of Monday, the Board of Education has received 50 public comments on the books. Of the comments, 47 are in favor of keeping Parr and Hoffman’s books in the curriculum, three are opposed.
The 25-member Family Life Advisory Committee is focused on editing the state’s indicators to match “community standards for age-appropriate instruction” on human sexuality, according to school board member and committee liaison Donna Sivigny. The committee voted in February 13-6-2 to disapprove “The Family Book,” and 12-6-3 to disapprove “The Great Big Book of Families.”
Sivigny was absent from the school board’s June meeting during which the board voted 3-1 to delay a final decision on whether to keep the two books in the curriculum. Board Vice President Tara Battaglia and member Patricia Dorsey supported including the books, while board member Steve Whisler voiced concerns, and board President Marsha Herbert expressed a desire to wait for Sivigny to be present before making a decision.
CCPS Parents for Honest Education supports including the books to create an “accurate portrayal of the world” in children’s education, according to group members.
“Rejecting these books is a rejection of Carroll County families, and more importantly Carroll County children, and doing so imposes an erroneous and unnecessary value system on family structure,” the group said in a written statement. “Carroll County parents must make their voices heard before it is too late.”
Amanda Jozkowski, a Carroll County school board candidate and Family Life Advisory Committee member, said she voted to approve the books because she believes both are, “absolutely age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate.” She said there’s, “nothing controversial,” in the books and to state otherwise, “is disrespectful to families who have different structures.”
If “The Family Book” and “The Great Big Book of Families” are excluded from the curriculum, the subject area will still be taught, according to Jozkowski, but two new books will instead be chosen to teach the same material.
Sara Penn was among the parents who posted a comment to the Board of Education’s website saying that the books represent diverse families in Carroll County. “My family is different,” Penn stated. “I am a single mother. It is important to teach our children that some things look different [than] others, but that doesn’t make them bad, or dangerous.”
The three community members who opposed including the books said parents, not the school system, should decide whether to educate young children on the topic of same-sex parents.
In October 2019, the Maryland State Board of Education adopted the 51-page Comprehensive Health Education Framework, which describes concepts students learn at each grade level. The framework includes guidelines for health education, including instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity taught in an age-appropriate manner to students from preschool through 12th grade. Parents can opt their children out of lessons if they’re in fourth grade or older.
School board meetings are open to the public and livestreamed on the Carroll County Public Schools YouTube channel and viewable on the right side of the Board of Education’s website at carrollk12.org/board-of-education/meeting-information, under CETV Livestream. Meetings are also broadcast throughout the month on Carroll Educational Television, Channel 21. Anyone who wishes to participate during the public participation portion of school board meetings must fill out an online sign-up form at https://www.carrollk12.org/board-of-education/meeting-information or call the communications office at 410-751-3020 by 9 p.m., on the Tuesday before a meeting.
