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HAVRE DE GRACE - Unions representing Harford County Public Schools teachers and staff have pushed back on some comments made by Board of Education member Diane Alvarez during a March 23 town hall meeting.
Alvarez attended an “Exposing Gender Ideology” town hall event in Carroll County on March 23. The event was hosted by Moms for Liberty, a conservative political advocacy group focusing on parental rights in schools.
During the event, Alvarez asked Kathleen Goonan, director of parent advocacy at Genspect, a question about how to push back against parents who support children discussing their pronouns in public schools.
“I’ve been getting out to the schools. I was in an elementary school recently, and the children were wearing their pronouns,” Alvarez said. “The principal stated that their parents had encouraged it. As a board member where we have parents that are coming in and saying, ‘My child is a they, and they haven’t decided yet, so we want you to refer to them as they,’ how do we fight?”
Goonan told Alvarez that parents who do not want their children learning about gender ideology and pronouns should push back, making their voices heard at town hall meetings.
“My request is different,” Goonan replied. “they are obviously a boy or a girl, and I don’t want them asked to wear a button that says their pronouns. You’re going to play a dual game for a while. I’ve been going to the school board meetings in Harford County. When the bulk of the parents talking about this topic were advocating for social transition, they were thanking the school for transitioning their kids. So, we are going to have to bring the presence forward of those who didn’t agree and ask them to meet our needs as well.”
Unions and advocacy groups, including The Association of Public School Administrators and Supervisors, the Association of Harford County Administrative, Technical and Supervisory Professionals, and the Harford County Education Association, took issue with Alvarez’s comments, and sent a letter to the Board Member, calling her remarks “exclusive.”
“The mission of Harford County Public Schools is each student will attain academic and personal success in a safe and caring environment that honors the diversity of our students and staff,” the letter reads. “Unfortunately, it has come to our attention that you have made several comments that are inappropriate, inaccurate, and most disturbingly, exclusive.”
“Bottom line, your conduct is making others feel unwelcomed and undervalued, which is contrary to Harford County Public Schools’ mission. As an elected system leader, it is an expectation that you represent ALL students. You must vacate your personal views to examine information and situations from a variety of perspectives,” the letter continued.
The letter also rebukes comments made by Alvarez indicating that she wants to “flip” the Board of Education to make it more conservative.
In a follow-up email sent on April 1, the Unions said that Alvarez did not respond to their request for a meeting to discuss these topics. The letter also refers to alleged comments made by Alvarez during Harford County Public School’s Equity tour.
“Equity tour participants shared the various inappropriate comments you made based on skin color and appearance,” the letter states.
Alvarez participated in an equity tour earlier this year. During the tours, administrators and school board members visited schools and observed classes in session. The tours are intended to inform officials about how HCPS creates an inclusive environment for all students.
Alvarez responded to the letter in a statement provided to the Baltimore Sun through an HCPS spokesperson, saying, “I believe HCPS should adopt a policy on pronoun usage.”
Another statement was issued on behalf of the school system: “The administration has looked into the information Ms. Alvarez shared about a student wearing a pronoun,” the statement reads. “We are unable to confirm that any school has engaged in an activity requiring students to wear pronouns. Our schools do have a long-standing practice during National Reading Week where students may choose a favorite word to wear on a “Wear your Word” day; the words selected are typically vocabulary words recently learned or a word that is special to that student.”
So Harford County education Association says Ms. Alvarez "must vacate your personal views to examine information and situations from a variety of perspectives" and calls her remarks "exclusive". 1) The Association should take its own advice and examine information and situations from a variety of perspectives, including and especially from a biological and logical stand point. 2) Yes. They are exclusive. They exclude those who choose warped feelings and brain worm over science and logic. 3) Men can't get pregnant.
Creating confusion with pronouns and gender questioning in elementary schools runs against the irrefutable truth of biology and to subject children to this is not well intentioned or beneficial to children.
Sounds like the teachers union is who is being exclusive.
We live in district F and I research all candidates before voting. I noticed that Mrs. Alvarez was a graduate of Liberty University- a very conservative Christianist institution. I wrote to her and asked about her views on gender issues, book banning etc. She did not reply.There was no publicly available information available about her views in these and other areas of concern
Out of an abundance of caution, I did not vote for her. Gender equality , tolerance, honest history and availability of uncensored literature are very important to us and many of our neighbors in HavredeGrace . Beware when you vote. There are a number of groups who are encouraging these candidates to run for grass roots positions. Those who interview and publish candidate responses need to ask the hard questions so that we can knowledgeably vote. Candidates should also publish their honest views before elections.We do not need stealth candidates.
Patricia White you could have looked at Diane Alvarez's LinkedIn profile and see her personal educational accomplishments are exceptional and she had a 21 year career with US Army, Test & Evaluation Command.
Why did you not do that?
Widener University
Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Electrical, Electronics and Communications EngineeringBachelor of Science (B.S.), Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering
1983 - 1987
Liberty UniversityLiberty University
Master of Arts (MA), Counseling crisis and traumaMaster of Arts (MA), Counseling crisis and trauma
2013 - 2018
Terry, her LinkedIn profile is not information about her views on gender issues, book banning, etc. as Patricia discussed in her comment.
Sarah how do you reconcile Patricia saying " I noticed that Mrs. Alvarez was a graduate of Liberty University- a very conservative Christianist institution" and her leaving out Diane Alvarez's Widener University Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Electrical, Electronics and Communications EngineeringBachelor of Science (B.S.), Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering and 21 year career with US Army, Test & Evaluation Command?
Why would Patricia say that do you think?
Ask her. I'm sure she can speak for herself.
Sarah you seem quite capable and confident supporting Patricia when you said this - "Terry, her LinkedIn profile is not information about her views on gender issues, book banning, etc. as Patricia discussed in her comment."
Why not now what happened?
Your first question was in regards to something she had already stated in her comments. Your second question was about something she had not. Like I said, ask her.
Sarah why wold you think Patricia needs an invitation from you, me or anyone.
You on the other hand can't collect sufficient courage and opine.
No one said anywhere that she needed an invitation to do anything. You are welcome to have an honest and civil conversation at any time.
Sarah your condescension notwithstanding you are not here to have a conversation are you?
Most people in particular conservative minded ones do not want the promotion of pronoun gender questioning in elementary schools in Harford County or anywhere else for that matter.
You have any thoughts on that?
Yes. I saw all that and it is a commendable resume. But nothing in that information indicated her stance/ beliefs regarding current issues that are being brought forth at the Board of Education level. Especially the editing of history books, Gender issues that affect our students and the removal of books and media from Libraries.Omission of important information is a type of dishonesty.
Mrs. Alvarez's dishonest account of children wearing pronoun tags on their person plays perfectly into the dishonesty and harassment from members of MFL that is well documented. Its founders, Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich, have made numerous false claims just as Mrs. Alvarez is now doing. MFL has deep ties to anti-LGBTQ groups, high ranking officials, and anti-LGBTQ activist such as Kelly Neidert and they are actively seeking book bans, classroom censorship, and bans on teaching about slavery, race, racism, and LGBT people and history across the country.
Sarah you do not know about the utilisation and promotion of pronoun gender questioning in elementary schools in Harford County do you?
Provide proof of Mrs. Alvarez's claim that students were made to wear pronoun tags or move on. Not interested in trolling behavior from you that only confirms what I said about the harassment from MFL and those who support it.
Sarah you and Patricia and the others casting aspersions need proof of what is happening in Harford County elementary schools with pronouns and gender questioning don't you think?
Not really. Every person should have the freedom to refer to themselves with their pronoun of choice. I see zero reason to curtail that freedom of speech . There are much more significant issues that will further erode the quality of education in our public schools. Pronoun usage is the tip of an intolerant iceberg which will effect all of our children no matter what personal beliefs they hold dear.I am not asking that anyone forgo their personal beliefs . In return, I only ask that my beliefs and my children’s, will also be respected.
Diane Alvarez ran as a conservative pro-family candidate, people voted for her and she won.
Did you attend any of Diane Alvarez's campaign events where she explained her views or read her blog articles?
Patricia what omissions are you talking about?
Patricia you say "Every person should have the freedom to refer to themselves with their pronoun of choice. I see zero reason to curtail that freedom of speech."
Don't think anyone is curtailing you from calling yourself anything you want.
People are thoughtfully objecting to elementary children being asked what their pronouns and gender identity are.
I would appreciate any links you might have to pre election information sources that revealed Mrs. Alvares’s beliefs regarding LBGTQ equality,
Gender issues, removal of books from libraries, removing true information from history texts ect . Secondly, I would like to see proof that elementary school students are being asked to use gender pronouns
in HCPS.If you can direct me to any of the above information, I would be happy to have a tolerant and civil conversation.
If you are reading this and you are transgender, please know that there are many people here who love and accept you. You deserve to be respected for who you are and to live with dignity. You are not alone.
Jason are you surveying elementary school children on pronouns and gender questioning?
Are you getting paid to troll the internet? How much time exactly have you spent harassing people in this comment section?
Jason did you see the "Moms For Liberty" leader in PA that what arrested for harassment? She admitted to stealing her dead friend's laptop and was allegedly using her Facebook profile to viciously attack people online.
Yes that women is if these credible charges are true of her should be criminally punished.
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/04/anti-lgbtq-activist-allegedly-stole…
Ya, there is a growing list of incidents involving harassment from that group. The head of communications of the Lonoke County, Arkansas, chapter threatened gun violence against librarians. The chapter chair of the Livingston County, Michigan, chapter allegedly led a harassment campaign against a community advocate and was issued a restraining order. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, Moms for Liberty members harassed an opposing group and threatened to report them for child abuse and called them “pedophile sympathizers". A Moms for Liberty-affiliated school board member in Charleston, South Carolina, said he would show up at an educator’s doorstep with a gun if his child’s teacher came out as transgender. It is important that we continue to stand up to their bullying and hate.
Jason if you don't like or agree with people do you resort to calling them a troll instead of debating their ideas and your ideas?
You mean the way you told Sarah she needed to "get courage" when you didn't like what she said? As in effectively calling her a coward? Is that the type of behavior you are talking about? Careful, Terry. Your hypocrisy is showing.
Jason you mean this?
"You on the other hand can't collect sufficient courage and opine."
Yes, I can see where that is over-the-top.😱
Like when you told me "You on the other hand can't collect sufficient courage and opine" when I said something you didn't like?
Yes Sarah that was accurate and sorry you don't like it.
Jason, she doesn't even see when she has been called out for who she is, does she?
No, she is blind to her own hate, hypocrisy, and only interested in "winning", even though she lost a long time ago. Kind of sad, really. Been a pleasure chatting with you, though. Have a great weekend!
Sarah the Unions and advocacy groups are putting out their political narrative on this and you accept it as the truth.
I do hope the Unions and advocacy groups are right that Diane Alvarez wants to get more conservatives elected to school boards here and around the country.