Flower

Planned Parenthood is still in schools, and I’m a recovering dupe.

Shirley Moore

Shirley Moore

My name is Shirley Moore and I am a recovering dupe, a victim of deception. Are you one too? I pretended for a hopeful moment that Planned Parenthood (PP) was out of the schools when they were removed from the approved speakers’ list on February 25, 2011.

But parents ought to know they have been covertly embedded for years in the education profession through teachers’ associations, PTA and the family life curriculum. They often play the role of “curriculum guidelines” policeman to maneuver their programs into the schools. It seems to have worked three years ago when they won approval from the Knox County Schools (KCS) to present their marketing pitch to the captive KCS audience.

The fly in the school reformers’ ointment was that they tore the cover off PP by putting them on the approved speakers’ list in 2008. It must have seemed the PP brand was acceptable now as it had never been before (even to Dumb Tennesseans, as one Knoxville News Sentinel letter writer recently called us). But was it really? A fracas ensued in the school administration building when parents discovered their presence in the schools in the fall of 2010.

The questions they raised about their fitness to be there showed it still isn’t a reputable brand. (And even Planned Parenthood supporters get squeamish when their association with them is made too public. That’s why the Life Decisions International Boycott list works…given time and persistent boycott participants.)

By removing all outside groups in the area of sex education, the Superintendent has undercut any abstinence presentations. Since no outside groups are presenting overtly, there will be no apparent need to “opt out.” But “opt out” was always a toothless maneuver as Planned Parenthood’s material and worldview can be woven into as many subjects as possible throughout the school day.

A Planned Parenthood trained teacher can serve it up in subtle ways. It’s called “comprehensive sex education.” Be aware: the hidden hand of Planned Parenthood remains in the KCS schools via teacher training seminars. The Superintendent admitted as much in the WATE-TV interview after the April 6 School Board meeting. It was a “yeah but, no but, yeah but” bumbling statement, but it’s there.

But what does our School Board think? We don’t know. They fired themselves from their jobs in 2008 by signing an agreement with the Superintendent promising not to dissent in public. Odd way to go about Racing to the Top. The top of what? The heap? But what’s in that heap? A heap of parents, the community, and our local democracy, for starters. Evidently, we can’t discuss it in public and that should tell us all we need to know about the secrecy and arrogance operating in this matter.

Shirley Moore
Knoxville, Tennessee

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One Response to “Planned Parenthood is still in schools, and I’m a recovering dupe.”

  1. April 29th, 2011 at 9:03 am

    Cathleeen Gillies says:

    keep shining the light!!!

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