The Wayland Union school district likely will have a discussion soon about abortion, though that issue did not appear at the Board of Education’s work session Monday night.
There was Facebook chatter about the board reviewing a proposal to approve removal of Neola Policy 2410, which prohibits teachers, staff and school officials from referring a student for an abortion or helping a student to obtain an abortion.
Kiera Hilton from the neighboring Thornapple Kellogg district posted that Proposal 3, passed by 57% of the electorate statewide in November 2022, “now allows ‘medical professionals’ to treat your children” without parental consent from ages 12 and up.
She maintained that removing Neola Policy 2410 would enable school staff and officials to help students receive abortion services without parental consent.
Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Theresa Fulk said she had heard about the possibility this matter will come before the school board soon, when the board will have to decide to either continue the Neola policy as is or have it rescinded.
Hilton exhorted local parents to “speak up… It’s time to be proactive instead of reactive. Make sure that our district knows that we will not stand for this, should TK be considering putting this policy review on the table… Make sure that our board members know well in advance that we will not consent to allowing school officials to guide our children’s medical decisions without our consent.”
The matter was not brought up at the school board’s work session, but citizen Dan Rookus spoke about a different, but perhaps not so different issue of parental rights.
Explaining that he and his wife currently have an eighth-grader, sophomore and senior in the schools, he said, “There is an English class unit for freshmen, ‘Who Am I Identity,’” that discusses gay and transgender youngsters.
“I don’t understand how this fits into English or any other core classes. I don’t see how this fits into our curriculum.”
He asked the board to look into the matter and Fulk promised she would do some investigating as a result.
In other board matters Monday evening, members informally discussed the evaluation of Supt. Tim Reeves, who has been with the district now for nearly two years. Topics included instructional leadership, handling facilities, business and finances, community relations and how to put the “union” into Wayland Union.
Why would any grammar, Jr. high, or high school have anything like “Who am I Identity” within any course let alone an English, literature and/or any other type of class?
Young minds need to be educated, not indoctrinated into areas not involved in education.
Glad my kids are grown. Difficult to be a parent these days.