Parents Pull Kids From San Ramon Middle School's LGBTQ Lesson Plan
SAN RAMON (CBS SF) -- A controversial week-long lesson plan teaching tolerance at one Contra Costa County middle school isn't gaining acceptance from everyone, according to school officials.
LGBTQ Acceptance Week at San Ramon's Windemere Ranch Middle School is aimed at teaching tolerance, but the program is being met with opposition from some families.
The controversy is about curriculum that will take up 10 to 15 minutes of the students' day for four days this week. That means only about an hour will be dedicated to LGBTQ Awareness Week here.
But that is enough for over 10 percent of parents to excuse their kids from participating in the lesson.
Out of 1,250 students at Windemere Ranch, parents of 134 kids contacted the school to tell them their child won't be taking part in LGBTQ week.
"Some of them are going to go to our multi-purpose room to have study hall and the other half will be released about a half hour early," said Windemere Ranch Middle School Principal Dave Bolin
Bolin stands by his school's plan for the week and told KPIX 5 it's a continuation of character education lessons of tolerance and respect that are taught year-round.
"We're just talking this week specifically about the LGBT community because they are a group that has been treated unfairly," explained Bolin.
Some parents here believe this is a lesson that should be taught at home, not at school. More than 500 parents signed a petition and 20 went to the superintendent's office to ask that the awareness week be reduced to one day or eliminated altogether.
"We're going to boycott school all week," one parent told KPIX 5. "We'll pull our children out for the whole week and we'll deal with it that way."
"I don't think it's age appropriate," said another.
That's why Principal Bolin says the school reached a happy medium with parents and gave them the option of excusing their child if they didn't want them participating in the lesson.
In addition to the 134 students who have already notified the school that they won't be participating in LGBTQ Acceptance Week, school administrators were expecting a few dozen more to be added to that number Monday.
According to school officials, only one family chose to keep their student home from school Monday altogether.
