Public education has quietly broadened its scope from the three “Rs” — reading, writing, and arithmetic — to educating the “whole child.” While children stayed home and stared at computer screens during the COVID-19 pandemic, parents across the country heard teachers discuss issues with their children far outside of traditional academic boundaries. Gender and sexual identity, for example, have become ubiquitous topics for consideration and affirmation in school curricula and surveys.
Since March 2020, when so many students were forced into online public education, Panorama Education, Inc. — a government-contracted surveying company — nearly doubled in size. An estimated 25% of American students reside in school districts that Panorama serves. Its surveys include intrusive questions collecting students’ views on a variety of issues — including race, sexual orientation, and gender identity. For example, one question is: “How often do you think about what someone of a different race, ethnicity, or culture experiences?” — a question far outside of student safety or academic relevance.
Panorama claims that data from these surveys help administrators “understand the factors that foster safe, social, and positive learning environments at school.” The company prides itself in its ability to “help you see the whole child.” Aside from the personal nature of the questions in the survey, the “you” in this quote is disconcerting. What else is Panorama doing with the survey data from our children? Most parents do not want their school districts or data purchasing companies to see their “whole child.”
As part of its 5-year, $2.4 million contract with Panorama, Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia agreed to send the company “FCPS Confidential Student Records” and “non-directory information” for its 180,000+ public school students. Twice during an academic year, Fairfax County students who are not opted out by their parents are essentially lab rats for these “social emotional learning” surveys, which a Fairfax County mother of two refers to as “the white privilege quiz.” At a time when pass rates of standardized tests in the county have dropped 12 percent, and children are suffering significant mental health crises — arguably at least in part from prolonged school closures — Fairfax County School Board members used the federal government’s emergency COVID relief funds to subsidize these intrusive and politicized surveys. Sadly, they are not alone in that venture.
In California, the Sexual Behavior Module survey asks public high school students how old they were when they first had intercourse, with how many people they’ve had intercourse, and how likely it is that they’ll have intercourse in the next year.
A high school teacher in Massachusetts surveyed students on their sexual temperaments, asking specific questions about arousal.
A high school teacher in Michigan asked students if their parents voted in elections, and if so, for which political party.
In the 2021 Fairfax County (Virginia) Youth Survey, public school students as young as 12 were asked questions about sexual experiences, including: “Have you ever had sexual intercourse? How old were you when you had sexual intercourse for the first time? During your life, with how many people have you had sexual intercourse? During the past three months, with how many people have you had sexual intercourse? Have you ever had oral sex?”
In the first days of the 2022-2023 academic year, Irving Middle School in Fairfax County implemented two different surveys requesting students’ gender identities and pronoun preferences — and there was no ability for parents to opt their kids out of these surveys. Before school started, teachers and administrators in Fairfax County were required to take a “gender expansive” training — which stipulated that they were not allowed to share gender identity information with a student’s parents. Basically, public school administrators and teachers are collecting information from children, potentially against the parents’ will, that they subsequently intend to keep from the parents.
Public school encroachment on parental rights is a snowball rolling downhill and needs to be stopped. The federal Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment gives parents the right to see and opt out of curricula and intrusive surveys. Parents need to be vigilant to make this law effective in protecting children’s privacy and parental rights. Because that is not always the case, the federal government at the very least should help protect children from companies like Panorama and borderline predatory school districts by legislating that surveys and divisive content need to be “opt-in” material rather than “opt-out.”
Stephanie Lundquist-Arora is a mother to children in public schools, author, and member of the Independent Women’s Network.