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Mothers Try to Meet Quietly
with Governor’s Office
Wanted
to Give Petition from Worcester County
March
15, 2001
A
small group of “mothers and grandmothers” from Worcester County
went to the Governor’s office yesterday to “quietly” deliver a
petition signed by over 600 people who are disturbed by what they
see happening in the schools in Massachusetts.
“There’s
so much media attention being given to this issue, which is warranted
because of the governor’s refusal to meet with concerned parents,
that I wanted to try once again to quietly meet with the administration,”
Judy Tetu, a grandmother from Sterling, told Massachusetts News.
“The
children are the issue here and the media attention and attacks
put everyone on the defensive so that there is no dialogue, but
just accusations hurled at one another,” she said.
But
the mothers and grandmothers were disappointed. They were scheduled
to meet with an education adviser to the Governor, Mike Sentence,
but he cancelled the visit because the snowstorm had caused a
rescheduling of meetings. Tetu is skeptical. “Maybe we will get
a meeting,” she said. But she is not optimistic.
“We're
moms and grandmothers,” she says, “and we feel it's ridiculous
we have to spend so much time researching a subject like deviant
sex and money spent making copies and traveling to Boston or Board
of Education meetings — over keeping pornography out of the
schools. Why can't we be talking about school exchange programs
to learn about kids in the suburbs and kids in the city; kids
doing Habitat for Humanity-type projects; students mentoring;
businesses working more with schools to help kids; improving academics,
how to build character and self discipline?
“There
is just too much time and energy being spent in trying to keep
children from having their minds polluted rather than helping
them keep their innocence for a
little while.”
Fistgate
Changed Everything
The ladies carried
a two-page memorandum with them for the Governor. In it they stated
that Fistgate had shocked and changed many people.
“The
Tufts University incident was a culmination of an ongoing agenda,”
they say in the memo, “whose purpose appears to be the desensitization
of our children in order to change or redirect their moral values
into beliefs held by those who think any kind of sex is okay and
that the moral values of their parents are out of touch. Words
cannot express the disbelief of parents, grandparents and citizens
of Massachusetts that our legislators could have allowed this
unacceptable indoctrination to go this far.
“Many
thought reports of sex education in our state was an exaggeration.
The conclusion is there is a huge breech of trust by our legislators
against parents and taxpayers in Massachusetts. We feel parents’
rights have been infringed by the Department of Education and
the Massachusetts courts, and we've been abandoned by the governor
and legislature who should be protecting children. We are asking
for strong leadership from the Governor's office and our legislators
regarding the unacceptability of exposing children to pornography.
Parents around the country are watching our state, very afraid
that what we promote may come to their state.
“Our
children have nowhere to run. They have been forced to listen
to offensive materials. Parents and taxpayers have trusted that
children are learning readin', writin', and 'rithmitic, but instead
their innocence is being violated by our schools. Many educators
want to teach academics, but are forced to teach philosophies
that they are opposed to, thus, failing to teach academic excellence
as their time is being spent teaching social behaviors which many
feel are not character builders, but character destroyers.”
The
ladies left a copy of the Petition which has been signed by 632
Worcester County residents.
Still
Hopeful
“I really hope the governor's
office will meet with someone from our persuasion and really listen.
It would be good to lay down the hatchet and talk about this mess.
I just don't know. At some point we need to stop the media war
and begin talking and listening.”
But
observers believe that will not happen unless the Governor’s political
operatives think they can use the women in some way to help their
cause.
Text
of Petition
The text of the Petition
follows.
*** Petition for Safe Schools***
July 4, 2000
TO: Governor
Paul Cellucci, Massachusetts Legislators
CC:
Department of Education (DOE)
The DOE has deceitfully stated it is promoting
"Safe Schools" programs for children. Parents are
increasingly opting for home schooling, charter or private schools
as this State continues the sexual victimization of Massachusetts
children. This has been an ongoing problem in government schools
and is a scandal only because our State was caught
with evidence of harmful material being taught to our children
with the goal of instructing children to act out deviant sexual
behavior. The parents who produced the audiotape of the "Teachout"
have been censored by our courts from warning other parents
about the contents.
In light of the continuing increase in physically,
emotionally and spiritually harmful matter, including, on the
evidence, illegal pornographic sexual materials being presented
to students and educators with DOE support, and with the evidence
of such in the March 25, 2000 "Teachout" with the
intended purpose that the material be implemented in the public
schools, we ask the Governor and Legislators provide a GENUINE
effort to protect our children per Chapter 272 of the Massachusetts
General Laws which states no material shall be disseminated
to minors with the intent to corrupt sexually.
*As
academics and character building in Massachusetts public schools
have taken a back seat to social engineering
*As
parents have been denied the right to know what is being taught
in schools to their children
*And
denied by our judicial system via Judge van Gestel the right
to disseminate a tape revealing the contents of a workshop attended
by children and educators teaching what most parents in this
state would consider harmful pornographic material with the
intent to corrupt children sexually, We request the following:
1. Remove the $1.5 million for homosexual programs
from the budget. Completely.
Line
items 7032-0500 ($750K) and 7052-0003 ($750K).
2. The Governors Commission on Gay and Lesbian
Youth be disbanded.
3. David Driscoll, Commissioner of Education
be fired [for incompetentcy]. Claims to have no knowledge of
what happened.
4. House Bill 2310, which strengthens the Parents
Notification Bill, must be signed into law.
5. Schools be free from offensive assemblies,
texts, presentations, lectures, etc. which teach any erotic
or sexual information
and any narcissistic, physically and emotionally harmful behaviors.
6. Abstinence Courses may be permitted which
would teach resistance to peer pressure and would avoid all
reference to erotic and sexual acts and focus only on love,
marriage and reproduction using pre-1948 school texts and language.
7. Parents MUST have the choice to be included
in any such abstinence classes. The schools should have nothing
to hide from parents who have the most vested interest in the
child and pay to support the educating of their child.
8.
Amend Massachusetts General Law Chapter 272 which protects minors
from harmful materials being disseminated to them but exempts
schools, museums &
libraries from liability for disseminating
material harmful to minors.
Tell
them what you think!
Contact
members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
E-mail
Committee Chairman Sen. Jesse Helms and Governor
Paul Cellucci;
Write or call the governor's offices:
State House, Rm. 360, Boston, MA 02133
(617) 727-6250 fax: 727-9725 TTY: 727-3666
436 Dwight St., 3rd floor, Springfield, MA 01103
(413) 784-1200 fax: 784-1202
444 N. Capitol St., Suite 400, Washington, D.C.
20001
(202) 624-7713 fax: 624-7714
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