Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Opt-Out Policy

Roaring Fork district sought friendly press after legal threat over sex ed curriculum
Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Roaring Fork district sought friendly press after legal threat over sex ed curriculum

By Kelly Notarfrancesco | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Slides from Roaring Fork School District's "Understanding Our Bodies" 3Rs lessons, including the "Making Sense of Puberty" 4th/5th grade deck and its "A Note on Language" slide on gender identity and anatomy. (Roaring Fork Schools) Kindergarten lessons including explicit discussion of genitalia and instructing children to learn that there are “some body parts that mostly just girls have and some body parts that mostly just boys have.” Second grade lessons including graphic anatomical images of nude children and training to recognize people based on their identities. Sixth grade lessons directing kids to visit non-academic websites that invite them to take advocacy action on LGBTQ+ issues. These and o...
“They called us hateful”: Colorado parents see their story reflected in Supreme Court ruling
Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Local, Top Stories

“They called us hateful”: Colorado parents see their story reflected in Supreme Court ruling

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public schools must allow parents to opt their children out of LGBTQ+ instruction that conflicts with their religious beliefs, BJ and Brecken Jones sat quietly in their living room—stunned, relieved and vindicated. “For years, we were treated like extremists for simply protecting our kids,” BJ said. “Now the Supreme Court says we were right all along.” For this Boulder County family, Mahmoud v. Taylor wasn’t just a legal case—it was a mirror.  Reading the Court’s opinion, BJ and Brecken saw their own experience reflected almost line for line. What they didn’t expect was that their quiet effort to opt out—rejected by school officials, scorned by activists and ultimately buried in district archi...