Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBS Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much. Al As we move into the
Speaker 2: nine o'clock hour, there was a really interesting story in
Speaker 2: the Boston Globe today, written by James Vazness of the
Speaker 2: Globe's staff. You can find it if you have your
Speaker 2: globe on B one of the Globe, which is the
Speaker 2: first page of the Metro section. And before we get
Speaker 2: to a guest who we have lined up and some
Speaker 2: phone calls, I want to set this up because I
Speaker 2: think it's a I think the story is bizarre. You
Speaker 2: may agree or disagree with me, whatever your feelings, you're
Speaker 2: more than welcome. The headline of the story is Burlington
Speaker 2: parents express outrage over detailed sex questions in middle school
Speaker 2: health survey. Fair enough, Burlington parents express outrage. It's the
Speaker 2: Globe headline over detailed sex questions in middle school health survey.
Speaker 2: So this is a survey that is close to one
Speaker 2: hundred page, one hundred questions long, okay, and a lot
Speaker 2: of it is interesting in terms of, you know, questions
Speaker 2: that you might expect. The first question is what grade
Speaker 2: are you in now? Sixth, seventh or eighth. These are
Speaker 2: middle school students sixth, seventh or eighth. You cannot find
Speaker 2: this survey on the Burlington School Department, at least I'm
Speaker 2: told by my producer it was taken down. Okay. The
Speaker 2: introduction says, Student Characteristics twenty twenty five Burlington Middle School Survey.
Speaker 2: I want to what I kind of figure out is
Speaker 2: who made these questions up? Okay? The next questions ask
Speaker 2: you about background. The information being collected is used to
Speaker 2: describe the types of students taking the survey. Information will
Speaker 2: not be collected to find out your name or identify
Speaker 2: individual students. Again. Question one, what grade are you in now?
Speaker 2: Sixth seventh or eighth? I think that means when you're
Speaker 2: in the sixth, seventh and eighth grade, you're probably like ten, eleven, twelve,
Speaker 2: maybe maybe thirteen years old. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 2: They ask how old are you? Ten years or younger? Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen,
Speaker 2: or fifteen. If you're in the eighth grade and you're
Speaker 2: fifteen years old, that means you're not going to be
Speaker 2: graduating from high school until you're at least nineteen anyway,
Speaker 2: so they describe the question three is about The next
Speaker 2: question ask about your gender identity. This is a very
Speaker 2: important question for kids who are in the sixth, seventh
Speaker 2: and eighth grade. Gender identities is how you see yourself.
Speaker 2: You can see yourself as male, female, a mixer, both,
Speaker 2: or neither. It can be the same or different from
Speaker 2: the sex you were assigned at birth. Here are some
Speaker 2: helpful terms. Cis gender describes a personal feels that gender
Speaker 2: identity matches the sex that a doctor assigned to them
Speaker 2: at birth. If you're in the sixth grade, you think
Speaker 2: you understand that, I don't know. Trenchgender describes a person
Speaker 2: who feels their gender identity is different from the sex
Speaker 2: that a doctor assigned them at birth. Non Binary describes
Speaker 2: people whose gender doesn't fit into just male or female.
Speaker 2: Gender queer describes people whose gender does and that's traditional roles.
Speaker 2: Many gender queer people use pronouns like they or them Again,
Speaker 2: I understand it. You probably understand that. Remember, the people
Speaker 2: who are filling out this form are six seventh and
Speaker 2: eighth graders. I don't know if this was run by parents,
Speaker 2: So they ask which of the following terms best described
Speaker 2: You're current your current important adjective gender identity, because there
Speaker 2: it could be one some one today and a different
Speaker 2: one tomorrow. We understand that there are many different ways
Speaker 2: you may identify. Please click the pick the one that
Speaker 2: best describes you. Here are the choices, sisgender girl or woman. Again,
Speaker 2: these are sixth, seventh and eighth graders. I don't know
Speaker 2: too many women who are in the sixth seventh or
Speaker 2: eighth grade sis gender boy or man. I don't know
Speaker 2: how many men are in the sixth seventh and eighth grade.
Speaker 2: Transgender girl or woman, transgender boy or girl, non binary
Speaker 2: or gender queer. There's another category questioning. Then there's a
Speaker 2: separate category. I don't know what this question means. If
Speaker 2: I was in the sixth or seventh and eighth grade,
Speaker 2: I certainly would have known what it meant. And then
Speaker 2: I prefer not to answer. So then they break it down,
Speaker 2: what sex well you assigned at birth? Now we've we've
Speaker 2: switched from gender to sex, which is going to confuse
Speaker 2: a lot of kids. But that's okay. What sex we
Speaker 2: aside that birth on your original birth certificate? Male? Female?
Speaker 2: I prefer not to answer. Which of the following best
Speaker 2: describes your sexual orientation. Now we're getting into this, okay.
Speaker 2: We understand that there are many different ways you may
Speaker 2: identify please pick the one that best describes you. Straight
Speaker 2: or heterosexual, lesbian or gay, asexual, bisexual, pan sexual, queer, questioning,
Speaker 2: I don't know what this question means. I prefer not
Speaker 2: to answer. Then they ask the kids about their race.
Speaker 2: What language do you speak at home? And the next
Speaker 2: question is there at least one teacher or adult in
Speaker 2: your school that you can talk to if you have
Speaker 2: a problem. Okay, then I'm not going to get to everything,
Speaker 2: but I do want to get to sexual behaviors. This
Speaker 2: is question eighty one. They ask about your drug use.
Speaker 2: What do you use? I mean, you know, kids in
Speaker 2: the sixth, seventh and eighth grade call me naive, but
Speaker 2: you know, I'm assuming kids in the sixth, seventh and
Speaker 2: eighth grade, for the most part don't use drugs. Some
Speaker 2: probably do that you probably can figure that out if
Speaker 2: you're a smart teacher. Sexual behaviors this is this gets
Speaker 2: a little uncomfortable. So if it makes you uncomfortable, think
Speaker 2: about what it does to a sixth seventh or eighth grader.
Speaker 2: The next question asked about sexual behaviors, and we're going
Speaker 2: to get to my guests right away after these two questions.
Speaker 2: Question eighty one, have you ever had sexual contact with
Speaker 2: another person. Sexual contact includes things such as kissing, touching,
Speaker 2: and sexual intercourse. Pretty straightforward, Yes, no, I'm not sure, okay.
Speaker 2: Question eighty two hours We're getting real, real, real, getting
Speaker 2: deep here. Have you ever had sexual intercourse? They got
Speaker 2: to explain what sexual intercourse is to these sixth, seventh,
Speaker 2: and eighth graders. Why don't they give them, you know,
Speaker 2: a good course on you know, sex education. Sexual intercourse
Speaker 2: includes vaginal sex, which is when a penis goes inside
Speaker 2: of vagina, of vagina, oral sex, when there is contact
Speaker 2: between the mouth and genitals. Anal sex, which is when
Speaker 2: a penis goes inside in anus parentheses, but in use
Speaker 2: of toys of props, vaginal or anal? Yes or no?
Speaker 2: Question eighty three how old were you when you had
Speaker 2: sexual in course for the first time? Eight years? Are younger?
Speaker 2: Nine years, ten years, eleven years, twelve years, thirteen year older?
Speaker 2: I mean most kids are going to say, well, I
Speaker 2: gotta put down I got to answer this question somewhay here.
Speaker 2: There's no option to say, well, I've never had sexual intercourse.
Speaker 2: Question eighty four, The last time you had sexual in
Speaker 2: course did you use a condom? Eighty five question, have
Speaker 2: you ever sent or received sexual messages or nude or
Speaker 2: semi nude pictures of videos electronically by phone, computer, tablet,
Speaker 2: or other device. This is why the town of Burlington
Speaker 2: is upset and with us. Is Mike King, President of
Speaker 2: the Massachusetts Family in stude. Mike, I kind of imagine
Speaker 2: why anyone would be upset with the kids being given
Speaker 2: this this survey. Was this cleared with parents ahead of time? Mike?
Speaker 3: He did?
Speaker 4: Yeah, thanks for so much. This is outrageous. I'm glad
Speaker 4: you took the times to reference those so I didn't
Speaker 4: have to reference them myself.
Speaker 2: Sure, I took that. I took that burden off your shoulders. Wow, yeah,
Speaker 2: we're parents notify this. Did kids have a chance to
Speaker 2: opt out of this or did parents have a chance
Speaker 2: to opt their kids?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I mean so, they absolutely an oportunity to opt out,
Speaker 4: and many of them did opt out. And one of
Speaker 4: the most outrageous things about this story is that parents
Speaker 4: opted their kids out of this survey and it was
Speaker 4: still given to their kids. So there have been compelled
Speaker 4: hold on, I.
Speaker 2: Want to make sure I understood this. So they sent
Speaker 2: it home to the parents for the parents to read
Speaker 2: and gave the parents an opportune you need to opt
Speaker 2: out on behalf of their their sixth, seventh, and eighth graders.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so it's not my understanding that the actual survey
Speaker 4: went home, but it did go through one of the
Speaker 4: apps that the school provides saying that there was going
Speaker 4: to be this this youth survey, right, and I can
Speaker 4: and you can imagine that parents are getting inundated with
Speaker 4: messages right about what's going on at school, and so
Speaker 4: many parents missed the uh, you know, the heads up
Speaker 4: about the survey. But there were parents that did see
Speaker 4: it and opted their kids out. So that's why our
Speaker 4: Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center, which is a part of MFI,
Speaker 4: filed complaints because there's federal law that says that you
Speaker 4: cannot do this. You cannot give a survey where a
Speaker 4: kid a parent has already opted out. So formal complaints
Speaker 4: have been made. And if there's more brilliant comparents that
Speaker 4: are listening to you tonight, I encourage them to look
Speaker 4: up the Massachusetts Liberty Center on theline. We'd be happy
Speaker 4: to make more complaints on your behalf.
Speaker 2: So just so I understand, I'm kind of old fashioned.
Speaker 2: So in the old days when something of some controversy
Speaker 2: was going on, oh, like a field trip to an
Speaker 2: apple orchard in like October. You would come bring home
Speaker 2: a note from the teacher and the parent would have
Speaker 2: to sign the note to give you permission to go
Speaker 2: on the trip to the apple orchard. And of course
Speaker 2: every kid wanted to go on the trip, because that
Speaker 2: way you'd have to sit in class all day and
Speaker 2: be bored. You could be in an apple organ in
Speaker 2: a beautiful day in October, and the worst thing you
Speaker 2: could happen to you there is maybe some bee might
Speaker 2: give you a little sting on the arm or something,
Speaker 2: if it's one of those days where the bees were active.
Speaker 2: But parents got a note at home, they read it
Speaker 2: and they sent it back. So the Burlington school didn't
Speaker 2: do that. They just sent it out as an app.
Speaker 2: Like parents, double income, double working parents have enough time
Speaker 2: to go home and say, sweetheart, we're going to check
Speaker 2: this see if there's any apps about whether our kids
Speaker 2: is using sex toys. So let's let's look at the apps.
Speaker 5: Really yeah, I mean, parents have what's called a parent
Speaker 5: square app, right, I mean one parent said that they
Speaker 5: had received twenty five notifications in one day.
Speaker 4: Regarding what was going on at school. So you can imagine,
Speaker 4: you know, this one thing that goes out on this
Speaker 4: survey and again it talks about this, you know, youth survey,
Speaker 4: so you don't really have this idea that it's talking
Speaker 4: about sex or your gender identity or your sexu orientation.
Speaker 4: And so blindsided so many parents, and that's why they're
Speaker 4: so upset. Not just they were blindsided, but then especially
Speaker 4: those that opt out, and then you know, they were
Speaker 4: almost forced their kids were still forced to take this survey.
Speaker 4: So it's incredibly you know, parents are outraged, as they
Speaker 4: should be. But I want your listeners to know that
Speaker 4: this isn't just in Burlington where this is happening. This
Speaker 4: is happening. We know the same survey as being given
Speaker 4: in Wilmington, one town over, and then towns and cities
Speaker 4: across Massachusetts are having surveys like that.
Speaker 2: And I assume that, and Mike, I got to take
Speaker 2: a commercial break here, but I just want to ask
Speaker 2: one question. I'm assuming that there's some company out there
Speaker 2: who has some prurient interest in finding out what kids
Speaker 2: the ages of ten, eleven, and twelve know and do,
Speaker 2: and they're.
Speaker 4: Being big bucks.
Speaker 2: No what I'm saying, there's some group out there that
Speaker 2: has been figured this out and they're being paid big
Speaker 2: bucks to produce these surveys. Boy, this is in my opinion,
Speaker 2: call me old fashioned, but this is really outrageous. I mean,
Speaker 2: my wait, do they what do they do next? Do
Speaker 2: they have the kids maybe take the next survey? And
Speaker 2: what they could do is uh and show the kids
Speaker 2: pictures of sex organs to make sure that the kids
Speaker 2: are accurately described. I mean, this is insane. Mike. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna give out our phone number. We have some callers
Speaker 2: in the line. I want you to stay right there.
Speaker 2: We'll handle the callers. The only line that is open
Speaker 2: right now is six one seven, nine, three one ten thirty.
Speaker 2: So the regular line, which is six, we have two lines.
Speaker 2: The line that most people default to six one, seven, two,
Speaker 2: five four ten thirty is filled and those lines will
Speaker 2: clear as we deal with some of the callers. We're
Speaker 2: going to talk with Jamie, Adrian and Hilda in a moment.
Speaker 2: If you would like to get in, we'll talk about
Speaker 2: this until ten o'clock, and to be honest with you,
Speaker 2: I'm prepared to do longer than that if we have to. Uh,
Speaker 2: the other line is six one seven, nine, three, one,
Speaker 2: ten thirty. Back on Night's Side with my guest Mike King.
Speaker 2: Mike King, who is the president of the Massachusetts Family Institute.
Speaker 2: And wow, this this is way over the top. I
Speaker 2: mean I can be critical of things, but this if
Speaker 2: that was if this was given to my sound or
Speaker 2: daughter when they were ten years old, there would be
Speaker 2: they would be I would be in some administrator's office
Speaker 2: the next morning. I guarantee you that we'll be back
Speaker 2: on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1: You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on w b Z,
Speaker 1: Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: We're talking about a Burlington, Massachusetts, middle school student survey.
Speaker 2: And uh, if you read the global article, congratulations to
Speaker 2: the Boston Globe for putting this story in a prominent spot,
Speaker 2: page B one, which is the metro section. Burlington parents
Speaker 2: express OUTRAGEO of a detailed sex questions in middle school survey.
Speaker 2: And the reporter on the story and the editor, the reporter,
Speaker 2: James Vaznis. I hope I'm pronounced James's name correctly. We
Speaker 2: invited him to join us. He was unable to join
Speaker 2: this time, but would the letter to be joined by
Speaker 2: Mike King, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute. Let's get
Speaker 2: to phone calls. Mike, I suspect most people are going
Speaker 2: to be on your side. Let's let's get it going.
Speaker 2: Let me go to Jamie in Burlington. Jamie, I appreciate
Speaker 2: your calling in. Are you a parent in the Burlington
Speaker 2: school system?
Speaker 6: Yes? I am a parent in the Burlington school system,
Speaker 6: and I actively came out to speak at the school
Speaker 6: committee meeting because I'm not sure that a lot of
Speaker 6: parents are aware of this type of survey, and that
Speaker 6: Mike is correct. There are ten districts and the questions
Speaker 6: come from the john Snow Ink, which, from my understanding
Speaker 6: was each town with a grant with Lahy, but each
Speaker 6: town paid the john Snow Inc. A total of seven
Speaker 6: thousand dollars for this survey.
Speaker 2: So you mentioned that name of a hold on, Jamie,
Speaker 2: hold on for a second. You've mentioned the name of
Speaker 2: a company called something john snow Ink. Where is that
Speaker 2: a Massachusetts company? If you know, and if you don't.
Speaker 6: That's I don't think it's a Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: We can we can let that go.
Speaker 6: It was based off the and then the john Snow Inc.
Speaker 2: We can let we can let that go. Jamie. I'm
Speaker 2: much more interested in your reaction when you found out,
Speaker 2: did you have you have a son or a daughter
Speaker 2: in the sixth seventh or eighth grade? Right?
Speaker 6: I have no. I actually have a daughter who's a
Speaker 6: junior at the high school, and I thought that even
Speaker 6: that content at her age was an outrageous over overreach.
Speaker 2: Was this survey given to Is this survey given to
Speaker 2: high school students as well? I'm confused. I thought it
Speaker 2: was just a middle school.
Speaker 6: Yes, it was given through gades middle schools. It was
Speaker 6: grades through twelve.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, the one that that I was that we
Speaker 2: have a copy of, and I can't tell you where
Speaker 2: we got the copy, but the one that we that
Speaker 2: we have a copy of, it says the twenty twenty
Speaker 2: five Burlington Middle School Survey, and it says what grade
Speaker 2: are you in? Now, that's why I asked. I read
Speaker 2: the first question six seventh or eighth? So what I've
Speaker 2: read was what was given a sixth seventh and eighth graders?
Speaker 2: Whether or not there was a second Burlington High School
Speaker 2: survey which was identical or not, we don't know what
Speaker 2: is the school? So there was a school committee, meaning
Speaker 2: you said, when was that.
Speaker 6: There was one on April first, and there was also
Speaker 6: second one on April eighth.
Speaker 2: Okay, what are the school committee members saying? Are they
Speaker 2: concerned about this? Are they telling you, oh, please, don't
Speaker 2: don't worry about this is fine? What's their position?
Speaker 6: Zero transparency? We've gotten kind of zero transparency in many
Speaker 6: of the questions for the parents that came out and
Speaker 6: spoke and wanted answers, they were not transparent at all.
Speaker 2: Well, the only thing I could say, the only thing
Speaker 2: I could say to you, Jamie, and I got to
Speaker 2: jump off here because we have a bunch of callers,
Speaker 2: I would hope that if you and other parents feel
Speaker 2: you're not being well served by your school committee, this
Speaker 2: is an abject lesson that government affects you most impactfully
Speaker 2: at the closest level. You can vote for president, you
Speaker 2: can vote for governor, and you can vote for senator.
Speaker 2: But it's the school committee and the town city council
Speaker 2: or the board of aldermen. And I hope that if
Speaker 2: there's enough of you who are upset not only with
Speaker 2: the survey, but what the response of the school committee,
Speaker 2: get out and run for office and get your friends
Speaker 2: to run for office and take over the school committee.
Speaker 6: Yeah, no, we definitely, we definitely do need to and
Speaker 6: we paid a superintendent three hundred thousand dollars a year
Speaker 6: who actually stated at the meeting he did not vet
Speaker 6: the questions before he released them to the children in
Speaker 6: the district. Well, I jall salery, and he didn't vet
Speaker 6: the question I.
Speaker 2: Would argue that's educational malpractice. But that's for the voters
Speaker 2: of Burlington to decide, because it's the school committee I
Speaker 2: assume who hires the school superintendent. Jamie, thank you for
Speaker 2: having the courage and the guts to call this show.
Speaker 6: Exactly, and sadly this is not the first incident.
Speaker 2: All the more reason because if they get away with
Speaker 2: something as outrageous as this once and it's sort of
Speaker 2: like once you know, fool me once, do it again
Speaker 2: and something has to you got to get involved. Dear Jamie,
Speaker 2: I again, keep us posted. Okay, thank you so much.
Speaker 6: We appreciate you taking us and taking the serious and
Speaker 6: giving us some time to talk about it.
Speaker 2: You bet you're more than welcome. Thank you for calling.
Speaker 2: We'll continue our conversation. The only line that has opened
Speaker 2: a six month, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty. Uh,
Speaker 2: my guest on the line with us. We're going to
Speaker 2: be taking calls, is Mike King. Mike, I know you
Speaker 2: didn't get a chance to respond to Jamie's call, but
Speaker 2: I suspect that more than a few parents who feel
Speaker 2: that way in Burlington.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 4: No, I'm excited to hear from more parents that are
Speaker 4: calling in today. And I just hope that all your
Speaker 4: listeners listening tonight and take this as you know, like
Speaker 4: you said, encouragement that the only way we're really going
Speaker 4: to make change is that people end up running for
Speaker 4: school committee. You know, look this, I don't know if
Speaker 4: you saw that Sutton story last year where a drag
Speaker 4: queen showed up at the Sutton High School. It outraged
Speaker 4: parents and Sutton, and within six months they flipped their
Speaker 4: school board, they got rid of their superintendent, and now
Speaker 4: they're going to start passing policy at the local level
Speaker 4: that's going to help. So this is exactly what needs
Speaker 4: to happen.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean again, what people I always say to
Speaker 2: friends of mine, you voted in a presidential election. You
Speaker 2: in about one hundred and seventy or so million other
Speaker 2: Americans voted in a presidential election. So the value of
Speaker 2: your vote in Massachusetts pretty much you know, how presidential
Speaker 2: election may go. You vote a governor's race, and there's
Speaker 2: probably three three and a half maybe four million people
Speaker 2: voted a governor's race. But when you talk about a
Speaker 2: local school committee race, I mean twenty five people can
Speaker 2: get involved and you can flip a school committee set
Speaker 2: pretty easily in most towns in Massachusetts.
Speaker 4: Certain yeah, yeah, I know there was a school committee
Speaker 4: race andover that was just decided by twelve votes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and again whatever, whatever the issue is, you
Speaker 2: got to get involved because this impacts you most directly.
Speaker 2: The impact of government. The government that is closer to
Speaker 2: you has a greater impact on you, and more importantly,
Speaker 2: your family will take a break, a newsbreak. Michael wanted
Speaker 2: you to stay with us. We'll get more phone calls.
Speaker 2: The only line that is opened six one, seven, two, five, four,
Speaker 2: ten thirty. And by the way, I know we'll hear
Speaker 2: from some Burlington parents. We have others lined up here.
Speaker 2: But if you want to chime in on this issue,
Speaker 2: and if you want to tell me you think that
Speaker 2: these questions for sixth and seventh and eighth graders is perfect,
Speaker 2: feel free. I always look for all points of view
Speaker 2: on this program. I may disagree with you, and we
Speaker 2: may hit you with it pretty hard, but feel free
Speaker 2: to join the conversation. All points of view are respected.
Speaker 2: I'm just be prepared for some questions. That's all back
Speaker 2: from Nightside.
Speaker 1: After this, It's night Side with Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2: We're talking about a Burlington Middle school survey of kids
Speaker 2: in the sixth, seventh and eighth grade, which I think
Speaker 2: is way over the top. Adrian is in Burlington. Adrian,
Speaker 2: appreciate you. Call you Next on Nightside, Mike King, the
Speaker 2: president of the mass Family Institute, joins us. Go ahead, Adrian,
Speaker 2: Thanks Dan.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 9: Now, I'm one of the parents who had opted my
Speaker 9: eighth grade son, who was thirteen. I had opted him
Speaker 9: out and they failed to honor the opt out and
Speaker 9: he had to answer those questions.
Speaker 2: Wow, how angry are you?
Speaker 9: I'm angry for every parent. I'm angry about the whole process,
Speaker 9: the failure to make sure that parents knew what they
Speaker 9: were going to be asking our kids. I mean, that's
Speaker 9: really number one. I feel like it's kind of sneaky,
Speaker 9: and I, for myself, I can't imagine asking another person's
Speaker 9: child those questions and not making sure that that parent
Speaker 9: knew what I was doing.
Speaker 2: You almost wonder if they are on some people, and
Speaker 2: I don't know if they're the people who are running
Speaker 2: the survey, the people who are advocates for the survey,
Speaker 2: if they don't get some jolly's out of this. I
Speaker 2: mean it's you know, this almost gets to the idea
Speaker 2: of introducing kids. Are they grooming them for child trafficking
Speaker 2: or something. I mean, I'm serious when I say that.
Speaker 2: It's like, I get it if you a very progressive
Speaker 2: and you feel that kids at a very young age
Speaker 2: should should know about, you know, sex toys, which you know,
Speaker 2: but but you don't have a right to impose that
Speaker 2: another parents. You know, if you want to talk to
Speaker 2: you a four year old about sex toys, have at it.
Speaker 2: But you don't have a right even if you're a
Speaker 2: school company, remember to introduce that topic to kids in
Speaker 2: the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade if their parents are opposed.
Speaker 6: That's the point exactly.
Speaker 9: I mean, I have a parental right to decide when
Speaker 9: and how I talk to my children about these things.
Speaker 9: And I know what they're pushing through the sex that curriculum,
Speaker 9: and it does. It enables them to engage in behaviors
Speaker 9: and it normalizes it, and so myself, I work in
Speaker 9: the field of child sexual abuse prevention. This is not
Speaker 9: a safe thing to be doing to children. It absolutely
Speaker 9: normalizes it so that someone else can say, hey, let's
Speaker 9: do those things, and then they see it online and
Speaker 9: they can absolutely be groomed by this.
Speaker 6: I am concerned.
Speaker 9: About what the real motivation are on various levels of
Speaker 9: the people who are involved.
Speaker 2: Well as I as I said to Jamie, I hope
Speaker 2: this activates a lot of parents in Burlington. And you know, again,
Speaker 2: your your vote in a presidential election, gubernatorial election, you know,
Speaker 2: statewide elections, they're all important, but the vote that is
Speaker 2: actually more important to you and is heavier to you
Speaker 2: in terms of the weight of your vote in a town,
Speaker 2: your town elections. And this drives home the point. If
Speaker 2: people don't get that point with something like this, they
Speaker 2: never will. So I hope that that a lot of
Speaker 2: folks up there, you know, get activated as simple as that.
Speaker 9: Yeah, No, we absolutely are, because I think we were
Speaker 9: really a silent majority of people who have been, you know,
Speaker 9: talking in the background. But whenever you speak out about
Speaker 9: these things, you get labeled hateful and bigoted.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, I mean they're gonna Oh yeah, you're
Speaker 2: you're closed minded because you don't want your your eleven
Speaker 2: year old to know about sex toys. Oh yeah, I
Speaker 2: mean you know, I mean everybody should be talking about
Speaker 2: that at the family dinner table. Certainly, don't talk to
Speaker 2: your kids about how they're doing on the math test
Speaker 2: of what's going on in English class. Talk to them
Speaker 2: about sex toys. That's what kids need to know about.
Speaker 2: These people are weirdos well, and I.
Speaker 9: Think there's grant money funding it, So that's what you've
Speaker 9: been pushing it. More. They see the money and they say,
Speaker 9: let's implement these things into the school system. So people, absolutely.
Speaker 9: We just had a school committee election a week after
Speaker 9: that first school committee and if this had happened a
Speaker 9: month ago, one of those people would have been out
Speaker 9: because she actually said that she thought that this survey
Speaker 9: had value, and so I'm quite sure that she saw it.
Speaker 9: And I don't trust anybody who saw those questions and
Speaker 9: thought this was okay. So no, absolutely, next election, we
Speaker 9: are going to be ramping up and we're going to
Speaker 9: be ready.
Speaker 2: Well, here's the question. Time works against you. Do you
Speaker 2: have a way up there to run? To run? And
Speaker 2: I'm sure Mike King could answer this better than I could.
Speaker 2: Do you have a process up there to recall, have
Speaker 2: recall elections?
Speaker 9: That's a great question. I don't know if Mike knows.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know exactly on the answer to that question, Dan,
Speaker 4: but I don't think there'd be an oportunity to recall
Speaker 4: at this point on the election that Adrian's talking about,
Speaker 4: that happened, you know, two or three weeks ago.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you if if people are upset about it,
Speaker 2: what will happen is a year from now people will
Speaker 2: move on into other things. And anyway, that's my opinion,
Speaker 2: I would be I bring over the moon on this. Adrian. Congratulations,
Speaker 2: thanks for calling in and protect your kids. Okay, you
Speaker 2: are the parents of those kids. The teachers and the
Speaker 2: school administrators. They are not in local parentees. They are
Speaker 2: teachers and school administrators, not parents, and the roles need
Speaker 2: to be defined more clearly. Thanks Adrian, thank you, You're welcome.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna take a quick break. We'll go into the
Speaker 2: next hour in this if we have to. Mike, I
Speaker 2: disagree with you. I think that that a recall election.
Speaker 2: It takes a little while. You got to get signatures
Speaker 2: you got to make them run for reelection. I I
Speaker 2: don't know what the town charter says, but it would
Speaker 2: seem to me that if that, if that opportunit tunity existed,
Speaker 2: now would be the time to to try to get
Speaker 2: it done. But that's that's.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well for sure, I mean there's enough, there's enough
Speaker 4: parents that are concerned about it. So if it's something
Speaker 4: that can be and you definitely have a lot of
Speaker 4: parents that are ready to ready to do something.
Speaker 2: All right. Again, the legal process is important, and certainly
Speaker 2: as the president of the Mass Family Institute, but the
Speaker 2: court of the court of public opinion is also a
Speaker 2: very important arm of the legal process in my opinion.
Speaker 2: We'll take a quick break, come and come back. We
Speaker 2: get Hilda coming up, John Ryl Jason uh and if necessary,
Speaker 2: we'll go into the next hour if you want, I
Speaker 2: have a subject for the next hour, but I am
Speaker 2: more than happy to stay with this. Back on night
Speaker 2: Side right.
Speaker 1: After this, It's Night Side, Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2: Back to the phone, you go, let me go to
Speaker 2: Hilda and Burlington Hill. Appreciate your patients. You're on with
Speaker 2: Mike King, President at the Mass Family Institute. Hilda garrettehead.
Speaker 8: Hi there, how are you tonight?
Speaker 2: Good Hilda, We're on the heir gorettehead.
Speaker 8: Hello, can you hear me?
Speaker 2: We hear you.
Speaker 8: I was actually wonderful. So I was actually one of
Speaker 8: the first parents. I was the first parent on the
Speaker 8: April first meeting to approach the bench there and uh
Speaker 8: speak my mind. I was very, very distraught when I
Speaker 8: heard and saw all of the questions that were on
Speaker 8: that survey there. And unfortunately, you know, I've gotten a
Speaker 8: lot of backlash because of what I felt this survey represented,
Speaker 8: and unfortunately it was delivered to us under the guys
Speaker 8: of a very benign and innocent survey. I actually.
Speaker 2: That was okay, you can't hear me, he'll the whate
Speaker 2: was the source of the backlash.
Speaker 8: So the backlash that we're getting is, you know, first
Speaker 8: of all, we have the head of the b A
Speaker 8: mister Mufflman. He's uh put out a video saying that
Speaker 8: you know, it's very dangerous that we're calling people groomors,
Speaker 8: and uh, you know, if if I never called anybody groomers,
Speaker 8: I said that this is grooming. And if this is
Speaker 8: if this isn't grooming, I don't know what is to
Speaker 8: be injecting ideas of, you know, a very sexual nature
Speaker 8: into innocent children's minds. If this isn't grooming, I don't
Speaker 8: know what is.
Speaker 2: Who was the gentleman you referred to? Was he was
Speaker 2: he a member of the school board?
Speaker 8: Is he is the head of the Burlington Educators Association?
Speaker 2: And what is that group? I'm unfamiliar with that group?
Speaker 2: Is that is again? Is that the school board? Is that?
Speaker 9: That?
Speaker 2: Is that a parents group? Who is that? What is
Speaker 2: that group?
Speaker 8: It's the I understand that they're the they're the teachers.
Speaker 8: It's like a teachers association that they have, the educators Association.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 8: And so he was not only doing that, he put
Speaker 8: out a very divisive message into the community, but the
Speaker 8: very next weekend he was out at the anti Trump
Speaker 8: uh uh rally and Boston.
Speaker 2: You know, well, here's the thing I think. I think
Speaker 2: if you, if you don't mind, I would tell you,
Speaker 2: I think you make a mistake if you if you
Speaker 2: work this into national politics, because that's what the other
Speaker 2: side is going to try to do. This has nothing
Speaker 2: to do with Donald Trump, has nothing to do with
Speaker 2: this has everything to do with your children, with your
Speaker 2: kids exactly they're educationsh.
Speaker 8: What's really upsetting to me is that they're trying to
Speaker 8: turn this into an LGBTQ issue, which it is not.
Speaker 8: It is nothing to do with LGBTQ. This has to
Speaker 8: do with the innocence of our children. This has to
Speaker 8: do with our parental rights being violated, and this is
Speaker 8: sexual grooming and it is Let me hid.
Speaker 2: I don't need to interrupt here, but I just want
Speaker 2: to tell you. I guarantee you the majority, indeed the
Speaker 2: vast majority of parents in Burlington who have kids in
Speaker 2: school or out of school, will agree with you. Don't
Speaker 2: be bullied by the other side. They're going to take potsha.
Speaker 8: They're calling me a bully.
Speaker 7: Now they're selling that is the That's exactly That's exactly
Speaker 7: what I'm trying to I'm trying to basically support you
Speaker 7: and tell you that that is exactly what bullies do, okay,
Speaker 7: and they will employ whatever language they can to discredit you,
Speaker 7: not to discredit.
Speaker 2: The argument you're making. Stay on the issue, Stay in
Speaker 2: the argument. It is about the children, is about your children,
Speaker 2: is about your authority with your children. Who's going to
Speaker 2: run your family? You are some head of some teachers group, okay,
Speaker 2: And that's why I say and.
Speaker 8: Said to Jamie, do you know how you said, sir,
Speaker 8: that you said how important it is to have to
Speaker 8: participate in our local elections. Yes, very following weekend we
Speaker 8: had our local elections, and I actually ran for school
Speaker 8: committee within twenty four hours before the elections to occur.
Speaker 8: I ran for school Committee and I received three hundred
Speaker 8: and seventeen votes on the last day of that election.
Speaker 8: Each other committee member that was running for reelection, they
Speaker 8: only received about two thousand votes each, and fifteen hundred
Speaker 8: of those votes were mail in votes for months and
Speaker 8: months prior to when they were running for reelection.
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, mail in votes shouldn't be coming.
Speaker 2: I can only tell.
Speaker 8: You, Hilda, the mail had I run, had I run
Speaker 8: way before then, from the very beginning, I probably would
Speaker 8: have been voted in to the school committee and I
Speaker 8: would so love to have been a part of it.
Speaker 2: Well here's the deal. Run again, run again, pull your
Speaker 2: committee together, and run again, Hilda. I got to run
Speaker 2: because they got to get a couple more people in.
Speaker 2: But please continue to listen to this program. Run again, Hilda, run, Hilda.
Speaker 8: Run So much for all of your support, We really
Speaker 8: appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Well, let me tell you, I am with you a
Speaker 2: thousand percent. Here, I'm with you a thousand percent, and
Speaker 2: I and I and I congratulate you and the other parents. Look,
Speaker 2: my kids are If that ever happened to my kids
Speaker 2: when my kids were young, and it didn't, I would
Speaker 2: have been over the moon. Help. Please get out there
Speaker 2: and run and and work with other people. And you
Speaker 2: will find out Bill that that eighty percent of the
Speaker 2: people in Burlington agree with you when they understand the issue.
Speaker 2: That's that's that's the dirty little secret here, trust me
Speaker 2: on that. Okay, you got to run again.
Speaker 8: Thanks so much, thank you, pleasure that the children, thank you.
Speaker 2: You got it. Thank you so much, thank you, thank you,
Speaker 2: thank you, John and Quincy. John, I'm trying to get
Speaker 2: you in here before the break. To those of you
Speaker 2: in the line, I'm going to stick with this into
Speaker 2: the next hour. So stay right there, go ahead, John.
Speaker 3: Happy Eastern pass over again to your audience, and God
Speaker 3: bless them, Good luck to those students and parents and Burlington.
Speaker 3: You bet you yeah, that's uh, you know, it's it's
Speaker 3: it's it's it's unacceptable that going on, and it's unacceptable
Speaker 3: to Burlington, the parents, the students, and.
Speaker 2: Well it has it has the potential to go on everywhere.
Speaker 2: You have a great mayor in Quincy, Tom Coke, and
Speaker 2: I don't think this would happen in Quinsy in my opinion,
Speaker 2: but that's because you have a great mayor, okay, and
Speaker 2: someone who I've known for many years. And I'm telling
Speaker 2: you what happens is in these other towns. Everybody is
Speaker 2: so involved with youth soccer and youth hockey and youth
Speaker 2: little League and I was involved in all of that stuff.
Speaker 2: And you don't focus unless you keep an eye on
Speaker 2: what's going on in schools. And this is outrageous. This
Speaker 2: is absolutely outrageous. So you know, people should should work together,
Speaker 2: form groups and get ready for the next election. And
Speaker 2: if you have a recall ability to recall people if
Speaker 2: they're not listening to you, you can have disagreements, but
Speaker 2: on something as shocking as this, this is way over
Speaker 2: the top. John. I appreciate your support, but more importantly,
Speaker 2: I think people in Burlington appreciate your support. We are
Speaker 2: going to take this into the next hour, so I
Speaker 2: thank you so much, but I'm flat out of time.
Speaker 3: This hour Okay, understood, and good luck to them and
Speaker 3: the old Bronton mall in the Cafe Esque a Jill
Speaker 3: and Burlington Dodge and all that other good stuff.
Speaker 2: It's great. It's a great community. It's a great community.
Speaker 2: Thank thanks John for sure. All right, good night, Mike King.
Speaker 2: Keep us posting on this. I know this is one
Speaker 2: that I feel pretty emotional about as as I think
Speaker 2: you could tell and feel free to keep me posted
Speaker 2: on this and we'll have you back and I'm going
Speaker 2: to continue on this topic next hour. Great.
Speaker 4: Anyone interested in learning more about this context Burlington to
Speaker 4: our short code eight seven eight nine one.
Speaker 2: Eight seven eight nine to one. How can people find you?
Speaker 2: You know there's a lot of people who don't text
Speaker 2: and all of that. How can people find your organization?
Speaker 2: Either you know, on Facebook or is there a quick
Speaker 2: and easy way to get in contact with you?
Speaker 4: Yeah, just you can just google Massachusetts Family Institute and
Speaker 4: in our legal arm the Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center. Like
Speaker 4: I said, there's been two federal complaints and we're looking
Speaker 4: to file several more complaints as well.
Speaker 2: So is it Massfamilyinstitute dot org. Mike. People are out there,
Speaker 2: will they want to know what.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's mafamily dot org, m A family dot oarg.
Speaker 2: Perfect, perfect, simple, straightforward. Mike, thanks very much, thanks for
Speaker 2: joining us, and please keep us posted on this. Okay,
Speaker 2: sometimes when these stories occur, different good organizations are tough
Speaker 2: to get a hold of it. I know that this
Speaker 2: is uh, you know, pass overseas and Easter season. This
Speaker 2: is good Friday, and I know that there are a
Speaker 2: lot of people probably who wouldn't have been available tonight.
Speaker 2: I want to thank you for joining us tonight. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Absolutely. Like I said, we had success in and we're
Speaker 4: gonna have success in Burlington, and more and more parents
Speaker 4: are waking up, so we're very excited about the future.
Speaker 2: All right, to those of you, thanks, thanks again, Mike.
Speaker 2: For those of you in the line, stay there. We'll
Speaker 2: continue this until the next hour. I have another topic
Speaker 2: to talk about, but this is important. This is local.
Speaker 2: We're going to stick with it. One line open, six, one, seven, nine, three, one,
Speaker 2: ten thirty