Father of 11-Year-Old Raises Concerns Over Lack of Parental Notification Before School Performance
A South Surrey father wonders about the Surrey School District’s policy on presentations containing sexual content after his 11-year-old daughter came home with a few questions after a presentation at Crescent Park Elementary on February 1.
Gord Cooper said he and his wife had not received advance notice that their daughter, who is in 6th grade, would be attending such a presentation as they had not received an email or any documentation beforehand.
“My daughter spoke to me about it yesterday and said, ‘Why was there a woman with a beard and a voice like a man?’” he said.
“They talked about hormone treatments and surgery… nobody knew about it. There was no advance warning of anything.”
Ritinder Matthew, Surrey Schools assistant director for communications services, said the school hired two speakers to introduce Year 6 and Year 7 pupils on February 1 “about human connections and the importance of empathy and inclusivity”.
“The speaker urged the students not to judge and to focus on the effect we can have on each other through small gestures of kindness. The key takeaway from the presentation was to always consider the impact that words can have on others,” she said in an email.
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“The presentation was given by two 2SLGBTQ+ presenters who shared their personal experiences of discrimination and how they persevered and found confidence in their identities,” she added, noting that the class teachers were present during the presentation “and provided thoughtful support to the speaker were able to involve the students in the topics discussed.”
Cooper wondered why there was no notification prior to the presentation.
“When they have sex education classes at school for grades 6 and 7, they always send materials home,” he said.
“They ask parents to submit that documentation authorizing their children to participate or not, whichever is their preference,” but didn’t do the same in this case, he noted.
Matthew said the presentation was not considered sexual health.
“The content of this presentation was not sexual health and therefore no consent form was sent to the parents,” she said in her email.
“Student wellbeing, equity and inclusion are key priorities for our district and this presentation was consistent with those values.”
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