Fairfax County Public schools are giving surveys to their 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th grade student about gender and sexuality, according to Defending Education. Other questions in this Youth Survey regard the topic of race and ethnicity, family situations, condition or disabilities, grades, substance abuse, religion, and mental condition. Apparently, parents are allowed to preview and opt-out their child if they want to.
There is also another survey, Adapted Youth Survey, used to evaluate students using an adapted curriculum. These surveys are a joint effort between the government and public schools of Fairfax County.
Victoria Cobb, president of The Family Foundation of Virginia, states that the survey questions have little to do with education and a lot to do with sex, gender identity, and emotional problems. She reports that parents have been outraged about this survey for years.
"Parents need to be on guard because not only is it a matter of putting these questions before the children, but it's also a matter of what does the school do with the answers they receive,” says Cobb. “The school is not the parent, nor are they the doctor, or any other person that the parent has partnered with."
She says that the survey asks questions that provide information to the schools that they really don't have a right to have.
"There's been outrage about this survey from parents for years and years. We are grateful that we actually — as a result of the outrage — got sable to opt their child out if they want to, which is at least a step forward."
Cobb says that The Family Foundation of Virginia was founded 40 years ago, and she expresses that it's devastating that they're still fighting to make parents the ultimate authority of their children.
