LINCOLN, Neb. –The woman who first raised concerns about controversial gender inclusiveness training at a middle school plans to run for an open seat on the Lincoln school board next year.
Rachel Terry said she will run for the seat now held by chairman Richard Meginnis, a Republican who isn’t running for re-election.
The volunteer school board is composed of five Democrats and two Republicans. Two Democrats who have supported the gender sensitivity training — Ed Zimmer and Katie McLeese Stephenson — are also up for re-election next spring.
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Terry is part of a parental rights group that sprang up in the aftermath of the controversy over the gender training fracas. The training materials made international news, particularly a “12-step program to gender inclusiveness,” where teachers were advised not to use “gendered expressions” such as “boys and girls” or “ladies and gentlemen,” but instead call students campers, scholars, readers, athletes or even a class mascot such as Purple Penguins.
Terry got involved after being contacted by Irving Middle School teachers who feared for their jobs if they raised objections. She emailed the training handouts to other parents and asked them to join her at an Oct. 14 school board meeting; word of the controversy leaked to the press, and 200 people showed up. About 40 people spoke to the school board, with slightly more than half opposing the training materials.
Terry said she’s running because the current board doesn’t represent “a lot of people in the community” with concerns.
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Authored by Deena Winter
Published with permission
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