education

Massachusetts Schools Give Students Intrusive Survey About Sex, Alcohol and Drugs

Warning, this article includes sensitive sexual content.

Massachusetts parents were upset to learn their high school and middle school children – some as young as 11 years old – were given government surveys asking intrusive and explicit questions about their sexual experiences; alcohol, drug and tobacco usage; and “gender identity.”

Many Burlington Public School (BPS) students were given the surveys, even though their parents had opted them out of taking the 2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), a national survey created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

The survey was first conducted in 1991, primarily to track behaviors related to HIV infection. But it’s broadened in scope since then, and many parents find the questions inappropriate for minors.

In early April, irate BPS parents alerted Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI), a Focus on the Family ally, about the nature of the surveys, as well as the fact that some students were required to take it against their parents’ wishes.

MFI posted a video of concerned parents, grandparents and other citizens complaining about the YRBS at a school board meeting. One grandmother, whose granddaughter took the survey against her parents’ wishes, said,

“Every child has the right to go to school being loved, cared for and treated with respect. We have the right to send our children to school and not have this stuff shoved down their throats.”

“You can’t undo the damage. You can’t undo the damage that was done.”

She went on to explain that even if a child didn’t take the survey, they would be exposed to the topics anyway because children throughout the school were discussing the questions, with some students looking up survey topics on the internet.

Another video shows an angry mother, whose special needs son came home and told her he took a “weird test” at school with questions he didn’t know how to answer.

After looking at survey questions online, she said, “This was a calculated and deliberate attack on our children’s innocence and denial of our parental right to protect our minor children. With this survey, you have exposed our innocent children to mental pornography.”

She called the descriptions of sexual acts “sexual grooming and downright sexual assault.”

Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center, an initiative of MFI, sent a letter to the BPS school board and superintendent, explaining parents’ concerns,

“This extensive, 45-minute survey asked students about numerous sensitive topics such as their drug and alcohol use, mental health issues, sexual encounters (including whether they had been victims of sexual assault), sexual orientation and gender identity, and more.”

“Although many parents exercised their legal right to opt their children out of the inappropriate survey, the school still told students that they had to take the survey – even if they didn’t want to. This egregious violation of parental and student rights transgressed federal law.”

The legal center listed some of the sexually oriented questions:

  • “Which of the following best describes your sexual orientation?
    • Straight or heterosexual
    • Lesbian or gay
    • Asexual
    • Bisexual
    • Pansexual
    • Queer…”
  • “Which of the following terms best describes your current gender identity?
    • Cisgender girl or woman
    • Cisgender boy or man
    • Transgender girl or woman
    • Transgender boy or man
    • Nonbinary or genderqueer…”
  • “The next question asks about sexual intercourse. Sexual intercourse includes vaginal sex which is when a penis goes inside of a vagina, oral sex which is contact between the mouth and genitals, anal sex which is when the penis goes inside an anus (butt), and use of toys or props (vaginal or anal).
    • Have you ever had sexual intercourse?”
  • “Has anyone ever done sexual things to you or forced you to do sexual things that you did not want to?”

While some of the questions in the YRBS are more innocuous, such as asking students if they wear a seat belt in the car or use helmets when skateboarding, many ask for sensitive information. For example, students were asked if they’ve been bullied or discriminated against; self-harmed; experienced depression or suicidal thoughts; attempted suicide; or been involved in violence and fistfights.

Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center explained that federal law, specifically the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, requires schools that receive federal funds to notify parents about surveys that cover sensitive topics and to allow parents to opt their child out of taking such surveys.

The letter stated the school district has “violated the rights of parents and students” a number of times:

BPS has for years pushed controversial and divisive sexual, racial, and political ideologies upon impressionable students without providing parents with an opportunity to opt their children out.

BPS has gone all-out to celebrate “LGBTQ+ Pride,” decking the halls at school with flags and posters, while denying pro-life students the opportunity to fly the pro-life flag on the school flagpole for even a day in January 2024. It has shown students videos suggesting that all white people view black men as inherently dangerous.

“Gender nonconforming” BPS teachers have pressured students to use pronouns for the teacher that do not match their biological sex. BPS has attempted to hide the existence of an LGBTQ club from parents in order to keep them in the dark about their children’s sexuality.

Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center demanded those responsible be held accountable, “up to and including terminating them from their employment” for violating federal law, and that the district develop “policies to prevent inappropriate and intrusive surveys from being administered to students which cover sensitive topics.”

Two school board meetings and a month later, Massachusetts Family Institute stated, “Parents have remained unsatisfied with the district’s response to the growing controversy and are doubling down on demanding accountability.”

The family advocacy group also urged parents across the state to investigate what’s happening in their local schools:

“MFI also encourages parents across MA to reach out to their districts regarding the YRBS survey and other similar surveys. What happened in Burlington can happen in any city or town that institutes graphic and inappropriate surveys.”

“Find out if your district intends to implement a survey with sensitive topics. If so, opt your child out, and then advocate for a policy that puts a stop to the surveys altogether. “

Since this is a national survey, we encourage all parents to find out if it’s given in their local schools – and take appropriate action to protect their children.

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Arkansas Now Requires Schools to Teach Human Development in the Womb

Last week, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a bill requiring that public school students learn about human development in the womb.

This new law is part of a broader trend among more conservative states to include detailed fetal development into education standards and school curricula and it’s a positive move that’s reflective of the ongoing culture war over abortion.

SB 450 requires Arkansas Department of Education to change its academic standards to include discussions on human fetal growth and development.

The bill aims to educate students on the biological truths of human development from conception to birth.

The measure was passed with overwhelming support in the State House (vote of 81-13) and State Senate (vote of 26-6).

Key provisions require that the content include:

  • “A high-definition ultrasound that shows the brain, heart, sex organs, and other vital organs in early fetal development”
  • “The process of fertilization and every stage of human development inside the uterus, including a discussion that notes significant markers in cell growth and organ development for every significant marker of pregnancy until birth.”

Proponents of the measure, including Arkansas’ Family Council, celebrated the new law, saying this would give public school students a window into the womb and an opportunity to learn about preborn babies.

According to the bill’s language, the Department of Education will work with the Department of Health to determine age-appropriate material for discussions.

Six other states have passed similar legislation requiring academic standards be added to teach students about human development in the womb, including Iowa, Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Dakota and Kansas.

Four of those states passed legislation in the last few months.

All of these legislative efforts share common elements:

  • Requiring schools to teach about fetal development in the womb, often including visual materials.
  • Generally targeting students from 5th grade through 12th grade.

Not surprising, the ACLU of Arkansas opposed the bill, calling it “egregious” and suggested that it would threaten “reproductive rights.”

Under current law, Arkansas protects life in the womb beginning at conception with an exception to save the life of the mother. At present, there are no licensed abortion clinics in the state.

We applaud the state of Arkansas for its efforts to educate the next generation of mothers and fathers about the biological truth of human life in the womb.

It’s time to encourage lawmakers in every state to pass similar legislation.

Image from Getty.

Deputy Secretary of Education Nominee Schwinn Supported DEI, CRT and Comprehensive Sex Ed

More than 25 organizations and 80 individuals urged the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions this month to oppose Penny Schwinn to be Deputy Secretary of the Department of Education.

President Trump nominated Schwinn for the position in January, citing her experience, commitment to school choice and willingness to return education to the states.

Co-signers, including Focus on the Family-allied Arkansas Family Council (AFC), argue Schwinn threatened parents’ rights, supported radical curricula and acted unethically in her previous roles as Chief Deputy Commissioner at the Texas Education Agency and Tennessee’s Commissioner of Education.

“Penny Schwinn’s track record is troubling to many conservatives,” AFC’s Assistant Director David Cox told the Daily Citizen. “Right now, a lot of families feel like their public schools have been used to promote radical ideologies, and there is concern that Schwinn won’t stand up against those ideologies as Deputy Secretary of Education.”

Here are the coalition’s chief concerns.

Threatening Parental Rights

As Tennessee’s Commissioner of Education, Schwinn created a program allowing government officials to enter family’s homes for “child wellbeing checks.” The initiative would have applied to all families, not just those with children in public school.

Though Schwinn quickly nixed the idea following parents’ outrage, the letter argues it’s a black mark on her commitment to parent’s rights.

“‘Child wellbeing checks’ posed a threat to personal property rights and parental rights, contrary to the principles of the Trump administration as well as the U.S. Constitution,” it reads.

These kinds of programs can be used to frighten parents, like Erin Lee, who demand transparency in public schools.  You can learn more about Lee’s story here.

Critical Race Theory

Parents in Williams County, Tennessee sued Schwinn and other education officials in 2022 for violating the state’s ban on Critical Race Theory (CRT).

The suit involves a controversial English curriculum called Wit and Wisdom. When the program failed to meet state education standards in two separate state reviews, Schwinn gave 33 counties waivers allowing them to teach unapproved books and resources, including Wit and Wisdom.

The work-around enraged parents, who complained the program taught principles consistent with CRT, in addition to graphic and age-inappropriate content. Schwinn declined to address parents’ complaints, arguing the program had been taught prior to the state’s CRT ban.

Trisha and James Lucente sued Schwinn, they explained, because the “curriculum was adopted through a process in violation of state law, and over the objections of several parents and educators who raised serious concerns about the graphic, racist and age-inappropriate nature of much of its content.”

The suit is ongoing.

Conflicts of Interest

Schwinn also faced formal consequences for favoritism after issuing Wit and Wisdom waivers.

An international book publisher and several district directors complained Schwinn followed an unfair approval process, disqualifying some curricula after it passed state reviews and, inexplicably, approving others that failed.

Schwinn had previous connections to Wit and Wisdom. She had adopted it for a charter school she founded in Sacramento — the same school now sitting on a Wit and Wisdom publisher panel.

As a result, the Tennessee legislature revoked Schwinn’s ability to issue waivers.

Schwinn has also been embroiled in several contract snafus, the letter explains. In Tennessee, she faced scrutiny for awarding an $8 million dollar contract to her husband’s employer.

Earlier, as Chief Deputy Commissioner at the Texas Education Agency, Schwinn awarded a $4.5 million agreement to a contractor she knew. Auditors eventually determined the contract violated purchasing rules, and Texas Education Agency had to pay the money back.

“If Penny Schwinn does not follow U.S. Department of Education Rules while in Texas, how can she be trusted to lead the Department, much less oversee its elimination?” the letter asks.

DEI

Schwinn’s history with DEI dates back to 2018, according to the letter, when she was a member of Chiefs for Change — a group of education officials working, in part, to implement DEI in schools.

In an interview clip that resurfaced on X, Schwinn describes her core values as, “Equity and integrity for all, no matter what.”

Women’s rights activist Riley Gaines reposted the clip in January, writing,

Anytime someone claims their desired outcome is equity, understand, they’re pushing a communist agenda. NO to Penny Schwinn.
Comprehensive Sex Ed

Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) are radical “rights-based” and “pleasure-based” sex ed curricula that affirm children’s right to consent to sexual activity.

As Chief Deputy Commissioner at the Texas Education Agency, Schwinn nominated several proponents of CSE to Texas’ Health Standards Committee, the body responsible for setting state sex ed standards.

Schwinn nominated Debra Hauser, the president of Advocates for Youth — an LGBT activist organization with ties to Planned Parenthood. The group supports “youth rights to bodily autonomy” and “confidential sexual and reproductive health services.” In other words, kids’ right to engage in sexual activities and treatments without parents’ knowledge or consent.

Hauser was not confirmed to the Health Standards Committee.

Melissa Peskin and Susan Tortolero, also nominated by Schwinn, contributed to It’s Your Game, a federally funded CSE program authored in conjunction with Planned Parenthood.

An analysis of It’s Your Game by Stop CSE, a database documenting problems with radical sex ed, found the middle school program contained nine of 15 harmful elements of CSE, including “[promotion of] premature sexual autonomy.”

Unlike Hauser, Peskin and Tortolero both made the final committee.

Why It Matters

When it comes to education and public schools, parents must be able to make informed decisions about what their child is learning. Schwinn’s checkered past suggests she isn’t an ally parents can count on.

“Parents want to be confident in the leaders who help shape education policies,” Cox concludes. “Unfortunately, Schwinn’s track record just doesn’t provide that confidence.”

Senators need to think long and hard before they cast their votes.

Additional Articles and Resources

Download Equipping Parents for Back-to-School to find out more about what’s happening in schools and how to advocate for your children.

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Denver Summit Focuses on Safeguarding Children From ‘Transgender’ Medical Harms

The Rocky Mountain Summit on Safeguarding Children from Gender-Affirming Treatment will be held April 6 in Denver. The three-hour event focuses on protecting children from the devastating effects of “transgender” social and medical interventions.

Geared for “parents, educators, medical professionals and concerned citizens,” the summit features two panels that explore how gender ideology harms minors and their families.

The Family Impact Perspectives Panel features Erin and Chloe Lee, January Littlejohn, and Matt and Judith Rey, who will offer personal stories of how transgender social and medical interventions harmed their families.

Dr. Miriam Grossman, Leor Sapir, Candice Jackson and Dr. Michelle Stanford are on the Medical, Legal and Policy Perspectives Panel, which will explore scientific, ethical and legal concerns around “gender-affirming treatment.”

The summit is sponsored by parental rights and child health advocacy groups, including Do No Harm, Parents Defending Education, XX-XY Athletics and Colorado Parent Advocacy Network.

Panelist Erin Lee is a Colorado mom whose preteen daughter was targeted by gender activists when she attended what she thought was an art club after school. Since then, Lee has become an advocate for parents rights in education and an opponent of transgender ideology. Her family’s story is told in the documentary film Art Club.

Like Lee, January Littlejohn is a mom who found out her 13-year-old daughter was being “socially transitioned” at her Florida middle school – without her parents’ knowledge or consent. An activist for parental rights in education, Littlejohn was recently honored by first lady Melania Trump as a special guest at President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress.

Littlejohn is a Parent Advocate with Do No Harm, a medical advocacy group “focused on keeping identity politics out of medical education, research and clinical practice.” 

Matt and Judith Rey are activists with Gays Against Groomers, which describes itself as a “nonprofit of gays, lesbians, and others in the community who oppose the sexualization, indoctrination, and mutilation of children under the guise of radical “LGBTQIA+” activism.” Matt was born female but was badly damaged by a double mastectomy and opposite sex hormones that caused “symptoms that resemble Tourette’s and epilepsy.”  

On the medical and legal panel, Dr. Miriam Grossman is a child psychiatrist who has been combatting transgender activism for more than a decade. In her 2009 book You’re Teaching My Child What?: A Physician Exposes the Lies of Sex Education and How They Harm Your Child, she warned parents about sex education and gender ideology being taught in K-12 classrooms.

More recently, Grossman published Lost in Trans Nation: A Child Psychiatrist’s Guide Out of the Madness and was featured in Matt Walsh’s documentary What Is a Woman?

Leor Sapir is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing writer to City Journal and other outlets, focusing on education, culture and pediatric gender medicine. He’s written widely about the lack of scientific evidence for transgender medical procedures.

Dr. Michelle Stanford is a Colorado pediatrician who completed her Pediatric Residency at The Children’s Hospital, Denver. The hospital recently announced it was suspending transgender interventions for confused minors after President Trump signed an executive order saying the federal government would not fund hospitals and medical schools harming children through transgender drugs and surgeries.

Candice Jackson is the Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Education, and has consulted in her legal practice “with groups and individuals challenging the harmful effects of the concept of ‘gender identity’ in laws and policies in schools, employment, and public accommodations.”

To learn more about the conference, click on the link below:

Rocky Mountain Summit on Safeguarding Children from Gender-Affirming Treatment: Clinical Perspectives & Family Impacts, Sunday, April 6, 2:30-5:30 p.m., The Inverness Denver, Englewood, Colorado.

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‘Art Club’ Documentary — One Family’s Escape from Gender Ideology, and the Bigger Trend Sweeping the Nation

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Exclusive Interview: Colorado Parents Expose ‘Gender Cult’ at Public School in New Documentary

Florida Parents Sue School for Helping Teen ‘Transition’ – Without Their Knowledge or Consent

Focus on the Family: Homosexuality Resources; Transgender Resources; Understanding Homosexuality

How to Defeat Gender Ideology, Protect Children and End ‘Trans America’

Key Takeaways from Supreme Court Case on ‘Transgender’ Interventions  

President Trump Signs Order Protecting Children From Transgender Medical Interventions

Protect Your Kids from ‘Trans’ Activism — Look for These Red Flags

Dept of Ed Reduces Size, Scope; Grows Power to Cut DEI, Racism

Since taking office, the Trump Administration has undertaken significant actions to reduce the size and scope of the U.S. Department of Education including leadership changes, workforce reduction, office closures and policy shifts. New energy is being directed to root out DEI and racism from school programs nationwide.

After years of declining student outcomes and wasted money, many believe a change is not only warranted, but essential.

Leadership Appointment

On March 3, 2025, Linda McMahon was confirmed as the new secretary of education. Secretary McMahon’s primary objective, as outlined and supported by President Trump, is to dismantle the Department of Education.

In an email to agency staff, later shared on the agency’s website, McMahon told employees that the Department of Education is not working as intended and a review is long overdue. She asserted that in her professional experience “disruption leads to innovation and gets results.” She told staff that they must think about their work to overhaul the agency as the “final mission at the department.”

In the email, she very clearly laid out three convictions of the department:

  1. Parents are the primary decision makers in their children’s education. 
  2. Taxpayer-funded education should refocus on meaningful learning in math, reading, science, and history—not divisive DEI programs and gender ideology. 
  3. Postsecondary education should be a path to a well-paying career aligned with workforce needs. 

After spending over one trillion dollars since the department’s formation in 1980, with declining student outcomes, McMahon referred to the agency’s work under her leadership as “one final, unforgettable public service to future generations of students.”

Workforce Reduction

Notably, this month the administration announced plans to reduce federal employees at the U.S. Department of Education by over 1,300 workers.  

This reduction, coupled with nearly 600 employees who accepted voluntary resignation and retirement packages, represents a nearly 50% reduction in the federal workforce at the Department of Education.

Secretary McMahon said that the reduction “reflects the Department of Education’s commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers.”

The action is consistent with promises Trump made on the campaign trail to decrease the size of the agency.

According to the department’s press release, employees impacted by the reduction will be placed on administrative leave beginning Friday, March 21. They will receive full pay and benefits until June 9, 2025, in addition to “substantial severance pay or retirement benefits.”

Office Closures

Due to the reduction in workforce, seven of the 13 Offices of Civil Rights (OCR) will completely close by June 9, 2025, including offices in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco. OCR offices in Atlanta, Denver, Kansas City, Seattle and Washington, D.C. will remain open. There are about 550 OCR workers employed by the Department of Education. Approximately 243 of the OCR employees received termination letters, a majority of them lawyers.

Policy Shifts

Not only is the Department of Education hyper-focused on decentralizing education and giving more power to states, local education authorities and parents, but it is also committed to rooting out radical ideology and racism from primary, secondary and higher education.

Under Trump’s leadership, the U.S. Department of Education has ceased enforcement of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs that, among other things, allowed men to compete against women in women’s sports.

In February of this year, it created an “end-DEI” portal for the public to submit complaints about DEI programs in schools and warned schools that federal funding could be cut for non-compliance.

In late February, the Department of Education announced an investigation into apparent discrimination in Maine’s schools where males were allowed to compete in female sports. 

This week, the federal government froze $174 million in federal funding headed to the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) due to its policies which force women to compete against men in sports. UPenn made headlines in 2022, when they allowed a mediocre biological male swimmer, Lia Thomas, to compete against women.

In March, the Department of Education sent letters to 60 colleges and universities warning them of enforcement actions that will be taken against their institutions if they permit antisemitism on campus.

The department also opened investigations into 52 higher education institutions who receive federal funding for alleged violations of federal law that prohibit the use of racial preferences and stereotypes as a factor in “hiring, promotion, compensation, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, sanctions, discipline, and other programs and activities.” 

Legal Challenges

The effort to close offices and reduce the workforce at the U.S. Department of Education has been met with a legal challenge. A coalition of attorneys general from 20 states and the District of Columbia filed a federal lawsuit attempting to block the administration’s efforts. The lawsuit argues that such actions would severely impair its ability to fulfill legally mandated functions.

In response, the Department of Education defended its actions claiming the executive branch has the authority to reorganize, enhance efficiency and reduce redundancy. The department also maintains that all their actions have been done in full compliance with existing federal laws. Finally, the agency argues that the restructure is essential to achieving the administration’s policy objective to decentralize education oversight and give more control to state and local authorities.

Further Executive Action to Dismantle Department of Education

An executive order to dismantle the Department of Education is still expected. A complete abolition of the department would require Congressional action because it was statutorily created by Congress.

At present, there appears to be much work for the Department of Education to do as it enforces federal law and makes sure radical ideology and DEI practices are cut from education programs across the country. In the future, enforcement actions could be carried out by the Department of Justice if an executive order were to limit the work of the Department of Education.

Related Articles and Resources:

Equipping Parents for Back to School 

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Department of Education: Schools Embracing DEI Will Lose Funding

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Image from Getty.