New Hampshire Community in Turmoil as Political Activist LGBTQ Organization Scheduled to Conduct Teacher Training
September 6, 2022 | New Hampshire
The firestorm in New Hampshire School Administrative Unit (SAU) 21 is continuing over a scheduled teacher training September 13 by political activist LGBTQ organization Seacoast Outright, which also stands with Black Lives Matter.
“In SAU21, the upcoming teacher training on September 13th has caused political factions to argue against each other,” wrote education researcher and parental rights advocate Ann Marie Banfield at Granite Grok Friday.
“Superintendent Meredith Nadeau and Assistant Superintendent David Hobbs have been actively working on this teacher training which never received approval by the school boards,” Banfield asserted.
In mid-August, Superintendent Nadeau, aware of the turmoil, announced Seacoast Outright’s LGBTQ teacher training would go on as planned, reported the Portsmouth Herald.
Nadeau defended the training by citing a recent school district “equity audit” within the last several years that found LGBTQ training “was one of the items identified by teachers at that time.”
The superintendent reportedly added the LGBTQ training is necessary because of the high rate of suicide and bullying reported by LGBTQ students.
“She said data from as recent as last year shows more than half of LGBTQ+ students in New Hampshire seriously consider suicide, and that more than half have reported being assaulted or bullied,” the Herald reported.
“In a district with 2,400 kids, that means we have 170 or so students who identify as LGBTQ+, and that means 85 of them have seriously considered suicide,” Nadeau said. “I think it’s important to focus as educators on being aware of that information and being prepared to support those students as best we can.”… (Excerpt from The Star News Network)
