Parental control over child’s education being challenged by school board

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Riverside Unified School parents will no longer have any control over the content of what their children are learning in all subjects areas, except health, if a proposed policy change is approved.

In an attempt to stop high school students from being exempt from engaging in curriculum that goes against their religious beliefs, Board President Lew Vanderzyl is asking to remove the parental opt-out clause from the district’s governing policy.

The revised policy would only give parents control of the curriculum when it involved health-class discussions of sexual topics.

“His approach is way too extreme,” former board member Dana Kruckenberg said in an interview. “He is asking for drastic, drastic changes (to the policy).”

Vanderzyl asked the school board to review the parental exemption policy last summer after learning of two Martin Luther King high school students who were excused from their biology class for a month while evolution curriculum was being taught.

Instead, the students were given alternative lessons from a different portion of the textbook, created by district officials. The exemption was granted at the request of their parents.

The current policy of allowing parents to opt their children out of classes where the material is contrary to their religious beliefs has been in place since 1981, Kruckenberg said.

But, Vanderzyl does not believe students will get a fair education if parents are allowed to exempt their children from studies that go against their religious beliefs.

When the issue came up last summer, it died in committee.

Vanderzyl brought up the issue again last month after two new board members were elected.

Kruckenberg, who was on the board for 13 years, was one of the members replaced after she decided not to run again.

Vanderzyl, in an interview with The Press-Enterprise, said he believes it’s the board’s obligation to determine content.

“The purpose of what we’re about is to make it possible for citizens to participate in society knowledgeably and effectively,” the board president.

In an interview with the Christian Examiner, Vanderzyl stressed the academic implications of the policy.

“Evolution is a central part of our biology course and we want to assure the California State University schools that what we offer meets their requirements," the board president said. "We have a responsibility to have intergrity in what we teach."
He believes there is room for abuse with parental exemptions.

"Where are you going to draw the line?," he asked. "Parents will then be able to exempt their kids from learning about civil rights or the holocaust. It's difficult to know where the line will be drawn."

At the same, time, he could not recall any other exemptions being either requested or granted, except the two last summer.

Kruckenberg and board member Gayle Cloud both disagreed with his assessment.

“I think the board should offer parents as much flexibility as possible,” Cloud was reported saying in The Press-Enterprise.

Christian parents are being urged to join the fight by Kruckenberg.

“This is a very big item,” she said. “We can make a difference if we stand up for it. His changes are ludicrous.”

The issue has gone back to committee for revision and may be on the March 3 school board agenda for a vote, Kruckenberg speculated.

She is challenging parents of children in the school district and pastors in the community to get involved and express their beliefs at the next meeting.

“Incredibly, the board is poised to make a policy change forcing children to attend instruction that violates their faith, while cutting parents out entirely, undoing 13 years of positive partnership,” Kruckenberg wrote in an editorial for the Inland Empire newspaper. “I pray that RUSD will remain a safe choice for parents of religious conviction.”

Published by Keener Communications Group, March 2006

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