Letter to the Editor: Says your vote on school board members does matter

On the threshold of the 2023 school board elections, this letter is a reminder of the potentially high stakes of their outcome.

I taught French in New Kent County and in West Point Public Schools for nine years.

My career in education came to an end abruptly in 2018 when I refused to formally and publicly contradict my belief that girls are not boys. Though I had been using the new name of one of my students who was “transitioning”, my school administration would not be satisfied until they knew I had capitulated by using incorrect pronouns to refer to the student.

I liked and respected my student. I just wasn’t a convert to the new transgender faith and couldn’t bring myself to participate in what I deemed serious falsehood.

I maintained my integrity by using the student’s new name while avoiding pronouns all together. It’s not that hard. No one says, “Hi Joe, how is he doing?” You address people directly with the pronoun ‘you.’ This solution worked fine until my principal understood I hadn’t truly converted.

The written ultimatum I was finally given was a caricature of the thought police. The mere suspicion of substituting a pronoun with the student’s name would be grounds for my dismissal.

How could the school board not see this as totalitarianism? Could I not respect my student and provide a healthy learning environment without reciting this new creed? Of course I could, but my principal and the school board were not interested in diversity of opinion, only in the absolute conformity to the new religion.

I hope you would find such a posture by an American school administration hard to fathom as well. Therefore, please participate in your school board elections, carefully considering the candidates. The stakes are by no means insignificant.

Peter Vlaming
Former New Kent Teacher
France