April 18, 2025 • 39 mins
Some local parents took to filing federal complaints against Burlington Public Schools over detailed sex questions on a middle school “Youth Risk Behavior Survey” that was given to their children despite opting out of the survey. The parents filing the complaint argue that the definitions of various sexual activities mentioned in the survey were too graphic for some students as young as 11. We discussed parental rights and what parents are entitled to regarding their children's education.
Mike King, President of the Massachusetts Family Institute joined Dan as did some Burlington parents who called in.
Listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the NEW iHeart Radio app and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
Mike King, President of the Massachusetts Family Institute joined Dan as did some Burlington parents who called in.
Listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the NEW iHeart Radio app and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBS Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Thank you very much. Al As we move into the
nine o'clock hour, there was a really interesting story in
the Boston Globe today, written by James Vazness of the
Globe's staff. You can find it if you have your
globe on B one of the Globe, which is the
first page of the Metro section. And before we get
(00:28):
to a guest who we have lined up and some
phone calls, I want to set this up because I
think it's a I think the story is bizarre. You
may agree or disagree with me, whatever your feelings, you're
more than welcome. The headline of the story is Burlington
parents express outrage over detailed sex questions in middle school
(00:52):
health survey. Fair enough, Burlington parents express outrage. It's the
Globe headline over detailed sex questions in middle school health survey.
So this is a survey that is close to one
hundred page, one hundred questions long, okay, and a lot
(01:12):
of it is interesting in terms of, you know, questions
that you might expect. The first question is what grade
are you in now? Sixth, seventh or eighth. These are
middle school students sixth, seventh or eighth. You cannot find
(01:34):
this survey on the Burlington School Department, at least I'm
told by my producer it was taken down. Okay. The
introduction says, Student Characteristics twenty twenty five Burlington Middle School Survey.
I want to what I kind of figure out is
who made these questions up? Okay? The next questions ask
(01:56):
you about background. The information being collected is used to
describe the types of students taking the survey. Information will
not be collected to find out your name or identify
individual students. Again. Question one, what grade are you in now?
Sixth seventh or eighth? I think that means when you're
in the sixth, seventh and eighth grade, you're probably like ten, eleven, twelve,
(02:24):
maybe maybe thirteen years old. Correct me if I'm wrong.
They ask how old are you? Ten years or younger? Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen,
or fifteen. If you're in the eighth grade and you're
fifteen years old, that means you're not going to be
graduating from high school until you're at least nineteen anyway,
(02:46):
so they describe the question three is about The next
question ask about your gender identity. This is a very
important question for kids who are in the sixth, seventh
and eighth grade. Gender identities is how you see yourself.
You can see yourself as male, female, a mixer, both,
or neither. It can be the same or different from
(03:06):
the sex you were assigned at birth. Here are some
helpful terms. Cis gender describes a personal feels that gender
identity matches the sex that a doctor assigned to them
at birth. If you're in the sixth grade, you think
you understand that, I don't know. Trenchgender describes a person
who feels their gender identity is different from the sex
that a doctor assigned them at birth. Non Binary describes
(03:29):
people whose gender doesn't fit into just male or female.
Gender queer describes people whose gender does and that's traditional roles.
Many gender queer people use pronouns like they or them Again,
I understand it. You probably understand that. Remember, the people
who are filling out this form are six seventh and
eighth graders. I don't know if this was run by parents,
(03:51):
So they ask which of the following terms best described
You're current your current important adjective gender identity, because there
it could be one some one today and a different
one tomorrow. We understand that there are many different ways
you may identify. Please click the pick the one that
best describes you. Here are the choices, sisgender girl or woman. Again,
(04:14):
these are sixth, seventh and eighth graders. I don't know
too many women who are in the sixth seventh or
eighth grade sis gender boy or man. I don't know
how many men are in the sixth seventh and eighth grade.
Transgender girl or woman, transgender boy or girl, non binary
or gender queer. There's another category questioning. Then there's a
(04:36):
separate category. I don't know what this question means. If
I was in the sixth or seventh and eighth grade,
I certainly would have known what it meant. And then
I prefer not to answer. So then they break it down,
what sex well you assigned at birth? Now we've we've
switched from gender to sex, which is going to confuse
(04:56):
a lot of kids. But that's okay. What sex we
aside that birth on your original birth certificate? Male? Female?
I prefer not to answer. Which of the following best
describes your sexual orientation. Now we're getting into this, okay.
We understand that there are many different ways you may
identify please pick the one that best describes you. Straight
(05:18):
or heterosexual, lesbian or gay, asexual, bisexual, pan sexual, queer, questioning,
I don't know what this question means. I prefer not
to answer. Then they ask the kids about their race.
What language do you speak at home? And the next
question is there at least one teacher or adult in
your school that you can talk to if you have
(05:38):
a problem. Okay, then I'm not going to get to everything,
but I do want to get to sexual behaviors. This
is question eighty one. They ask about your drug use.
What do you use? I mean, you know, kids in
the sixth, seventh and eighth grade call me naive, but
you know, I'm assuming kids in the sixth, seventh and
(06:01):
eighth grade, for the most part don't use drugs. Some
probably do that you probably can figure that out if
you're a smart teacher. Sexual behaviors this is this gets
a little uncomfortable. So if it makes you uncomfortable, think
about what it does to a sixth seventh or eighth grader.
The next question asked about sexual behaviors, and we're going
to get to my guests right away after these two questions.
(06:25):
Question eighty one, have you ever had sexual contact with
another person. Sexual contact includes things such as kissing, touching,
and sexual intercourse. Pretty straightforward, Yes, no, I'm not sure, okay.
Question eighty two hours We're getting real, real, real, getting
deep here. Have you ever had sexual intercourse? They got
(06:46):
to explain what sexual intercourse is to these sixth, seventh,
and eighth graders. Why don't they give them, you know,
a good course on you know, sex education. Sexual intercourse
includes vaginal sex, which is when a penis goes inside
of vagina, of vagina, oral sex, when there is contact
between the mouth and genitals. Anal sex, which is when
(07:06):
a penis goes inside in anus parentheses, but in use
of toys of props, vaginal or anal? Yes or no?
Question eighty three how old were you when you had
sexual in course for the first time? Eight years? Are younger?
Nine years, ten years, eleven years, twelve years, thirteen year older?
(07:28):
I mean most kids are going to say, well, I
gotta put down I got to answer this question somewhay here.
There's no option to say, well, I've never had sexual intercourse.
Question eighty four, The last time you had sexual in
course did you use a condom? Eighty five question, have
you ever sent or received sexual messages or nude or
semi nude pictures of videos electronically by phone, computer, tablet,
(07:49):
or other device. This is why the town of Burlington
is upset and with us. Is Mike King, President of
the Massachusetts Family in stude. Mike, I kind of imagine
why anyone would be upset with the kids being given
this this survey. Was this cleared with parents ahead of time? Mike?
Speaker 3 (08:10):
He did?
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Yeah, thanks for so much. This is outrageous. I'm glad
you took the times to reference those so I didn't
have to reference them myself.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Sure, I took that. I took that burden off your shoulders. Wow, yeah,
we're parents notify this. Did kids have a chance to
opt out of this or did parents have a chance
to opt their kids?
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:32):
I mean so, they absolutely an oportunity to opt out,
and many of them did opt out. And one of
the most outrageous things about this story is that parents
opted their kids out of this survey and it was
still given to their kids. So there have been compelled
hold on, I.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Want to make sure I understood this. So they sent
it home to the parents for the parents to read
and gave the parents an opportune you need to opt
out on behalf of their their sixth, seventh, and eighth graders.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Yeah, so it's not my understanding that the actual survey
went home, but it did go through one of the
apps that the school provides saying that there was going
to be this this youth survey, right, and I can
and you can imagine that parents are getting inundated with
messages right about what's going on at school, and so
(09:25):
many parents missed the uh, you know, the heads up
about the survey. But there were parents that did see
it and opted their kids out. So that's why our
Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center, which is a part of MFI,
filed complaints because there's federal law that says that you
(09:45):
cannot do this. You cannot give a survey where a
kid a parent has already opted out. So formal complaints
have been made. And if there's more brilliant comparents that
are listening to you tonight, I encourage them to look
up the Massachusetts Liberty Center on theline. We'd be happy
to make more complaints on your behalf.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
So just so I understand, I'm kind of old fashioned.
So in the old days when something of some controversy
was going on, oh, like a field trip to an
apple orchard in like October. You would come bring home
a note from the teacher and the parent would have
to sign the note to give you permission to go
(10:30):
on the trip to the apple orchard. And of course
every kid wanted to go on the trip, because that
way you'd have to sit in class all day and
be bored. You could be in an apple organ in
a beautiful day in October, and the worst thing you
could happen to you there is maybe some bee might
give you a little sting on the arm or something,
if it's one of those days where the bees were active.
(10:51):
But parents got a note at home, they read it
and they sent it back. So the Burlington school didn't
do that. They just sent it out as an app.
Like parents, double income, double working parents have enough time
to go home and say, sweetheart, we're going to check
this see if there's any apps about whether our kids
(11:11):
is using sex toys. So let's let's look at the apps.
Speaker 5 (11:15):
Really yeah, I mean, parents have what's called a parent
square app, right, I mean one parent said that they
had received twenty five notifications in one day.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
Regarding what was going on at school. So you can imagine,
you know, this one thing that goes out on this
survey and again it talks about this, you know, youth survey,
so you don't really have this idea that it's talking
about sex or your gender identity or your sexu orientation.
And so blindsided so many parents, and that's why they're
so upset. Not just they were blindsided, but then especially
(11:49):
those that opt out, and then you know, they were
almost forced their kids were still forced to take this survey.
So it's incredibly you know, parents are outraged, as they
should be. But I want your listeners to know that
this isn't just in Burlington where this is happening. This
is happening. We know the same survey as being given
(12:09):
in Wilmington, one town over, and then towns and cities
across Massachusetts are having surveys like that.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
And I assume that, and Mike, I got to take
a commercial break here, but I just want to ask
one question. I'm assuming that there's some company out there
who has some prurient interest in finding out what kids
the ages of ten, eleven, and twelve know and do,
and they're.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Being big bucks.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
No what I'm saying, there's some group out there that
has been figured this out and they're being paid big
bucks to produce these surveys. Boy, this is in my opinion,
call me old fashioned, but this is really outrageous. I mean,
my wait, do they what do they do next? Do
(13:02):
they have the kids maybe take the next survey? And
what they could do is uh and show the kids
pictures of sex organs to make sure that the kids
are accurately described. I mean, this is insane. Mike. I'm
gonna give out our phone number. We have some callers
in the line. I want you to stay right there.
We'll handle the callers. The only line that is open
(13:23):
right now is six one seven, nine, three one ten thirty.
So the regular line, which is six, we have two lines.
The line that most people default to six one, seven, two,
five four ten thirty is filled and those lines will
clear as we deal with some of the callers. We're
going to talk with Jamie, Adrian and Hilda in a moment.
If you would like to get in, we'll talk about
(13:45):
this until ten o'clock, and to be honest with you,
I'm prepared to do longer than that if we have to. Uh,
the other line is six one seven, nine, three, one,
ten thirty. Back on Night's Side with my guest Mike King.
Mike King, who is the president of the Massachusetts Family Institute.
And wow, this this is way over the top. I
(14:07):
mean I can be critical of things, but this if
that was if this was given to my sound or
daughter when they were ten years old, there would be
they would be I would be in some administrator's office
the next morning. I guarantee you that we'll be back
on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on w b Z,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
We're talking about a Burlington, Massachusetts, middle school student survey.
And uh, if you read the global article, congratulations to
the Boston Globe for putting this story in a prominent spot,
page B one, which is the metro section. Burlington parents
express OUTRAGEO of a detailed sex questions in middle school survey.
(14:52):
And the reporter on the story and the editor, the reporter,
James Vaznis. I hope I'm pronounced James's name correctly. We
invited him to join us. He was unable to join
this time, but would the letter to be joined by
Mike King, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute. Let's get
to phone calls. Mike, I suspect most people are going
to be on your side. Let's let's get it going.
(15:12):
Let me go to Jamie in Burlington. Jamie, I appreciate
your calling in. Are you a parent in the Burlington
school system?
Speaker 6 (15:21):
Yes? I am a parent in the Burlington school system,
and I actively came out to speak at the school
committee meeting because I'm not sure that a lot of
parents are aware of this type of survey, and that
Mike is correct. There are ten districts and the questions
come from the john Snow Ink, which, from my understanding
(15:45):
was each town with a grant with Lahy, but each
town paid the john Snow Inc. A total of seven
thousand dollars for this survey.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
So you mentioned that name of a hold on, Jamie,
hold on for a second. You've mentioned the name of
a company called something john snow Ink. Where is that
a Massachusetts company? If you know, and if you don't.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
That's I don't think it's a Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
We can we can let that go.
Speaker 6 (16:19):
It was based off the and then the john Snow Inc.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
We can let we can let that go. Jamie. I'm
much more interested in your reaction when you found out,
did you have you have a son or a daughter
in the sixth seventh or eighth grade? Right?
Speaker 6 (16:37):
I have no. I actually have a daughter who's a
junior at the high school, and I thought that even
that content at her age was an outrageous over overreach.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Was this survey given to Is this survey given to
high school students as well? I'm confused. I thought it
was just a middle school.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
Yes, it was given through gades middle schools. It was
grades through twelve.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Okay, Well, the one that that I was that we
have a copy of, and I can't tell you where
we got the copy, but the one that we that
we have a copy of, it says the twenty twenty
five Burlington Middle School Survey, and it says what grade
are you in? Now, that's why I asked. I read
(17:25):
the first question six seventh or eighth? So what I've
read was what was given a sixth seventh and eighth graders?
Whether or not there was a second Burlington High School
survey which was identical or not, we don't know what
is the school? So there was a school committee, meaning
you said, when was that.
Speaker 6 (17:48):
There was one on April first, and there was also
second one on April eighth.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Okay, what are the school committee members saying? Are they
concerned about this? Are they telling you, oh, please, don't
don't worry about this is fine? What's their position?
Speaker 6 (18:03):
Zero transparency? We've gotten kind of zero transparency in many
of the questions for the parents that came out and
spoke and wanted answers, they were not transparent at all.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Well, the only thing I could say, the only thing
I could say to you, Jamie, and I got to
jump off here because we have a bunch of callers,
I would hope that if you and other parents feel
you're not being well served by your school committee, this
is an abject lesson that government affects you most impactfully
(18:38):
at the closest level. You can vote for president, you
can vote for governor, and you can vote for senator.
But it's the school committee and the town city council
or the board of aldermen. And I hope that if
there's enough of you who are upset not only with
the survey, but what the response of the school committee,
(18:59):
get out and run for office and get your friends
to run for office and take over the school committee.
Speaker 6 (19:04):
Yeah, no, we definitely, we definitely do need to and
we paid a superintendent three hundred thousand dollars a year
who actually stated at the meeting he did not vet
the questions before he released them to the children in
the district. Well, I jall salery, and he didn't vet
the question I.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Would argue that's educational malpractice. But that's for the voters
of Burlington to decide, because it's the school committee I
assume who hires the school superintendent. Jamie, thank you for
having the courage and the guts to call this show.
Speaker 6 (19:35):
Exactly, and sadly this is not the first incident.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
All the more reason because if they get away with
something as outrageous as this once and it's sort of
like once you know, fool me once, do it again
and something has to you got to get involved. Dear Jamie,
I again, keep us posted. Okay, thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
We appreciate you taking us and taking the serious and
giving us some time to talk about it.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You bet you're more than welcome. Thank you for calling.
We'll continue our conversation. The only line that has opened
a six month, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty. Uh,
my guest on the line with us. We're going to
be taking calls, is Mike King. Mike, I know you
didn't get a chance to respond to Jamie's call, but
I suspect that more than a few parents who feel
(20:26):
that way in Burlington.
Speaker 7 (20:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
No, I'm excited to hear from more parents that are
calling in today. And I just hope that all your
listeners listening tonight and take this as you know, like
you said, encouragement that the only way we're really going
to make change is that people end up running for
school committee. You know, look this, I don't know if
you saw that Sutton story last year where a drag
queen showed up at the Sutton High School. It outraged
(20:50):
parents and Sutton, and within six months they flipped their
school board, they got rid of their superintendent, and now
they're going to start passing policy at the local level
that's going to help. So this is exactly what needs
to happen.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Yeah. I mean again, what people I always say to
friends of mine, you voted in a presidential election. You
in about one hundred and seventy or so million other
Americans voted in a presidential election. So the value of
your vote in Massachusetts pretty much you know, how presidential
election may go. You vote a governor's race, and there's
probably three three and a half maybe four million people
(21:24):
voted a governor's race. But when you talk about a
local school committee race, I mean twenty five people can
get involved and you can flip a school committee set
pretty easily in most towns in Massachusetts.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Certain yeah, yeah, I know there was a school committee
race andover that was just decided by twelve votes.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Yeah, yeah, and again whatever, whatever the issue is, you
got to get involved because this impacts you most directly.
The impact of government. The government that is closer to
you has a greater impact on you, and more importantly,
your family will take a break, a newsbreak. Michael wanted
(22:01):
you to stay with us. We'll get more phone calls.
The only line that is opened six one, seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty. And by the way, I know we'll hear
from some Burlington parents. We have others lined up here.
But if you want to chime in on this issue,
and if you want to tell me you think that
these questions for sixth and seventh and eighth graders is perfect,
feel free. I always look for all points of view
(22:22):
on this program. I may disagree with you, and we
may hit you with it pretty hard, but feel free
to join the conversation. All points of view are respected.
I'm just be prepared for some questions. That's all back
from Nightside.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
After this, It's night Side with Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
We're talking about a Burlington Middle school survey of kids
in the sixth, seventh and eighth grade, which I think
is way over the top. Adrian is in Burlington. Adrian,
appreciate you. Call you Next on Nightside, Mike King, the
president of the mass Family Institute, joins us. Go ahead, Adrian,
Thanks Dan.
Speaker 8 (22:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (23:00):
Now, I'm one of the parents who had opted my
eighth grade son, who was thirteen. I had opted him
out and they failed to honor the opt out and
he had to answer those questions.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Wow, how angry are you?
Speaker 9 (23:15):
I'm angry for every parent. I'm angry about the whole process,
the failure to make sure that parents knew what they
were going to be asking our kids. I mean, that's
really number one. I feel like it's kind of sneaky,
and I, for myself, I can't imagine asking another person's
child those questions and not making sure that that parent
knew what I was doing.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
You almost wonder if they are on some people, and
I don't know if they're the people who are running
the survey, the people who are advocates for the survey,
if they don't get some jolly's out of this. I
mean it's you know, this almost gets to the idea
of introducing kids. Are they grooming them for child trafficking
or something. I mean, I'm serious when I say that.
(23:57):
It's like, I get it if you a very progressive
and you feel that kids at a very young age
should should know about, you know, sex toys, which you know,
but but you don't have a right to impose that
another parents. You know, if you want to talk to
you a four year old about sex toys, have at it.
(24:17):
But you don't have a right even if you're a
school company, remember to introduce that topic to kids in
the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade if their parents are opposed.
Speaker 6 (24:25):
That's the point exactly.
Speaker 9 (24:28):
I mean, I have a parental right to decide when
and how I talk to my children about these things.
And I know what they're pushing through the sex that curriculum,
and it does. It enables them to engage in behaviors
and it normalizes it, and so myself, I work in
the field of child sexual abuse prevention. This is not
a safe thing to be doing to children. It absolutely
(24:49):
normalizes it so that someone else can say, hey, let's
do those things, and then they see it online and
they can absolutely be groomed by this.
Speaker 6 (24:57):
I am concerned.
Speaker 9 (24:57):
About what the real motivation are on various levels of
the people who are involved.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Well as I as I said to Jamie, I hope
this activates a lot of parents in Burlington. And you know, again,
your your vote in a presidential election, gubernatorial election, you know,
statewide elections, they're all important, but the vote that is
actually more important to you and is heavier to you
in terms of the weight of your vote in a town,
(25:25):
your town elections. And this drives home the point. If
people don't get that point with something like this, they
never will. So I hope that that a lot of
folks up there, you know, get activated as simple as that.
Speaker 9 (25:38):
Yeah, No, we absolutely are, because I think we were
really a silent majority of people who have been, you know,
talking in the background. But whenever you speak out about
these things, you get labeled hateful and bigoted.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean they're gonna Oh yeah, you're
you're closed minded because you don't want your your eleven
year old to know about sex toys. Oh yeah, I
mean you know, I mean everybody should be talking about
that at the family dinner table. Certainly, don't talk to
your kids about how they're doing on the math test
of what's going on in English class. Talk to them
(26:09):
about sex toys. That's what kids need to know about.
These people are weirdos well, and I.
Speaker 9 (26:15):
Think there's grant money funding it, So that's what you've
been pushing it. More. They see the money and they say,
let's implement these things into the school system. So people, absolutely.
We just had a school committee election a week after
that first school committee and if this had happened a
month ago, one of those people would have been out
because she actually said that she thought that this survey
(26:35):
had value, and so I'm quite sure that she saw it.
And I don't trust anybody who saw those questions and
thought this was okay. So no, absolutely, next election, we
are going to be ramping up and we're going to
be ready.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Well, here's the question. Time works against you. Do you
have a way up there to run? To run? And
I'm sure Mike King could answer this better than I could.
Do you have a process up there to recall, have
recall elections?
Speaker 9 (27:01):
That's a great question. I don't know if Mike knows.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
Yeah, I don't know exactly on the answer to that question, Dan,
but I don't think there'd be an oportunity to recall
at this point on the election that Adrian's talking about,
that happened, you know, two or three weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Well, I'll tell you if if people are upset about it,
what will happen is a year from now people will
move on into other things. And anyway, that's my opinion,
I would be I bring over the moon on this. Adrian. Congratulations,
thanks for calling in and protect your kids. Okay, you
are the parents of those kids. The teachers and the
(27:38):
school administrators. They are not in local parentees. They are
teachers and school administrators, not parents, and the roles need
to be defined more clearly. Thanks Adrian, thank you, You're welcome.
I'm gonna take a quick break. We'll go into the
next hour in this if we have to. Mike, I
disagree with you. I think that that a recall election.
(28:00):
It takes a little while. You got to get signatures
you got to make them run for reelection. I I
don't know what the town charter says, but it would
seem to me that if that, if that opportunit tunity existed,
now would be the time to to try to get
it done. But that's that's.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
Yeah, well for sure, I mean there's enough, there's enough
parents that are concerned about it. So if it's something
that can be and you definitely have a lot of
parents that are ready to ready to do something.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
All right. Again, the legal process is important, and certainly
as the president of the Mass Family Institute, but the
court of the court of public opinion is also a
very important arm of the legal process in my opinion.
We'll take a quick break, come and come back. We
get Hilda coming up, John Ryl Jason uh and if necessary,
we'll go into the next hour if you want, I
(28:48):
have a subject for the next hour, but I am
more than happy to stay with this. Back on night
Side right.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
After this, It's Night Side, Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Back to the phone, you go, let me go to
Hilda and Burlington Hill. Appreciate your patients. You're on with
Mike King, President at the Mass Family Institute. Hilda garrettehead.
Speaker 8 (29:12):
Hi there, how are you tonight?
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Good Hilda, We're on the heir gorettehead.
Speaker 8 (29:16):
Hello, can you hear me?
Speaker 2 (29:18):
We hear you.
Speaker 8 (29:21):
I was actually wonderful. So I was actually one of
the first parents. I was the first parent on the
April first meeting to approach the bench there and uh
speak my mind. I was very, very distraught when I
heard and saw all of the questions that were on
(29:43):
that survey there. And unfortunately, you know, I've gotten a
lot of backlash because of what I felt this survey represented,
and unfortunately it was delivered to us under the guys
of a very benign and innocent survey. I actually.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
That was okay, you can't hear me, he'll the whate
was the source of the backlash.
Speaker 8 (30:16):
So the backlash that we're getting is, you know, first
of all, we have the head of the b A
mister Mufflman. He's uh put out a video saying that
you know, it's very dangerous that we're calling people groomors,
and uh, you know, if if I never called anybody groomers,
(30:38):
I said that this is grooming. And if this is
if this isn't grooming, I don't know what is to
be injecting ideas of, you know, a very sexual nature
into innocent children's minds. If this isn't grooming, I don't
know what is.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Who was the gentleman you referred to? Was he was
he a member of the school board?
Speaker 8 (31:00):
Is he is the head of the Burlington Educators Association?
Speaker 2 (31:05):
And what is that group? I'm unfamiliar with that group?
Is that is again? Is that the school board? Is that?
Speaker 9 (31:11):
That?
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Is that a parents group? Who is that? What is
that group?
Speaker 8 (31:16):
It's the I understand that they're the they're the teachers.
It's like a teachers association that they have, the educators Association.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Okay.
Speaker 8 (31:24):
And so he was not only doing that, he put
out a very divisive message into the community, but the
very next weekend he was out at the anti Trump
uh uh rally and Boston.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
You know, well, here's the thing I think. I think
if you, if you don't mind, I would tell you,
I think you make a mistake if you if you
work this into national politics, because that's what the other
side is going to try to do. This has nothing
to do with Donald Trump, has nothing to do with
this has everything to do with your children, with your
kids exactly they're educationsh.
Speaker 8 (32:02):
What's really upsetting to me is that they're trying to
turn this into an LGBTQ issue, which it is not.
It is nothing to do with LGBTQ. This has to
do with the innocence of our children. This has to
do with our parental rights being violated, and this is
(32:22):
sexual grooming and it is Let me hid.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
I don't need to interrupt here, but I just want
to tell you. I guarantee you the majority, indeed the
vast majority of parents in Burlington who have kids in
school or out of school, will agree with you. Don't
be bullied by the other side. They're going to take potsha.
Speaker 8 (32:43):
They're calling me a bully.
Speaker 7 (32:45):
Now they're selling that is the That's exactly That's exactly
what I'm trying to I'm trying to basically support you
and tell you that that is exactly what bullies do, okay,
and they will employ whatever language they can to discredit you,
(33:05):
not to discredit.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
The argument you're making. Stay on the issue, Stay in
the argument. It is about the children, is about your children,
is about your authority with your children. Who's going to
run your family? You are some head of some teachers group, okay,
And that's why I say and.
Speaker 8 (33:21):
Said to Jamie, do you know how you said, sir,
that you said how important it is to have to
participate in our local elections. Yes, very following weekend we
had our local elections, and I actually ran for school
committee within twenty four hours before the elections to occur.
I ran for school Committee and I received three hundred
(33:43):
and seventeen votes on the last day of that election.
Each other committee member that was running for reelection, they
only received about two thousand votes each, and fifteen hundred
of those votes were mail in votes for months and
months prior to when they were running for reelection.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Well, first of all, mail in votes shouldn't be coming.
I can only tell.
Speaker 8 (34:07):
You, Hilda, the mail had I run, had I run
way before then, from the very beginning, I probably would
have been voted in to the school committee and I
would so love to have been a part of it.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Well here's the deal. Run again, run again, pull your
committee together, and run again, Hilda. I got to run
because they got to get a couple more people in.
But please continue to listen to this program. Run again, Hilda, run, Hilda.
Speaker 8 (34:36):
Run So much for all of your support, We really
appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Well, let me tell you, I am with you a
thousand percent. Here, I'm with you a thousand percent, and
I and I and I congratulate you and the other parents. Look,
my kids are If that ever happened to my kids
when my kids were young, and it didn't, I would
have been over the moon. Help. Please get out there
(35:02):
and run and and work with other people. And you
will find out Bill that that eighty percent of the
people in Burlington agree with you when they understand the issue.
That's that's that's the dirty little secret here, trust me
on that. Okay, you got to run again.
Speaker 8 (35:16):
Thanks so much, thank you, pleasure that the children, thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
You got it. Thank you so much, thank you, thank you,
thank you, John and Quincy. John, I'm trying to get
you in here before the break. To those of you
in the line, I'm going to stick with this into
the next hour. So stay right there, go ahead, John.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Happy Eastern pass over again to your audience, and God
bless them, Good luck to those students and parents and Burlington.
You bet you yeah, that's uh, you know, it's it's
it's it's it's unacceptable that going on, and it's unacceptable
to Burlington, the parents, the students, and.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Well it has it has the potential to go on everywhere.
You have a great mayor in Quincy, Tom Coke, and
I don't think this would happen in Quinsy in my opinion,
but that's because you have a great mayor, okay, and
someone who I've known for many years. And I'm telling
you what happens is in these other towns. Everybody is
so involved with youth soccer and youth hockey and youth
(36:18):
little League and I was involved in all of that stuff.
And you don't focus unless you keep an eye on
what's going on in schools. And this is outrageous. This
is absolutely outrageous. So you know, people should should work together,
form groups and get ready for the next election. And
if you have a recall ability to recall people if
(36:38):
they're not listening to you, you can have disagreements, but
on something as shocking as this, this is way over
the top. John. I appreciate your support, but more importantly,
I think people in Burlington appreciate your support. We are
going to take this into the next hour, so I
thank you so much, but I'm flat out of time.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
This hour Okay, understood, and good luck to them and
the old Bronton mall in the Cafe Esque a Jill
and Burlington Dodge and all that other good stuff.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
It's great. It's a great community. It's a great community.
Thank thanks John for sure. All right, good night, Mike King.
Keep us posting on this. I know this is one
that I feel pretty emotional about as as I think
you could tell and feel free to keep me posted
on this and we'll have you back and I'm going
to continue on this topic next hour. Great.
Speaker 4 (37:28):
Anyone interested in learning more about this context Burlington to
our short code eight seven eight nine one.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Eight seven eight nine to one. How can people find you?
You know there's a lot of people who don't text
and all of that. How can people find your organization?
Either you know, on Facebook or is there a quick
and easy way to get in contact with you?
Speaker 4 (37:55):
Yeah, just you can just google Massachusetts Family Institute and
in our legal arm the Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center. Like
I said, there's been two federal complaints and we're looking
to file several more complaints as well.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
So is it Massfamilyinstitute dot org. Mike. People are out there,
will they want to know what.
Speaker 4 (38:17):
Yeah, it's mafamily dot org, m A family dot oarg.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Perfect, perfect, simple, straightforward. Mike, thanks very much, thanks for
joining us, and please keep us posted on this. Okay,
sometimes when these stories occur, different good organizations are tough
to get a hold of it. I know that this
is uh, you know, pass overseas and Easter season. This
is good Friday, and I know that there are a
lot of people probably who wouldn't have been available tonight.
(38:47):
I want to thank you for joining us tonight. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (38:49):
Absolutely. Like I said, we had success in and we're
gonna have success in Burlington, and more and more parents
are waking up, so we're very excited about the future.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
All right, to those of you, thanks, thanks again, Mike.
For those of you in the line, stay there. We'll
continue this until the next hour. I have another topic
to talk about, but this is important. This is local.
We're going to stick with it. One line open, six, one, seven, nine, three, one,
ten thirty
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBS Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Thank you very much. Al As we move into the
nine o'clock hour, there was a really interesting story in
the Boston Globe today, written by James Vazness of the
Globe's staff. You can find it if you have your
globe on B one of the Globe, which is the
first page of the Metro section. And before we get
(00:28):
to a guest who we have lined up and some
phone calls, I want to set this up because I
think it's a I think the story is bizarre. You
may agree or disagree with me, whatever your feelings, you're
more than welcome. The headline of the story is Burlington
parents express outrage over detailed sex questions in middle school
(00:52):
health survey. Fair enough, Burlington parents express outrage. It's the
Globe headline over detailed sex questions in middle school health survey.
So this is a survey that is close to one
hundred page, one hundred questions long, okay, and a lot
(01:12):
of it is interesting in terms of, you know, questions
that you might expect. The first question is what grade
are you in now? Sixth, seventh or eighth. These are
middle school students sixth, seventh or eighth. You cannot find
(01:34):
this survey on the Burlington School Department, at least I'm
told by my producer it was taken down. Okay. The
introduction says, Student Characteristics twenty twenty five Burlington Middle School Survey.
I want to what I kind of figure out is
who made these questions up? Okay? The next questions ask
(01:56):
you about background. The information being collected is used to
describe the types of students taking the survey. Information will
not be collected to find out your name or identify
individual students. Again. Question one, what grade are you in now?
Sixth seventh or eighth? I think that means when you're
in the sixth, seventh and eighth grade, you're probably like ten, eleven, twelve,
(02:24):
maybe maybe thirteen years old. Correct me if I'm wrong.
They ask how old are you? Ten years or younger? Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen,
or fifteen. If you're in the eighth grade and you're
fifteen years old, that means you're not going to be
graduating from high school until you're at least nineteen anyway,
(02:46):
so they describe the question three is about The next
question ask about your gender identity. This is a very
important question for kids who are in the sixth, seventh
and eighth grade. Gender identities is how you see yourself.
You can see yourself as male, female, a mixer, both,
or neither. It can be the same or different from
(03:06):
the sex you were assigned at birth. Here are some
helpful terms. Cis gender describes a personal feels that gender
identity matches the sex that a doctor assigned to them
at birth. If you're in the sixth grade, you think
you understand that, I don't know. Trenchgender describes a person
who feels their gender identity is different from the sex
that a doctor assigned them at birth. Non Binary describes
(03:29):
people whose gender doesn't fit into just male or female.
Gender queer describes people whose gender does and that's traditional roles.
Many gender queer people use pronouns like they or them Again,
I understand it. You probably understand that. Remember, the people
who are filling out this form are six seventh and
eighth graders. I don't know if this was run by parents,
(03:51):
So they ask which of the following terms best described
You're current your current important adjective gender identity, because there
it could be one some one today and a different
one tomorrow. We understand that there are many different ways
you may identify. Please click the pick the one that
best describes you. Here are the choices, sisgender girl or woman. Again,
(04:14):
these are sixth, seventh and eighth graders. I don't know
too many women who are in the sixth seventh or
eighth grade sis gender boy or man. I don't know
how many men are in the sixth seventh and eighth grade.
Transgender girl or woman, transgender boy or girl, non binary
or gender queer. There's another category questioning. Then there's a
(04:36):
separate category. I don't know what this question means. If
I was in the sixth or seventh and eighth grade,
I certainly would have known what it meant. And then
I prefer not to answer. So then they break it down,
what sex well you assigned at birth? Now we've we've
switched from gender to sex, which is going to confuse
(04:56):
a lot of kids. But that's okay. What sex we
aside that birth on your original birth certificate? Male? Female?
I prefer not to answer. Which of the following best
describes your sexual orientation. Now we're getting into this, okay.
We understand that there are many different ways you may
identify please pick the one that best describes you. Straight
(05:18):
or heterosexual, lesbian or gay, asexual, bisexual, pan sexual, queer, questioning,
I don't know what this question means. I prefer not
to answer. Then they ask the kids about their race.
What language do you speak at home? And the next
question is there at least one teacher or adult in
your school that you can talk to if you have
(05:38):
a problem. Okay, then I'm not going to get to everything,
but I do want to get to sexual behaviors. This
is question eighty one. They ask about your drug use.
What do you use? I mean, you know, kids in
the sixth, seventh and eighth grade call me naive, but
you know, I'm assuming kids in the sixth, seventh and
(06:01):
eighth grade, for the most part don't use drugs. Some
probably do that you probably can figure that out if
you're a smart teacher. Sexual behaviors this is this gets
a little uncomfortable. So if it makes you uncomfortable, think
about what it does to a sixth seventh or eighth grader.
The next question asked about sexual behaviors, and we're going
to get to my guests right away after these two questions.
(06:25):
Question eighty one, have you ever had sexual contact with
another person. Sexual contact includes things such as kissing, touching,
and sexual intercourse. Pretty straightforward, Yes, no, I'm not sure, okay.
Question eighty two hours We're getting real, real, real, getting
deep here. Have you ever had sexual intercourse? They got
(06:46):
to explain what sexual intercourse is to these sixth, seventh,
and eighth graders. Why don't they give them, you know,
a good course on you know, sex education. Sexual intercourse
includes vaginal sex, which is when a penis goes inside
of vagina, of vagina, oral sex, when there is contact
between the mouth and genitals. Anal sex, which is when
(07:06):
a penis goes inside in anus parentheses, but in use
of toys of props, vaginal or anal? Yes or no?
Question eighty three how old were you when you had
sexual in course for the first time? Eight years? Are younger?
Nine years, ten years, eleven years, twelve years, thirteen year older?
(07:28):
I mean most kids are going to say, well, I
gotta put down I got to answer this question somewhay here.
There's no option to say, well, I've never had sexual intercourse.
Question eighty four, The last time you had sexual in
course did you use a condom? Eighty five question, have
you ever sent or received sexual messages or nude or
semi nude pictures of videos electronically by phone, computer, tablet,
(07:49):
or other device. This is why the town of Burlington
is upset and with us. Is Mike King, President of
the Massachusetts Family in stude. Mike, I kind of imagine
why anyone would be upset with the kids being given
this this survey. Was this cleared with parents ahead of time? Mike?
Speaker 3 (08:10):
He did?
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Yeah, thanks for so much. This is outrageous. I'm glad
you took the times to reference those so I didn't
have to reference them myself.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Sure, I took that. I took that burden off your shoulders. Wow, yeah,
we're parents notify this. Did kids have a chance to
opt out of this or did parents have a chance
to opt their kids?
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:32):
I mean so, they absolutely an oportunity to opt out,
and many of them did opt out. And one of
the most outrageous things about this story is that parents
opted their kids out of this survey and it was
still given to their kids. So there have been compelled
hold on, I.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Want to make sure I understood this. So they sent
it home to the parents for the parents to read
and gave the parents an opportune you need to opt
out on behalf of their their sixth, seventh, and eighth graders.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Yeah, so it's not my understanding that the actual survey
went home, but it did go through one of the
apps that the school provides saying that there was going
to be this this youth survey, right, and I can
and you can imagine that parents are getting inundated with
messages right about what's going on at school, and so
(09:25):
many parents missed the uh, you know, the heads up
about the survey. But there were parents that did see
it and opted their kids out. So that's why our
Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center, which is a part of MFI,
filed complaints because there's federal law that says that you
(09:45):
cannot do this. You cannot give a survey where a
kid a parent has already opted out. So formal complaints
have been made. And if there's more brilliant comparents that
are listening to you tonight, I encourage them to look
up the Massachusetts Liberty Center on theline. We'd be happy
to make more complaints on your behalf.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
So just so I understand, I'm kind of old fashioned.
So in the old days when something of some controversy
was going on, oh, like a field trip to an
apple orchard in like October. You would come bring home
a note from the teacher and the parent would have
to sign the note to give you permission to go
(10:30):
on the trip to the apple orchard. And of course
every kid wanted to go on the trip, because that
way you'd have to sit in class all day and
be bored. You could be in an apple organ in
a beautiful day in October, and the worst thing you
could happen to you there is maybe some bee might
give you a little sting on the arm or something,
if it's one of those days where the bees were active.
(10:51):
But parents got a note at home, they read it
and they sent it back. So the Burlington school didn't
do that. They just sent it out as an app.
Like parents, double income, double working parents have enough time
to go home and say, sweetheart, we're going to check
this see if there's any apps about whether our kids
(11:11):
is using sex toys. So let's let's look at the apps.
Speaker 5 (11:15):
Really yeah, I mean, parents have what's called a parent
square app, right, I mean one parent said that they
had received twenty five notifications in one day.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
Regarding what was going on at school. So you can imagine,
you know, this one thing that goes out on this
survey and again it talks about this, you know, youth survey,
so you don't really have this idea that it's talking
about sex or your gender identity or your sexu orientation.
And so blindsided so many parents, and that's why they're
so upset. Not just they were blindsided, but then especially
(11:49):
those that opt out, and then you know, they were
almost forced their kids were still forced to take this survey.
So it's incredibly you know, parents are outraged, as they
should be. But I want your listeners to know that
this isn't just in Burlington where this is happening. This
is happening. We know the same survey as being given
(12:09):
in Wilmington, one town over, and then towns and cities
across Massachusetts are having surveys like that.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
And I assume that, and Mike, I got to take
a commercial break here, but I just want to ask
one question. I'm assuming that there's some company out there
who has some prurient interest in finding out what kids
the ages of ten, eleven, and twelve know and do,
and they're.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Being big bucks.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
No what I'm saying, there's some group out there that
has been figured this out and they're being paid big
bucks to produce these surveys. Boy, this is in my opinion,
call me old fashioned, but this is really outrageous. I mean,
my wait, do they what do they do next? Do
(13:02):
they have the kids maybe take the next survey? And
what they could do is uh and show the kids
pictures of sex organs to make sure that the kids
are accurately described. I mean, this is insane. Mike. I'm
gonna give out our phone number. We have some callers
in the line. I want you to stay right there.
We'll handle the callers. The only line that is open
(13:23):
right now is six one seven, nine, three one ten thirty.
So the regular line, which is six, we have two lines.
The line that most people default to six one, seven, two,
five four ten thirty is filled and those lines will
clear as we deal with some of the callers. We're
going to talk with Jamie, Adrian and Hilda in a moment.
If you would like to get in, we'll talk about
(13:45):
this until ten o'clock, and to be honest with you,
I'm prepared to do longer than that if we have to. Uh,
the other line is six one seven, nine, three, one,
ten thirty. Back on Night's Side with my guest Mike King.
Mike King, who is the president of the Massachusetts Family Institute.
And wow, this this is way over the top. I
(14:07):
mean I can be critical of things, but this if
that was if this was given to my sound or
daughter when they were ten years old, there would be
they would be I would be in some administrator's office
the next morning. I guarantee you that we'll be back
on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on w b Z,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
We're talking about a Burlington, Massachusetts, middle school student survey.
And uh, if you read the global article, congratulations to
the Boston Globe for putting this story in a prominent spot,
page B one, which is the metro section. Burlington parents
express OUTRAGEO of a detailed sex questions in middle school survey.
(14:52):
And the reporter on the story and the editor, the reporter,
James Vaznis. I hope I'm pronounced James's name correctly. We
invited him to join us. He was unable to join
this time, but would the letter to be joined by
Mike King, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute. Let's get
to phone calls. Mike, I suspect most people are going
to be on your side. Let's let's get it going.
(15:12):
Let me go to Jamie in Burlington. Jamie, I appreciate
your calling in. Are you a parent in the Burlington
school system?
Speaker 6 (15:21):
Yes? I am a parent in the Burlington school system,
and I actively came out to speak at the school
committee meeting because I'm not sure that a lot of
parents are aware of this type of survey, and that
Mike is correct. There are ten districts and the questions
come from the john Snow Ink, which, from my understanding
(15:45):
was each town with a grant with Lahy, but each
town paid the john Snow Inc. A total of seven
thousand dollars for this survey.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
So you mentioned that name of a hold on, Jamie,
hold on for a second. You've mentioned the name of
a company called something john snow Ink. Where is that
a Massachusetts company? If you know, and if you don't.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
That's I don't think it's a Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
We can we can let that go.
Speaker 6 (16:19):
It was based off the and then the john Snow Inc.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
We can let we can let that go. Jamie. I'm
much more interested in your reaction when you found out,
did you have you have a son or a daughter
in the sixth seventh or eighth grade? Right?
Speaker 6 (16:37):
I have no. I actually have a daughter who's a
junior at the high school, and I thought that even
that content at her age was an outrageous over overreach.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Was this survey given to Is this survey given to
high school students as well? I'm confused. I thought it
was just a middle school.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
Yes, it was given through gades middle schools. It was
grades through twelve.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Okay, Well, the one that that I was that we
have a copy of, and I can't tell you where
we got the copy, but the one that we that
we have a copy of, it says the twenty twenty
five Burlington Middle School Survey, and it says what grade
are you in? Now, that's why I asked. I read
(17:25):
the first question six seventh or eighth? So what I've
read was what was given a sixth seventh and eighth graders?
Whether or not there was a second Burlington High School
survey which was identical or not, we don't know what
is the school? So there was a school committee, meaning
you said, when was that.
Speaker 6 (17:48):
There was one on April first, and there was also
second one on April eighth.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Okay, what are the school committee members saying? Are they
concerned about this? Are they telling you, oh, please, don't
don't worry about this is fine? What's their position?
Speaker 6 (18:03):
Zero transparency? We've gotten kind of zero transparency in many
of the questions for the parents that came out and
spoke and wanted answers, they were not transparent at all.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Well, the only thing I could say, the only thing
I could say to you, Jamie, and I got to
jump off here because we have a bunch of callers,
I would hope that if you and other parents feel
you're not being well served by your school committee, this
is an abject lesson that government affects you most impactfully
(18:38):
at the closest level. You can vote for president, you
can vote for governor, and you can vote for senator.
But it's the school committee and the town city council
or the board of aldermen. And I hope that if
there's enough of you who are upset not only with
the survey, but what the response of the school committee,
(18:59):
get out and run for office and get your friends
to run for office and take over the school committee.
Speaker 6 (19:04):
Yeah, no, we definitely, we definitely do need to and
we paid a superintendent three hundred thousand dollars a year
who actually stated at the meeting he did not vet
the questions before he released them to the children in
the district. Well, I jall salery, and he didn't vet
the question I.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Would argue that's educational malpractice. But that's for the voters
of Burlington to decide, because it's the school committee I
assume who hires the school superintendent. Jamie, thank you for
having the courage and the guts to call this show.
Speaker 6 (19:35):
Exactly, and sadly this is not the first incident.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
All the more reason because if they get away with
something as outrageous as this once and it's sort of
like once you know, fool me once, do it again
and something has to you got to get involved. Dear Jamie,
I again, keep us posted. Okay, thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
We appreciate you taking us and taking the serious and
giving us some time to talk about it.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You bet you're more than welcome. Thank you for calling.
We'll continue our conversation. The only line that has opened
a six month, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty. Uh,
my guest on the line with us. We're going to
be taking calls, is Mike King. Mike, I know you
didn't get a chance to respond to Jamie's call, but
I suspect that more than a few parents who feel
(20:26):
that way in Burlington.
Speaker 7 (20:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
No, I'm excited to hear from more parents that are
calling in today. And I just hope that all your
listeners listening tonight and take this as you know, like
you said, encouragement that the only way we're really going
to make change is that people end up running for
school committee. You know, look this, I don't know if
you saw that Sutton story last year where a drag
queen showed up at the Sutton High School. It outraged
(20:50):
parents and Sutton, and within six months they flipped their
school board, they got rid of their superintendent, and now
they're going to start passing policy at the local level
that's going to help. So this is exactly what needs
to happen.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Yeah. I mean again, what people I always say to
friends of mine, you voted in a presidential election. You
in about one hundred and seventy or so million other
Americans voted in a presidential election. So the value of
your vote in Massachusetts pretty much you know, how presidential
election may go. You vote a governor's race, and there's
probably three three and a half maybe four million people
(21:24):
voted a governor's race. But when you talk about a
local school committee race, I mean twenty five people can
get involved and you can flip a school committee set
pretty easily in most towns in Massachusetts.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Certain yeah, yeah, I know there was a school committee
race andover that was just decided by twelve votes.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Yeah, yeah, and again whatever, whatever the issue is, you
got to get involved because this impacts you most directly.
The impact of government. The government that is closer to
you has a greater impact on you, and more importantly,
your family will take a break, a newsbreak. Michael wanted
(22:01):
you to stay with us. We'll get more phone calls.
The only line that is opened six one, seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty. And by the way, I know we'll hear
from some Burlington parents. We have others lined up here.
But if you want to chime in on this issue,
and if you want to tell me you think that
these questions for sixth and seventh and eighth graders is perfect,
feel free. I always look for all points of view
(22:22):
on this program. I may disagree with you, and we
may hit you with it pretty hard, but feel free
to join the conversation. All points of view are respected.
I'm just be prepared for some questions. That's all back
from Nightside.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
After this, It's night Side with Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
We're talking about a Burlington Middle school survey of kids
in the sixth, seventh and eighth grade, which I think
is way over the top. Adrian is in Burlington. Adrian,
appreciate you. Call you Next on Nightside, Mike King, the
president of the mass Family Institute, joins us. Go ahead, Adrian,
Thanks Dan.
Speaker 8 (22:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (23:00):
Now, I'm one of the parents who had opted my
eighth grade son, who was thirteen. I had opted him
out and they failed to honor the opt out and
he had to answer those questions.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Wow, how angry are you?
Speaker 9 (23:15):
I'm angry for every parent. I'm angry about the whole process,
the failure to make sure that parents knew what they
were going to be asking our kids. I mean, that's
really number one. I feel like it's kind of sneaky,
and I, for myself, I can't imagine asking another person's
child those questions and not making sure that that parent
knew what I was doing.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
You almost wonder if they are on some people, and
I don't know if they're the people who are running
the survey, the people who are advocates for the survey,
if they don't get some jolly's out of this. I
mean it's you know, this almost gets to the idea
of introducing kids. Are they grooming them for child trafficking
or something. I mean, I'm serious when I say that.
(23:57):
It's like, I get it if you a very progressive
and you feel that kids at a very young age
should should know about, you know, sex toys, which you know,
but but you don't have a right to impose that
another parents. You know, if you want to talk to
you a four year old about sex toys, have at it.
(24:17):
But you don't have a right even if you're a
school company, remember to introduce that topic to kids in
the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade if their parents are opposed.
Speaker 6 (24:25):
That's the point exactly.
Speaker 9 (24:28):
I mean, I have a parental right to decide when
and how I talk to my children about these things.
And I know what they're pushing through the sex that curriculum,
and it does. It enables them to engage in behaviors
and it normalizes it, and so myself, I work in
the field of child sexual abuse prevention. This is not
a safe thing to be doing to children. It absolutely
(24:49):
normalizes it so that someone else can say, hey, let's
do those things, and then they see it online and
they can absolutely be groomed by this.
Speaker 6 (24:57):
I am concerned.
Speaker 9 (24:57):
About what the real motivation are on various levels of
the people who are involved.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Well as I as I said to Jamie, I hope
this activates a lot of parents in Burlington. And you know, again,
your your vote in a presidential election, gubernatorial election, you know,
statewide elections, they're all important, but the vote that is
actually more important to you and is heavier to you
in terms of the weight of your vote in a town,
(25:25):
your town elections. And this drives home the point. If
people don't get that point with something like this, they
never will. So I hope that that a lot of
folks up there, you know, get activated as simple as that.
Speaker 9 (25:38):
Yeah, No, we absolutely are, because I think we were
really a silent majority of people who have been, you know,
talking in the background. But whenever you speak out about
these things, you get labeled hateful and bigoted.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean they're gonna Oh yeah, you're
you're closed minded because you don't want your your eleven
year old to know about sex toys. Oh yeah, I
mean you know, I mean everybody should be talking about
that at the family dinner table. Certainly, don't talk to
your kids about how they're doing on the math test
of what's going on in English class. Talk to them
(26:09):
about sex toys. That's what kids need to know about.
These people are weirdos well, and I.
Speaker 9 (26:15):
Think there's grant money funding it, So that's what you've
been pushing it. More. They see the money and they say,
let's implement these things into the school system. So people, absolutely.
We just had a school committee election a week after
that first school committee and if this had happened a
month ago, one of those people would have been out
because she actually said that she thought that this survey
(26:35):
had value, and so I'm quite sure that she saw it.
And I don't trust anybody who saw those questions and
thought this was okay. So no, absolutely, next election, we
are going to be ramping up and we're going to
be ready.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Well, here's the question. Time works against you. Do you
have a way up there to run? To run? And
I'm sure Mike King could answer this better than I could.
Do you have a process up there to recall, have
recall elections?
Speaker 9 (27:01):
That's a great question. I don't know if Mike knows.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
Yeah, I don't know exactly on the answer to that question, Dan,
but I don't think there'd be an oportunity to recall
at this point on the election that Adrian's talking about,
that happened, you know, two or three weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Well, I'll tell you if if people are upset about it,
what will happen is a year from now people will
move on into other things. And anyway, that's my opinion,
I would be I bring over the moon on this. Adrian. Congratulations,
thanks for calling in and protect your kids. Okay, you
are the parents of those kids. The teachers and the
(27:38):
school administrators. They are not in local parentees. They are
teachers and school administrators, not parents, and the roles need
to be defined more clearly. Thanks Adrian, thank you, You're welcome.
I'm gonna take a quick break. We'll go into the
next hour in this if we have to. Mike, I
disagree with you. I think that that a recall election.
(28:00):
It takes a little while. You got to get signatures
you got to make them run for reelection. I I
don't know what the town charter says, but it would
seem to me that if that, if that opportunit tunity existed,
now would be the time to to try to get
it done. But that's that's.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
Yeah, well for sure, I mean there's enough, there's enough
parents that are concerned about it. So if it's something
that can be and you definitely have a lot of
parents that are ready to ready to do something.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
All right. Again, the legal process is important, and certainly
as the president of the Mass Family Institute, but the
court of the court of public opinion is also a
very important arm of the legal process in my opinion.
We'll take a quick break, come and come back. We
get Hilda coming up, John Ryl Jason uh and if necessary,
we'll go into the next hour if you want, I
(28:48):
have a subject for the next hour, but I am
more than happy to stay with this. Back on night
Side right.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
After this, It's Night Side, Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Back to the phone, you go, let me go to
Hilda and Burlington Hill. Appreciate your patients. You're on with
Mike King, President at the Mass Family Institute. Hilda garrettehead.
Speaker 8 (29:12):
Hi there, how are you tonight?
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Good Hilda, We're on the heir gorettehead.
Speaker 8 (29:16):
Hello, can you hear me?
Speaker 2 (29:18):
We hear you.
Speaker 8 (29:21):
I was actually wonderful. So I was actually one of
the first parents. I was the first parent on the
April first meeting to approach the bench there and uh
speak my mind. I was very, very distraught when I
heard and saw all of the questions that were on
(29:43):
that survey there. And unfortunately, you know, I've gotten a
lot of backlash because of what I felt this survey represented,
and unfortunately it was delivered to us under the guys
of a very benign and innocent survey. I actually.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
That was okay, you can't hear me, he'll the whate
was the source of the backlash.
Speaker 8 (30:16):
So the backlash that we're getting is, you know, first
of all, we have the head of the b A
mister Mufflman. He's uh put out a video saying that
you know, it's very dangerous that we're calling people groomors,
and uh, you know, if if I never called anybody groomers,
(30:38):
I said that this is grooming. And if this is
if this isn't grooming, I don't know what is to
be injecting ideas of, you know, a very sexual nature
into innocent children's minds. If this isn't grooming, I don't
know what is.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Who was the gentleman you referred to? Was he was
he a member of the school board?
Speaker 8 (31:00):
Is he is the head of the Burlington Educators Association?
Speaker 2 (31:05):
And what is that group? I'm unfamiliar with that group?
Is that is again? Is that the school board? Is that?
Speaker 9 (31:11):
That?
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Is that a parents group? Who is that? What is
that group?
Speaker 8 (31:16):
It's the I understand that they're the they're the teachers.
It's like a teachers association that they have, the educators Association.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Okay.
Speaker 8 (31:24):
And so he was not only doing that, he put
out a very divisive message into the community, but the
very next weekend he was out at the anti Trump
uh uh rally and Boston.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
You know, well, here's the thing I think. I think
if you, if you don't mind, I would tell you,
I think you make a mistake if you if you
work this into national politics, because that's what the other
side is going to try to do. This has nothing
to do with Donald Trump, has nothing to do with
this has everything to do with your children, with your
kids exactly they're educationsh.
Speaker 8 (32:02):
What's really upsetting to me is that they're trying to
turn this into an LGBTQ issue, which it is not.
It is nothing to do with LGBTQ. This has to
do with the innocence of our children. This has to
do with our parental rights being violated, and this is
(32:22):
sexual grooming and it is Let me hid.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
I don't need to interrupt here, but I just want
to tell you. I guarantee you the majority, indeed the
vast majority of parents in Burlington who have kids in
school or out of school, will agree with you. Don't
be bullied by the other side. They're going to take potsha.
Speaker 8 (32:43):
They're calling me a bully.
Speaker 7 (32:45):
Now they're selling that is the That's exactly That's exactly
what I'm trying to I'm trying to basically support you
and tell you that that is exactly what bullies do, okay,
and they will employ whatever language they can to discredit you,
(33:05):
not to discredit.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
The argument you're making. Stay on the issue, Stay in
the argument. It is about the children, is about your children,
is about your authority with your children. Who's going to
run your family? You are some head of some teachers group, okay,
And that's why I say and.
Speaker 8 (33:21):
Said to Jamie, do you know how you said, sir,
that you said how important it is to have to
participate in our local elections. Yes, very following weekend we
had our local elections, and I actually ran for school
committee within twenty four hours before the elections to occur.
I ran for school Committee and I received three hundred
(33:43):
and seventeen votes on the last day of that election.
Each other committee member that was running for reelection, they
only received about two thousand votes each, and fifteen hundred
of those votes were mail in votes for months and
months prior to when they were running for reelection.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Well, first of all, mail in votes shouldn't be coming.
I can only tell.
Speaker 8 (34:07):
You, Hilda, the mail had I run, had I run
way before then, from the very beginning, I probably would
have been voted in to the school committee and I
would so love to have been a part of it.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Well here's the deal. Run again, run again, pull your
committee together, and run again, Hilda. I got to run
because they got to get a couple more people in.
But please continue to listen to this program. Run again, Hilda, run, Hilda.
Speaker 8 (34:36):
Run So much for all of your support, We really
appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Well, let me tell you, I am with you a
thousand percent. Here, I'm with you a thousand percent, and
I and I and I congratulate you and the other parents. Look,
my kids are If that ever happened to my kids
when my kids were young, and it didn't, I would
have been over the moon. Help. Please get out there
(35:02):
and run and and work with other people. And you
will find out Bill that that eighty percent of the
people in Burlington agree with you when they understand the issue.
That's that's that's the dirty little secret here, trust me
on that. Okay, you got to run again.
Speaker 8 (35:16):
Thanks so much, thank you, pleasure that the children, thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
You got it. Thank you so much, thank you, thank you,
thank you, John and Quincy. John, I'm trying to get
you in here before the break. To those of you
in the line, I'm going to stick with this into
the next hour. So stay right there, go ahead, John.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Happy Eastern pass over again to your audience, and God
bless them, Good luck to those students and parents and Burlington.
You bet you yeah, that's uh, you know, it's it's
it's it's it's unacceptable that going on, and it's unacceptable
to Burlington, the parents, the students, and.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Well it has it has the potential to go on everywhere.
You have a great mayor in Quincy, Tom Coke, and
I don't think this would happen in Quinsy in my opinion,
but that's because you have a great mayor, okay, and
someone who I've known for many years. And I'm telling
you what happens is in these other towns. Everybody is
so involved with youth soccer and youth hockey and youth
(36:18):
little League and I was involved in all of that stuff.
And you don't focus unless you keep an eye on
what's going on in schools. And this is outrageous. This
is absolutely outrageous. So you know, people should should work together,
form groups and get ready for the next election. And
if you have a recall ability to recall people if
(36:38):
they're not listening to you, you can have disagreements, but
on something as shocking as this, this is way over
the top. John. I appreciate your support, but more importantly,
I think people in Burlington appreciate your support. We are
going to take this into the next hour, so I
thank you so much, but I'm flat out of time.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
This hour Okay, understood, and good luck to them and
the old Bronton mall in the Cafe Esque a Jill
and Burlington Dodge and all that other good stuff.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
It's great. It's a great community. It's a great community.
Thank thanks John for sure. All right, good night, Mike King.
Keep us posting on this. I know this is one
that I feel pretty emotional about as as I think
you could tell and feel free to keep me posted
on this and we'll have you back and I'm going
to continue on this topic next hour. Great.
Speaker 4 (37:28):
Anyone interested in learning more about this context Burlington to
our short code eight seven eight nine one.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Eight seven eight nine to one. How can people find you?
You know there's a lot of people who don't text
and all of that. How can people find your organization?
Either you know, on Facebook or is there a quick
and easy way to get in contact with you?
Speaker 4 (37:55):
Yeah, just you can just google Massachusetts Family Institute and
in our legal arm the Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center. Like
I said, there's been two federal complaints and we're looking
to file several more complaints as well.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
So is it Massfamilyinstitute dot org. Mike. People are out there,
will they want to know what.
Speaker 4 (38:17):
Yeah, it's mafamily dot org, m A family dot oarg.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Perfect, perfect, simple, straightforward. Mike, thanks very much, thanks for
joining us, and please keep us posted on this. Okay,
sometimes when these stories occur, different good organizations are tough
to get a hold of it. I know that this
is uh, you know, pass overseas and Easter season. This
is good Friday, and I know that there are a
lot of people probably who wouldn't have been available tonight.
(38:47):
I want to thank you for joining us tonight. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (38:49):
Absolutely. Like I said, we had success in and we're
gonna have success in Burlington, and more and more parents
are waking up, so we're very excited about the future.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
All right, to those of you, thanks, thanks again, Mike.
For those of you in the line, stay there. We'll
continue this until the next hour. I have another topic
to talk about, but this is important. This is local.
We're going to stick with it. One line open, six, one, seven, nine, three, one,
ten thirty
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