'Wokeness' in IUSD and TUSD?

potsticker

Active member
I have young children and Kindergarten isn't too far off for us. We're starting to evaluate schools and have heard the horror stories (in our opinion) of elementary-aged kids being indoctrinated with the "woke" agenda. These stories are in the press and come from other areas of the country - but I've yet to hear anything specific locally. What are the observations from the parents here who send their kids to IUSD/TUSD schools?

As a disclaimer - I am not trying to start a debate on the politics of all this. I just want to understand what's actually taking place in our local schools versus what you hear about in the news and social media.
 
I have young children and Kindergarten isn't too far off for us. We're starting to evaluate schools and have heard the horror stories (in our opinion) of elementary-aged kids being indoctrinated with the "woke" agenda. These stories are in the press and come from other areas of the country - but I've yet to hear anything specific locally. What are the observations from the parents here who send their kids to IUSD/TUSD schools?

As a disclaimer - I am not trying to start a debate on the politics of all this. I just want to understand what's actually taking place in our local schools versus what you hear about in the news and social media.
Somewhat off topic but I recently met a young teacher at a friend’s wedding in LA and she said Irvine is the one of the lowest paying districts.
 
I'm interested to hear what the IUSD and TUSD parents have to say in response to your question.

We've got kids going into 5th and 7th and we are still finding our way in regards to what to do in the years ahead. We've tried public (not in OC) and private (in OC) and in either case, I feel the individual teacher makes a big difference and we've had great ones in both. The teachers bring their lives/experiences into their teaching. You can tell that some really care about your kids while others are nice but are on autopilot. In either case, you, as the parent, definitely need to take responsibility for your kids learning what they need to. The teachers don't have the ability to do it with the ratios they have.

With the private, I feel like your input is heard more by the teachers/administration whereas it didn't feel like that in public.

I haven't really seen a difference in 'wokeness' between our public school experience and our non-religious private school. I think we need to talk to the kids about various issues as they grow.

I'm definitely concerned about indoctrination given articles like:
 
TUSD parent.

JIMHO, there is no indoctrination for wokeness. (In k-8 TUSD)

if your definition of woke though runs more sensitive, yes, your child may encounter another child with same sex parents. There may be a book in the teacher’s collection of books for the kids to borrow that are banned in other parts of the country, and PRIDE month may be acknowledged and the school may have a designated “safe” space. If your child has a conflict they may experience restorative Justice. If the words above make you cringe in horror for “woke” then it’s woke.

As Zovall noted, the individual teacher makes a huge difference.
 
No problem with IUSD for us. My son just finished 8th grade and decided that he wanted to go Beckman instead of Northwood HS since TUSD offers AP classes for freshman. Northwood only offers AP classes starting junior year.

What i find interesting is that Beckman has no issue accepting IUSD transfer as intra-district vs TUSD inter-district transfer. My son and a couple of his friends got accepted but my friend’s kid living in Tustin got rejected. His designated school is Tustin High. According to TUSD website, TUSD transfer should have higher priority than outside the district. In reality, it seems like the opposite.
 
TUSD parent.

JIMHO, there is no indoctrination for wokeness. (In k-8 TUSD)

if your definition of woke though runs more sensitive, yes, your child may encounter another child with same sex parents. There may be a book in the teacher’s collection of books for the kids to borrow that are banned in other parts of the country, and PRIDE month may be acknowledged and the school may have a designated “safe” space. If your child has a conflict they may experience restorative Justice. If the words above make you cringe in horror for “woke” then it’s woke.

As Zovall noted, the individual teacher makes a huge difference.

Thanks, that's helpful. Your examples seem reasonable overall. The bottom line for me is that, when the time comes, I want to talk with my kids about what they're observing and coming across. I don't want the school or teachers telling them what they should believe or what is socially acceptable. Just sounds like as parents we need to get in front of establishing a belief system much earlier/sooner than when we grew up. Maybe I'm overthinking it...but I know it's something that's on the minds of many parents I know with toddler-aged kids.
 
No problem with IUSD for us. My son just finished 8th grade and decided that he wanted to go Beckman instead of Northwood HS since TUSD offers AP classes for freshman. Northwood only offers AP classes starting junior year.

What i find interesting is that Beckman has no issue accepting IUSD transfer as intra-district vs TUSD inter-district transfer. My son and a couple of his friends got accepted but my friend’s kid living in Tustin got rejected. His designated school is Tustin High. According to TUSD website, TUSD transfer should have higher priority than outside the district. In reality, it seems like the opposite.
TUSD gets additional money if a student transfers from another district. There is no additional money for an in district transfer. So TUSD is financially incentivized to prioritize out of district students for those available Beckman slots.
 
TUSD gets additional money if a student transfers from another district. There is no additional money for an in district transfer. So TUSD is financially incentivized to prioritize out of district students for those available Beckman slots.
Priority is to existing TUSD students over inter district transfers. This includes siblings of inter district transfers that have been admitted, they are treated like a TUSD student.
 
Priority is to existing TUSD students over inter district transfers. This includes siblings of inter district transfers that have been admitted, they are treated like a TUSD student.
I suspect there is some sort of back door deal between TUSD and IUSD since Beckman has Irvine address. I highly doubt if a Santa Ana kid would get same kind treatment.
 
Temecula.

On May 16, the school board rejected curriculum that included a biography of Harvey Milk. It was supplemental material for fourth graders that was optional for teachers to use. More than 45 teachers had already piloted the program.

 
I can understand the concerns of potentially instilling wokeness at an early age. When it comes to political topics, I feel parents should not force their kids to believe in one side and not the other. It should be an unbias discussion of weighing both sides beliefs and letting their kid pick a side or even be neutral. The idea is to teach your kid to make their own decisions and let their experiences dictate their beliefs.
 
I feel like that about politics and religion. At the same time, I don’t want schools or other institutions pushing their preferences on my kids.
 
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