March 7, 2008
In this issue:
Respect for Rules; Disrespect for Parents
In a previous issue, we noted how the rules for the State House of Representatives were ignored when Rep. Stacy Campfield (R-Knoxville) asked for a roll call vote on his bill. You may recall it was the bill that would have prohibited elementary and middle schools from providing pro-homosexual curriculum and materials to these young students. But to the credit of the Chair, Joe Towns, when the word got out about what had happened, he changed course.
Parents of these young children need to be the gatekeepers about what their children are told about sex. |
In a rare, if not unique move, he allowed Rep. Campfield to come back this past Tuesday to get the roll call vote he originally requested. The bill was again defeated on a straight party line vote. But at least now we know for sure who voted for the bill and who voted against it. Interestingly, Chairman Towns said it was all about partisan politics. Perhaps it was.
Or perhaps it was simply about wanting voters to know how they are being represented on bills important to their families. And, in any event, a person's motives don't change the merits of the bill - that parents of these young children need to be the gatekeepers about what their children are told about sex.
Apparently, some legislators also believe that if they decry a bill as "just partisan politics" that we will buy it as a good substantive reason for voting against a bill. My guess is that parents are more interested in whether their Representatives respect their role as the primary influence in the lives of their children than they are in whether a Representative is motivated by partisan politics. And, of course, when no Democrat will vote for the bill, the claim of "partisan politics" becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
What the Governor Doesn't Want Parents to Know
Speaking of parents and their rightful place in the lives of their children, we learned this week that the Governor and the majority of the Public Health Subcommittee in the House think that intrusive mental health testing of children is none of a parent's business (HB 1419). For several years a bill to require school officials to get parental permission prior to conducting mental health tests on their children has passed the Senate and died in a House Subcommittee.
The bill, championed by Bobbie Patray, President of Tennessee Eagle Forum, would have required school officials or the testing companies they allow into the schools to get the permission of parents prior to administration of these tests. And this is not just testing of a child whose behavior exhibits some kind of problem. No, we are talking about universal health screenings - screening every child regardless of any apparent need.
In other words, when the government is throught testing your children we'll let you in on it. |
Schools won't let children go on field trips without a permission slip from a parent, but conducting subjective mental health screenings and diagnosis without permission is apparently fine. Schools complain about a lack of parental involvement, but then when given the chance to allow parents to be involved in something that could follow their child for the rest of his or her life - a diagnosis of some mental disorder - they kick the parents out!
Interestingly, this bill had been worked on by all the various departments and was apparently acceptable to them. But, at the hearing, Dr. Catron, Director of the Governor's Office of Child Care Coordination waltzed in with no prior notice to the bill's sponsor (Rep. Beth Harwell, R-Nashville) and said that "they" - presumably the Governor for whom he works - did not want the parents to know about the tests until after they had been conducted. His words were:
"It is very important that we engage parents once children are identified in early identification to allow them to make the important choices about what should happen and what kind of service their children should be involved in."
In other words, when the government is through testing your children we'll let you in on it.
In fact, three states are now being sued over the very issue of false positives made in conjunction with tests parents did not know were being conducted. |
These mental health diagnoses, made on the basis of tests that parents will know nothing about, will go into a child's file. These diagnoses could possibly follow that child for the rest of his or her academic career and possibly into their adult life when they apply for jobs or health insurance.
Dr. Catron made an analogy to universal hearing and sight tests. But hearing and sight tests are objective tests. There are no questions that might be misunderstood by a child that could result in a "false positive" - a diagnosis that is wrong. In fact, three states are now being sued over the very issue of false positives made in conjunction with tests parents did not know were being conducted.
"Public welfare," according to Dr. Catron, dictates that tests be administered without parental consent. Public welfare is too important. But parental rights are important too. But respecting parental rights Dr. Catron said would impose an "economic burden" on the state and would interfere with the "timeliness" of the tests Waiting a week or two to test every child is not a threat to the public welfare. These are grade school children we are talking about here, not suspected terrorist threats!
Parents need to take back their schools. They also need to find people to serve in Nashville who will respect them and their rights. Clearly, the Governor and a majority of the members of this Subcommittee do not.