A Peak Behind The Irvine Unified Administrative Curtain

The Facts On Ideology Over Academics

We’re seeing some of the unfortunate trends in public education. Most recently the Gender Ideology Social Contagion has been getting a lot of media attention and coverage. Tustin Unified, Santa Ana Unified, Orange Unified and Newport Mesa Unified have been making headlines. Mysteriously- Irvine Unified has been absent from the headlines. Most might assume that Irvine Unified is absent from headlines because it has been immune to the contagion given its pristine reputation, academic rigor and its mission to provide the best possible learning experience envisioned. Unfortunately, what’s happening within IUSD is no different than what is happening within all the other Districts that have made the headlines- it may even be worse. What we have been able to unearth from Public Records requests is information that Irvine Unified District Administration presumably has been working very diligently to keep “under wraps”.

It’s my goal to bring you the facts of what’s happening behind the Administrative curtain of Irvine Unified School District. It’s not my goal to persuade or influence you- rather merely to inform you so that you can draw your own conclusions. I encourage you to do your own fact checking and draw your own conclusions. It’s important for the families with students enrolled in Irvine Unified to be aware of what’s being pushed and promoted into local schools and classrooms and how it’s being pushed from an Administrative level down. It’s important for Irvine residents and taxpayers to be aware as well because this affects our entire community. In spite of IUSD Administration & IUSD Board relentless denial- evidence suggests that what is being pushed, with regard to Social Justice, is a distraction from teaching basic academics. I refer you to my prior Substack posts which highlight some of this evidence.

In April a Whistleblower came to our Irvine Parents United Parent coalition for help. This Whistleblower presented 3 sample letters on how to introduce gender ideology in elementary classrooms obtained from hyperlinks included in an internal staff bulletin. The links to the sample letters were furnished by IUSD’s LGBTQ+ Community Support Liaison/Mental Health Specialist. These sample are just one representation of IUSD’s desire to normalize gender ideology in the classrooms starting at the TK level. There is widespread student support for such an initiative which I wrote about in my post about the October 11, 2022 IUSD Board Meeting. Here are a couple sentences from each of the template letters to give some context:  

“This year will be new and exciting in lots of different ways. I can’t wait to teach you and learn from you! In addition to math, reading, writing, science, and social studies, we will also talk a lot about identities like race, gender, culture, and ability, and how these identities affect us and our world.” 

“This year in our classroom we will explore a range of social justice topics. At the beginning of the year we will devote time to explore our identities. This month, children will be introduced to the language of gender. They will become familiar with terms such as gender identity, gender expression and with pronouns.”  

“We are [also] going to read and learn about gender diversity. In most cultures people are often taught that there are only two options for gender: boy and girl. We are often taught that we must fit fully into one or the other, and behave in a way that matches our gender. In our class, we will start by thinking about the stereotypes (we will call them “messages”) often associated with these two genders. Once we have generated a list of stereotypes, we will think and talk about whether these messages are always true. We’ll explore the spectrum of gender identities. Here we’ll talk about all of the ways you can be a boy, a girl, both, or neither. We will read books about gender nonconforming and transgender children and adults.”  

The Whistleblower’s information prompted Irvine Parents United to submit a series of Public Records requests to IUSD Administration throughout April, May, June & July in an attempt to obtain copies of the template letters and corroborate additional evidence received. A variety of other records pertinent to Social Justice and Mental Health initiatives within IUSD were solicited as part of the requests. The information received back from IUSD is revealing. [I intend to post everything we have received from IUSD in the form of Public Records to this Substack so that readers can draw their own conclusions.]

I found multiple instances of information, in the public records, that contradicts what Board and Administration state publicly. I attempted to hold the Board Member for my Trustee Area to account for one such example of a contradiction. In response to my attempt, I was told (via email correspondence that came from the Executive Assistant to the Superintendent and not directly from my Board Member)

“Boards of Education serve a vital role in governing school districts by setting policies and making governance decisions.  Whereas, staff manage the day-to-day operations of the District and implement board policies and carry out the direction provided by the Board.  It is unreasonable to expect the Board of Education to investigate your accusations or oversee all aspects of the District, such as creation or distribution of training materials or staff resources. IUSD staff are expected to be experts in their areas of focus, and the Board of Education places its trust in the staff to fulfill their duties thoroughly.

The contradictory statements I’m eluding to pertain to IUSD’s Health/ CA Healthy Youth Act FAQ website which explicitly states:

At no time is sex education, sexual orientation or gender identity taught to IUSD K-6 students. While some of this information is included in “Great Body Shop” materials, IUSD does not share or teach lessons about sex education, sexual orientation or gender identity to our K-6 students.

None-the-less, IUSD Board defends their position of maintaining the highest levels of integrity by suggesting I have mis-interpreted what is stated on the IUSD Health/ CA Healthy Youth Act FAQ website as follows:

The responses on IUSD's CA Healthy Youth ACT FAQ's website pertain to the K-6 curriculum taught in "The Great Body Shop", which as stated on the website, does not cover sex education, sexual orientation, or gender identity. The information listed on the website is entirely accurate and will not be modified.  Regardless, sex education, sexual orientation, and/or gender identity are not addressed within any IUSD elementary curriculum. 

Hmmmm…….

Furthermore, I am reminded by my Board Member (via that same email response sent from the Executive Assistant to the IUSD Superintendent) that the template letters I raised concern about (obtained from Whistleblower) could not possibly exist nor were they ever sent out via a staff bulletin:

You are taking wording and information completely out of context. There was no "IUSD internal bulletin sent to IUSD Staff", nor were the “template letters distributed via staff bulletin”; rather, we believe you are referring to a single email with possible resources sent to a single principal who requested support related to a unique classroom situation involving the potential for student-led conversations in the classroom and is not in response to classroom curriculum.

The Board shirked their responsibility and denied accountability when they (Board and Administration) ultimately blame external factors such as households (a.k.a. parents) and social media for introducing gender ideology into IUSD classrooms:

Students may hear, see or read information on social media, in their household, on TV, at play with friends or through other non-school related sources about a wide variety of topics and sometimes bring topics into the classroom.  These student-led topics may necessitate age appropriate conversations by staff.  Therefore, as an education institution, where knowledge and critical thinking are at the center of our work, staff provide legal and vetted resources that are age appropriate to staff as necessary to help facilitate those conversations.  Further, districtwide curriculum for K-6 students should not be conflated with a one-off request for information from a single school site.

In a telephone conversation with my Board Member representative that preceded the email responses I received, my Board Member assured me that IUSD only hires the best. IUSD is great at following the laws and IUSD Administration goes above and beyond make sure they are following all the laws (paraphrased from phone conversation).

Make no mistake-IUSD Administration (and by default the IUSD Board) are fully on board with teaching Gender Ideology among other ideologically motivated concepts such as promoting "antiracism" in the classroom, "abolitionist and decolonial futures in the classroom", the things "liberal minded white educators do to perpetuate racial inequity".... etc. The public records obtained reveal that the IUSD "Director of Advanced Learning and Differentiation" and chief contributor to the IUSD Continuous Improvement Council openly admits:  

" It is frustrating for all of us when progress is not immediately visible and when we are deterred due to political push back or discomfort when we know we have the law and the best interest of kids on our side. A few big leaps have occurred that keep us moving the right direction: IUSD Board BLM resolution, adoption of equity indicators, hiring MHS for AA/B and LGBTQ+, training for all teachers and admins…love the work of schools that have some very vocal and active Equity teams and continue to put equity and inclusion front and center.” 

Upon obtaining and reviewing these public records, I have come to the following conclusions:

1. The IUSD Board and IUSD Administration are not accustomed to being held to account by the public and they do not like it when they are

2. Community Support Liaison roles were recently created for the African American/Black and LGBTQ+ communities with the intent of using the liaison role as a vessel for promoting Social Justice throughout all of IUSD especially amongst the students. These liaisons are Director level Classified Staff positions. (Please see Appendix for screen shot of their compensation schedule)

3. IUSD Board does not have oversight of the materials being pushed out and distributed to staff by the Community Support Liaisons

4. The Board trusts IUSD Administration and the Community Support Liaisons implicitly to distribute whatever materials they deem appropriate without obtaining the Board’s stamp of approval ahead of distribution.

5. IUSD has prioritized Social Justice and the teaching of activism, as relates to Social Justice, over academics. This is all being disguised as a “Continuous Improvement Initiative” and is being orchestrated by the IUSD Continuous Improvement Council. The Continuous Improvement Council meets 3 times during the school year. Meetings are not open to the public nor are any materials from the meetings made available to the public. The Council is not subject to the provisions of the Brown Act and is headed by the Assistant Superintendent of Education Services who embraces a progressive view on all matters related to Social Justice. Except for a read out on the Council’s efforts given by the Assistant Superintendent of Education Services at Board of Education meeting each July, there is no transparency on the work of this Council. 

6. Activism is being intertwined into curriculum starting at the TK level and is now embedded in all of the District’s operating practices and hiring procedures  

7. IUSD Administration is not fully transparent about the explicit focus on Social Justice with its Board, families, tax payers, community members – they frame it as “in the spirit of continuous improvement” an explicit focus on social justice is foundational to student learning  and is the right thing to do for the students. The IUSD Board is adamant that the continuous improvement efforts are not politically or ideologically motivated. [The internal records obtained paint a different picture]  

8. IUSD is propagating the spread of the Gender Fluid social contagion by elevating those who are part of a “marginalized group” and giving them special treatment through promoting the use of Gender Support Plans (not necessarily disclosed to parents), establishment of trusted adults, use of secret code words are more—> this incentivizes students to declare themselves trans or non binary just so they can get the special treatment that goes along with being part of a “marginalized group”  

9. The initiatives underway are polarizing and encourage students to keep secrets from their parents. These initiatives go against the grain of facilitating an open partnership between school, parent, student and teacher as IUSD promotes on its website under its mission, vision and core values statements 

10. IUSD offers no alternative to those who are genuinely gender confused aside from affirmation and IUSD is referring students to Support Groups at Radiant Health Center for affirmation and social grooming without informing parents/ without parent consent (see image below).

The facts, data and information I have presented you in this Substack post, in my previous posts and in my forthcoming posts come directly from my experience attending Irvine Unified Board meetings in person, serving on the Irvine Unified Continuous Improvement Council, serving on my local School Site Council, serving on the PTA Board for my local school and serving as a classroom volunteer. Throughout my “public education awakening”over the past 2+ years, I have never remained silent nor complicit. I cannot sit idly by and watch the innocent minds of our children continue to be polluted by the “captured” public education institutions preaching Anti-American sentiment, Global World Order pedagogy and Communist Ideology. A word of caution for parents and teachers- the Social Justice push by IUSD District Administration is coming with more rigor each successive school year and seems to acquire more breadth and depth in its scope. This will make it even harder for the teachers, genuinely invested in the academic progress of students, to do their job.

It’s my hope that you find this Substack valuable and informative. Please share this with your family and friends. The more informed we are, the better. Should you feel compelled to voice your concerns to IUSD Board, I encourage you to do so. You can find their contact information here. The more we can flood the IUSD Board with emails, the less likely IUSD Administration and Board will be able to deny that we represent the public sentiment majority.

I welcome your comments and I thank you for tuning in.

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APPENDIX

Classified Staff Salary Schedule

The Community Support/Mental Health Specialist are paid under Step 48