Claire Palermo

The role of school staff in this situation should be to provide the student with resources about all of the choices available, including pregnant/parenting student programs (if available locally), clinics focused on women’s health, and legal rights of pregnant students under Title IX. The goal should be to raise awareness of all available response options.

Disagree

There is no consensus among biologists as to when personhood begins. Human age starts at birth, but it is also usually clear whether a pregnancy will be viable and safe to complete by the second trimester. Many personal views on this issue are anchored in religious belief. In America, each person deserves to conduct themselves according to their own religious or spiritual beliefs (or lack of) and not be required to adhere to those of others. We should protect the right to safely end a pregnancy.

Agree

Public education is an essential American tradition, with origins dating back to the drafting some of the earliest state constitutions land grant universities in the 18th century. Building and maintaining well-resourced public schools should be a top priority. Knowledgeable and empowered teachers, adequate support staff, safe school environments, robust libraries with research tools, and targeted support for families in poverty are all key to setting our young people up for future success.

Agree

Certain subjects have always been required. We teach every student to read and write. We should teach critical thinking, research skills, argument formation, and citation of sources. Curricula should present a variety of perspectives on different issues. Teachers should tell the truth about our history, even when it is uncomfortable. It is not teachers’ role to force students to adhere to a certain view, but the mission of education should be to serve justice and increased opportunity for all.

Neutral

This question is ambiguous. Age appropriateness is important. There is no need to provide information about Planned Parenthood or similar providers in elementary schools. However, teenagers can handle a wider variety of information about health. Our schools used to regularly include health ed, going back to the 1930s. In 1993, 47 states had mandated sex ed classes for students. Teens benefit from opportunities to ask questions about health that they may not be comfortable asking a parent.

Agree

Students benefit from reasonable amounts of structure, including rules and consequences. These consequences must be applied consistently and fairly, not in patterns which unfairly target or exempt certain groups of students.

Yes

Agree

Agree

Strongly Disagree

We need a consistent, national standard for public education, civics instruction, and preparation for adult life.

Yes. Challenges can become excessive in frequency. Reviewing the same book on a weekly or monthly basis is a waste of everyone’s time. If the book is reviewed and a decision is made, there should be a waiting period of 6 to 12 months before an additional challenge is accepted. There are bursts of media activity around certain books that can fuel a wave of challenges.

Language Arts, Civics, American History, Information Technology, Science, Mathematics, Art & Music, Personal Finances, Physical Fitness, Sexuality, Foreign Language, Vocational Learning, Social-Emotional Learning, Political Activism. The use of the terms Critical Race Theory and Gender Identity as isolated topics is unnecessarily inflammatory. Any thorough examination of American history, civics, science and art will inevitably touch on race, gender, class, religion, and sociological issues.

Disagree

Ideally, as close to both as possible. It is difficult to ensure absolute equity of outcomes, but it is also possible to promote equity of opportunities while also recognizing that some students face significant barriers to success through no fault of their own. Students in poverty, students with disabilities, and neurodivergent students are going to require support beyond the baseline, and providing these support should not be viewed as promotion of unearned advantage.

Opt-Out consent has been standard for decades and offers a clear opportunity for choice.

The elected school board. We have a representative system of government for a reason, and elected officials are supposed to serve as representatives of their constituents. An outsourced community committee can mean so many different things. If there is no clear structure or vetting process for membership, such a committee can easily be controlled by small groups of ideologues or even an individual charismatic person.

I am spiritual but not formally religious. I believe that the purpose of life on earth is to learn how to love and care for others, and to discover the skills that we each can cultivate to contribute to a vibrant world. I believe that God or Spirit is Nature, and is continually co-creating with nature. Creation has always been vastly diverse, and Indigenous/Native peoples who lived in closer communion with nature were and are highly insightful about spiritual realities. Building healthy communities is spiritual practice. Cultivating healthy, nourishing relationships is a spiritual practice.

Neutral

This question is unnecessarily loaded and inflammatory. If parents and children agree within their family dynamic that they support a child receiving gender-affirming care (such as hormonal care or social transition) then that child should have access to that care. Surgical treatment should not be available until age 18 or older, but adults should certainly have the full freedom to access any health care that they need or want to pursue.

Middle and high school. These are the ages where young people are starting to develop physically and hormonally and begin their journey towards adulthood. While that timeline will not be the same for everyone, they should receive enough age appropriate and scientifically accurate information to understand the changes that their bodies are experiencing.

Disagree

This belief is of Christian religious origin. Public policy should not be based on the tenets of one religion. Marriage is a public and social good that should be generally encouraged, but the civil-legal and religious definitions do not need to align.

Agree

Agree

Neutral

This question is loaded. Graphic or explicit images or descriptions of sex acts are not appropriate for school. Drag performers reading storybooks in public libraries are not inherently sexual, and parents have the right to choose not to allow their child to attend. LGBTQ existence and history is not equivalent to sexual grooming. We can teach children about the wide variety of family configurations in a healthy, inclusive way without including graphic sexual content.

The focus should be on the science of reproduction. Sexual orientation and gender identity can be covered from a historical and sociological approach that acknowledges human diversity but does not amount to “how to” instruction.

Neutral

Obtaining photo identification often comes with costs. Ideally, photo identification should be universal, but options should be provided to those who face barriers related to cost or appearing at a DMV or election office during business hours. Photo ID laws often disproportionately disadvantage communities of color and fail to ensure the integrity of elections in practice.

Choose not to answer

No, I have never been arrested on any charges or convicted of anything.

No.

Liberal

Progressive.

Agree

Agree