Now the far right is going after school counselors

[Nevilledog]

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“School counselors do not indoctrinate or willfully transition students. We want nothing more in this world than to help and support students.”

motherjones.com
Now the far right is going after school counselors
They've been called pedophiles, groomers, and "recruiters for the Transgender Cult."
3:15 PM · Aug 15, 2022

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/08/now-the-far-right-is-going-after-school-counselors/

When Tara Kierstead finished her presentation at the annual conference of the American School Counselor Association in July, she was elated. Her slides—about how best to support students who were transgender or nonbinary—had gone over well. Colleagues came up to her afterward to tell her how much they had learned. Kierstead was well prepared for her talk: She had been a counselor at a middle school in southern Maine for a decade and had won a battle to convince her district to adopt a policy around gender inclusivity, despite the opposition of some key officials. After her presentation, “I was on cloud nine,” she recalls. Attendees told her, “’That was awesome. I want to follow you on Twitter now. And I’m gonna email you 1,000 times because I have questions.’”

But a few days after the conference, the feedback had radically changed. When Kierstead opened her Twitter DMs, she found messages from strangers who hadn’t attended the conference but who had seen her tagged in threads about it. In some of the messages, she was described as a “pedophile” and a “groomer.” Someone else accused her of encouraging students to take hormones. One went so far as to imply that she was pushing students to “cut off their genitalia.” Kierstead was shocked. “It just doesn’t make any sense,” she said, “if you know what a school counselor actually does.”

Kierstead wasn’t the only attendee who got nasty messages after the conference. Jill Cook, the executive director of the American School Counselor Association, said that members of her staff had received an onslaught of accusatory emails, ranging in tone from haughty to downright threatening. One asked, “Why are you all pieces of shit spreading hate and race-baiting? Hope you all die a painful death.” Another suggested, “Go fuck yourselves you race hustling pieces of shit.” Cook found those messages deeply upsetting. “School counselors do not indoctrinate or willfully transition students,” she said. “We want nothing more in this world than to help and support students.”

Sarah Reckhow, a professor of American politics and public policy at Michigan State University, sees these attacks as part of a more expansive far-right crusade determined to excise any hint of what they consider to be progressivism from schools. For these often paranoid ideologues, counselors aren’t just there to support a child going through a difficult time or advise on college applications. Rather, they’re agents of the woke left who have been placed in schools to spread divisive messages about racism and encourage children to switch genders.

*snip*

[pfitz59]

1. I have a HS friend who is a school counselor.

Alas, she is a MAGAt.

[hlthe2b]

2. and that is why parents need to take time to inquire about their kid's school interactions...

There is obviously one hell of a lot of projection going on in terms of teachers, librarians, and counselors--based on some RW strategy that they themselves are undertaking?

It would never have occurred to me to mistrust what was being relayed to students in the classroom, counselor's office, or what books they do or do not have access to. But after seeing the nuts come out at the school board meetings, I'd say that all sane parents need to get involved to counter this MAGAT extremism.

[JHB]

3. That won't save her if she says anything that draws their ire.

Heck, she doesn't even have to say anything; guilt-by-association alone is enough to get her shoved under the bus.

But that type thinks "Oh, they won't do that to me, I'm on their side, I'm not like those ones" and don't get a clue until it lands on them.

[samnsara]

4. i was a HS Counslor.. I did credit checks allllll day long.....

[walkingman]

5. Although the GOP establishment is doing their best to try and shift young people

to a more conservative political stance....they will fail. It is quite normal for people to become somewhat more conservative as they age but with today's young people I think this will change.

A few factors that will influence it are the traditional drivers that lead to that typical shift have changed.

* Young people are getting married and having kids later than past generations.
* They lag behind past generations in accumulating wealth
* More are educated than past generation
* They lag behind past generations in home ownership
* They tend to be less racist and xenophobic simply because our society is more diverse
* They know that they and their children will be forced to deal with Climate Change in their lifetimes

So next time you see the tats and colored hair, the piercings and the same sex hookups....support these folks because they have a lot of issues that people in my generation has to deal with - any yes they have every right to blame my generation for a lot of this mess.

I'm 72 and am just a liberal, maybe more so, than I was in my youth and live in one of the most backward states in America (Texas).

Peace

[Alexander Of Assyria]

6. No Twitter or FB...and the terrorists of keyboarding are rendered impotent. Shut it off!