Walking it Back: Extricating Schools from Bad Gender Policies
A new webinar with Alex Capo and Paul Rossi (3 Steps to get started)
The evidence is in: the social transition of gender-questioning students is bad for them, their classmates and schools, but is anyone listening?
Thousands of schools around the United States have adopted activist-inspired policies around the social transition of gender questioning students. The consequences for individuals and schools have proven disastrous — but there is a way forward.
Join Genspect USA with special guests Alex Capo, Director of the Charlton School and Paul Rossi, director of the Terra Ferma Teaching Alliance on November 7th at 1PM EST to talk about practical ways to walk back dysfunctional guidance on trans issues and foster a healthy, evidence-based approach to sex and gender in your school.
Step 1.
Watch Alex Capo of New York’s Charlton School describe the journey from bad gender policies to more healthy approach to sex and gender in his presentation to the Bigger Picture Conference in Lisbon.
Step 2.
Share this video with superintendents, principals, teachers and parents.
Step 3.
Tune in on Thursday, November 7th at 1PM EST with your comments and questions.
Panelists:
Paul Rossi
Paul is a founder of the Terra Ferma Teaching Alliance, a network of K-12 teachers working to restore integrity and quality to their profession by rejecting illiberal agendas in education. He is a veteran mathematics and philosophy teacher who blew the whistle on woke indoctrination at Grace Church School in Manhattan in 2021. He currently teaches math at Vertex Partnership Academies, an IB charter school in the Bronx.
Alex Capo
Alex is the Executive Director of The Charlton School in Burnt Hills, New York, a therapeutic community for girls with mental health challenges. With over 25 years of experience in various therapeutic and educational settings, Alex has seen significant shifts in the school’s approach. Between 2016 and 2020, The Charlton School noted a surge in trans identification among students. Initially following an affirmative approach, the school later adjusted its methods to address a broader range of student issues beyond just gender.
I've been waiting for this conversation for years (following the Charlton story for a while now), because I had a non-gender questioning but borderline child in a school much like Charlton. From 2015-2021 We were in multiple hospitals, wilderness therapy, state residential treatment in MA, then finally a day school like Charlton for 3 years. I came to the trans issue through seeing how those kids were treated on a pedestal which was completely antithetical to ANY sort of treatment protplocol that we were seeing. And the rates of kids needing treatment were soaring
So, I have a burning question for the panel...
In light of the growing youth mental health crisis and epidemic in the US, what are schools and child services supposed to do if districts can no longer afford out of district placements for all children in need of complex mental health treatment, and the in-district services are ill equipped to handle the nature of the underlying mental health issues?
In short... the demand for a "Charlton" school outweighs the supply by 100 to one. And that's putting it mildly. The vast vast majority of kids will not even get to the first rung of the ladder to that treatment without ending up in jail or homeless or raped or an addict. So, as crazy as this sounds, "transing", even if it leads to a medical pathway, allows schools, counselors, and child services to placate parents and kids in order to "serve" everyone. In order to do "something" for everyone who asks. Because by law they have to.
This sounds cynical but I think its actually what is going on here... The most affordable way to temporarily treat a complex mental health issue is to wrap it in affirmation and wait till 18 when it becomes someone else's problem. You can't do this with eating disorders because there is no accompanying ideology. This is why so many of the girls in out of district complex social emotional SpEd school have feeding tube's while the trans kids are mostly still in the general population public.
The costs are catastrophic. Case in point... Our district ($25mil budget) went from an average of $600K per year in ODP's to $5mil per year from 2015-2023, with a sharp rise around 2016 and rising. I can draw a direct line to cell phones and social media and Jonathan Haidts hypothesis, especiallyfor girls. Im sure you can map autism onto it too.
So my question is, since there is no Charlton School for anyone but the very very select few with the most severe of issues and ALSO an intact willing family, how do schools address the underlying mental health issues of trans kids? Because in the US unfortunately it IS the school districts financial responsibility because of FAPE. Districts often play football with child services but really it lands on the schools. Districts are crumbling under the weight.
I find these conversations VERY important, but I also see a willful ignorance on the part of district admin where trans is concerned because they cannot afford to treat underlying issues. At 18 the child can then be an adult and "off the books" so to speak so just getting a kid to 18 seems to be the mandate. And of course it's even more complicated by the fact that even if schools were fully funded there are not enough providers for complex treatment. At. All.
Does the panel have any solutions at the policy level or at the infrastructure level to address the underlying mental health treatment of youth? Because we are in a situation where, if schools rid themselves of the ideology, they will HAVE to pay to treat these kids. With the demand as it is and the supply of treatment being unattainable for almost everyone, I'm out of ideas short of calling it a national emergency and very quickly training complex mental health practitioners for schools. Or building Charlton type schools at scale. That would, of course, have to be a "for profit" initiative like it is in MA, but it couldnt be funded by school districts. The ACA isnt equiped in any way to cover the cost. What do you think? Other ideas? Can we even begin to sddress the trans issue en masses without addressing the mental health crisis?
Thank you!
I'm looking forward to this & am sending notice of this to my School Commitee & Supt. -No doubt, they won't listen nor tune-in - they are far more content to virtue signal their support for LGBTQ than they are to actually try to understand the issue.
...and Nyla D's points raised here re: costs to the public support systems are a heavy angle, I'd never even given a single thought to previously. Nonetheless, the public school districts need to tune in here & First -Do No Harm - and stop supporting social transition - and "advertising" for trans with all the trans flags & etc. flying throughout our public schools! Why can't the adults actually pay attention to the fact that they are, in large part, making this happen - or at least - making it much worse for so many kids who are suffering from getting caught up in this shit show.