An elementary school Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) affiliated with Sylvan Park Paideia Elementary in Nashville is holding a “diversity night” featuring guest speakers who will offer information about “LGBTQ+ identities” and “how to support elementary kids through these identities” on February 8.
According to an event listing on the Sylvan Park school website, supporting elementary school children who do not identify as heterosexual “starts with educating and supporting the parents/caregivers and educators about these identities so children feel comfortable to talk about their own process as well as their peers’ process.”
The website also explains the event will feature separate childcare for the children of attendees, who will be provided pizza in the elementary school’s gymnasium while adults attend the “Diversity Night.”
Sylvan Park’s website further explains that “Diversity Night is an opportunity for EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) chairs on the PTO Board to invite parents/caregivers and educators at Sylvan Park Elementary to educational discussions around diversity and inclusion.”
A social media post by the Sylvan Park Paideia Elementary School PTO, which also includes a quote from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., further explains, “It’s hard to bring ‘equal rights’, if we don’t understand all people and how they may differ from us.”
The event listing for the school adds that “Diversity Night” is held once annually because, “We believe it is important for parents/caregivers to come to a space where they can learn with an open heart and be part of discussions with minimal distractions.”
Previous “Diversity Night” lessons for parents included, according to the listing, “The Value of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging in School-aged Children Learning Environments” and “Understanding Neurodiversity in Learning.”
Conservative commentator Robby Starbuck voiced his concern over the event in a post to X, the website formerly known as Twitter, where he wrote, “Sylvan Park is a public ELEMENTARY school in Nashville,” and noted that the parent of a second grader is speaking.
Starbuck declared, “Elementary kids shouldn’t have a sexual identity. This needs to stop!”
Sylvan Park is a public ELEMENTARY school in Nashville. They’re hosting a diversity night on LGBTQ+ identities to "support elementary kids through these identities".
A 2ND GRADER’S Mom is speaking.
Elementary kids shouldn’t have a sexual identity. This needs to stop! pic.twitter.com/TsqfcD3IPR
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) January 17, 2024
Sylvan Park received a B in the recently published letter grades for all Tennessee schools, receiving a perfect score in student achievement, but lower scores in both growth and growth for highest need students.
The school’s diversity-themed program comes amid increased scrutiny for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs across the country in the wake of disgraced former Harvard University President Claudine Gay’s resignation amid a plagiarism scandal that began after her controversial remarks before Congress in response to the purported rise in antisemitism at the prestigious institution.
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who was credited in The New York Times for helping cause Gay to resign, called antisemitism the “canary in the coalmine” that warned of DEI, which he said is a “political advocacy movement” for those “deemed oppressed under DEI’s own methodology.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Sylvan Park Paideia Elementary School” by Sylvan Park Paideia Elementary School PTO.
