Bleasdale, PhD, Patricia

Meet the Candidate

Running For:
School Board
District:
Rose Tree Media School District
Age:
72
Occupation:
Management Consultant
Education: (click to expand)
Biographical Info: (click to expand)
Why are you running for office? (click to expand)

Survey

Response Legend

  • SSupport
  • OOppose
  • UUndecided
  • −Declined to Respond/Undecided, Position Unknown/Unclear
  • *Comment
  • †Declined to respond, Position based on citation

Question Response Comments/Notes
1. Providing state tax credits and education savings accounts to enable parents to choose what school their child attends. S* In general, I believe that "the money should follow the student." That is, a family's school taxes should be able to be directed to the parents' desired school, or to the home-school programs of their choice.
2. Reserving girls’ sports exclusively for biological females. S* Depriving girls of the opportunity to build skills, win a college scholarship, or qualify for the Olympics, because they are forced to compete with biological males, is wrong-headed and just plain wrong. Women fought for decades to arrive at an equal footing with men; and our society is now using a patently false paradigm to erase their progress. It is shocking that an intellectually advanced society would allow this to occur. School Boards should be stopping this notion before it ever takes root.
3. Separating restrooms, locker rooms, and other privacy areas based on biological sex. S
4. Permitting students to discuss their Christian faith with others during non-class time on school premises. S* I do not believe that a student's First Amendment rights stop at the school entrance. I am in favor of each student's rights to express his or her faith without repercussion. And each student should grant that same right to others. Teachers and other school personnel have no say in this matter; it is a function of the student's Constitutional rights.
5. Allowing school personnel to refer students to abortion providers. O* The parents are the appropriate source of important information, advice, and counsel for their children in very important matters like sex and reproduction. This is not the province of the school, regardless of how much the school personnel might like it to be. If a student becomes pregnant, and the parents are unaware of that fact, it is the responsibility of the school to inform the parents so that the parents can do their job. it is a false argument to suggest that the parents are not willing and able to deal with such matters in the home. More than 99 percent of parents want only the best for their children and must be provided the information needed to fulfill their responsibility.
6. Requiring signed permission (opt-in) from a parent before a student may participate in sex education classes or presentations on gender identity theory. S* Parents love their children and want only the best for them; and the parents will be there for their children long after the school years are a distant memory. THEY must be the arbiters regarding the child's exposure to important and sensitive topics such as sex and gender. Children are extremely impressionable and vulnerable during their formative years; and school personnel (including counselors, who rarely have in-depth, clinical experience in treating children or adolescents) are not sufficiently equipped to make decisions which could lead to emotional or physical harm to the student.
7. Increasing transparency by requiring videos or documents shown to students [which are not part of pre-approved curriculum] be preserved for easy review by administrator and parents S* I am also in favor of increased transparency regarding the 'pre-approved curriculum.' I have seen situations where the stated curriculum has been distorted to serve an ideological agenda. The documented curriculum does not express the details of the classroom activity, so the teacher has great latitude in the actual subject matter presented. Parents should be instructing their children to be astute observers of the lesson content and to be able to discuss it at home, so that parents can be fully aware of what their children are being taught.
8. Providing curricula that advocates critical race theory and its emphasis on defining people as oppressors or oppressed based on group identity or privileges. O* I have studied Critical Race Theory, and I consider it to be divisive, and harmful to impressionable children, who are in the process of forming their views about how they should interact with the rest of the world. School Board members and school administrators are doing a great disservice to those students entrusted to their care for 7 hours per day, when they spend any part of that day teaching students to judge each other based on superficial characteristics like ethnicity, color, economic status, physical abilities, gender, etc. I believe that the parents should be in a state of heightened awareness about what their children are learning every day. Critical Race Theory originated in Europe, in the halls of academia. The theorists which brought it to the United States were not steeped in the American credo of equality and justice. This theoretical construct (Note: It IS ONLY A THEORY, and has not been proven.) was not intended for use in primary and secondary schools. Although the NAME for this theory (CRT) is being downplayed (due to CRT's opposition by parents), its tenets are embedded in much classroom teaching, as well as in much indoctrination in corporations today. It's a flawed theory.
9. Requiring teachers to use "she" to describe a biological male student who identifies as a female, even if the teacher offered a reasonable alternative. O* A tiny minority of Americans believe that gender identity should consume our thoughts and conversation. And an even smaller population believes that school children should be subjected to continual indoctrination regarding gender issues, including the unorthodox use of pronouns to describe one's sense of gender. A student's choice of words for how he or she describes him/herself is that student's own preference, and it should NOT govern the actions of everyone else. No one should be forced to use the pronouns which I use to describe myself. I have no right to govern other people's speech - only my own. For impressionable children, the issue of 'pronouns' constitutes a fad - something new, unusual, and fun to talk about. It is up to the sensible adults in their lives to instruct them in the scientific realities, and to get them to focus on their schoolwork. Teachers, counselors, administrators, and school boards which encourage impressionable children to obsess over gender identity are doing a great disservice to the children; and they are wasting precious education hours on topics which are not part of the school's core mission: teaching academic subjects which will help the student to succeed in life.
10. Specifying in school policy that materials containing visual depictions of people engaging in sex acts or explicit written descriptions of people engaging in sex acts is not age-appropriate for the school’s curriculum and libraries. S* There has been an exponential increase in the number of education hours spent on topics related to sexuality and gender, over the last decade. Not only are these topics NOT related to the school's core mission of teaching academic subjects, but it is clear that the emphasis on sex-related topics has not been at all successful in decreasing sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancy, or any of the other social ills which the schools decided to rectify through 'sex education.' I am not sure what the schools intend to accomplish by providing impressionable young children with graphic depictions, descriptions, or suggestions of sex acts, but the schools have more than amply demonstrated that their sex-education methods and materials have not had a salutary effect on their captive audience. My suggestion would be to place 'sex education' where it belongs: with the parents. The school could assist the parents by providing THEM with access to the best reference material available from universities and professional associations. The parents can take it from there. Then, perhaps, the schools can focus on areas where they often are currently underperforming, such as teaching reading, math, science, languages, rational-thinking skills, etc.