Beakes, Matthew

Meet the Candidate

Running For:
School Board
District:
Penn Manor School District
Age:
48
Occupation:
Executive Director
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* Providing competition is positive and will result in better outcomes. Competition also needs to provide an avenue for fiscally disadvantage students to be able to succeed.
2. Reserving girls’ sports exclusively for biological females. S* This is a title IX issue. We would keep biological females from obtaining scholarships which is critical for many wanting to attend college.
3. Separating restrooms, locker rooms, and other privacy areas based on biological sex. S* The safety and opportunity for youth to be forced to see genitals of the opposite sex before they want to, especially sanctioned by a government agency is wrong. That is a parent and child choice. This also is a legal issue that has ramifications past the locker rooms.
4. Permitting students to discuss their Christian faith with others during non-class time on school premises. S* Constitutional right as long as it remains cordial and doesn't disrupt students who do not want to participate. Also, as a public school others of faith are provided equal opportunity with the same conditions.
5. Allowing school personnel to refer students to abortion providers. O* This is a health decision between parent and child. The school should only help the student with ways to approach parents which can be a troubled situation for the student. No recommendations from the school personnel around options.
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* The right of the parents can not be overlooked or bypassed.
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* The elected school board is responsible to the parents and tax payers. The curriculum needs to be approved by the board as the board is responsible for anything that is presented in school.
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* While America has many mistakes, especially as seen through the eyes of today, but we have grown and improved. There is still work to do to make us better, but we need to focus on the future together and not the past divided.
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. U* Depends on the situation. This is a vague question with many variables. I would need a lot more information before deciding. For me it comes down to a violation of rights and who's rights are violated.
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* While the parent can ideally tell their child no, the issue is the child obtained the book prior to the parent having the opportunity to decide. This also falls under laws of child pornography and/or state sanctioned distribution of pornography. Extremely grey area and we need to be respectful to parents decision for their children not to obtain the material prior to approving it. Therefore I would vote to keep it out of school libraries.