A fourth grade student from Sartell, Minnesota, joined Fox News Monday morning to discuss her school district’s mandated “equity survey.”
The Sartell-St. Stephen School Board has faced pushback from concerned parents who object to the district’s hiring of Equity Alliance Minnesota, a left-wing group that was paid $80,000 to conduct an “equity audit.”
As part of this audit, students were required to complete an “equity survey” but couldn’t share the contents of the survey with their parents, according to student Haylee Yasgar.
“My teacher said that I could not skip any questions even when I didn’t understand them. One question asked us what gender we identify with. I was very confused along with a lot of other classmates,” Yasgar said at a school board meeting last week. “Being asked to hide this from my mom made me very uncomfortable, like I was doing something wrong.”
Yasgar’s mom, Kelsey, told Fox News that parents were “informed that the equity audit was taking place,” but “they were not informed on the date of the activity and not given other details.”
“I was very upset when I found out that she was told not to repeat any of the questions to me or any other adult in her life,” she said.
According to one question on the survey obtained by Fox News, students were asked if they “currently identify” as female, male, transgender “or something else.”
“Transgender people have a gender identity or gender expression that differs from their assigned sex. For example, they were born male but now identity as female,” the question says.
Haylee said she was “confused” by the question, and got “nervous and uncomfortable” when she was told she couldn’t discuss it with her parents.
Rep. Tom Emmer, whose congressional district includes Sartell, called the story “incredibly concerning.”
“Parents have every right to know what’s being taught, and students should feel comfortable talking to them about what’s happening in the classroom,” he said on Twitter.
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Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
