School surveys that collect information from students and create a perceived need for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum have caught the attention of Missouri authorities.
Attorney General Eric Schmitt issued subpoenas this week to seven school districts that allegedly employ student surveys—created by education companies Panorama and Project Wayfinder—to gather data about parents’ political beliefs and income levels, as well as racial identity, sexual behaviors, and mental health.
“Those same groups come in and sell that curriculum to the schools,” said Kimberly Hermann, general counsel with Southeastern Legal Foundation, a national nonprofit law firm that defends liberty.
“The contracts with these companies are public record so they’re supposed to be approved during school board meetings, but the surveys are happening without parental consent and parental notification.”
In response, Schmitt has launched an investigation into the use of student surveys at Mehlville School District, Webster Groves School District, Jefferson City School District, Lee’s Summit R-7 School District, Park Hill School District, Springfield School District, and Neosho School District—with an eye on violations of Missouri’s Family Educational Right and Privacy Act (FERPA), or the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA).
“Subjecting students to personal, invasive surveys created by third-party consultants, potentially without parents’ consent, is ridiculous and does nothing to further our children’s education,” Schmitt said in a statement online.
Hermann details in a May 1 letter to Schmitt that Webster Groves School District requires middle school students to take a survey on “LGBTQIA+ Struggles!” that asks: “What are your preferred pronouns, what struggles have you experienced related to LGBTQIA+, and what would you like to see in the school in order to be more inclusive?”
“There are federal statutes that they’re not supposed to ask these questions,” said Andy Wells, the Missouri chapter president of No Left Turn in Education.
“The problem is that school districts, and some of the companies that are being hired by school districts, don’t care. They just ignore it. They do it anyway and if somebody doesn’t like it, you’ll have to sue them.”
Second-grade students were asked: “When is the first time you noticed that people can be different races from you, what did you notice, and do you feel more comfortable around people who look like you?”
“The goal here is to teach these kids that America is a white country of white supremacy and to destroy the nuclear family,” Hermann alleges. “If bad actors in the progressive Left are not stopped, then we’re just going to have a further divide in this country among our kids.”
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