Detroit Country Day School develops citizens and leaders of the world in a culturally diverse environment of academic rigor, competitive athletics, and artistic expression, built on a foundation of service and charter.

As parents, our appreciation of the schools’ administration and faculties dedication to our children, goes unmatched.  It is thanks to them that the investment we make in our children is realized. 

As parents, we are deeply concerned with the current trajectory of the school. We believe that inclusivity and kindness can be instilled in our children without the promotion of homosexuality and transgenderism.  

This petition DOES NOT discriminate against the LGTBQ student or the student who desires to be a different gender. These students deserve kindness and acceptance, as do the students who do not subscribe to either.

We believe that all current parents at Detroit Country Day School have a right to full transparency on the curriculum at every grade level. The items listed below are examples of teachings that Detroit Country Day has already adopted:

 

• PK-3 summer reading book encourages gender exploration and gender identity. This book was for the incoming three-year-olds.

 

• On September 14, 2023, a Middle School Counselor composed and sent an internal school-wide email to faculty, encouraging them to use gender neutral language. He gave direction to address boys and girls as friends, students, classmates, and folks.

 

• Last year, students at the Upper School were given a questionnaire about each child's sexual orientation, as part of gay pride month. The students who “came out” were celebrated.

 

• Gay pride flags and “safe place” stickers in the Upper & Middle School last year was in nearly every classroom. While no other group, state, or country was represented.

 

• This school year, Upper School students are being taught queer theory. Queer theory is a field of study that not only examines sexuality, but challenges heterosexuality.

This petition is to protect our children from being taught harmful ideologies; these topics have no place in a school like Detroit Country Day.

Our primary concern is to ensure that our children receive a balanced and unbiased education, that encourages critical thinking, and a respect for range of perspectives.

We believe that fostering a respectful and open-minded environment is the best way to prepare our children to make informed decisions about their beliefs and values as they grow. The schools’ diverse student body includes many cultures, religions, and political beliefs, which is one of the many reasons parents choose DCDS.

In the Detroit Country Day School handbook, it states that Country Day is an extension of the family, and that the school aspires to maintain close parent-faculty-student relationships. Over the past couple years, this standard has diminished, and the school continues to keep parents at arms-length. We aspire to revive that partnership.

We, the parents of students attending Detroit Country Day School, of diverse cultural, religious, and political backgrounds, insist upon the following:

Educators should not encourage children to question whether they were born in the wrong body. The concept of “gender self-selection” is an inappropriate concept for teachers to teach young, impressionable children. Exposing young students to these confusing ideas, telling them they can chose to be a boy or a girl or neither, can result in disastrous consequences.

 

• Each person shall use the bathrooms and locker rooms associated with their biological gender. Alternative accommodations should be made for those students who have determined themselves to be “transgender”.

 

• If the school has made any changes to the study of biology over the past ten (10) years, the school should be transparent with what those changes are.

 

• Upon request, DCDS should furnish a detailed outline of its sexual education lesson plan to parents, and have the option to opt out, if it directly contradicts their religious or personal beliefs. 

 

• Educators should not dictate faculty or students change/state their pronouns.

 

• No student should be required to take classes on homosexuality or transgender. This makes some students extremely uncomfortable, and in many cases, it infringes on a students’ religious beliefs.

 

• Faculty should not take it upon themselves to discuss or encourage surgical gender transition with any student. Nor should the discussion or encouragement of the administration of hormones, to assist in gender transitioning, take place.

 

• No student should be required to attend a coming out party for a student who desires to announce his sexuality to the school at large.

 

• No student should be asked to disclose his or her sexuality to anyone at any time.

 

• There should be no teaching on queer theory at any grade level.

 

• Faculty should not allow their politics to be discussed, so as not to influence their students, either way.

 

• Flag representation should be limited to one (1) area of the school and all student alliances should have the option to hang one (1) flag in one (1) central place, side by side.

 

• There should be complete transparency with parents regarding school policies, practices, curricula, books, videos, and activities promoting homosexuality and transgenderism. Parents must be notified in advance of: the content of the instruction; their right to review materials in advance; their right to observe instruction; their right to excuse their child without penalty.

 

• The Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS) says that their standard is that the school fully discloses its policies, programs, and practices.

We have some of the best teachers in the world, and it’s unfair to them that we continue to add to their already long list of responsibilities. Not to mention that it puts them in a incredibly difficult position, given that many of them don’t agree with this agenda, and they know many parents don’t either. This should not be something they have to manage.
 

This petition is signed by parents who put great trust in their child's teacher(s), want an orthodox education for their child, and want politics, from every side, to be left out of the classroom.