Milton High School recently held a “Day of Awareness” to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. It was held on March 20th and absorbed the first two blocks of learning. In reality students had three choices as to how they approached school that day; 1) attend the “celebration” or the viewing of “The Listen Up Musical,” 2) ask to opt out of the events and catch up on homework or missed tests, or 3) skip school/arrive late.
Of the 447 students enrolled, 360 were marked as present on 3/20. That means 87 students were not present on their “Day of Awareness,” which translates to an absentee rate of 19.5%. To put that in perspective, the average absentee rate for the month of March (excluding 3/20) was 8.7%, which is just over 38 students per day absent. The same day included 46 tardy students. The way the school tracks and provides attendance data does not make it clear when these students showed up to school. If we assume that all of these students arrived after the event concluded, that would mean 133 students were completely absent from the event, or 29.7% of students elected not to attend the event. Nearly 30%, which doesn’t even include the number of students who attend off campus classes (which would be marked present) nor the students who were forced to go to school in order to participate in sporting events or practices.
Those numbers alone show how this event was not the smashing success the administration is trying to sell it as. While we do appreciate these cold hard numbers there are things that it does not show and leaves even more questions. How many kids attended the “Day of Awareness” event vs “The Listen Up Musical?” How many kids went to school that day because their parents didn’t allow them to stay home? How many attended because attendance is mandatory to participate in other events such as sports? How many kids attended so it wouldn’t affect their academic standing? How many attended due to peer pressure or the possibility of being socially ostracized?
The student body has spoken and they should be listened to. There is a significant portion of students and parents that don’t want this indoctrination, identity politics, segregation, and sexualization to continue. If you are one of the students/parents remember, you are not alone in this.
VPACT will be holding an event on June 4 to provide information to parents and students on alternatives to public schools in Vermont. If you are interested in attending, please send an email to team@vpact.org so we can add you to our distribution list for material and provide more details on the event as they emerge.
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