December 5, 2011
To Whom It May Concern,
In August, our daughter started 6th grade at the 6th/7th Grade Center for Union Public Schools (UPS) after going to Anderson elementary through grade school. We and our children loved Anderson Elementary and we assumed we and our children would love the other UPS.
This letter is to share with you our experience in the first 9 weeks of school at the 6th / 7th Grade Center of UPS.
We were aware early on that the kids were divided into (what we thought were harmless) “color groups”. As you will see, we no longer believe that to be the case and in fact believe UPS is segregating children based on a perceived “need” by UPS.
The school’s website states: “the 6th grade is divided into teams which consist of a core group of teachers & 140 students…Each team is designated by a color name & offers the same curriculum choices. The student’s core classes are located in the same area of the building as their locker. When students change classes they usually only travel across the hall except when attending electives.”
Children are, essentially, segregated (from each other/other kids) by color group, as they are confined to their color group’s area of the building, except for electives. They are, therefore segregated, truly, by color.
The children in one color group, in particular the yellow group, were chosen, specifically, to be in the yellow color group to participate in the Carrera Program.
The Carrera website, itself states this about the Carrera Program:
“The CAS-Carrera Program is an intensive, multi-year after school program for high-risk high school students. It runs year-round, five to six days each week and serves teens until they complete high school.
Through a youth development approach, the CAS-Carrera Program addresses the underlying factors associated with teenage pregnancy and childbearing, such as poverty, school failure, unemployment, and inadequate health care.
The program seeks to improve access to health care (including reproductive health services), reduce sexual activity rates, increase contraceptive use, and reduce pregnancy. It has seven components, including employment and academic assistance, family life and sexuality education, performing arts experience, sports training, and mental and physical health care.
Population Served
The evaluated CAS-Carrera Program served low-income, high-risk boys and girls, aged 13-15. (Note: the program is currently starting with youth aged 11-12; this profile is based only on the programs evaluated with older teens.)
The majority of participants (60%) were African American; 39% were Hispanic. Only one in three participants (35%) lived in a two-parent family, and the majority of teens (61%) lived with an unemployed adult and/or received entitlement benefits.” [i]
Our daughter was miserable the first couple of weeks because none of her friends from elementary school were in her yellow color group. She did, however, make new friends, quickly, in her yellow color group.
On November 10th our daughter came home from school excited because the children in the yellow color group were “specially chosen” when they were in 5th grade to be in the yellow color group “to be a part of a special program. “
She said the yellow color group was going to get paid weekly for participating, which will add up to be around $900 in their very own savings account by the time they graduated from Union Public Schools. She explained they would have “job class” and that this program would help them get into college when they graduate.
She gave me a packet of forms to be signed and turned in ASAP or else she would have to switch to another color group that wasn’t going to get to do all of these great things and then would have new teachers and friends.
The cover letter stated:
“Your child is invited to be among 220 sixth graders who have the opportunity to participate in an exciting, nationally honored program that will follow them through graduation from Union High School. They will have enrichment opportunities; decision making, pregnancy prevention, educational stimulation to improve their lives, extended learning time, extracurricular activities, individualized academic & talent development, & guidance through the changes of adolescence combine to support your student’s total development.
The students will get:
- Daily one on one or small group tutoring.
- College entrance test preparation.
- College trips.
- Individual academic plans.
- Weekly job club class.
- Financial literacy.
- Savings account.
- Exploring career choices.
- A paid stipend.
- Weekly medically & scientifically comprehensive sex ed.
- Mental health services.
- Power groups led by professional counselors.
- 24 hour counseling & crisis intervention.
- Full medical & dental care.
- Music, dance, writing, & drama workshops.
- Discover talents & build self esteem.
- Lifetime individual sports including golf, tennis, squash, etc.
- Expanded learning opportunities are available.”
The first thing that concerned me was the weekly comprehensive sex ed.
What exactly will they be teaching our child? We feel that is our responsibility to educate our children on sex ed……..not the school and not the government.
I called the program director & asked what kind of “sex education” would be taught to our child.
I was told that Mr. Carrera is an “above the waist” kind of guy & that they are all about teaching abstinence, hygiene, & focusing on school, career choices, & extracurricular activities to get kids excited about their future.
The Carrera Program website, however, says:
“The program seeks to improve access to health care (including reproductive health services), reduce sexual activity rates, increase contraceptive use, and reduce pregnancy.” [ii]
I told them we already have excellent insurance and that she would not need the medical / dental coverage. They said we would just use it as secondary and, for example, “if your child needed braces they would pick up the cost that the insurance didn’t pay.” I was told to just check yes that we wanted medical services on the packet. I thanked them for talking with me.
That evening as I sat down to fill out the program application I turned to the page following the cover letter and saw: “Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program”.
Below the heading was the programs description and philosophy which read,
“The Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program uses a long term holistic approach to empower youth, to help them develop personal goals and the desire for a productive future, in addition to developing their sexual literacy, education them about abstinence, and the consequences of sexual activity. Guided by a philosophy that sees youth as “at promise” instead of “at risk”, Carrera works to develop a participant’s capacity and desire to avoid pregnancy. The program model also provides opportunities for young people to discover interests and develop talents, as well as emphasizing education and employment.”
My next question was: Who decided and how was it decided which students are considered high risk and would be in this group?
The Carrera Program states on their website:
“The CAS-Carrera Program is an intensive, multi-year after-school program for high-risk high school students. The evaluated CAS-Carrera Program served low-income, high-risk boys and girls, aged 13-15. (Note: the program is currently starting with youth aged 11-12; this profile is based only on the programs evaluated with older teens.)” [iii]
Let me tell you a little about our family. Our daughter lives with her biological, happily married parents who love & care about her. She has a brother, a sister, a dog, a rabbit, 2 ferrets, 2 hamsters, & 3 African dwarf frogs that live under that same roof. She has extensive extended family that is very involved in her life. Her parents are active in her life. She plays the viola in orchestra. She is in Honors English. She loves to read. She has played soccer since she was 5 years old. She attends church on a regular basis & has a relationship with Jesus. She has been taught to care about & respect others. She has been taught our family values. She has numerous friends & a caring heart. So how in the world was she deemed at risk?
The information required was: participant’s contact information, medical, dental, vision information, child’s primary care physician information, last physical, a request for all insurance information, allergies, asthma, special needs, medications, immunization information, dentist information, last dental exam, insurance, last vision screening, and vision service provider, all fairly typical participant information.
However, as I moved to the next page Medical, Dental, and Vision Screening Services, it was evident that the guardian must check: “Yes, I want my child to receive services through the program” or “No, I do not want my child to receive services through the program”. If, “Yes”, the following consent must be completed:
“If yes, I, __________, the parent or guardian of __________, hereby give my consent to the staff of the Carrera Program to travel with my child to and from his/her appointments. I give my consent to the Carrera Program to accompany my child to his/her medical appointments, to communicate with health professionals regarding the health of my child and to receive prescriptions on behalf of my child.”
I was shocked, to say the least. Does someone really think we are going to give someone else, someone who cannot possibly care as much as we do about our daughter, permission to take her to the doctor, make medical decisions and pick up prescriptions without our input or knowledge?
If I am unable to take our daughter to the doctor then her father will take her, if he can’t then her grandparents will, and if they can’t then we might consider letting someone, we appoint, to take her.
Furthermore, if we chose the medical services, our only option is to give the program permission to obtain medical, dental, vision or mental health services, such as: obtaining prescriptions (birth control), consent (for us) for medical services (physical, mental, dental or vision exams or an abortion!) without our prior or post consent or knowledge!
If, “No, I do not want my child to receive services through the program”, the following consent must be completed:
“If no, I, __________, the parent or guardian of ____________, certify that I do not want my child to receive medical and/or dental services through the program. I understand that I am able to change my decision at any time during my child’s participation in the program.”
Where is the box that states we would like medical services through the program but we will not allow anyone but the child’s parents to take them to appointments, communicate about the health of our child, and get prescriptions? They must have left that out. I can’t even go to the doctor and pick up my husband’s medical records or talk to them on behalf of my husband without him signing a release due to HIPPA so if I can’t do that with my spouse why should the Carrera Program staff have permission to do that with our minor child?
Why would I give people I don’t even know that much access to our child? Plain and simple: I would not!
I was alarmed with the control and access this program would have to our child and the decisions they could make affecting our child (medical, dental, mental health) without our input and decided to do further research.
I found the Carrera program states they teach abstinence but found, according to their own statistics, the Carrera program girls were significantly more likely than the control group girls to use Depo-Provera, a prescription birth control method that the staff can obtain without parental knowledge because consent was given when signing the program papers!
Most young people in both the Carrera program and control groups reported the use of condoms. Why does the program encourage Depo- Provera and condom use if they “solely teach” abstinence?
From the Carrera Program statistics, while fewer girls in the program got pregnant they were more likely to abort the baby than in the control group, based on their own statistics on the website. [iv]
If we want our child to receive medical services, we must sign this release, which also gives the Carrera Program (who want me to believe they teach abstinence only) permission to obtain birth control and permission to assist our daughter in obtaining an abortion, should she get pregnant, all without our knowledge or input!
Another form is an Education Release and Consent Form to grant permission for the Carrera staff to:
“Access all of the child’s school records. Advocate for the child by picking up the child’s report cards, transcripts, IEP’s, and attendance information. Meet with the school officials regarding matters involving the child in the absence of a parent or guardian. Permission to request information from relevant schools concerning the child’s test scores, performance levels on standardized tests given during the school year or any other test administered by the school. Permission to advocate on behalf of the child and to gain access to the aforementioned information from this date forward through the duration of time the child will be in attendance at this school.”
Again, we are our daughter’s best advocate for her best interests and therefore will be present for ANYTHING concerning our child until she becomes an adult.
The final consents are mental health counselor sheets and the Application Documentation Checklist. The checklist of items that must be included are: the participant data form, medical consent form, education permission form, a copy of: the child’s transcript, social security card, birth certificate, immunization record, insurance cards, and their school schedule.
Why do they need these things? If this program is partnered with Union Public Schools they should already have a majority of that information. Have they ever heard of identity theft? Identity theft is a huge problem in this country! Our daughter’s pediatrician doesn’t even have her social security number, let alone a copy of the card and I trust him with her life!
After spending significant time researching the Carrera Program, we decided our daughter would not be participating in the Carrera Program. Unfortunately, because UPS waited 12 weeks into the semester to share this information with us, they had already started having the weekly classes……..sex ed during science, power counseling group during another class, job club during another class. Our daughter was being told she needed her paperwork to be returned or she would be kicked out.
I called the program director and said that she would not be participating in the program. The program director said that she could pick which color group our daughter would like to be moved to and reassured me that they would make the transition for her easy. However, a week went by and she/we never heard anything. I finally went to the school and met with her counselor. I told her which group we wanted and she said she would get her classes switched. Our daughter was finally moved to another color group on Monday, November 28th (it took them 2 weeks to move her). We thought this would be the beginning of a short transition, however, we quickly learned that would not be the case because she was now academically behind her new color group.
We were once again shocked when we found out on the first day of our daughter’s classes in her new color group that not only did they segregate the students by color and possibly socio-economic status (by choosing who would be in the yellow group based on their presumed at risk status based on their parents’ assumed socio-economic status), but they are also giving them a false sense of success by not requiring or expecting the same caliber of class work, class performance, homework or book work!
While UPS website says the color groups have the same curriculum, they do not and they are treating the color groups differently. Each color group has a team t-shirt except for the gold and yellow color groups. The kids have noticed they are the only groups without one.
The curriculum and expectations for the Carrera group is different from the other color groups.
The yellow (Carrera) group VERY RARELY has homework and the other groups have homework on a daily basis.
The yellow (Carrera) group was told they would never have homework. Why is that? Do they think it won’t get done? Does the school think they can’t do it?
In the yellow (Carrera) group’s Honors English and Reading class, they read for an hour and write in a journal or write a story that is no more than a paragraph long. In the other color groups, they have already completed multiple book reports and are currently working on writing their own story.
In the yellow Carrera group math class, they have only gone over multiplication on worksheets. In the other color groups, they are near completion of chapter 3 in the textbooks (multiplying & dividing decimals and learning factors).
In the yellow Carrera group, they are doing very little academically compared to the other color groups, it seems, instead of following the curriculum as the other color groups in 6th grade are doing.
It would seem, based on what I have seen, children of an assumed lower socio-economic status and or different race were chosen for this “at risk” program and it would seem, the school has dumbed down the curriculum and expectations for this group. Rather than expect excellence in academia, they heap praise and money on children for completing minor tasks. If anything, this kind of behavior will create more at risk students, not fewer.
Who decided it was necessary to teach sexuality on a weekly basis? There is NO evidence this works and in fact, the opposite is true when children are constantly exposed to sexual indoctrination the more sexualized and desensitized to sexual activity they become, not less. The founder of the original program has this to say:
Sexuality, according to Carrera said, should be taught weekly in middle and high schools. "It is as valuable as any academic subject. We are doing young people in public school a disservice by presenting this asshort-term, fragmented exposure," he said. "It needs to be done in a thoughtful way.""The focus of the initiative should not be pregnancy prevention, how to use a condom, HIV -- which are all important public health issues," he said. Instead, he said, classes should offer a more complete look at issues related to sexuality.’ “…comprehensive sexuality programs in middle schools beginning with giving people information about puberty, their bodies, the bodies of others, gender roles, communication with parents, and essential messages about abstinence.” [v]
As far as we know, there are only two other families who also opted out of this experiment with our children. The other 200 parents have given permission for the school, the government, the Carrera program to follow their child until they graduate, even if they are taken out of the program, unless a parent rescinds their consent, the school, government and Carrera program still have access to the child, by the nature of the consent.
In our opinion, this is too much access to a child without the full knowledge and clear consent of the parents and should have never been implemented in the curriculum. It should have been an after school program, as it is in other schools, where the parent must request or choose to be part of the program (perhaps they would not have gotten enough participation if it had been implemented as an after school program?).
We previously had a great deal of respect and trust in and for the Union Public School system, it’s teachers, overseers and supporting philanthropy groups/entities, but no longer do so after witnessing first-hand what they are trying to implement at the expense of not only our children, but future generations! They have jeopardized our child’s academic career through their selection process, implementation and change process, thus putting her more at risk than she would or might have been!
In case I failed to state our thoughts up to this point, clearly, let me do so now: As parents, it is OUR JOB to teach our daughter/children about sex, help with homework, seek medical, dental, vision or mental healthcare if needed and be involved in and discuss her/their academic standing with the school……… NOT THE SCHOOL’S & NOT THE GOVERNMENT’S JOB!
In closing, let me be clear on OUR CONCERNS/ISSUES:
- Our daughter was chosen for this program when she was in 5th grade without our knowledge or consent.
- Our daughter and other children are being physically, academically, emotionally, racially and socio-economically segregated from her/their peers without our knowledge for this program.
- We did not find out about this until November 9, 2011. A full 12 weeks into the school year.
- Our daughter was given the program information before we were.
- This program was “pitched” to our daughter in a “fundraising” manner by wrapping it in an opportunity for monetary/college rewards by getting a “free savings account” of $900 when they graduate IF they participate. She was devastated & cried when we told her she would not be participating.
- We found out about the program via a “packet” sent home with our daughter from school. This is the exact same way we find out about fundraisers and we think this is somewhat more important and life changing than a fundraiser. They did have one dinner meeting on Nov. 8th that we were invited to attend but given the short notice we couldn’t attend due to our schedule. However, had we known what exactly this meeting was about at the time we would have cancelled our plans to be there. There should have been more than one dinner & it should have been done over the summer before school ever started!
- We were given directions (via our daughter, rather than a teacher or administrator) to sign & return the packet ASAP or she would have to switch color groups aka classes…….her whole schedule & teachers would change as the 6th grade is broken up into 8 color groups.
- Through extensive research of the Carrera Program which claims they teach abstinence I have found that they push & encourage birth control and condoms.
- The Carrera program is not some successful national program as purported, it is only in 11 states (that is less than 1/3 of the states & it is usually in one school in that state except for NYC) and it has not been successful in achieving its own stated goals.
11. UPS thought we would sign our child, her future, her academia and her mental & physical well-being over to virtual strangers who have no stake in her life outcome beyond that of a statistic.
While this program has some good things to offer, we believe that parents have a right to know exactly what the program is all about & entails before signing their child’s welfare over to people they don’t even know for the next seven years. We should have been notified about the program before school started so that if we didn’t want our child in the program they could have started in the appropriate color group in the beginning of the year. We also feel that it has no business taking away from the standard curriculum during the school day. It should be offered as an after school program!
Thank you for your time. Thank you for your assistance. Feel free to contact me at mirandayarrington@gmail.com
if you have any questions.
I look forward to seeing ALL CHILDREN and people treated with the same dignity and respect they are entitled to in spite of their race, creed, color (group) and/or perceived socio-economic standing in Union Public Schools and everywhere!
Chris and Miranda Yarrington
[i] http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/resources/viewprogram.aspx?id=50
[ii] http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/resources/viewprogram.aspx?id=50
[iii] http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/resources/viewprogram.aspx?id=50
[iv] http://www.emcf.org/fileadmin/user/PDF/Results/eval_CAS-CarreraEvaluation2001.pdf
[v] http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/education/20111005/6/3614
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