AS ONE CUPERTINO Union School District candidate inches toward a win, alarm bells are sounding among LGBTQ+ advocates worried about his stance on inclusive curriculum.
Parent Long Jiao’s apparent second-place finish for one of the two open seats on the five-person school board has families worried about what it could mean for queer students and faculty. Jiao has about 21.1% of the vote as of Thursday, behind top vote-getter and sitting board member Sylvia Leong with about 35.9%. Lakshmi Sharma is trailing Jiao, with about 19.3% of the vote.
Votes are still being tallied, but some community members said Jiao’s lead is troubling because of his alignment with Curriculum Integrity — a parent group whose concerns over gender identity and queer topics in the classroom led to the investigation of a nonbinary transitional kindergarten teacher. The teacher, who San José Spotlight chose not to name over safety concerns, is on leave while the investigation determines whether they went beyond district-approved curriculum by having a poster with different pronouns and a book showing boys wearing skirts.
Jiao said curriculum should be similar in classrooms across the district, which serves about 13,500 students. He wants parents to have the opportunity to opt in and out of “experimental” teaching that goes beyond district curriculum, similar to opting in or out of sex education in fifth and seventh grade.
Jiao said he stands out from other candidates because of his willingness to stand up for what he believes, even when he is in the minority. He said inclusivity is good, but the best way to include all students is to hang the American flag and avoid mentioning different identities entirely because it’s difficult to include everything.
“If the teachers just stick to (the curriculum) without engaging their personal beliefs, it’s actually the most inclusive thing because all the students, no matter which culture they come from and no matter which background they come from, they can be accepted and not feel alienated,” he told San José Spotlight.
A voice in the wilderness
If elected, Jiao would likely represent the minority opinion on the board and have little power during votes, outgoing board President Phyllis Vogel said. She added it would be difficult to allow parents to opt out of queer topics because subjects like gender identity and expression come up naturally, without a start and end date like sex education.
But Jiao’s potential to take the seat is still worrying to parents like Robb Zimmerman, who has a nonbinary child in the district. He said representation like Jiao’s can cause damage to queer students and faculty. Zimmerman is working on building community to help protect his child in anticipation of Jiao’s win.
“It takes nothing more than some political savvy to preside from a minority position (to cause hurt),” he told San José Spotlight. “Even if he’s the lone voice he might bring out some sympathies of people on the board, who were maybe on the fence or had some concerns, but didn’t feel like those concerns would be heard.”
“If the teachers just stick to (the curriculum) without engaging their personal beliefs, it’s actually the most inclusive thing because all the students … can be accepted and not feel alienated.” Long Jiao, school board candidate
The battle over LGBTQ-inclusive materials in the classroom has erupted over the past few months with the nonbinary teacher placed on leave, as swarms of parents, teachers and Cupertino Educators Association members attend board meetings to voice their opinions. The contention led to a board discussion about Board Policy 6144, which sets guidelines for discussing controversial topics. The district has no comprehensive policies on LGBTQ+ curriculum outside of its sexual education units.
The Cupertino Educators Association wants clearer guidelines on queer topics so groups like Curriculum Integrity have a harder time questioning their place in the classroom. The union endorsed Leong and Sharma. A union statement said it’s optimistic about the final results.
“We are hopeful that moving forward, the CUSD board will take action on our consistent demands to explicitly protect and support our LGBTQ students and teachers, and to protect and support our use of California Department of Education recommended materials and methods,” a union spokesperson told San José Spotlight.
Agreeing to disagree
Santa Clara County must certify the election results to the state by Dec. 5.
Vogel, who’s leaving the board after 17 years, said the board has a protocol outlining that members who vote in the minority should support the final outcome, no matter if they personally disagree. She wants that to continue with the new board.
“We’ve been very good listeners to public opinion and I hope that continues,” she told San José Spotlight. “I would like to see the whole inclusivity (message), that whole philosophy be strengthened.”
Contact Annalise Freimarck at annalise@sanjosespotlight.com or follow @annalise_ellen on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This story originally appeared in San Jose Spotlight.