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A leaked audio recording reveals two teachers at a recent California Teachers Association (CTA) conference mocking parents over their concerns about homosexual and transgender indoctrination at school, says a source who attended the event in Palm Springs, Calif.
The recording, obtained by The Epoch Times, captured two seventh-grade teachers, Kelly Baraki and Lori Caldeira from Buena Vista Middle School in Salinas, Calif., telling other teachers how to recruit students into LGBTQ clubs, also known as âGay-Straight Allianceâ (GSA) clubs, at school.
âIt was horrifying to listen to not just one teacher but really all of the teachers in all of these seminars, excoriating parents,â said the source, who goes by the pseudonym Rebecca Murphy.
Murphy attended the teachers union conference in late October. She told The Epoch Times the teachers âmockedâ parents for their concerns, and suggested they know better than parents about whatâs best for their children.
âThey laughed at the parents,â Murphy said.
The sold-out CTA conference, billed as the â2021 LGBTQ+ Issues Conference, Beyond the Binary: Identity & Imagining Possibilities,â was held Oct. 29 to 31.
The CTA has hosted similar âSexual Orientation and Gender Identityâ (SOGI) professional development training for at least the last two years, according to an event notice posted on the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA)Â website, which asks teachers: âDo you have the courage to create a safe environment that fosters bravery to explore sexual orientation, gender identity and expression?â
However, according to Murphy, the conference in Palm Springs appeared to include teachers showing other teachers how to undermine the authority of parents and school administrators and conceal activities related to gender inclusion and sexual orientation from them.
Teachers also suggested that parents who refuse to call their child by pronouns of the childâs choosing should be arrested and charged with child abuse, Murphy said.
The three classes Murphy attended were designed to recruit middle school students to GSA clubs, she said.
âThe overarching theme of the classes that I attended were California Teachers instructing other teachers on how to sneak in the LGBTQ+ curriculum in a manner that does not alert parents,â Murphy said.
Caldeira and Baraki led a workshop called âHow we run a âGSAâ in Conservative Communities,â and they described the obstacles they faced as activist teachers in concealing the activities of these clubs from parents.
In the audio clip, Caldeira advised teachers who lead LGBTQ clubs to maintain an air of plausible deniability so they can play dumb if they are questioned by parents.
âBecause we are not official, we have no club rosters. We keep no records,â said Caldeira, who is also an LGBTQ club leader. âIn fact, sometimes we donât really want to keep records because if parents get upset that their kids are coming? Weâre like, âYeah, I donât know. Maybe they came?â You know, we would never want a kid to get in trouble for attending if their parents are upset.â
Baraki backed up Caldeiraâs advice, suggesting activist teachers to disguise the nature of GSA clubs by calling them something less obvious. Baraki provided an example of this deception, pointing out she avoided naming her LGBTQ club a GSA. Instead, she called it the âEquity Clubâ and later changed the name to the âYou Be Youâ club.
The teachers bragged about spying on studentsâ online searches and activity as well as eavesdropping on their conversations to identify and recruit sixth-grade students into these LGBTQ clubs whose membership rolls are kept hidden from parents.
âWe totally stalked what they were doing on Google,â Baraki said.
Buena Vista Middle School falls under the jurisdiction of the Spreckels Union School District (SUSD). Another nearby district, Salinas Union High School District (SUHSD) has been a center of controversy over its mandatory ninth grade ethnic studies program, which teaches elements of critical race theory.
SUSD Board President Steve McDougall, Superintendent Eric Tarallo, and school board members did not respond to Epoch Times inquiries about the leaked audio. Neither did Caldeira and Baraki.
Anti-Bullying Presentation
Caldeira also discussed a yearly anti-bullying presentation she provides to students along with Baraki, and she said LGBTQ issues were not the only topics they discussed.
âWe also covered religious differences, race, cultural backgrounds, family status povertyâeverything that is listed in the Parentsâ Rights handbook.â
However, when the kids went home and talked to their parents about the presentation, the parents complained about the LGBTQ content. Baraki suggested a different strategy to avoid resistance from parents.
âNext year, weâre going to do just a little mind-trick on our sixth graders. They were last to go through this presentation and the gender stuff was the last thing we talked about. So next year, theyâll be going first with this presentation and the gender stuff will be the first thing they hear about. Hopefully to mitigate, you know, these kind of responses, right?â Baraki said.
Baraki ridiculed a parent who complained she hadnât planned on having a conversation about sexual orientation and gender identity issues with her middle-schooler but was pushed into it by the school.
âI know, so sad, right? Sorry for you, you had to do something hard!â Baraki told her audience. âHonestly, your 12-year-old probably knew all that, right?â
When a principal âinvitedâ another parent to enroll their child in a private school more aligned with the parentâs beliefs, Caldeira said, âwe count that as a win.â
Controlling Morning Announcements
Caldeira also spoke about how she controls morning announcements at the school.
âThatâs another type of strategy I can give you,â she said. âIâm the one who controls the messaging. Everybody says, âOh, Ms. Caldeira, youâre so sweet, you volunteered to do that.â Of course, Iâm so sweet that I volunteered to do that, because then I control the information that goes out. And, for the first time this year, students have been allowed to put openly LGBT content into our morning announcement slides.â
She went on to boast about the students she recruited to help with the announcements.
âThree of the kids on the team, two of them are non-binary, and the other one is just very fluid in every way. Sheâs fabulous. So, itâs actually a nice group,â she said.
Caldeira pointed out more than once that she canât be fired, and she thanked CTA for her tenure and for providing resources and tools.
âYou canât fire me for running a GSA,â she said. âYou can be mad, but you canât fire me for it.â
âCTA has made it very clear that they are devoted to human rights and equity,â she added.
Caldeira tells teachers, that she and Baraki have acted with âgreat integrity.â
âWe never crossed a line,â she says. âWeâve wanted to, but we never have.â
School Response
After information about the leaked audio was made public this week, Supt. Tarallo, SUSD President McDougall and Kate Pagaran, the principal at Buena Vista Middle School, issued a letter Nov. 19 addressed to the âSUSD Communityâ that the âUBU (You Be You)â club has been suspended.
âAny future student clubs will be required to submit an outline of all activities and materials before being allowed to meet,â the letter states. âStudent sign-in sheets will be maintained and parent/guardian permission slips will be sent home prior to a club holding a meeting.â
The letter states that âall messaging shared in the morning announcementsâ will be controlled and distributed by the principal, a practice that âwill be in place permanently.â
SUSD states clearly: âTeachers are prohibited from monitoring studentsâ online activity for any non-academic purpose.â
SUSD will follow state-approved standards and curriculum on all presentations involving âsensitive themes such as sexualityâ and âmaterials of any sensitive themes will be shared with parents/guardians before being shown to students,â the letter states.