Bob CollinsThere’s certainly a debate to be had over whether the Gaia Democratic School, a private school in Minneapolis, should’ve taken kids in a sex education class to the Smitten Kitten on Lyndale Avenue, which calls itself a “progressive sex toy store.”
But one thing is clear: Anybody should’ve seen the reaction in the Star Tribune coming from a mile away.
“It’s just a major breach of trust,” said Lynn Floyd, whose 11- and 13-year-old daughters were part of the outing to the Smitten Kitten. “You just can’t erase those images.”
The girls told their mother and were pulled out of the school.
And that takes care of that. No other parents were quoted in the story about the school, which from its description, sounds pretty much like a place that would teach sex education at a sex toy shop.
Gaia is a K-12 school with a motto promising academic freedom, youth empowerment and democratic education. Parents say the school has about 25 students, including several described by administrators as transgender.
IRS records show the school, housed in a Unitarian church on Mt. Curve Avenue, has an annual budget of about $100,000.
Of course, the controversy — if there really is one — could have been avoided by the old school staple — the permission slip. The class teacher acknowledged she didn’t communicate very well, and she probably won’t do it again.
“It was certainly the first time we have taken that kind of field trip and it will probably be our last, which I feel bad [about] because the kids had so much fun,” she said.
