Current Events > Two CA teachers fighting for jobs after being recorded discussing LGBTQ outreach

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This fall, a pair of middle school teachers from the Salinas Valley traveled to Palm Springs for the California Teachers Associations annual LGBTQ+ Issues Conference. There, on a Saturday afternoon, Lori Caldeira and Kelly Baraki spoke to a few dozen people about a subject they knew well: the difficulty of running a GSA, or gay-straight alliance, in a socially conservative community.

Speaking about recruiting students, Baraki said, When we were doing our virtual learning we totally stalked what they were doing on Google, when they werent doing schoolwork. One of them was Googling Trans Day of Visibility. And were like, Check. Were going to invite that kid when we get back on campus.

Shortly after the October conference, a surreptitious recording of the presentation was handed to a conservative writer known for asserting that transgender adolescents are part of a dangerous craze. She published a story Nov. 18 headlined How Activist Teachers Recruit Kids, criticizing Caldeira and Baraki for actions they had seen as proper: keeping club members identities confidential from parents and finding a couple of potential members by viewing their online activity in class.

One day after the article came out, Caldeira and Barakis presentation on the difficulties of running their GSA would prove prophetic: Leaders of the Spreckels Union School District suspended the club. Four days later, the district opened an investigation and placed the teachers on administrative leave.

The controversy has roiled the small district south of Salinas and east of Monterey, alarming advocates for LGBTQ youth and marking one of a number of recent incidents in which influential conservative voices have forced the hands of local officials.

The episode raises broader questions about educators growing ability to monitor what students do online, which accelerated during the pandemic, and about what responsibility schools have to provide safe spaces such as gay-straight alliances for LGBTQ students who may not have support from peers and parents.

Caldeira and Baraki, who said they have received violent threats since the story went viral in some circles, said they are worried about their students. Both teach at Buena Vista Middle School, which has an enrollment of around 360.

Can you imagine? Seriously, we have kids in our club right now who are out at school, (but) theyre not out at home. The only two teachers that they have ever spoken to have been taken away, said Caldeira, her voice and hands shaking as she spoke at a Monterey coffee shop in her first interview since the district suspended the GSA. Im sure theyre terrified, because where are they going to go, and who are they going to talk to, you know?

Caldeira said the club called UBU (You Be You) had for more than six years allowed students to ask questions they might not be ready to bring up with their families.

Our conversations were always student-led, which is why they frequently surrounded LGBTQ topics. Because the kids have questions, she said. Their parents think we start that conversation, but we dont. TikTok starts it, Snapchat starts it, Instagram starts it or their classmates start it, and then we just try to answer the questions as honestly and fairly as we can.

The district has launched a third-party investigation into the actions of the teachers. Officials declined to be interviewed by The Chronicle, but Superintendent Eric Tarallo, school board President Steve McDougall and Buena Vista Principal Kate Pagaran released a statement Nov. 19 apologizing to parents, while promising that the district would exert tighter control over student clubs and bar teachers from monitoring students online activity for any non-academic purposes.

At the school boards Dec. 15 meeting, member Michael Scott said, I am hopeful a third-party investigation will provide a clearer picture of the circumstances surrounding the UBU club and how it was run, that any subsequent action should be responsive to the values, beliefs and priorities of the Spreckels community.

The Palm Springs presentation by Caldeira and Baraki was similar in many ways to talks theyve given for four or five years, they said. For an hour and 15 minutes, they spoke informally to about 40 people.

Caldeira, who in 2017 won an award for her work with special-needs students, said she requested the presentation not be recorded. We do deal with middle schoolers, she said, and it can be sensitive content at times.

But the secret audio made its way to Abigail Shrier, author of Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, which has been criticized as unscientific and inflammatory. On Nov. 18, she published the first of four stories about the Spreckels teachers on her Substack newsletter, The Truth Fairy, where she has argued that transgender women are not women and that gender-affirming school policies abuse parents rights.

Shrier focused heavily on Barakis comment about seeing a students Google search for Trans Day of Visibility, characterizing this as surveillance of potential recruits into the GSA.

The Chronicle could not obtain audio of the presentation, but Caldeira confirmed she and Baraki had been accurately quoted by Shrier. However, she said many of the comments were misconstrued and taken out of context.

According to the newsletter, the two teachers said in the presentation that they do not keep roll of who comes to the club and do not tell parents if their child attends a meeting, actions that were not required by the school. California law protects students right to privacy in gender identity and any activities they participate in based on that.

For those paying attention, Shrier wrote, the educators who guide California teachers in the creation of middle school LGBTQ clubs asserted the following: they struggle to maintain student participation in the clubs; many parents oppose the clubs; teachers surveil students electronically to ferret out students who might be interested, after which the identified student is recruited to the club via a personal invitation.

Reaction to Shriers post was immediate: Several conservative outlets picked up the story, and parents inside and outside the community inundated the school district with complaints. The districts statement called the teachers comments as quoted by Shrier alarming, concerning, disappointing.

Caldeira said she and Baraki were blindsided. While the district stressed in its statement that it didnt know in advance what Caldeira and Baraki would talk about in their presentation, school officials were well aware of what the club was all about, Caldeira said.

Our superintendent has attended our meetings. Hes attended our events, she said. Our club has been used as part of our suicide-prevention plan, saying that we have these spaces available for students in crisis.

Lisa Gardiner, a spokesperson for the California Teachers Association, declined to comment specifically about the case, citing the ongoing personnel investigation, but said, We are concerned about a political climate right now in which outside political forces fuel chaos and misinformation and seek to divide parents, educators and school communities for their own political gain.

They simply don't think trans people actually exist or are valid. They think it's something blue haired sjw borderline pedophiles recruit you into, that's why they want all mention of it banned. They think if no one hears about it, no one will realize they're trans or LGBT because these are ideas that the aforementioned recruiters put into their heads for reasons. They want people to stay in the closet by force by making sure they don't even know there's a closet or a door out of it.

Seems pretty sketchy. Unless they make their intention very clear from the beginning, this is inappropriate. Maybe if they make it VERY clear from the beginning, like say hey, were going to be looking at everything you do a google search on.

Caldeira said she did not monitor student activities on her own initiative. With the onset of virtual learning, Buena Vista Middle School began using GoGuardian, a software that is usually installed on school-provided devices and allows teachers to see what students are doing on their computers while they are in class. The software is designed to flag words or behaviors identifying children at risk of harming themselves or others.
According to its website, GoGuardian is used in 30,000 schools with over 22 million K-12 students, helping teachers communicate with students and keep them on task. Caldeira said her school uses the software for suicide and violence prevention as well, but that individual teachers do not have access to that information. The district declined to answer questions about its use of GoGuardian.
Caldeira said she didnt intend to track her students activities online My theory is: If you were off task, the consequence is a poor grade, she said but that one day, as she used the software to chat with students, she noticed one student on a website about Transgender Day of Visibility.
I see a site thats emblazoned with rainbows, she said. How am I not going to notice that? After class, she said, she made a mental note to invite the student to the UBU club.
Baraki had a similar experience, Caldeira said, once noticing a student on an LGBTQ website. She said the two shared these anecdotes at the conference, But that was it.
As for the we totally stalked what they were doing on Google comment, Caldeira said, It was tongue in cheek. She said teachers do not have access to students private social posts, messages and emails.
If the schools investigation finds that Caldeira and Baraki had taken action based on students online activity during class through GoGuardian, there is likely no law preventing what they did, privacy experts said.
Amelia Vance, vice president of youth and education at the Future of Privacy Forum, explained that, legally speaking, an educator seeing something a student is doing through GoGuardian is not any different than a teacher walking around a classroom and noticing students behavior or what they had visible on their screens.

Seems pretty sketchy. Unless they make their intention very clear from the beginning, this is inappropriate. Maybe if they make it VERY clear from the beginning, like say hey, were going to be looking at everything you do a google search on.

Seems pretty sketchy. Unless they make their intention very clear from the beginning, this is inappropriate. Maybe if they make it VERY clear from the beginning, like say hey, were going to be looking at everything you do a google search on.

im pretty sure its common knowledge they could track what students are doing during school hours just like employers can track what people working from home do(if they make you install the software for it)

Honestly though, they should just have the LGBTQ available like any other club and have students sign up like any other student would.. making all these secret clauses for anonymity isnt needed and we shouldnt be teaching kids that they need to hide.

Its perfectly reasonable to keep discussions of these topics out of elementary schools. Even in high school, discussions of these subjects should be allowed, but the school teachers should not push a particular agenda or point of view.

So many of them preach that and yet every time an LGBTQ person exists, so many of them throw a fit

For context, this is the next part of the article (which I couldn't paste due to character limits)

Conservatives really need to look into the concept of "That's not for me, but you do you".

They simply don't think trans people actually exist or are valid. They think it's something blue haired sjw borderline pedophiles recruit you into, that's why they want all mention of it banned. They think if no one hears about it, no one will realize they're trans or LGBT because these are ideas that the aforementioned recruiters put into their heads for reasons. They want people to stay in the closet by force by making sure they don't even know there's a closet or a door out of it.

What is sjw? Sacajaewae?

Its perfectly reasonable to keep discussions of these topics out of elementary schools. Even in high school, discussions of these subjects should be allowed, but the school teachers should not push a particular agenda or point of view.

Have you not used the internet in the last 10 years or what

I don't even know what to say other than "fuck off" to everyone opposed to outreach like this

Conservatives really need to look into the concept of "That's not for me, but you do you".

I dont find it reasonable for a school to hide the activities of children from their parents if the parents ask about it, especially not with the justification of some parent are bad.

Thats how you get a modern day libertarian

I dont find it reasonable for a school to hide the activities of children from their parents if the parents ask about it, especially not with the justification of some parent are bad.

Active Posts: 10

Speaking about recruiting students, Baraki said, When we were doing our virtual learning we totally stalked what they were doing on Google, when they werent doing schoolwork.

criticizing Caldeira and Baraki for actions they had seen as proper: keeping club members identities confidential from parents and finding a couple of potential members by viewing their online activity in class.

Good intentions bad execution. Should have known that was not appropriate, aint your lane bubbas.

Just mark #45 and don't engage with it.

I dont find it reasonable for a school to hide the activities of children from their parents if the parents ask about it, especially not with the justification of some parent are bad.