Letter to the editor: Parents have right to decide what children see

Parents have the right to direct their child’s education. With that right comes the responsibility to oversee what their children are exposed to, especially when it comes to deeply personal topics like sex and sexuality.

Unfortunately, it seems Sen. Lindsey Williams thinks she knows better than parents. Recently, she voted against Senate Bill 1277, which would give parents the ability to individually opt their children out of being exposed to these materials in school libraries and classrooms. Does Williams think schools should have free rein to expose children to sexually explicit material, and parents should just get used to it?

This bill was in response to the revelation that several Pennsylvania schools have books with pictures involving sex acts. And these weren’t just in high schools, but elementary schools as well. In my opinion, Williams embraced the notion that school administrators and librarians know better than the parents when providing these materials to students.

Children shouldn’t be looking at sexually explicit images at school. Period. At the very least, parents should be able to opt their children out of this material. Williams cannot represent us if she disagrees with that.

Greg Dolan

Fox Chapel

The writer is a high school history teacher.