The injection of radical, politically charged, and often inappropriate content into the American education system has been well-documented in conservative media. Reports of critical race theory and sexually explicit material in grade school curricula have become so common that they are, sadly, almost no longer newsworthy. Though alarming, these stories are typically relegated to large, urban school districts in progressive neighborhoods, such as Los Angeles Unified School District, Loudoun County (VA) Public Schools, and New York City. However, any illusion that far-left curricula are limited to far-left school districts was shattered when Daren Cusato, a high school biology and anatomy teacher from South Side Area School District (SSASD) in Hookstown, Pennsylvania was suspended for refusing to refer to his students by “preferred pronouns.”
Hookstown is not Seattle, New York, or even Loudoun County, Virginia. The rural SSASD serves a community of roughly 7,000 residents, with a total student body (K-12) under 1000 students. Nor is the district particularly diverse – over 97% of the students are white. A Google search of the community provides little information other than the Hookstown Fair website and a local news report on an annual ‘Tractor Day’ tradition, in which students drive tractors around the school in honor of the community’s rural roots. Moreover, the district leans heavily to the right. In 2020, for example, the five voting areas under the SSASD overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump 74.9% to 25.1%. In summary, this small, rural and extraordinarily conservative school district is the absolute last place one would expect radical gender theory to rear its ugly head. Instead, a debate over ‘preferred pronouns’ nearly cost a beloved teacher his job.
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