According to internal documents, a senior leader of a national school psychologist association is involved in funding efforts to rehome gay youth to new parents.
Amy Cannava was the chair of the National Association Of School Psychologists’ LGBTQI2-S Committee (NASP). She participated in discussions on an internal message board for Pride Liberation Project. They can be confidential as they are adults and work with Safe Space NOVA.
According to the section, “PLP could accept students from other families and pay them money. They could also pick up students from their new homes and transport them to their new life. ”
PLP gained glowing media attention on September 27th, when it claimed that 12,000 students walked out of school in protest against draft guidance from Virginia’s Department of Education. The PLP stated that schools shouldn’t conceal a student’s gender transition from their parents and that schools should permit that student to make the transition with parental permission.
NASP published Cannava’s blog post on the same day. She called her efforts to undermine the state initiative “horrific.”
“This generation of youth is more politically aware than I am. They know that the state department for Education has violated their fundamental human rights.” “Worse, the state used fancy language to make policy reversal seem like it was in the best interest of all children and their families,” she wrote.
“I want to see a kid in a home with food and shelter and insurance and support, but I also don’t want to lose kids to death. … You have to sometimes break rules to do good for kids.”
Cannava, who works as a counselor at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, told The Daily Wire: “School staff is not at liberty to speak to the press.”
She has spoken at public forums. Many children have to choose between their family or their lives. My child deserves a home with shelter, food, and support. But I don’t want them to die.
“I will not deny the fact that I have put parents in their place in my office or at school. And people around me go, ‘can you do that?’ And I go, ‘I don’t know but I just did. If I’m not here tomorrow, you know that I can’t,’” she continued. “You have to sometimes break rules to do good for kids.”
“I had a record day where five kids came out to me. I said ‘this is amazing and exhausting all at the same time.’ … Most of the time it’s like, ‘I think I’m trans,’ which really means ‘I am trans,’” she said.
In a July 2022 podcast, she described how she avoided parental consent requirements.
She stated, “I love my neurodiverse children, they’re my favorite. ”
She stated that she was pansexual in her sexuality. I ask my students how they are doing and what their plans are. This is something I also ask my students.
Safe Space NOVA’s executive director is Jordan Costen-Sumpter. Safe Space NOVA has no role in rehoming, he stated. This was clarified to us previously and reiterated today.
Amy is not associated with the PLP. She stated that she corrected misinformation shared by the youth on the Discord server.
We looked at materials stored on a server belonging to a youth-led organization. Cannava’s role was not limited to correcting misinformation.
NASP oversees school psychologists in many school districts. Cannava offers LGBTQ training that psychologists can use to meet their training requirements. Katherine Cowan spoke for NASP. Amy and NASP don’t condone providing housing or financial support to minors who live in safe homes.
“I identify as queer but I find myself attracted to a smaller but growing number of people and more trans-masculine, not-binary folx. ”
“When ethical standards conflict with law or policy, our standards encourage school psychologists to advocate for changes,” Amy explained that she isn’t breaking the law or her standards.
She did not answer a question about Virginia’s draft policy. This would have implied that NASP thought that parents shouldn’t know about gender transition. This is similar to the situation at the National School Board Association. It lost half of its membership after it collaborated with Democrats to reduce the role of parents within schools.
Cannava said in a NASP podcast she was advocating for a person with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. This was the same reason that Cannava advocated for a transgender person at 11. She also stated that the group was in the process of revising its transgender position statement in support of gender-diverse youth and that it should be released within the next year. This means listening to the person and giving validation and access to their voice.
Cannava’s Instagram account shows anal condoms with a logo saying “Protect Trans Kids” and she claimed that she was working alongside a delegate from the state to pass a child protection bill. She claimed that Governor Glenn Youngkin was “Trumpkin,” and that his assistant superintendent for education belonged to an anti-Semitic group. Cannava concluded her tirade by saying, “Let’s see if they’re employed next year.” ”
A leader of PLP also stated that it was impossible to disobey state policy. “They can declare they must implement them, but without an enforcement mechanism you won’t be able to do s ***.”
Charles Pyle, the spokesperson for the Department of Education, stated that school boards could be sued. The circuit court with jurisdiction over the school section can review an action taken by the school board.
Erika Sanzi, Parents Defending Education, said it was not surprising that the supposedly organic student group was supported and encouraged by school staff. This is especially true when school employees collaborate outside activist entities like the Pride Liberation Group.
