Apparently “boys and girls” is not “gender inclusive” enough. You know what the Lincoln, Nebraska Public School system thinks is a good, gender-neutral replacement? “Purple penguins.”

Dave Huber at the College Fix has the story:

Not a joke: Teachers told not to refer to boys and girls as … ‘boys’ and ‘girls’

Middle school teachers in Lincoln (Nebraska) Public Schools were given “training documents” courtesy of the group Gender Spectrum which noted, among other things, “Don’t use phrases such as ‘boys and girls,’ ‘you guys,’ ‘ladies and gentlemen,’ and similarly gendered expressions to get kids’ attention.”

The materials advised teachers to refer to students as “purple penguins,” instead of any gendered term.

Katherine Timpf reports at National Review Online:

The document also warns against asking students to “line up as boys or girls,” and suggests asking them to line up by whether they prefer “skateboards or bikes/milk or juice/dogs or cats/summer or winter/talking or listening.”

“Always ask yourself . . . ‘Will this configuration create a gendered space?’” it advises.

Other items on the list include asking all students about their preferred pronouns and decorating the classroom with “all genders welcome” door hangers.

If teachers still find it “necessary” to mention that genders exist at all, the document states, they must list them as “boy, girl, both or neither.”

Furthermore, it instructs teachers to interfere and interrupt if they ever hear a student talking about gender in terms of “boys and girls” so the student can learn that this is wrong.

The documents recommend teachers put a student on the spot for their “offense” of using gender in language — to ask “What makes you say that? I think of it a little differently.”

Lincoln Superintendent Steve Joel has said he’s “happy” and “pleased” with Gender Spectrum’s training.