Month: September 2022

51% Of FL 10th Graders Fail English Proficiency Exam

51% Of FL 10th Graders Fail English Proficiency Exam

The Florida Phoenix reports:

In Florida’s public schools, the 10th grade statewide English Language Arts assessment has been a crucial exam — kids have to pass it to get a standard high school diploma. But the 2022 spring exam results show that fewer than half of Florida’s 10th graders passed the ELA exam, troubling because students will be getting closer to entering the workforce or going to college.

Overall, 49 percent of 10th graders got a passing score of at least 3 on the spring ELA exam. In total, 202,900 10th graders took the exam, according to data from the Florida Department of Education. The school district with the lowest percent of passing ELA scores in 2022 was Jefferson County, located in North Florida, with only 15 percent of 10th graders passing the exam.

Read the full article. A score of 4 or 5 is required to show “proficiency” in reading and writing. Of note, the above-cited Jefferson County, which is majority white, is locally famous for having no traffic signals.

 

carswell • 2 hours ago

Good thing DeSantis is recruiting unqualified vets as teachers. That’ll fix the problem!

zhera carswell • 5 minutes ago

“You can’t read history books if you can’t read!”

Sister_Bertrille carswell • 2 hours ago

The bad teachers with no other options are staying while the good teachers are leaving.

friendlynerd carswell • 2 hours ago

They don’t want to fix the problem, having a dumb electorate helps them out.

Galvestonian carswell • 2 hours ago

Naaaaw, he’s pushing for more future Republican voters.

Bob_Barnes • 2 hours ago

This is how you create republican voters

Nic Peterson Bob_Barnes • 2 hours ago

Keep them dumb, poor, pregnant and steeped in hate for anyone that doesn’t look like them.

another_steve S_E_P • 2 hours ago

DeVos was a plant of the Religious Right acting through their puppet, Trump. Her goal was to destroy the public education system in America.

Much like the goal of another Trump hack — Louis DeJoy — is (“is,” because much to America’s peril he’s still in place) to destroy the U.S. Postal Service.

Adam Schmidt • 2 hours ago • edited

There hasn’t been a Democrat as Governor of Florida in over 20 years… this is entirely on Republicans and demonstrates, as Republican leadership tends to do over and over again, that Republicans cannot lead effectively. Republican led states tend to fail in every category whether it’s education, health, employment, average pay, or any other measurement you choose.

crewman • 2 hours ago • edited

DeSantis’ America: dumb, obedient (or else!) workers, serving a ruling class. In so many ways, that’s what the Confederates fought for.

JustDucky • 2 hours ago • edited

“Half of those kids can still read? Know what’ll fix that? Uncertified cops/veterans/veteran’s spouses teaching kids!”

Thumbnail

Ninja0980 • 2 hours ago

The whole point.
Make them uneducated as possible and they’ll be at your beck and call.

Sister_Bertrille Ninja0980 • 2 hours ago

Yes. They won’t have the reasoning skills to see through their bullshit.

Palin= electile dysfunction • 2 hours ago

But the drag queens reading to kids are the real problem.

Bambino🌻 • 2 hours ago

Removing books from the libraries and barring drag queens story time do not help either.

Texas School Board Reviewing Bible

Texas Paul LAUGHS HYSTERICALLY as Right Wing Nutjobs DUMP TRUMP in a PANIC

Texas Paul could not hold back his laughter as many former defenders of Donald Trump, including Donald Trump, Ann Coulter, Ben Shapiro, Alex Jones and others, began RUSHING to run away from their Dear Leader amid Donald Trump’s increasing exposure to criminal charges.

Marjorie Taylor Greene tweets image of severed hand to somehow prove Joe Biden hates women

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/marjorie-taylor-greene-tweets-image-severed-hand-somehow-prove-joe-biden-hates-women/

This post shows some of the right wing talking points and then refutes them with the facts.   It shows how one anti-trans activest makes stuff up that when they are checked out it shows he totally lied.   But his lies are used by the right whing hate media to further the misinformation and rile up anger at the LGBTQ+.   These people don’t care what they are spewing is lies and misinformation, they hate / don’t under the trans people and think anything done to stop people from transitioning is a good thing.   Hugs

And, of course, for her it all comes down to transgender people.
 
By      
President Joe Biden/Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
President Joe Biden/Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Photo: Shutterstock/Screenshot
 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is continuing to use extreme transphobia to attack President Joe Biden, this time sharing misinformation claiming that “children’s hospitals across the country” are performing gender affirming genital surgeries on minors as well as an image of what appears to be a severed hand.

Biden tweeted over the weekend about what Democrats are going to do if they win in the midterm elections.

“We’ll codify Roe v. Wade, protecting a woman’s right to choose,” he wrote. “We’ll ban assault weapons, saving countless lives. We’ll protect voting rights.”

Biden’s invocation of women’s rights set Greene off.

“Joe says get an abortion instead of be a mother,” she responded. “Joe wants to take away guns so women can’t protect themselves.”

She included a tweet from unhinged Canadian anti-trans activist Chris Elston. Elston spent part of 2020 and 2021 putting up a billboard and wearing a sandwich sign that said “I (heart) J.K. Rowling” and harassing women who he perceived as too supportive of trans rights.

Elston’s message claimed that “children’s hospitals across the country” are performing genital surgeries on trans minors, which is not true. Gender affirming surgery is not performed on minors.

He also wrote that the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) “now recommends” genital surgeries “for 17-year-old girls.” The WPATH standards of care actually say, “Genital surgery should not be carried out until patients reach the legal age of majority to give consent for medical procedures in a given country” and suggests a 12-month waiting period.

Elston shared images of what appears to be a cadaver’s arm and claimed that they showed “tissue harvesting for construction of a phallus.” Tissue used in phalloplasty comes from the living tissue of the person who the procedure is performed on, not corpses.

“And Mr. 81M votes lies about voting rights & wants girls under 18 to be able to do this with your tax dollars,” Greene wrote, even though that is not Biden’s position on the issue. Biden has never called for the standards of care for gender affirming care to be changed and has defended gender affirming care as a decision to be made by patients, their families, and their doctors.

“Joe hates women,” she concluded.

The idea that children’s hospitals are performing gender affirming surgeries on young children has gained traction on the far-right this past month, leading to harassment and death threats against pediatricians working at children’s hospitals.

The claim was rated “false” by Politifact.

But Greene apparently believes that this is happening so she introduced a bill that would ban gender affirming care for minors that included a long list of surgeries, even though they are not performed on minors. Her bill would go far beyond banning surgery and would ban puberty blockers, reversible medications that give trans youth more time to figure out their identities before the permanent effects of puberty appear. Puberty blockers have been shown to significantly reduce lifelong suicide risk.

Her law would also ban certain health care plans from covering gender affirming care for adults and ban medical schools from teaching about gender affirming care for transgender people.

Right before she introduced her bill, Greene was on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show claiming that her bill would stop “horrific ‘sex change’ genital surgeries” on minors.

This is the second time this week that Greene has attacked Biden over his supposed support for gender affirming genital surgeries for minors. Yesterday, Greene claimed that Biden “supports castrating boys with so called ‘gender affirming care’ before they are even old enough to vote,” which is not true.

“Yes there is an awakening coming,” she wrote. “We will STOP your sick & perverse child abuse.”

 

Rightwing pundit mocked for being too excited while denouncing “lesbians on the moon”

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/rightwing-pundit-mocked-excited-denouncing-lesbians-moon/

“Very telling that Ben doesn’t think lesbians exist in every facet of the workforce and not just his fantasies.”
 
By      
Ben Shapiro, Matt Walsh, Pete Buttigieg
Ben ShapiroPhoto: YouTube screenshot

Far right pundit Ben Shapiro was mocked online for claiming that lesbians aren’t qualified to be astronauts and that NASA hiring lesbians is “like a bad pornography.”

Earlier this week, NASA announced that the launch of Artemis I — a mission to put an uncrewed space capsule into the moon’s orbit — was going to be delayed until next week. It was originally scheduled to launch on August 29 but was delayed until September 5 due to some technical problems. It has been delayed again until September 6 due to bad weather forecasts for September 5.

While for most people this is, at most, a sign of how cautious NASA is when it comes to major launches that take years of study, manufacturing, and planning, Shapiro of The Daily Wire thinks he understands the true problem: there are too many lesbians at NASA now that Joe Biden is president.

“According to CNN, the launch of NASA’s historic Artemis I moon mission has been postponed after the team was unable to work through an issue with one of the rocket’s fore engines,” Shapiro said on his podcast The Ben Shapiro Show. “But, the really really important thing is that when we do go to the moon, we have to have a lesbian on the moon.”

“Lesbians on the moon!” he shouted, laughing at his joke about an uncrewed capsule that isn’t going to land on the moon. “This is what we need, it sounds like a bad pornography.”

He then implied that lesbians aren’t qualified to go into space: “I thought it would be, you know, the most qualified people that we ought to send to space.”

On Twitter, he got mocked for sexualizing lesbians and implying that they’re not qualified to be astronauts even though lesbians have been going into space since 1983 when Sally Ride flew on Challenger.

 

 

4chan trolls target Trevor Project suicide hotline in hopes LGBTQ kids would die

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/4chan-trolls-target-trevor-project-suicide-hotline-hopes-lgbtq-kids-die/

That hateful woman running the Libs of TikTok, Chaya Raichik, is out to get LGBTQ+ kids killed.   What is wrong with these people?  What is wrong with these trolls, who are clogging up a suicide help line?  What is noble or good about stopping kids from getting help not to end their lives?    I think it is time that law authorities step in and do something about this stuff.  But in the areas that these people do their hate work law enforcement seems more than happy with the harassment and violence against the LGBTQ+.    Hugs

They flooded the non-profit’s crisis hotline with fake requests for help.
 
By      
transgender, teen, texas, texans, suicide
Photo: Shutterstock
 

Anti-LGBTQ users on 4chan targeted the Trevor Projects suicide prevention services on Tuesday in an effort to prevent LGBTQ youth from getting help.

In a post on the notorious platform’s “Politically Incorrect” imageboard, an anonymous user posted a plan to bog down the nonprofit organization’s crisis hotline and online chats with fake requests for help. The goal was to “f**k up the queue so sodomites and f*gs commit suicide,” to “demoralize the therapists,” and “waste as much of their resources as possible.”

According to The Daily Dot, the original thread appears to have been deleted, but it’s unclear whether it was removed by 4chan or the original poster. A second thread has been archived and was still visible on the site as of Tuesday evening.

Alex Kaplan, a senior researcher at progressive media watchdog org Media Matters for America, posted screenshots of the original post and responses from trolls sharing screenshots of their chats with Trevor Project councilors.

One 4chan user posted a screenshot from the Trevor Project’s online crisis chat saying that “wait times to reach a counselor are higher than usual.”

“The act of attacking a crisis services line intended to prevent suicide among young people is egregious,” the Trevor Project said in a statement. “Our crisis counselors work around the clock to be there for LGBTQ youth who feel like they have nowhere to turn, and it’s harrowing that anybody would attempt to compromise our lifeline or encourage suicide.”

“LGBTQ youth are at significantly increased risk for suicide—not because of anything inherent about their identities, but because of the stigma, bullying, violence, and discrimination that they face,” the Trevor Project said. “The incident of users on 4chan who maliciously planned to overtake our crisis lines today is exactly the kind of mistreatment and abuse that contributes to heightened suicide risk. Alarmingly, our research has found that every 45 seconds, an LGBTQ young person attempts suicide. Every second counts when you work in suicide prevention, and we strongly condemn this intent to obstruct our lines and create even more barriers for LGBTQ people who rely on our help. We are working diligently in the face of this disruption to protect our counselors and those youth who need us.”

The Trevor Project became a target of far-right trolls earlier this year when Chaya Raichik, who runs the influential anti-LGBTQ Twitter account “Libs of TikTok,” called the non-profit “a grooming organization” in a tweet that was later deleted. Other anti-LGBTQ organizations and pundits like Moms for Liberty and Lauren Chen followed suit, equating the Trevor Project’s outreach to LGBTQ teens in crisis with giving abusers access to children.

 
 

UN expert “deeply alarmed” at state of LGBTQ equality in the U.S.

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/un-expert-deeply-alarmed-state-lgbtq-equality-u-s/

 

“Despite five decades of progress, equality is not within reach, and often not even within sight.”
 
By      
UN expert “deeply alarmed” at state of LGBTQ equality in the U.S.
Victor Madrigal-Borloz Photo: Screenshot
 

The United Nations’ independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity says he is “deeply alarmed” by the state of LGBTQ equality in the U.S.

At a Tuesday press briefing following a 10-day trip to the U.S., Victor Madrigal-Borloz warned that progress made over the course of previous decades is being undermined at both the state and federal level.

“Despite five decades of progress, equality is not within reach, and often not even within sight,” Madrigal-Borloz said.

During the trip, Madrigal-Borloz visited Washington DC, Miami, San Diego, and Birmingham, Alabama, and met with representatives from federal, state, and local governments, representatives from civil society organizations, LGBTQ people, and authorities at a detention center holding asylum seekers, according to a United Nations release.

“I am deeply alarmed by a widespread, profoundly negative riptide created by deliberate actions to roll back the human rights of LGBT people at state level,” he said. “The evidence shows that, without exception, these actions rely on prejudiced and stigmatizing views of LGBT persons, in particular transgender children and youth, and seek to leverage their lives as props for political profit.”

The U.S. has seen a wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation at the state level in recent months, much of it targeting LGBTQ youth. In his report, Madrigal-Borloz noted that in 2021, 268 anti-equality bills were introduced in state legislatures and that the number is expected to be even higher in 2022. He called out so-called “Don’t Say Gay” laws in Florida and Alabama, which severely restrict the teaching of LGBTQ issues in schools; laws restricting transgender and gender diverse people’s access to bathrooms; and laws criminalizing transgender children’s access to gender-affirming healthcare.

Madrigal-Borloz also noted that LGBTQ people of color are particularly at risk in the U.S., facing inequality in relation to health, education, employment, and housing, as well as being disproportionately impacted by violence.

He acknowledged the Biden administration’s efforts via executive orders to combat anti-LGBTQ discrimination.

“The Biden-Harris administration has adopted powerful and meaningful actions that are in conformity with international human rights law, reveal a thoughtful strategy created through participative approaches, and provide significant capacity for their implementation,” he said. “In light of a concerted attack to undermine these actions, I exhort the administration to redouble its efforts to support the human rights of all LGBT persons living under its jurisdiction.”

 
 

The anti-trans middle school vice principal who threw beer on a woman has been reinstated

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/anti-trans-middle-school-vice-principal-threw-beer-woman-reinstated/

The arbitrator said the man shouldn’t be disciplined for protecting his wife.   But that is not what he was doing.   They were in a public place and his wife was loudly causing a scene about a transwoman.   A fellow patron started recording the wife, the man got up to confront the woman recording them.    Now that woman was with in her rights, he is going to her to confront her.   The woman says “Please take your hate elsewhere,” the patron who is recording them said. Michael Smurro then threw his beer at the woman.  He threw his beer on a woman because he was angry she asked him to take his bigotry elsewhere, he was angry she dared tell him what to do.  So he threw his beer on her.  Is that the way we want someone who is in the job of “Vice Principal of Safety”  to act?    Really this is what we should teach kids, that when you are angry it is OK to pour your drink on someone?   But I am glad the school district is standing up for the LGBTQ+ and want him to resign.   Hugs

Despite viral video of the encounter and the superintendent’s wish to let him go, he has been given the job of “Vice Principal of Safety” district-wide.
 
By Lana Leonard     
The Neptune Township Board of Education held a meeting to discuss Michael Smurro's reinstatement
The Neptune Township Board of Education held a meeting to discuss Michael Smurro’s reinstatement Photo: Lana Leonard
 

Dozens attended a New Jersey school board meeting to denounce the reinstatement of Neptune Middle School’s former Vice Principal Michael Smurro.

A viral video recorded by patrons shows Michael Smurro and his wife, Lisa, at the outside seating area of a local restaurant as Lisa Smurro ranted loudly about a transgender woman who used the bathroom. When the Smurros realize that someone at a different table was recording them, they get up to confront that person, while Lisa Smurro continued to rant about the trans woman.

“Please take your hate elsewhere,” the patron who is recording them said. Michael Smurro then threw his beer at the woman.

The video of the confrontation quickly garnered national media attention.

The recording raised questions about what happened that day, particularly, whether or not Mr. Smurro engaged in transphobic behavior himself. Smurro quoted the transphobic slur of the unidentified woman his wife used when explaining the incident to District Superintendent Dr. Tami Crader, according to the investigation.

The Neptune Township Board of Education requested his termination and the commissioner’s office agreed. However, Barbara C. Deinhardt, the arbitrator, disagreed with the school board and approved his return to work starting on August 18.

“The district took legal action to terminate [Smurro] through tenure charges, but the arbitrator assigned to the case instead ruled in favor of the penalty of six months unpaid suspension. Mr. Smurro’s tenure remains in place and he has been reinstated as a vice principal of safety located in the central office,” said President Chanta L. Jackson to the audience.

Lisa Smurro was the only individual using transphobic language, therefore, he can’t be guilty by association, according to the investigation’s 35-page decision.

“The theory that because he defended his wife who arguably expressed intolerance for transgender persons, he thereby discriminated in the provision of benefits or services to students is far-fetched,” reads Deinhardt’s conclusion.

Superintendent Crader agreed with the public consensus in the investigation. However, Jackson warned the board couldn’t respond to public questions involving the employment or discipline of employees before public comment.

Michael Hoffman, the father of children in the school district, believes in forgiveness. He believes in second chances, yet, he believes as a public official the vice principal should resign regardless of the arbitrator’s award.

“A person in this light should not work around children. By bringing this person back we are showing children it’s okay to lead with anger and violence,” said Hoffman. “Neptune, I’m asking you to stand up and be a school where trans kids and all kids can grow up and feel safe.”

Hoffman’s words echoed others who spoke in the public portion of the meeting – including his wife Kym Hoffman.

Kym Hoffman is running for the Board of Education in the general election. The incident partially encouraged Hoffman’s run for public office. Her hope is to continue Neptune’s LGBTQ training, inclusivity and equity in the school, while making an effort to hold people in power accountable.

“There is nothing we can legally do now, but push for [Smurro’s] resignation,” Hoffman said.

The reinstatement comes at a vulnerable time for civil rights in classrooms as hundreds of anti-LGBTQ education bills trickle throughout the country.

“As of April 2022, there have been more than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills proposed in the U.S. Forty-two percent of LGBTQ+ youth seriously considered attempting suicide last year, and for transgender and nonbinary youth that number increases to 52%,” said Hoffman.

Ethan Dayback, a Neptune resident and transgender activist, reminded the district that he isn’t going anywhere and called for Smurro’s resignation.

“We live in this community. We get up and go to work everyday. We have friends, we have family. We’re just like everybody else, and we deserve to have protections just like everybody else; and that includes not having unsafe people around children,” Dayback told the board.

Dayback went on to explain the harm LGBTQ children face throughout their lives, but that he is living proof that life goes on.

“I want the kids to see that I am here. I am a functioning adult. It wasn’t always easy, but I kept going. If you are a queer child and you are watching this, and you feel like all of these people aren’t protecting you… [it’s] because they’re not.”

A handful of students founded Neptune Township High School’s Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) while Bastian Poranski was a senior at the Jersey Shore high school in 2008. Poranski was elated to join. Only four people did. Fear of being retaliated against for being out, for being proud, kept people from joining. Still, Poranski found strength in four.

“So when I heard about other schools discriminating against LGBTQ+ youth, I was like: ‘Well, no. It’s not my school. I’m glad that’s not my school,” Poranski told the board at Monday night’s meeting. “But that’s not the case today.”

However, the school board president said she is doing her best.

Jackson said she appreciates the attendance of the concerned public in an email to LGBTQ Nation.

“Please know that this board amended our district’s slogan to reflect ‘A Community for ALL Learners’,” Jackson wrote. “We aim to embody this in all that we do.”

With the inclusion of ongoing training in concepts related to the LGBTQ community over the last two years, the school district is working in preparation for New Jersey’s Diversity and Inclusion Law to diversify hiring practices too.

“[We] have updated all school and classroom libraries to include offerings that portray political, economic, and social contributions of persons with disabilities as well as from lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people,” Jackson said.

Smurro was unable to be reached for comment.