Category: Schools / Schooling / Education / Libraries

Conroe ISD trustee argues displays of racial inclusivity and pride in classrooms should be removed

https://abc13.com/conroe-isd-trustee-melissa-dungan-racial-inclusivity-at-schools-pride-flags/13628737/

Who thought these types of self entitled people who have seen a sudden rise in the power of their bigotry would stop at just erasing positive messages of the LGBTQIA.  Well these right wing bigots are also racist.  Please tell me how teaching kids to be nice to each other and work together is an ideology that must not be taught?  What they really are saying is it is against the conservative right wing maga way to push white cis superiority.    Just as they hate the pride flags and demand that any positive anti-discrimination against the LGBTQIA be removed from school, they are now saying that a poster showing inclusion of non-white people is traumatizing to their white snowflake children.  Yes that is correct, black kids sharing a school and activities with white kids is unacceptable.  It is an ideology just like rainbow flags.  No shit.  This is what the school board member said after a parent complained about it.  In 2023 we have white people saying in public school we shouldn’t have mixed race positive messages, and we should allow the terrorizing and bullying of gay, lesbian, and trans kids because they don’t like them.  I warned everyone this was their next step, DeathSantis along with the Huckabeast in Arkansas trying to outlaw the teaching of the real brutality of slavery / racism in the US history is just an opening to try to return the country to the open racism of the 1950s.   Hugs 

 

https://abc13.com/video/embed/13628602

ByShannon Ryan KTRK logo
Thursday, August 10, 2023
 
 
 
Conroe ISD debates what items can be displayed in classrooms
 
 

A trustee says a child was traumatized by a poster showing different colored children holding hands and had to switch classrooms. Now, she’s arguing to remove displays of racial inclusivity and pride.

CONROE, Texas (KTRK) — Some Conroe ISD trustees want to crack down on displays of racial inclusivity and pride, saying they represent, “symbols of personal ideologies.”

One trustee says a child was traumatized by a poster showing different colored children holding hands and had to switch classrooms.

School officials against this say a policy prohibiting political displays, not related to curriculum, already exists. The trustee who brought this forward didn’t realize that.

When it was brought to her attention, the trustee said she wants that policy to go further. Citing “a number of parents reaching out to her about supposed displays of personal ideologies in classrooms,” Melissa Dungan asked her fellow board members to crackdown on them.

“I wish I was shocked by each of the examples that were shared with me, however, I am aware these trends have been happening for many years,” Dungan said.

When pressed to share one of those examples, Dungan referred to a first grade student whose parent claimed they were so upset by a poster showing hands of people of different races, that they transferred classrooms.

“Just so I understand, you are seriously suggesting that you find objectionable, a poster indicating that all are included,” Stacey Chase, another trustee, said.

Dungan wouldn’t say whether she found that poster objectionable, just that she wants to avoid “situations like that” by having the board adopt stricter standards and adhere to state policies already in place, prohibiting teachers from displaying political items not relevant to curriculum.

Another trustee even asked if the poster was illegal and went on to claim previous displays of pride flags were.

“We do have violation of this law,” Misty Odenweller said.

 

When asked if bible verses were also in violation of existing policy and should be removed, Dungan struggled to respond.

“Right? Would you agree?” trustee Datren Williams asked Dungan.

“I don’t know,” Dungan replied.

Texas School Board Members Say Racially-Inclusive Posters Are “Traumatizing” Students And Possibly Illegal

 

Hunter M11 days ago

Somehow, I think it was really the parent who was traumatized at seeing the poster.

Mike C11 days ago

This is why you don’t give these very dramatic, very racist people an inch.

kaydenpat  Mike C11 days ago

Exactly. What’s next? What if the child was “traumatized” by seeing Black classmates or Black teachers? Then what?

Will  Mike C11 days ago

These bigots have been emboldened by Trump, Abbott, DeSantis, and others, to publicly and proudly promote their racism. They are horrible people and should be publicly shunned.

April Smith 11 days ago edited

One trustee says a child was traumatized by a poster showing different colored children holding hands and had to switch classrooms

And they call us snowflakes…

cfa  April Smith11 days ago

I assume they are not singing “Jesus loves the little children” in Sunday School there.

(“Jesus loves the little children,
all the children of the world.
Red and yellow, black and white,
all are precious in his sight…”)

Max-1 🔫+cult(R)=☠️11 days ago

Sesame Street scares them, doesn’t it?

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BeccaM  Max-1 🔫+cult(R)=☠️11 days ago

These days, it does actually. The fascist fucks have been trying to get shows like Sesame Street canceled.

Tuxedocat  BeccaM11 days ago

These days? They were trying to cancel it from day one for its depiction of children of different races/ethnicities interacting.

NorthBayBrian  Max-1 🔫+cult(R)=☠️11 days ago

Imagine if they saw the Mr. Rogers episode where he and his Black mailman friend both dipped their feet into a kiddie pool to cool off on a hot, summer day. The horror!

Houndentenor 11 days ago

Conroe is a northern suburb/exurb of Houston. It’s not exactly the boonies but on the edge of one of the largest metropolitan areas in the US and according to many sources the most diverse city in the US. People who think of race as black/white need to visit Houston where there are people from pretty much everywhere in the world where there are humans. Conroe, however, is about 72% white and as is typical in the outer burbs, these are people who fled Houston because they freaked out when an Indian or Chinese family moved in next door.

Jamieboy Highballs 11 days ago

If children are being traumatized by posters showing inclusion, I’d take a good hard look at the parenting style of their fucking parents.
Flags, all red.

DA ‘TOONS … THEY JUST KEEP ON COMING!

Da ‘Toons … They Just Keep On Coming!

Hey everyone.  I know I am late to the party as they say on a lot of posts, but as I work my way through the backlog of fellow posters whose content I love, Jill again made a post I want to share.  Even if everyone already seen it, the cartoons are so spot on, Jill’s post deserves another viewing.   Hugs

A few thoughts before I do the weekly Sunday cleanings on the computers. This morning I scrambled to get through two windows of a combined total of 78 tabs, so I wouldn’t lose them due to cleaning. Hugs

TRUMP “ATTACKED!!” | Armageddon Update | Christopher Titus

Grand jury investigating bid-rigging involving DeSantis’ education department

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2023/08/04/desantis-florida-education-corcoran-jefferson-investigation/

Federal authorities sent a subpoena to the Jefferson County School District in June.
 
 
Then-Florida Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran, left, motions back to Gov. Ron DeSantis at a news conference at St. Petersburg Collegiate High School on March 15, 2022, in St. Petersburg.
Then-Florida Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran, left, motions back to Gov. Ron DeSantis at a news conference at St. Petersburg Collegiate High School on March 15, 2022, in St. Petersburg. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]
By
 
Published Aug. 4|Updated Aug. 4

TALLAHASSEE — A federal grand jury is investigating allegations of bid-rigging involving Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Department of Education, charter school operators and the control of a small North Florida school district.

Federal authorities issued a subpoena to the Jefferson County School District in June seeking communications between district officials, charter school lobbyists and former top officials in DeSantis’ education department.

It also seeks records relating to the department’s attempt to steer a multimillion-dollar contract to a politically connected company with ties to DeSantis’ former education commissioner, Richard Corcoran. The contract would have been funded by federal coronavirus relief dollars.

The subpoena, obtained by the Times/Herald in a public records request, was issued by a federal prosecutor in Gainesville. The subpoena requests the records be sent to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General in Pembroke Pines.

A spokesperson for the federal education department’s Office of Inspector General said the office does not confirm or deny investigative activity.

The federal inquiry comes a year and a half after the Times/Herald reported on the bid-rigging allegations involving Jefferson County’s school district, which became the first, and only, district to be privatized by the state.

Control of the small three-school district near Tallahassee was turned over to private charter school operator Somerset Academy Inc. in 2017. The five-year contract was scheduled to end in 2022, when the school board would resume control.

But under Corcoran’s leadership, the Department of Education decided in 2021 it would hire consultants for up to three years to help the district’s transition, and it would use $4 million in federal coronavirus relief dollars assigned to the district to pay for it.

School district officials were against the plan, arguing that its annual budget was only $8.5 million, so it couldn’t afford to spend $4 million on consultants. When the state Department of Education solicited offers to help the district, bidding was open for only a week. Only one qualified company responded: MGT Consulting, led by Trey Traviesa, a former GOP state representative from Tampa with ties to Corcoran.

Procurements are supposed to be free of favoritism. But the Times/Herald found that on Nov. 1, 2021, a week before the procurement was announced, top education officials were already meeting with Traviesa, top charter school lobbyists and Jefferson County officials about the procurement.

MGT was ultimately never hired. The Department of Education restarted the bidding after two senior department officials — former K-12 chancellor Jacob Oliva and former Vice Chancellor for Strategic Development Melissa Ramsey — and a member of the State Board of Education created their own company and filed a competing bid. Ultimately, the plan to spend the money on consultants was dropped.

Oliva is now Arkansas’ Department of Education secretary.

The Florida Department of Education’s inspector general investigated Ramsey and Oliva’s bid for potential conflicts of interest but never addressed any apparent irregularities with MGT’s bid.

The federal subpoena, dated June 12, does not mention Corcoran. But it names Oliva, Ramsey and Suzanne Pridgeon, the state Department of Education’s deputy commissioner for finance and operations.

The subpoena also requests text messages, emails and other communications between Traviesa, MGT Consulting, Jefferson County schools superintendent Eydie Tricquet, representatives of Somerset Academy Inc. and Ralph Arza, a prominent charter school lobbyist and longtime Corcoran ally. At the time that Somerset was operating the district’s schools, Arza had four relatives working for the company in Jefferson County.

The subpoena seeks records relating to the procurement, along with records of the Nov. 1 meeting and other meetings in 2021 between Arza, school district officials and Department of Education officials.

The Florida Department of Education and DeSantis’ office did not immediately respond to emails sent Friday afternoon seeking comment. After the Times/Herald reported the allegations last year, the governor’s office said Chief Inspector General Melinda Miguel would review how the Department of Education and its inspector general handled the bid for the multimillion-dollar contract. The state has never produced the results.

Corcoran declined to comment. He is now serving as interim president of New College of Florida, a public liberal arts school in Sarasota County that DeSantis and political appointees are trying to turn into a beacon of conservatism.

Florida’s Book Bans Come For “Raunchy” Shakespeare

Florida’s Book Bans Come For “Raunchy” Shakespeare

Oh clutch my pearls, classical literature is not as pure as today’s fundamentalist Christian nationalist who just don’t want their children to get an education but they demand the right to stop your child or anyone from getting one.   This is not about parental control, it is about one minor fundamentalist religious group having complete control over the education of all the children in the entire state.   But only for public schools.  The schools paid for with tax dollars and that educate the lower incomes.  The private schools do not have to follow these stupid bigoted rules.   My dogs that love gravy, this has been a Christian Taliban moral police take over.   Next girls will only be allowed to attend school until the 8th grade and must wear ankle length dresses, and everyone will be in drab colors.  Hugs

 

Salon reports:

School district officials in Hillsborough County, Fla., have implemented a newly designed curriculum guide for English teachers that will see students reading only selections from William Shakespeare plays.

“There’s some raunchiness in Shakespeare. Because that’s what sold tickets during his time,” said Joseph Cool, a reading teacher at Gaither High School.

“I think the rest of the nation — no, the world, is laughing us,” he added. “Taking Shakespeare in its entirety out because the relationship between Romeo and Juliet is somehow exploiting minors is just absurd.”

Rolling Stone reports:

Schools in Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa Bay and the surrounding area, are mostly assigning excerpts by the English language’s most famous writer. The schools previously required students to read two of Shakespeare’s novels or plays, in their entirety, per year.

The decision comes as educators must prepare students for a new set of state exams that cover a wide variety of subject matter, and also, “in consideration of the law,” according to a school district spokesperson, which means teaching it could open educators up to disciplinary measures if a parent were to file a complaint.

The “law” in question is the new Parental Rights in Education Act, which prohibits teaching any content that is sexual in nature.

 

Grimes 2 days ago

Start with the Bible. There’s tons of raunchiness in that book

motordog  Grimes2 days ago

It’s filthy!

Ginger Snap  motordog2 days ago

It’s worse than filthy it’s fucking disgusting.

NorthBayFella  Grimes2 days ago

Raunchiness, murder, genocide, fratricide, infanticide (lots of this), incest, rape, molestation, racism, drunkenness, prostitution, immolation, cannibalism. It’s all there — so fun!

Scott Oshana  NorthBayFella2 days ago

and donkey dicks and horse ejaculations. Or so I have heard.

Todd20036  Grimes2 days ago

Funny how the Bible gets a pass

RWAlex  Grimes2 days ago

[Jerusalem] saw this, yet she was more corrupt than [Samaria] in her
lusting and in her prostitutions, which were worse than those of her
sister. She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders,
warriors clothed in full armor, mounted horsemen, all of them handsome
young men. And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way.
But she carried her prostitutions further; she saw male figures carved
on the wall, images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, with belts
around their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them
looking like officers—a picture of Babylonians whose native land was
Chaldea. When she saw them she lusted after them and sent messengers to
them in Chaldea. And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love,
and they defiled her with their lust, and after she defiled herself with
them, she turned from them in disgust. When she carried on her
prostitutions so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust
from her, as I had turned from her sister. Yet she increased her
prostitutions, remembering the days of her youth, when she prostituted
herself in the land of Egypt and lusted after her paramours there, whose
members were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of
stallions. Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the
Egyptians fondled your bosom and caressed your young breasts. – Ezekiel
23:11-2

(((GC))) – End the filibuster!  Grimes2 days ago

It needs a good editor!

Perhaps starting with

“In the beginning Once upon a time God created the heavens and the earth.”

Pollos Hermanos ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ2 days ago

All Shakespeare’s female characters were performed by men in drag.

I’m just sayin’…..

SkokieDaddy – wiener dog dad2 days ago

Will MTG be banned from Florida schools? You never know when Large Marge might suddenly display photos of Hunter Biden’s penis.

DaveMiller135 2 days ago

“I think the rest of the nation — no, the world, is laughing us,”

Ya think? If it makes you feel any better, they probably didn’t start with this one.

Paddycakes2001 2 days ago

Florida’s new education motto:

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Raising_Rlyeh 2 days ago edited

No colleges outside of Florida will likely accept these kids who are getting fucked over

Philly Mike 🐸  Raising_Rlyeh2 days ago

They are first in line at Liberty University doctoral programs.

Todd20036  Raising_Rlyeh2 days ago

They’ll get into faith based colleges

Good luck getting a job though

Bungee2 days ago

About that…

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JamesR  Bungee2 days ago

Because Matt Gaetz’s girlfriends keep aging out of the job?

Yves R. Mektin  Bungee2 days ago

I think Texas might actually be a little bit worse about those child beauty pageants; Little Miss Texarkana, etc.

Gustav22 days ago edited
Teachers remove books out of fear

It is happening in Sarasota County too: “Teachers offloading books in DeSantis’ Florida, resellers say,” Aug. 4.

I work in a Sarasota County thrift store. This summer, the store has received thousands of books from schools and classroom libraries. They are marked with the names of teachers or schools.

It is clear from the wide variety of titles that teachers work hard to help every student feel validated and included in a diverse classroom.

I literally cried in the store when I saw the titles: Newbery Award and Honor Books, the highest award a children’s book can receive from the American Library Association, no longer available to children in their schools. Most of the books depict characters from minority and vulnerable populations.

Reading novels with characters that face struggles the reader does not experience develops empathy for others. Perhaps our governor could read a few and develop a little empathy himself.

Pamela Brown, Venice


https://www.heraldtribune.c… 

BeccaM2 days ago

I feel sorry for all the youngsters in Florida who are being deprived of everything except a selective education which intentionally leaves gigantic holes in their curriculum.

Those who go off to college (esp. out of state) are going to find out they’re years behind their classmates.

olandp  BeccaM2 days ago

Only the public schools. The elite private schools are not bound by the state curriculum and will be able to teach real history, literature, art, etc. Rhonda’s children go to private school.

Houndentenor  BeccaM2 days ago

The ones who are exceptionally smart will find a way to get educated. I’m concerned about the others. Not every child is going to be able to do what Tara Westover did.

 

FL Students Need Permission Slips To Use Nicknames

FL Students Need Permission Slips To Use Nicknames

I am running out of words to describe how fucked up and out of touch with reality the fundamentalist Christian nationalist racist dictatorship of DeathSantis Florida kingdom.   They are so scared of not following 1950s gender stereotypes and the social acceptance of LGBTQ+ kids that even nicknames must now get a parent’s approval / permission slip.   I can see that teacher phone call “Mrs Bigot your 8 your son Theodore wants to be called Teddy and your 10 year old son Harold wishes to be called Skip, I need to inform you of this in case it is a gender sexual orientation thing and get you to write your formal approval”!  WTF It is nutz.  What about kids calling each other names?  What about the mean names the bigots kids are taught to call the gay or trans kids, do the teachers need to get permission for that?  They are not allowed to stop it anymore in the bigoted kingdom of DeathSantis.  Hugs

 

The Insider reports:

Students who attend school in Florida will now need parental permission to use a nickname or preferred name in school, thanks to a law put in place by the state’s governor, Ronald Dion DeSantis, who famously goes by a nickname — Ron.

The rule will soon hit all Florida districts and follows new legislation that was adopted in July that aims to “strengthen the rights of parents and safeguard their child’s educational record to ensure the use of the child’s legal name in school or a parent-approved nickname,” according to Florida’s Department of Education.

Orlando’s Fox affiliate reports:

Students who wish to be called anything other than their legal name in school will need their parents to sign off, according to memos sent to parents by Orange County Public Schools and Seminole County Public Schools. Marion County Schools and Volusia County Schools confirmed to FOX 35 that they have plans to issue similar memos.

For example, if your child’s name is Robert but likes to be called “Rob,” the form will need to be filled out to make that happen.

This form also applies to transgender students who wish to be called something other than their legal name, according to the school district. This, however, does not allow teachers and staff to use a student’s preferred pronouns, and does not allow a teacher or staff member to ask a student’s preferred pronoun, which was barred under House Bill 1069.

 

stretchdad2 days ago

But it’s liberals who want to regulate away all our freedoms, right? SMDH.

wmforr  stretchdad2 days ago edited

At least they’re banning Shakespeare.

In 1962 Macbeth was in our English lit book. At some point the phrase “a tinker’s wench” appeared. Our teacher was steamed.

“The word is whore!” he shouted loudly enough to be heard down the hall. “W. H. O. R. E.! WHORE!!

But we were actually taught that slavery was wrong, too

Gustav2  wmforra day ago

some people are shocked when I tell them the unabridged complete works of Shakespeare was in the bookcase of the bedroom I shared with my brother when I was 8 years old and he was 4. The set was given to this pastor’s family by another pastor.

And “they” talk about a “classical education.”

Bungee2 days ago

What the fuck. I’ve gone by my middle name — without needing anyone’s permission — for decades. The only people who call me by my first name are 1) my mom, and 2) telemarketers.

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KnownDonorDad  Bungee2 days ago

JWC  KnownDonorDad2 days ago

Just finished reading for the second time “Downfall” byTraudl Junge Hitlers personal secretary. For Florida aand indeed America in many many ways an exacting template If we do NOT learn from history we are destined to repeat in It.’s been not quite 100 years

eddiebeskeddie  Bungeea day ago

Even my mother doesn’t call me by the name she gave me.

cfa  Bungee2 days ago

I had one high school teacher, Sister Mary Robertine, who insisted on calling all students by their “real” name. Classmate Frank gave it to her when she called him “Francis” (Frank was his legal name).

Tim 🇺🇦2 days ago

“FL Students Need Permission Slips To Use Nicknames”

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Swamp Yankee2 days ago

Ain’t nobody stopping him, so it’s only gonna get worse.

The American Revolution’s Greatest Leader Was Openly Gay

The American Revolution’s Greatest Leader Was Openly Gay

Thanks to Ali for the link.  This is important information that in red states run by republicans it is illegal to teach to kids.  In Florida, even 18-year-old seniors in high school and higher education college kids are too sensitive and delicate to learn that not all heroes are cis straight people.   After all the important people in history were a cis straight people and it is important to never mention the LGBTQ+ people at all or people might think they were normal and great.   Hugs

“Baron Von Steuben” was responsible for whipping the the U.S. military into shape when things were looking bleakest

 

THIS Right Wing Grift Is INSANE | HasanAbi reacts

This INSANE PragerU Propaganda Will be Taught to Kids in Florida Schools

It’s official: PragerU will now be offered in Florida schools. Additionally, Charlie Kirk announced dozens of new high school and college field organizers are being trained for his Turning Point USA organization to spread propaganda in high schools and colleges across the country. In other words, the right is ramping up their effort to indoctrinate students while they accuse the left of “woke” indoctrination.