The right cannot help themselves. The bigotry just pours out of them. There was not any need to do this, to change the learning standards except to enshrine bigotry and promote the false idea that there was no one here in the land when the white Europeans showed up. It misleads the students into not knowing or understanding the brutality the white settlers used against the natives to take what the natives had. We were not interested in living together, we stole what we wanted by violence. They can not stand that white people are not the most important people, that white people are not given automatic authority. No diversity, no respecting other cultures or differences. It must be only and all what the white republicansdo and want. Hugs
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) is overhauling former Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration’s proposal that would have set history and social science standards in Virginia schools.
Youngkin’s VDOE’s new draft proposal would determine what students learn about American history and Virginia history inside the classroom.
If adopted by the Virginia Board of Education, the new standards will be in effect for seven years starting in the 2024-2025 school year. Professional development would begin in the summer of 2023, according to a fact sheet that was sent to legislators and obtained by 7News.
The old guidelines call for lessons teaching that “Indigenous People were the first inhabitants of the land that we now call Virginia and the United States” and that “multiple tribes have always and continue to live in Virginia and the United States today.” The new guidelines do not mention Indigenous peoples, instead stating that students should learn to “describe life of Virginia’s earliest settlements.”
The old guidelines suggest students learn about a wide variety of holidays and traditions including Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Thanksgiving, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Juneteenth and the Fourth of July. The new guidelines only mention learning about Presidents’ Day. Finally, the new guidelines delete a suggestion from the previous version that kindergartners be taught “respect for diversity.”
The proposed Standards by @GovernorVA removes MLK, Jr. from the elementary curriculum. This selective erasure of one of the most prominent people of color in American history calls into question this entire revision of the proposed Standards. #erasurehttps://t.co/AQaGsXt5u6pic.twitter.com/u2zigj2aZs
Governor Youngkin’s new history standards require Marc Antony in elementary school but not MLK Jr.
Never forget he kicked Virginia’s Teacher of the Year — Anthony Swann, a Black man — off the Board of Education so he could ram this through. https://t.co/CiLNsKIbpR
Youngkin is the most dangerous kind of Maga. He is soft spoken and comes off as intelligent. This masks his real hatred and fascist beliefs. He has the ability to do more harm than the Maga idiots who wear there hate on their sleeve.
Per the article – The Governor’s 53-page proposal would require:
Kindergarteners to learn patriotism which includes pledging allegiance to the American flag Forcing that would be illegal, found so by SCOTUS in the past. I’m guessing he’s hoping for a reversal on that ruling, or just isn’t aware that the pledge, even if mandatory to offer, is still optional for students to recite.
Students would learn critical thinking skills starting in the first grade Somehow I don’t think he means actual critical thinking skills, but rather to try for “both sides” arguments about stuff like evolution to sneak in ID
How pathetic. The kids will think that flying the flag is ‘jingo-normal’ Just look at Trump in Mar-a-Loco when he announced he’s running for the nomination, I counted at least 20 flags. Jingoism is not normal.
The last post I did on over the top maga right wing haters who won seats on school boards was in Florida. This time it is in Lafayette, Indiana. He is another that thinks there is a gay ideology, an indoctrination of gayness and trans quotas. Look that is just a rehash of the gay agenda we all heard so much about, but no one could tell us what it was or who had the authority to create it. It was just a mysterious thing claimed by conservative right winger to hint that gays were trying to recruit your kids and molest your little boys /girls. Well I guess it is the boys the gays molest and the trans go after the girls, right? You know the gay agenda right wingers would seriously say to each other. After all every right winger knew gays couldn’t breed so the only way new gays happened was recruitment / molestation of the young. They just couldn’t wrap their heads around the fact that kids are born gay or straight and everywhere on the spectrum of sexuality / orientation. He says it is ok for gay teachers to exist but not to really be out. They cannot talk about how they feel like straight people can or that is pushing the gayness on others. It is back to the 1970s /1980s gay teachers are just looking to sex your kid from kindergarten to the senior prom. Don’t these people ever grow up? Did they not understand society moved on from their 1950s homosexual pervert threat thoughts. Anita Bryant flamed out people, stop holding on to her ideas. WTF, I am so tired of this shit. He admits up front he is totally against that way of life. So what, there are gay people, gay people exist. We are legally able to get married and have families, and to say just the idea of promoting tolerance and ending bullying is pushing gay lifestyle on others is wrong and stupid. Because every heterosexual act then is pushing sexuality and sex on to students and other adults. You cannot have it both ways, if a straight couple can talk about their spouse and it be OK then so can a same sex couple. If a boy and girl can hold hands, then so can two girls or two boys. What these people want is to erase gays / trans / and civil rights from society and they will start in the schools. In Florida attacks and assaults against LGBTQ+ students have gone up at an alarming rate and teachers are not able to use the programs / instructions in stopping discrimination and promoting tolerance / acceptance they used to do. This new school board member doesn’t want any posters put up in schools trying to stop bullying or promoting tolerance / acceptance. That is pushing the gayness I guess.
Plus he is sure they are teaching CRT and he won’t have it. These people think teaching the truth about the horrors of slavery and how the economy of the south was built on the backs of black people because the whites did not want to work is CRT. That is bullshit. CRT is a legal theory of the interconnectedness of institutional racism in business / society.
Critical race theory is an academic concept that is more than 40 years old. The core idea is that race is a social construct, and that racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies.
The basic tenets of critical race theory, or CRT, emerged out of a framework for legal analysis in the late 1970s and early 1980s created by legal scholars Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Richard Delgado, among others.
CRT is not being taught in grade schools, middle schools, nor even in high schools but it damn well should be. It should be part of every history class tailored for the class level and age of the students. It is our history in this country. The people who keep claiming US exceptionalism need to be made to defend slavery and the discrimination of black people from the end of slavery to that it is still going on today. But that is just what the conservatives don’t want, they don’t want kids knowing that the “nation founded to be a Christian nation” was up to its neck in horrifying harm to different segments of the population, genocide and slavery in all its ugliness. Teach it so discrimination stops and doesn’t ever come back.
This guy ran against teaching peer to peer sexual education. I think he thought comprehensive sexual education is in class orgies? He wants teachings on emotions gone. Again understandings have increased and kids need to learn positive emotions and how to handle negative emotions. Hell we are making these same kids do active shooter drills, yes they need emotional reassurance. He goes on to list a bunch of other woke stuff he is against. Then he gets back to the in my day we did this but did not have that and we were great, look how great we are that we think the best thing to do is hit kids. Like all these type of people they have a romantic attachment to the “Leave It To Beaver” TV show and think the 1950s was the peak of human civilization. They have no understanding that society and human understanding has improved and moved forward. They long for the past that was more how they liked life. Damn. He talks about things he doesn’t even understand and talks like he is an expert. He has the strange idea that because these things were not talked about when he was a kid (he is 80 years old, so he started school in 1947) and his five kids he says went through school without any of these modern ideas, and things were all great being normal. But again is 80 years old, if he had his children in his 20s, his kids would have been in school during the 1960s or early 1970s. Things have changed a lot since then. Hey let’s return to teaching only what was known in the 1600s while we are being regressive. Wouldn’t that be better? The last thing he talks about is how bad it is that a minority is telling the majority what to do, he is not going to allow it. Yet he and the republicans are the minority that are trying to rule the majority and he is too blinded by hate or old age to see it. Hugs
Newly elected board member Chuck Hockema ran on a platform of keeping gay teachers in the closet.
There’s a new school board member in town, and he’s taking names.
Eighty-year-old Chuck Hockema, elected Tuesday to the Lafayette Community School Board in Lafayette, Indiana won’t brook openly gay teachers, Critical Race Theory for kids, or a “woke” agenda.
“My reason for running for school board is because when I talked to the school board members, they would not give me an answer to the questions,” Hockema told the Lafayette Journal & Courier. “And I thought, ‘Now this is some crap.’ If you can’t tell me whether you’re going to vote for CRT or you are not, you’re on my list and I’m going to find out why.”
Hockema is also coming for anyone advocating a gay “ideology.”
“If there’s a teacher that wants to be gay, that’s OK,” Hockema said. “That’s their prerogative. I’ve hired gay people. I’ve had them work for me, but I would not allow a gay person to push his feelings and his ideology off on other employees.
“If they did that, they’d be gone.”
“I’m totally against that as a way of life,” said Hockema.
“I don’t want to see any banners, I don’t want to see any posters,” he said. “The teachers are there to educate, not to try a form people’s opinions about anything other than reading, writing, arithmetic, civics, and science.”
Hockema ran on a platform supporting the three R’s, and against “undermining of traditional values and beliefs, promoting gender confusion, encouraging peer-to-peer sex education, violating or undermining parental rights, supporting critical race theory (CRT) or social-emotional learning (SEL) when used as a cover for divisive instruction, and promoting ‘woke’ ideology.”
“I’ve got five children that went through school, and we did well with that,” Hockema said of teaching the basics. “We never had any issues to worry about when it came down to CRT or woke or SEL or transgender or none of that stuff. They didn’t teach this. We helped them with their assignments, and it was a different world then.”
Hockema says he isn’t going to “monkey around” with school board members, either.
“If they want to support these things, I feel like they should be removed from office. That’s my strong opinion.”
Hockema said he’s got no quarrel with LGBTQ kids, “as long as they stayed within their bounds.”
“A little boy might be like, ‘I feel more like a little girl.’ And if you got a teacher that encourages that, that’s the impression they’re probably going to go. And if they just left them alone because it’s a normal thing to have that thing happen to children at different ages, they’ll grow out of it,” Hockema said. That is not how being transgender works; transgender children’s identities have been shown to be stable into adulthood.
His goal, Hockema says, is to “save the children.”
“I don’t want them being indoctrinated by someone’s opinion, who’s 100 percent different than mine. What my wife and I teach our children, I don’t want them to erode that with their ideology. They can make it sound so sweet and so pleasant and so wonderful, and kids are impressionable.”
“When the minority starts ruling the majority like these whole issues, you got one percent of the population dictating what the rest of us, what we can and can’t do, that’s ridiculous.”
As you read this story I want you to keep in mind several points. He lied about why he was running for the board and what he wanted to focus on. He tried to sound normal by saying he wanted to focus on generic sounds good school policy stuff. His priorities were to ensure proper education that helps everyone succeed, improve safety and mental health for students and teachers, and address budgetary concerns. As soon as he got elected the rabid Christian pushing his god and his hate for other came rushing out. I thought good Christians did not lie.
Also notice that he wants to beat kids (spank, paddle, strap, you know corporal punishment. Seems he got it as a kid and liked it) even without their parents’ permission. He or anyone else ever used corporate punishment on my kids (hit my kids) they better start gathering up guns fast, because I am coming to see them, and I will be angry!
He thinks disabled kids get away with too much and have it too good. He really means mentally / emotionally disabled kids get away with too much and have it too easy, so keep them home or even though he doesn’t say it we are back to the hit them hard and often, tie them to the desk shit. I suspect he hates the accommodations for kids with physical disabilities who need accommodations like ramps and other changes.
He also thinks gay kids get away with too much and because there is not a policy of blocking out time that the straight kids get to beat up the gay kids, he wants Christian stickers with saved zone on them for places where the Christian kids can gather and force religion on everyone else. He seems to think that is what a rainbow safe place sticker does, provide classrooms where the gay can be forced on all the kids, and maybe that trans stuff being pushed also. Time to get the Christian symbols up in the schools because the gays have special rights not to be assaulted, can’t have that. God first with mandatory prayer. (Maybe he doesn’t think kids will be praying just before they get hit with a heavy paddle for being kids not robots) He intends to go through all the history books because he claims they have revisionist history in them like that this was not a Christian nation and slavery was a bad thing. Going to make sure the kids are taught the truth, god himself set up the US as a Christian nation for Christians only, slavery was not that bad and good for those people, and that kids are taught good republican civics so they can go out and vote republican like god and the founding fathers intended. See he is going to fix that woke liberal indoctrination. Notice he wants / demands respect for authority. Sounds like he is saying you will do as your told and like it, think only republican thoughts, do only straight heterosexual stuff.
The last point I want to make is this asshole wants to block any public health measures including / especially vaccines. He was in the Air Force and that vaccine shit is against freedom. Seems his mind is going on him because in the military you have to take a lot of vaccines and you don’t get a choice, because it is so you can be deployed to places that have really bad shit to make you sick. So he wants to allow every anti-vaccine person to be allowed to send their sick kids to school to make everyone else sick, and that is called freedom in his mind.
Get the point on what is happening here in Florida. Three of these people that believe as he does got elected, this guy pushed out a person who was a teacher for 30 years. They were all backed by the same big money Christian group / network for the express purpose to drive the country regressively back to the 1950s and worse. Total hard right wing Christian propaganda in the schools with zero tolerance for LGBTQ+ or disabled students. We need a lot of people to get upset with what is happening here as the intent is to spread it from Florida and Texas, pushing it all over the country. DeathSantis is going to try to use this type of stuff to become president which means every other republican with ambition is going to go ever more hard core on these issues. Oh and the Qanon darling Gen. Flynn who was working behind the scenes for Russia as trumps National security advisor addressed the candidate’s supporters. Dogs that love gravy, our kids in schools are in a world of hurt and so are we. Hugs
Newly elected Collier County school board member Jerry Rutherford wants to bring corporal punishment back to district classrooms, he said the morning after Tuesday’s election.
He added that disabled students’ behavior in particular is “out of control.”
Additionally, he said he’d like to see fewer “rights” for LGBTQ students — or the same extended to religious students who want to practice religion in school.
Jory Westberry, who lost her school board seat to Rutherford, said his views on corporal punishment, LGBTQ students and religion in schools would “put something so pervasively wrong in schools.”
Florida allows corporal punishment in public schools as long as the district allows it.
“First of all,” she said, “if (Florida) allows corporal punishment, Collier County does not.”
“Second, students with handicaps are entitled to a free public education without retribution because of their behavior. That’s why we have behavior specialists who work with students, parents and teachers to enable them to have a more effective, productive experience in school,” Westberry said.
Westberry was one of several who spoke out against Rutherford’s priorities.
Rutherford won the District 1 seat away from longtime teacher, administrator and school board member Westberry in the 2022 election with a strong 65.4% of the vote to Westberry’s 34.6%.
After speaking on myriad issues at school board meetings countless times for more than 35 years, Rutherford told the Naples Daily News in July he decided he didn’t want to be on the outside looking in anymore, so he joined the school board race.
This was his first time running for any elected position, he said.
Rutherford was endorsed by the Collier County Republican Executive Committee, which endorsed all three challengers to the school board. All of them won their races.
As a devout Christian, he’s fought to distribute Bibles in schools and to institute prayer at school board meetings. He has also protested Naples’s LGBTQ Pride festival, specifically speaking out against drag shows.
A veteran of the Air Force, Rutherford has worked in sales and construction and owned a painting business in the Naples area for more than 20 years. He also served as a substitute teacher in the district for three years.
Florida Citizens Alliance, a conservative education nonprofit headquartered on Marco Island, congratulated Rutherford, as well as the two other challengers Wednesday via email.
“This win of all three seats is a tremendous victory for the 48,000 kids in Collier schools, their parents, and grandparents, as it now gives a clear conservative majority over a previous left-leaning school board,” Florida Citizens Alliance marketing manager Moise Stael Dantes wrote. “The delivery of quality academics while maintaining the principle of liberty can now become real.”
The ‘board of education’
Rutherford’s stated positions changed dramatically before and after his election.
In July, he told the Naples Daily News his priorities were to ensure proper education that helps everyone succeed, improve safety and mental health for students and teachers, and address budgetary concerns.
But Wednesday morning, reached by phone, Rutherford said he has a five-point agenda he’d like to implement, including “mental and physical discipline,” or physical punishment of children in Collier’s public schools.
“I only went to the principal’s office one time when I was in school and that was when they used the ‘board of education,’ if you get what I’m saying,” Rutherford said.
Rutherford added that disabled students are not in control and get away with too much. He read an article by a California teacher that said he left teaching because his disabled students were swearing and otherwise misbehaving, and he couldn’t hold them accountable.
According to a 2021 analysis by the Education Commission of the States, which tracks education policies, Florida is one of at least 18 states that allows corporal punishment in public schools as long as the district allows it. According to the National Association of State Boards of Education, Florida does not require parental permission, only written parental notification after the fact.
Currently, Collier County prohibits corporal punishment. According to school board policy 5630, “the use of corporal punishment, defined in Florida statute as the use of physical force or physical contact for disciplinary purposes, is prohibited.”
Furthermore, Florida Statute 1003.573 states that disabled students can only be physically restrained if there is an imminent risk of serious injury or death to the student or others and only once all positive behavioral strategies have been exhausted.
Jackie Stephens, CEO of the Children’s Advocacy Center in Collier County, said she is “alarmed” to hear a school board member wants to bring back corporal punishment to the classroom.
“It can be detrimental to the children,” Stephens said. “There’s no studies that really indicate that spanking is beneficial. It can actually lead to worse behavior and aggression.”
Stephens said many countries have outlawed the spanking of children, even by their own parents. In the United States, many organizations have registered as a “No Hit Zone,” which means they do not condone hitting of any kind.
“There’s a lot of places that are becoming no hit zones, like the Children’s Advocacy Center and hospitals. I think at school would be a good place not to hit children.”
Rutherford’s agenda also focuses on “respect,” he said. “There needs to be respect for ourselves, for others, and for authority.”
In that vein, he said he believed people are being indoctrinated into supporting LGBTQ rights, and “when it comes to indoctrination, I will not put up with that,” he said.
Rutherford added that some legislators had passed bills he believes extends the rights of LGBTQ people beyond normal rights.
“I’m all for equal rights, but I’m not for special rights,” he said.
For example, he said, an LGBTQ student group in Collier County gave teachers a sticker to put on their doors with a rainbow that says “safe zone.” One teacher, he said, refused to put it up.
He did not elaborate further on what rights LGBTQ people have that others do not.
According to The Safe Zone Project, which gives trainings that allow people to learn about LGBTQ identities as well as examine prejudices and biases, the words “safe zone” typically communicate that the person is an ally of the LGBTQ community, has gone through a Safe Zone training, or is trying to communicate support.
“I don’t have a problem with that, but it should extend to sectarians,” Rutherford said.
“If you’re going to have a secular symbol, you have to give a religious one,” he said. “What if we gave teachers a sticker with a cross that said ‘saved zone?’ We have religious rights, and we have personal rights.”
GLSEN, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting LGBTQ students through policy writing and advocacy, said elected leaders and elected school leaders have a responsibility to protect all young people, including LGBTQ youth.
“Queer students in Florida, especially those of color and those who are trans and nonbinary, are being cruelly targeted by extremists,” said GLSEN executive director Melanie Willingham-Jaggers. “They are facing a hostile climate amid curriculum censorship laws and have been repeatedly subject to political attacks. Florida’s students deserve so much better from the adult politicians who are supposed to support them. This kind of anti-LGBTQ+ fear mongering and misinformation from any school leader is unacceptable.”
“We are absolutely saddened by his agenda,” said Naples Pride president Cori Craciun. “LGBT kids’ rights have been taken away by the Parental Rights Bill, and the Florida Medical Board, which banned (gender-affirming) care for transgender minors. … The ‘safe zones’ are there to protect these children. They are often the only place these children know there is a supportive adult they can reach out to.”
Religion in public schools
Federal law on Bibles in public schools is derived from 1963 Supreme Court case Abingdon v. Schempp, which draws a distinction between devotional reading and the objective study of religion.
In short, while religious texts like the Bible are allowed in public schools for the purpose of studying, what is not allowed is devotion or reading from the Bible as religious practice.
Rutherford added he wants to see “textbooks that are free from bias, censorship and rewritten history,” as well as “morals and ethics in school.”
He said he planned to review all new textbooks and would flag anything he saw as dubious or biased. He did not specify what he considered to qualify as biased or rewritten history.
Rutherford was also eager to see a civics class reinstated in the curriculum, where students would study the Constitution and the Bill of Rights per Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recent policy.
But Rutherford said he felt the government has gone too far in other ways, such as by forcing students and teachers to wear a mask in 2020 to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and by requiring military personnel to get vaccinated against the virus that has killed more than 1 million people across the U.S.
As a former airman, he expressed frustration by that.
“They’re saying no (to the vaccine), and they’re getting thrown out for that,” he said.
He noted that while Collier Public Schools required masking early in the pandemic, Mason Classical Academy, a local charter school, did not, which he believes better exemplified respect for students’ rights. Collier should follow Mason’s example, he said.
Education reporter Nikki Ross contributed to this article. Kate Cimini is an investigative journalist covering Florida. Share your story at (239) 207-9369 or kcimini@gannett.com.
A video showing Republican U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker referring to America as “the greatest country in the United States” has gone viral following an election rally on Thursday. Walker, who is running in Georgia’s Senate runoff election on December 6, spoke at an event, along with Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz, as the state prepares for another round of campaigning. Walker, who has been endorsed by Trump, spoke to supporters on Thursday in Canton, Georgia.
I find it truly appalling that people can look at Walker and say “I want that man to represent me in the Senate!” Ya got some real low standards there Georgia!
Nearly most of the day has gone by but I am so frustrated and due to allergies about ready to jump out of my own skin.
Today I went to an older woman’s home, she is someone I helped even when I tried to go back to work, and even after failing when I sunk into a deep depression, I would work up the ability to leave my bedroom and go to her home to help her with computer / phone issues. Her husband is a wonderful person who in the park for decades that we have been here is well sought after as he is every knowledgeable for every type of repair from wood to electrical. I never asked about his background, but it seems just from his knowledge he has been in the construction field for a long time.
But his wife has had computer issues and I have helped them and their sister in the park. Remember I work only for donations and never make payment an issue, I will help anyone who needs assistance regardless if they are willing to offer me anything or not.
This time it was a repeat problem they had where they needed to print something important, but the printer only printed a page in one color. As I knew and understood the problem it was an easy if time consuming fix. But the conversation between us all was far more valuable to me than the money they insisted I take even when I tried gracefully to refuse.
We got talking about how the park has changed, and these are two people I have never heard a curse word from. I have never heard either of them say a bad word against anyone. Not to dox them but I would say that as I understand it they are from Indiana originally.
As I was cycling the printer through the cleaning program which is all it really needed, I mentioned how the park had changed for Ron and I. How it has gone from when I was on the homeowner’s board and Ron and I would walk around being given hellos and hand waves to now where we are ignored and glared at by some of the people. Not a lot but a notable amount.
This couple is the only people I know who I have never heard say vulgar words against others, they do not curse, they also do not push any kind of religious message or other holier than thou message. They are an enigma as far as that goes, but I learned a few things today sitting with them. When I mentioned how the park had changed and how some people now refuse to acknowledge Ron and I when we are walking around, I mentioned a specific person / home who had directed seeming dislike and nastiness towards us but I mentioned we try to be nice when we walk by that home. The man ( I trying to be deliberately vague so if by some weird the haters come across this they can not attack such a nice couple) for the first time spoke up telling me he told that person they did not belong in our park and chewed them out. Remember in the last decade this has been one of the most sought-after persons for every repair anyone could need. He is legendary in the park to the point if you don’t know how to do a repair or build project everyone says go ask him. And he told me how he went off on the guy after hearing him say something very homophobic (he wouldn’t tell me what the other guy said) and after telling him off and refusing to work for him told him that he did not belong in this park! Then he told me that if Ron and I ever needed advice or help to let him know and he would help us any way he could.
Wow! I knew anti-gay feelings were gaining strength here in our park, our home. We have noticed that the waves and hellos had decreased and sometimes completely ignored as we walk around and meet people. They told me of several people leaving the park I did not know about, and I guess that the change is happening park wide. This is DeathSantis state, so I guess soon it will be our turn to move away. Ron is already making the arrangements. I had so hoped it wouldn’t go that way this year. Sad hugs, keep the asylum doors open please. Hugs
A tip line set up by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin for parents to submit complaints about CRT being taught in schools was quietly closed due to lack of complaints. This comes after Youngkin made nonexistent CRT the single most important issue of his gubernatorial run. Texas Paul reports.
Scottie's Playtime 