Tag: public schools

Wisconsin’s DPI Continues to Stonewall the Public About Taxpayer-Funded Standards Workshop

Two weeks ago, it was revealed that the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) held a four-day junket at a waterpark, on the taxpayers’ dime, to “redefine student proficiency.”

Then the DPI issued a gag order on participants. 

The Dairyland Sentinel did some digging and found “documents concerning the ‘standard setting’ process used to redefine what it means for a Wisconsin student to be ‘proficient’ in reading and math.” Under those new standards, proficiency rates jumped 12 percent, which means a majority of students now “meet expectations.” Did the DPI lower proficiency standards to inflate those numbers? The public deserves to know that.

But despite Superintendent Jill Underly vowing transparency last year, that transparency hasn’t come.

“The department updated achievement benchmarks for the Forward exam this summer in a transparent process, and reflecting the recommendations of nearly 100 experts from across the state, I accepted the recommendations of these professionals after they carefully determined how to measure student performance according to Wisconsin’s rigorous state standards,” Underly told WPR on January 21, 2025.

The Dairyland Sentinel asked the DPI for information on who these experts were, howe they were chosen, and what it all cost.

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This Is How Bad Public Schools Are

School districts in affluent areas are hotbeds of left-wing activism, but in general, student performance is at least acceptable. Parents ensure that their own children do well enough, and often invest heavily in supplementing public education with specialized tutoring that at least guarantees that their kids do well on standardized tests. 

Kids get a much worse education than they should, and often more than parents assume, but there is a reason many parents are unaware of the parlous state of the public education system as a whole. If you can get your kid into a good school in a prosperous area, it really isn’t that bad, except for the ideological indoctrination. 

I don’t want to oversell even the better public schools. Kids are now entering college without ever having read a book, and often with math skills that require remedial education, even at elite colleges. But parents love the fact that their kids are getting good grades and doing well on standardized tests, and will earn a credential that will likely serve them well. 

Most affluent parents seem indifferent to the left-wing ideological training their kids are being subjected to, although I detect that a backlash is building and will become strong enough to force the lefties to become more subtle in affluent areas. Or not. 

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Male Student Takes Two Girls’ Medals In Massachusetts State Track and Field Championships

Women’s sports advocacy groups are expressing outrage after a male student was found to be competing in girls’ track and field for Chelsea High School in Massachusetts. Lilly Serrano captured two podium finishes at Thursday’s Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 3 Indoor Track and Field Championships last week.

Serrano, who has competed in girls’ athletics since at least 2024, has earned multiple podium finishes in recent seasons. Earlier this month at the Greater Boston League Championship, Serrano placed first in both the 55-meter dash and the high jump, and third in the 500-meter race. On February 12, Serrano took third in the 55-meter dash and seventh in the 300-meter race at the state championships, earning a medal and podium position in both events.

Serrano, 17, currently ranks first on the Chelsea High School team in the 200-, 300-, and 400-meter races, as well as the high jump and 55-meter dash for the 2026 indoor season. Serrano is also ranked as the second best “female” runner in Massachusetts in the 200 meter Division 3 category.

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Outrage After Florida Teachers Union Says Children Protesting ICE is ‘Required’

It is hard to see public education in America as anything more than indoctrination factories.  The latest efforts to push a far-left agenda are unfolding in anti-ICE rhetoric and demonstrations taking place at schools across the country, spurred on by teachers and administrators.

Now, remarks by Zander Moricz, Executive Director and Founder of the Social Equity and Education (SEE) Alliance at a February 2026 press conference hosted by the Florida Education Association (FEA), Zander Moricz, Executive Director and Founder of the Social Equity and Education (SEE) Alliance, are making headlines.

Moricz suggests that children protesting ICE is ‘required.’

Moricz stated, “Florida students are confronted with videos of ICE rates, of families being torn apart, and of Americans being murdered for using their constitutional rights. They respond. They organize, they speak out, and they do what American students have always done in moments of injustice.”

“They stand together and demand safety for their peers, their families, and themselves. And that response, while framed by some politicians as radical, is rather than reasonable.”

“It’s rational, and in a moment it is required.”

“To any students being told that they do not have the right to speak out or walk out on their campus, I want to be clear. This is the United States of America. You do not shed your First Amendment rights when you step foot through the school.”

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Department of Education Hopes to Pin Down the Transgender Wrestler Nonsense in Washington

What happened to Kallie Keeler in Washington during a wrestling match shouldn’t have happened. Last December, Keeler was wrestling someone in her 190-pound weight class that was a bit different: it was a transgender. Keeler lost, but it wasn’t much of a contest. It’s not that Keeler couldn’t handle her opponent; it’s that she felt violated during the bout. The opponents pressed hard into her genital region, and the look of shock is visible on her face. The incident was captured on video.

Keeler allowed herself to get pinned to end the match. 

The incident has been characterized as a potential sexual assault, and now the federal government is getting involved. The Department of Education opened an investigation into this fiasco. Keeler reported the incident two days after her match on December 8. Nothing happened for two months until local officials felt pressured once independent media, like Brandi Kruse’s UnDivided, started to ask questions (via KOMO): 

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced Friday that the Department of Education is opening a Title IX investigation into the Puyallup School District’s handling of a reported sexual assault during a girls’ wrestling match in December. 

A female wrestler said a transgender competitor sexually assaulted her during the match, but the district didn’t report the allegation to police for almost two months. 

“Too many women have been injured, harassed, and deprived of opportunities they work hard for,” McMahon posted on X. “Title IX is the law – follow it or face consequences.” 

[…] 

According to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, a school resource officer at Rogers High School in South Hill was contacted by the school’s administration on Jan. 30 to report allegations of sexual assault. The incident in question happened in early December at a girls’ wrestling match when a teenager alleged she was groped by a transgender competitor during a grappling match. 

The girl reported the incident to school officials on Dec. 8, according to the sheriff’s office. Investigators stated that they were unaware of why the district did not contact them for nearly two months. 

Kruse published a lengthy story about this incident earlier this month. 

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School-Led Anti-ICE Protests Grow Increasingly Violent, Putting Children in Danger

Students across America are increasingly being injured, arrested, and seen engaging in violence as teachers and school administrators continue to encourage children to walk out of class to mount marches off school grounds to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Mexican flag-toting kids in the Chicago suburb of Aurora, for instance, erupted in violence against a lone man who had a pro-Trump flag.

A similar assault occurred in Enumclaw, Washington, during a student protest there.

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Texas public schools under investigation for supporting student walkouts, ICE protests

Several Texas public schools are under state investigation for supporting thousands of student walkouts to protest federal immigration enforcement.

Many have either been taken over by the state or have planned school closures. Gov. Greg Abbott has called for schools that facilitate protests to be stripped of state funding.

Initial protests and walkouts occurred on Jan. 30 as part of a coordinated national movement disrupting classroom teaching with some students getting injured and lost. More than 10 days later, students are still protesting.

On Tuesday, dozens of students from the Houston Academy for International Studies walked out of school, chanting, “ICE off our streets.” It’s part of Houston ISD, which the state took over two years ago for failing grades, The Center Square reported. Last week, in Fort Bend ISD, a Kuwaiti student joined protests chanting, “There’s no human illegal on stolen land,” a common chant among Houston area protesters, The Houston Chronicle reported.

Dallas ISD students also walked out of class on Tuesday, chanting, “No Trump, no ICE, no fascists on our streets. “Dallas Police and Dallas ISD officers stood by,” KERA News reported.

Student protests continue after the Texas Education Agency issued guidance stating, “schools risk losing daily attendance funding if they allow or encourage students to walk out of class. Teachers that facilitate walk outs will be subject to investigation and sanction including licensure revocation. School systems that facilitate walkouts will be subject to investigation and sanction, including either the appointment of a monitor, conservator or board of managers.”

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Transgender Canadian school shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar’s father distances himself from killer son: I ‘was not part of his life’

The estranged biological father of transgender school shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar is trying to distance himself from his murderous son — while referring to him with male pronouns and his mother’s surname.

Justin Van Rootselaar released a statement insisting he is not to blame for the heartbreak his 18-year-old son, Jesse, inflicted on the small community of Tumbler Ridge in British Columbia, Canada, when he gunned down eight people, including six children.

“I was estranged from Jesse Strang and was not part of his life,” he told the CBC in a statement, using the last name of the shooter’s mom, Jennifer Strang, who was among the eight shot dead Tuesday.

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San Jose assistant principal among 11 arrested for allegedly communicating with minors for sex, police say

An assistant principal at a San Jose middle school was among a group of people arrested during a police operation targeting adults seeking minors online to engage in sexual activity, authorities announced on Wednesday.

The San Jose Police Department said in press releases that the operation was part of a broader effort to target child exploitation and human trafficking ahead of Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. Police said the department’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force arrested 11 people between Feb. 3 and Feb. 6 in an undercover chat operation.

During the operation, undercover police and FBI agents identified 31-year-old Ruben Guzman, assistant principal at Sunrise Middle School, as a potential suspect and began an investigation. On Feb. 3, Guzman began communicating with someone he believed was a 13-year-old boy, telling him that he wanted to engage in sexual acts, and offering money in exchange, according to police. 

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We Have Now Reached “Gunperson”-Level Absurdity

By now you’ve surely heard about Tuesday’s horrific school shooting in Tumbler Ridge—a tiny, remote Canadian town where the biggest excitement is probably a moose spotting on Nextdoor—that left nine people dead and more than two dozen injured. Monstrous would be an insult to monsters everywhere.

It’s the deadliest mass shooting Canada has seen in more than thirty years. The details are unimaginable, the community is destroyed, survivors are traumatized for life, and none of it is even remotely funny. The news coverage, however, could easily be nominated for a Primetime Emmy in the Outstanding Comedy Writing category.

Within minutes of the rampage, alerts went out describing the suspect as a “female in a dress.”

The minute I saw that, I knew.

I mean, have you ever—even once—seen an alleged perpetrator described as a “male in pants” or a “female wearing shoes?” Of course not! It’s “armed female” or “adult male” or, if the subject is still on the loose, maybe “a white male in a neon green hoodie and purple parachute pants.” But never-not-ever is it “a human in human clothing.” They only threw the dress part in there to avoid stating a politically inconvenient fact, upsetting advertisers, or toppling their own carefully constructed narrative.

By the time officials reached the podium to deliver a press briefing, the description had morphed into “a gunperson.” A gunperson. As if the word “shooter” was insufficiently inclusive or somehow accidentally implied gender? The press spent more time agonizing over culturally sanitized euphemisms than reporting the actual details of the crime.

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