Tag: public schools

Independent school leaders BEGGED Tim Walz for help securing their schools 2 years ago…

Independent and Catholic school leaders begged Governor Tim Walz for help securing their schools two years ago, but he never helped did it. Rather he was focused more on the transgender pretenders and their cause.

Fast forward to today when a trans-terrorist murders Catholic school children in horrific display of hatred.

Here’s more from Daily Wire:

Two years before a shooter opened fire on students attending daily mass in Minneapolis, the leaders of independent and Catholic schools in Minnesota begged Democrat Governor Tim Walz for help securing their schools, according to a 2023 letter reviewed by The Daily Wire. The funding was never authorized.

In a letter dated April 14, 2023 that specifically addressed “school safety in nonpublic schools,” Tim Benz, the president of MINNDEPENDENT and Jason Adkins, the executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, stressed an “urgent and critical need in Minnesota to make sure our schools are secure and safe” in light of “recent, and continuing attacks, on our schools in this country and in our state.”

The letter says there are about 72,000 students in Independent, Catholic, Jewish, Christian and Muslim nonpublic schools within the state of Minnesota. It came just weeks after the shooting at a Christian school in Tennessee, which was also carried about by a transgender-identifying individual in their twenties.

“The latest school shooting at a nonpublic Christian school in Tennessee sadly confirms what we already know – our schools are under attack,” Benz and Adkins wrote. “In Minnesota, nonpublic schools, particularly our Jewish and Muslim schools, have experienced increased levels of threats, all of which we must take very seriously.”

“The tragedy from last week at Covenant School must never happen in Minnesota or in our country again,” they wrote. “We need to ensure that all [our] schools have the resources to respond to and prevent these attacks from happening to our schools.”

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Uvalde CISD calls missing Robb Elementary records a ‘mistake’; families say negligence

Attorneys for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District acknowledged this week that they failed to release all records requested in a lawsuit tied to the 2022 Robb Elementary School mass shooting, documents that could shed further light on the district’s response to the tragedy, calling the omission a mistake.

The admission came after a coalition of media companies, including Sinclair Broadcast Group, flagged missing materials in the district’s disclosures. The district’s legal representatives apologized publicly, insisting the error was not intentional.

“We are not in any way trying to hide anything,” one attorney told trustees during a tense meeting. “It was truly an error on our side.”

The revelation has reignited concerns among survivors and families of victims, many of whom have long accused school officials of withholding information about the shooting and its aftermath.

“I want accountability,” said Vincent Salazar, whose granddaughter, Layla, was killed in the attack. “The people who were there, who were responsible, did not do their job.”

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Armed drones designed to neutralize school shooters in seconds are being tested in several Florida districts

Three districts in Florida will be testing out a series of new drones armed with pepper spray pellets that are specifically designed to thwart school shootings.

Campus Guardian Angel, a Texas-based company that engineered the drone tech system, said that the exact districts will be selected by Florida’s Department of Education.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the largest district in the state, has already shown interest in participating and held test runs at a campus in July, CBS News reported.

The drones, kept in secure charging boxes on participating campuses, will be operated by FAA-certified pilots located in Texas.

But each drone can be activated by school officials on-site through a silent alarm or “other mechanisms,” according to Campus Guardian Angel.

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Federal Judge Orders Oakland Schools to Allow After-School Christian ‘Good News Clubs’ Equal Access

A federal judge has ordered the Oakland Unified School District to grant Good News Clubs equal access to school facilities as other after-school programs.

U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. issued a preliminary injunction, prompted by a lawsuit from Liberty Counsel representing Child Evangelism Fellowship’s (CEF) NorCal East Bay, requiring the district to allow Good News Clubs to meet on the same terms as nonreligious groups.

The suit, filed in December 2024, followed the district’s rejection of club applications at four campuses. Judge Gilliam ruled that the district’s actions violated free speech protections, rejecting claims that allowing the clubs would breach the Establishment Clause.

Decision Magazine reports:

Liberty Counsel, a religious liberty law firm, had filed a brief on behalf of CEF against the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell. Liberty Counsel says it will now seek a permanent injunction to guarantee Good News Clubs continue to receive the same access afforded other similar clubs.

According to the lawsuit, CEF applied for access on four different campuses over a two-year period but was denied on “religious grounds, pretextual schemes, and even by silence,” according to a Liberty Counsel news release. The district judge’s written opinion noted that one elementary school principal defended his opposition to CEF by stating, “[As] a public school, we are not in support of evangelism on our campus.”

In his ruling, Judge Gilliam cited a 2001 Supreme Court decision Good News Club v. Milford Central School affirming that schools cannot exclude religious clubs if secular groups have access. The ruling ensures Good News Clubs can hold weekly meetings like other programs.

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‘Right This Wrong’: GRACE Act Would Strip Federal Funding From Schools That Ban Religious Exemptions

A member of the U.S. Congress has drafted legislation that would strip federal funding from schools that don’t allow parents to apply for religious exemptions from vaccination requirements for their children.

The GRACE Act, or Guaranteeing Religious Accommodation in Childhood Education Act, drafted by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), would target elementary and secondary schools, as well as local and state educational agencies.

The legislation would not require state authorities or educational institutions to offer religious exemptions, but it would deny federal funds to those entities if they maintain vaccine mandates that don’t include provisions for religious exemptions.

“The denial of religious exemptions to families and children is un-American and unconstitutional,” said Michael Kane, CHD’s director of advocacy and founder of Teachers for Choice. “CHD and I thank Rep. Steube for putting forth this important legislation to right this wrong that is a clear violation of the First Amendment.”

The GRACE Act is a response to the “alarming erosion of civil rights” that occurred under the Biden administration, said Cait Corrigan, a former congressional candidate from New York and an advocate for medical freedom and religious liberty.

“This issue is one of religious freedom, individual liberty and parental rights, which I often describe as part of a broader response to years of increasing concern,” Corrigan said.

Steube’s office did not respond by deadline to The Defender’s request for comment on the legislation.

‘A matter of conscience, faith and the fundamental dignity of every family’

Corrigan said the proposed legislation is “not just an issue of policy” but “a matter of conscience, faith and the fundamental dignity of every family in this country.”

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Canadian Teacher Suspended Over ‘Racist’ Zombie Makeup, Despite Fact Trudeau Got Away With It 3 Times – Now Teacher Has His Job Back With a Bonus

A Canadian teacher who lost his job after purportedly showing up to class in blackface as part of a Halloween costume has been reinstated with back pay.

The story highlights the culture of the left: If you’re a regular person, they will destroy your life. If you’re a powerful far-left politician, you get a free pass.

The U.S. saw the same situation play out in 2020, when Joe Biden was accused of sexual assault by former Senate staffer Tara Reade in the middle of the #MeToo movement. He wasn’t canceled and was instead crowned as his party’s nominee.

The Daily Mail reported that Gorian Surlan, a teacher at Parkdale Collegiate Institute in Toronto, was fired in 2021 after wearing what he said was a zombie costume to school.

He painted his face black using his daughter’s makeup and covered it with a mask to follow COVID rules.

Students were reportedly shocked. A photo of the teacher was sent to their parents. Complaints flooded the school.

The Toronto District School Board launched an investigation.

Surlan admitted misconduct and had his teaching license suspended in 2023. But an arbitrator has now ruled he must be reinstated.

Arbitrator Norm Jesin found Surlan guilty of “culpable misconduct” but said his career record justified suspension, not dismissal.

Jesin noted Surlan had acknowledged his mistake, adding, “This is an appropriate case for reinstatement.”

Surlan will return to work with a bonus — full compensation for lost wages dating back to October 2023, according to the Daily Mail.

Compare that with former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who had a habit of engaging in blackface in his youth.

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HHS Cuts California Sex Ed Grant over State’s Refusal to Remove Radical Gender Ideology from Student Program

The U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Thursday terminated a sex education grant to California due to the state’s refusal to remove radical gender ideology from the taxpayer-funded program, the agency announced. 

HHS, through its Administration for Children and Families (ACF), specifically terminated the state’s Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) grant, which is a program for students meant to prevent teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. HHS said California used taxpayer money to “teach curricula that could encourage kids to contemplate mutilating their genitals, ‘altering their body … through hormone therapy,’ ‘adding or removing breast tissue,’ and ‘changing their name.’” HHS said the state also instructed teachers to “remind students that some men are born with female anatomy.”

“California’s refusal to comply with federal law and remove egregious gender ideology from federally funded sex-ed materials is unacceptable,” Acting Assistant Secretary Andrew Gradison said in a statement. “The Trump Administration will not allow taxpayer dollars to be used to indoctrinate children. Accountability is coming for every state that uses federal funds to teach children delusional gender ideology.” 

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REPORT: Muslim Student Was Exempted From Suspension in Loudoun County Locker Room Case Where Boys Objected to Presence of Female

A group of boys at a grade school in Loudoun County in Virginia were recently suspended from school because they objected to a female student in their locker room who identifies as male.

The female student even took pictures in the locker room but the boys were suspended for objecting. The case is outrageous.

The Gateway Pundit reported on this story:

The radical madness in Loudoun County, Virginia, just hit a new low. Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) has decided to SUSPEND two boys at Stone Bridge High School, not because they misbehaved, not because they broke the law, but because they dared to ask why a girl was in the boys’ locker room.

7News reported earlier this year that LCPS launched a Title IX investigation against the boys after they were caught on video asking the obvious question: Why is there a girl in the boys’ locker room?

That video, however, wasn’t recorded by the boys; it was recorded by the female student who identifies as male. A direct violation of LCPS policy, according to the news outlet.

Yet instead of disciplining the rule-breaker, the school launched a full-blown investigation against the boys themselves.

The school’s Title IX Office determined the boys were guilty of “sexual harassment” and “sex-based discrimination.”

Their punishment? A 10-day suspension, a no-contact order with the female student, forced meetings with administrators, and a permanent smear on their academic records that could destroy their college prospects.

Now it is being reported that one of the boys was exempted from the suspension. He happens to be a Muslim.

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For Uvalde families, long-awaited records release leads to more questions

Public records related to the Robb Elementary School massacre that occurred on May 24, 2022, were released last week by Uvalde County and the school district, revealing details about the events of that day, and the actions and communication between officials and local leaders.

After yearslong contention between officials and the media outlets that sued them for the records three years ago, they were finally released.

The Texas Department of Public Safety is fighting a separate lawsuit for the release of that agency’s records.

Uvalde officials have been under sustained scrutiny for the widely reported delayed response that occurred that day when 19 children and two teachers were killed by a gunman.

Video from officers’ body camera footage and thousands of documents were released. They included angry emails sent to the sheriff about his inaction.

There are also accounts from teachers—some of whom were injured—who survived and said that school leaders did not check in on them after the traumatic events.

The documents indicated that the 18-year-old shooter had behavioral issues. There were also reports from sheriff’s deputies that his mother had reported being afraid of her son.

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Billionaires Backing Woke Math Doesn’t Add Up Amid DEI Rollback

Jim Simons’ mathematical skills helped transform him from a prize-winning academic at Harvard and MIT into a legendary financier whose algorithmic models made Renaissance Technologies one of the most successful hedge funds in history. After his death last year, one of his consequential bequests went to his daughter, Liz, who oversees the Heising-Simons Foundation and its nearly billion-dollar endowment.

What Liz Simons has chosen to do with that inheritance might have surprised her father. Jim Simons devoted much of his charitable giving to basic research in mathematics and science, but his daughter’s foundation is moving in a very different direction. The Heising-Simons Foundation and similar organizations are supercharging a movement to remake K-12 mathematics education according to social justice principles.

The revamp the advocates seek is profound. They reject well-established practices of math instruction while infusing lessons with racial and gender themes. The goal is to motivate disadvantaged students while dispensing with the traditional features of math, like numerical computation, that they struggle with on standardized tests – considered an oppressive feature of white supremacist culture.

In many quarters, including corporations and universities, diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are in retreat due to pressure from the Trump administration and the courts. Not so in public education, with curricula that are locally controlled and largely insulated from the dictates of Washington. That allows progressive foundations and like-minded charitable trusts to continue to pour millions of dollars into reshaping math education for black and Latino kids, including a $800,000 grant this year from the Heising-Simons Foundation, even though there exists no credible research showing that the social justice approach improves their performance.

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