Tag: public schools

California Bans Student Suspensions For Defying Teachers, Disrupting Classes

It will be illegal for California public schools to suspend students for disrupting class or defying teachers—known as willful defiance suspensions—starting July 1, 2024.

“With Governor Newsom’s signing of SB 274, California is putting the needs of students first,” bill author Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) said in a statement a day after the governor’s signing Oct. 8. “No more kicking kids out of school for minor disruptions. Students belong in school where they can succeed.”

SB 274—an extension of the author’s previous legislation from 2019 that banned willful defiance suspensions for TK–5 students permanently and for grades 6–8 until 2025—now broadens such policy to include all public-school grades from TK–12 across the state, with a sunset date of July 1, 2029.

Traditionally, willful defiance suspensions have been imposed on students for disrupting school activities, including wearing hats backward, nodding off in class, using bad language in school, or engaging in verbal disagreements with teachers, Ms. Skinner’s office said in the statement.

Under the new law, teachers can remove a student from class for unruly behavior, but the youth would not be suspended from school. Instead, school administrators would be responsible for evaluating and implementing suitable in-school interventions or support for the student, according to the senator’s office.

Additionally, the bill prohibits the suspension or expulsion of students due to tardiness or truancy.

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Horrifying moment cops HANDCUFF nine-year-old special needs child throwing a tantrum at Florida elementary school

The parents of a 9-year-old Florida boy are suing the city of Oviedo and local police after officers handcuffed their child in a school mailroom during a violent outburst and threatened to send him to jail.

The parents say excessive force was used when a cop handcuffed their son, in a shocking moment captured on body cam footage that was released to the public on Thursday.

The fourth grader is a special needs child who is prone to outbursts – to the point where the school, Stenstrom Elementary, had a specific procedure in place.

The student’s Individual Education Plan and Behavior Intervention Plan mentions ‘physical aggression’ as a behavior problem, according to a complaint filed September 27.

Staff were instructed not to ‘engage in any conversation other than having him complete the task’ and otherwise ‘limit the level of attention directed to him,’ the complaint says.

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Payton Shires, 24, accused of having a relationship with a 13-year-old boy she was counseling

A 24-year-old school counselor has allegedly admitted to having sex with a 13-year-old boy after being ‘busted’ during a three-way call with cops and his mother. 

Ohio investigators discovered a disturbing video of Payton Shires having sex with the young boy following a report from his worried parent in September. 

Columbus Police officers charged Shires, of Mount Sterling, Ohio, with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, per ABC6. 

The boy’s mother began suspecting Shires of predatory behavior when she spotted texts between the licensed counselor and her son on his phone. The teen was receiving counseling from the 24-year-old. 

Charging documents show the mom contacted police on September 27 after seeing a message from Shires asking her son whether he had ‘deleted the videos’ – and whether anyone had seen them.  

The boy told detectives they had sex at least twice at different places in Columbus. 

Police set up a three-way call between the mother, detectives and Shires, where the social worker reportedly admitted to the sexual relationship.

Shires was taken into custody and police said further charges could be brought against her in the coming days. 

Police have released a mugshot of Shires, who is white with blue eyes and dyed blond hair.

State records show her counseling license was issued on June 12, 2023, and she used to work for the National Youth Advocate Program. 

The program, which supports families in the foster care system or who need advocacy, would not disclose why she stopped working for them, citing confidentiality and the ongoing police case. 

‘Protecting children is everyone’s responsibility.’ program representatives said in a statement. 

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Schools Are Normalizing Intrusive Surveillance

If war is the health of the state, as Randolph Bourne had it, then scaring the hell out of people is the health of the security state. Nothing scares people more than threats to wee ones, which is why “think of the children” is the go-to marketing hook for control-freak policies. And if children are involved in authoritarian schemes, you know that implicates public schools, which are the focus of a new report on surveillance and kids by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

“Over the last two decades, a segment of the educational technology (EdTech) sector that markets student surveillance products to schools — the EdTech Surveillance industry — has grown into a $3.1 billion a year economic juggernaut with a projected 8% annual growth rate,” begins Digital Dystopia The Danger in Buying What the EdTech Surveillance Industry is Selling. “The EdTech Surveillance industry accomplished that feat by playing on school districts’ fears of school shootings, student self-harm and suicides, and bullying — marketing them as common, ever-present threats.”

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Biometrics Look Increasingly Likely for Schools Afraid of Gun Attacks

When U.S. state of New York schools got the OK last week to use biometric systems short of facial recognition, the move gave more momentum to policies arming teachers with guns.

One of the first reactions came from the Security Industry Association, which criticized the fact that the state’s department of education continued to bar face biometrics collection of any kinds on school grounds.

The board announced that other biometrics systems can be used by schools so long as boards examine how doing so would affect privacy and civil rights, how effective the systems would be and how parents feel about the idea.

SIA members had opposed a three-year temporary complete ban on biometrics investment while campus deployment of facial recognition systems, specifically, could be studied. The ban’s lift largely followed recommendations of that report.

The group largely blames the continuing prohibition on face scans on “intense pressure” from the American Civil Liberties Union, which had filed a lawsuit to prevent a school district from putting AI behind CCTV networks.

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California State Guidelines Discourage Schools From Offering Advanced Middle School Math

A small but growing number of American schools are reducing or delaying access to advanced courses. Most often, these changes have been enacted in the name of reducing achievement gaps between demographic groups. However, rather than helping marginalized students, these policies deny educational opportunities for gifted students of all backgrounds.

“Detracking” is an increasingly popular proposal among educators that attempts to reduce the degree to which students are separated by academic ability. It typically takes the form of removing advanced course offerings or delaying the introduction of these offerings. Supporters claim that marginalized students are often wrongly placed—or place themselves—in less advanced courses and that these students often stay on a less advanced curricular path.

In San Francisco, public schools have eliminated accelerated math courses in middle and high school since 2014, and several Seattle schools had rolled out detracking efforts by 2016. Earlier this year, a Detroit-area school district eliminated middle school honors math classes, while schools in Cambridge, Massachusetts, began phasing out advanced middle school math in 2017—though the district announced it would reverse course in August. Outrage erupted in February when one Los Angeles–area school eliminated honors English courses for ninth- and 10th-grade students.

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The predators’ playground

Clara didn’t think much of it when the social science teacher gave her his phone number.

She’d met Alex Rai in her fifth-period journalism class. He was friends with the journalism teacher, Eric Burgess, and often stopped by Room 16 during his prep period to kill time. Burgess introduced Rai to Clara, telling her that Rai had been his student a decade before. Burgess thought they’d get along.

In the weeks that followed, Rai would perch on Clara’s desk, leaning over as he asked about her day and who she hung out with after school. He’s only a few years older than my sister, Clara thought when Rai texted her one day after volleyball practice. It was a hot Southern California afternoon in 2008, the kind where dry heat radiates off the asphalt. She was bored. Why not pass the time by chatting with the cool teacher?

Soon, Rai was texting her regularly. At first, the messages were flirtatious. Before long, he was calling Clara late at night. She recalled him asking whether she’d had sex yet with any boys her age. Halfway through her senior year, Clara dropped her humanities class so she could become his teacher’s aide.

She loved her humanities class. But Rai had encouraged her to make the switch. They could spend more time together, she recalled him telling her, and he could make her truancies from ditching other classes disappear.

Clara remembers her sister warning her not to get too close. She’d heard stories about Rai from girls who’d attended Rosemead with him, when he was a wrestler on a team known as much for its aggressive pursuit of teenage girls as its state champions. But Clara brushed the concerns aside. She didn’t show her sister the texts Rai sent, teasing her — “you wish you were sleeping next to me” — and asking if she missed him.

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Trans-identified male violently beats female student in Oregon middle school

A young female student was violently beaten by a trans-identified male in the hallway of an Oregon public school.

The shocking incident occurred at Hazelbrook Middle School in the Tigard Tualatin School District, which is right outside of Portland, Oregon.

The brutal beatdown captured on video shows the trans-identified student, a biological male, throwing multiple blows to the female student’s head after he violently grabbed her hair, yanked her back and forth, then knocked her down flat in the school hallway.

As the girl lay on the ground, he viscously grabbed her by the hair, dragging the girl across the ground before violently assaulting her further.

“I didn’t do anything! I didn’t do anything!” the victim can be heard pleading to the trans attacker, according to the video.

“Touch me again, b-tch,” the trans student threatened before walking away.

The female student stands up and walks over to the person filming the incident in tears and says, “I can’t breathe.”

The victim’s mother posted about her daughter’s “horrific” attack on social media, demanding answers from the school and threatening legal action against the trans attacker.

“Yesterday my daughter was attacked at school by a biological male student dressed as a girl. I cannot even put into words my anger at the situation after watching this horrific video nor my distraught knowing I can’t do anything because I will ultimately, end up in jail. To the school- Where were the supervisors? Why wasn’t anyone present in the hallways? I don’t want excuses, I want answers. Of course, the coward that he is fled after putting hands on her,” the mother said.

“HIS name is, [omitted] and as of right now the police cannot find him. We WILL be pressing charges. I want everyone to see this video. I want everyone to share this video. Assaulting someone is never ok BUT a boy/man should NEVER lay hands on a girl/woman and that’s on the parents for not raising a decent human being. Clearly, [omitted] isn’t a human of good values or morals,” she continued.

“In fact, he doesn’t seem like a good human being at all. He is known for being a bully and has done this to several girls. He is clearly, targeting females. [Omitted], if you see this just know we are coming for you and we will not stop until you are punished in the court of law to the furthest extent. You will NOT get away with this,” the mother said.

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California School District Considers Removing Honors Courses For Sake Of “Equity”

A San Francisco Bay Area high school district is considering removing honors classes for high school students in an effort to streamline its courses and promote “equity” – a move that has sparked concern among students, parents, and teachers.

The Sequoia Union High School District’s board discussed the move during a six-hour meeting Sept. 20, but did not come to a decision on the matter.

District administration staff annually review courses based on students’ academic outcomes, and “typically in response to low scores … that have not improved over time,” according to a district analysis.

Arguing for equity, the analysis stated that eliminating certain honors courses and merging students taking “advanced” classes with those taking them at “grade-level” would “diversify” the classroom and could improve academic outcomes for students who “have historically experienced barriers” to advanced coursework.

Over the past several years, Sequoia Union has merged advanced freshman science with grade-level science courses and merged advanced freshman math courses with grade-level math districtwide.

At several individual high schools, advanced English, physics, and chemistry have additionally been merged with their respective grade-level courses.

The analysis said its study found such changes had little-to-no effect on the districts’ advanced-placement students—while students that have struggled saw academic improvement and higher rates meeting college entrance requirements.

“When students have greater access to rigorous coursework and are held to high standards, they are more likely to meet those expectations,” the analysis stated.

But SUHSD Students First—an advocacy group made up of students, parents, teachers, and community members—raised concerns about transparency, saying that the school community was not given an opportunity for input on the matter.

The group said they believed the analysis was “biased” toward merging despite their efforts to work with the district to get neutral data.

“We are disappointed the board did not ensure a neutral report and did not have any participation in the review of the data.  It is clear we should have advocated for an external contractor to conduct the research and prepare the report,” the group said in a statement on their website.

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Lawsuit Over Sex-Trafficked Teen Could Stop Schools From Hiding Kids’ Dysphoria

The mother of a Virginia teen sex-trafficked twice after her school concealed her newly asserted gender identity has filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against school staff and a Maryland public defender who alleged parental “misgendering” and abuse. The complaint was filed Aug. 22 in the Western District of Virginia court on behalf of Michele Blair by the Child and Parental Rights Campaign (CPRC) with support from the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR).

It alleges that the defendants’ actions—first in withholding vital information about the girl’s gender identification and related assault in the boys’ bathroom, then later by falsely alleging abuse to deprive her mother of custody—resulted in the child’s ordeal at the hands of sexual predators not once, but twice. Blair v. Appomattox et al. will set critical precedents in two areas of roiling national debate: parental notification of gender transition in schools and parental custody relating to gender identity.

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