Tag: public schools

Arizona parents sue school district for compiling creepy dossier containing sensitive info on them as retaliation for CRT, COVID protests

Three Arizona parents have filed a lawsuit against their children’s school district over its alleged creation of an online dossier to be used against them in response to their protesting of COVID-19 policies and critical race theory being taught in classrooms.

In the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Maricopa County Superior Court, the parents — Amanda Wray, Kimberly Stafford, and Edmond Richard — claim their First Amendment rights to free speech and government redress were violated when the district “maliciously targeted” them for raising concerns about the district policies.

Specifically, the parents accuse the Scottsdale Unified School District No. 48, school board president Jann-Michael Greenburg; his father, Mark Greenburg; and Mark Greenburg’s wife, Dagmar Greenburg, of collecting and storing roughly 100 gigabytes of personal data about them on a Google Drive file to be used as intimidation and potentially retaliation.

The Washington Times first reported on the lawsuit.

“The goal of defendants’ conspiracy was clear: to silence and punish dissenting voices and frighten away other potential speakers who might dare express an opposing point of view,” the suit alleges.

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Oregon forces all schools — elementary and up — to put ‘menstrual products’ in boys’ bathrooms with ‘instructions on how to use’ them

Every public school in Oregon — including elementary institutions — will soon be required to provide tampons and other feminine products in boys’ bathrooms with “instructions on how to use” them.

The controversial requirement is in accordance with the state’s new Menstrual Dignity Act, signed into law by Democratic Gov. Kate Brown last year, which mandates that menstrual products be made available in “every student bathroom.”

Following the bill’s passage, the Oregon Department of Education developed and distributed a “Medical Dignity for Students” toolkit to aid local districts and set forth a phased plan for districts to meet the law’s standards and requirements.

Effective immediately, each school is required to have menstrual product dispensers in at least two bathrooms. But by June 2023, dispensers are required in every student bathroom, KGW-TV reported. The department emphasized that schools must “consider all-gender access to the products.”

Sasha Grenier, a sexual health specialist with the department, said, “This new program will help students participate actively in classes and school activities by alleviating some of the economic strain and experiences of shame that are often barriers for menstruating people accessing their education.”

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DC elementary school gave 4-year-olds ‘anti-racism’ ‘fistbook’ asking them to identify racist family members

A public elementary school in Washington, D.C., gave children as young as 4 a lesson on “anti-racism” that asked them to identify racist members of their family.

According to a Nov. 30 letter from Janney Elementary School Principal Danielle Singh, students in Pre-K through 3rd grade participated in an “Anti-Racism Fight Club” presentation by speaker Doyin Richards.

“As part of this work, each student has a fist book to help continue the dialogue at school and home,” Singh’s letter stated, linking to Richards’ presentation. “We recognize that any time we engage topics such as race and equity, we may experience a variety of emotions. This is a normal part of the learning and growing process. As a school community we want to continue the dialogue with our students and understand this is just the beginning.”

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Ohio School Board President Resigns for Alleged Attempt to Meet 11-Year-Old Girl for Sex

The head of a public school board in Ohio resigned on Sunday after a video posted online showed him being confronted and eventually arrested by police in Indiana for an alleged child sex crime.

“A video posted Saturday evening on YouTube shows John Gray, Goshen Local Schools board president, being handcuffed by law enforcement in Indiana. The content of the video is deeply disturbing to our entire school district and Goshen Local School community,” the district said in a statement on its website.

The 83-minute video, titled “60 Year old President of Goshen OH school board, meeting an 11 y/o,” was uploaded to YouTube Saturday night by a group called “Predator Catchers Indianapolis” (PCI). The group describes themselves as volunteers who work to expose predators and protect children.

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More Secret Gender Transition Closets Discovered in Public Schools

They started in colleges, but trans closets—rooms stocked with transgender clothes and accessories for students to change into after arriving to school and back out of before going home—are being discovered in public schools with some indication they are being kept a secret from parents.

In a recent TikTok video, a California teacher implies that the trans closet he started at the high school where he works is meant to be kept from parents.

“The goal of the transition closet is for our students to wear the clothes that their parents approve of, come to school and then swap out into the clothes that fit who they truly are,” the teacher said.

The California Family Council and others eventually confirmed the identity of the teacher as Oakland Unified School District Spanish teacher Thomas Martin-Edwards, who is also the founder of “Queer Teacher Fellowship.”

Martin-Edwards, the teacher who runs the trans closet, is also transgender. He has posted videos of himself in the classroom showing off the stilettos he wears to school.

Neither Martin-Edwards, a former assistant principal in another school district, nor the school responded to inquiries by The Epoch Times about the trans closet.

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Texas teacher faces jail time for allegedly showing porn in class

A Texas high school teacher has been fired and faces up to a year in jail for allegedly screening porn on a projector during class, according to reports.

Kevin Welchel was watching porn on a laptop in Houston’s Klein Collins High School when it started showing on the classroom projector, seemingly by accident, the Houston Chronicle said.

“The individual was immediately removed and is no longer employed by the district,” district spokesperson Justin Elbert told the paper.

“The district does not tolerate such completely unacceptable conduct.”

In addition to losing his job, Welchel was criminally charged with “display of harmful material to a minor, ” a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000, the district told the paper.

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Woke Ariz. diversity activists falsely accuse black DJ of wearing blackface

Two local diversity advocates in Arizona are taking heat after calling a school district racist for hiring a DJ to perform in blackface — but it turns out the DJ was black. 

Stuart Rhoden and Jill Lassen — who specialize in diversity, equity and inclusion — lambasted the Scottsdale Unified School District’s Hopi Elementary PTA for its decision to hire Kim Koko Hunter, 56, a local black DJ, at a charity event.

Both Rhoden and Lassen, who are involved in diversity work in the school district, slammed the school after seeing a picture of Hunter, only to later learn his race, according to the Arizona Daily Independent. 

“The DJ that the Hopi PTA hire[d] was, in fact a Black man,” Hopi PTA president Megan Livengood wrote in response to Lassen in a message obtained by the outlet. “It is insulting that you feel myself or PTA condone racist behavior or encourage it by posting on social media.”

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Michigan School Under Fire After Student Leaks “McCarthyist” Questionnaire

A Michigan school system is under fire after a student posted a photograph of a questionnaire which asked deeply personal questions – including their parents’ political affiliation, whether a family member has ever been convicted of a crime, whether the student or family members have seen a psychologist, and whether their parents have ever lost a job.

After the post went viral, the Grosse Point School District issued an explanation, claiming that students “were provided with a questionnaire which looked like an official document from South Administration,” which “was shared on social media without any context.”

According to the district, “The document and questions were intentionally designed as a simulation of McCarthyism and to make students question the appropriateness of the information being requested,” and that “within a minute, the teacher explained the purpose of the exercise was not to collect this information, but to demonstrate how private citizens’ rights and privacy were invaded during McCarthyism in the 1950s.”

The note goes on to say that the document, created several years ago, was “collected and destroyed,” and that this is the first time they’ve experienced an issue with it.

Needless to say, a lengthy debate has ensued.

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Bellingham, Washington School District Pays Middle School Students $2,000 to Perform Drag Show

A Bellingham middle school awarded children $2,000 to perform a drag show.

Whatcom Middle School’s Gender Sexuality Alliance club (yes, for 10-12 year olds) came up with the idea to host the “Drop Dead Gorgeous Drag Show.”

Totally normal.

But don’t worry because the school insists the drag show will be “behaviorally appropriate,” KGMI reported.

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First-graders in New Jersey will be given sex education lessons dubbed ‘Pink, Blue and Purple’ that will include discussions on gender identity: Ex-Gov. Chris Christie slams Phil Murphy for embracing ‘crazy liberal policies’

First-graders in New Jersey will be learning about gender identity in new sex education curriculum which includes a lesson that teaches the children that they can have ‘boy parts’ but ‘feel like’ a girl. 

The new lessons, which are part of a broader, K-12 health and sex education curriculum adopted by the New Jersey Board of Education, are alarming some parents. 

One of the 30-minute lesson plans, called ‘Pink, Blue and Purple‘ teaches the students to define ‘gender, gender identity and gender role stereotypes,’ Fox News reported. 

Another lesson plan, this one for second graders, called ‘Understanding Our Bodies,’ tells teachers to instruct students that ‘being a boy or a girl doesn’t have to mean you have those parts, there are some body parts that mostly just girls have and some parts that mostly just boys have.’ 

‘Most people have a vulva and a vagina or a penis and testicles, but some people’s bodies can be different,’ the plan states. ‘Your body is exactly what is right for you.’ 

The new state sex education guidelines, which go into effect in September, were handed out to parents at the Westfield Board of Education meeting in February, and included instructions for teachers to tell students that their gender identity is up to them.   

‘You might feel like you’re a boy even if you have body parts that some people might tell you are ‘girl’ parts,’ the lesson plan states.

‘You might feel like you’re a girl even if you have body parts that some people might tell you are ‘boy’ parts. And you might not feel like you’re a boy or a girl, but you’re a little bit of both. No matter how you feel, you’re perfectly normal!’ 

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