TIME TO PURGE RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM FROM NORTH CAROLINA STANDARDS: The Big “Green” Monster in North Carolina Health and Science Standards

GUN CONTROL IS NOT THE ANSWER: Keeping North Carolina Schoolchildren Safe

BALLOT BOX BEATDOWN: The Parental School-Board Revolt Continues

The political fallout from school closings and curriculum battles continues, as school board incumbents are losing at an unusual rate. That’s the news from Ballotpedia, which analyzed recent school board elections in three states.

 

“Incumbents lost at nearly twice the historical average,” the website that tracks election results reported last week. Parents are revolting over how districts handled Covid and how schools teach race and gender. School board candidates campaigned on at least one of these issues in 141 school district elections in Missouri, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.

…

It isn’t clear how long this parental interest will persist once memories of the lockdowns fade, and the unions and incumbents will try to ride out the revolt. School choice is the best long-run antidote to the progressive union monopoly. But parents who are taking on the burden and risk of challenging entrenched boards are acting in the best tradition of American self-government.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Biden Admin Ties School Lunch Funding to Transgender Mandates

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last month it will interpret federal anti-discrimination law “to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.” Its decision is based on an executive order Biden signed after assuming office in January 2021, as well as the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which found that Title VII protections against sex discrimination extend to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

 

“As a result, state and local agencies, program operators and sponsors that receive funds from FNS must investigate allegations of discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation,” the USDA said in a May 5 statement, first reported by the Center Square. “Those organizations must also update their non-discrimination policies and signage to include prohibitions against discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.”

SURVEY SAYS…: Survey Refutes Media and Teacher Union Spin

If you believe that social or mainstream media offer accurate representations of reality, you may be surprised to hear that most teachers in North Carolina are content with the working conditions in their schools. After all, the North Carolina Association of Educators and allied public school advocacy organizations insist that our public schools are in a crisis produced by Republican lawmakers who, in the words of one long-time teacher union activist, “seek to attack or even dismantle public education for financial or cultural gain.”

 

The North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey tells a much different story.

POLITICIANS, EDUCRATS, AND NATURAL DISASTERS: COVID Learning Loss Comparable to That Inflicted by Hurricane Katrina, Study Finds; Math Drops Outpace Reading

YEAH, NO KIDDING: Grade Inflation ‘Persistent, Systemic’ Even Prior to Pandemic

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED: Homeschooling Surge Continues Despite Schools Reopening

Black families make up many of the homeschool converts. The proportion of Black families homeschooling their children increased by five times, from 3.3% to 16.1%, from spring 2020 to the fall, while the proportion about doubled across other groups, according to U.S. Census surveys.

 

Raleigh, North Carolina, mother Laine Bradley said the school system’s shortcomings became more evident to families like hers when remote learning began.

 

“I think a lot of Black families realized that when we had to go to remote learning, they realized exactly what was being taught. And a lot of that doesn’t involve us,” said Bradley, who decided to homeschool her 7-, 10- and 11-year-old children. “My kids have a lot of questions about different things. I’m like, ‘Didn’t you learn that in school?’ They’re like, ‘No.’”

DEFENDING PARENTAL RIGHTS IN THE OLD NORTH STATE: Parents’ Bill of Rights proposed by North Carolina policy group

More: Parents’ Bill of Rights for North Carolina and press release

PARENTS HAVE HAD ENOUGH: ‘Those Kids Did Not Come Back’: Exclusive Enrollment Data Shows Students Continue to Flee Urban Districts as Boom Town Schools and Virtual Academies Thrive

PLEASE EXIT THE SCHOOL DISTRICT IN AN ORDERLY FASHION:Minneapolis Public Schools cancels classes again as teachers enter tenth day of strike

THEY DIDN’T NEED IT IN THE FIRST PLACE: One Year After Congress Appropriated Over $122 Billion for K-12, Many School Districts Are Struggling to Spend It

TEACHER UNIONS HAVE SIGHTS SET ON FEDERAL CORONAVIRUS RELIEF DOLLARS: NCAE Demands That Districts Spend Billions in COVID-19 Funding

BIDEN URGES AMERICANS TO CLEAN UP THE TEACHER UNIONS’ MESS: Biden urges Americans to consider tutoring, mentoring in schools

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOLARS LAUNCHES CIVICS ALLIANCE WEBSITE: Civics Alliance

The teaching of American civics in our schools faces a grave new risk. Proponents of programs such as action civics seek to turn the traditional subject of civics into a recruitment tool of the progressive left.

 

We work to prevent this subornation of civics education and to dedicate ourselves to joint work to restore true civics instruction, which teaches American students to comprehend aspects of American government such as the rule of law, the Bill of Rights, elections, elected office, checks and balances, equality under the law, trial by jury, grand juries, civil rights, and military service. American students should learn from these lessons the founding principles of the United States, the structure of our self-governing republic, the functions of government at all levels, and how our key institutions work.

CONFIDENCE IN PUBLIC SCHOOL PRINCIPALS PLUMMETED DURING THE PANDEMIC: Americans’ Trust in Scientists, Other Groups Declines

The public is tired of being misled by “experts” and “journalists.”