Free Republic

In Minnesota, 50% of students cannot read at grade level. If we were to apply the traditional academic grading scale to that outcome, the public education system in the state would get a solid F.. That abysmal performance was the topic of much debate during this term of the Minnesota legislature, prompting the Democrat trifecta to pass “the READ Act,” an effort to replace the failed “whole language” method of literacy training with traditional phonics education. “Whole language” is an absolute joke, recognized even by many on the Left as a toxic methodology that fails students. In essence, “whole language”...

A Virginia school district was sued this week after it restored Confederate military names for two buildings, foreshadowing a broader battle that is heating up ahead of the election. The Virginia NAACP sued the school board in Shenandoah County after it voted to change Mountain View High School to Stonewall Jackson High School and Honey Run Elementary back to Ashby Lee Elementary. The NAACP argues in its federal lawsuit that students’ constitutional rights were violated by the district’s act of reverting back to Confederate names. It invoked the First Amendment and 14th Amendment in its lawsuit, saying it “prohibits racial...

While debating the role schools play in their students’ abortions, a Michigan school board member said teachers should be able to refer students for abortions. The Caledonia School Board is debating a current policy which restricts teachers from discussing abortion with students or referring them for one. The school board is considering either eliminating the policy altogether or updating it. During the meeting, Jason Saidoo said teachers should be able to make the decision for themselves if a student should be referred for an abortion. “I think option one, rescinding the policy, it takes the politics out of it, and...

A report from the Tennessee Star indicates that Audrey Hale, the 28-year-old transgender woman who shot and killed six people on March 27, 2023, bought her guns with federal grant money. CNN noted that Hale bought a total of seven guns “between October 20, 2020, and June 6, 2022,” and all were legally purchased. The Tennessee Star quoted 99.7 WTN afternoon radio host Brian Wilson noting that Hale allegedly “took money from an education grant she received to purchase her weapons and to pay for training at a local gun range.”

A conservative activist who fought against local school departments over transgender bathroom policies, CRT lessons, and LGBT books has ended his own life. Shawn McBreairty, 53, from Hampden, committed suicide, according to a former Hermon School Committee member, after receiving confirmation of the death of a Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office deputy.

The proposed curriculum overhaul was released a week after the Texas GOP proposed requiring the Bible to be taught in public schools. School districts that opt to use them will get more funding.

Hundreds of New York City kids walked out of school Friday and staged a pro-Palestinian protest that was promoted by several radical teacher groups. Some 350 students had descended on the Department of Education headquarters at the Tweed Courthouse in Lower Manhattan starting by 4 p.m.. They were seen waving signs on the front steps of the building calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and describing Israel’s military offensive on the region following the Oct. 7 terror attack as “genocide.” The walkout was organized by Teachers Unite and a handful of other groups, including NYC Educators for Palestine, the Palestine...

Hamas fired rockets at the Tel Aviv area on Sunday, marking the first time in four months that a barrage reached central Israel from Gaza, and emphasizing the importance of Israel’s fight against Hamas in its last stronghold. According to Cumta, an app that publishes warnings from Israel’s Red Alert system, the rockets targeted areas north and west of Tel Aviv, including Petah Tikva and Herzliya Pituach, one of the wealthiest communities in Israel.

By the time Stephanie Hartung returned to her suburban Seattle classroom this school year, the gash on her head, black eye, and bruising all over her body had healed. But she doesn’t know if the anxiety and stress from her attack – at the hands of a 12-year-old – ever will. **SNIP** But an investigation by eight local television stations, working together in seven states, found thousands of teachers across the country have had similar experiences. Nearly 8,300 teachers in 34 states participated in a voluntary survey asking about violent encounters with students, their opinions about possible causes, and possible...

A DEI-fixated dean at UCLA's world-famous medical school has allowed standards to plummet by discriminating against white and Asian applicants, it is claimed. The David Geffen School of Medicine in Los Angeles boasts Nobel Prize winners on its faculty and accepts just 173 students out of the 14,000 who apply to it each year. But it has plunged from sixth to 18th place in the rankings since the appointment of Jennifer Lucerno as dean of admissions in June 2020 amid claims that the admissions bar for underrepresented minorities is now 'as low as you could possibly imagine'. 'All the normal...

A mother in Atlanta disrupted an awards ceremony at her son's school after he did not receive any prizes. She stood up in middle of the event and walked up to the front of the stage before ranting after her child did not win anything. The person presenting the award was forced to apologize to those in attendance and tried to de-escalate the situation. The incident was caught on video and shared to X where it has been viewed more than 500,000 times. In the clip, the mother is heard shouting at the person who is presenting the awards but...

A Michigan school executive has banned the terms “boy” and “girl” among school staff, contending that using the terms essentially constitutes a “harmful” practice. Kara Davis, the Executive Director of Teaching and Learning Saline Schools in Saline, Michigan, is described as “passionate learner and teacher.” She taught for more than two decades and now partners with “teachers, students, and administrators to help Saline continue to strengthen its collective vision of educational equity and deepen implementation of the Saline Area Schools Graduate Profile,” according to a description on the Saline Schools website. A letter penned by Davis is now going viral,...

A dying Marine veteran was finally handed his high school diploma while receiving hospice care after dropping out to fight in World War Two over eight decades ago. Richard Remp, a 98-year-old marine veteran in hospice care, left school at 17 years of age to serve in World War II, before later continuing his service in Korea and Vietnam. But on Friday he was finally handed the high school diploma he had longed for all these years but never received. Remp told local San Antonio NBC affiliate NEWS4SA: 'On behalf of myself and the Marine Corps, I thank you very...

The city is keeping students’ safety on hold. The Adams administration has yet to publicly launch a school safety hotline promised at the start of the academic year, The Post has learned. City officials previously said the tip line was slated to debut last fall, but no official launch announcement or updates had been made since an October City Council hearing.

Four students were stabbed and slashed in three separate clashes on the grounds of Big Apple high schools Tuesday afternoon, cops and sources said. The wave of violence in a little more than an hour saw two students knife each other in Hell’s Kitchen at a building that houses several schools, another student slashed in a gang attack inside the Evander Childs Educational Campus in the Bronx and fourth person stabbed at the Queens High School of Teaching, Liberal Arts and the Sciences. The Hell’s Kitchen incident erupted during a 1:20 p.m. fracas where two boys were knifed — one...

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Tuesday that it had killed 15 terrorists, at least 10 of whom were from Hamas, in a strike on a “war room” that they had set up at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school. In a joint statement, the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (ISA, or “Shabak,” or “Shin Bet”) said: Based on IDF and ISA intelligence, the IAF carried out a precise strike on a central Hamas war room commanders embedded inside an UNRWA school in the area of Nuseirat. The war room was used by terrorist operatives in...

Mayor Eric Adams called out sick on the third day of his weekend visit to Rome – cancelling a tour of an Italian school teaching migrants the local language to help them assimilate to society. Adams, who left for the Eternal City on Thursday and is due back in the Big Apple on Monday, seemed the image of health earlier in his trip, but fell ill and was coughing before his visit to the school Sunday and decided to cancel. Hizzoner was due to tour the Sant’Egidio Community, which is housed in a 1700s building in Rome’s Piazza di Santa...

District actively promoted non-religious groups, including a Pride Club and Green Team... A school district that just weeks ago had refused students permission to begin an interfaith prayer club – even though a wide range of other special interest organizations like a Pride club and a Green club were approved – abruptly has reversed itself. "We are very pleased that the Issaquah School District is allowing our clients to start a prayer club at their school this spring," explained Kayla Toney, associate counsel at First Liberty Institute,.. "Schools should always respect the religious beliefs of their students. This is a...

A Catholic school teacher in Washington state says she will not be returning to the school where she has taught for years for the next academic school year because she is marrying a woman. Parents of students at St. Luke School in Shoreline are upset by the school's decision to let go of a talented kindergarten educator who has been with the school for four years. Karen Pala's contract was not renewed by the school's head pastor, Father Brad Hagelin, due to her plans to marry a woman over the summer. In the text of a letter sent to parents,...

Atheist zealots have managed to shut down a Christian club at an elementary school in rural Florida. The school dismantled the group after an atheist organization sent a letter whining about the existence of the religious club. Hamilton County Elementary School shut down its chapter of the North Central Florida Fellowship of Christian Athletes, according to the Christian Post. The move came after the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an organization known for attacking Christians in various areas of American society, wrote a letter accusing the school of violating the U.S. Constitution.FFRF, which touts itself as the largest atheist legal group...