Free Republic

MOORESVILLE, Ind. -- A state investigation has been launched and more parents are coming forward with allegations of inappropriate conduct by a teacher who some feel is involved too intimately with children. The 41-second cell phone video that prompted a 6News investigation shows a Mooresville Consolidated School Corp. junior varsity softball player licking the toes of teacher Jody Monaghan, a former softball coach, 6News' Jack Rinehart reported. Angry parents called it a mere snapshot of years of inappropriate texting and touching between Monaghan and their children. Another parent, who came forward after 6News' first report but did not want to...

WEST PALM BEACH — Incited by poor graduation rates in Palm Beach County, a national civil rights group sued the state Thursday, alleging it failed to ensure that all students receive the high-quality education guaranteed under the Florida Constitution. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the school district directly last year, but the case was dismissed on the grounds that the district was not the right party to sue. Now the national and state arms of the ACLU are bringing a class-action suit against the state on behalf of Palm Beach County students and parents. The lawsuit, filed in Palm...

More city kids are graduating from high school, but that doesn't mean they can do college math. Basic algebra involving fractions and decimals stumped a group of City University of New York freshmen - suggesting city schools aren't preparing them... "These results are shocking," ... "They show that a disturbing proportion of New York City high school graduates lack basic skills." During their first math class at one of CUNY's four-year colleges, 90% of 200 students tested couldn't solve a simple algebra problem... Only a third could convert a fraction into a decimal. The lack of math skills means the...

Do you believe in the American dream -- the idea that in this country, hardworking people of every race, color and creed can get ahead on their own merits? If so, that belief may soon bar you from getting a license to teach in Minnesota public schools -- at least if you plan to get your teaching degree at the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus.

At least three youngsters in Calabasas have fallen victim to violence by fellow middle-school students after a Facebook group urged people to beat up redheads, authorities said Monday. The first reported incident occurred Friday morning when a 12-year-old redheaded boy was kicked and hit by a dozen of his classmates at A.E. Wright Middle School, Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators said. Detectives took reports of two more assaults, targeting a 7th-grader and an 8th-grader that day at the middle school, said Lt. Scott Chew. Investigators are trying to determine whether there was a fourth attack, officials said. The students who...

New York, November 10 (ANI): An English teacher was suspended for providing his students with a graphic short story about masturbation written by “Fight Club” author Chuck Palahniuk. Greg Van Voorhis had given the story to read to students preparing for the English Regents exam at The Bronx School of Law and Finance in Marble Hill. The material written for Playboy magazine told the tale of a teenage boy’s use of a carrot in a sex act on himself and autoerotic asphyxiation. Even though students were made to return the copies of the text at the end of the class,...

An Oviedo High School teacher resigned Wednesday after admitting she gave alcohol and her sport-utility vehicle to a student later arrested in a drunken-driving crash, a Seminole County Public Schools spokeswoman said. Meredith Witt, a special education teacher, told the principal of Oviedo High she provided alcohol to "one or more" students at her home Monday, then handed over the keys to a student and let him drive off, according to a school district document. Dylan Ferguson, 18, an Oviedo High senior, was arrested Monday on counts of DUI with damaged property and leaving the scene of a crash. His...

The National Education Association, the organization most identified as the voice of established educators in the United States, is recommending that its members read -- and promote the reading of -- two books by Progressive radical Saul Alinsky: Rules for Radicals and Reveille for Radicals. The recommendation appears in the organizations website under, "Tools & Ideas>Association Representative Resources>Articles & Multimedia>Recommended Reading: Saul Alinsky, The American Organizer." The NEA has insisted over the course of its existence that it is a non-partisan organization that champions the education of America's children while advocating for the professional advancement of its educator membership. Their...

Elementary Epidemic: 11 Uncovered Videos Show School Children Performing Praises to Obama By John Nolte Created 2009-11-04 10:29 Big Hollywood has already posted [1] a couple [2] disturbing videos of young school children singing/speaking praises to President Obama, but when eleven more dropped in our email box it came as quite a shock. What seemed like an aberration now appears to be a troubling pattern. Maybe “epidemic” is a better word. Each one of the videos below is creepier than the last because the further down you go, the younger the children — brace yourself for kindergartners – except for...

School nurses mistakenly gave the swine flu vaccine to two students who didn't sign up for it - including a Brooklyn girl with epilepsy who wound up in the hospital. "I was outraged," Naomi Troy, 26, told the Daily News after her 6-year-old daughter, Nikiyah Torres-Pierre, had a possible allergic reaction to the shot. Officials at Public School 335 in Crown Heights called an ambulance to take Nikiyah to SUNY Downstate Medical Center when she fell ill following the arm jab. "My stomach was hurting, and I was itching," Nikiyah said after she was released from the hospital. The snafu...

It starts with a little extra attention and affection, a personalized note on a term paper and chummy after-school banter. Before long it escalates to hugging and explicit text messages. It's called "grooming," small indiscretions that child abuse experts say should alert principals and parents to a developing sexual relationship between a teacher and student. But too often, these subtle cues go unnoticed until a relationship becomes inappropriate, or even criminal. Roy Junior High teacher Kenneth Taylor, who was charged 10 days ago with having sex with a former female student, is the latest addition to a growing list of...

A former music teacher for Mentor Schools has admitted sexually assaulting a high school girl during a 16-month period. Barry Valentine, 35, of Mentor, pleaded guilty Thursday to 16 counts of sexual battery — one for each month the assaults occurred — in Lake County Common Pleas Court. He now faces up to 80 years in prison and/or a $160,000 fine when he is sentenced Dec. 7 by Judge Vincent A. Culotta. Valentine repeatedly sexually assaulted the victim from July 2007 through February 2008, Assistant Lake County Prosecutor Mark Bartolotta said. “At the time, she was 15 and then 16...

Obama’s Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings funded a pornographic anti-Christian art show now on display at Harvard University. Mass Resistance reported: If you want to know what Americans can expect in public schools, look no further. Kevin Jennings is Barack Obama’s “safe schools” czar in the US Department of Education. He’s also the founder of the national homosexual group GLSEN, which sets up “gay straight alliance” clubs in high schools and middle schools across America. GLSEN is officially supported by the Massachusetts Legislature. Jennings is also a former member of the radical homosexual group “Act Up”, and he contributed to...

SALT LAKE CITY -- A recent statewide screening of education workers' backgrounds turned up close to 7,000 arrests, criminal charges or convictions. It also shows 30 to 50 teachers had been arrested or convicted of serious enough offenses in the past that they could be fired or reprimanded. Nine education workers are out of jobs following the check. According to the Salt Lake Tribune: •The Granite School District has terminated three workers due to the screening •The Alpine district fired one •An aide for the Canyons district was let go for an open container violation and contributing to the delinquency...

New York Teen Arrested in Columbine-Style Plot October 20, 2009 A 15-year-old boy is being held in a psychiatric hospital after he stockpiled gasoline, propane, fuses and a machete for a planned attack at a New York school on the anniversary of the Columbine High School killings, police sid. The boy, whose name was withheld, was arrested Monday evening after police searched his home in Monroe, 45 miles northwest of New York City. Police found 16-ounce bottles of gasoline, a torch, a machete, a black trench coat, two computers, three propane tanks and several other electronic devices, MyFoxNY.com reported. Police...

I was at work and was listening to the Steve Malzberg show and they were discussing this issue. The person being interviewed is someone name Beth Gilinsky who is from a group called Action Alliance, and she said a publication called Indy Kids has just past the NYC City Council and will be available for free to the kids in the school. She said the most recent issue of the magazine has a section on healthcare, here's an excerpt from their website: In the United States, some people who get sick can go to the doctor without worrying about the...

An Ongoing problem - Do you know what they are teaching YOUR children? "California schools are pushing an unbalanced religious agenda that favors Islam and minimizes Christianity and Judaism," Accuracy in Academia warns in its latest Campus Report. Christianity isn't given equal time, either. It's covered in just two days - as opposed to up to two weeks for Islam - and doesn't involve kids in any role-playing activities like the Islam unit. The stealth jihad to whitewash Islam and propagate it in the public schools still continues. "Schoolhouse Shariah," from Investor's Business Daily, September 24 article (thanks to Allyson):...

Scranton, PA (LifeNews.com) -- Officials at a Pennsylvania school targeted a middle school student who came to class wearing a pro-life t-shirt with the message, "Abortion is Not Health Care." Officials at Crossroads Middle School in Lewisberry ordered the student to remove the shirt on the day of President Obama’s public address to students.School officials deemed the shirt “inappropriate,” saying it might insult somebody -- even though the school routinely allows students to wear other shirts with other potentially offensive messages.Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit in federal court last week against the West Shore School District for prohibiting...

To ensure that psychiatry “permeate every educational activity of national life” and “infiltrate the professional and social activities of [all] people” was a global goal that originated with British Brigadier General Dr. John Rawlings Rees in a 1940 speech to the National Council for Mental Hygiene. He ended on an ominous note: “Though our knowledge be incomplete … I think we must imitate the Totalitarians and organize some kind of fifth column activity.” Canadian colleague Dr. Brock Chisholm chimed in with sinister comments of his own at the close of the war in 1946, in a speech to the World...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Jeffrey Kolowith's kindergarten students read a poem about Christopher Columbus, take a journey to the New World on three paper ships and place the explorer's picture on a timeline through history. Kolowith's students learn about the explorer's significance -- though they also come away with a more nuanced picture of Columbus than the noble discoverer often portrayed in pop culture and legend. ''I talk about the situation where he didn't even realize where he was,'' Kolowith said. ''And we talked about how he was very, very mean, very bossy.'' Columbus' stature in U.S. classrooms has declined...

NEWARK, Del. — Finding character witnesses when you are 6 years old is not easy. But there was Zachary Christie last week at a school disciplinary committee hearing with his karate instructor and his mother’s fiancé by his side to vouch for him. Zachary’s offense? Taking a camping utensil that can serve as a knife, fork and spoon to school. He was so excited about recently joining the Cub Scouts that he wanted to use it at lunch. School officials concluded that he had violated their zero-tolerance policy on weapons, and Zachary now faces 45 days in the district’s reform...

What’s most amazing to me, is that even among liberals there are very few people who can justify an anti-school choice stance. If it seems as though this video contains some “straw man” arguments… Believe me, it’s just THAT hard to find a logical case against school choice. If anyone can think of a more valid reason that hasn’t been included in the video, be sure to comment it below.

Here is video of kids from the Ron Clark Academy on the set of CNN "singing for Health Care Reform" a song set to the Miley Cyrus tune "Party in the USA." It mentions President Obama, saying "Obama says everyone needs Health Care now..." . . . (VIDEO)

"To be blunt I think some of the critics don’t like the idea of a lot of black boys being together. It scares them." Verum Serum: Jennings is speaking at a panel discussion of “gender and education” at the Steinhardt School at New York University on April 25, 2008. He has some interesting things to say about critics of publicly-funded, segregated schools for gay, lesbian and transgender students (such as the Harvey Milk School in New York).

A father of a high-school student is infuriated after he said a teacher provided "banned books" to her 11th-grade students, including at least one with explicit descriptions of homosexual sex acts, rape, masturbation, profane language and even bestiality. John Davis, father of an 11th-grade student at William Byrd High School in Vinton, Va., told WND that English teacher Kathleen Renard provided her personal copy of a book called "Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky to one of her English students, and it was passed to his son. The book is published by MTV Books. Davis found the book...

Recent videos of American children in school singing songs of praise for Barack Obama were a little much, especially for those of us old enough to remember pictures of children singing the praises of dictators like Hitler, Stalin and Mao. But you don't need a dictator to make you feel queasy about the manipulation of children. The mindset that sees children in school as an opportunity for teachers to impose their own notions, instead of developing the child's ability to think for himself or herself, is a dangerous distortion of education. Parents send their children to school to acquire the...

The Obama administration isn't adequately vetting important presidential appointees. When it was exposed that former "green jobs czar" Van Jones believed in crazy conspiracies about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it was questionable whether anyone had even bothered to Google individuals before they received presidential appointments. In that case, the White House strategy was to refuse to answer questions and hope interest faded away. That approach worked for most of the media, which carried water for President Obama's scandal-plagued pick. Stonewalling scandal is not what Americans were expecting from an administration that promised to usher in an "unprecedented level...

President Obama’s “Dreams From My Father” is creating a nightmare for 1,099 Hingham High students cramming to wrap up their “required” summer read - a book, it turns out, they didn’t have to read in the first place. With school opening Tuesday, the Herald has learned teens whose offended parents complained were allowed by Principal Paula Girouard McCann and Helaine Silva, head of the Hingham Public Schools English Department, to pick any other memoir - an option they never publicized. “I had no idea,” sophomore Graham King, 15, who was only on page 120 of the 460-page autobiography yesterday, told...

The State of New Jersey is now mandating every school child be vaccinated, otherwise they will be kicked out of class. This ABC news report covers the story

A teacher was told by a 15-year-old high school sophomore that he was having homosexual sex with an "older man." At the very least, statutory rape occurred. Fox News reported that the teacher violated a state law requiring that he report the abuse. That former teacher, Kevin Jennings, is President Obama's "safe school czar."-SNIP-In this one case in which Mr. Jennings had a real chance to protect a young boy from a sexual predator, he not only failed to do what the law required but actually encouraged the relationship.  In 2000, Mr. Jennings gave a talk to the Iowa...

"I looked at Brewster and said, 'You know, I hope you knew to use a condom.'" Washington Times: In this one case in which Mr. (Kevin) Jennings had a real chance to protect a young boy from a sexual predator, he not only failed to do what the law required but actually encouraged the relationship.

President Obama wants kids to spend more time in school. Students in the U.S. need more class time to remain competitive with students around the world, the President said. Obama advocates schools adding time to classes, extending hours into evenings and weekends, and shortening summer vacation. "Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas, not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom," Obama said. Some schools that extended their hours have seen positive results. Early results...

WASHINGTON (Sept. 27) -- Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way.

This all started with "No Child Left Behind" (which is being expanded under President Zero). We need to stop the federal drive to take over education in its tracks while there is still time. (For poll and aricle, click the excerpt link below)

WASHINGTON – Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way. Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe. "Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas," the president said earlier this year. "Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom." The president, who has a sixth-grader and a third-grader, wants schools...

This one is not as bad as mmm mmm mm Barack Hussein Obama mmm. How widespread is this in our schools?

HOUSTON - Michael Garza's parents say they weren't sure who to believe, their 8-year-old son or his reading teacher Savonya Depland Haston. -snip- After Michael calls the reading teacher "ma'am," Haston is heard on the tape replying "I'm not your ma'am. If I owned you, and you were my slave, I would beat you down." -snip On the tape, you hear her tell the class of 7 and 8-year-olds she could have charges filed against them and their parents for lying and violating her civil rights. "When you lie on me, I have the right to an attorney, I have...

Multiculturalism: California's educrats have put out new rules for teaching Islamic studies to seventh-graders in public schools, and they are as biased as ever. They'll also likely spread eastward. The lesson guidelines adopted by the bellwether state whitewash the violence and oppression of women codified in Islamic law, or Shariah. And they're loaded with revisionist history about the faith. For example, the suggested framework glorifies Shariah as a liberal reform movement that "rejected" the mistreatment of women that existed in Arabia before Muhammad and his successors conquered the region, according to Accuracy in Academia. The guidelines claim that Islamic law...

<p>Nearly 20 young children are captured in an online video as they sing songs that overflow with campaign slogans and praise for "Barack Hussein Obama," as they repeatedly chant the president's name and celebrate his accomplishments.</p> <p>A video posted on YouTube appears to show a New Jersey elementary school class being taught to sing praises of the "great accomplishments" of President Obama.</p>

I am sure Eric Holder and his racial preference-mongers (not to mention the “social justice” purveyors at Obama’s Department of Education) approve: "…The board is calling for a two-tiered form of student discipline. One for Black and Hispanic students; one for everyone else. With the goal of creating a “restorative school culture and climate” that conveys a “sense of belonging to all students,” the board is insisting that its schools reduce its suspensions and/or expulsions of minority students to the point that the data reflect “no ethnic/racial disparities.”

over the last six years, Buffalo taxpayers have paid millions of dollars to teachers not to teach. Twelve different teachers have collected $2.25 million in salary while under suspension and waiting for disciplinary hearings during that time. And that amount doesn't include the costs for substitutes and the hearings themselves. The average wait for those hearings: three years. The school district doesn't release the names of the teachers, or what they've been charged with, but we've learned that right now there's a Physical Education teacher awaiting a hearing who was suspended four years ago this month and has been paid...

WOLFEBORO, N.H. -- An English teacher is being closely monitored at Kingswood Regional High School after administrators said she assigned an inappropriate essay topic to her students. Jack Robertson, superintendent of the Governor Wentworth Regional School District, said the teacher asked students to respond to the question: "If you knocked your brother down, would you urinate in his mouth?"

San Francisco -- A San Francisco group billing itself as "the best in LGBT media" is claiming hundreds of public schools in California have signed up to show its films and use accompanying discussion materials. One film features a boy "coming out" by wearing his mother's bikini. Another film incorporates Native American spiritualism to cast LGBT (lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender) persons as "two-spirit" people. The films and school materials are being distributed by Youth in Motion, a partnership between Frameline and Gay-Straight Alliance Network. YIM can be accessed here (warning: may contain offensive content). The films are accompanied by...

Imagine your 15-year-old daughter being approached in high school by a 50-year-old man who bears the official title of mentor. Imagine, too, that he asks her to "walk and have a talk," leads her down a stairwell to the basement of the school, and grabs her by the buttocks, pulls her toward him, causing their genital areas to touch, grabs her hand, places it in his groin, telling her "this is what you do to me."... In your mind, imagine that the man: -- Had made inappropriate remarks to your daughter days before the assault, saying, "I want more than...

A New England-based pro-family organization is concerned about a situation in Vermont involving bathroom arrangements at schools. Brian Camenker of MassResistance says the homosexual movement in Vermont is using a transgender-rights law to force middle schools and high schools to provide unisex bathrooms. He notes that a 16-year-old transgendered teen has asked the Vermont Human Rights Commission to lend its support to the effort. According to an Associated Press report, the student claims that she and others like her need the unisex bathrooms in order to avoid bullying and ridicule. A homosexual activist with Outright Vermont is quoted in the...

Seattle Public Schools may do away with a nearly decade-old requirement that all students earn a C average to graduate. If the School Board approves recommendations endorsed by Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, as well as most district high-school principals and counselors, a D average will be good enough to earn a high-school diploma. Student athletes would need to pass five of six classes with D grades or better. District officials understand there are concerns about relaxing standards at a time when everyone from President Obama on down is pushing for higher expectations for U.S. students. But district officials, who plan to...

September 16, 2009, 4:00 a.m. Grading TeachersWe must distinguish between effective and ineffective teachers. By Marcus A. Winters In 2007, only 57 percent of fourth graders in New York City and 44 percent of fourth graders in Chicago could claim even basic literacy according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Yet, in the same year, less than 2 percent of New York’s teachers and less than 1 percent of Chicago’s teachers were deemed “unsatisfactory” in their official evaluations. Clearly, something is missing here. Current public-school evaluation systems do not distinguish between effective and ineffective teachers. We can dramatically...

A federal education grant will soon be used to introduce Arabic language and culture into Missoula high schools. The five-year, $764,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education comes to Missoula schools with the help of University of Montana.

Millions of Americans are marching, blogging, calling Congress, E-mailing friends, and writing to newspapers to say that President Obama and Congress are expanding government too far, too fast. We need to do more, because it’s clear that they’re not getting the message. The latest example: the House of Representatives is preparing to put the Department of Education into the business of creating educational curriculum for American students. This week the House is scheduled to approve H.R. 3221, an education lending bill that CBO reports will increase the deficit by $50 billion. The bill includes a little-known provision to give...

With states across the country facing huge budget deficits and potential devastating cuts to services, the time has come to start charging parents tuition for their children’s public school education. If parents of the 47 million students in the United States who attend kindergarten through 12th grade were billed $360 per child per year — that’s $2 a day for each of the 180 days of instruction — nearly $17 billion would be generated. Can half of America’s parents afford $360 per year for each of their children? For the price of a cup of coffee, a child can get...