Free Republic

Minnesota public schools encourage students to pray, but only if they’re Muslim Well this is just plain hypocritical: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/how-one-minnesota-school-district-handles-a-rising-immigrant-population/How one Minnesota school district handles a rising immigrant populationMarch 23, 2016In the district’s middle and high schools, Muslim students have access to private rooms with prayer rugs for the five daily prayers.

Michigan’s Board of Education has drafted a set of guidelines that asks schools to allow students to make their own decisions regarding which bathrooms they use, the gender by which they want to be identified, and the names by which they’d like to be called. The guidelines, which seem to explicitly remove parents and doctors from the decision-making process, have been signed by State Superintendent Brian Whiston.

The nation is spending about $46 billion less than what it needs to keep up its school buildings, according to a report Wednesday that pointed out disparities in state support for infrastructure. The report by a trio of school facilities groups said the country needs to keep better track of the state of its schools and find new funding sources for their upkeep so that local districts that now bear the heaviest funding burdens don’t have to divert money from instruction. “U.S. public school infrastructure is funded through a system that is inequitably affecting our nation’s students and this has...

Editor's note: You can watch the documentary at the bottom of this article. GILBERT, Arizona, March 23, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) -- If you’re a parent who’s been told that your child’s sex-ed program at school is comprehensive, evidenced-based, age-appropriate, and that it promotes healthy relationships, then you, and every other parent who’s been sold the same message, have essentially been lied to. That is, according to a powerful new documentary that’s exposing what producers say is a “deceptive agenda” behind sex-ed programs being pushed not only in schools across the globe, but also by multiple United Nations entities and government bodies. ...

BOSTON, March 14, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) - A bill that would allow adult biological males to shower or change alongside young girls has earned the endorsement of two prominent teachers unions in Massachusetts. State legislators are considering a bill that would specifically open all public restrooms, shower facilities, and locker rooms to transgender people. "An Act Relative to Gender Identity and Non-Discrimination" (H.B. 1577) would add "gender identity" to the state's protected classes able to access all public facilities, such as private changing areas. Lawmakers specifically exempted "lawfully sex-segregated facilities" when it passed a 2011 ordinance granting transgender people protected legal...

Chcago Public Schools officials told principals on Wednesday that the district is "short of the necessary cash for the remainder of the school year" partly because of a pension payment of nearly $700 million due this summer. ... Last month, principals had to absorb $26 million in midyear budget cuts to district-operated schools. Principals tapped internal accounts, cut planned technology and textbook purchases and didn't fill vacant positions to avert layoffs. On Wednesday, principals were told to hold off on $45 million budgeted for "non-personnel" expenses. The district said it wants to save another $10 million through a limit on...

Police are investigating a North Texas mother’s claim that two 8-year-old boys sexually assaulted her 8-year-old son during a school bus ride to an elementary school on the northwest side of Fort Worth. On Fri., Feb. 19, NBC DFW reported that the unidentified parent expressed frustration that little has been done by the school or local authorities following the alleged incident. Although the date of the purported sexual attack remains unclear, the mother said the other two boys pulled down her son’s pants, performed a sexual act, then beat up her son, a first grade student at Northbrook Elementary in...

In a recent story about political polarization, The Washington Post quoted a Michigan teacher who claimed the Mackinac Center for Public Policy is out to destroy public education because it has published the salaries of particular teachers. Erin Mastin, a teacher with Boyne City Public Schools, was portrayed in the article as someone concerned about divisiveness, and who believes the political system is rigged in favor of the rich and powerful. From the article: She could feel the influence of money in politics in her classroom, she said. In recent months, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a conservative Michigan-based...

UNION, S.C. (WSPA) — Leigh Anne Arthur, a teacher at the Union County Career & Technology Center has resigned after a nude photo of her was spread through the school, says the district’s interim superintendent. The district said Arthur had nude photos of herself on her phone and a student took her phone while she was out of the room. The student then took photos of the nude images. The student then shared the photo throughout the school. The district became of aware of the incident last Monday and she resigned on Tuesday, according to the district. Arthur reached out...

Prof. Susan Engel, a psychologist, author and educator, published a controversial article in Bloomberg. The headline was "Want kids to learn math? STOP teaching it." http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-04-06/want-kids-to-learn-math-stop-teaching-it My local paper picked it up and I had a very violent reaction: that is the stupidest thing I have ever seen in a newspaper and, as you know, that covers a lot of ground. Later, when I went to Bloomberg to check on the comments, I was pleased to see many other people reacted as I did. Independent George wrote: 'This is quite possibly the worst educational advice I've ever read. I don't...

As a state college professor, upset over the disaster that our public schools have become, I have been thinking a great deal about the most effective teaching strategies. These obviously differ according to subject matter. But these are some points I’ve worked up over the years; it is now time to post them, hoping to get feedback and a discussion going. The Democrats have ruled public education through the chains of the federal government and unions for decades. It is time to take back education into an arena of challenge and success. 1) First we have to acknowledge that we...

No excerpt allowed from Bloomberg, story here.

When socialist Bernie Sanders beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in a landslide Tuesday in New Hampshire, he crushed her among young voters by a whopping 83 percent. Tuesday night in New Hampshire, 83% of voters aged 18-29 chose Sanders, according to exit polls. And those voters were a full one-fifth of the electorate. Sander's message of "income inequality" (Hillary has one too, but her Wall Street ties and personal wealth make it transparent) is popular with young people drowning in student loan debt (thanks to liberals proclaiming college is for everyone and by promoting the purchase of worthless degrees without the prospect...

The Detroit Public Schools is seeking a temporary injunction against teachers after sick-outs closed 88 schools in Detroit today - the largest in a string of teacher protests. The district is seeking relief in the Michigan Court of Claims, naming among the 28 defendants Steve Conn, the ousted leader of the teacher's union, interim president Ivy Bailey, and several groups including DPS Teachers Fight Back. Teacher absences forced 88 Detroit schools to close today, the largest sick-out meant to call attention to large class sizes, dilapidated buildings and other problems in Michigan's largest school district. The sick-out idled most of...

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Four schools within the Houston Independent School District will be renamed and four others removed from the discussion after approval Thursday night. Just after 7pm, trustees approved a plan to begin the process of renaming four schools with Confederate titles. Those schools include Henry Grady Middle School, Richard Dowling Middle School, Lee High School and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson Middle School. Trustees approve plan to begin process renaming 4 schools to represent #HISD values/diversity: @GradyMS @DowlingMS @LeeHSHouston, Jackson MS — Houston ISD (@HoustonISD) January 15, 2016 Four other schools with ties to the Confederacy were removed from the...

On January 1, California residents will have to accustom themselves to a number of new laws that will be implemented in the state. These are some the laws that will likely have the most profound effect: SB 172: High school seniors will receive their diploma whether or not they pass or even take an exit exam; the law also applies retroactively to students who have graduated since 2004; ... SB 707: Bans concealed firearms from college campuses and K-12 school grounds

Can you name the most contentious issue in American politics? Here's a hint. It's being fought at the federal, state and local levels. And it doesn't go away. The struggle is persistent, ongoing, unending. Here is a second hint. The issue is not gay marriage, or gun control, or police brutality and or immigration. Those issues are either settled, largely settled, isolated or completely out of the control of local and state governments. Here is a third hint. The issue divides Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals. But it is especially divisive among Democrats and among people who call themselves...

A southeastern Idaho cafeteria worker said she was fired for giving a student a free meal costing $1.70, but the school district offered her the job back after a national outcry. Dalene Bowden received a termination letter from the Pocatello School District last week after she gave a tray of food to a 12-year-old student who said she didn't have money for the meal.

A Texas mother is speaking out after her daughter's school gave the young girl a henna tattoo the week before Christmas. Tammy Samour was shocked when she picked up her daughter Leah, 7, from Ed White Elementary School in Houston and saw the second grader's hands covered in the designs, which are traditionally applied to the hands and feet of women during Hindu ceremonies and festivals. That shock soon turned to outrage however as Ms. Samour says she never gave the school permission to tattoo Leah - and now the brown paste will not wash off her hands. It can...

Were you aware that Christian parents are in the grip of fear over Islamic indoctrination in public schools? Neither was I, and I live at ground zero of a raging controversy over the manner in which public schools teach Islam, Christianity, and other world religions. My home county, Maury County, Tenn., made headlines when parents objected to an assignment, to middle-school kids, to write the shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith. Other parents objected to apparent bias in the curriculum, noting that instruction about Christianity was both delayed and skewed, with an emphasis on Christians persecuting other Christians and...