Free Republic

THIS YEAR: JOIN the WALKOUT! Help spread the word to parents around the state and around the country! And here's what you can do in your own school: (1) Call your school and demand to know if there will be ANY activities regarding the Day of Silence, and what day it will be held. (2) Let them know that your child(ren) will not be coming to school that day - and why. NOTE: This also applies to private schools and (sad to say) even some parochial schools.

The Rochester school district says that a teacher's use of his school e-mail account to send a message urging staff to join a counter-rally against Thursday's Tea Party Patriots rally violated the district's e-mail policy. "The District considers an e-mail message that was sent out by a District employee on Friday, April 9, 2010, an inappropriate use of District e-mail. In compliance with the District policy, all personnel issues will remain confidential and the District will take appropriate action according to our policies," according to a statement released Monday by the district. The teacher sent an e-mail to other teachers...

For years I have been telling congressional staffers that they have it within their power to bring balance to institutions of higher learning. All they have to do is cut federal spending on education. Yet and still, as a great man said, "There are simple answers, just not easy ones." Don't scratch your heads over the source of that quote: It was Ronald Reagan. Now, from inside the academy, comes affirmation. "We have reached the point where for many institutions of higher education, the amount of revenue that they derive from either of their two traditional source-tuition and either state...

Portage High School West school board member Cheryl 0prisko has forced her school's students into a partisan controversy entirely of her own making. Presentation of the colors by a JROTC color guard is a typical event at all sorts of civic events, including partisan political events. But 0prisko seems to be woefully uninformed. At Al Gore's 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, a JROTC color guard presented the colors.

Few adults may know it, but kids across the country are about to celebrate a holiday: Earth Day, which is April 22. Schools will take a break from normal instruction to discuss the importance of preserving the environment. That may sound like a harmless activity, but too often Earth Day becomes a platform for pushing an ideological brand of environmentalism. Parents need to pay attention and ask their children's teachers what's their plans are for Earth Day. Unlike most holidays, Earth Day expressly focuses on youth. No gifts will be exchanged and no Easter Bunny will deliver jelly beans in...

Lately, Duke University has been doing more withdrawing than Marion Barry without a crack pipe. Readers will remember that they had to echo Gilda Radner with a giant “Never mind” after they jumped the gun and punished several lacrosse players falsely accused of rape. Now, they’ve decided to withdraw a promise to provide space for Duke Students for Life to hold an event at the Duke Women's Center. The planned "Discussion with a Duke Mother" event has now been aborted. This late-term abortion of free speech is entirely unjustifiable according to the stated mission of the Duke Women's Center. It...

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas State Board of Education agreed to new social studies standards on Friday after the far-right faction wielded its power to shape the lessons that will be taught to millions of students on American history, the U.S. free enterprise system, religion and other topics. In a vote of 11-4, the board preliminarily adopted the new curriculum after days of charged debate ... Decisions by the board — long led by the social conservatives who have advocated ideas such as teaching more about the weaknesses of evolutionary theory — affects textbook content nationwide because Texas is one...

Sixty percent (60%) of Americans with children in elementary or secondary school say most school textbooks are more concerned with presenting information in a politically correct manner than in accuracy. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 28% of adults with children in the schools disagree and think most textbooks are more concerned with accurately providing information. Among all Americans, regardless of whether they have children in the schools or not, 27% say accuracy is paramount, while 55% disagree and believe most textbooks are more concerned about political correctness. Eighteen percent(18%) are undecided. Thirty-one percent (31%) of adults...

NEW LONDON, Conn. -- Sexually transmitted diseases is a topic that many people don't like to talk about, especially with teenagers. But, the director of the regional health department in New London is calling for the mandatory testing of teenagers from eighth-grade through 12th-grade students in New London and Groton. The hope is that other shoreline communities will follow suit and begin testing their teenagers as well. Vanessa Reed works for the school-based health clinic that operates inside New London High School. She said there's an epidemic of STDs infecting Connecticut teenagers, particularly teenage girls, and it's no surprise that...

A Catholic priest has apologised for joking during a sermon that true marriage can only be between Adam and Eve - not ''Adam and Steve''.Reverend Frank Wainwright, 48, a Deacon at St Gregory's Church in Cheltenham, Glos., made the controversial comment during a Sunday service. He was preaching on the theme of marriage when he claimed that same-sex civil partnerships are not considered as marriage by the Catholic church. But his ''flippant joke'' sparked five complaints from his congregation and has been branded as homophobic by gay and lesbian rights groups. Rev Frank Wainwright, who lives in Cheltenham, Glos., apologised...

Recently the Obama Administration cut funding to Upward Bound, a successful educational program with a proven track record. Upward Bound provides support to participating students in their preparation for college entrance. Upward Bound serves high school students from low-income families and high school students from families in which neither parent holds a bachelor’s degree. 95% of Upward Bound graduates have entered post-secondary education and are four times more likely to earn a college degree than students from similar back-grounds who do not participate in the program. The Obama Administration will cut funding for this successful educational program.Radical Safe Schools Czar...

...The two teachers, one a man, the other a woman, were dressed as a cheerleader and a football player. The female teacher is seated on a chair with her legs spread as dance music plays. The male teacher approaches her between her legs. He then straddles her and gyrates his hips. He bends over, while she slaps his bottom, his hips bouncing to the beat. They then take it one step further...

HAMILTON, Ontario, February 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Public school children in Hamilton, Ontario will not be permitted to withdraw from classes that promote homosexuality, according to the Hamilton Mountain News. At the same time, according to a leaked document obtained by a local journalist, teachers are being instructed to tell parents who object to the curriculum that “this is not about parent rights.”At the end of January, the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) hosted a professional development day dedicated to “equity” training, where they distributed a sheet to teachers with “quick responses” they can offer to parents who object to...

HAMILTON, Ontario, February 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Public school children in Hamilton, Ontario will not be permitted to withdraw from classes that promote homosexuality, according to the Hamilton Mountain News. At the same time, according to a leaked document obtained by a local journalist, teachers are being instructed to tell parents who object to the curriculum that “this is not about parent rights.” At the end of January, the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) hosted a professional development day dedicated to “equity” training, where they distributed a sheet to teachers with “quick responses” they can offer to parents who object...

Alarmed by a recent well-publicized study showing that abstinence education succeeded while “safe sex” and “comprehensive” sex-ed programs failed, the Left has abandoned its “abstinence doesn’t work” claim and drawn up a new line of defense. Consider what the New York Times had to say. According to its editorialists, the newly evaluated abstinence program succeeded because it was “freed from the moralistic overtones and ideological restrictions” of prior abstinence education. You can bet that anyone who pontificates about “moralistic overtones” in abstinence education has never held an actual abstinence curriculum in his hands, let alone read one. Why does abstinence...

He may be the president who governed during the Civil War, freeing the slaves, but under a new curriculum proposal for North Carolina high schools, U.S. history would begin years after President Lincoln, with the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877.

A Montgomery County couple has been arrested on child endangerment charges for failing to register their children with the school district as they were home-schooled, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said Monday. Richard Cressy, 47, and Margie Cressy, 41, both of the town of Glen, never registered their four children or their home-schooling curriculum with the local school district, said the Sheriff's Office. The Superintendent of the Fonda-Fultonville Central School District confirmed the four children, ranging in age from 8 to 14, had not been registered with the school district for the last seven years.

The National Education Association has made a glowing assessment of radical socialist community organizer Saul Alinsky and is enthusiastically recommending American public school teachers read two of his books, including one dedicated to Satan. On its website, the NEA dubs Alinsky "an inspiration to anyone contemplating action in their community! And to every organizer!" It recommends Alinsky's "Reveille for Radicals," a 1946 book about the principles and tactics of "community organizing," and "Rules for Radicals," a 1971 text that articulated a socialist strategy for gaining political power to redistribute wealth from the "haves" to the "have-nots." The NEA, the largest...

I was just reading one of my daughters "history" books called, "Call to Freedom". (credit is given to "CNNfyi.com" so I knew this was going to spell trouble.) In a chapter called "The Great Society", the book brags about LBJ's accomplishments in poverty. Here's a quote..."Partly because of Johnson's Great Society, poverty in the US decreased. Overall unemployment levels stayed low and the percentage of Americans living below the poverty level dropped to about 12% by 1969. Americans' income levels rose more during the 1960's than they had during the prosperous years of the 1950's". There are chapters devoted to...