Posted on 04/22/2022 8:38:29 PM PDT by Trillian
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said on a recent podcast that GOP-backed parental rights legislation could have alarming results and even suggested that such laws are how "wars start."
During an appearance on a podcast with radio host Rick Smith earlier this month, Weingarten criticized parental rights bills like the one recently signed into law in Florida.
"This notion – we've been very lucky in America, and we in some ways live in a bubble for a long time," she said. "This is propaganda. This is misinformation. This is the way in which wars start. This is the way in which hatred starts."
The AFT president also dismissed the suggestion that teachers are engaging in efforts to make students think in a certain way or are exposing children to inappropriate content.
"We're not indoctrinating," she said. “We're not grooming. … What we're doing is making sure we educate kids. We keep them safe. We keep them welcome. And we teach them how to think, not what to think."
Weingarten and the AFT have been vocal critics of Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and his state's push for parental rights legislation regarding instruction on critical race theory, and sex and gender.
Last year, DeSantis signed legislation into law banning CRT in Florida's schools. The Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act, otherwise known as the W.O.K.E. Act, equips Floridians with the tools they need to combat "woke indoctrination."
And Florida's Parental Rights in Education bill, signed into law last month, prohibits instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in grades kindergarten through third grade and limits age-inappropriate discussions of sexuality in other grades.
Dubbed by critics as the "Don't say gay" bill despite there being no mention of a ban on the word, H.B. 1557 also allows parents to access their children's education and health records and requires schools to notify parents of changes to their child's mental, physical or emotional well-being. The bill exempts schools from disclosing information to their parents if a "reasonably prudent person" would be concerned that doing so could result in abuse, abandonment or neglect.
Similar legislation has been introduced in other states, including Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee and Ohio.
Weingarten claimed on the podcast that "right-wing extremists" were "trying to put back in the closet people who may be gay or trans."
The issue of parental rights has become a hot-button topic since the start of the COVID pandemic. School board meetings across the country have included parents protesting school mask mandates, critical race theory instruction and transgender policies.
Randi, can you give an example of a war that started from a law like this?
LOL! Be serious or tell us from whom,
I believe if there were stringent guidelines, qualifications and requirements forced on these schools, the entire debacle would fall apart. If parental permission was made mandatory, they would find out real quickly that no one is really interested. Beat them at their own game.
That woman...or whatever...is pure evil.
I hate seeing her with the megaphone that she always has wanted. She should be ignored, then the world will be a better place.
THIS IS THE HILL TO
KILL THE TEACHERS UNION ON.
As I said on the other thread, do you feel lucky punk.
He seriously used this is how wars start? You’re damn right this is how wars start. You want to sexualize little children and groom them for your own perversion? Hell yeah this is how wars start. Children are to be protected, nurtured, and raised with a core set of values and principles that are contradictory to what idiots like this are proposing. You want a war? You got a war dumbass.
Maybe not,but if they’re in the closet at least you can lock them in.🙄
Be careful what you wish for, Randi.
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