Posted on 06/23/2023 2:14:51 PM PDT by Libloather
A Hillary Clinton campaigner has received backlash online after claiming that parents who support admission tests and gifted programs are part of the 'far right.'
Amanda Litman made the comments last week while reacting to the results of a New York City parent council election that saw candidates endorsed by Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education (PLACE) win a majority of seats.
PLACE supports academic screenings policies like the Specialized High School Admissions Test, or SHSAT, as well as expanding accelerated curriculum options and gifted and talented programs, which critics say leads to segregation. The group also opposes lottery-based admissions and Critical Race Theory.
'The far right’s effort to take over schools is not limited to battlegrounds or red states - they just won 40 percent of the elected education roles in NYC,' Litman tweeted.
Litman's tweet sparked wide criticism, with many taking issue with her labeling of the parent organization.
One comment read: 'far right" == people who dont want to teach math is racist, lower test standards.'
Another added: 'Academic success is far-right? What a strange world you inhabit.'
A third said: 'yeah you’ve diluted that label, no one cares anymore.'
'I’m a cofounder,' said Yiatin Chu. 'PLACE is a group of parent volunteers who advocate for rigorous accelerated education, which should be nonpartisan. There nothing far right or left about our advocacy.'
Litman, who worked as a digital strategist for Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, co-founded Run For Something, which recruits and supports progressives running for office.
PLACE endorsed 147 candidates across New York's five boroughs and their candidates won a majority of seats in about half a dozen parent councils, as reported by Chalkbeat, with 115 of them winning their races.
The election was seen as another battleground for a national debate about what should be...
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Did you win the battle?
Short term. My last child graduated a couple years ago, and I have heard they went right back to eliminating access to the gifted program.
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