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Taking on the lefties in Berkeley
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | November 3, 2003 | Chip Johnson

Posted on 11/03/2003 8:55:25 AM PST by Recourse

Edited on 04/13/2004 2:44:39 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

Berkeley is one of the last places on Earth you'd expect to find a fight over the Stars and Stripes -- and whether the city's public schools are flying too far to the political left.

But a pair of conservative voices is crying out from the wilderness. Berkeley parents Michael and Vicki Larrick planted their flag last year when they demanded that school officials comply with an arcane state law that requires a U.S. flag be displayed in every public school classroom.


(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; US: California
KEYWORDS: berkley; education; homosexualagenda; lefties; oldglory; prisoners

1 posted on 11/03/2003 8:55:26 AM PST by Recourse
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To: Recourse
Who are these brave parents? I want to thank the Larricks
for their stand. Let's let them know they are not alone. All politics are local.
2 posted on 11/03/2003 9:01:19 AM PST by seenenuf (Progressives are a threat to my children!)
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To: Recourse
bump.
3 posted on 11/03/2003 9:08:48 AM PST by subterfuge
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To: scripter
"The Larricks' troubles with the district began a year ago when their daughter Naomi, now a sophomore, came home and told her parents about a petition for a gay students organization handed out in class -- by her teacher."

Remember when we were told that it was the students who organized GSA's, and that adults had absolutley nothing to do with it? One for the database...

(Are you reading this, madg?)

4 posted on 11/03/2003 9:16:52 AM PST by EdReform (Support Free Republic - Become a Monthly Donor)
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To: EdReform
Gay Straigh aliance clues were only there for recruiting.

GLSEN apparently has told its member organizations to not list GLSEN in any article titles in order to be "invisible" to lexis/nexis searches.

Anti-christianity, anti-religion, athieism, and even environmentalism are all "religions" within the scope of the first amendment.
5 posted on 11/03/2003 9:21:41 AM PST by longtermmemmory (Vote!)
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To: Recourse
An observation:

I'm so glad that the term "lefties" instead of "liberals" was used in this article.

Define them for what they are, not for what they want to be perceived as.
6 posted on 11/03/2003 9:21:57 AM PST by MrB
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To: Recourse
bump
7 posted on 11/03/2003 9:33:46 AM PST by T-Girl
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To: T-Girl
"The district views the Larricks' nitpicking as small potatoes, given problems such as the budget shortfall and a state high school exit exam that most Berkeley High students cannot pass."

If the Spanish teacher taught Spanish and the other teacher concentrated on the subject at hand, maybe the exit exam wouldn't be a problem!
8 posted on 11/03/2003 9:41:32 AM PST by PrincessB
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To: PrincessB
I know of some spanish teachers who take one day every year and tell their story (in english) of what they went through during and after their capture in the Bay of Pigs.

They tell me they have perfect attendence on those days.
9 posted on 11/03/2003 9:51:12 AM PST by longtermmemmory (Vote!)
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To: Recourse
he was reluctant to display the flag because students could misinterpret the action as "narrow-minded patriotism."

Failure to display the flag should be interpreted as "broad-minded intolerance for American values"?

10 posted on 11/03/2003 10:06:16 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (France delenda est)
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To: Recourse
Pratt told Berkeley High's student newspaper, the Yellow Jacket, that he was reluctant to display the flag because students could misinterpret the action as "narrow-minded patriotism."

He should be fired. Not for his political views, but because he is apparently an incompetent moron.
11 posted on 11/03/2003 10:31:02 AM PST by GETMAIN
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To: Recourse
But there have been other instances when Berkeley High teachers have acted inappropriately in Naomi's classrooms. Her Spanish teacher spent a week discussing the war in Iraq -- in English.

The district views the Larricks' nitpicking as small potatoes, given problems such as the budget shortfall and a state high school exit exam that most Berkeley High students cannot pass.

I can't believe I read those two sentences together.

12 posted on 11/03/2003 12:41:19 PM PST by randog (Everything works great 'til the current flows.)
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To: Recourse
"We take teachers from the human race and they do make errors in judgment on occasion, and that's why they have principals and superintendents," Lawrence said.

Oh, *sure*. In Berserkeley, they deliberately select *out* all the humans and only hire leftist whack-jobs - for both teachers *and* administrators.

You've got to hand it to these two parents for being willing to attack the Beast in its very heart...

13 posted on 11/03/2003 12:54:27 PM PST by fire_eye
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To: Recourse
Cool people. Are they freepers? Because I'm in SF and it's the exact same here.

If they are not freepers, they should be.
14 posted on 11/03/2003 1:49:44 PM PST by I_Love_My_Husband
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To: EdReform; *Homosexual Agenda; scripter; GrandMoM; backhoe; pram; Yehuda; Clint N. Suhks; ...
Thanks for the ping. Back later.
15 posted on 11/03/2003 5:58:10 PM PST by scripter (Thousands have left the homosexual lifestyle)
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To: Recourse
I am the reporter for the Berkeley High Jacket who wrote the article concerning flags in the classroom. Since its publication, I have noticed that more and more people have begun criticizing Berkeley High and especially Bill Pratt for the comments he made and I wrote. But it has also occurred to me that none of these people have actually read the article and have made many assumptions about Berkeley High. Chip Johnson, the columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, didn’t bother to mention some of the comments made by other teachers at the school like Steve Teel because Johnson received his information directly from the Larrick family and decided to right an article bashing Berkeley as the crazy liberal that we Berkeley residents are so commonly portrayed as. I have a great deal of respect for Steve Teel and his political views and I also have a great deal of respect for Bill Pratt and his political views—they should both be held in high regard because they are teachers. We are all Americans, regardless of the flag, so why focus on such small issues? Surly the problem with the current education system is not the presence or absence of a small flag but rather larger problems of funding, the achievement gap, and early student dropouts. If you have not already seen the article, I posted it on this website along with the subsequent letters to the editor and links to the articles in local newspapers. http://www.geocities.com/theallmightyj/flag.html

If you have comments, I would be glad to hear them. bhsjacket@hotmail.com
16 posted on 11/09/2003 9:46:13 PM PST by Jesse Falk-Finley (Jesse Falk-Finley)
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