Parents must give 3 day notice to visit Minnesota school

KSTP TV ^ | April 25, 2002 | KSTP

[ejdrapes]

Big Lake school board votes on parental visit policy

At a time when many schools practically beg parents to get involved in their child's education, some parents in Big Lake say they've tried, but the district treats them like the enemy.

"What's gonna be going on there that you're not wanting me to see? What are you teaching my child?," asks one parent.

"I think it is because parents have been asking too many questions about the curriculum," says parent Teri Dickinson.

Parents have loudly objected to some of the lesson taught at the Big Lake High School. One textbook in particular has drawn a lot of attention. It’s called Oppression and Social Justice. Parents say it rails against white males and capitalism.

"It was overwhelmingly political. It was a very liberal political agenda," says Dickinson.

The book states as fact that crime figures are exaggerated to scare people into building more prisons to lock up the poor. It states as fact that T-V networks--even PBS-- are run by Republicans, pushing their conservative, pro-business agenda. It urges students to become environmental activists, saying groups like the Sierra Club are too mainstream. And it states emphatically that America must cut defense spending and raise corporate taxes.

Last fall, one woman took video of student drawings on the wall, depicting Christopher Columbus as a rapist and killer. Now the district is talking about restricting videotaping in school and telling parents to give three days notice if they want to visit a classroom.

"In that three days, the teacher can basically hide everything if that's what they want to do, and keep things from the parents that they don't want the parents to see," says sophomore student Jeff Florek.

Eyewitness News spoke with the school superintendent and assistant superintendent, both of whom did not want to appear on camera. They say the visitation policy is a routine matter and that they are simply updating an old policy.

School administrators say the curriculum debate is another matter. The textbook Oppression and Social Justice is not required reading, but rather part of the school’s diverse perspectives course which is suppose to provide alternative viewpoints. The class was developed to meet the state’s graduation requirements.

Parents say they want to know these things.

"If I'm not allowed to be in class, then how can I be as involved as a parent with my child?" asks Becky Martin.

The district’s school board will vote on the new policy tonight. If it passes, school officials say some visitors could get a waiver from the three-day requirement if the principal thinks their visit would enhance the classroom setting.

[FairWitness]

The public schools are not very "public" in the People's Republic of Minnesota.

[OldFriend]

When I accidently learned that it was open house for parents at my daughter's grammar school, I called to confirm that fact. Yes, the lady in the office said, but you didn't call in advance and we can't allow you to visit because there might be too many parents in your child's classroom. I told her I would be there anyway.

No surprise, there was only one other parent who bothered to appear and no doubt they too learned purely by accident about the 'open house'.

[freedomcrusader]

Someone else on another thread said: "This experiment called America was fun while it lasted."

[ChadGore]

Once again, Government forgets who it serves.

[Piquaboy]

I cannot understand how they can keep a taxpayer out of a building that he has helped pay for. Someone needs to really push this.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

At a time when many schools practically beg parents to get involved in their child's education, some parents in Big Lake say they've tried, but the district treats them like the enemy.

Any parent who is involved in their child's education will attest to this :

Being an active parent means one thing in the eyes of many [MOST] educators "Towing the official, company line." As long as you are a "Yes" parent, they love you. The first time you disagree with an assessment or a recommendation, out comes the "we are the professionals, we know better than you what your child needs."

There are a few (and I have been lucky enough to have some of them) teachers who respect the opinion of a parent. They are the ones who teach instead of handing out "cut & paste" assignments.

In today's world of education, a parent with an opposite opinion is the enemy. Government schools will not change until parents become involved in the working of the school board. Or, as I have been known to be, a bug up their asses.

Anytime I hear the "Parents need to be involved, it is their fault" song, I laugh. Although the laugh is not out of humor. It is in disgust at the hypocrisy of that statement.

[ex-Texan]

Many years ago when I was in elementary school my mother was elected President of the PTA. She organized a committee to review textbooks and some volunteer PTA members sat in on classes. How effective this was at the time in terms of monitoring I do not know but the teachers were torked off.

Maybe it is time the Big Lake High School PTA begins its own investigations ?

[lsee]

Parents have more power than they think. Parents can allow school boards and district big-wigs to run amok...or they can run those people out. Pressure works, apathy does not.

[twyn1]

You know, this is really rather scary. When my sister was looking for a good day-care center for her child, all of the advice from the "experts" said that one of the important things to look for was "open access" for parents, If the center had a "you must call before dropping by" policy it could indicate that the center had something to hide (abusive or dirty conditions, lack of staff, unsupervised children).

Now, I can understand a school expecting a visiting parent to drop by the office first (for safety/security reasons) but THREE days notice -- something is NOT right here...

[Charles Henrickson]

Big Lake High School

Big Joke High School.

Wonder what was the outcome of the vote last night on the policy.

[Paleo Conservative]

Eyewitness News spoke with the school superintendent and assistant superintendent, both of whom did not want to appear on camera. They say the visitation policy is a routine matter and that they are simply updating an old policy.

Someone needs to get pictures so that they can be posted on the internet. These people need serious freeping.

[TopQuark]

Attention!

The article on the TV station's web site has been revised: you will find the present version toned down.

Keep this version in your archives. Thanks, Ejdrapes.

[RipSawyer]

"This experiment called America was fun while it lasted." That just about sums it up! I have been ranting about what is happening to this country for forty years and I don't rant much anymore because I have come to view it as a lost cause. My father used to look at me as if he didn't know me anytime I tried to tell him what was happening. He was a lifelong Democrat and I remember his saying shortly before his death in 95 that the biggest mistake the American people ever made was electing Ronald Reagan. He was very ill by then so I just bit my lip and slowly shook my head.

[PISANO]

Does Jesse the Body support this garbage?

[gumbo]

I accidently learned that it was open house for parents

I posted on the other thread that in my town, the public schools had circulated lists where you could sign up for "parent advisory" groups.

This happened three times, and all three times we signed up. Well, we were never contacted by the schools to participate in these "parent advisory" groups, and neither was a friend who also signed up.

You start to wonder what those lists were really for.

[better_dead_then_red]

That there are any thinking parents that still have their kids in the public school indoctrination centers is the bigger shock to me. Pull em out and the school boards will hop around like they had spiders in their underclothes. That is the only preasure they will ultimately understand. You can go and protest and raise fuss at an eternity of board meetings and get nada. Their political dogma is their god. Loss of per sudent federal and state money is the hot poker to hold to these educrats feet.

[Charles Henrickson]

These schools have forgotten that they operate in loco parentis. Now they're just plain loco.

[Stand Watch Listen]

indexing

Here are links to various education threads (also containing numerous helpful links)

FReegards

History of America's Education Part 2: Noah Webster and Early America
Source: Sierra Times; Published: March 27, 2002;
Author: April Shenandoah

How Communist is Public Education?
Source: sierratimes.com; Published:March 22, 2002;
Author: Chuck Morse

History of America's Education Part 1: Johnny is in trouble
Source: Sierra Times; Published: March 20, 2002 ;
Author: April Shenandoah

Audit rips Georgia schools' curriculum
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Published: March 11, 2002;
Author:JAMES SALZER

Why schools fail: Samuel Blumenfeld warns Bush's education legislation is ineffective
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: March 2, 2002;
Author: Samuel Blumenfeld

Public School Isn't Like I Remember It
Too Good Reports; Published: February 28, 2002;
Author: Phyllis Schlafly

What Is Lacking In Our Educational System
Source: Too Good Reports; Published: February 28, 2002;
Author:| Ben Cerruti

The charade of education reform
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: February 2, 2002;
Author: Dr. Samuel L. Blumenfeld

American public schools: Working just as designed
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: January 21, 2002;
Author: Vox Day

High Schools Fail Thanks To Grade Inflation And Social Promotion
Source: Toogood Reports; Published: December 5, 2001
Author: Vin Suprynowicz

WHY AMERICANS CAN’T READ
Source: Accuracy in Media; Published: December 4, 2001
Author: Reed Irvine and Cliff Kincaid

The Failing Teacher and the Teachers' Code of Silence
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: December 3, 2001
Author: Glenn Sacks

Time for outrage! Linda Bowles reports latest results in America's public schools
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: November 27, 2001
Author: Linda Bowles

Illiterate in Boston: Samuel Blumenfeld explains U.S.'s ongoing reading problem
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: July 20, 2001
Author:Samuel Blumenfeld

NEA - Let our children go!
Source: WorldNet Daily; Published: June 23. 2001
Author: Linda Harvey

COOKING THE BOOKS AT EDUCATION
Source: Accuracy In Media; Published: June 5, 2001;
Author: Cliff Kincaid

Why Do Schools Play Games With Students' Minds ?
Source: The Detroit News; Published: April 1, 2001
Author: Thomas Sowell

The Public School Nightmare: Why fix a system designed to destroy individual thought?
Source: http://home.talkcity.com/LibraryDr/patt/homeschl.htm
Author: John Taylor Gatto

Dumbing down teachers
Source: USNews.com; Published: February 21, 2001
Author: John Leo

Free Republic links to education related articles (thread#8)
Source: Free Republic; Published: 3-20-2001
Author: Various

Are children deliberately 'dumbed down' in school? {YES!!!}
Source: World Net Daily; Published: May 13, 2001
Author: Geoff Metcalf {Interview}

Could they really have done it on purpose?
Source: THE LIBERTARIAN; Published: 07/28/2000
Author: Vin Suprynowicz

New Book Explores America's Education Catastrophe
Source: Christian Citizen USA; Published: April 2000
Author: William H. Wild

Deliberately dumbing us down (Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt's, "The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America"
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: December 2,1999
Author: Samuel L. Blumenfeld

Deconstructing the Western Mind: Gramscian-Marxist Subversion of Faith and Education
Source: www.petersnet; Published: Winter 1997
Author: Frank Morriss

Littleton Crisis to Government Control

The UN Plan for Your Mental Health

[TopQuark]

Pressure works, apathy does not. I wish that appathy explained it.

I am afraid, however, that we are beyond apathy: most of the public sees nothing wrong with the textbooks, nothing wrong with the policy.

After decades of propaganda and negligence sold as education, the public does not know any better. I can hear many of them saying, "You tell me this is wrong, they school tells me the opposite; how am I supposed to know who is right?"

We live at the time in history when everybody is right. THat is not apathy: that is a view of the world.