Free Republic

The weeping mother of the crazed teen gunman who carried out a mass shooting at an Oregon elementary school insisted her son was “a good boy” and that she would have tried to prevent the massacre if she could. Shauntai May Nickerson, the mother of 16-year-old John J. Griffin II, waved off reporters on the porch of her apartment complex as she smoked a cigarette and cried, the New York Times reported. The mother insisted Griffin — who killed three students and one teacher at Silver Rail Elementary School on Thursday — was “a good boy, he really was” and...

A newly released police bodycam video shows the tense moments after a 6-year-old boy shot his teacher at a Virginia school, with the foul-mouthed child gunman challenging the responding officers to a fight, and admitting he stole the gun from his mom. The video, obtained by The Virginian-Pilot and the Daily Press earlier this week, shows officers responding to a classroom at Richneck Elementary School where the shocking 2023 shooting had occurred, and encountering the boy, who has only been identified in court docs as “JT.” The teacher who was shot, Abigail Zwerner, and other students had fled the room...

Imagine your mom and dad intentionally sent you to a bad school. How would you respond? Some 11 years ago, parents Faraji and Nikole Hannah-Jones dropped their daughter off at school for the first time. Because of New York City’s novel Pre-K for All program, they could apply for any of the 1,800 options across the city. Instead of choosing the school that was best for their daughter, they deliberately sent young Najya to a school they knew was subpar. Now they’re left wondering if that decision was a mistake. On Sept. 20, Nikole Hannah-Jones released an essay examining all...

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. - A Florida middle school teacher has been arrested under suspicion of child abuse after she allegedly grabbed a student's arm and "dragged" him out of the classroom and into the hallway, according to the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. Seminole County teacher arrested What we know: Fada Concepcion is a 7th grade science teacher at Tuskawilla Middle School and has been employed with Seminole County Public Schools for 29 years, the district said. She was arrested on Oct. 1 for suspected child abuse after a student said he was "dragged" by his arm from his desk, out...

Student protests have escalated into widespread riots in France with schools set on fire and teachers beaten and doused in petrol. Rioters have unleashed chaos in major cities across the country after what started as largely peaceful demonstrations against the state of education descended into violent chaos. Protests began last Monday, when students and teaching staff alike took to French towns and cities to demand the replacement of absent teachers, an increase of educational resources, school renovations and 'decent' learning conditions. But disorder has spread since Tuesday with some 600 arrests and 85 police officers wounded. The unrest gathered pace...

He’s the Doogie Howser of the dorms! A 13-year-old Long Island whiz kid with an Einstein-level IQ has been accepted to NYU’s master program — after overcoming cancer and Tourette’s syndrome, according to school officials and his mom. Pint-sized prodigy Joe Petraro-Hyppolite plans to study sports medicine at the university next fall and will likely be the school’s youngest grad student ever, according to reports. “My IQ is 168,” Joe Petraro-Hyppolite, of East Rockaway, told CBS. “Whenever I tell people, it’s like, ‘Oh, Young Sheldon, Doogie Howser.’” By comparison, Albert Einstein’s IQ is believed to have been around 160, which...

A Denver Public Schools board facing criticism over infighting is dealing with new allegations against one of its members, and raising concerns among some parents about whether the board is focused on the district's students and schools. There are seven members on the board who are elected for 4-year terms. Two are at-large and the rest represent their specific districts. The latest controversy involves allegations that Denver Board of Education Vice President Monica Hunter made offensive comments about fellow board member Amy Klein Molk, including an alleged reference to her as a "racist Zionist b----." Hunter denies making the comments....

TRUMP PUTS EVERY PUBLIC SCHOOL IN AMERICA ON NOTICE

RICHMOND, Va. — Barack Obama Elementary School will not open this week due to mold, and students will temporarily relocate to Clark Springs Elementary School while remediation continues. Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras said in a message to families Monday that teachers and staff setting up classrooms discovered "additional areas of mold growth (for example, behind bulletin board paper)," prompting the district to send everyone home for additional cleaning and testing. "All of this is realistically going to take several days. So we will not be returning to the Obama building this week. Our goal is to do so...

Earlier this summer, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that 50 organizations would no longer receive grants for the teen pregnancy prevention program (TPP), including Planned Parenthood. A federal judge has now blocked that change, though the organizations won't begin receiving funding again yet. Key Takeaways: * In June, over 50 organizations, including Planned Parenthood, were informed that they would no longer receive TPP grants due to the inclusion of "sexually explicit" content in their program materials. * Planned Parenthood and other groups have been criticized for including age-inappropriate, graphic sexual content in their sexual education programs....

GAFFNEY, S.C. - Cherokee County Sheriff Mueller said three suspects are in custody following a shooting at a bus stop in Gaffney that left a 17-year-old dead. Officials said three people were involved in the death of 17-year-old Jomiltron Sentell Fair Jr., who was shot in the back of the head while boarding a school bus outside of his apartment complex on Wednesday morning. Suspect captured following manhunt The sheriff said 18-year-old Keveon Ken’Dre Covington has been captured following a manhunt that began around 7 a.m. on Thursday. Sheriff Mueller said a perimeter was set up along Concord Road, Highway...

Kansas students have been forced to put cell phones into lockers before they set foot in class as part of a blanket ban on the devices in schools across the state. Thousands of students in grades K-12 are banned from using their cell phones during the school day under HB 2299, which outgoing Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly signed into law in March and hailed as a tool to “reduce distractions in the classroom.” School districts are granted the flexibility to enforce the policy as they see fit. Schools in the Kansas City public school district have spent $150,000 on special...

The head of one the country’s top medical schools sparked outrage during a tense House hearing after refusing to say that only women can get pregnant. Dr. Sam Hawgood, chancellor of the University of California San Francisco, was pressed by Washington lawmakers Tuesday over the school’s guidelines against using the term “pregnant women,” while testifying about the impact of DEI initiatives in medical schools. “Doctor Hawgood, you see UCSF’s Classroom Guide, titled ‘Framework for Gender and Sex Concepts in Teaching,’ advises against using the term ‘pregnant women,'” Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois said. “Instead, it says to use ‘pregnant people.’...

An appeals court on Tuesday ruled that part of Florida’s law restricting how race and gender are taught in classrooms, specifically provisions restricting how those topics are taught in colleges, violates free speech rights. In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit determined part of the Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees Act, or Stop WOKE Act, signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in 2022 is unlawful. The law was designed to restrict public universities, K-12 schools and private workplaces from promoting certain concepts related to racism, gender and systemic privilege. This week’s...

Two teachers were stabbed during an assault that involved students during dismissal at a Harford County elementary school Tuesday. Deputies responded to Roye-Williams Elementary School around 3:30 p.m. after a call for assistance from staff. Deputies arrived to find the two victims suffering from stabbing injuries. Evidence found at the scene was consistent with an attack. No students were hurt during the incident.

Denver Public Schools board members voted unanimously May 20 to dismiss a 50-year-old foreign language teacher following a district investigation and an independent review into student complaints about a class assignment. The board voted 7-0 after meeting in executive session to consider the firing of Jennifer Honka. Honka taught French Language and Culture at Northeast Early College for all of her eight years with the district. Officially, Honka was fired for incompetence and neglect of duty. There was no public debate among the board members prior to the vote. Honka's classroom instruction first came into question during the 2023-24 school...

A Washington school superintendent accused of helping cover up several sexual assault allegations at a high school was recorded on body camera as officers led her out of district headquarters in handcuffs and shoved her into a police cruiser. New footage released Friday shows Longview Public Schools Superintendent Karen Cloninger being arrested at district offices following a months long investigation. Investigators alleged she tried to conceal reports of sexual assaults involving Mark Morris High School basketball players in a locker room. The investigation previously led to several players being arrested on rape charges back in February, according to KLOG 100.7....

C-SPAN coverage features cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath testifying before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation regarding the impact of screen time and classroom technology on youth. In his testimony, Dr. Horvath warned lawmakers that Gen Z is the first generation in modern history to underperform previous generations across cognitive measures like attention, memory, and general IQ. He argued that introducing digital devices into learning environments has actively contributed to this cognitive decline, as human brains are not biologically wired to learn from screens. This is the first generation in human history that is getting DUMBER...

San Francisco public school officials’ sneaky new plan for massive school closures was hidden even from the district’s furious school board, according to a new report. The San Francisco Unified School District plans to close an unidentified number of schools by 2030 to deal with some 14,000 empty seats in the rapidly shrinking district, according to a memo sent to parents last month. Like other urban districts in California and across the country, the City by the Bay has seen years of enrollment declines in public schools which reflect declining birth rates and other demographic changes blamed on rising prices,...

TACOMA, Wash. - At least five people were injured after a stabbing incident at Foss High School in Tacoma, Washington on Thursday afternoon. Officers responded to a call of a possible stabbing stemming from a fight, and found four students and a security guard injured. Police said it remains unclear whether all the victims were stabbed or hurt by other means, such as falling, and the extent of their injuries is not yet known, though they are believed to be non-life-threatening. All five victims were taken to a local hospital, where officers are working to gather updates. Authorities said it...