Free Republic

A Catholic high school student in Canada was reportedly arrested Monday after being suspended for protesting against transgender people’s use of bathrooms and saying there are only two genders – and now he’s appealing to Ontario’s human rights tribunal. Josh Alexander, 16, said the leadership of St. Joseph’s Catholic High School in Renfrew, Ontario, told him his continued attendance would be “detrimental to the physical and mental well-being” of transgender students, according to The Epoch Times. The high school junior tweeted that the Ontario Police arrested and charged him after he attempted to attend class in violation of an exclusion...

In August 2014, ISIS tried to secure the release from a U.S. federal prison of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui -- a Pakistani neuroscientist educated in the United States -- formerly known as the "most wanted woman alive," but now referred to as "Lady al Qaeda", by exchanging her for American war correspondent James Foley, who was abducted in 2012 in Syria. When the proposed swap failed, Foley was beheaded in a gruesome propaganda video produced and released by his captors, while Siddiqui remained in jail serving an 86-year sentence. Part of an FBI "seeking information" handout on Aafia Siddiqui -- formerly...

The flood of migrant families into New York City is forcing schools to accept children who lack required vaccinations and has possibly led to one outbreak already. ... A top city health official recently told the City Council that a surprising number of migrant children who had never had a single shot were arriving in the Big Apple. ... “We’re seeing so many unvaccinated kids,” Dr. Ted Long ... An estimated 11,000 migrant children have enrolled in Department of Education schools since the summer. The city Health Department tracks outbreaks of illnesses like chickenpox but refused to say how many...

U.S. agriculture officials on Friday proposed new nutrition standards for school meals, including the first limits on added sugars, with a focus on sweetened foods such as cereals, yogurt, flavored milk and breakfast pastries. Under the plan, for instance, an 8-ounce container of chocolate milk could contain no more than 10 grams of sugar. Some popular flavored milks now contain twice that amount. The plan also limits sugary grain desserts, such as muffins or doughnuts, to no more than twice a week at breakfast. The plan, detailed in a 280-page document, drew mixed reactions. Katie Wilson, executive director of the...

PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland Public Schools has announced a hiring freeze, claiming it's because of shrinking enrollment and uncertain funding. In a letter sent to parents on Tuesday, the district says they have 3,000 fewer students enrolled now than they did before the start of the pandemic PPS also said they expect to lose around another 500 students next year. The district stated that pandemic relief funds have started drying up and that they have not received a strong indication of adequate funding from the state. The hiring freeze will start in the central office, where they will also sweep...

The food service director of an impoverished Illinois school district was charged with stealing $1.5 million of food — most of which was chicken wings. Vera Liddell, 66, allegedly began stealing from the Harvey School District during the height of COVID-19, local TV station WGN reported. The station reported that Liddell ordered more than 11,000 cases of chicken wings for the district with school funds, but took all the poultry for herself. “The food was never brought to the school or provided to the students,” court records claimed.

What if they offered public education and no one came? That question, similar to the anti-war slogan popularized by Charlotte E. Keyes, is becoming more poignant by the day. This month, Florida is moving to allow all residents the choice to go to private or public schools. Other states like Utah are moving toward a similar alternative with school vouchers. I oppose such moves away from public schools, but I have lost faith in the willingness of most schools to restore educational priorities and standards. Faced with school boards and teacher unions resisting parental objections to school policies over curriculum...

Continuing to craft a second generation of his policies, former President Donald Trump is proposing a dramatic change in the education sphere that would empower parents to elect and fire school principals. "Our public schools have been taken over by the Radical Left maniacs," Trump said in a video announcement released late Thursday night. Trump said the first step in his plan to "save American education" and restore power to parents would be to cut federal funding for any school or program pushing Critical Race Theory, gender ideology or other "inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content to children. Trump, who...

If you happen to be someone with a lick of common sense left in your head, the answer to the question in the title of this piece should be an obvious and resounding “yes.” But that’s apparently not the case with Katie J. M. Baker, a reporter who covers “social and cultural conflicts” for the New York Times. In an article published this weekend, Baker tells the story of Jessica Bradshaw, a California mother who had no idea that her 15-year-old daughter had begun “identifying” as a boy until she saw “an unfamiliar (male) name” on the top of one...

Lashing out at the "haters who want me gone," Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot vowed "I won't quit until Chicago is the safest city in America." Her determination was sparked by contending candidate for mayor Paul Vallas' suggestion that "rising crime is a good reason to elect someone else to run the city." Statistics show that major crime in Chicago increased by 41% in 2022. Lightfoot argues that "switching to an inexperienced leader will undo all the progress I've made since the last election. My performance is rated 'adequate' by all those who support my reelection." She went on to blame...

The schoolhouse of twenty years ago is not today’s schoolhouse. I have taught high school English in the public schools for twenty years in three states, including two red states and a deep blue state. I have taught mainstream English, honors English, and remedial English. I’ve worked in alternative schools, high-poverty schools, large high schools serving mostly English learners, and predominantly white, middle-class schools. Last month I let my teaching license expire. For the first time since 1998, I am no longer qualified to be a teacher in my home state of Kansas. When I consider the public education landscape...

Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders introduced an executive order Tuesday, her first official day in office, that would combat Critical Race Theory (CRT) in schools across the state. The Daily Caller first obtained the executive order that will empower the Department of Education to prevent indoctrination and CRT of Arkansas students that conflict with principles of equal protection under the law. The order will also prohibit employees and students from having to attend CRT trainings and orientations. CRT holds that America is fundamentally racist, yet it teaches people to view every social interaction and person in terms of race....

SEATTLE (AP) — The public school district in Seattle has filed a novel lawsuit against the tech giants behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, seeking to hold them accountable for the mental health crisis among youth. Seattle Public Schools filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court. The 91-page complaint says the social media companies have created a public nuisance by targeting their products to children. It blames them for worsening mental health and behavioral disorders including anxiety, depression, disordered eating and cyberbullying; making it more difficult to educate students; and forcing schools to take steps such as hiring...

Two Las Vegas parents sued a school district after their daughter was allegedly required to complete a “pornographic” assignment.Candra and Terrell Evans filed a lawsuit against Clark County School District (CCSD) alleging that their 15-year-old daughter was given an assignment and told to read a monologue in front of her classmates that “contained explicit, obscene and sexually violent material.” The parents alleged that the educators of the district took part in “unlawful grooming and abuse of a minor” involving “pornographic material.”“[The teacher] helped the other student edit their obscenely violent pornographic monologue knowing that it would then be provided to...

Paula Bonhoeffer saw the risks of educating her small, impressionable children in the state’s schools. ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), the German theologian who was hanged in April 1945 by the Nazis for spying on and opposing Hitler’s regime. .... Eric Metaxas’ biography of the Christian martyr—Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Prophet, Spy—... time to learn more about the man who defied Hitler and paid with his life. ... Metaxas’ work offers a penetrating look into Bonhoeffer’s life, mind, faith, and family. Bonhoeffer was not the only remarkable person in his family. Karl and Paula Bonhoeffer—Bonhoeffer’s parents—brought eight children into the world in the...

The Caldwell School District has proposed a new code subsection addressing “gender identity and sexual orientation” within the district policy. The proposed policy includes sections discussing school facilities, school activities, school trips, student records and privacy, change of official school records, confidentiality, training, dress codes, school dances, and safety. This language, under the heading School Facilities, has been trimmed to show the most recent edits by the school board: “…students may use the restrooms and locker rooms that correspond to the gender identity they consistently express at school. No student will be required to use facilities that conflict with his...

In a 7-4 vote, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the St. Johns County school board did not violate the U.S. Constitution or federal civil rights law by requiring students to use bathrooms corresponding to their biological sex. The policy had been challenged by Drew Adams, a transgender man who sued in 2017 after being barred from using the boys' bathroom when he attended the Allen D. Nease High School in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. He had instead been required to use girls' or gender-neutral bathrooms.

The presence of police in schools actively jeopardizes the safety of Black students compared to their counterparts of other races, according to a report published this month. Black students were subjected to more than 80% of the incidents of police violence accounted for in the survey, which analyzed more than 285 incidents over a decade. At least 60% of police assaults on students resulted in serious injury to the students, including broken bones, concussions and hospitalizations. The report also cited 24 cases of sexual assault on students and five student deaths as a result of police force in schools. It...

(WSVN) - A Florida man tapped into the Christmas spirit by showing his appreciation to essential workers. Patrick Rhodes is a giver of the extraordinary kind. “I have two jobs, and I’m able to squeeze in time to give back,” said Rhodes. “I think we can all set aside an hour or so to reach back to our community.” Two years ago, when the pandemic hit, Rhodes decided he wanted to do something for essential workers in Hillsborough County. He bought pizzas and delivered them on his lunch break; he gave away 600 pies. “My passion is giving back and...

One of New Jersey’s largest public school districts is requiring masks starting Wednesday due to rising COVID-19 cases. Passaic Public Schools has 17 schools, including Passaic High School, and enrolls approximately 14,000 students. Superintendent Sandra M. Diodonet told parents on Tuesday that, under a school board policy, masks are required “during periods of a High Activity Level” of COVID-19 as documented by the state health department. “Therefore, effective Wednesday, December 21, 2022, all employees, Pre-K through grade 12 students, and visitors are required to wear face coverings in all district facilities, school grounds, and buses,” Diodonet wrote in a letter...