Free Republic

Students and parents all over Douglas County, Colorado took to the streets Wednesday morning to protest a countywide school mask mandate. The organized walkout reportedly occurred around 9:30 a.m., just two days after the county's health department issued a mask order requiring all staff and students from preschool to 12th grade to wear masks (via The Denver Channel). Some of the loudest voices were heard at Thunder Ridge High School. "These people agree with me. They hate masks, and I do too," said Thunder Ridge student Cole Bradley of the students behind him. "I believe that masks, they’ve been going...

The son of a school administrator from Media was excited to start classes at Millersville University, until he learned that a roommate hadn’t been vaccinated and didn’t plan on it.So he asked the university in Lancaster County for a vaccinated roommate, which it said it couldn’t guarantee but assigned him to another room, according to his father, who asked that their names not be published for fear of backlash. That roommate also turned out to be unvaccinated. So the university offered a private room in an area with upperclassmen, but the father said at that point his son withdrew and...

Kent State University on Friday announced it is requiring all students and non-union employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Dec. 20. The university is also in talks with union faculty and staff members and is hoping to extend the requirement to include them as well. The mandate comes as the Food and Drug Administration this week fully approved the first COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer-BioNTech. The vaccine will be marketed as Comirnaty and is approved for the prevention of COVID-19 in individuals 16 and older. An approval of the Moderna vaccine is expected next month. The university said in a statement by...

ST. PAUL, Minn. — School disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic resulted in significant drops in math and reading test scores for Minnesota students, according to state education officials. The Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments results released Friday show proficiency rates fell 11 percentage points to 44% in math and 7 points to 53% in reading, since 2019. “The statewide assessment results confirm what we already knew — that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our students’ learning and they need our help to recover,” Education Commissioner Heather Mueller said. The Trump administration let states cancel their spring 2020 tests as the pandemic...

Nearly two dozen California students and parents are among the thousands currently stranded in Afghanistan after taking a summer trip to visit family. Twenty-three students from the Cajon Valley Union School District, just outside San Diego, are stuck in Kabul with their parents after traveling to the war-torn country, the LA Times reports. They are trying to make their way to the airport or board one of the US military flights out of Kabul before the Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw US troops arrives. It was not immediately clear when the families arrived in Afghanistan, but Cajon Valley Superintendent David...

A school nurse spoke out against masking students at a Prior Lake school board meeting and then quit her job. In a video of the school board meeting, shared by Representative Erik Mortenson, the nurse said that what happened over the last year “goes against my beliefs and morals and against my oath as a mother and a nurse.” The Prior Lake school nurse said that when she brought up her concerns during the 2020 school year, she had been told to “censor” her views on masking because of the “opinions” of others. “This offended me,” she shared, saying that...

Students in Tennessee standing up for themselves against mask mandates. https://twitter.com/_Mrtdogg/status/1425442121054662663

Protesters gathered at Boulder County Public Health (BCPH) to make a statement against requiring masks in county schools. "I think kids have lost probably the most in these last couple of years and I think we've put the burden of responsibility on them," Allison Stransky, parent and protester, said. BCPH issued a public health order late Monday night that requires facial coverings in schools PK-12 and childcare settings. Public health officials said they would meet with the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) on Tuesday to discuss a decision on whether masks will be required in schools before classes start next...

Gov. Phil Murphy is set to announce New Jersey will require students and staff members in kindergarten through 12th grade to wear masks after all at the start of the new school year due to the state’s rising COVID-19 numbers, NJ Advance Media has confirmed. Murphy will unveil the new rules during a public event Friday, according to two sources with knowledge of the governor’s plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

COVID-19 school shutdowns have left K-12 students five months behind in math and four months behind in reading by the end of academic year, damning research has revealed. A new report from McKinsey & Company has shone a light on the toll pandemic-related school closures have taken on children across America as many spent the best part of a year with no in-person teaching. Disadvantaged students faced the hardest setbacks, with children in the lowest household income groups finishing the year seven months behind in math and six months in reading.

Droplets of orange juice can break lateral flow tests and show a positive result .. Viral videos on TikTok have encouraged children across the UK to try the trend.. Schools have warned parents to be 'vigilant' when their children are tested .. Pupils have been using fruit juice to get false positive Covid-19 test results as schools warn parents to be 'vigilant'. When droplets of orange juice or fizzy drinks like coca-cola are placed on a lateral flow test it can produce a positive result because the acidity of the drink destroys the antibody proteins in the test. And although...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6tBQRslg14

Dong Jingwei is a Chinese defector working with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). He served as Vice Minister of State Security in the Chinese Ministry of Defense. Before defecting, he was responsible for the counterintelligence efforts in China. He was in a position to know about all things “espionage” in China and is perhaps the highest-level Chinese defector the U.S. has ever had. Even though the legacy media is playing it down, this is a big deal. It speaks volumes that the man who knows the identity of all the Chinese spies in our country chose to defect to the...

Students in the class of 2021 did not have to prove they could write or do math at a basic level to earn their diplomas. A bill headed to Gov. Kate Brown would prohibit any such requirement at least until 2027. A bill to prohibit Oregon schools from requiring students to show they can read, write and do math at a basic high school level is headed to Gov. Kate Brown after lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday. The idea is to hit pause on the requirements, in place since 2009 but already suspended during the pandemic, at least until the...

Critical race theorist Ibram X. Kendi, author and contributing writer for The Atlantic, on Tuesday revealed “so many students” have come to his classrooms “angry” that they never learned about systemic racism and racism in high school. CBS “This Morning” host Tony Dokoupil asked Kendi, “Ibram, on the subject of learning, there’s a push in schools across the country from Republicans, in particular, to emphasize the more patriotic, in their view, elements of our history as opposed to some of the darker chapters — in particular, not teaching the idea of systemic racism. As a college professor yourself, as someone...

The principal of a Colorado high school where three students reenacted the killing of George Floyd has resigned, officials said. Rachael Ayers stepped down Monday from Mead High School in Longmont, where three students, including one in blackface, acted out the police-custody murder of Floyd – with one student kneeling on another’s neck, the Daily Camera reported. St. Vrain Valley School District Superintendent Don Haddad announced Ayers’ resignation after 12 years at the school in a letter to families, writing that the school had experienced “significant challenges” in recent months.

Teachers urged to stop using terms like 'boys and girls' in the school classroom.. ... One chapter encourages teachers to warn children about 'climate breakdown' .. Guidelines says swap 'English as a second language' with 'emergent - bilingual' ... The book - Building Better Schools with Evidence Based Policy - also tells teachers they can promote inclusion in the classroom if they 'actively embrace diversity'. The term 'English as a second language' meanwhile should be replaced by the phrase 'emergent - bilingual' to give students who speak multiple languages more confidence. 'Boys and girls' should also be removed from common...

Students in Washington DC eagerly signed a fake petition to ‘cancel Memorial Day’, agreeing that the holiday “celebrates American Imperialism.”Campus Reform reporter Addison Smith conducted the experiment to get an idea of how many students would happily forget about the day of remembrance for fallen US heroes.Smith managed to get 50 signatures in a short time, with some condemning the holiday before even reading the petition.One student said “I don’t think Memorial Day should be a thing that we celebrate… I feel like it’s a celebration of U.S. imperialism and colonialism.”The student added “I didn’t really think in this way...

Politicians and bureaucrats have decided that they can wave a magic “COVID” wand and make constitutional rights disappear. College students have been among those hit hardest by the edicts. Many students have been forced to choose between medical choice and privacy and their continued education. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) required students to take a COVID test every two weeks and have their medical results loaded to a third-party app on their smart phones. Many parents and students took exception with the requirements, penalties, and enforcement mechanisms. Students who refused the mandatory testing and app were denied access to classes,...

Beijing’s top intelligence agency has rolled out a new anti-espionage regulation, subjecting institutions and companies to tighter surveillance, including on students and scholars going abroad from China. This announcement was made on the same day that the United States announced that in the national interest it will allow entry for students and scholars from certain countries, including China, Iran, Brazil, and South Africa. They will be exempt from existing travel bans. The Chinese regime’s first anti-spy regulations, which were announced and took effect on April 26, allow the Ministry of State Security, the intelligence agency, to compose a list identifying...