Friday, October 23, 2015



Racist Principal Holds Up Student Election Results Because Winners Not Diverse Enough

 Student Coucnil elections have been around for decades. Every year, popular kids at all grade levels get their election on, promising all sorts of things like more dances, better snacks in the cafeteria, and a soda machine. At the end of the day, they amount to a glorified popularity contest, and teach kids a valuable lesson about civic mindedness.  Overall, they're usually not that important.

But a nutty California principal doesn't think so: There’s a big election controversy at a California middle school after the principal discovered that not enough black or Latino students were elected to office.

Principal Lena Van Haren’s decision to withhold the results of the student government elections angered parents and students at Everett Middle School in San Francisco.

“It’s not okay for a school that is really, really diverse to have the student representatives majority white,” she told the San Francisco Chronicle. “The easy thing would have been to announce the results and move on. I intentionally did not choose the easy way because this is so important.”

This is bizarre. As the piece notes, there's no allegations of fraud or duress. It is, after all, a popularity contest. What this election suggests, if the student body is as diverse as the principal suggests, then this is a sign that kids are looking beyond race and judging each other on the basis of character.

Isn't that what ending racism was all about in the first place?

SOURCE






New Jersey School Bans Halloween For ‘Diversity’ Reasons

Yet another elementary school, this time in New Jersey, is cancelling Halloween because it is offensive to the school’s diverse student body.

Seth Boyden Elementary School in Maplewood held annual Halloween activities including a student parade, but now the pressures of diversity mean these activities are no longer appropriate, school officials say.

“One of the strengths of Seth Boyden is that we are such a diverse community, with many cultures represented, and that we truly value each one,” Seth Boyden principal Mark Quiles and two Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) leaders said in a joint message to parents. “In the past, in-school celebrations of Halloween have made many of our students feel left out … [and as] a result, after careful consultation and deliberation, we have decided not to hold in-school Halloween activities.”

The letter claims in 2014 about 20 percent of the student body either stayed home on Halloween or refused to participate in activities.

This is actually the second year in a row Seth Boyden is trying to eliminate Halloween. Last year, the school tried to call off festivities, but reinstated them a day later. At the time, Quiles described non-participating in Halloween celebrations as a kind of “segregation” he could not tolerate.

This time around, Quiles says Halloween festivities were simply never planned in the first place, which may be intended to ensure they can’t be easily put back in place.

Earlier this month, several schools in Connecticut upset parents by attempting to cancel Halloween activities, but then changed course following a major backlash.

SOURCE






London teacher banned from classroom ‘indefinitely’ after antisemitic Facebook post

A teacher has been banned from the classroom for life after he was convicted of posting an antisemitic message on social media.
Mahmudul Choudhury, 36, was banned from teaching last week by a panel ruling on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education.

The decision came after Mr Choudhury was fined £465 for posting an image of Adolf Hitler on his Facebook page with the caption: “I could have killed all the Jews but I left some of them to let you know why I was killing them.”

The father-of-two from Tower Hamlets in east London, who taught at the Cumberland School in east London, posted the message with the hashtag #ProtectiveEdge, in reference to the Israel-Gaza war last summer.

He was arrested by police after his former student, who is Jewish, but who has not been named, saw the post on Facebook. The student had attended the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham College in south-east London, where Mr Choudhury once taught.

Mr Choudhury, who denied that he held antisemitic views, reportedly told police at the time that he had accidentally shared the image. Mr Choudhury claimed that he had been fasting for at least 17 hours a day when the Facebook post was uploaded.

However, last week, a panel ruled that they “[did] not accept that Mr Choudhury’s actions were not deliberate,” adding: “The panel noted that Mr Choudhury not only re-posted an image supporting the Holocaust; he added a comment in support of that message.

“Accordingly, the panel makes a recommendation to the Secretary of State that a prohibition order should be imposed with immediate effect.”

The panel took account of a message of apology sent by Mr Choudhury to the former student – as well as his attendance of inter-faith events, but added: “[the panel] has seen little evidence that Mr Choudhury has any insight or remorse for his actions.”

Panel decision-maker Paul Heathcote, who ruled on behalf of the Secretary of State, said Mr Choudhury “is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach at any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.”

As a result of his post, Mr Choudhury was ordered to pay a fine of £465, costs of £85 and compensation to the victim amounting to £47.

SOURCE



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