I remember how it was -- JR
Sunday, January 30, 2022
Mom Sticks Up to Virginia's Largest School District on Mask Mandates
On Tuesday, Carrie Lukas showed up to Forestville Elementary School with her two young children, ages 9 and 7, unmasked. The school is located in the Fairfax County Public School system, the largest district in Virginia and one of the largest in the country. Despite Gov. Glenn Youngkin's executive order leaving the decision of whether children should be masked up to parents, Lukas' children were sent home and suspended. Further, the school's security officer called the police to shoo away a handful of other parents who had gathered, and Luke Rosiak, a reporter for The Daily Wire, whose child will be eligible for that school next year.
Lukas, who spoke to Townhall about the experience, explained that school had also been made aware the night before by her. She explained she let them know "I was going to be exercising my rights" and understood her children might be suspended. Lukas emphasized in our conversation that she likes her school, and has no ill will towards them, but shared "I'm frustrated with Fairfax County Public Schools, I think it's important to make my views known."
She also shared that she had been speaking about this issue before and encouraging others to get involved in such a way. The Independent Women's Voice (IWV), which Lukas is vice president of, in addition to being president of Independent Women's Forum (IWF), encouraged parents to sign onto a letter.
The suspension is consistent with news from last Friday that students in the school system who did not wear masks would be disciplined in such a way, though a text message sent to families attempted to do damage control that same night.
A point Lukas emphasized throughout is that she had a nice conversation with the assistant vice principal, who did not want to suspend her children and tried to do so as nicely as possible. However, Lukas also emphasized that the behavior from the security guard, who is not normally at the school, seemed "really aggressive."
Rosiak was also there to witness and film the exchange, but because he and the other parents were being treated so harshly and aggressively by the security guard, it became an even bigger deal than was likely necessary. Lukas referred to the matter of the security guard calling the police as "tremendous overkill."
Not only was a security guard present that day, which is out of the norm, but so was a press person, both of whom were sent by the school system to handle the exchange and try to block coverage of it. "Had they sat there and treated us like I was trying to treat them, it would kind of have been a non-story," Lukas shared.
She would go on to respond, when asked by Townhall, that the school "definitely did not want press to witness this."
It was the lack of trust that Lukas perceived existed, which she said bothered her the most, considering that the school system is the one breaking the law.
Rosiak was treated as if he were part of the paparazzi or a criminal. Even if there were more parents there, though, and had brought signs, Lukas went on to question why it would be an issue.
"Heaven forbid we had had people who showed a sign, what would have been so terrible about that," Lukas wondered. "It's just the extent of having this absolute 'you must comply and how dare you question us.' That's the thing, it was like they were so outraged that one of us might possibly push back on their authority, when in my mind, I think they're completely in the wrong. They're completely disobeying our duly elected governor's executive order just for political reasons. It's completely senseless."
Lukas' children are back in the classroom, masked, as she does not want them to miss a lot of school, she shared. When asked what the motivation behind Tuesday was, she spoke to being a voice for other parents, and even teachers, in the district, who feared being ostracized and who did not have such jobs where they knew they had the backup that Lukas has.
"I thought it was important for them to have to show the consequences of their decision," Lukas shared, referring to the school. "I think they were hoping parents would just comply and nobody would push back." Lukas went out to call out the school as well. "They denied my kids educational services, based on their decision not to follow this executive order." Lukas explained that she put it in legal terms in a letter that she suffered a harm with such a loss.
"I think it's important that they had to do that so that they know that there are aggrieved parents like me who know they have potentially actionable claims against them. I wanted them to know."
As Landon reported on Monday, Fairfax is one of seven boards in the commonwealth to sue Gov. Youngkin, with those districts asking for an immediate injunction on the order.
At issue, according to the school boards, is whether the governor's executive order can override the local school board's authority. Youngkin, however, as has Attorney General Jason Miyares, have framed the issue as parents having authority over their children.
Lukas will be attending a school board meeting on Thursday night she shared.
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Left Barely Masks Its Contempt for Parents’ Involvement in Education
As a rule, leftists are pretty stealthy about expressing their true feelings, preferring to pose as “moderates” until the time comes to actually impose their radical agendas.
That results in a good deal of dishonesty when it comes to their message, but every so often a whiff of candor does leak out—only to be quickly suppressed.
The Michigan Democratic Party made just such a gaffe last week when it posted on Facebook the unattributed sentiments of one of its leaders:
Not sure where this ‘parents-should-control-what-is-taught-in-school-because-they-are-our-kids’ [narrative] is originating, but parents do have the right to send their kids to a hand-selected private school at their own expense if this is what they desire.
The message continued:
The purpose of public education in a public school is not to teach students only what parents want them to be taught. It is to teach them what society needs them to know. The client of the public school is not the parent, but the entire community.
Predictably, the post was scrubbed within hours and replaced with a bland disclaimer:
We have deleted a post that ignored the important role parents play—and should play—in public schools. Parents need to have a say in their children’s education, end of story.
And just as predictably, it was the end of the story as far as the media were concerned.
Perhaps remembering how Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe last fall scuttled his own gubernatorial campaign by smugly proclaiming that he didn’t “think parents should be telling schools what they should teach,” newspaper editorial boards across Michigan and the rest of the nation evidently convinced themselves the second, sanitized post more accurately reflected the party’s sentiments.
Parents, however, are getting better at sifting through the education establishment’s lies. That’s a good thing, because they’re more brazen than ever.
The insistence, for example, by radical leftist teachers unions that students be force-fed toxic critical race theory nostrums over parents’ objections illustrates how much credence liberals give to dissenting voices far more vividly than phony posts from party hacks.
Just one year ago, educational leaders, media elites, and leftist politicians were assuring parents that critical race theory was a complicated area of study only taught in law schools. But with students banned from the classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic, parents got to observe firsthand the propaganda streaming into their living rooms via remote-learning lessons.
Immediately, the narrative changed from “There is no critical race theory in K-12 classrooms” to “If you don’t like it, you’re a racist.”
School board meetings became more contentious as parents of all demographics showed up by the hundreds and even thousands to express their displeasure at what their children were being taught.
School board members across the country began imposing more and more restrictions on how many people could speak at their meetings and for how long.
Ultimately, they began canceling public meetings altogether so they wouldn’t be confronted by the angry people paying their salaries.
President Joe Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, even issued a memo comparing those parents to “domestic terrorists” for refusing to stand idly by as their tax dollars are used to transform public schools into socialist indoctrination centers.
The scandal was compounded when public records requests revealed emails showed Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona requested the National School Boards Association ask for Garland’s help in targeting those parents in the first place.
Garland eventually walked back his words, and the National School Boards Association disavowed the letter, but the damage was done.
Members of Congress and parents groups are calling for Cardona’s resignation, but like their allies in Michigan, Garland and Cardona aren’t on the hot seat for failing to articulate their true feelings. It’s because they most certainly did.
The past year has demonstrated all too clearly for parents and well-meaning teachers alike just how badly our educational system can unravel when controlled by leaders who care more about flexing their power than about the students who suffer significant developmental, social, and educational setbacks as a result.
As we mark National School Choice Week (Jan. 23-29), we applaud the parents fighting for and taking back control of their kids’ education, as well as the teachers who are leaving their radical unions behind and no longer pushing a political agenda they don’t support.
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Older people say school curriculum is ‘too woke’, Australian values must be protected
Generations are split over whether schools should protect Australia’s “inherently Western and Christian” values, as academics slam the curriculum.
Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg says people would be supportive of keeping Australia Day but also establishing a second day to celebrate the country’s Indigenous heritage. “More Indigenous leaders are talking about the value of keeping the day on 26 January because it is a day of truth telling,” Mr Bragg told Sky News…
Seven in 10 Baby Boomers think more needs to be done to nurture and protect Australian values.
Overall, more than half of Aussies want to see our values protected, according to an exclusive YouGov poll commissioned by News Corp between December 27 and January 10.
But there are big differences in opinions between the generations, with 15 per cent of Gen Z – those born after 1997 – going as far as saying there should be less emphasis placed on Australian values.
The survey of 2297 people also found that one in four Australians have concerns that the school curriculum is too ‘woke’.
Fiona Mueller, an adjunct scholar from the Centre for Independent Studies, said while teachers tried to instil respect, compassion and fairness in schools, the current curriculum made it almost impossible for students to develop a deep appreciation of our “inherently Western and Christian” based Australian values.
“There is no overarching intellectual and academic framework that places Australian values at the heart of learning,” she said.
“It is ironic that the dominance of themes such as climate change, racism, globalism and all the other -isms makes it hard to maintain a clear emphasis on longstanding Australian values.”
Temaeva Legeay-Hill, 21, who is studying accounting and finance at university in Melbourne, said the combination of compassion and giving people a fair go was her interpretation of Australian values and ones that the government promoted on its Home Affairs website.
She said Gen Z was becoming increasingly disconnected with these values because they were not seeing them in society.
“Based on the data, our First Nations peoples are not being given a fair go,” Ms Legeay-Hill said.
“Academically they have lower levels of numeracy and literacy and poorer health outcomes.”
She said Gen Z would only want to nurture Australian values if they were authentic.
Meanwhile, the poll also showed that 56 per cent of people believe the curriculum should continue to include lessons on Australia’s links with Asia, Indigenous Australians and the environment.
While a quarter felt the curriculum had become too “woke”, Gen Z does not agree with that sentiment.
Ms Legeay-Hill said including “humanity into academia” was not a bad thing and helped to strengthen cultural bonds.
Glenn Fahey, a research fellow in education policy, said today’s curriculum was contributing to children having a “negative, pessimistic view of Australia – and life in general for that matter – that will feel foreign to past generations and to parents”.
He said there was nothing woke about learning of Australia’s role in Asia, the lives and histories of Indigenous Australians, or the environment, but it depended how the subjects are taught.
He said a “woke” example of Australian history is to paint it “as a racist, genocidal country rather than recognising that we live in the most harmonious and successful multicultural country in the world”.
“The problem is that students may only get a one-sided, politicised view that fails to provide the full context,” he said.
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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