For Parents, School Choice Provides Hope

There’s a local coffee shop that has become a hub for people working from home who also want to get out a bit. As we all sit in front of our computers, taking calls and working from large community tables, it never fails that someone, usually a parent, sees my “Love Your School” logo—and asks me what I do.

“I help families learn about their education options. Do you have kids?”

Without a second thought, a conversation has begun, and parents begin to share about their kids and their concerns, curious if I might be able to offer some hope for their situation.

I love these conversations—because I do have hope to offer. Its name? School choice.

Parents worrying about their children’s futures is nothing new, but the last two years have compounded those worries and added a dose of fear.

“Will my child ever catch up? Why are they still struggling so much? How can I afford all these extra tutors? I think they need an evaluation, but everyone says they’ll grow out of it. I’m so worried about my child’s future, I think about it all the time.”

In addition to new challenges brought on by COVID-19, parents also have concerns about what their children are being taught in the classroom.

Our nonprofit, Love Your School, recently helped the Neagra family, who were looking for a new school. When I asked why they were searching, the family explained that policies related to the handling of COVID-19 and “radical social education being taught to our elementary students” necessitated a change.

They were so thankful that they could access an Empowerment Scholarship Account (also known as an “education savings account”) because they were in a D-rated school district.

They, like so many other families we work with, never knew until the last couple of months that they even had this option in Arizona. How many other families are drowning in the same worry and fear over their children’s futures but are left with no knowledge of their education choices at all?

Just a few weeks ago, another team member and I set up a table outside of a popular grocery store in South Phoenix, Arizona. “Hola! ¿Tienen niños?” we’d ask, as folks popped in for lunch at the taco shop just inside. The number of conversations we had on an average Tuesday lunch hour was almost unbelievable.

Sure, we had cold Jarritos in our branded koozies for the taking, but that was barely of interest. The possibility that we had something to offer these families who were clearly already thinking about their kid’s education was the draw. The thought that someone might listen to their story and provide ideas, options, and hope for their child’s current situation or struggle was the appeal.

Thankfully, hope is just what we had—along with some branded swag.

As we celebrate National School Choice Week, we should share with anyone that will listen the opportunities that school choice provides. We should plan events, make phone calls, and wear our yellow scarves to bring awareness to all of the incredible education options that families have access to across the United States.

I’m reminded of all the families I’ve met the last few years who felt they got a second chance for their kids because of school choice policies, my own included. I credit an education savings account to helping my two oldest boys get the therapy and curriculum they needed so they could learn to read.

I can’t imagine our lives or their future without these opportunities.

This National School Choice Week, when everyone is looking for hope, school choice advocates have the opportunity to give it. This week, and every week after.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/01/24/for-parents-school-choice-provides-hope

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California mom takes legal action against school district 'after two teachers secretly manipulated her daughter, 11, into believing she was a transgender boy and gave tips on how to bind her breasts'

A California mother is taking legal action against a school district, claiming that two teachers secretly manipulated her 11-year-old daughter into believing she was a transgender boy.

Jessica Konen filed a legal claim against Spreckels Union School District last Wednesday - with that claim a likely precursor to a lawsuit. She alleges that Buena Vista Middle School teachers Lori Caldeira and Kelly Baraki 'planted a seed' in her daughter's head that she was bisexual, then went on to convince the youngster that she was actually a transgender boy.

Konen also claims that Caldeira and Baraki - who ran the school's 'You Be You' equality club - provided information for her daughter on how to bind her breasts to stop them developing. She says the school kept her in the dark about what was going on until a December 2019 meeting.

After schools closed and went remote during COVID in March 2020, Konen says her daughter, who has not been named, was once again happy to identify as a girl when away from the influence of the teachers and school bosses she is now on the verge of suing.

Caldeira and Baraki are also said to have 'stalked' social media for children they believed may have been transgender, but insist uncovered communications between them were only made in jest.

A legal claim filed Wednesday states that Spreckels Union School District was responsible for 'extreme and outrageous conduct' that led the student on a path toward transitioning as a boy and drove a wedge between mother and child. Konen is being assisted in her claim by free speech group The Center for American Liberty.

Attorney Harmeet Dhillon told DailyMail.com that since filing the case, she's heard from parents across multiple states, who describe 'secretive trans grooming' by school officials - similar to what Konen has claimed.

One of Konen's chief complaints was that she was kept in the dark by the school about her daughter's participation in the club, literature teachers provided, and a 'gender support plan' created by administrators.

'Parents are supposed to have access to all the educational records of their children,' said Dhillon, who filed the case. 'The concept that the schools have a right to be running secret, don't-tell-your-parents clubs and don't-tell-your-parents programs and actively coaching children how to mutilate themselves, which is you know, not growing your breasts, is certainly not consistent with California law.'

I’ve heard from parents in other areas who describe similar secretive trans grooming by school officials. Did this happen to your family?

While Konen said her daughter had revealed she was bisexual, the mother was unaware she was identifying as a boy until she was called to a meeting at the Buena Vista Middle School principal´s office in December 2019 when her daughter was in 7th grade.

She wasn't told the purpose of the meeting until her daughter entered the room and sat across a table from her and teacher Lori Caldeira broke the news.

'I literally was caught off guard. I was blindsided,' Konen said. 'I didn't even know what to feel like because I didn´t even know where it came from.'

She said her daughter was also caught by surprise. She had told teachers she wanted to notify her mom, but didn't know they set the meeting up that day.

Konen said she gave the school permission to use a boy's name for attendance purposes and tried to be supportive, but it was difficult.

When schools went to remote learning during the pandemic in March 2020, Konen said her daughter began returning to her 'old self' and now uses her given name.

But it wasn't until this fall that Konen began to question how her daughter got on the path to a different identity, after an article by journalist Abigail Shrier circulated around town.

Shier's book, Irreversible Damage, has documented the explosion in children claiming to be transgender - particularly the sharp rise in girls claiming they are actually boys.

The tome has railed against decisions to prescribe young children with hormone therapy, or push them towards a path of gender reassignment surgery. Shier has won multiple awards for the book, but has also been met with howls of outrage from some pro-transgender campaigners over what they claim is baseless scaremongering.

In a leaked recording from a California Teachers Association conference, Caldeira and Kelly Baraki were quoted discussing how they kept meetings private and 'stalked' students online for recruits.

'When we were doing our virtual learning - we totally stalked what they were doing on Google, when they weren't doing school work,' Baraki said. 'One of them was googling 'Trans Day of Visibility.' And we're like, 'Check.' We're going to invite that kid when we get back on campus.'

Neither Caldeira nor Baraki could be reached by The Associated Press for comment. Caldeira told the San Francisco Chronicle the quotes were accurate but taken out of context or misrepresented. The stalking comment was a joke, she said.

Caldeira, who has been awarded as a role model for inclusion, defended their work, saying students set the agenda and the teachers were there to provide honest and fair answers to their questions.

The teachers were placed on administrative leave in November. They had attended the conference on their own time, but the district said, 'many of the comments and themes stated in the article are alarming, concerning, disappointing' and didn't reflect their policies.

The district hired a law firm to investigate, which is ongoing, and the UBU club was suspended.

Konen was applauded when she blasted school board members at a meeting in December, saying the teachers took away her ability to parent.

Superintendent Eric Tarallo said the legal claim would be addressed in the judicial system and personnel policies prevented him from revealing if the teachers were back at school. He said the district was reviewing and updating policies on student clubs.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10428993/Mother-teachers-manipulated-child-change-gender-identity.html

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Unvaccinated Students Corralled into Separate Pen at LA High School

There have long been some very serious concerns about the way in which vaccinated people would treat unvaccinated folks here in the United States, and it’s a sad reality that some of even the more bizarre predictions have come true.

We’ve seen the unvaccinated among us ostracized, belittled, discriminated against, and segregated against, often with the backing of the government itself.

Now, at a charter school in Los Angeles, an incredibly poignant and stomach-turning facet of this prejudice has been put on display.

Parents and students at a Los Angeles charter school have filed a lawsuit to stop a vaccine mandate that allegedly prevented unvaccinated children from attending class.

The children said they felt “segregated” and “discriminated against.”

“Female students were segregated, harassed, and threatened with suspension just for trying to participate in their classes, and we will prove in court that this is unjust and unlawful,” Sharon McKeeman, founder of Let Them Breathe, a nonprofit organization that is representing the students and parents in a lawsuit against the school, told Fox News Digital on Sunday.

The situation was a dramatic one:

Let Them Breathe shared videos of the students protesting after New West Charter School allegedly refused to let them in when school reopened on Jan. 18, 2022. The organization claimed that the students were segregated “behind barriers.”

“We’re being refused of the right to attend school,” one student claims in a video. “We feel segregated and discriminated against,” adds another.

https://flagandcross.com/unvaccinated-students-corralled-into-separate-pen-at-la-high-school/

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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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