Michigan school suspends teacher for worksheet comparing Obama to monkeys

A prestigious Detroit-area school that passed an “anti-racism resolution” in 2021 suspended one of its teachers after she passed out a worksheet to students comparing former President Barack Obama to monkeys.

The paperwork, which was reportedly given to approximately 30 students at The Roeper School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, asked students to identify primates from a gallery of photos labeled apes, monkeys and lemurs. Included in the gallery was a picture of the former president.

After news of the worksheet circulated, the school canceled classes on Thursday because of alleged threats. They also offered counseling and said in a statement: “On behalf of Roeper School’s leadership, we want to acknowledge the disturbing racial offense contained in an assignment with an upper school class last week.”

“The choice to use this piece of curriculum was completely inconsistent with our School’s philosophy and mission and we sincerely apologize for its use and the harm it has caused,” the school continued.

“While the teacher has taken responsibility and admits the mistake of not properly vetting the resource, we know that is not enough and she has been placed on administrative leave until further notice.”

Carolyn Lett, who serves as the director of diversity at the $30,000-per-year school, told local news outlet WJBK-TV that the worksheet made her feel “disgusted” and that “she couldn’t believe it.”

“When I first saw it, I’m trying to make sense of it myself,” she said.

Lett said the teacher claimed she was “horrified” by the worksheet and did not notice Obama’s portrait among the animals.

“It is made all the more challenging for us because it is the antithesis of who we are as a school,” said Clay Thomas, chair of Roeper Board of Trustees, according to local Fox 2.

In May 2021, the school board of trustees adopted an anti-racism resolution that claimed “ongoing social justice issues across our country, including the killings of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), have had a profound impact on our past and present students, faculty, staff, administrators, trustees, and families at The Roeper School.”

One of the resolutions adopted by the board at the time is “that we believe Black lives matter,” and that “we condemn all forms of bullying, microaggressions, hate speech, and violence.”

The Roeper School is the oldest school for gifted kids in the United States, according to its website, and prides itself on educating students from diverse ethnicities, races and socio-economic backgrounds. It was founded by George and Annemarie Roeper, who moved to Michigan in 1941 as religious refugees from Nazi Germany.

https://nypost.com/2022/05/23/michigan-school-suspends-teacher-for-worksheet-comparing-obama-to-monkeys/

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The NY Regents is on a slow march to having zero graduation standards

Once again, the state Board of Regents is using the pandemic as an excuse for lowering high-school graduation requirements: letting students more easily appeal failing scores on Regents exams through the end of this school year.

Seniors must score a 65 or higher to pass Regents tests in at least five subject areas to earn a high school diploma. Now kids with failing scores of at least 50 can appeal.

This follows one year when the exams were canceled and the requirement waived entirely and a second with greatly eased requirements.

And some regents want the exit exams junked forever, arguing that the tests disproportionately “harm” minority and disadvantaged students — meaning, they expose the fact that they haven’t gotten a quality education.

Heck, one principal complained to Chalkbeat: “Even though the exams will be easier to pass, students still will face pressure to score well above a 50.” Worse, he wasn’t “sure what the state is hoping to accomplish by having the Regents exams at all.” Um, ensuring that a New York high-school diploma isn’t worthless?

The people in charge of education in the Empire State, and all too many throughout the system, are doing their best to keep everyone in the dark about their failures. Is it any wonder that families and students are leaving the public school system in droves?

https://nypost.com/2022/05/22/ny-regents-on-a-slow-march-to-zero-graduation-standards/

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Seven books that show NYC is pushing transgenderism, LGBTQ+ curriculum to kids as young as kindergarten

New York City has a series of books in its Mosaic Independent Reading Collection that focuses on teaching children as young as first grade and Kindergarten about LGBTQ+ and other left-wing issues, Fox News Digital has learned.

The reading lists, which include titles on Greta Thunberg and Elizabeth Warren, were created by the NYC Department of Education Library services, according to the TeachingBooks website. The page can only be accessed internally through the DOE's official login for students and teachers.

Brooklyn parent leader, Vito Labella, told Fox News Digital that he frequently gets calls from concerned parents who are worried about transgender and critical race theory-derived curricula being taught to their young children. Fox News Digital reached out to the DOE about the educational materials but did not receive a response.

"They are terrified to speak up," said Labella, who is also running for New York State Senate with a top issue of restoring parents' rights in education.

Officials announced the Mosaic curriculum $200-million overhaul in July 2021; it was intended to diversify the curriculum and standardize English and math instruction, according to the New York Post. "[Mosaic] will simplify and clarify the work of our educators and better represent our kids," former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/top-7-radical-left-books-new-york-city-universak-mosaic-curriculum

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