Public School Fires Substitute Teacher for Raising Concerns Over Book Depicting Same-Sex Couples

Lindsey Barr was fired from her substitute teaching job after expressing concern over the content of a book in the school library.

Barr is a mother of three boys. All her children attend public school in Bryan County, Georgia, about 30 miles southwest of Savannah, where she also works as a substitute teacher.

In August, Barr learned that McAllister Elementary School, where her first- and third-grade sons attend and where she sometimes works, planned to have the book “All Are Welcome” read during a “read aloud” story time in the school library.

“I actually thought that the theme of the book was great, kindness, … including everyone,” Barr, 37, told The Daily Signal during a phone interview Thursday, “but the images, the illustrations, are contrary to what we believe for traditional marriage and families.”

The book’s colorful pictures include depictions of same-sex couples taking their children to school and two lesbian mothers, one of whom is pregnant.

“I want to be able to instill [in my own children] what I think is biblically correct for marriage and family. And [the book] was against those beliefs,” said Barr, who previously worked as a full-time teacher for a decade in Bryan County public schools.

On Aug. 16, Barr spoke with her 6-year-old son’s teacher and asked that he not be a part of the story time where the book was to be read. The teacher said that was not a problem.

Later that day, Barr emailed Heather Tucker, principal of McAllister Elementary School, and asked to talk with her. The two had a phone call the following day, and Barr expressed her concerns over the pictures in the book.

Barr says she explained to the principal that she and her husband would like to be the ones having conversations with their kids about issues such as same-sex marriage, rather than the school. The mother says she was clear that she wasn’t asking for the book to be removed from the school, only that her children not be exposed to the content.

The principal agreed that her sons didn’t need to participate in the story time, Barr recalled. The call ended and Barr said she felt like everything “was fine.”

Not long after the conversation, Barr said, she tried to log into the online portal the school uses for substitute teachers to pick up more work. She could not do so. She emailed the principal, asking whether she had been removed as a substitute teacher, but did not hear back.

“The next thing that I heard from the school was from the human resources director asking me to come in for a face-to-face meeting in regard to my role as a substitute teacher,” Barr told The Daily Signal. Barr met Aug. 23 with the principal, Tucker, and Debi McNeal, director of human resources for the school district.

“I’m gonna start by just saying some of the comments that I’m gonna say are difficult, they’re gonna be difficult to hear, they’re difficult for me to say,” Tucker told Barr at the beginning of the meeting, according to a transcript. The principal went on to explain to Barr why she was no longer allowed to be a substitute teacher in the school district:

So last week you accused McAllister [Elementary] of pushing a propaganda campaign … with liberal extreme worldviews. That’s inaccurate. That is not something that we’re doing. However, every educator that walks into this building, regardless of personal views, they have to drop their biases at the door. It just has to be done. We have to be willing to support every child that comes into this building.

Tucker said she was concerned about Barr’s bias “against same-sex couples,” according to the transcript. “It is very real that we could have a student that identifies as gay, or that has parents that identify as gay,” the principal said, “and I have concerns on how you would be able to support that student since those biases are still entering into the workplace as well.”

Barr responded that she brought her concerns to the principal as a mother, not as an employee of the school district. “I wasn’t sharing a bias with you. That isn’t a personal bias. I said, ‘As a Christian mother of children, young children, I don’t think that we should be pushing same-sex marriage on my children,’” Barr told Tucker.

The two told Barr that she no longer would be allowed to be a substitute teacher in the Bryan County school district.

Philip Sechler, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal aid organization, sent a letter Sept. 13 to Trey Robertson, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning at the Bryan County Board of Education.

In the letter, Sechler demanded that the school system “immediately reinstate Mrs. Barr so she can resume working as a substitute teacher at McAllister [Elementary], and that it refrain from any future retaliation against Mrs. Barr for her protected speech.”

Sechler asked for a response from Robertson or the school district by 5 p.m. Sept. 16, explaining that if Barr was not reinstated, she would be “forced to pursue other legal options to vindicate her rights.” Neither Robertson nor any other Bryan County school district official responded, Sechler says.

Attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit Sept. 30 against McAllister Elementary School and Bryan County Schools with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, Savannah Division.

“Parents shouldn’t be bullied and intimidated by public schools who don’t want to hear their views,” Sechler told The Daily Signal. “Lindsey [Barr] expressed concerns to protect her own children and they fired her … and that’s wrong.”

Barr said she is taking a stand to protect her constitutional right to free speech. Public schools, she said, “can’t retaliate against parents for expressing genuine concern about their own children’s education.”

https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/10/09/public-school-fires-substitute-teacher-for-raising-concerns-over-book-depicting-same-sex-couples/

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NYC schools struggle to cope with influx of 5,500 migrant kids

A Manhattan public school with just one certified bilingual teacher is reeling under the weight of a sudden influx of migrant students who don’t speak any English, The Post has learned. “We’re overwhelmed,” one frustrated teacher at PS 33 Chelsea Prep said Tuesday.

“We’ve all got migrant students in our classrooms. The teachers don’t speak Spanish. There’s no resources helping us out right now — it’s a very challenging situation.”

One outraged mom said migrant kids — easily identified by lime green ID tags that hang from their necks — have swelled the size of her daughter’s class from 15 to 20 kids.

“She’s in the third grade. Her teacher is giving her lower-level work due to the immigrants. They’re making the curriculum easier,” said Maria, a 29-year-old fashion designer. “The work is too easy for my daughter. There’s first-grade, second-grade and third-grade levels in her class. It’s ridiculous.”

The burden has some furious parents preparing to pull their kids out and send them elsewhere.

Maria said she’s “been looking at a private school on 42nd Street” where she’s planning to enroll the girl.

Another parent, Cooper, a 45-year-old chef, said he’s also “trying to change schools” for his 7-year-old son, who’s in second grade.

The alarming situation offers an example of how the flood of migrants to the Big Apple — now nearly 19,000 strong, with no sign of stopping — is straining the city’s ability to provide them with housing, education and social services.

On Friday, Mayor Eric Adams said that 5,500 migrant kids have been enrolled in the city’s public schools, revealing the startling number as he declared a state of emergency over the migrant crisis.

An official tally by Community Education Council District 2 lists 50 migrant students PS 33, which enrolled 555 children in 2020-21, the most recent school year for which the Department of Education has data posted online.

But a PS 33 teacher said that the count was far too low. “There’s way more than 50 migrant students. It’s at least 90 right now,” the teacher said.

Other official totals include a combined 120 at PS 111 and MS 933, which share a single building, 65 at PS 51 and 15 at MS 297, with an unknown number at PS 11.

Earlier this month, The Post exclusively revealed that the influx of migrant kids swelled some classes at PS 111 to 38 students, leading to the transfer of 15 to PS 51.

The DOE decides where migrant kids can attend school, based on factors including the proximity of the shelters where their families have been placed by the city and the availability of seats in area schools.

https://nypost.com/2022/10/11/nyc-schools-struggle-to-cope-with-influx-of-5500-migrant-kids/

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University of Florida students protest Ben Sasse, say he poses a 'threat' as president due to his 'anti-gay marriage, anti-transgender and anti-abortion record'

University of Florida students are protesting their school's nomination of Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse as the new president given his conservative views.

Several student groups, including the UF Young Democratic Socialists of America, UF Communists and UF College Democrats, organized a protest during three Q&A sessions between the Republican and the student body on Monday.

Sasse, who's served as a senator for Nebraska since 2015, is poised to be the school's new president when he is expected to resign from office in December.

Many of the university's liberal students, however, claim Sasse poses a 'threat' to the student body as they held protests over his looming appointment.

'Ben Sasse is on the record anti-gay marriage, anti-transgender people and anti-abortion,' one student who joined the protest told Fox News. 'He poses a threat to all students that may be queer or non-men. 'I'm worried that it might be even harder for students to get an abortion.'

As students chanted and yelled against the Republican, he could be seen rushing out of the school following three Q&A sessions

The protesters, who were staged outside the ballroom where three forums with students were held, could still be heard inside as Sasse took questions from students.

The senator was grilled on his prior stances, including his condemnation over the 2015 Supreme Court decision guaranteeing same-sex marriage.

Sasse has also been on the record celebrating the high court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and defended former ESPN commentator Curt Schilling when he was fired for sharing a meme about transgender bathrooms.

Despite his right-leaning views, Sasse has taken a stance against his GOP colleagues. The Nebraska senator often criticized Donald Trump when he was president and even vowed not to vote for him in 2016.

The Florida students were heard chanting: 'Hey, hey. Ho ho. Ben Sasse has got to go,' with others shouting, 'We don't want you here.'

The school's socialist group also cheered on after Sasse rushed out of the university in a police car amid the protest. 'We ran Sasse out of our swamp,' the group wrote on Instagram. 'Today we showed the university that we will not let bigots enter our halls of power so long as we have a voice.'

Several of the protesters told Fox that Sasse's appointment as president would hurt the school's reputation. 'If this goes through, I'm not going to be proud to be a Gator, and I'm worried that this might affect our rankings.' one student said.

The University of Florida said Sasse was the sole finalist chosen by its search committee to replace outgoing president Kent Fuchs, who served for eight years and will become a teacher next year.

After beating out 700 candidates, Sasse is expected to take the helm of the school in February.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11305477/University-Florida-students-protest-Ben-Sasse-say-views-pose-threat-school-president.html

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