Massachusetts school faces federal investigation for 'racial segregation' after barring white students from auditioning for school play

A theatre production at Newton North High School has landed the school district under federal investigation by the Department of Education after the company barred white students from auditioning.

The Massachusetts school's Theater Ink program put on a show titled 'Lost and Found: Our Stories as People of Color,' which according to the show's audition packet acted as 'a reserved safe space for this exploration and for people of color to be vulnerable and support one another.'

At the time of auditions last fall, the student director posted a video to the company's website declaring that 'All BIPOC [Black, indigenous and people of color] students at North are invited to audition.'

It was at that point that the grassroots national movement Parents Defending Education got involved and filed a complaint with the federal government that the school districted discriminated against students on the basis of race.

The claim noted that the audition criteria, which included asking students about their race and ethnic identities violated 'both Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 … and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.'

PDE President and Founder Nicole Neily told Fox that the school's administration 'failed their student body by allowing a racially-segregated production to move forward - and missed the opportunity to impart the lesson that racial discrimination is always wrong.'

In the Lost and Found audition packet, students were told that weekly rehearsals for the production would include 'organized discussions about race and identity in our lives.'

The Newton Public School system, which is the entity being investigated by DOE, previously told Fox Digital that it is committed to encouraging all of its students to participate in the theatre program, 'particularly students of color, who have been vastly underrepresented in our programs.'

'While centered in the stories of the lives of our students of color, no one is turned away or excluded from participating or having a role in the ‘Lost and Found’ production of Theatre Ink, Newton North's teaching and working theater program,' said the district.

'The Newton Public Schools do not exclude students based upon color, race, ethnicity, or religious background.'

However, NPS also condoned and offered a message of support for the Lost and Found theatrical endeavor, seemingly offering a stamp of approval for the high schoolers' casting practices.

'We are proud of our students for the hard work they do to not only assemble a diverse group of performers, but also to challenge each other to have difficult conversations around societal issues,' said the district.

'Theatre Ink has consistently provided opportunities for students to tell and celebrate the narratives and stories of those who have been historically underrepresented.

'Amplifying the stories, experiences, and history of students of color is just one component of our diverse fine and performing arts programs,' the statement continued, additionally offering that it fully supports 'the premise and educational value of this performance.'

One graduate of Newton North High School shared on Facebook how disheartened she was by the news that her alma mater had segregated its theatre program and is now facing an investigation.

'What on Earth, I am appalled,' she wrote, sharing a link to coverage of the story. 'This is not the High School I graduated from. We were All Tigers. Apparently not anymore. It’s Time to clean house and remove activist educators.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11822971/Mass-school-investigation-barring-white-students-auditioning-school-play.html

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School Administrators Undermine Excellence To Promote “Equity”

The American education system is being rigged by hard-core, radical leftist administrators and teachers and their unions. But their efforts go beyond implementing racist policies, corrupting our children with anti-American, pro-Marxist propaganda, sowing gender confusion and canceling parental rights. They’re also diminishing and curtailing hard work and success.

The latest example: 17 schools in Virginia did not notify students and their parents of National Merit awards those students had earned. That outrageous behavior was based on the bizarre claim that letting the students know about their commendations would not promote the school administrators’ stated objective of “equal outcomes for every student, without exceptions,” regardless of academic performance or lack of dedication to their studies.

Such intentional and disgraceful conduct is shocking. The receipt of such awards can be a key factor in the decisions made by college admissions officers as well as organizations that award scholarships. As someone who was able to attend college because of financial help from a National Merit scholarship, I find it despicable that these woke officials deliberately hurt the ability of their students to get into the college of their choice or to win the scholarships that could help them pay for school.

This misbehavior may have a long-term, deleterious effect on many of the affected students and, in particular, on their professional careers.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has proposed a new law to prevent this from happening again. He has also asked Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares to investigate the matter as a possible violation of the state’s education and civil rights law. But for the nearly 1,000 students who may have been hurt, all of this will come too late.

These reports surfaced only because of the persistence of a local woman and author, Asra Nomani. Nomani’s son, Shibli, earned one of the National Merit commendations. He attended Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a magnet school in Fairfax County, Virginia, that has earned a reputation as one of the best high schools in the country. It’s a school I know well: My daughter graduated from there 10 years ago, before its administrators started implementing these types of insane policies.

The school, however, withheld the information regarding Shibli’s award from the family for two years. The director of student services at Thomas Jefferson, Brandon Kosatka, and the school principal, Ann Bonitatibus, were apparently responsible for implementing this policy.

When Ms. Nomani pressed Mr. Kosatka on why the school failed to notify them about the award, he admitted that they withheld information about the time-sensitive academic honors because they did not want to hurt the feelings of those who didn’t receive such accolades.

Misbegotten policies like this do not merely have isolated effects. For instance, this policy, which was initiated at Thomas Jefferson and spread to other schools, primarily hurt Asian American students. Thomas Jefferson is already involved in a lawsuit filed by the parents of Asian American students because of a new admissions policy it implemented several years ago that discriminates against their children on the basis of race. And we are awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court on the discriminatory admissions policies of Harvard and the University of North Carolina in litigation brought by Asian American students.

All of this was discovered in late December. Even though the administrator at Thomas Jefferson admitted that this was a deliberate policy, the affected school districts suddenly claimed it was just an “error” as soon as it cane to light. This claim is very difficult to take seriously, and all the administrators who devised and implemented this egregious policy still have their jobs.

What really happened was captured by Ms. Nomani when she said that the “equity warriors out there want to talk about dismantling the systemic injustice, but they are actually now the purveyors of this racism and discrimination.” Truer words were never spoken about what is happening in our schools today.

https://www.heritage.org/education/commentary/school-administrators-undermine-excellence-promote-equity

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Canada: Catholic Student Suspended – Then Arrested – For ‘Opposing Gender Ideology’

In a sickening update in February — that should shake the conscience of every defender of human rights and freedoms in Canada — police in Ontario arrested 16-year-old Josh Alexander for attending class at his Catholic school, after he was suspended for protesting the allowance of males who identify as females to use girls’ bathrooms. I have been following the developments of this story from the beginning. See HERE and HERE for background. Thankfully, focus on the case isn’t going away, but is attracting increasing media attention across Canada, the U.S., and the UK.

To sum it up: Ontario student Josh Alexander was penalized with a 20-day suspension last year by his Catholic school “after he organized a walkout in protest of male students being permitted into the girls’ washroom.” In an interview around the time of Alexander’s initial suspension, the teen told LifeSiteNews that he believes, in accordance with Catholic teaching and the Bible,?that there are only two sexes. Under the freedom of religion, Alexander has the guaranteed right to affirm this belief.

Or so we thought.

Liberty Coalition Canada (LCC) took up Josh’s case and sent a “Notice of Intention to Appeal Suspension” to Mary-Lise Rowat, Superintendent of Educational Services at Renfrew County Catholic District School Board. But Josh’s situation deteriorated, and fast. LifeSite news wrote in an update in February:

Alexander’s lawyer, James Kitchen, the chief litigator for Liberty Coalition Canada (LCC), told LifeSiteNews that Renfrew County Catholic District School Board won’t “permit him (Alexander) to attend school for the rest of the year because, according to them, Josh’s beliefs constitute ‘bullying of trans students.’”

What nonsense. Mind you, the school is bullying Josh over his religious rights and freedoms, while doing severe damage to what the school proclaims about honoring Catholic teachings.

In an update reported by Fox News, Kitchen stated that his client’s legal battle shows how freedom in the country is rapidly eroding. He further warned that Canadians “do not understand the gravity of the threat their government increasingly poses to religious freedom, which he said is ‘essentially dead’”. One of the first things Justin Trudeau did when he first became Prime Minister in 2015 was to shut down the Office of Religious Freedom.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/canada-catholic-student-suspended-then-arrested-for-opposing-gender-ideology/

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