Safest or most dangerous

 Safest or Most Dangerous           

 

Whether the new program in Wyoming makes schools safer or more dangerous depends on your point of view.  In most schools in the country weapons are banned. Not true in Wyoming.  In the very small Hot Springs School District #1, fifth and sixth graders are learning marksmanship in the school gym as part of their physical education program.

The students have air rifles and shoot at targets on the other side of the gym.  Air rifles generally use gas stored in a small canister to propel a BB or pellet out of the barrel at relatively high speed.  Generally these weapons are not lethal but they can be.  And they can also cause serious harm.  They are regularly the cause of blindness. 

The school district says the kids are taught safety measures and are sharpening their skills.  The question is- skills to do what!

Lots of folks are very supportive of the program insisting it will make schools safer because children will know how to use weapons safely.  But there are lots of questions to ask about this program.  First of all, do children eleven and twelve years old have the maturity to handle a weapon that can be lethal and in the best case severely injurious?   Secondly, how do we know that these kids won’t graduate to real firearms as they grow older.   In 2021 there were 34 school shooting invasions that killed or seriously injured multiple people.   Some people have asked the significant question- do these kids go from training target shooting right into active shooter drills within the school.

There are many folk who believe that responsible gun ownership is what more children need.

There are lots of facts to consider.   First and foremost is the fact that guns kill more people than other weapons such as knives or a blunt object.   Gun advocates will tell you that guns don’t kill people, people kill people.  But the fact remains that people with guns are more effective killers than people with knives.  In 2021 alone, there have already been 21 accidental gun shootings by children, killing 9 people and injuring 19.   Over 500 children have been accidentally killed by people over 21.Do we want to train our kids to be more effective killers?  

Secondly, a certain percentage of the kids being trained to be accurate shooters will develop mental health issues. The  CDC has indicated 26% of Americans 18 and older do have mental illness.   It is generally accepted that folks who shoot up schools, churches, synagogues, mosques, hospitals have some significant mental issues.   Is it in our best interests to help that those folks be better sharpshooters?

Lastly, these very young children do not have fully developed frontal brain lobes.  It is the frontal lobes that help regulate spontaneous action.   We can teach these kids to be safe but can we give them more rapidly developing frontal lobes.

Maybe schools aren’t the place to take up arms.

We need people to flip burgers

 We need people who know how to flip burgers!

 

There is a trial going on in Pennsylvania.  The issue is the proper and appropriate funding of public schools.  Similar cases will be showing up in Tennessee and North Carolina.

The plaintiffs, 6 school districts and three families, have argued that the state is putting their children at a disadvantage because the schools are underfunded.   There have been multiple budget cuts to schools.   These budget cuts have happened even though state research has shown that more money is needed to improve schools.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs are saying that children are struggling against odds they can’t control.  

The defendants, Republican leaders of the house and senate, have pointed to Pennsylvania’s high overall funding for education and question the connection between funding and higher quality schools.   They are also emphasizing the state’s school choice program.  

The plaintiffs are arguing that the schools are so defective that they are reaching a point of being unconstitutional.  They must be talking about the state constitution because there is no right to an education in the federal Constitution.  

Then there is the question of what is the responsibility of public education?   Is it to help children to attain academic proficiency.  Not according to the lawyer for the defense.  He argued that we need people who can do retail sales, make a pizza crust and flip burgers.   According to him academic proficiency is not needed for those tasks.  Would be interesting to ask the folks doing them.

Then there is the issue of who gets to decide which kids lack the ability for academic proficiency and, therefore, are consigned to flipping burgers and which kids could go onto college, become lawyers and make these kinds of jackass statements in court.  A sign in the window of a store in Rehoboth Beach DE read "all deleveries- please call".   Wasn't a fast food, but the folks there probably did reach academic proficiency either.

The trial is coming to a close soon.  But there won’t be a quick resolution, the losing side is expected to appeal.

I hope the lawyer that made his point about who needs academic proficiency isn’t planning to eat fast food any time soon.

Protecting the Children of Texas

 Protecting the Children of Texas

Governor Abbot wants to protect the children of Texas.   If given the opportunity, he would be thrilled to protect all of the children in the United States.  Right now, he does not have that authority nationwide but he does in Texas.  The Governor knows he cannot do this alone.  He will need to enlist the help of friends, neighbors, medical providers, and educators.  Not sure yet if these “protectors” of children will get little tin badges to show they are all sworn deputies to make Pariahs out of innocent children.

So, here’s the issue- transgender children!!   Yes, you may not realize it but these children need protection and the way to provide that protection is to label ANY treatment by the medical profession as child abuse and to recommend that the providers be subject to criminal penalties.  He is also directing the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to investigate any parents who seek any gender-transitioning services to help their children.  The goal here is to strip children of their first and most important ally- their parents.   Will kids be afraid to talk with their families for fear of having their parents investigated?   Will parents be afraid to discuss issues with medical providers for fear of being reported as “abusive” in the Governor’s words.

There is clearly a competition going on between the governors of Texas and Florida.   How right wing can we get?   In Florida, teachers are not allowed to discuss sexual orientation or gender identity.  If you went to Disney with your two dads this weekend, PLEASE don’t discuss that in school.  In Florida, only traditional nuclear families can be discussed. Exactly how many of those are left?  The answer to that question is 18%, the lowest since 1959.    Looks like most of the kids won’t be able to discuss what they did on summer vacation or winter break.   You could go to jail for that.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, you know the folks who went to school to learn how to treat children, has supported “comprehensive gender affirming and developmentally appropriate health care” for transgender youth.  Greg Abbott went to law school, wonder what courses covered that topic.  

This posture by the Governor is isolating families, turning the people who should be helping families into spies for the government and potentially making families re-think just how much protection do their children need and is Texas the best state to get that protection.

 

Exactly who are we protecting?

 Exactly who are we protecting?

 

A student was attending Vashon High School in Missouri.  During a school year, a school suspension monitor groomed the student for sexual abuse.  The monitor asked for photos of the student’s genitals, offered him money for sex, and tried to turn him into a prostitute with the monitor acting as the pimp.   The boy finally told his father about what was happening to him.  The father called the police.  The monitor was charged with sexual trafficking of a child and child pornography.

The monitor did NOT lose his job at the school.

In fact he kept his job until the story hit the news media.  The student was not allowed to return to the school because the school did not want the student and the monitor in the same building.  The school district offered the student virtual enrollment or the opportunity to transfer to another high school on the other side of town.   Ultimately the student opted for an online program.

The student sued the school district and two individual school administrators asserting due process violations, Title IX violations and negligence in the form of seven separate claims against each defendant.

The defendants claimed qualified immunity which therefore barred the due process claims against them.

The judge rejected much of their arguments.  He said the defendants did not prove entitlement to immunity because if taken as true, the student’s allegations showed they had actual knowledge of West’s persistent pattern of unconstitutional conduct and were deliberately indifferent to it.  He agreed that the response of the defendants was unreasonable and deprived the student of access to educational opportunity.

The Title IX claims were denied since it only applies to federal grant recipients.  And the individual administrators did not receive any federal grants.

The court denied the district’s defense in full.  It rejected the immunity from due process for the same reasons it rejected the defense for the individual defendants.   Title IX claims against the district held because the district is a grant recipient.  

The student also made negligence claims against the district.  The district argued it was immune from such claims because it is a government agency.  However, the student responded that the district had insurance against such claims and the insurance company had no such immunity against claims of negligence.  The Court ruled that if the district did have insurance, then negligence claims could be made and paid.

This entire case played out in the St. Louis, Missouri school district, not some 3^rd world country.  What earthly reason could the district have had for sustaining the monitor's employment???   And- can’t help but wonder if the two school defendants were terminated.   Truly shocking case.

 

Watch Yourself Because Big Brother Is

 Watch Yourself Because Big Brother is

 

There is a lot to read about teachers leaving the profession and why are they doing that?  The answer is simple.  They are not respected as professionals.   Whether it is the pacing guides that tell teachers how fast to move, the counting of the number of minutes they need to be on the job or having educational decisions being made by non-educators.  Now comes a new invasion.

The new governor of Virginia wants to protect the commonwealth’s children from “divisive comments” by teachers.

To that end he has established an email tip line for those who want to snitch on educators who, in the view of the tipster, are involved in divisive practices.  Just in case you are not aware of what equals a divisive practice, the Governor illuminated his view on a conservative talk show.  Discussing issues such as white privilege and critical race theory are divisive and should not be allowed.

The Governor said, “We embrace teaching all history, the good and the bad.  But practices like teaching that one group is inherently privileged and another is a victim, or that in fact people today should be held responsible for sins of the past, these are the kinds of teaching practices that exist in our schools, and we are going to get them out.”

The Governor believes the tip line will improve the state’s educational system.  Reports will be cataloged and “used to gain insight”.  The Governor did not mention who would be monitoring the tip line.   No mention was made of what the consequences would be to any educator who ran afoul of the guidance.  

A spokesman for the Governor said that they were trying to protect parents’ rights and to “reestablish excellence in Virginia education”.

On his first day in office, the Governor issued an Executive Order banning the teaching of critical race theory (CRT) from being taught in schools.

OK, some reality testing here.   First of all, CRT is NOT a curriculum of any sort so it is kind of difficult to actually teach something that is not a curriculum.  Second, not sure about Virginia, but in Maryland it is the job of the State Board of Education and the assorted local boards of education to decide on what curricula are taught in schools.  And finally, it is highly likely that the public school teachers of Virginia are protected by some fairly strong union contracts.

So, what is the real point of the Governor’s order and his tip line.  Is he appealing to the base level of his constituency?   Trying to recruit more folks to teach in a state with a huge shortage of teachers by telling they are being watched and reported on?  Maybe he just read a biography of Joe McCarthy and he is working on his fear monger skills.

Surely he is not being divisive, because we all know that is a very bad thing and someone might report him to the tip line for that.

Just another way to pick a kid's pocket

 Just Another Way to Pick a Kid’s Pocket

 

The pandemic has not been kind to students.  Virtual instruction is probably the second best oxymoron right after common sense.  It is bad enough that achievement test scores have crashed during online instruction, mental health issues have mushroomed, and teachers are done with the aggression they are having to deal with in schools.  Now school districts have come up with the newest idea of how to cheat kids out of an education.

Most school districts in Maryland have allowed four days in the calendar for inclement weather.  It seems that number of days has already been used by many districts.  Typically, when that happens, days are added to the end of the school year so that students still get the required 180 days of instruction.

But hey, that would mean the needs of students and their education comes first in making decisions.  We all know that ain’t so.

Now the public schools in Maryland have come up with a plan to save the extension of the school year.   With the approval of the State Board of Education, districts can “stay open” on bad weather days by offering online instruction.  The State Board is requiring that it approve each district’s plan AND there must be at least four hours (not the usual 6.5) of synchronous instruction.  The teachers’ union pretty much loves it, less work for them, and no school year extension.  The administrators think it is a smooth way to appease everyone.

So, what’s wrong with the idea?  

A LOT.  First of all, snow days are pretty much a last-minute decision, sometimes just an hour or so before the school day begins.  So how are teachers going to pivot from the planned instruction to something that is taught online within the hour?   The only plan would be to have a pocket lesson that is sort of related to what the teacher was going to do that could be plugged in at the last minute.  For the remaining 2.5 hours of the school day the kids can just do worksheets online.

But the next question is:  will they?  Making kids look at a screen when they should be outside playing in the snow or sleeping in is just plain mean.  Particularly when what we want them to do is second-rate instruction at best.  

What about the kids who are not connected with good internet service?  Oh, they will have places to go to learn together-really, how will they get there.

What about teachers who may also have kids of their own?  Who gets the device, the teacher or the kids?  What about families with multiple children at different age levels?  Will parents be able to monitor all the different Chromebooks at once?  

One of the joys of winter is the surprise snow day. Anticipated snow days fill the before time with excitement of what you will do with the unexpected time at home. There are special projects to be done on snow days, games to play, snow cones to make, books to read. Maryland winter days are regularly filled with grey.  Snow days are the sunshine.   The pandemic has done its best to suck the joy from life.  We don’t need this new virtual snow day to pick our pockets again.

Who's in charge of what kids learn?

Who’s in charge of what kids learn?

 

The governor’s race in Virginia pretty much turned on the answer to this question.  The Democratic candidate and incumbent responded to a question that essentially implied parents needed to stay out of the curriculum business.  And he phrased it so poorly.  The Republican candidate was on the comment like a hip pocket and rode it to a victory in the election.  Now that he is in office, he keeps riding that pony.

So, the question is, who is in charge of what students are taught in school?   On one side of the question, the answer is that children belong to their parents so parents get to decide what they need to learn.  But do children really belong to their parents in the same way a house or a car might?  Well not exactly, parents are required by law to provide adequate food, shelter, clothing, medical care and to refrain from physical or emotional abuse or society can and will take the children away.  Your car, on the other hand, can be abused any way you would like.

On the other side of the question is the idea that since the community is footing the bill for public education, the public should have some say in where those funds go.  Most of the funding for public schools comes from people who do not have a fox in the hunt.   They have no children; their children are grown or the children they do have attend private schools.  So, what is the reason for them to invest in public schools?  The basic reason for the investment in public schools is to ensure an educated electorate in a democracy.  That reason has been expanded to include making sure there are educated workers with adequate skills to build the economy.  As our society becomes more and more diverse, those skills include being able to respect and work with diverse groups.

What parents or any other group want their public schools to teach is not a monolith.  One set of parents might want to cleanse the media center of all controversial materials; while another set might want to bring everything in and let kids know and evaluate.   This is the reason trained librarians make those decisions.

Educators have professional education in much the same way a lawyer or a pharmacist has a professional education.  Decisions on appropriate curriculum should be left to trained professionals who are charged within professional responsibility to the funders-taxpayers, most of whom have no kids in public schools. 

Bottom line, parents should provide input to the process but the system belongs to the community who are paying the bills.  Don’t like that system, fine, send your children to private school where you pay the freight and can pick a school that aligns perfectly with your vision of what schools should teach.  Until then, parents get to consult but they should not be the ones driving the train.