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2 districts rebuff free handout of Constitution (colorado high school)
Denver Post ^ | 8-22-07 | Erin Emery

Posted on 08/22/2007 1:47:28 PM PDT by dynachrome

Colorado Springs - Douglas Bruce is known as a frugal man, not a giver of gifts.

But when he tried last spring to give pocket- size copies of the U.S. Constitution to high-school seniors, two Colorado Springs-area districts said "no, thanks."

snip

Bruce said he made it clear that copies of the Constitution were to be given to seniors, but "I said nothing about giving them at graduation or interfering with the ceremony or my being there. That was a contrived excuse by Lewis-Palmer School District."

(Excerpt) Read more at denverpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: aclu; civicseducation; colorado; constitution; education; historyeducation; nea; publicschools; schools; tabor
Douglas Bruce is the guy who came up with TABOR (the taxpayer's bill of rights) where the citizens have to vote on every tax increase. The bureaucrats found many ways around it and it is kind of a dead letter anymore. Looks like the two districts in question are lying about their reasons not to give copies to the seniors. "It's not because we have anything against the Constitution. In fact, it's a lovely document"
1 posted on 08/22/2007 1:47:30 PM PDT by dynachrome
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To: dynachrome

Constitution?

That’s a dangerous weapon.


2 posted on 08/22/2007 1:54:31 PM PDT by Natchez Hawk (What's so funny about the first, second, and fourth Amendments?)
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To: dynachrome

No surprise here.


3 posted on 08/22/2007 1:56:42 PM PDT by davisfh
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To: davisfh

Well, since it’s in English, it’s not like most people can read it anyway.


4 posted on 08/22/2007 1:58:54 PM PDT by Maceman
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To: Natchez Hawk

Wrap it in a cover that says “Koran” and he should have no problem.


5 posted on 08/22/2007 1:58:57 PM PDT by wilco200
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To: dynachrome

Hell........the schools should be handing out these books as a matter of course. Isn’t that what the kids are there to learn? OH....I forgot, they don’t want the kids to learn this countrys history.


6 posted on 08/22/2007 1:59:19 PM PDT by RC2
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To: dynachrome

Rubbers, yes.
Constitution, no.


7 posted on 08/22/2007 1:59:20 PM PDT by rfp1234 (Nothing is better than eternal happiness. A ham sandwich is better than nothing. Therefore...)
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To: dynachrome
Robin Adair, a spokeswoman for Lewis-Palmer, said..."It's not because we have anything against the Constitution. In fact, it's a lovely document."

oy
8 posted on 08/22/2007 2:00:13 PM PDT by frossca
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To: frossca

That was the money quote, alright.


9 posted on 08/22/2007 2:03:18 PM PDT by dynachrome (Henry Bowman is right.)
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To: dynachrome

My word, you can’t let that document get in the hands of the sheeple


10 posted on 08/22/2007 2:04:34 PM PDT by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: rfp1234

Maybe he should tape a condom to the front of each one.


11 posted on 08/22/2007 2:05:01 PM PDT by Lost Highway (I don't know what the world may need but a V8 engines a good start for me)
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To: dynachrome

kind of the ultimate “weasel words” statement, eh?


12 posted on 08/22/2007 2:05:50 PM PDT by xcamel (FDT/2008 -- talk about it >> irc://irc.freenode.net/fredthompson)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; A knight without armor; Alexander Rubin; AmericaUnite; Atlanta Conservative; ...
Read the story and freep the poll.

FREEP THIS POLL ***PING!*** FRmail me if you want to be added or removed from the Fearless Poll-Freeping Freepers Ping list. And be sure to ping me to any polls that need Freepin', if I miss them. (looks like a medium volume list) (gordongekko909, founder of the pinglist, stays on the list until his ghost signs up for the list)

13 posted on 08/22/2007 2:10:45 PM PDT by dynachrome (Henry Bowman is right.)
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To: AppyPappy

Hey, there’s even a poll on that page. We get to vote on it.

Wow, we’re winning 86% to 9%, and the rest say they don’t know. Well, yeah.


14 posted on 08/22/2007 2:12:07 PM PDT by savedbygrace (SECURE THE BORDERS FIRST (I'M YELLING ON PURPOSE))
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To: savedbygrace

liberals and leftists do live and die on the ignorance of the masses - so the constitution poses a direct and obvious threat to them...


15 posted on 08/22/2007 2:21:06 PM PDT by xcamel (FDT/2008 -- talk about it >> irc://irc.freenode.net/fredthompson)
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To: DaveLoneRanger; 2Jedismom; Aggie Mama; agrace; Antoninus; arbooz; bboop; BlackElk; blu; Capagrl; ...

ANOTHER REASON TO HOMESCHOOL

This ping list is for the “other” articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. If you want on/off this list, please freepmail me. The main Homeschool Ping List by DaveLoneRanger handles the homeschool-specific articles.

I guess we can't have high school graduates know anything about the Constitution, now can we? Then they might know what their rights really are and not believe the liberal socialist pap fed them in the classroom.

History classes have apparently taken a real nosedive.

16 posted on 08/22/2007 2:23:17 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: dynachrome

Did you ping your FReep this poll list?


17 posted on 08/22/2007 2:24:46 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: dynachrome

Well, duh I just saw that you did.


18 posted on 08/22/2007 2:25:27 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: savedbygrace

We’ll do even better with the homeschool list pinged.


19 posted on 08/22/2007 2:26:09 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: dynachrome

Excellent job, Douglas Bruce. You got two school districts to figure out a way to make sure every kid in them reads the Constitution. :-)


20 posted on 08/22/2007 2:27:32 PM PDT by Tribune7 (Michael Moore bought Haliburton)
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To: dynachrome
Liberal educrats have decided the Constitution gasp!> is unconstitutional and verboten for Colorado high school students to read. That's a dangerous document.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

21 posted on 08/22/2007 2:28:33 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: Morgan in Denver

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_6683455?_requestid=3694384


22 posted on 08/22/2007 2:32:18 PM PDT by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: colorado tanker

Do you think school districts should accept copies of the Constitution for each student, when offered?

Yes ... 86.91 %

No ... 9.179 %


23 posted on 08/22/2007 2:34:53 PM PDT by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: jammer; r9etb; Semi Civil Servant; rellimpank

Bruce said he received an e-mail from Fountain-Fort Carson’s then-superintendent Dwight Jones that the district didn’t want the gift. Bruce said Jones, now the state’s education commissioner, did not provide a reason.


24 posted on 08/22/2007 2:37:41 PM PDT by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: dynachrome

Yep. Just a “dated” document in the eyes of the left.


25 posted on 08/22/2007 2:40:37 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker ( Hunter/Thompson/Thompson/Hunter in 08! "Read my lips....No new RINO's" !!)
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To: dynachrome
The rationale given by the two districts is actually somewhat reasonable; and it must be said that the words "Doug Bruce" are enough to tarnish even the most glittering gift.

Yes, Mr. Bruce was responsible for TABOR -- a very good thing. But his subsequent behavior has been egregious. He's a victim of his own boorishness.

26 posted on 08/22/2007 2:42:35 PM PDT by r9etb
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To: george76
One of my kids just brought home the seventh grade world history curriculum and my blood is boiling. One chapter is on "The Prophet Mohamed" and the next is on the tenets of Islam. They only have four chapters in the whole friggin book on Medieval Europe, and nothing on the ancient world. You can't understand Medieval Europe if you don't understand Rome and its fall.

What do you suppose the NEA and ACLU would say if there were chapters about Jesus and Christianity???

27 posted on 08/22/2007 2:48:38 PM PDT by colorado tanker (I'm unmoderated - just ask Bill O'Reilly)
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To: r9etb

“rationale given by the two districts is actually somewhat reasonable”
Certainly, but if Bruce wasn’t going to hand it out at graduation, why did the ditrict bring that up? (Yeah, Bruce is boorish and was the landlord from Hell earlier in his career, which I think got him politically active)


28 posted on 08/22/2007 3:02:14 PM PDT by dynachrome (Henry Bowman is right.)
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To: colorado tanker

They wonder why we are mad at the expensive school systems that promotes Islam...

Many are making other choices like Home schooling, private schools...


29 posted on 08/22/2007 3:13:10 PM PDT by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: r9etb
“But his subsequent behavior has been egregious. He’s a victim of his own boorishness.”

Sigh......

As a parent whose children live under the oppression of Lewis-Palmer D38, I must say there is plenty of “boorishness” to go around. I should point out that Lewis-Palmer is the same district that yanked the high school valedictorian off the stage during her commencement address because she had the temerity to mention.....GOD.

Most of you have heard of this of course, since it made national news. Oddly enough, Lewis-Palmer is situated in a fairly red area, though I’m beginning to think we rival San Francisco with our Moonbat school board.

Truly, I have no way to account for it, other than attributing it to the effects of long term hypoxia (7,500 MSL). It certainly makes it difficult to brag about where I live.

30 posted on 08/22/2007 3:16:21 PM PDT by Habibi
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To: george76
Do you think school districts should accept copies of the Constitution for each student, when offered?

By CAIR?

By the ACLU?

Does it matter?

31 posted on 08/22/2007 3:24:55 PM PDT by Doe Eyes
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Comment #32 Removed by Moderator

To: dynachrome
Of course they're lying. They don't know if it's a beautiful document or not--I doubt 10% have read it. And they damned sure don't know what it means. I'd love to put them on a panel and ask them questions about it.

Bruce is, as you say, a good guy. I vote against the other turkeys.

33 posted on 08/22/2007 5:25:35 PM PDT by jammer
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To: dynachrome
Looks like the two districts in question are lying about their reasons not to give copies to the seniors. "It's not because we have anything against the Constitution. In fact, it's a lovely document"

I am much more interested as to the reason they gave for refusing.
I hope they're forced to put it in writing.

"Arbitrary and capricious" is the sure road to a loss in court.

34 posted on 08/22/2007 6:19:53 PM PDT by Publius6961 (MSM: Israelis are killed by rockets; Lebanese are killed by Israelis.)
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To: george76
Bruce said Jones, now the state’s education commissioner, did not provide a reason.

OK then.
"Arbitrary and capricious" it is...

35 posted on 08/22/2007 6:22:38 PM PDT by Publius6961 (MSM: Israelis are killed by rockets; Lebanese are killed by Israelis.)
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To: dynachrome
2 districts rebuff free handout of Constitution

A dozen others accepted the TABOR author's gift in May. The two that said no worried about setting a precedent.

By Erin Emery Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 08/22/2007 12:54:46 AM MDT

Colorado Springs - Douglas Bruce is known as a frugal man, not a giver of gifts.

But when he tried last spring to give pocket- size copies of the U.S. Constitution to high-school seniors, two Colorado Springs-area districts said "no, thanks."

Lewis-Palmer District 38 and Fountain-Fort Carson District 8 did not accept Bruce's booklets because they said it would set a precedent for districts receiving products from the outside.

Bruce, author of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights and an El Paso County commissioner, gave more than 5,500 copies in May to seniors in more than a dozen other school districts and the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind. The copies were paid for by Bruce's nonprofit, Active Citizens

Together. Next spring, Bruce said he plans to pass out 10,000 copies of the Constitution to seniors throughout southern Colorado.

"Anybody that is going to be a citizen and a voter, I'm happy to have this," Bruce said. "I believe that they are not getting in government schools proper education in limits on government. Government has a conflict of interest; they don't want people to know how to limit the government."

Robin Adair, a spokeswoman for Lewis-Palmer, said Bruce offered to hand out copies of the Constitution to "each of our graduating class."

"The administration, the school board and the principal talked about it and reached a consensus where we didn't want to set a precedent where anybody could come hand out stuff to our graduates. We didn't want to turn graduation into that," Adair said.

"It's not because we have anything against the Constitution. In fact, it's a lovely document. But if they let him hand out something that he thought was innocuous then, of course, we can't say no to anyone else," Adair said.

Bruce said he made it clear that copies of the Constitution were to be given to seniors, but "I said nothing about giving them at graduation or interfering with the ceremony or my being there. That was a contrived excuse by Lewis-Palmer School District."

The city's largest district looked at the documents before it let schools hand them out.

"He brought us a copy. We looked at them, there was no propaganda, it was just the Constitution, the declaration, some quotes, and we couldn't find any reason that we should not accept them, so we did," said Elaine Naleski, spokeswoman for Colorado Springs School District 11. "He brought them late in the year and we already had started graduations, so we let the schools decide how they wanted to distribute them."

Bruce said he received an e-mail from Fountain-Fort Carson's then-superintendent Dwight Jones that the district didn't want the gift. Bruce said Jones, now the state's education commissioner, did not provide a reason.

Bruce said he contacted the district's school-board president and was again told that the district would not accept the booklets.

Fountain-Fort Carson did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Staff writer Erin Emery can be reached at 719-522-1360 or eemery@denverpost.com.

36 posted on 08/22/2007 8:35:38 PM PDT by A.A. Cunningham
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To: Habibi
As a parent whose children live under the oppression of Lewis-Palmer D38, I must say there is plenty of “boorishness” to go around. I should point out that Lewis-Palmer is the same district that yanked the high school valedictorian off the stage during her commencement address because she had the temerity to mention.....GOD.

Ping to read later

37 posted on 08/23/2007 12:39:04 PM PDT by Alex Murphy (As heard on the Amish Radio Network! http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1675029/posts)
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To: colorado tanker
What do you suppose the NEA and ACLU would say if there were chapters about Jesus and Christianity???

The NEA actually used to like Christianity. Teachers used to give out the American Citizens Handbook (by the NEA itself), which contained Godly references as well as the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and the Magna Carta (true only for pre-1960's versions).

America's educational decline is going to really hurt someday soon.

38 posted on 08/23/2007 12:40:02 PM PDT by polymuser (There is one war and one enemy.)
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To: polymuser
Know what you mean. The teachers actually let the Gideons distribute Bibles in my elementary school.

And, bless her heart, she let us listen to the World Series on our transistors if we kept them real low. (Daytime World Series - I really just dated myself!)

39 posted on 08/23/2007 12:57:18 PM PDT by colorado tanker (I'm unmoderated - just ask Bill O'Reilly)
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To: colorado tanker

OMG. I was afraid of that. I’m going to check my son’s books out when he gets home. He just started junior high.

Wonder if anyone could sue the school district?


40 posted on 08/23/2007 1:03:28 PM PDT by Califreak (Go Hunter!)
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To: Califreak
That's a tough call, because IMHO, classes studying the Bible are constitutional.

It's just so unbalanced. And it's bad history. If you want to know why the Muslim world is the way it is today, can the study of the religion and study the history, how the Muslim world came to its catastrophic decline versus the West.

41 posted on 08/23/2007 1:13:34 PM PDT by colorado tanker (I'm unmoderated - just ask Bill O'Reilly)
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To: r9etb
The rationale given by the two districts is actually somewhat reasonable

If they have never accepted any other "gifts", yes. My bet is they have accepted numerous other "gifts" in the past, including those office depot five cents of every dollar purchase goes to your favorite school, "free" computers, etc.

42 posted on 08/23/2007 1:14:22 PM PDT by CharacterCounts
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To: colorado tanker

Speaking of the bible and my son.....

He just got home & told me his history/social sciences teach wants a paper written about how people originated on earth.

He asked me, “Can I just copy the first part of Genesis and say ‘Here, I’m done!’”.

I told him to read it carefully and paraphrase it, like he was trying to explain it to one of his friends.

I hope there won’t be any flak over this. If so, Mom & Dad will back him all the way.

I miss “old school” school. : (


43 posted on 08/23/2007 1:36:18 PM PDT by Califreak (Go Hunter!)
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To: Califreak
Who ARE these people? My school pushes ancient history out of the curriculum and your school puts evolution, which has never been considered part of the modern history curriculum, into it. Unbelievable.
44 posted on 08/23/2007 1:43:16 PM PDT by colorado tanker (I'm unmoderated - just ask Bill O'Reilly)
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To: CharacterCounts
Could be. I'm thinking that the "Doug Bruce" factor was probably the predominant factor in their refusal.

Granting that it's an emotional response, I'd have to say that even free copies of the Constitution seem somehow sullied if it's Doug passing them out.

45 posted on 08/23/2007 1:45:27 PM PDT by r9etb
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To: colorado tanker

No, they didn’t say it had to be evolution. They said it had to be his own story. I’m just wondering what they’ll do when they read it.

School has all kinds of little projects like family trees and stuff to try and gain unnecessary info about the students.

I wonder if this is one of those things they do to find out who the “problem” people are. LOL!


46 posted on 08/23/2007 3:50:21 PM PDT by Califreak (Go Hunter!)
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To: Califreak

He ought to tell them humans arrived here by spacecraft from a distant planet whose sun was about to supernova, but they gradually lost all memory of it when they had to start all over here living in the stone age. This is all confirmed by the arrangement of the Great Pyramids in the pattern of Orion’s belt, to remind them where they came from. See what they say to that!


47 posted on 08/23/2007 4:08:45 PM PDT by colorado tanker (I'm unmoderated - just ask Bill O'Reilly)
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