Free Republic

When Zachary Cataldo's daycare provider picked him up after school on Monday at Piedmont Avenue Elementary in North Oakland, she found him lying on the ground. An older kid had apparently slammed the 7-year-old into a tree, and he was too dizzy to stand up, according to Zachary's aunt, Janine Cataldo. Zachary was admitted to the intensive care unit of Children's Hospital-Oakland with a fractured skull and was released last night, Cataldo said. It wasn't the first time the boy was attacked at school. Cataldo said her nephew's front teeth were knocked out last year, when he was in kindergarten,...

About 100 people joined the Rev. Ken Hutcherson outside Mt. Si High School this morning to protest the Day of Silence being observed inside the school. The group prayed and sang as a noisy group of counter protesters tried to drown them out by beating on drums and chanting, "Go Home." Hutcherson, who had called for 1,000 "prayer warriors" to join him in protesting a national day to call attention to the harassment of lesbian and gay students, said his group was not against homosexuals or the Day of Silence. "We're against giving an entire school day to one club...

Anthony Cataldo of Oakland first raised concerns about aggressive bullying at his son's elementary school last year after Zachary lost four teeth on the playground - but he said he received only a verbal assurance that things would change. Cataldo said he complained again when some boys at school kicked 7-year-old Zachary in the stomach three months ago but got no response. Now - two days after an older student slammed Zachary against a tree, fracturing his skull and sending the first-grader to intensive care - Cataldo is hiring a lawyer, and school officials are paying attention.

It seems like a distant past now, but when Sen. Barack Obama delivered his "A More Perfect Union" speech in mid-March, commentators were quick to call it "historic." Now, though, as we are — or he is — knee deep in "bitterness" and loss in Pennsylvania, chances may be slimmer that his speech will make it into mainstream history textbooks. "At this point, it's too early to tell if it's soft soap or historic," says Gil Sewell, president of the American Textbook Council, a New York-based nonprofit group that reviews history and social studies textbooks. "I don't think the speech...

"In light of the irrefutable medical facts, it should be considered criminally reckless for educators to teach children that homosexual conduct is a normal, safe and perfectly acceptable alternative form of sexual expression (or 'sexual orientation')." Commentary by J. Matt Barber April 21, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Can you imagine officials at a middle school, junior high or high school setting aside a day to promote "tolerance" for heavy smoking and drinking among children?  How about a day where teachers encourage kids to "embrace who they are," pick up that crack pipe and give it a stiff toke?  Neither can...

I think its a wise decision, and who can blame them after such a horrifying situation? Their daughter was beaten by 6 other teenage girls just to put the video of it on youtube. Meanwhile, one lawyer is seeking a gag order on the case. See video of father's decision to homeschool here.

An advanced textbook on American government is drawing criticism from scholars for alleged errors concerning climate change and separation of church and state. The advanced textbook in question is called American Government (Houghton Mifflin) and was authored by James Q. Wilson and John J. Dilulio, Jr. Associated Press reports that a New Jersey high school student pointed out apparent errors in the textbook to the Center for Inquiry, which then released a "scathing report." Under criticism are statements that cause students to question whether the debate over "global warming" is really over, and whether the issue of "separation of church...

Did you catch the video this week of a student kicking the stuffing out of an art teacher in Baltimore, Maryland while the rest of the class cheered the pounding on? Y’know, if that teacher was moi, and some F-bomb dropping Darwinian throwback came over my desk to accost me, I’d grab my handy dandy scissors and plant ‘em in the feral teen’s skullcap, Jason Voorhees style. From there I would proceed to snag the American flag from the corner of the room (if there was one) in order to stave off the rest of the flesh eating zombies ‘til...

EAU CLAIRE, Wis — A middle school principal says he made "an error in judgment" last week by not more fully discussing a teacher's plan to tell seventh-grade students her sexual orientation during health classes. South Middle School Principal John Wallace said in a letter to parents of about 125 students in Stephanie Rowe's health classes that parents send their children to school each day "trusting that we as their educators will make the best decisions as to how to instruct and care for them." "On certain occasions, however, a decision is made that is clearly not in the best...

Home-schooled children in New York who receive special-education services through their school district will have to get their own therapy or go to school full time. The state Education Department notified school districts in January that they cannot provide the services. In a memo to superintendents, the state says the federal Individual with Disabilities Education Act requires students who are home-schooled to receive the same special-education services as those enrolled in private schools, if the state designates home schools as private schools. But New York State does not recognize home schools as private schools. The change came as the result...

Threat to Homeschooling By John Stossel Wednesday, April 2, 2008 The cat is finally out of the bag. A California appellate court, ruling that parents have no constitutional right to homeschool their children, pinned its decision on this ominous quotation from a 47-year-old case, "A primary purpose of the educational system is to train schoolchildren in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare." There you have it; a primary purpose of government schools is to train schoolchildren "in loyalty to the state." Somehow that protects "the public welfare"...

A state appeals court has agreed to reconsider its decision last month that barred homeschooling by parents who lack teaching credentials, raising the possibility that the judges will change a decision that has infuriated homeschool advocates nationwide. The Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles granted a rehearing Tuesday at the request of a couple who have taught their eight children at home without credentials. It is not unusual for appeals courts to reconsider decisions, and the result is often a minor revision that leaves the original conclusion unchanged. But the three-judge panel in the homeschooling case hinted at...

During a break in a high school debate tournament not long ago, my 17-year-old son struck up a conversation with a student on the rival team from a New Jersey public school. "Where's your school?" asked the boy. When my son replied that he was home-schooled, the student probed. "How do you socialize when you're at home all the time?" he asked. "Well, for one thing, I'm here, right?" my son laughed. My children have gotten used to most of the standard questions from their conventionally schooled peers: Are you super-religious? Do you stay at home in your pajamas and...

There is a technology war coming. Actually it is already here but most of us haven't yet notice. It is a war not about technology but because of technology, a war over how we as a culture embrace technology. It is a war that threatens venerable institutions and, to a certain extent, threatens what many people think of as their very way of life. It is a war that will ultimately and inevitably change us all, no going back. The early battles are being fought in our schools. And I already know who the winners will be. This is a...

In the annals of judicial imperialism, we have arrived at a strange new chapter. A California court ruled this month that parents cannot "home school" their children without government certification. No teaching credential, no teaching. Parents "do not have a constitutional right to home school their children," wrote California appellate Justice Walter Croskey. The 166,000 families in the state that now choose to educate their children at home must be stunned. But at least one political lobby likes the ruling. "We're happy," the California Teachers Association's Lloyd Porter told the San Francisco Chronicle. He says the union believes all students...

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Two female middle school teachers were arrested Wednesday on charges they got into a fight in front of students, officials said. Eighth grade teachers Tawana Horton, 30, and Cambrella Pinckney, 28, bumped into each other during a hallway class change Friday afternoon at St. Andrews Middle School and began fighting, according to a report by the Richland County sheriff's department. The two teachers told an officer that they had an ongoing personal dispute, the report said.

The controversy over a California appeals court ruling on homeschooling continues to expand, even as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger pledge to defend the rights of homeschooling parents and Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell on Tuesday affirmed families' right to homeschool their children. As The Los Angeles Times reported March 12, the superintendent told parents, "There's no cause for alarm." He continued: "I want to assure parents that chose to home school that California Department of Education policy will not change in any way as a result of this ruling," he said in a written statement. "Parents still have the right...

A California appellate court has struck terror in the ranks of home schooling advocates by ruling that their children can't be taught at home without at least some oversight. Public education foes see this as an all-out attack on the concept of home schooling. That is not the case. And members of The Times editorial board didn't get it right either. (snip) It's evident that the vast majority who teach their offspring in front of the television do so because they don't want their children to be subjected to such dangerous doctrines as evolution, abortion, global warming, equal rights and...

The California appeals court decision criminalizing parents who homeschool their children is only the tip of an iceberg. Nationwide, parents are already being criminalized in huge numbers, and it is not limited to homeschoolers. During the Clinton years, the trend toward turning children into tools for expanding government power increased rapidly. Otherwise indefensible programs and regulations are now rationalized as "for the children."

What began a few months ago as a 12-year-old's bright idea may very well become one of Windham High School's [NH] most prominent features. David Hutchings, a home-schooled town resident, has proposed incorporating wind and solar energy into the $44 million school, slated to open in fall 2009. "I started this as a science project with friends ... and now it's turned into a huge project," he said with a shrug and a grin, sitting around a table yesterday at Lavallee Brensinger Architects in Manchester's Millyard. David was with a dozen adults -- one of them his mother -- at...

Anti-Catholic Education by: Malcolm A. Kline, March 14, 2008 The faithful are increasingly likely to face hostility to their beliefs in secular educational settings, the Catholic League’s 2007 Report on Anti-Catholicism shows: • On February 21, 2007, “A substitute teacher wiped the Ash Wednesday ashes off the forehead of a student at White County High School,” the League reports. “When the girl and her classmates protested, they were berated by teachers.” • On April 19 in Lake Bluff, Illinois, “A middle school teacher gave an assignment to her students pinpointing who was responsible for the Holocaust and listed Pope Pius...

Growing up, as I did, in the home of Russian Jewish immigrants, it figures that I’d start out thinking that, by all rights, FDR belonged on Mount Rushmore. But, all these years later, I have concluded that most of America’s woes can be traced back to his presidency, and that the best reason for his being up there along with Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington and Teddy Roosevelt, is that his head was already made of stone. Although FDR is often, mistakenly, credited with bringing the Great Depression to an end, as Amity Shlaes made clear in her book, “The Forgotten Man,�...

During World War II, my mother, at the time in elementary school, was sent to boarding school in Czechoslovakia when it became too dangerous to live in Vienna. In class one day, the teacher asked "Whom do you hate the most?" My mom raised her hand, planning to say "Hitler". Mom wasn't called on, but a good friend of hers was. The other little girl said "Hitler"; my mother never saw that little girl again, although Mom kept her friend’s photo with her until she died a couple of years ago. No one in America would believe that this could...

(Editor's Note: This story contains references to graphic material about homosexuality and violence.) Parents in Deerfield, Ill., are upset that a local high school is using books in advanced English classes this spring that they say are laced with graphic sexual content, pervasive expletives and mockery of religion. Worse, the books - "Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes (Parts 1 & 2)" - are required reading for advanced placement English students at Deerfield High School, but a parents' group wants them removed. "Who would have ever thought that we would be handing out pornography in public schools?"...

In California, your child's neighborhood bully is likely to be the state. And if the state government can't successfully mandate absolute allegiance to its dictates, then a judicial buddy can do the dirty work.

National and California home-schooling advocates are banding together to fight a state court ruling they say could essentially outlaw the practice of allowing parents to teach their children at home. The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and the Home School Association of California (HSC) say the court decision, which said home-schooling parents must have a valid state teaching license and they have no constitutional right to home-school, takes aim at the education programs many families use to get exemption from the public school system. "We're kind of in shock," said Mike Smith, HSLDA president. The Los Angeles-based case began...

Via Matt Drudge we learn that an appeals court in California has ruled that parents can only homeschool their children if they hold a valid teaching credential. Forget, for now, about the incredible infringement upon individual liberty this is. Or the hubris of those who assert that only WE know, and only WE have the right to dictate, what your child should be taught. Forget the objective evidence that homeschooled kids get an actual education at least as good as, if not usually better than, that doled out by the public school system. Forget what this means for kids who...

Conservative Christian leaders are outraged at the California appeals court decision last week rejecting a parent's right to educate their children at home. “What has occurred is another egregious decision handed down by a California appeals court that strikes at the very heart and soul of families and their children," said Focus on the Family founder and chairman Dr. James Dobson, in a broadcast Friday. "How dare these judges have the audacity to label tens of thousands of parents criminals – the equivalent to drug dealers or pickpockets – because they want to raise and educate their children according to...

Weekdays in the Perry household start like those in any other. The kids brush their teeth, dress, grab a quick breakfast. Then, they make their way to school — at the dining room table. *snip* The Perrys are part of a growing home-school movement. In 1999, according to federal statistics, there were 850,000 home-schooled children in the United States. In 2003, that number rose to 1.1 million. Some estimates put the figure today as high as 2.4 million. *snip* Education authorities say they worry that, because home-schooled students aren't required to take statewide achievement tests in many states, including Missouri...

It is clear to us that enrollment and attendance in a public full-time day school is required by California law for minor children unless (1) the child is enrolled in a private full-time day school and actually attends that private school, (2) the child is tutored by a person holding a valid state teaching credential for the grade being taught, or (3) one of the other few statutory exemptions to compulsory public school attendance (Ed. Code, § 48220 et seq.) ***[which allows parents to homeschool as long as they register]*** applies to the child. Because the parents in this case...

A recent California Court of Appeals case has been making some waves as the precursor to the end of homeschooling in this state. Michelle Malkin, Susan Duclos of Wake up America, and Darleen Click at Protein Wisdom have all noted it and discussed the implications of the case with some degree of outrage. I admit, it sounds pretty bad the way the LA Times writes: Parents who lack teaching credentials cannot educate their children at home, according to a state appellate court ruling that is sending waves of fear through California's home schooling families. Advocates for the families vowed to...

LOS ANGELES, March 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) Thousands of homeschoolers in California are left in legal limbo by an appeals court ruling that homeschooling is not a legal option in the state and that a family who has homeschooled all their children for years must enrol their two youngest in state or private schools. Justice H. Walter Croskey in a written opinion said, "California courts have held that under provisions in the Education Code, parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children." The sweeping February 29th ruling says that California law requires "persons between the ages of six...

A breathtaking" ruling from a California appeals court that could subject the parents of 166,000 students in the state to criminal sanctions will be taken to the state Supreme Court. The announcement comes today from the Pacific Justice Institute, whose president, Brad Dacus, described the impact of the decision as "stunning." "The scope of this decision by the appellate court is breathtaking," he said. "It not only attacks traditional homeschooling, but also calls into question homeschooling through charter schools and teaching children at home via independent study through public and private school." "If not reversed, the parents of the more...

LOS ANGELES, March 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Thousands of homeschoolers in California are left in legal limbo by an appeals court ruling that homeschooling is not a legal option in the state and that a family who has homeschooled all their children for years must enrol their two youngest in state or private schools. Justice H. Walter Croskey in a written opinion said, "California courts have held that under provisions in the Education Code, parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children."The sweeping February 29th ruling says that California law requires "persons between the ages of...

LOS ANGELES. -- As one group attempts to use California public schools as laboratories to assist children in "coming out" with their nontraditional sexual orientation, another urges parents to come out from these schools and educate their children with their values at home or in private schools. Last Sunday, a group called "Exodus Mandate" (www.exodusmandate.org) began placing literature in scores of Southern California church lobbies, urging parents to take charge of their children's education and oppose attempts by activists and politicians to shape young people's worldview in a way that runs counter to what many taxpaying parents believe and teach...

LOS ANGELES - As one group attempts to use California public schools as laboratories to assist children in "coming out" with their nontraditional sexual orientation, another is urging parents to come out from these schools and educate their children with their values at home or in private schools. Last Sunday, a group called "Exodus Mandate" (www.exodusmandate.org) began placing literature in scores of Southern California church lobbies, urging parents to take charge of their children's education and oppose attempts by activists and politicians to shape the worldview of young people, a worldview that runs counter to what many taxpaying parents believe...

As many of you know, the Second Appellate District Court of Los Angeles handed down a very bad decision regarding a case involving a homeschool family. Home School Legal Defense Association was not involved with this case, and the family are not members, which is why we only heard about this case when the opinion was released on February 28, 2008. Since legal cases have many facets, and we are starting from scratch, it takes time to investigate and fully absorb all the facts which led up to a particular decision. We are in the middle of that process, but...

College Admissions Adjust To Increase In Home Schooling By SUZANNE PARDINGTON   Jenny Grant, 19, was home-schooled. Now she is in college. (Photo by Thomas Boyd)     PORTLAND, Ore. — Jenny Grant's transcript was written by her mom.Her classroom was her home and community.And her idea of a high school sport was fencing.But none of that means she was less prepared for college than graduates of traditional high schools.The problem was proving it.As the number of home-schoolers multiplies, more students like Grant are making the leap directly from home to college, creating new challenges for students and colleges alike.The...

PITTSTON TWP. — Teachers in the Diocese of Scranton have decided on a strategy in their quest to receive union recognition. But what they’ve decided is “not for public consumption,” union President Michael Milz said Sunday after a general membership meeting at Convention Hall. In the first half of the meeting, which was open to media, 200 teachers sang the union rights anthem “Solidarity Forever” and heard from legal counsel and representatives from the National Association of Catholic School Teachers. “Your cause is certainly just. Your fight is our fight,” said Rita Schwartz, president of the national association. “You cannot...

(WTNH) _ Parents who homeschool their children were at the state Capitol today talking about the difficulties they face when they decide to talk their children's education into their own hands. Jackie O'Grady has been homeschooling her three boys for six years. "My oldest boy is a different learner, he was a gifted child, very intense, could work for hours and I realized he needed more so I did a lot of reading, looked into the options and decided homeschooling is the best option for us," Jackie explained. And her students seem pleased with their classroom. "I learn a lot...

If you care about your children, then you should homeschool, find a Christian school, participate in a homeschool co-op, pay the tuition, drive an older car, or do whatever is necessary to keep them out of California's public school system. That's the message from a new campaign, assembled under the Rescue Your Child slogan. And it's all because the California Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger worked together to establish Senate Bill 777 and Assembly Bill 394 as law, plans that institutionalize the promotion of homosexuality, bisexuality, transgenderism and other alternative lifestyle choices. First, [California] law allowed public schools to voluntarily...

Families are running for their lives.... In a Feb. 7 press release, a broad coalition of Christian grass-roots organizations boldly banded together urging parents to either homeschool their children or place them in Christian schools. Prominent pro-family crusaders like Phyllis Schlafly, once a proponent of public school reform, are saying it's time to exit public schools. Indeed, the situation is so serious that in states around the country, sexual material is being taught to children as young as kindergarten age. Barb Anderson, research and policy analyst with the Minnesota Family Council, details lewd content being taught in public schools in...

By Asher Price AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Monday, February 04, 2008 The 11 kids who attend the Austin EcoSchool in South Austin are tree-huggers in the truest sense of the term. As part of a school project, each of the students, who range in age from 6 to 10, adopted an oak tree on school grounds and learned to greet it with an embrace. But the world has not been as kind to this fledgling private school, now in its second year and scrambling to stay in business. Enrollment dipped by nearly half after the first academic year because of uncertainty about...

Martin Camacho taught himself to read about age 1, his parents said. By 3, he was doing multiplication. As a 5-year-old, he tested into fifth grade, and at age 10, he started classes at Central High School in St. Paul. Now 12, Martin is tied for fourth in the state heading into the final meet of the high school math-league season. (skip) "It's an unusual talent," Roberts said. "We're going to hear a lot from him." It may seem odd to picture a 12-year-old walking the halls of a big city high school, but "it's natural now, after three years,"...

NEW YORK CITY—Greenwich Village is home to the White Horse Tavern, drinking hole of Dylan Thomas and other literary notables, and to coffee shops that birthed the careers of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. It's where the gay-rights movement began following a bar riot in 1969. It isn't the most likely place to find a homeschooling family made up of a pastor, his petite wife with a yellow belt in karate, and their four kids. In a 1,200-square-foot apartment in the heart of the Village live Sam and Mary K. Andreades, their three sons—Thaddaeus (16), Jeremy (13), and Enoch (8)—and...

A letter-writer recently objected that I used great libertarian Rose Wilder Lane as a "sole source" for the fact that American schooling was taken over, in the late 19th century, by statists enamored of the Prussian compulsion model, aiming to create a docile peasant class by crippling the American intellect -- making reading seem real hard, for starters, by replacing the old system in which delighted kids learned to combine the sounds of the Roman letters, with a perverted "whole word" method better suited to decoding hieroglyphics. In July 1991, John Taylor Gatto, New York's Teacher of the Year, quit,...

Bridget Whelpley, 9, looked up from reading the morning news at the breakfast table. She caught up on current affairs as she waited for her siblings to finish eating. After memorizing poetry, Bridget, Colin, 11, and Sophia, 7, drilled each other on French vocabulary. Their mother, Patty, interjected a few times to correct their pronunciation. Following a read-aloud session from a book on the history of the world, they dispersed to their own areas in the house to do their assigned schoolwork. Such is the start of a typical school day for the Whelpley children of Vienna. Patty Whelpley started...

ANGLETON — A former junior high school teacher has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after admitting that he had a sexual relationship with a male seventh-grader. Brian Edward Cody, 31, of Port Lavaca, was a social studies teacher at Manvel Junior High School until he was fired in the wake of his charges. He pleaded guilty Thursday to aggravated sexual assault of a child and improper educator-student contact. The alleged victim was a seventh-grade student at the school and a plea bargain spared the child from having to testify, Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne said. "We consulted...

Once again, homeschoolers across the country are facing the threat of daytime curfews. Within the last year, city councils in California, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, and Texas have considered such curfews. Daytime curfews are unnecessary for good order. They are often touted as a way to reduce truancy and juvenile crime, but there is little or no evidence to support this. The impact on law-abiding youth, however, is undisputed: restricting a young person’s freedom to move about during the day creates an atmosphere of fear reminiscent of totalitarian states, and often leads to harassment of homeschoolers. Daytime curfews can be...