Free Republic

Despite a large public outcry over its decision to censor Bible verse banners held by high school football cheerleaders on the playing field, a Georgia school board is refusing to change its mind. However, the controversial policy has compelled many students to passionately defend their free-speech rights and proclaim their Christian beliefs.

An eye-opening book titled The Language Police lists about 500 words that are banned from school textbooks. Some are amusing, some stupid (probably a banned word), and some are chilling. Here is a very partial list of banned words: Founding Fathers—Banned as sexist. Replace with Founders or Framers. (Because we would not want to note that the men who wrote the documents were men) Caveman—Banned as sexist, replace with cave dweller. (Wonder if that makes the Geico Cave . . . uhhh . . . dweller feel a little better?) Disadvantaged—Banned, replace with reference to the resources or rights that...

A member of the Charlottesville School Board is proposing that a framed picture of President Barack Obama be placed in all of the city’s public schools, as well as the division’s central office. None of Juandiego Wade’s colleagues was quick to jump on board with his proposal at Thursday’s meeting, nor did any members dismiss it. Wade insisted that if the proposal were approved, he’d raise the money for the pictures and frames — which he believes can be obtained for free or very little money — through a private fundraising campaign. “It would be no cost to the school...

An elementary school under construction in Upper Marlboro will be named for President Barack Obama. The Prince George's County school board approved the name by a unanimous vote Thursday night. The 792-student school being built next to Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. High School is expected to open in August 2010. Board member Pat J. Fletcher (Dist. 3) spoke of civil rights leaders such as Malcolm X and Shirley Chisholm who gave generations hope for the future. "For my grandchildren, it is no longer a hope but a reality, and for many of our children, it's a reality now," Fletcher...

After listening to the debate at last week's Los Angeles school board meeting, business leader Carol Schatz said she was appalled. She had attended to support a resolution to speed the firing of teachers accused of serious crimes. But even this proposal -- tiptoeing on the margins of improving teacher quality -- generated heated objections from the teachers union and its supporters. With some last-minute amendments and sniping among board members, the resolution passed by a single vote. "I came away depressed," said Schatz, who heads the 500-member Central City Assn. of Los Angeles. "If they can barely pass something...

CUMBERLAND, Md. — A dispute has erupted in Cumberland over the distribution of a brochure that purports to explain the history of the Confederate battle flag in Allegany County public schools.

When the San Francisco school board voted last month to restore the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program, it seemed that sanity had prevailed -- three years after the board voted to kill the popular program. Finally, the board had put students' welfare ahead of its ruthless political correctness. Wrong. Unless the school board votes to recognize that JROTC fulfills students' high school physical education requirements at Tuesday's board meeting, the board's vote to keep JROTC could be viewed as a conniving stunt and a cruel hoax. If students cannot get PE credit -- as they could before the board...

Embarrassing audit prompts school board to discuss changes June 4th, 2009 @ 10:20pm By Mary Richards SALT LAKE CITY -- State education officials recently had an embarrassing audit, so they fired the auditors. Friday they will talk about new changes. The legislative audit revealed school employees with criminal backgrounds working around children. State Board Member David Thomas says they now want internal auditors instead, to catch those things before they are made public. "It provides a process by which the internal auditors are hired by the superintendent, but with the consent of the audit committee," he said. He also said,...

Santa Rosa County, FL - Nearly 400 graduating seniors at Pace High School stood up in protest against the ACLU and recited the Lord’s Prayer during their graduation ceremony on Saturday. Many of the students also painted crosses on their graduation caps to make a statement of faith. This event follows a lawsuit the ACLU filed against the Santa Rosa County School District, claiming some of the teachers and administration endorsed religion. Liberty Counsel represents Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and school teacher Michelle Winkler. The graduation prayer protest by the students was preceded by a lawsuit filed six...

The Unified School District in Alameda California has passed a curriculum by a 3-2 vote that includes includes a compulsory 45-minute Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) lesson for kindergarten through fifth grade. The kindergarten lesson will study sexual orientation stereotypes with childrens books like "And Tango Makes Three" a story about two gay male penguins. School Officials say they will not allow parents to opt their kids out of the program because it falls under "anti-discrimination provisions of California law.Here is a video of the School Board Meeting. 3:03 Same Sex Lessons for Kindergartners! Gay penguins?Here are the Members...

The father said he overreacted. And who can blame him when the son is 28 years old. But that's not the best part. The son is also a school board member and a budding Democrat politician who lives in his parent's basement. It's odd enough that a Bedford father would actually call police after arguing with his son about cleaning his room. Stranger still, the sloppy son is 28 years old and serves on the Bedford School Board. "I know this looks bad," said School Board member Andrew Mizsak, who lives with his parents and also works as an independent...

Sacramento School Board member, Jerry Houseman, has a hissy-fit because people attended the area Tea Party protesting higher taxes. Californians spend 204 days out of the year just paying for the cost of their government.

LA school board votes to lay off 5,400 employees1 day ago LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Board of Education has voted to lay off as many as 5,400 teachers and support personnel for the upcoming school year. The vote came Tuesday as employees protested raucously outside the meeting. The board had voted hours earlier to save the jobs of 1,996 elementary school teachers using federal stimulus funds. The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second largest school system, faces a $596 million budget shortfall for the 2009-10 school year. The final number of layoffs remains to be...

SAN DIEGO — Hope is the political message of the moment, courtesy of President Barack Obama. Tell that to Lincoln High School students Jennifer Astudillo, Sakeenah Shabazz and Alex Velarde, a trio of increasingly polished political activists. Sakeenah, 16, said hope isn't part of her political equation. “Always go in prepared for the worst, not with your hopes up,” she said. What they've displayed instead is persistence, as they've led a group of high school students in persuading the San Diego Unified School District board to shelve campus air-rifle marksmanship programs. The board confirmed the decision Tuesday, although members eased...

Alaska school district adds ‘gender identity’ to official policy By Joel Davidson Anchorage, Alaska, Mar 11, 2009 / 02:01 pm (CNA).- The third largest school district in Alaska approved a new policy last month that will allow students to choose their own "gender identity." Gender identity — meaning the gender a person believes he or she has internally, regardless of their given biology — has been added to the nondiscrimination policy of the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District.As no other district in the state recognizes gender identity in official policies, it was unclear how the Fairbanks decision would affect...

Add four-day school weeks for high school students to the list of options the Broward County School Board is weighing to save money. During a Tuesday workshop, board members directed Schools Superintendent James Notter to study the idea to prepare for up to $160 million in possible budget cuts from the state for the 2009-2010 school year.

For example, Dr Eugenie Scott of the staunchly anticreationist National Center for Science Education (NCSE) revealed their agenda when she said: “ … I would describe myself as a humanist or a nontheist. I have found that the most effective allies for evolution are people of the faith community. One clergyman with a backward collar is worth two biologists at a school board meeting any day! … What we [such clergy and atheists] have in common is that we want to see evolution taught in the public schools … .”4

A Colorado school district does away with grade levels To overcome low test scores and a high dropout rate, the district is implementing radical reforms. Westminster, Colo. - School districts across the US are trying to improve student performance and low test scores. But few have taken as radical an approach as Adams 50. For starters, when the elementary and middle-school students come back next fall, there won't be any grade levels – or traditional grades, for that matter. And those are only the most visible changes in a district that, striving to reverse dismal test scores and a soaring...

A mother and father in New York were subjected by their school district's attorney to a faith "sincerity test," which ultimately ruled their beliefs were too questionable to qualify for a religious exemption to mandatory student immunization. Ron and Rita Palma filed the exemption with their son's school district in 2006 after coming to the conclusion the year before that the required vaccinations violated their conscience and sense of God's leading for their family. Rather than accept the standard exemption form, however, the Bayport-Blue Point Union Free School District demanded the couple meet with school attorney David Cohen. The Palmas...

Mason school officials said they are taking a proactive educational approach in advance of next week's planned Inauguration Day activities. "Inappropriate comments that may make other students, staff or families feel unwelcome or uncomfortable in school or on the bus will not be tolerated," Superintendent Kevin Bright said in an e-mail sent to parents Monday, Jan. 12. The district, he said, expects students and staff to show respect for President-elect Obama and the incoming administration, as well as President Bush and the outgoing administration, and recognize that "while the election is a competitive process, our nation's greatness is displayed when...

( After the Bush hatred and disrespect that became actually "trendy" in all quarters, with the establishment turning the other way...NOW they want to put a gag on this stuff?) Superintendent warns against 'inappropriate comments' Bright sends out e-mail to Mason parents in advance of Inauguration Day. By Eric Schwartzberg and Marie Rossiter Staff writers Thursday, January 15, 2009 Mason school officials said they are taking a proactive educational approach in advance of next week's planned Inauguration Day activities. "Inappropriate comments that may make other students, staff or families feel unwelcome or uncomfortable in school or on the bus will...

CLAREMONT, Calif. (KABC) -- There is a costume controversy in Claremont. The school board changed a decades-long tradition of students dressing up to celebrate Thanksgiving, and some parents are outraged. The tradition involves kindergarten students at Mountain View and Condit elementary schools. The kids usually dress up in costumes. Each school takes turns dressing up as pilgrims and Indians, and then join together for a Thanksgiving feast.This year, however, there is a big change. The school board decided to continue holding the feast, but they are not allowing the students to dress up. The board is concerned the Indian costumes...

CLAREMONT - Audience members at the school board meeting argued among themselves about whether elementary school students should dress in costume for a Thanksgiving feast. "The Thanksgiving story has been disproved as a myth," parent Diana Linden told the Claremont Unified school board on Thursday night. The board meeting - held for the first time in new district offices at 170 W. San Jose Ave. - was packed with opinionated people on both sides of the issue. The audience cheered loudest for speakers in favor of having the feast in costume. One parent told the school board not to be...

CCS Headline News - Superintendent's Response to YouTube I was shocked when I saw the clip of an interaction between a Cumberland County Schools teacher and her students as posted on YouTube. While neutral discussion of the political process is appropriate, at no time, particularly with elementary students, should a teacher infuse his/her political views into the discussion. Most disconcerting was the military slant that made its way into this discussion. We are a military community, serving over 15,000 military students and their families. We value the sacrifices, not only of the military parents but also those of their families....

BEDFORD -- A plethora of advanced course offerings has Bedford County School Board members scratching their heads, trying to decide a fair way to rank students or whether to discontinue the practice completely. Parents reportedly have expressed concerns of inequity because of weighted course offerings through the Advanced Placement, Virginia Governor's School and Early College programs.....

ANN ARBOR, MI — Today, July 31st at 10:00AM EST, a New Jersey Federal Court heard oral arguments in a legal challenge to a public school district’s policy totally banning Christmas music, including simple instrumentals without words, during year-end celebrations in its schools. The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan filed the federal lawsuit on the grounds that the school district’s ban on religious music conveys a government-sponsored message of disapproval and hostility toward religion in violation of the Establishment Clause. Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center,...

With five seats on the State Board of Education up for grabs this year, education advocates say how children learn about evolution hangs in the balance -- and who voters choose could affect Kansas' national reputation. A frequent flip-flop between moderate and conservative majorities on the 10-member board has resulted in the state changing its science standards four times in the past eight years. Conservatives have pushed for standards casting doubt on evolution, and moderates have said intelligent design does not belong in the science classroom. In 2007, a new 6-4 moderate majority removed standards that called evolution into question....

Dallas public school students who flunk tests, blow off homework and miss assignment deadlines can make up the work without penalty, under new rules that have angered many teachers.

A tiny Texas school district may be the first in the nation to pass a law specifically allowing teachers and staff to pack heat when classes begin later this month. Trustees at the Harrold Independent School District approved a district policy change last October so employees can carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings, provided the gun-toting teachers follow certain requirements. Superintendent David Thweatt told FOXNews.com the policy was initiated because of safety concerns. "We have had employees assaulted before by people in the last several years," Thweatt said. "I think that safety is big concern. We...

A tiny Texas school district may be the first in the nation to pass a law specifically allowing teachers and staff to pack heat when classes begin later this month. Trustees at the Harrold Independent School District approved a district policy change last October so employees can carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings, provided the gun-toting teachers follow certain requirements. Superintendent David Thweatt told FOXNews.com the policy was initiated because of safety concerns. "We have had employees assaulted before by people in the last several years," Thweatt said. "I think that safety is big concern. We...

When classes start Aug. 25 in the tiny Harrold school district, there will be one distinct difference from years prior: Some of the teachers may have guns. To deter and protect against school shootings, trustees have altered district policy to allow employees to carry concealed weapons if they have a state permit and permission from the administration. The 110-student district lies 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth on the eastern end of Wilbarger County, near the Oklahoma border. More than a dozen state legislatures have considered making it legal to carry guns on college campuses, but experts and officials contacted...

Texas school district OKs pistols for staff HARROLD, Texas — A tiny Texas school district may be the first in the nation to allow teachers and staff to pack guns for protection when classes begin later this month, a newspaper reported. Trustees at the Harrold Independent School District approved a district policy change last October so employees can carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings, provided the gun-toting teachers follow certain requirements. In order for teachers and staff to carry a pistol, they must have a Texas license to carry a concealed handgun; must be authorized to...

HOUSTON (Reuters) – A Texas school district will let teachers bring guns to class this fall, the district's superintendent said on Friday, in what experts said appeared to be a first in the United States. The board of the small rural Harrold Independent School District unanimously approved the plan and parents have not objected, said the district's superintendent, David Thweatt. School experts backed Thweatt's claim that Harrold, a system of about 110 students 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth, may be the first to let teachers bring guns to the classroom. Thweatt said it is a matter of safety. "We...

HARROLD, Texas — A tiny Texas school district may be the first in the nation to allow teachers and staff to pack guns for protection when classes begin later this month, a newspaper reported. AP story so you'll have to link to it for the rest.

Teaching to students' minds, not just to the test VIRGINIA BEACH After two years of quiet planning, the superintendent of schools has unveiled his vision. Jim Merrill wants to overhaul teaching and focus on critical thinking instead of test preparation. For the past decade, the state's public schools have adjusted teaching to fit Standards of Learning tests, the yardstick used to measure school performance. "You could pass SOLs and still fail a kid," Merrill said. His new direction is the key idea behind a six-year plan. The School Board will consider a draft at its annual retreat this weekend. To...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Facing a crippling increase in fuel costs, some rural U.S. schools are mulling a solution born of the '70s oil crisis: a four-day week. Cutting out one day of school has been the key to preserving educational programs and staff in parts of Kentucky, New Mexico and Minnesota, outweighing some parents' concerns about finding day-care for the day off. "For rural school districts where buses may travel 100 miles round-trip each day, there certainly are transportation savings worth considering," said Marc Egan, the director of federal affairs at the National School Boards Association. Egan said about...

San Francisco is a city that wants to do the right thing. The problem, as always, is when our politicians get carried away. Certainly, no one has any problem with standing up for someone's right to express themselves or control their own life. San Francisco has a long and proud record of backing those kinds of issues. Same-sex marriage? Absolutely. Universal health care? That, too. Banning the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps from local high schools - despite the fact that there has been no complaint about the program - because you disagree with the American military's policy on gay...

Asian American students will outnumber white classmates for the first time in the freshman class at the region's most prestigious public magnet school this fall, a milestone reached as the number of African Americans and Hispanics has remained low and the Fairfax County School Board prepares to review the school's admission policy. The rising concentration of Asian Americans at T.J. mirrors demographic trends in other elite math and science magnet schools. In New York, the selective and specialized Stuyvesant High School, Bronx High School of Science and Brooklyn Technical High School have Asian American majorities, although about 10 percent of...

Someone once said school board politics can be the roughest politics of all. That wise person probably served on a board and faced voter hostility over proposed budgets and, on more than one occasion, the wrath of parents upset over a school policy affecting their children. All this for an office that comes with no pay and many hours of homework on educational issues and state regulations. And, oh, yes, school board meetings can get testy, even hostile, when there is a controversial issue. It all goes with the territory -- unless you are a member of the Guilderland School...

A pair of former Ware Shoals High School students have filed lawsuits against Ware Shoals School District 51 and its board of trustees in relation to the district’s employment of ex-cheerleading coach and guidance clerk Jill Moore. The lawsuits were filed on behalf of the two WSHS graduates -- one a former cheerleader, the other a former Hornets’ football player -- by Charleston attorney Lionel Lofton. “This is a civil lawsuit being brought by two former Ware Shoals High School students,” Lofton said Wednesday. Each lawsuit levies four causes of action against the district and its board, including gross negligence,...

A brief has been filed in a federal appeals court asking the justices to overturn a judge who ordered a school district specifically to ban the Bible in its policy regarding the distribution of literature to students. WND reported just a week ago when a federal judge declared unconstitutional a Florida law that was used to prevent Gideons from handing out Bibles to students on public property near schools.Now comes another dispute, this one in Missouri and pursued by Liberty Counsel in its request to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis. It wants the court to...

(06-26) 19:20 PDT San Francisco -- San Francisco public high schools will no longer award physical education credit to students enrolled in the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps, the Board of Education voted today in a hastily scheduled meeting. The 4-to-1 vote will likely cripple the 90-year-old military education program that serves 1,200 students because most use it to satisfy their p.e. requirement. "If students really love the program, they'll take it anyway," said board president Mark Sanchez, who has led opposition to JROTC because of its ties to the military. Gregory Wing, who will be a sophomore at Lowell...

Tonight, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education will discuss a proposal to change its grading policy. The proposal states that 61 percent is the lowest numeric grade a student could receive if he or she gets an "F" letter grade. Currently, a zero is the lowest numerical grade a student can receive. Fractions of points greater than 0.5 will be rounded up to the next whole number, the proposal says, and homework cannot count more than 20 percent of the quarterly grade. "The district's [proposed] grading guidelines prohibit teachers from using grading practices that are punitive in nature...

Parent wants apology from school district He spends $4,000 fighting citation By JANICE KAYSER jkayser@cninow.com Posted: June 5, 2008 The Wauwatosa father said he took a photo of a reading wall in a Wilson School classroom Feb. 19 to help a parent in his wife's online support group for parents of autistic children. The photo, however, led to an interrogation of another parent, conspiracy accusations and, eight hours later, a disorderly conduct arrest of the puzzled father. "I just cannot believe this happened," Dave Gallenberger said. Gallenberger and his wife, Arlene, and Dana and Barbara Nicholson told a reporter last...

Fairfax May Junk Study on Behavior Staff Report Shows Racial, Ethnic Gaps Among Students Fairfax County School Board members said they are likely to abandon a staff report that showed racial and ethnic gaps in some measures of student behavior, including in the demonstration of "sound moral character and ethical judgment." The board had delayed an April vote to approve the report after concerns were raised that findings were based on subjective measures, such as elementary report card data, and that they would fuel negative stereotypes. Board member Phillip A. Niedzielski-Eichner (Providence) said yesterday that he plans to propose at...

A seven-year member of the Baldwin Park school board has been arrested for allegedly breaking the windows of a home and driving under the influence. Authorities say 34-year-old Sergio Corona was being held on suspicion of felony vandalism, driving under the influence of a controlled substance and driving with an expired license. He was arrested early Thursday after police received a call about a man yelling and breaking the window of a front door of a home. Baldwin Park is about 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Police arriving at the scene found a man driving a car with...

Kids' dress-up day draws Christian ire 10 minutes ago An elementary-school event in which kids were encouraged to dress as members of the opposite gender drew the ire of a Christian radio group, whose angry broadcast prompted outraged calls to the district office. Students at Pineview Elementary in Reedsburg had been dressing in costume all last week as part of an annual school tradition called Wacky Week. On Friday, students were encouraged to dress either as senior citizens or as members of the opposite sex. A local resident informed the Voice of Christian Youth America on Friday. The Milwaukee-based radio...

The superintendent of a public school that sparked a federal lawsuit by teaching homosexuality to children as young as kindergarten has told another worried parent he can review course material, but he has no right to withdraw his child from class during lessons. The lawsuit, on which WND has reported extensively, was filed by David Parker, whose child was in a class at Estabrook Elementary in Lexington, Mass. Parker's strenuous objection to not being notified when lessons concerning homosexuality were presented landed him in jail overnight. His subsequent lawsuit resulted in a court verdict that essentially concludes parents have no...

South Bend school officials have rejected a request by Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign to hold a rally in the Washington High School gym on Friday. South Bend Community School Corp. board President Sheila Bergerson says Clinton's visit would have interfered with the school day. She says plans called for juniors and seniors to attend the public rally. School board members denied the request Wednesday night. Bergerson says she worried that the school corporation would give the impression it was endorsing Clinton. A Mishawaka schools spokeswoman says Clinton will instead be at nearby Mishawaka High School. Clinton also plans events in...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The state Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of a functionally illiterate man who says the Kanawha County school system failed to provide him a proper education. An attorney for Thomas Sturm says that although Sturm was allowed to graduate from Sissonville High School in 2004, the 21-year-old man can read only on a third-grade level. The attorney, Mike Clifford, says the school board failed to abide by state and federal laws meant to monitor and protect the rights of students with disabilities. Sturm allegedly suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Kanawha County Judge...