If we had a School Committee…
It’s a wonder what would happen in Lawrence if we had a recognized school committee truly representing the interests of the people.
The take-over of the Lawrence Public Schools by the State has done more damage than we ever thought possible. Apart from the teaching scores decline, parental involvement has almost disappeared and the reason for that is because their concerns have gone by the wayside.
But, this is a national effort to take control of the parents over their children. The only difference is that in other places having a body representing them, they have been able to express their fears and when they get no response, stage demonstrations demanding to be heard.
I’m not advocating for violence but for the right of parents to direct their concerns to the administration and find solutions together.
Perhaps things have not compared in Lawrence to other states but you can bet for sure that it will come here, as well because it is a national trend. Probably, the fact that Lawrence is composed of a mainly Spanish-speaking community is the reason for lagging.
These are some of the measures taken in other states:
- The National School Boards Association (NSBA) declared disgruntled parents appearing before school committee meetings as “domestic terrorists” and when they are arrested during demonstrations, they are treated as such.
- These are some notes from The Daily Signal of June 27, 2023: In Philadelphia, The Southern Poverty Law Center placed Moms for Liberty on its “hate map” with Ku Klux Klan chapters calling them “an extremist group.”
The SPLC has weaponized its history by transforming its Klanwatch program into an Intelligence Project that brands mainstream conservative and Christian organizations “hate groups,” adding them to the “hate map.”
The SPLC, which promotes critical race theory through its Learning for Justice Program, opposes Moms for Liberty’s opposition to lessons that encourage children to see white people as oppressors and black people as oppressed. The SPLC also promotes transgender lessons for children, another cause Moms for Liberty opposes. Now this group is the subject of death threats.
In the process of looking into this issue, I found a letter from three senators to Attorney General Merrick Garland pertaining to an ethics violation involving his daughter.
The letter states, “Your daughter, Rebecca Garland, married Alexander (Xan) Newman Tanner in 2018. Mr. Tanner is a co-founder of Panorama Education (Panorama), a ‘social learning’ provider that provides consultancy services that reportedly aids schools in teaching critical race theory under the guise of ‘equity and inclusion’ to America’s children.” This company has contracts with 22 school districts earning $12 million in recent years.
Perhaps that explains why the government has been so slow in responding to parents’ concerns about what’s being taught to their children.
But, hold on tight; it’s here!
Now, I’m sorry to say that this controversy has arrived in Massachusetts. Below are a few paragraphs of the Governor’s extremely lengthy press release.
Governor Maura T. Healey, Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler, and DESE Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley today announced that their administration is proposing an updated draft of the comprehensive health and physical education curriculum framework to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) this month.
“As the proud daughter of a school nurse and health and sex education teacher, I believe strongly that all students deserve inclusive, medically accurate, and age-appropriate health guidelines,” said Governor Healey. “All of our students benefit when they learn from up-to-date, evidence-based material grounded in science. These new guidelines will empower students with the skills they need to build healthy lives in school and beyond.”
“I am grateful to the health experts, educators, and DESE team members for all the work they have put into this draft framework to ensure guidelines are scientifically accurate, reflective of best practices according to experts in the field, and age-appropriate for each grade span,” said Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll. “By providing our students with cutting-edge best practices around health and wellness, we can better prepare the next generation for lifelong health.”
The framework includes mental and emotional health; personal safety, including safety from gun violence; physical health, and hygiene; healthy relationships, including safety from dating violence, nutrition and balanced eating; physical activity and fitness; substance use and misuse; gender, sexual orientation, and sexual health; and public, community, and environmental health.
“I’m pleased to bring this draft to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for their consideration, and I’m recommending that they send the draft out for public comment,” said Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Jeffrey C. Riley. “School districts have the discretion to determine how the standards will be implemented at the local level. We hope the framework will be a resource of lasting value for schools and districts.”
Keep in mind that, under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 71 Section 32A, parents have the right to opt out of their children from lessons related to sex education, a small portion of the knowledge covered in the Comprehensive Health and Physical Education Curriculum Framework.
The Massachusetts Family Institute
There’s an article on page 8 (in English and Spanish) from the Massachusetts Family Institute. This is an organization based in Worcester, very reputable addressing all kinds of issues involving families in this state. I recommend that you take a look at it because it deals with the subject of sex education in schools beginning in pre-school.
Supreme Court decisions
This is the time of the year when the Supreme Court issues its decisions on many items they have been debating during the year. By listening to the interpretations of average people on television and social media, you could go crazy.
One of them was the web designer who refused to do some work for a gay couple because it went against her religious beliefs.
The Court ruled in her favor because she cannot be forced to do something against her freedom of religion. Well, I heard a woman saying that this will only cause more discrimination against homosexuals because we might not be allowed in their shops. NO!
That will be against the law because no one can be forbidden entrance to a public place due to race, nationality, sexual preference, etc. We just cannot demand someone to do something they don’t want to do.
A big one was the school loan debt that President Joe Biden promised to pay without Congress’s approval. Even Nancy Pelosi said a while back, “The President doesn’t have the authorization to spend any money without the approval from Congress.”
Then I watch a professional woman saying that this will force her to use the equity in her house to pay for it. That has been the big argument: why should the people who could not afford to get an education by going to college end up paying the $420 billion it will cost? Yes, the government will pay but remember that the government is us.
But the most important of all was the decision about the institutions of higher learning discriminating against qualified students to maintain the quotas of minorities in their roles. To achieve this, they have lowered their standards to make it possible for Black and Latino students to qualify.
Those who favor this decision believe that it is reversed discrimination when people are admitted according to what group they represent instead of their qualifications.
Remember that the Justices in the Supreme Court are there to interpret the meaning of the United States Constitution, although it’s not cut and dry. The fact that the two Black justices, Clarence Thomas and Ketanji Brown Jackson openly traded barbs in their opinions Thursday and voted differently demonstrates that their personal opinions cloud their judgment, at times.
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