An article from John Stossel that you may find interesting. If those we employ to teach our children can't get the facts and science right how can they teach? The original article can be found at: https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/john-stossel/2021/01/14/stossel-column-teachers-unions-fail-science His website is: https://www.johnstossel.com/ Is your child's school open now? Probably not -- because teachers unions say that reopening would "put their health and safety at risk." They keep schools closed by lobbying and protesting. "If I die from catching COVID-19 from being forced back into Pinellas County Schools, you can drop my dead body right here!" shouts one demonstrator … [Read more...]
Should cell phone use during school be banned?
Distractions. Games. Texting. Surfing the web. How much time do students with smart phones spend using them during the school day? Does the use of cell phones detract from the educational experience? Does learning suffer? From an article at: https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/when-smartphones-go-school In the United States, 73 percent of teens own or have access to a smart phone. A mere 12 percent have no cell phone. Those numbers come from a 2015 survey by the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. Some 90 percent of teens with cell phones send texts. The typical number is 30 texts per day. That’s the median number from the Pew data. Additionally, the Pew report … [Read more...]
Thousands of Educational Apps are Tracking Children?
How many layers does K-12 education have? How much are/has/have computers and software infiltrated? How much information is being gathered and how is it/could it be used? Is the information about your child safe? We came across this article at Missouri Education Watch from April of 2018 that we thought you would find interesting. We're going to summarize it but if you want to read the whole piece please click: http://missourieducationwatchdog.com/bombshell-study-thousands-of-educational-apps-are-improperly-tracking-children/ written by Cheri Kisecker. EdWeek (http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2018/04/android_mobile_apps_track_children_study.html) recently ran an … [Read more...]
LANDMARK RESOLUTION TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM UNSUITABLE CONTENT — PASSED BY REPUB. NAT. COMM.
I don't care whether you are liberal/progressive; moderate or conservative. I don't care if you are Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green or Socialist. When it comes to children we MUST be on the same page. We MUST protect our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren from educational content that is unsuitable. What's unsuitable? There we can have a discussion and agree or disagree. Parents are in control. Parents have the choice. Parents are responsible. Education uses an "Opt-Out" model. Educators put content into place and then it's up to parents to find out about it and then take action to have their child/ren excluded if they don't like the content. Instead we should be … [Read more...]
K-12 school security in SWW – Part #1
School security and student safety jumps to the #1 parental concern when we have school shootings. Most recently was Parkland, FL. This got me to wondering what the school districts in Southwest Washington have in the way of policies as well as where they spend money and what types of efforts that they make to protect children in the K-12 environment. This will be a 2 part series. Part #1 is an overview of the OSPI (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction for Washington State) position and guidelines on school security along with information on the Battle Ground School District’s security efforts. Part #2 will be an overview, by school district, of security efforts. Part #2 may take … [Read more...]
School shootings are extraordinarily rare – Facts
Some people in the public believe that school shootings are a HUGE problem and happen with great frequency. Indeed, some school districts and legislative bodies are using the most recent shooting in Florida as a vehicle to support school bonds or introduce more gun control laws. We decided to go looking for data and ask some questions. We hope you find this information useful. What is defined as a "mass" school shooting? Answer: There is no definition. The media appear to use one (1) as a definition. We first turned to Wikipedia and found this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States We found an article at Politifact that attempts to address … [Read more...]
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School & Battle Ground School Bond?
Have you seen the email the Battle Ground Superintendent sent out on March 2nd 2018 at 3:08pm titled "School security is top of mind"? I received it from several parents who did. Since I don't have a child in the school system I didn't get it (and neither would you unless you had a child/ren in the system). Those who shared it with me pointed to the 3rd paragraph: "Since the Parkland shooting, we have received many comments, questions and concerns about safety and security. Some of it is likely because our bond did not pass last month. It fell short of the required 60 percent supermajority by a couple hundred votes. The bond would have replaced our four oldest primary and middle … [Read more...]
Protecting children in public schools: I-1552 Privacy for All!
In December 2015 the Washington State Human Rights Commission (http://www.hum.wa.gov/), a group of five (5) unelected bureaucrats appointed by Gov. Inslee, decided that “gender equality” required their interpretation and intervention. This commission decided that if a male or female “self identified” as one of 58+ “gender expressions” they could use the bathroom, locker room, showers or other facilities of whichever sex they chose. Literally they could walk in and if questioned say they “identified” as that gender. It’s worth noting that “activists” believe that sex and gender mean different things and that, in the end, gender is more important than biology. I understand the desire to make … [Read more...]
Schools must allow transgender bathrooms, Department of Education says
From KGW News .... WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education will tell school districts Friday that federal law requires them to allow students to use restrooms and locker rooms "consistent with their gender identity," escalating the pressure from the Obama administration on the contentious public debate over transgender rights. In a "dear colleague" letter to school districts first reported by the New York Times, the Department of Education maintains that requiring transgender students to use same-sex facilities violates Title IX, the 1972 law that prohibits discrimination based on sex. The letter was provided to USA TODAY by two administration officials who would … [Read more...]