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...]
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...]
This week in data: spying, lying and being human
From Missouri Education Watchdog ... NO this isn’t everything that happened in data, not even close. When you start paying attention, you see that data breaches are happening daily, internet outages, cables cut, privacy bills passing, privacy bills getting killed or weakened by the very industry taking the data, internet as a human right, tremendous expansion of online education and blended learning, lawsuits, who’s spying on who…it’s everywhere and it’s enough to make your head spin. So, today, I write on just a few of the data stories of this week. You will want to read- They are big stories. Click on the links to read the full stories. Be sure to read the last one from … [Read more...]
Man caught undressing in front of girls at Green Lake locker room
As part of our ongoing attention to the use of showers, bathrooms and locker rooms by people who "self-identify" as the opposite gender even though their "plumbing" is one or the other...local schools DO allow this X-Over so this can happen to your children. If you don't like this PLEASE contact your local state and house reps and tell them to FIX it. From an article in MyNorthWest.com ........ Editorial note: I am choosing to refer to the individual as a male, as the Parks Department has related the story to me indicating as such. Seattle Parks and Recreation has confirmed an adult male inappropriately used a female locker room at Evans Pool in Green Lake … [Read more...]
Oversight head: Hackers would hit mother lode at Education Department
From an article at The Hill > > > House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) is warning that a hack on the Department of Education would dwarf last year’s massive breach at the Office of Personnel Management. “Almost half of America’s records are sitting at the Department of Education,” Chaffetz said at a Brookings Institution event on Thursday. “I think ultimately that’s going to be the largest data breach that we’ve ever seen in the history of our nation.” The Department of Education's cybersecurity practices have been in the spotlight since a November Inspector General (IG) report found widespread deficiencies. The agency also received an F grade on a … [Read more...]