This is the intellectual level of the teachers infesting our schools indoctrination centers today, Vapid, isn’t strong enough.
Arming teachers pic.twitter.com/S9szKs9DPG
— Dr. Annie Andrews (@AnnieAndrewsMD) July 1, 2024
Category: Education & Schools
W.Va. Campus Self-Defense Act to take effect July 1
On July 1, Senate Bill 10, the W.Va. Campus Self-Defense Act, will take effect in West Virginia. Passed by the West Virginia Legislature in 2023, the Campus Self-Defense Act allows a person to carry a concealed pistol or revolver on the grounds of an institution of higher education, with some exceptions, if that person has a current and valid license to carry a concealed deadly weapon.
The West Virginia University Campus Safety Steering Group has been working for many months in coordination with several sub-groups, including one focused solely on what is commonly known as campus carry, on how the law will be implemented across the WVU System.
These, in conjunction with signage, will assist in informing where licensed concealed pistol and revolvers are not allowed on the Morgantown, Keyser, Beckley and Health Sciences campuses.
Facilities has started installing signs in areas specifically exempt from the law under BOG Finance and Administration Rule 5.14 — Deadly Weapons, Dangerous Objects and the W.Va. Campus Self-Defense Act.
Ultimately, it is up to the concealed carry license holder to know the specifics of the law and BOG Rule and to follow the regulations while on campuses throughout the WVU System. Violations will be addressed on a case-by-case basis.
Additionally, please review the FAQs for updated information, including a section specifically for Health Sciences, a step-by-step What To Do if You See Someone on Campus With a Gun guide and storage locker requests for qualifying students living in residence halls.
Occupants of “sole occupancy” offices wishing to request an approved sign for a prohibited area can do so by submitting a signage request.
Faculty members are encouraged to use the Faculty Senate-approved statement addressing concealed carry in their syllabi. It is available at facultysenate.wvu.edu/home.
The University wants everyone to feel safe on campus and works each day on measures to help ensure that. For example, the University Police Department offers active shooter, self-defense and verbal de-escalation training.
Private school founder destroys every argument against arming teachers
Florida’s Inspiration Academy has had armed staff for more than a decade.
When Eddie and Claire Speir founded Inspiration Academy 11 years ago, not arming teachers wasn’t even a consideration.
“It was because of Columbine. We were in a spiritual war — we still are — and some people were crazy. We knew it was our duty to protect our students. Columbine changed a lot of things for educators,” Speir told the Second Amendment Foundation Tuesday.
Speir and his wife retired and moved to Florida in 2013 after selling their Colorado-based software firm. “But God had other plans,” Speir said. The couple — with no formal background in education — launched Inspiration Academy, which began with just one paid employee.
Today, Speir has more than 200 students and dozens of teachers, coaches and other professionals. His staff is armed and dedicated to protecting their students.
“We, by God’s grace, look for and develop teachers with high character who would be honored and are prepared to give their lives for our students,” Speir said. “It’s shameful that every superintendent doesn’t feel the same way and develop a culture that reflects this attitude.”
The gun-ban industry has strong opinions about armed teachers, but they have no facts or data to support their arguments and certainly no actual experience. Speir has worked with an armed teaching staff for more than a decade, which makes him one of the country’s leading subject matter experts.
Federal Court Rules Maryland Parents Can’t Opt Kids Out Of Classes With LGBT Content.
The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled 2-1 against Maryland parents who sued their local school board for not letting their children in grades K-5 opt out of reading books supporting transgender ideology and gender transitioning.
The Montgomery County Public Schools board denied the parents their request to be notified when the books would be read to their children and the opportunity to opt out.
“The Board is violating the parents’ inalienable and constitutionally protected right to control the religious upbringing of their children, especially on sensitive issues concerning family life and human sexuality,” The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, litigated the lawsuit, stated, explaining:
In fall 2022, the Montgomery County Board of Education announced over 20 new “inclusivity” books for its pre-K through eighth grade classrooms. But rather than focusing on basic civility and kindness, these books champion pride parades, gender transitioning, and pronoun preferences for children.
For example, one book tasks three- and four-year-olds to search for images from a word list that includes “intersex flag,” “[drag] queen,” “underwear,” “leather,” and the name of a celebrated LGBTQ activist and sex worker. Another encourages fifth graders to discuss what it means to be “non-binary.” Other books advocate a child-knows-best approach to gender transitioning, telling students that a decision to transition doesn’t have to “make sense” and that doctors only “guess” when identifying a newborn’s sex anyway.
A district court ruled against the parents, prompting them to appeal to the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which denied the parents’ request for a preliminary injunction but allowed the possibility of changing its position once the classes have already been taught, writing:
We take no view on whether the Parents will be able to present evidence sufficient to support any of their various theories once they have the opportunity to develop a record as to the circumstances surrounding the Board’s decision and how the challenged texts are actually being used in schools.
At this early stage, however, given the Parents’ broad claims, the very high burden required to obtain a preliminary injunction, and the scant record before us, we are constrained to affirm the district court’s order denying a preliminary injunction.
Judge Marvin Quattlebaum dissented, writing, “I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the parents have not produced enough evidence to establish that their free exercised rights have been burdened. The parents have met their burden. They have produced the books that no one disputes will be used to instruct their K-5 children. They produced declarations explaining in detail why the books conflict with their religious beliefs. They have produced the board’s own internal documents that show how it suggests teachers respond to students and parents who question the contents of the books.”
Supreme Court rules in favor of veteran who sued over GI Bill limits
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled in favor of a veteran who unsuccessfully tried to use both his Post-9/11 GI Bill and Montgomery GI Bill benefits, saying that Veterans Affairs officials erred in limiting his education support.
The 7-2 decision could have far-reaching impact on student veterans who use up their VA benefits but still wish to continue degree programs. Lawyers for the plaintiff have estimated as many as 1.7 million veterans nationwide could benefit from the ruling, but federal officials have estimated the number to be less than 30,000 individuals.
The case has been closely watched by veterans advocates for nearly nine years because of its potential ramifications. VA pays out more than $8 billion in education payments annually, and the Supreme Court ruling could boost that figure even higher.
The legal fight centered on Jim Rudisill, a 43-year-old Army veteran who was wounded in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq in 2005. Rudisill used all of his Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits shortly thereafter, but later wanted to tap into his unused Montgomery GI Bill benefits to attend Yale Divinity School as part of the process to become an Army chaplain.
When VA officials denied that move, Rudisill sued, claiming they were unfairly limiting his options. Writing for the majority, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson called the government’s denial “nonsensical” and reversed lower court rulings supporting VA’s position.
Christian married couple quit their teaching jobs in California and started an ‘anti-woke’ school in Florida as a ‘counterbalance’ to progressive teaching which they claim has infiltrated the public education system.
Kali Fontanilla, 41, and her husband Joshua, 42, started the Exodus Institute, an online school, after becoming disillusioned by ‘overly politicized’ public schooling.
Kali and Joshua now teach classes designed around ‘traditional American values’ – and try to counter what they believe are skewed teachings about topics like gender, race and slavery in traditional schools.
The Fontanillas’ school has grown from a single student in their first class, in May 2022, to nearly 200 who are enrolled across their K-12 program and a separate ‘Young Patriots Academy’.
Their institute was founded amid growing discontent among conservatives nationwide about the perceived politicization of school curriculums. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has supported several state bills aimed at curbing the trend, including the Stop WOKE act.
Tennessee governor plans to sign bill that would let teachers carry guns in schools
Lee alluded to the pushback from Democrats, saying, “There are folks across the state who disagree on the way forward.”
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Thursday that he planned to sign a bill state legislators sent to his desk this week that would allow school staff members to carry concealed handguns on school grounds.
“What’s important to me is that we give districts tools and the option to use a tool that will keep their children safe in their schools,” Lee said at a news conference Thursday after he shared his plans to sign the legislation.
Under state law, Lee, a Republican, has the option to sign the bill, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature.
The Republican-controlled state House passed the measure Tuesday largely along party lines roughly a year after a shooter opened fire and killed six people at The Covenant School in Nashville. The state Senate, which is also controlled by the GOP, passed the measure this month.
Lee on Thursday highlighted the legislation’s requirements that faculty and staff members wishing to carry concealed handguns on school grounds complete a minimum of 40 hours of approved training specific to school policing every year. They also must obtain written authorization from law enforcement, he noted.
“There are folks across the state who disagree on the way forward,” Lee said Thursday, adding that he thought the legislation would allow school districts the opportunity to decide “at the local level what is best for the schools and the children in that district.”
But the measure drew criticism from Democrats like state Rep. Bo Mitchell, who referred to the Covenant shooting in remarks on the House floor.
“This is what we’re going to do. This is our reaction to teachers and children being murdered in a school. Our reaction is to throw more guns at it. What’s wrong with us?” Mitchell said.
Tennessee isn’t the only state to have approved legislation allowing teachers to carry guns. At least 26 states have laws permitting teachers or other school employees to possess guns on school grounds, with some exceptions, according to the Giffords Law Center, a gun violence prevention group.
Any politician who tells you that a badly written law won’t be used in the worst way possible by some goobermint stooge, is lying to you.
MO Senate votes to protect homeschool access to guns to ease K-12 tax credit expansion
The Missouri Senate voted Wednesday night to ensure homeschool families are allowed to own firearms.
On a 27-4 vote, lawmakers approved legislation that originally was focused on cleaning up issues with Missouri’s virtual school program.
Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, answers questions about his bill that would expand MOScholars during a committee meeting Wednesday Jan. 10, 2024.
But over the course of a five-hour recess in the Senate Wednesday, Republicans turned that legislation into a catch-all measure aimed at ensuring the House approves an even larger education bill approved by the Senate last month.
The bill approved Wednesday night was crafted to ease House concerns about a 153-page bill that passed the Senate to expand Missouri’s private school tax credit program and allowed charter schools in Boone County, along with other provisions aimed at bolstering public schools.
That bill’s sponsor, Republican state Sen. Andrew Koenig of Manchester, told The Independent he would prefer the House pass the Senate’s education bill without changes and send it to the governor’s desk. Any changes in the House would bring it back to the Senate for debate, putting its changes at risk.
After the Senate passed Koenig’s legislation last month, criticism began popping up on social media and in the Capitol about a myriad of issues — primarily that homeschooling families may face additional government oversight.
Despite assurances from gun-rights groups, one concern focused on the idea that homeschoolers’ inclusion in the private school scholarship program would result in home educators being subject to laws banning guns in schools.
The Missouri Firearms Coalition made a statement that it felt that gun-ownership was not threatened in the bill. And an attorney for Home School Legal Defense Association Scott Woodruff was adamant that he was not concerned about the provision.
“The idea (the bill)…. would make the criminal penalties of (state firearm code) apply to home schoolers with guns in their home is supported, at best, only by a long, thin string of assumptions and implications,” he wrote.
But House members were flooded with emails and social media messages expressing concerns, putting the bills’ chances of passing without being altered at risk.
Koenig said Wednesday that the ability to own a gun was not threatened by his bill.
“I don’t know that it was a problem, but this definitely makes it a lot stronger,” he said. “Anytime we can clarify something in statute, then we make sure that interpretation is stronger.”
The bill applies the existing homeschool statute to particular sections of state law — avoiding applying the definition of a “home school” to the state code that prohibits firearms on school grounds.
The legislation approved Wednesday night expanded beyond virtual schools to include changes such as connecting funding for K-12 tax-credit scholarships to state aid for public schools’ transportation. This is current state law, but Koenig’s bill separated the two.
The bill also exempts Warsaw School District from taking a vote to reauthorize the district’s current four-day school week. If Koenig’s bill passes, school districts that have switched to a four-day week in charter counties or cities with at least 30,000 residents will have to hold a vote to continue with an abbreviated week.
Similar provisions are included in amendments to Koenig’s bill filed by House members. Fifty-three amendments have already been filed on Koenig’s bill in the House.
House Majority Leader Jon Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican, told reporters on Monday that he would prefer to pass the Senate’s version of Koenig’s bill but there was not a guarantee to do so.
— NGorhamA4S4 💫🇺🇸💫 (@NGorhamA4S4) April 6, 2024
Utah governor signs bill encouraging teachers to carry guns in classrooms
Republican Spencer Cox approves legislation for firearms training that critics say incentivizes educators to bring guns on to campus
The Utah governor, Spencer Cox, has signed a controversial bill aimed at encouraging teachers to carry a gun or keep one in their classroom.
The legislation will fund annual training for teachers on how to defend classrooms against active threats, as well as safely use firearms in a school setting.
Michelle Oldroyd learns techniques during a free tactical training class for school teachers at a gun range in Hurricane, UT on June 6, 2018. Michelle is 53 years old, teaches 9th Grade, and shoots a Walther PPS.
The proposal builds upon a state law enacted last year that waived concealed-carry permit fees for teachers.
Taken together, the laws are aimed at incentivizing teachers to bring guns into their classrooms – a move that has been hotly contested by gun violence prevention advocates, who argue that more guns on campus does not equal better safety for students.
Utah is one of 16 states that allow school employees to carry guns in K-12 schools. State law currently allows people to carry firearms on public-school property if they have permission from school administrators or hold a concealed firearm permit, which requires a criminal background check and completion of a firearms familiarity course.
The new bill does not prevent teachers with a permit who are not involved in the program from carrying a gun on school grounds. Those who participate in the training program will be shielded from civil liability if they use the gun at school while “acting in good faith” and without gross negligence, according to the bill.
School districts also cannot be held liable if a participating teacher fires their weapon.
“We worked closely with the department of public safety to make sure we have all the necessary safeguards in place in this bill,” Cox’s office said in a statement. “We all want schools where our kids are safe and can thrive.”
Utah’s public schools have not seen any mass shootings on campus. But two students were killed and one was injured after they were shot by a then 14-year-old in a January 2022 shooting outside a high school. The next year, several schools were the targets of automated hoax calls reporting an active shooter.
The bill would cost the department of public safety about $100,000 annually. County sheriffs would appoint instructors to lead the course, which participating teachers would be expected to retake each year.
Some Utah educators, including retired public school teacher Stan Holmes, voiced concern that the half-day training would not be enough to prepare teachers to respond properly in an emergency. Holmes, a US army veteran, said he had taken a tactical training course offered by the state, which he referred to as “a joke”.
“I left unconvinced that all graduates could handle themselves in a crisis situation,” he said. “Parents of children in Utah schools have no reason to trust that the so-called educator-protector program trainings would be any better.”
Teachers participating in the program who choose not to carry the gun on their person would be required to store it in a biometric gun safe, which uses unique biological data such as a fingerprint or retinal scan to verify the owner’s identity. They would have to pay out-of-pocket for the storage device.
Jaden Christensen, a volunteer with the Utah chapter of Moms Demand Action, said in a statement published by Everytown for Gun Safety: “Let’s keep our educators centered on what they do best – teaching. We should be working on finding ways to keep guns out of the wrong hands and out of the classroom – not inviting them into our schools.
“It’s shameful that this new law will do the opposite.”
HB 119 is one of two bills that focuses on how to navigate campus-safety guns being in the hands and classrooms of teachers. The other, HB 84, which was signed on 13 March, updates the parameters for storing a gun in a classroom and creates a protocol for teachers, staff and parents to report concerning or threatening behavior.
In a statement to the Guardian, Cox’s office referred to HB 84 as a “significant piece of a multi-pronged effort to increase school security”.
Gun Control Advocates Urge Utah Gov. to Deny Funds to Train Teachers for Armed Classroom Defense
Gun control activists are urging Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) to reject a bill that would fund training for teachers who want to be armed for classroom defense.
The Associated Press reported that gun control activists gathered at the Utah State Capitol on Monday to pressure Cox to reject the funding bill.
On March 1, 2024, Breitbart News noted that two pieces of legislation — one aimed at arming teachers in particular and the second at allowing school employees other than teachers to be armed — passed the legislature and were headed to Cox’s desk.
The bill aimed at teachers puts in place funding to provide free training for teachers with concealed carry permits who want to be able to defend their students and themselves in the event of an attack.
Christy Belt, Timpanogos Academy fifth-grade teacher, engages in an exercise, designed to help teachers make good decisions in active shooter incidents, at the Utah County Sheriff’s Office shooting range on June 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
The AP pointed out that legislation provides a “free…annual program training them to defend their classrooms against active threats and to safely store, carry, load and unload firearms in a school setting.”
The bill sponsor, State Rep. Tim Jimenez (R), responded to criticism by stressing that the goal of armed teachers is to provide a “strictly defensive” response to would-be school attackers.
Gun-Free School Zones & Shootings Statistic (2024 Updated)
Report Highlights:
- There have been 2,646 school shooting incidents in the U.S. since 1966. Of those, 2,205 (94%) occurred after the 1990 School Zone Safety Act (Amended in 1995). (Source)
- There are 1,325 total State Gun Laws per this 2022 report. (Source)
- The Federal government has been enacting Federal Firearm regulations since 1934.
- The correlation between population density and school shootings is more profound in population density than in firearm legislation.
- There is no standard “School shooting” definition in the U.S. The Secret Service defines targeted attacks, while most data includes incidents when a firearm is brandished, fired, or a bullet hits school property.
- There were 238 school shooting incidents during the National Assault Weapons ban, 293 in the decade before, and 347 in the decade after.
- 62% of school shootings (as defined) occurred during non-school hours (1970-2022).
- Firearms were used in 61% of targeted school attacks, and 39% used knives between 2008 & 2017.
On December 30, 1974, Anthony Barbaro walked into Olean High School in NY, killed 3 classmates, and injured 11 with a .30-06 rifle, 12 gauge shotgun, and smoke bombs. For more than 50 years, America’s school shootings have filled headlines around the world.
It’s tragic; people are tired of seeing the senseless loss of innocent lives in educational settings. Despite mounting gun control laws on the Federal and state level, school-related shootings continue to rise (2023 being the highest year yet, with 388 school shootings in only six months). Regardless of political affiliation or thoughts on well-regulated militias and the right to bear arms, one thing is clear; what we’ve been doing for the past forty years isn’t working.
Each school shooting incident in America reflects one thing, children are vulnerable. Schools tend to be easy targets while simultaneously producing mentally ill individuals with an unstoppable intent to harm others.
Unfortunately, we still have a lot to learn about school shootings. There are a lot of unanswered questions. But what we can do is investigate the changes between societal shifts and legislation over the years and spark meaningful conversations about stopping school shootings. Of course, the clock is ticking down to the next horrific headline, so we need to start these meaningful conversations now.
Rantz: Seattle English students told it’s ‘white supremacy’ to love reading, writing
Students in a Seattle English class were told that their love of reading and writing is a characteristic of “white supremacy,” in the latest Seattle Public Schools high school controversy. The lesson plan has one local father speaking out, calling it “educational malpractice.”
As part of the Black Lives Matter at School Week, World Literature and Composition students at Lincoln High School were given a handout with definitions of the “9 characteristics of white supremacy,” according to the father of a student. Given the subject matter of the class, the father found it odd this particular lesson was brought up.
The Seattle high schoolers were told that “Worship of the Written Word” is white supremacy because it is “an erasure of the wide range of ways we communicate with each other.” By this definition, the very subject of World Literature and Composition is racist. It also chides the idea that we hyper-value written communication because it’s a form of “honoring only what is written and even then only what is written to a narrow standard, full of misinformation and lies.” The worksheet does not provide any context for what it actually means.
“I feel bad for any students who actually internalize stuff like this as it is setting them up for failure,” the father explained to the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH.
Everything is ‘white supremacy’ at Seattle Public Schools
The father asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution against his child by Seattle Public Schools. He said the other pieces of the worksheet were equally disturbing.
BLUF
This is not “teaching” in any sense of the word. It is “indoctrination” much like the Chinese Communists in the 1950s or the Hitler Youth of the 1930s. When kids are taught to view the world through a specific ideological lens, changing their thought processes to give them critical thinking skills is nearly impossible.
‘Woke Kindergarten’ Is Working Out About as Well As You Might Expect.
Many schools around the country are doing a poor job in early education. To address that issue, San Francisco educators hired a firm called “Woke Kindergarten” which may not be successful in improving literacy and math scores but is doing a bang-up job of fighting racism.
Woke Kindergarten claims on its website that it’s “a global, abolitionist early childhood ecosystem and visionary creative portal supporting children, families, educators and organizations in their commitment to abolitionist early education and pro-black and queer and trans liberation.”
Don’t ask them what it means. One teacher, Tiger Craven, asked about the program’s objective to “disrupt whiteness.” “What does that mean,” he asked. “I just want to know, what does that mean for a third-grade classroom?”
Good question. Unfortunately, it got him banned from future training sessions.
Woke Kindergarten has sessions on “woke wondering” that sound like the musings of a ten-year-old who asks, “Daddy, why is the sky blue”?
The Woke Kindergarten curriculum shared with schools includes “wonderings,” which pose questions for students, including, “If the United States defunded the Israeli military, how could this money be used to rebuild Palestine?”
In addition, the “woke word of the day,” including “strike,” “ceasefire” and “protest,” offers students a “language of the resistance … to introduce children to liberatory vocabulary in a way that they can easily digest, understand and most importantly, use in their critiques of the system.”
Other “wonderings” include, “If we abolished the police, what else could we do to keep the world safe?” and “If we eradicate borders, how might we build our communities to include and support neighbors from all over the world?”
White House Wants Schools to Gaslight Parents About Guns
The White House wants to enlist school officials to help hoodwink parents about its gun control plans, according to a statement issued last week.
The reason is simple: They want to take advantage of the officials’ credibility, which the White House lacks, especially when it comes to guns.
Teachers and administrators, the White House said in the statement, “can be trusted, credible messengers when it comes to providing guidance on gun violence prevention and safe firearm storage options.”
The new program, which is one of three executive orders Joe Biden issued last week, will be spearheaded by Jill Biden, White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention Director Stefanie Feldman and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.
“This issue matters to the President. It weighs on his heart every day. And he’s not going to stop fighting until we’ve solved it,” Jill Biden said last week while touting the plan at a “Gun Violence Prevention Event,” which was held in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
From a civil rights perspective, the most worrisome portion of the White House plan is a customizable “communications template,” which school officials “can use to engage with parents and families about the importance of safe firearm storage and encourage more people to take preventive action by safely storing firearms.”
The template is designed so school officials can insert the name of the school and their letterhead to make it appear as though the document came from the school and not the White House. In fact, neither the White House nor the Biden-Harris administration are even mentioned in the document.
Dear [INSERT NAME OF SCHOOL OR SCHOOL DISTRICT] Families, Guardians, and Caregivers:
and
Sincerely, [INSERT NAME OF SCHOOL OR SCHOOL DISTRICT ADMINISTRATOR]
The template was accompanied by a letter from DOE Secretary Cardona, which urges school officials to comply with the new White House mandate.
“We encourage all school leaders to consider taking steps to build awareness in your school community about safe firearm storage, such as:
- Share information about safe firearm storage with parents and families in your school communities. You can use the enclosed letter as a resource for parents, families, guardians, and caregivers—as well as teachers and school staff—to help build awareness around safe firearm storage, including what people can do to safely store firearms in their homes and spaces that children may occupy. You can also customize the letter to better meet your community’s needs.
- Partner with other municipal and community leaders to help improve understanding of safe firearm storage and broader gun violence prevention efforts.
- Engage other organizations and partners within your community, such as parent organizations, out-of-school time program leaders, nonprofit agencies, and other community-based youth-serving entities who routinely interact with children, teens, families, guardians, and caregivers, to inform them about the importance of safe firearm storage.
- Integrate information about safe firearm storage into your communications with families, guardians, and caregivers about overall emergency preparedness and school safety.”
Propaganda
There is a lot going on here, and none of it is good.
The White House’s template is classic propaganda, in which a target audience is unaware they are being influenced and unaware of the true source of the message.
It is a psychological operation, or psyop, which targets unsuspecting Americans. Before the Bidens moved into the White House, that wasn’t supposed to happen. Nowadays, it’s become commonplace.
That the White House and its gun control office would publicly propose such a plan proves they do not fear exposure from the legacy media. This, too, is telling. They know who their friends are and don’t worry about repercussions.
School officials will have little choice but to participate in this scam. Secretary Cardona’s letter will see to that.
Joe Biden, or more likely his handlers and puppeteers, have rewritten the rules to further their war on our guns. Now, anything goes, including psyops and other forms of gaslighting and deception.
The White House statement also mentions that faith leaders and law enforcement have credibility in their communities.
There’s little doubt the Biden-Harris administration will make a run at the nation’s clergy next.
A stupid, ignorant populace is easier to control
Public Education’s Alarming New 4th ‘R’: Reversal of Learning.
Call it the big reset – downward – in public education.
The alarming plunge in academic performance during the pandemic was met with a significant drop in grading and graduation standards to ease the pressure on students struggling with remote learning. The hope was that hundreds of billions of dollars of emergency federal aid would enable schools to reverse the learning loss and restore the standards.
It’s as if many of the nation’s 50 million public school students have fallen backwards to a time before rigorous standards and accountability mattered very much.
“I’m getting concerned that, rather than continuing to do the hard work of addressing learning loss, schools will start to accept a new normal of lower standards,” said Amber Northern, who oversees research at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a group that advocates for academic rigor in schools.
The question is—why did the windfall of federal funding do so little to help students catch up?
The political turmoil that rocked universities over the past three months and sparked the resignations of two Ivy League presidents has landed like an unwelcome thud on institutions already struggling to maintain the trust of the American public. For three generations, the national aspiration to “college for all” shaped America’s economy and culture, as most high-school graduates took it for granted that they would earn a degree.
That consensus is now collapsing in the face of massive student debt, underemployed degree-holders and political intolerance on campus.
In the past decade, the percentage of Americans who expressed a lot of confidence in higher education fell from 57% to 36%, according to Gallup. A decline in undergraduate enrollment since 2011 has translated into 3 million fewer students on campus.
Nearly half of parents say they would prefer not to send their children to a four-year college after high school, even if there were no obstacles, financial or otherwise. Two-thirds of high-school students think they will be just fine without a college degree.
The pandemic drove home a sobering realization for a lot of middle-class American families: “College for all” is broken for most.
Arthur Levine, president emeritus of Columbia Teachers College and author of “The Great Upheaval: Higher Education’s Past, Present and Uncertain Future,” compares this moment in post-secondary education to the seismic change that followed the Industrial Revolution. That 19th-century wave of disruption washed over schools designed to meet the needs of a sectarian, agricultural society and transformed higher education into a sprawling system of community colleges, land-grant universities and graduate schools.
Bill would require Alaska schools to have trusted adults carry handguns on campuses
n an effort to ensure that Alaska school districts enlist qualified adults to carry concealed guns for the protection of students and educators, State Sen. Shelley Hughes has filed a bill entitled, “The Safe Schools Act.”
Senate Bill 173 aims to deter active shooting tragedies from occurring in Alaska’s K-12 schools.
According to Hughes, she was inspired to file the bill after being approached by a retired teacher who previously worked at Bethel High School when a tragic shooting occurred on Feb. 19, 1997. That day, two people were killed, and two others injured when 16-year-old student Evan Ramsey arrived at the school with a shotgun. Ramsey shot and killed 15-year-old Josh Palacios and Principal Ron Edwards, before surrendering to police.
“If we do nothing, it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when,” Hughes said upon filing her bill. “This is a critical conversation, and it is time for critical decision-making. If we want to prevent the deaths of school children in Alaska, we need to act. If we wait to address this matter until after precious children have died, what a dreadful shame and inexcusable mistake that will be.”
“Our students deserve every opportunity to participate in our education system without fear of losing their lives,” Hughes added.
According to K-12 Shooting Database, there were 346 shooting incidents in 2023 resulting in 249 victims either wounded or killed. Over the past five years, the number of school shootings has skyrocketed with 1,073 students and staff being wounded or killed nationwide.
“Like you, over the years I’ve watched with horror the news reports of shootings at schools: Columbine, Parkland, Uvalde,” Hughes said. “I’ve wondered too like you, what if there had been intervention to help that person? But I’ve also asked, what if the school had been better prepared? What if that school campus had permitted concealed carry? Maybe the incident would not have occurred at all.”
Hughes emphasized that every second, every minute counts when a person begins to shoot in a school building.
“Due to distance, when law enforcement response in Alaska can take from a few minutes to a few hours, or with inclement weather in remote communities, even longer, our children, our teachers and staff are sitting ducks,” she noted. “Our officers do their best to respond quickly but Alaska is a state of mammoth proportions. We need well-trained individuals on-site who can respond immediately.”
Current Alaska law does not prevent superintendents and school boards from setting policy to allow concealed carry, but none have done so.
Hughes bill would change this by requiring schools to “grant one or more persons who meet the requirements” of the law to “carry a concealed handgun on the person on school grounds for defensive use.” The only exception is when no qualified person can be found.
School districts would also need to develop a written policy establishing the standards and requirements for conceal carry in schools, and document and fund firearm training and education for those who conceal carry in schools.
Hughes said she hopes her bill will give communities a path forward to begin assigning concealed carry duty to “trusted, stable, respected, and well-trained individuals.”
“Our students deserve every opportunity to participate in our education system without fear of losing their lives,” Hughes added.
The bill is set for its first public hearing on Jan. 24 at 1:30 p.m. in the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee. Testimony at this initial meeting will be by invitation only.
Checking the training requirements, this is set up for retired West Virginia state police officers and deputy sheriffs, far more than for veterans
W.Va. Senate passes bill to allow armed “WV Guardians” in schools
The West Virginia Senate passed Senate Bill 143, creating the West Virginia Guardian Program….
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WTAP) – West Virginia lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow veterans and some retired law enforcement officers to provide armed security in public schools.
The West Virginia Senate passed Senate Bill 143, creating the West Virginia Guardian Program, on Friday.
The bill allows county boards of education in West Virginia to contract with honorably discharged veterans, former state troopers, former sheriff’s deputies, or former federal law enforcement officers to provide public safety and security on public school grounds and buildings.
The bill would not grant arrest authority to WV Guardians but would allow them to carry concealed weapons on school property.
Lead Sponsor Senator Eric Tarr (R – Putnam, Dist. 4) said the bill was informed by conversations with veterans. “This was brought to me by some retired military individuals who were in special forces and had concerns over school shootings that are happening across the country and said that we need people in our schools who are trained to run at a gun in an instant when it’s necessary,” Tarr said.
The bill was introduced last year, when it passed the senate but did not become law. SB 143 will now be considered by the House of Delegates.