As In The Beginning--Christians must be involved in the schools--The Old Deluder Act that started the first schools
"It being one chief project of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures, as in former times by keeping them in an unknown tongue, so in these latter times by persuading from the use of tongues, that so that at least the true sense and meaning of the original might be clouded and corrupted with false glosses of saint-seeming deceivers; and to the end that learning may not be buried in the grave of our forefathers, in church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors.
It is therefore ordered that every township in this jurisdiction, after the Lord hath increased them to fifty households shall forthwith appoint one within their town to teach all such children as shall resort to him to write and read, whose wages shall be paid either by the parents or masters of such children, or by the inhabitants in general, by way of supply, as the major part of those that order the prudentials of the town shall appoint; provided those that send their children be not oppressed by paying much more than they can have them taught for in other towns.
And it is further ordered, that when any town shall increase to the number of one hundred families or householders, they shall set up a grammar school, the master thereof being able to instruct youth so far as they may be fitted for the university, provided that if any town neglect the performance hereof above one year that every such town shall pay 5 pounds to the next school till they shall perform this order. "
It is time folks for the Body of Christ to take the premiere fighting position they did as said in the above The Old Deluder Act. Below is a re-print of an earlier article from a great fighter for our children today- Mrs. Donna Garner.
Losing Our Right To Express Our Opinions"
by Donna Garner
9.23.21
Two days ago FoxNews and other media highlighted an incident in the Ft. Worth School District in which a high-school student was suspended for expressing his opinion that homosexuality is wrong. (I have posted the article at the bottom of this e-mail.)
How did we get to this point in America where our First Amendment rights are being shattered?
What I have attempted to do in this report is to piece together various articles that show the clear progression which has occurred in our country under the Obama administration.
The following articles provide sufficient documentation to prove that the Obama administration’s Common Core Standards (CCS) are meant to promote homosexuality in our nation’s public schools.
Please scan through each article to track how this agenda is being implemented widely in the 46 states that have committed to adopt the CCS.
Then toward the end of this compilation, please read two articles that give the latest alarming data on the spread of HIV/AIDS and other STD’s among the homosexual population, particularly between the ages of 13 and 24 years.
“85 % of all HIV cases among young adults and adolescents were caused by homosexual activities and/or drug use…Among males diagnosed with HIV infection from 2005-2008, 70% were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact. The percentage of diagnosed HIV infections attributed to male-to-male sexual contact was even larger (85%) among males aged 13 to 24 years.”
*It is possible that a few links in this report are no longer accessible, but they were when I wrote the original articles.
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http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=99560
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Sunday, May 31, 2009
WorldNetDaily Exclusive
'Gay' activist to oversee public classroom 'safety'
Homosexual group founder handed federal Education Department post
Posted: May 29, 2009
11:45 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
WorldNetDaily
The founder of the homosexual activist group GLSEN, which promotes homosexual clubs in high schools, middle schools and grade schools and is the driving force behind the annual "Day of Silence" celebration of homosexuality in many districts, has been handed a federal appointment where he will be responsible for overseeing "safety" in the nation's public schools.
Linda Harvey of Mission America, which educates people on anti-Christian trends in the nation, said it is nothing more than a "tragedy" for an open homosexual who has "had an enormously detrimental impact on the climate in our schools" to be in such a position.
The appointment of Kevin Jennings was posted – with little fanfare – on a government list of federal jobs recently. He was named by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan to be the Assistant Deputy Secretary in the Office of Safe Schools.
He previously worked to raise money for the presidential campaign for President Obama.
In the new post, he'll be working on "safe schools" programs for educational institutions nationwide, said Harvey.
"In his own writings and books listed on the GLSEN [Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network] Website, I've reported, Kevin Jennings has given tacit nods of approval to sex between young teens and adults," Harvey told WND. "In addition to that, the writings and books, many of which I've read and are incredibly graphic, seem to normalize early teen same-sex sexual behaviors."
"It is unconscionable. This is educational malpractice and child corruption," she said.
On Jennings' own website, a biographical sketch talks about how his work as an activist started when he used a school assembly in a district where he was a teacher to announce his homosexuality.
He soon started the GLSEN activist group and, the report said, "has spent the last 12 years building GLSEN into a national organization at the forefront of a bold movement that now works with over 3,000 Gay-Straight Alliances."
But a blogger who calls himself Beetle Blogger cited another statement from Jennings about his early promotion of homosexuality in schools.
The blogger quoted Jennings saying, "We immediately seized upon the opponent's calling card – safety – and explained how homophobia represents a threats to students' safety by creating a climate where violence, name-calling, health problems, and suicide are common. Titling our report, 'Making Schools Safe for Gay and Lesbian Youth,' we automatically threw our opponents onto the defensive and stole their best line of attack. This … short-circuited their arguments and left them back-peddling from day one."
Harvey said the appointment really is not surprising, given the pro-homosexual position adopted by Obama and Jennings' fund-raising for the Democrat.
But she warned when "safe" is combined with "LGBT" as is happening at the federal agency, "What you have is the silencing of any conservative opinion. That's what they consider safety."
"This is an outrageous 'in-your-face, take this, we don't care about your version of safety' for kids," she said.
She also cited the introduction in Congress of H.R. 2262 by U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., which is "to amend the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act" to include pro-homosexual language that could use the issue of bullying to force indoctrination sessions for both students and teachers.
The proposed training would relate to "real or perceived" sexual orientation and gender identity, she said.
"How does this work? Well, let's look at an example from a state that already passed a similar law. In Iowa, teachers in some school districts endure the most outrageous in-service training imaginable. The Council Bluffs, Iowa, school district, Loess Hills Area Education Agency 13, gives a two-day teacher training course called 'How to Make My Classroom Safe for LGBT Students.' As part of the training, 'Videos will be used from Anderson Cooper 360, 'Will & Grace,' and several popular film segments like 'Brokeback Mountain' and 'Latter Days,''" Harvey said.
"This man's work [Jennings] and his agenda are exactly why we've seen the radical pro-homosexuality curriculum pushed across California. He is now more strongly positioned to implement his agenda nationwide," said Karen England, executive director of Capitol Resource Institute.
In Duncan's announcement appointing Jennings, he said GLSEN "works to make schools safe for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity."
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http://blogs.cbn.com/thebrodyfile/archive/2008/12/16/obamas-pick-for-education-secretary-pushed-for-gay-high-school.aspx
Dec. 16, 2008:
by David Brody
Obama’s new pick for Education secretary is Arne Duncan, head of Chicago Public Schools. He’s been pushing for Chicago to start their first gay high school. Not kidding...
The Chicago Public Schools' first high school designed for gay, lesbian and transgender teens is among 20 new schools recommended to the school board today by CPS Chief Arne Duncan...
"If you look at national studies, you see gay and lesbian students with high dropout rates...Studies show they are disproportionately homeless," Duncan said. "I think there is a niche there we need to fill."
...Opponents have called the move a misuse of public funds. At a recent public hearing on the proposal, some gay rights advocates have said the move would segregate these students and said the district should work more on fostering acceptance by mainstream students, teachers and other school officials.
Look, I know how this will be spun. Some will say this isn’t really a “gay high school.” It’s really more a safe place and an educational environment that will cater towards gays and lesbians. But folks, let’s be real here. It’s a high school for gay students. Plain and simple.
While the idea of a gay high school may be troubling for some, the problem for Obama is that a pick like this doesn’t portray him in such a centrist way. It gives the impression that he’s nominating wild liberals to his Cabinet.
Arne Duncan may have the total package and be a great Education secretary, but pushing ideas like a gay high school will make social conservatives wonder what he will be pushing next.
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"Hard To Believe"
by Donna Garner
10.22.09
I know it is hard to believe that such perversion exists in our country, and we all want to just look away and pretend it is not there. However, now that Kevin Jennings is the "Safe Schools Czar" in the U. S. Dept. of Education and he has helped to fund a bizarre "Act Up" exhibit currently at Harvard University, we cannot continue to ignore the issue.
The good people at MassResistance (MR) have worked to expose this kind of perversion for many years; and they have battled Kevin Jennings' organization called Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN, founded by Kevin Jennings) as its tentacles have reached into hundreds of public schools by way of "Gay Clubs."
The link posted below by MR indicates how despicable and perverted this Act Up exhibit is, and an actual program from the exhibit clearly shows Kevin Jennings' name as a proud donor.
I am sure that MR hates to be the organization whose job it is to expose the rest of us to Kevin Jennings' world; but MR knows that the common, ordinary citizen would never believe MR's accusations unless photographic evidence were produced. (America did not believe how corrupt ACORN was either until James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles had the courage to film the evidence.)
Please make sure that only mature adults see this link and keep this information away from your children. I suggest you merely glance at the Act Up displays very quickly so that you can verify for yourself what real perversion looks like, confirm that Kevin Jennings' name is on the Act Up exhibit program, and then do everything in your power to get Kevin Jennings fired from the U. S. Dept. of Education.
If you parents stand back and allow your children to be subjected to Kevin Jennings and the programs he places into your children's schools, you yourself are contributing to child abuse!
WARNING: Several photos are offensive and pornographic
http://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen/09d/harvard_actup/index.html
Parents who care about their children also need to make a donation to MassResistance to help them continue their difficult work:
https://www.massresistance.us/cc_donations.html
Another organization that has been battling the homosexual agenda in this country is Americans for Truth whose president is Peter LaBarbera. AFT has also done much to uncover Kevin Jennings and to warn parents that their public school children are in danger with Jennings in control of school programs and educator training. You can donate to AFT at the following link:
http://americansfortruth.com/donate/
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[Obama’s Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings (homosexual, founder of Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network from 1995-2008) has let the cat out of the bag. The Common Core Standards that are supposedly meant to raise the academic achievement of all our public school children are really a ploy to infuse social justice, diversity, multiculturalism, and social engineering into our public school children’s lives. This is exactly why so many parents fear national standards, national tests, national curriculum, and a national database. According to this article, their fears are justified. --- Donna Garner]
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rick_hess_straight_up/2010/02/bait_and_switch_on_common_standards.html
Bait and Switch on Common Standards?
By Rick Hess on February 19, 2010 7:05 AM
We've been told time and again that the current common standards push is guided by the mantra "fewer, clearer, and higher" standards. That's a good thing, since efforts to craft expansive standards tend to crumble under their own weight. Recall what happened to the national history standards panel back in the 1990s, when disputes over who and what should be in and out led the U.S. Senate to resoundingly reject its handiwork.
I've previously written about why it is so tough in the U.S. to craft standards outside of math and language arts that don't devolve into culture clashes, or piles of mush (and even in math and language arts, we know that good standards are no picnic). This has made the "fewer, clearer, and higher" mantra most welcome and suggested that advocates have learned from past mistakes.
So, imagine my surprise when I read this interview with Secretary Duncan's anti-bullying chief Kevin Jennings in the February Phi Delta Kappan magazine.
Jennings, who directs the Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, first tells PDK editor Joan Richardson that no student should worry about "find[ing] something written on your locker or if you're going to be called names in the hallway...Then we also need to make sure that all kids feel like they belong." Fair enough. Jennings elaborates, "Just as we have standards around academic goals, we need standards around school climate...And we need a data system so parents know what kind of environment a kid will encounter in a school." Well, okay.
And then it gets weird. Phi Delta Kappan asks, "So, you want to include this in the Common Core standards?"
Jennings says, "Yes. If we don't get this one right, the other ones don't matter. Right now, they're really focused on the academic standards. This one is much newer. We have to build understanding of the concept first." He went on: "We're not first up to bat, and I'm not troubled by that. The Common Core movement is right to start on the things where there's already widespread agreement. We're way down the road."
Seriously? A high-ranking administration official is telling us that the common standards being financed by $350 million in Race to the Top funds "start" with academics but will eventually encompass "school climate" standards too? Jennings raises further red flags when he concedes that we have not determined "the definition of school climate," though he says it "does not include air conditioning" but does include kids feeling "emotionally safe." Maybe it's my cynical streak, but that sounds like a summons to social agendas, culture clashes, and political fisticuffs. In other words, the stuff that sinks standards.
Mr. Jennings' remarks raise concerns about the old bait-and-switch. If he is speaking for Secretary Duncan and the President, they seem to have been less than truthful so far when discussing their vision for common standards. If not, a President seeking bipartisan comity might want to encourage Mr. Jennings not to suggest that the Department is covertly planning to drive a massive 48-state effort into a familiar ditch...or to turn it into a Trojan Horse.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/26/education/26bully.html?_r=2&ref=education
Help Stop Bullying, U.S. Tells Educators
Published: October 25, 2010
In a 10-page letter to be sent on Tuesday to thousands of school districts and colleges, the Department of Education urges the nation’s educators to ensure that they are complying with their responsibilities to prevent harassment, as laid out in federal laws.
The letter is the product of a yearlong review of the federal statutes and case law covering sexual, racial and other forms of harassment, officials said. Issuing the letter took on new urgency in recent weeks because of a string of high-profile cases in which students have committed suicide after enduring bullying by classmates, the officials said.
In one case, Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old Rutgers University freshman, jumped from the George Washington Bridge in an apparent suicide last month, days after his roommate, according to prosecutors, streamed over the Internet his intimate encounter with another man.
The department issued the letter to clarify the legal responsibilities of the authorities in public schools and in colleges and universities under federal laws, the officials said. Certain forms of student bullying might violate federal anti-discrimination law.
“I am writing to remind you that some student misconduct that falls under a school’s anti-bullying policy also may trigger responsibilities under one or more of the federal anti-discrimination laws,” says the letter, signed by Russlynn H. Ali, assistant secretary for civil rights.
According to data collected by the department’s research wing last year, one-third of all students ages 12 to 18 felt that they were being bullied or harassed at school, Ms. Ali said in an interview.
“Folks need to wake up,” Ms. Ali said. “We have a crisis in our schools in which bullying and harassment seems to be a rite of passage, and it doesn’t need to be that way.”
“Harassing conduct may take many forms, including verbal acts and name-calling; graphic and written statements, which may include use of cellphones or the Internet; or other conduct that may be physically threatening, harmful, or humiliating,” the letter says. “Harassment does not have to include intent to harm, be directed at a specific target, or involve repeated incidents. Harassment creates a hostile environment when the conduct is sufficiently severe, pervasive, or persistent so as to interfere with or limit a student’s ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or opportunities offered by a school.”
Harassment based on race, color, national origin, sex or disability it violates the federal civil rights laws, the letter said.
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“Open Letter to Parents, Legislators, School Personnel: Which Policy Are You Going To Promote?”
by Donna Garner
11.7.10
Parents, legislators, school personnel, and the public, you need to be gearing up to take a stand about the type of policies and curriculum school districts should promote to address the bullying issue because the Obama administration has co-opted this issue to drive its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender agenda right straight into every school in America.
On October 26, 2010, the U. S. Department of Education with homosexual Kevin Jennings in charge of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools initiative sent a 10-page LGBT-supportive document to “all public and private schools, colleges, and universities, including the country’s 15,000 school superintendents.” This document threatens schools, K-16, with litigation and loss of federal funds if the schools do not promote and accept LGBT behavior.
Please read the details of this aggressive initiative as explained in my article posted on EdWeek.org on 10.27.10: http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/opinions_on_education/101979.html
Which approach should legislators and schools develop to address the bullying issue? Which approach would be fair and healthy for all students?
You decide:
(1) The first is my recommendation.
(2) The second recommendation comes from Thomas Schanding, an assistant professor at the University of Houston who chairs the National Association of School Psychologists' Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning (GLBTQ) committee. His approach is explained in an article in the 11.6.10 Houston Chronicle (posted below my recommendations).
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(1) Recommendation from Donna Garner:
On 10.28.10, the Washington Times carried an article that explained the various types of anti-bullying laws being considered and/or passed across the country: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/28/dc-mulls-anti-bullying-law/
Here is the anti-bullying law that the D. C. council is considering: “...place special emphasis on gender-related characteristics, including gender, sexual orientation, gender expressions and gender identity…[examples enumerated by Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN).”
This is what Missouri has passed: "Each district's antibullying policy shall be founded on the assumption that all students need a safe learning environment. Policies shall treat students equally and shall not contain specific lists of protected classes of students who are to receive special treatment. Policies may include age-appropriate differences for schools based on the grade levels at the school. Each such policy shall contain a statement of the consequences of bullying [including] cyberbullying, e-mails as acts of bullying, intimidation and harassment.”
If parents really care about their children, they must get highly involved with their local school districts to fight off the LGBT pressure and intimidation of the U. S. Department of Education.
To do this, parents are going to need alternatives that they can present to their local school districts that would help to diminish the anti-bullying problems that definitely are occuring among students.
As alternatives to curriculum proposed by the LGBT organizations, I encourage schools to develop their own curriculum utilizing:
(1) the True Tolerance website (http://www.truetolerance.org/ ) which is full of good ideas and information.
(2) the Scott & White Worth the Wait® sex education curriculum (http://www.worththewait.org/index.html ). Yes, S&W teaches teen abstinence; but it also contains many student activities that emphasize healthy personal relationships.
Several years ago, I was the writer/researcher for the S&W program; and each of the four notebooks (Grades 6, 7, 8, and High School) begins with an emphasis not on sex education but on establishing healthy personal relationships based upon positive personal character traits.
In other words, the foundation for the S&W program is to help students to value other people and to honor their personhood. This is exactly the kind of curriculum schools should present to help prevent bullying.
The activities found in S&W help students to recognize each person’s uniqueness and to treat others with dignity and worth. The activities help students to learn to identify positive personal character traits in others and then to learn ways to infuse those traits into their own lives.
Because the units are stand-alone, educators are free to pick and choose the age-appropriate activities that emphasize strong, healthy relationships. The activities are fun, and they increase students’ abilities to communicate effectively with one another.
To view sample lessons of the Scott & White Worth the Wait® curriculum, please go to the following links, allowing time for each to load.
Grade 6: Go to Lesson 1, “Positive Personal Character Traits and Emotional Needs”: http://www.worththewait.org/p/pdf/WTW_6thcurrsample.pdf
Grade 7: Go to Lesson 2A&B, a unit on friendships, emotions, and making good choices: http://www.worththewait.org/p/pdf/WTW_7thcurrsample.pdf
Grade 8: Notice the lessons on emotional needs, peer pressure, relationships and marriage: http://www.worththewait.org/p/pdf/WTW_8thcurrsample.pdf
High School: Notice the Table of contents and how many lessons there are on character development and developing healthy relationships: http://www.worththewait.org/p/pdf/WTW_HScurrsample.pdf
High School: Go to Section 5, “Considering Health Risks”: http://www.worththewait.org/p/pdf/section%205.pdf
High School: Notice Section 8, “Developing Healthy Relationships”: http://www.worththewait.org/p/pdf/section%208.pdf
If parents (and the public) are going to go to their school officials and object to the USDOE’s push to get all students to accept LGBT activities as normal, parents must be able to offer alternatives to school officials. I hope that the above-mentioned alternatives will equip parents (and the public) with the ideas and materials they need to build a strong defense for their children.
Donna Garner
Wgarner1@hot.rr.com
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(2) Thomas Schanding’s recommendation:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7282868.html
Professor tries to get to the root of bullying
Study finds gender roles can be behind harassment toward the LGBT community
By CINDY GEORGE
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Nov. 6, 2010, 8:32PM
Torment from his classmates drove Cy-Fair ISD middle-schooler Asher Brown to kill himself in September, his parents say. The 13-year-old's mother and stepfather say he was "bullied to death," partly because of his homosexuality. Physical and verbal harassment, including bullying, is routinely experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, according to a national school climate survey from the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. It's not just one's espoused or perceived sexuality, but gender expression that may cause LGBT children to be targeted by bullies, said Thomas Schanding, an assistant professor in the University of Houston's school psychology program. He also chairs the National Association of School Psychologists' GLBTQ committee, which focuses on the issues faced by gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth in public and private schools. Schanding spoke recently with Chronicle reporter Cindy George about bullying.
Q: What is bullying?
A: It could be the snide comment, the name calling, the texts, the post on the wall of your social media. It's almost always evolving because kids find new ways to push buttons. It's cyber-bullying, verbal harassment, physical harassment, physical assault and sexual harassment.
Q: How did you get interested in studying LGBT bullying?
A: Since I got into graduate school at the University of Southern Mississippi. When I was there, I worked at (a high school in the Hattiesburg, Miss., area) and, at one point, we had the issue of a few girls who came out as bisexual. There were a lot of fights and a lot of harassment surrounding those girls, from guys saying: "Well, I can turn you straight — you don't need a girl." And then the girls who were dating would break up and date other girls and they would start fighting. It was just kind of a mess. When I tried to talk to the principal at the school, he said: "This is not for us to address," and that we weren't going to deal with those types of things. I was interested in how schools are dealing with this and what we really could do. There aren't as many researchers out there that really get into this because it is really kind of an invisible topic within schools.
Q: Describe your research on the issue.
A: I have a handout that was accepted for the Helping Children At Home and School third edition. It's a guide for parents about how to support a gay or lesbian child. Another project that I'm doing right now is looking at the intersection of biological sex, gender identity and sexual orientation and which of those factors seems to put someone more at risk for being victimized, having self-esteem issues or school problems. Some of the research that I've looked at shows that it may not necessarily be your sexual orientation that may set you up for rejection from peers or bullying, but that it may be that you're not conforming to your gender role.
Q: How are you conducting your study?
A: One of the measures that I used was created by a researcher in Boston - a conformity to masculine norms inventory and a conformity to feminine norms inventory. It's a survey that basically gives you a score. It's my proxy for how you are gender conformity-wise. This study is looking at 12- to 19-year-old students. I also ask them about physical harassment and assault. It's a crude measure of how much victimization and bullying that they might have experienced.
Q: Do adults bully these youth?
A: Yes. This would take the form of an adult telling you "You're not man enough" or "You're too manly" if you're a girl. I've heard stories of teachers who've told students: "This is not how you're supposed to be" and "This is what boys do" and "Don't do this."
Q: What should adults - teachers, parents or administrators - do about a kid being ostracized because of gender identity or sexual orientation?
A: I would hope an adult would take a stand for that kid, confront the aggressor to give support to the kid who's being victimized and to tell that other kid that's not acceptable behavior. Also, make sure school officials are aware so they can go back and think about the school's policies on bullying.
Q: What if you're the target of LGBT bullying?
A: They need to know that adults will support them and that they can go to them to talk. That was one of the findings out of the GLSEN survey: 62 percent who were harassed don't even report that harassment to adults and of those who do, 34 percent said the adults don't do anything about it. That perception needs to change so that kids know if I do tell you, things are going to change, it is going to be addressed and I can be safe here at school.
Q: What about the bullies?
A: For the perpetrators of that violence, they need to have some type of intervention as well. The problem is that there aren't a whole lot of intervention programs out there that necessarily show success, so we need to have more research in that area and more discussion about how we change these attitudes and deter someone from engaging in this sort of aggression towards others.
Q: What's your advice to the parent of a child who is being bullied because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity?
A: If this is occurring at the school, they have to get in touch with the school and they have to take a stand with the administration and say: "You will make sure my child is in a safe, respectful environment because that is their right."
cindy.george@chron.com
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“Bullying -- an Agenda”
by Donna Garner
10.26.10
For some time, many of us have been warning America about Kevin Jennings who was Obama and Arne Duncan’s choice at the U. S. Department of Education for the position of Assistant Deputy Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools.
Jennings is the founder of Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and was the director until 2008. GLSEN is the organization that was responsible for transporting public school students during the school day (March 25, 2000) to a conference where they were taught about “fisting.” (To find out what this disgusting term means, please go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisting .) GLSEN is also the organization behind the Day of Silence in the public schools.
Kevin Jennings promotes homosexuality in K-12 and is doing so under the guise of the “bullying” curriculum that is permeating our public schools.
Today’s article (posted below) shows how the Obama administration is deliberately taking the Title IX federal law and distorting the verbiage to include gender identity.
Title IX does not include gender identity; it says that harassment based on race, color, national origin, sex, or disability violates the federal civil rights laws. The Obama administration, however, has taken it upon themselves to include lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender under the word “sex.”
Now the Obama administration is threatening public school educators with the USDOE’s misinterpretation of the Title IX law and making educators fear prosecution unless they promote the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) lifestyle as normal.
Yes, all students should be taught to treat others with dignity; and bullying is a terrible problem. But forcing students to accept a perverse lifestyle that leads students into sexually transmitted diseases and early death is not something that schools should be advocating.
Tolerance is a good thing to teach students, but educators should not be intimidated into forcing students to accept perversity.
Please go to my article entitled “What Is the Centers for Disease Control?” published on 10.23.10 in which I lay out the disturbing data on the increase of HIV among young men ages 13 to 24 years:
From 2005-2008…Most (74%) diagnoses of HIV infection in adults and adolescents were in males. Among males diagnosed with HIV infection from 2005-2008, 70% were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact. The percentage of diagnosed HIV infections attributed to male-to-male sexual contact was even larger (85%) among males aged 13 to 24 years. http://www.educationnews.org/breaking_news/health/101841.html )
Knowing that the Obama administration is sending its 10-page LGBT-supportive document to “all public and private schools, colleges, and universities, including the country’s 15,000 school superintendents” should justifiably make concerned parents furious and should give them an extra reason to get out and vote on Nov. 2, 2010.
We simply must send the liberal Democrats home and replace them with conservative candidates who honor traditional marriage, healthy lifestyles, and the right of parents to rear their children to believe in normal sexual relations within the sanctity of marriage.
Once we have achieved victory on Nov. 2, 2010, we can turn our efforts to sending Obama, his appointees, his czars, and his administration back home in 2012.
Donna Garner
Wgarner1@hot.rr.com
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http://www.keennewsservice.com/2010/10/26/fed-to-schools-law-requires-actions-against-bullying/
By Dana Rudolph on October 26, 2010
The U.S. Department of Education is issuing guidance to school officials today (October 26), reminding them that federal law requires schools to take action against bullying—including gender-based and sexual harassment of LGBT students.
This is the first time the department has detailed the responsibilities educators have to protect LGBT students against such harassment, which is forbidden by Title IX and enforced by the department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Title IX prohibits discrimination “based on sex” in federally funded programs.
“We think this could not be any more timely or important,” said Russlynn Ali, Assistant Secretary for OCR, at a press briefing Monday. “If students don’t feel safe in school, they simply cannot learn.”
The announcement comes after widespread media coverage in September and October of a string of bullying-related suicides by LGBT students or those perceived to be. But it also fulfills a promise to issue such guidance –a promise made by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in early August at the department’s first-ever Bullying Prevention Summit.
The 10 pages of guidance make clear that, although current laws enforced by OCR do not explicitly address harassment based on sexual orientation, they do prohibit sexual harassment and gender-based harassment directed at LGBT students or those perceived to be.
The approach is similar to that taken by the administration elsewhere. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in July issued guidance explaining how gender and disability discrimination protections may cover gender-identity discrimination or discrimination based on real or perceived HIV/AIDS status—even though the Fair Housing Act (FHA) does not explicitly cover sexual orientation- or gender identity-based housing discrimination.
The U.S. Justice Department also intervened in January in the case of a New York teen who was bullied and physically hurt for being effeminate. Justice Department lawyers argued that the federal law against gender-based discrimination also applied to gender expression. In an out-of-court settlement, the school district agreed to pay the boy $50,000, legal fees, and the cost of therapy.
Tuesday’s guidance is being issued in the form of a “Dear Colleague” letter from Ali to administrators at all public and private schools, colleges, and universities, including the country’s 15,000 school superintendents. It reminds them of their obligations to protect students from discrimination based on sex (Title IX), race, color, or national origin (Title VI), and disability (Section 504 and Title II), all statutes enforced by OCR.
The Department also plans to hold workshops around the country in early 2011 to train educators about their obligations and the resources available to help them.
Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) at the Department of Education, said at the press briefing that they would also be conducting a grassroots campaign to inform educators and others through community-based groups and the Web site Bullyinginfo.org.
If schools violate the anti-discrimination laws enforced by OCR, said Ali, the Department could withdraw all federal funds or place conditions upon them. She noted, however, that the Department has not done so with any school district in the last decade, for any type of civil rights violation, “because they usually come into compliance during negotiation.”
She also noted that the Department has not received any complaints in recent years on LGBT harassment. But Jennings suggested the lack of complaints may have been “because people have not seen federal authorities as a receptive audience” and because of the lack of a federal civil rights law that includes sexual orientation.
The guidance is the latest in a series of Department of Education moves to address school bullying—moves initiated even before the recent suicides. In addition to the August 2010 Summit, the Department in 2009 formed a federal task force on bullying, with representatives from the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services (HHS), Agriculture, Defense, and Interior.
The Department also announced October 4 the awarding of $36 million in grants to 11 states from a new Safe and Supportive Schools program. The states must survey students, family, and staff about school safety issues, including bullying, and direct grant money at the problems where students say there is the biggest need.
It has also worked with HHS on a Stop Bullying Now campaign that is being expanded from middle school students to elementary school students.
And early next year, the White House plans to host a conference to raise awareness about bullying and harassment and share resources for students, parents, educators, and others.
Two bills in Congress, however, seek to provide greater protection for LGBT students, beyond bullying that is based on sexual harassment or gender stereotyping. The Student Nondiscrimination Act (SNDA) would prohibit discrimination—including harassment—on the basis of real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity in any program receiving federal funds. The Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA) would require schools receiving federal funds to implement and report on LGBT-inclusive anti-bullying programs. Versions of both bills are still pending in House and Senate committees.
Federal departments and their employees are prohibited by law from lobbying Congress about specific legislation, but Ali said Monday that the Department supports the goals of both bills. She said that, as the Department works to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the major act guiding educational policy, “we will certainly use all of the policy tools within our disposal to try and prevent this kind of harassment from occurring.”
She noted that the guidance issued Tuesday is “about using the tools within our disposal now.”
Jennings said the new guidance was the first step to letting people know that, “in this administration, we plan to apply the letter of the law to the fullest extent of the law in order to extend the greatest level of protections humanly possible to LGBT students.”
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http://www.educationnews.org/index.php?news=105680
The Obama Administration’s Bullying Agenda
09/01/2010 10:34:00 Henry W. Burke
Henry W. Burke - In three articles written during October and November, Donna Garner predicted that the U.S. Department of Education would use their bullying agenda to promote homosexual rights. (Donna Garner is an experienced Texas teacher who writes extensively on education issues.)
Sure enough, the U.S. Justice Department went into a high school in Silver Spring, MD on Tuesday, 1.04.11, and told the students, “If you have been targeted for harassment or bullying because of your sexual orientation, because of your gender identity or expression, or simply because your classmates see you as different, I am here to tell you that the Civil Rights Division will not stand for it.” (CNSNews.com, 1.05.11).
This should not surprise us. Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools, is an avowed homosexual and founder of Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). He is promoting homosexuality in K-12 schools under the guise of the “bullying” curriculum.
The referenced articles are included below.
Henry W. Burke
Omaha, NE
E-mail: hwburke@cox.net
==========================
http://www.cnsnews.com:80/news/article/bullied-school-being-gay-us-justice-depa< /b>
Bullied at School for Being Gay? The U.S. Justice Department 'Won't Stand for It,' High School Students Told
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
By Susan Jones
(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Justice Department went into a public high school on Tuesday with a message for students: If you’re “different,” if you’re gay, and if you’re being bullied – don’t feel alone, don’t be ashamed, and don’t hesitate to call on the federal government for help if your school doesn’t stop the bullying.
“If you have been targeted for harassment or bullying because of your sexual orientation, because of your gender identity or expression, or simply because your classmates see you as different, I am here to tell you that the Civil Rights Division will not stand for it,” Tom Perez, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, told students at James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring, Md.
As part of the event – sponsored by the school’s administration and its gay-straight alliance – Perez played a videotape in which mostly gay and lesbian Civil Rights Division employees (and one who identified herself as intersex) shared their stories of being bullied at school. They also offered supportive messages to those who are being bullied now:
“You do have allies -- we are here for you,” one Civil Rights Division employee says in the video.
“If you can find some hope in the fact that you have a whole community of people out here – people who you’ve never met, and we’ve never met you, but we think of you and care about you and want you to be safe and want you to be happy,” another employee says.
“Being different is cool,” another employee says.
“When I was in grade school and high school, I was bullied. But now I prosecute bullies,” says yet another employee.
“Don’t be ashamed of who you are, just keep on being yourself.”
The video was produced by the Civil Rights Division staff for submission to the national “It Gets Better” Project, which was launched after a string of suicides of homosexual students who reportedly had been bullied. The project is intended to reassure LGBT youth that life gets better after high school.
Following the assistant attorney general’s remarks and the video presentation, students at Blake High School were invited to sign the “It Gets Better” Pledge, which reads as follows: “Everyone deserves to be respected for who they are. I pledge to spread this message to my friends, family and neighbors. I'll speak up against hate and intolerance whenever I see it, at school and at work. I'll provide hope for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and other bullied teens by letting them know that ‘It Gets Better.’"
According to a blog on the Justice Department’s Web site, Perez told students that in addition to the Civil Rights Division bringing cases against bullies, “we also need to address the attitudes and behavior that lead to bullying.”
Perez gave the students examples of how the Justice Department has intervened in cases of bullying – including the case of an openly homosexual teenager in New York who “failed to conform to gender stereotypes.”
A settlement reached in that case requires the school district to, among other things, retain an expert consultant to review policies related to harassment, and train faculty and staff annually on discrimination and harassment.
=====================================================
"Nat. School Bd. Assoc. Upset with USDOE over Bullying Agenda"
12.15.10
On 12.15.10, EducationWeek published an article that indicates the attorney for the National School Boards Association (NSBA) is questioning the over-reaching of the U. S. Department of Education’s “bullying agenda.”
===============================
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/school_law/2010/12/school_boards_group_questions.html
School Boards Group Questions U.S. Guidance on Bullying
By Mark Walsh on December 15, 2010 10:02 AM
The general counsel of the National School Boards Association is warning the U.S. Department of Education that recent federal guidance to schools on bullying and harassment expands the standard of liability for school officials and "will invite misguided litigation."
"The expansive position on what conduct constitutes 'harassment' protected by federal civil rights laws and what remedial measures are legally required will unnecessarily complicate investigations and possibly expose school districts to liability beyond that envisioned by the Supreme Court," says the Dec. 7 letter from Francisco M. Negron Jr., NSBA's top lawyer, to Charles P. Rose, the Education Department's general counsel.
Negron stresses in the letter that the NSBA shares the Education Department's interest in reducing bullying and harassment in schools. But he cites several concerns about the Oct. 27 "Dear Colleague" letter that went out from Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Russlynn Ali.
Education Department Press Secretary Justin Hamilton said officials have had conversations with NSBA since receiving the letter.
"We believe that the guidance is clear and lays out what all of our collective responsibilities are to protect the interests of students," Hamilton said in an interview Wednesday.
In the October guidance from the Office for Civil Rights, Ali said certain peer harassment in schools based on sex-role stereotyping or religious differences may amount to violations of existing federal civil rights laws. (Education Week had this story.)
Negron said the OCR letter "significantly expands" the standard of liability for schools over peer harassment beyond the standard established by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1999 case, Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education. In that case, the court said schools could only be held liable for peer sexual harassment when they had "actual knowledge" of the harassment, and the activity was so "severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive" that it effectively barred the victim's access to an educational program or benefit.
By contrast, the OCR letter, Negron asserts, potentially would hold a school district liable for harassment about which "it knows or should have known," and covers harassment that is "severe, pervasive, or persistent" and that merely "interferes" with or limits participation in an educational program. Each prong of OCR's guidance softens the Davis standard, Negron said.
Negron raises several other concerns about the OCR letter. The letter states that school districts are required to eliminate harassment and the hostile environment it creates, and to prevent it from recurring. But the Supreme Court's Davis decision explicitly rejected the idea that schools must "remedy" peer harassment, Negron said.
Negron also says the OCR letter only "minimally" recognizes the First Amendment free speech rights of students and fails to recognize the constitutional limitations on school districts' ability to discipline students for protected speech.
Negron called on the Education Department it issue a document clarifying that schools must operate under multiple local, state, and federal legal requirements on harassment and bullying.
"It is our hope that through this letter, we have addressed what we see as some unintended legal and practical challenges arising from the [Dear Colleague letter]," Negron wrote.
Negron's letter was first reported this week by the NSBA's Legal Clips web site and its School Board News newspaper.
[UPDATE 11:30 a.m.] In a telephone interview Wednesday morning, Negron confirmed that he has had conversations with the Education Department since the letter. Negron described the conversations about the guidance as "constructive."
"I think we're in a cooperative position," Negron said, although he is awaiting a more detailed reply in writing from the department. "I think our questions were legitimate and they needed some clarification."
==================================
http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/06/29/3189815/fort-worth-school-district-expands.html
Fort Worth school district expands anti-bullying policy to protect 'gender identity and expression'
Posted Wednesday, Jun. 29, 2011
By Eva-Marie Ayala
eayala@star-telegram.com
FORT WORTH -- The Fort Worth school district has expanded its anti-bullying policy to protect students who express themselves -- including their sexuality -- in nontraditional ways, a move that gay-rights advocates say is positive and progressive.
The amended anti-harassment policy now includes "gender identity and expression" protection for students and was approved without discussion by trustees Tuesday. The school district is believed to be the first in the state to adopt such a policy.
A similar policy was adopted for employees in January.
Supporters say the change is progressive in that it prohibits bullying based on how students express their sexuality -- such as a boy who wears nail polish.
The policy change came on the second anniversary of the controversial bar check at the Rainbow Lounge, a gay club in Fort Worth, in which patrons said law enforcement officers used excessive force.
Some say the school district's expanded anti-bullying policies are the result of heightened awareness in Fort Worth to address concerns in the gay community in the wake of the incident.
"The Rainbow Lounge incident was an unfortunate incident, but it gave us the opportunity to change things for the better in Fort Worth," said Trustee Carlos Vasquez, who is gay. He noted, however, that the new policy's adoption on the anniversary of the raid was a coincidence.
Not everyone supports such policies, saying they tear down traditional family values. Pat Carlson, president of the conservative Texas Eagle Forum and a Fort Worth resident, said the goal seems to be to confuse children on sexuality and gender roles.
"I have to wonder, Where does this stop?" Carlson said. "What about those students that are Christian students ... and there is a boy that comes dressed as a girl? Wouldn't that create an offensive environment for those Christian students? Where is their protection?"
Bertha Whatley, the school district's attorney, said the policy change is intended to protect all children.
"We want all students to know that Fort Worth ISD is a learning community that values them," Whatley said.
Barbara Williams, a spokeswoman with the Texas Association of School Boards, said a quick search found several school districts that prohibit bullying or discrimination based on sexual orientation, but none that address gender identity.
Sarah Warbelow, state legislative director for the national Human Rights Campaign, said she was also unaware of any Texas district having such an expanded policy.
"It is honorable that Fort Worth chose to set an example of what they can do to protect students, and I hope that other cities across the state and country will see it as a model to emulate the hard work Fort Worth has put into it," Warbelow said.
The policy change comes months after Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns gained national attention for an anti-bullying speech he delivered in council chambers, and after U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said schools that fail to address the bullying of gay students could lose federal dollars
With all the focus being put on gay issues and bullying -- at the local, state and national levels -- it has created an environment for change, said Thomas Anable, president of Fairness Fort Worth, a group that formed after the Rainbow Lounge incident to address equality issues.
In March, for example, Tarrant County College approved changes to its anti-discrimination employment policy that include sexual orientation, he noted.
But Anable said the Fort Worth school district's policy change is one of the most progressive to protect any gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender students. "If students are being bullied, no one can learn," he said.
Staff writer Diane Smith contributed to this report, which includes information from the Star-Telegram archives.
Eva-Marie Ayala, 817-390-7700
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/06/29/3189815/fort-worth-school-district-expands.html#ixzz1Qv7XQSIS
==============================
http://www.omaha.com/article/20110710/NEWS01/707109937
Published Sunday July 10, 2011
OPS buys 8,000 diversity manuals
By Joe Dejka
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
The Omaha Public Schools used more than $130,000 in federal stimulus dollars to buy each teacher, administrator and staff member a manual on how to become more culturally sensitive.
The book by Virginia education consultants could raise some eyebrows with its viewpoints.
The authors assert that American government and institutions create advantages that “channel wealth and power to white people,” that color-blindness will not end racism and that educators should “take action for social justice.”
The book says that teachers should acknowledge historical systemic oppression in schools, including racism, sexism, homophobia and “ableism,” defined by the authors as discrimination or prejudice against people with disabilities.
The authors argue that public school teachers must raise their cultural awareness to better serve minority students and improve academic achievement.
The Omaha school board approved buying 8,000 copies of the book — one for every employee, including members of the custodial staff — in April. The decision to buy the book was made 11-0, with board member Mary Ellen Drickey passing on the vote.
Janice Garnett, OPS assistant superintendent of human resources, said she could not recall another time that the district had bought copies of the same book to give to every staff member.
Employees will be asked to read a couple of chapters each quarter and then meet in study groups to discuss the book using a study guide produced by the district, she said. For teachers, the study sessions will be a part of their professional development.
School board President Sandra Jensen said the district doesn't endorse everything in the book, nor does she expect employees to adopt the authors' positions. The book is intended to open a dialogue, she said.
“The purpose of providing this resource is to help staff see that people come from a multitude of different backgrounds which cause them to respond differently to the same set of facts, depending on their personal perspectives,” she said in a statement. “Recognition that one might have a certain perspective is critical to treating all people equally.”
Representatives of other large Nebraska school districts — Lincoln, Millard, Papillion-La Vista and Bellevue — said they have not used the book for training teachers, nor have the Council Bluffs Community Schools and Des Moines Public Schools.
Lincoln officials bought copies of a different cultural proficiency book to train administrators later this summer, according to spokeswoman Mary Kay Roth.
The book that OPS bought, “The Cultural Proficiency Journey: Moving Beyond Ethical Barriers Toward Profound School Change,” includes a worksheet for teachers to score themselves on a continuum of cultural sensitivity. The continuum ranges from “cultural destructiveness,” as evidenced by genocide and ethnocide, to “cultural proficiency,” depicted as the highest level of awareness.
Only those educators who acknowledge the existence of white privilege in America, that “white” is a culture in America and that race “is a definer for social and economic status” can reach proficiency, the authors contend. Those who score poorly on the worksheet are asked in the book what they will do “to align yourself with the values expressed.”
Jensen said the district will not use the book to evaluate or judge employees.
The book says teachers must overcome irrational fear of homosexuality and reject the “color-blind” approach to teaching in which teachers treat all children the same. Instead, the group identity of students of color should be recognized and esteemed, the authors say.
The authors ask readers to reflect on several hypothetical cases, including that of a gay “teacher of the year” afraid to post family photos of his male partner for his school's Family Day, an African-American parent upset by a sixth-grade Early-American Day because African-Americans were enslaved in those days, and a principal whose attempt to reach out to Muslim students backfires when he announces over the intercom that students should welcome Muslims though they “might believe in violence.”
The authors — Franklin and Brenda CampbellJones and Randall B. Lindsey — all former teachers, write that their intent in the book is “to prepare educators to unshackle themselves from tradition and become facilitators for reconciliation of historical injustices.”
Franklin CampbellJones said in an interview that although some issues in the book are considered “challenging” and “taboo,” discussing them is important to break down barriers to educating every child.
He said the book has been well-received by other school districts using it, including San Diego and Atlanta, and districts in Maryland and Canada.
The push for cultural proficiency, sometimes referred to as cultural competence, is a trend across the country, though what's meant by these terms varies. Definitions range from encouraging teachers to understand the cultural backgrounds of students to more aggressive efforts to rewrite curricula and adapt school systems to immigrant cultures.
A primary concern of critics is that schools and universities could use cultural proficiency as an ideological litmus test and that the money put toward such programs could be better spent directly on academics.
In 2009 the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities drew criticism when a task force proposed introducing cultural competency requirements for its teacher candidates.
The task force proposed that future teachers, in order to be recommended for licensure, should “recognize and demonstrate understanding of white privilege,” fight for social justice and take tests to measure their “intercultural sensitivity” and “cultural intelligence.”
Among the critics were the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a nonprofit watchdog group advocating individual rights at America's colleges and universities, which argued that the proposals intruded on matters of individual freedom and conscience.
The Nebraska Board of Education is considering drafting teacher standards that call for teachers to be “culturally competent,” a move spokeswoman Betty VanDeventer said is intended to make teachers more aware and respectful of children of all cultures. Last winter, board members authorized a 41-member committee of teachers, principals, parents and others to draft the standards.
The proposed standards call upon teachers to, among other things, connect with a student's traditions to move him toward academic success, use “culturally appropriate instructional strategies” and make sure tests are valid and address the diversity of students.
The draft standards do not include any of the social justice goals contained in the book acquired by OPS.
The state plans to hold forums this summer and fall on the draft standards. The Nebraska standards would be voluntary. Local districts could decide whether to adopt them.
Paul Peterson, director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University, and a senior fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said cultural proficiency is part of a broader agenda advocated by people “who think that we should have a teaching force that has a certain political perspective.”
About OPS spending stimulus money on the book, he said: “That must be a wealthy school district.”
Stimulus rules allowed districts to spend money on teacher training, but Peterson suggested the money would be better spent on academic training.
“I would like to know whether the teachers are proficient in the subject they're going to be teaching,” he said. “It would be nice, if they're going to be teaching science, to be proficient in science; or math, to be proficient in math.”
Peterson said it's important that teachers be aware of the traditions a child brings to the school, and to take those into account when working with the pupil and deciding how to engage and motivate him or her.
He is concerned, however, about the book's general statements about the white population. That kind of generalization can be “extremely misleading” and “it would seem it would not be the kind of book you would distribute,” he said.
Jensen said there's no hidden agenda with the book study. She said she had started reading the book before the board voted to approve the purchase, and she intends to finish it and participate in the sessions.
Asked last week if she believes white privilege exists in Omaha, Jensen said: “That depends on the cultural lens that one looks through.”
The Omaha school district has a racially diverse enrollment. Last year the enrollment was 35.7 percent Caucasian, 29.9 percent Hispanic, 29.7 percent African-American, 3.1 percent Asian-American and 1.6 percent American-Indian. Students speak 93 different languages, Omaha Public Schools officials say.
The district, like most across the country, has struggled to close stubborn achievement gaps between whites and minorities.
Garnett, with OPS, said the district will use the book as a conversation starter on topics such as social equity, cultural understanding and racial justice.
“We're not saying that every idea in that book you have to accept,” Garnett said. “Not at all. What we're saying is let's explore this whole concept and see where we want to be as a school district when it relates to the diverse student population we now serve.”
Teachers will be asked to reflect on the book this year, and then next year the district will look for ways to apply some of the concepts in the classroom and workplace, she said.
That will include looking at “culturally responsive teaching” as a way to improve achievement for kids, Garnett said.
In defense of the district's purchase, OPS spokeswoman Luanne Nelson pointed to a study released by two Latino advocacy groups in Massachusetts calling for cultural proficiency in that state's schools.
When there are gaps in achievement between whites and minorities, schools need to identify obstacles to learning embedded in school culture, policies and practices, according to the study released by the Sociedad Latina and the University of Massachusetts' Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy.
Nancy Edick, dean of the College of Education at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said it is “imperative” that teachers are prepared for increasingly diverse schools.
Edick has trained Millard Public Schools teachers in culturally responsive teaching.
The hope is that teachers develop an understanding and appreciation for diversity in the classroom, school and community, and that they see “the increasing diversity we're all experiencing is not a threat, it's an opportunity,” she said.
“The rich life experiences of a diverse classroom contribute to an excellent education. It's an education that helps prepare our kids for a world they're going to live in, an increasingly diverse world,” Edick said.
Contact the writer: 402-444-1077, joe.dejka@owh
======================
(Excerpts from this article)
Government Schools as Propaganda Mills
By Doug Patton,
…In Nebraska, the board of education of the Omaha Public School district has taken another brazen leap toward brainwashing the thousands of children they hold captive. Using $130,000 of Obama stimulus money, this board has voted to buy 8,000 copies of a book called “The Cultural Proficiency Journey: Moving Beyond Ethical Barriers Toward Profound School Change.”
Three former teachers, Randall B. Lindsey, Franklin Campbell-Jones and his wife, Brenda Campbell-Jones, wrote this propaganda manual; and thanks to the Obama administration, every Omaha public school teacher, administrator and staff member — even custodians! — will get a copy. At $16.25 each. Paid for with your tax dollars.
The authors of the book claim that their intent is “to prepare educators to unshackle themselves from tradition and become facilitators for reconciliation of historical injustices.”
What exactly does that mean? Well, here are a few excerpts from their manual:
- "The government and social institutions in the United States have created advantages that disproportionately channel wealth, power and resources to white people."
- "Colorblindness will not end racism. Pretending race doesn’t exist is not the same as creating equality."
- "It is common for teachers to proclaim they do not see color in children. What this communicates to children of color is that their experience, in a racialized society, is to be discounted."
- "One is compelled to recognize that oppressed groups seeking equality needed to be amended into the Constitution in their quest for justice. On the other hand, heterosexual white men as a group, the unstated norm, have never needed to be amended into the Constitution."
- "It is common to see historically oppressed populations of children — African-American, Latino and Native-American — clustered in low-level academic courses, while upper-level courses are filled with historically advantaged groups, primarily Euro-American. The clear distribution of academic benefits for Whites and lack thereof for people of color is evident in the achievement data reported over the past two decades."
- "We need to recognize and dismantle historical forms of oppression that are operational in schools. Schools can, by tradition, institutionalize sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, ableism, and homophobia, to list a few, through organizational policies and practices."
I know. I, too, was ignorant of this latest lingo. Having lived in politically correct America for more years than I care to contemplate, I was more than acquainted with what the ridiculous radical left means when they whine and scream about sexism and racism. I was even familiar with their other silly terms, such as homophobia and ethnocentrism. But “ableism”? That was a new one — one of which I’m sure the three eggheads who wrote this tripe are very proud. It means discrimination or prejudice toward the disabled. Okay.
Lincoln was right. It is long past time we realize that tomorrow’s leaders are in the hands of Marxists who, from top to bottom, now permeate our education establishment. Our children will one day rule this nation. God help us if we do not rescue them from those who would indoctrinate their minds and crush their spirits.
- - - -
Doug Patton describes himself as a recovering political speechwriter who agrees with himself much more often than not. Now working as a freelance writer, his weekly columns of sage political analysis are published the world over by legions of discerning bloggers, courageous webmasters and open-minded newspaper editors. Astute supporters and inane detractors alike are encouraged to e-mail him with their pithy comments at dougpatton@cox.net.
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EducationNews.org
Tuesday, August 30, 2010
“What Is the Centers for Disease Control?”
By Donna Garner
http://www.educationnews.org/breaking_news/health/101841.html
We taxpayers pay for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and part of the job of this government agency is to collect infectious disease data from across the country.
Since January 2005, thirty-seven states have had laws that require them to report HIV infections through confidential, name-based mechanisms.
It is no secret; the medical data is clear. Male-to-male sex is what is spreading HIV/AIDS, and to me the following is one of the most worrisome statistics:
From 2005-2008…Most (74%) diagnoses of HIV infection in adults and adolescents were in males. Among males diagnosed with HIV infection from 2005-2008, 70% were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact. The percentage of diagnosed HIV infections attributed to male-to-male sexual contact was even larger (85%) among males aged 13 to 24 years.”
This indicates that the homosexual agenda is making inroads with the young and vulnerable males in our society.
I believe this has come through the constant drumbeat of homosexual characters on TV, the movies, and in the school anti-bullying curriculum that is permeating students’ classrooms under the auspices of Obama’s Kevin Jennings, the Safe Schools Czar at the U. S. Department of Education.
Kevin Jennings is openly homosexual and is the founder of Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). This is the organization that led students during the school day in Massachusetts to learn about “fisting.”
We adults who should be countering the indoctrination by the homosexual community of our young people have been intimidated into silence by political correctness/social justice.
Why not put the CDC’s medical data out there and make sure that our young people know how very dangerous homosexual activities really are?
No empirical research exists to show that homosexuality is inherent (inborn); therefore, young people do have a choice.
We also know that Exodus International and other organizations have proven that people involved in homosexual activities can change their lifestyles.
However, when children are told at a young age that they have a proclivity to be homosexual and that “it is perfectly normal,” many of them become entrapped with the homosexual lifestyle and do not know how to get out of it.
They end up being dragged deeper into perversion and the very harmful medical conditions that follow, sometimes ending in early death.
To find out for yourself what the CDC’s medical data shows, please follow these directions:
Please click on the following site (http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/slides/msm/index.htm ).
Then notice where it says, “Download the complete slide set.” I chose “18 Slides in Adobe PDF Format.” Then just scroll down the slide set, making sure that you read what is in the Presentation Notes at the bottom, right side of each slide.
These slides cover HIV Surveillance in Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) and have been updated with information from the “2008 HIV Surveillance Report: Diagnoses of HIV Infection and AIDS in the United States and Dependent Areas.”
PRESENTATION NOTE FOUND ON ONE OF THE SLIDES
From 2005-2008, an estimated total of 161,795 adults and adolescents were diagnosed with HIV infection in the 37 states and 5 U.S. dependent areas with confidential name-based HIV infection reporting since at least January 2005.
Most (74%) diagnoses of HIV infection in adults and adolescents were in males.
Among males diagnosed with HIV infection from 2005-2008, 70% were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact.
The percentage of diagnosed HIV infections attributed to male-to-male sexual contact was even larger (85%) among males aged 13 to 24 years.
During 2008, male-to-male sexual contact was the most frequently reported transmission category—accounting for 54% of all diagnoses of HIV infection that year.
The following 37 states have had laws or regulations requiring confidential name-based HIV infection reporting since at least January 2005: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The 5 U.S. dependent areas include American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Data include persons with a diagnosis of HIV infection regardless of stage of disease at diagnosis. All displayed data have been estimated. Estimated numbers resulted from statistical adjustment that accounted for reporting delays and missing risk-factor information, but not for incomplete reporting.
Data on male-to-male sexual contact exclude men who reported sexual contact with other men and injection drug use.
PRESENTATION NOTE ON ANOTHER SLIDE
In 2008, an estimated 72% (22,810) of all diagnosed HIV infections among adult and adolescent males were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact.
Heterosexual contact was the second largest transmission category among males, at nearly 15% of diagnosed HIV infections…
Heterosexual contact is with a person known to have or to be at high risk for HIV infection.
[Notice this statistic: HIV -- 72 % of 2008 cases caused by MSM activities; 15 % from heterosexual contacts]
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[10.22.10 -- This CDC medical data should also be the basis for decisions on “don’t ask, don’t tell” in the military. -- Donna Garner]
Facts for the Day — 9.30.10
HIV is an “equal opportunity provider.”
HIV is not politically correct.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) just released today (9.30.10) a report on HIV infections from January 2005 through 2008.
The report is called “Epidemiology of HIV Infection” and can be found at the following link:
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/slides/general/slides/general.pdf
Through numerous slides, this report graphically shows that HIV is being spread by:
72 % — male-to-male (MSM) sexual contact
9 % – injection drug use
4 % – male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use
Conclusion: 85 % of all HIV cases among young adults and adolescents were caused by homosexual activities and/or drug use.
These are all preventable activities.
HIV increased among MSM from 50 % in 2005 to 54 % in 2008. The more the homosexual agenda is being pushed in the U. S. culture, the higher the rates of HIV are climbing.
The slides clearly show that the biggest percentage of HIV cases is occurring among Black/African-Americans.
This CDC information was gathered from only 37 states (those that had laws or regulations requiring confidential name-based HIV infection reporting since at least January 2005).
However, here is the alarming news: The following states are not included in the CDC’s data.
If these states (many of which are considered to be havens for homosexuals because of local and state laws) had been included in the CDC data, just think how much higher the national HIV/MSM/Injected Drug Use numbers and percentages would have been!
California
Delaware
District of Columbia
Hawaii
Illinois
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Montana
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Vermont
Washington
It is the CDC’s latest figures that led to the 9.23.10 Reuters report saying that 1 in 5 gay, bisexual men in US cities has HIV; and it is these figures that led me on 8.31.10 to write an open letter to Glenn Beck, Kenneth Mehlman, Ed Gillespie, Ann Coulter, Michael Steele, Dick Cheney, Lou Dobbs, almost all Democrats, and others who have indicated that they do not think we should care what people do in the privacy of their bedrooms:
I believe it is actually everybody’s business what homosexuals and/or drug users choose to do in the privacy of their bedrooms because we taxpayers get left paying for their STD’s and drug treatments. Sixty-five per cent of all HIV cases are from people who are homosexuals and/or drug users. (Source: Centers for Disease Control)
Also, those STD’s can and do get transmitted to other innocent people such as wives. I have two long-time friends whose husbands were involved in bisexual relationships. Both of these faithful wives have been left FOR LIFE with STD’s that they got from their husbands. Both of them had no idea that their husbands were bisexual and were involved in perverse relationships. Both of these women have had to have serious surgeries within this last year because of the STD’s that were transmitted to them by their bisexual husbands.
I have not even mentioned other STD’s besides HIV/AIDS such as viral hepatitis. In 2006, nearly 1 in 10 men diagnosed with hepatitis A reported engaging in homosexual behavior.
Other STD’s that are transmitted throughout the gay population are urethral Chlamydia and gonorrhea.
In one year, the rate of fluoroquinolone-resistant gonorrhea increased from 29% to 39% among men who have sex with men (MSM).
The number of new syphilis cases, driven by gay and bisexual men, has doubled in recent years in such places as Los Angeles County and San Francisco. Men who have sex with men (MSM) accounted for approximately 64% of the reported cases of P&S syphilis in the United States during 2006. (Source: Centers for Disease Control)
I also have not mentioned the prevalence of tuberculosis that is spread among homosexuals who have HIV/AIDS. They contract TB and other diseases because their immune system has been compromised by the HIV/AIDS.
TB and many other diseases are contagious, and we in the general population are put at risk by what homosexuals and/or drug users do in the privacy of their bedrooms.
Now the homosexual movement is pressuring the Red Cross to change their blood collection policies because gay men have been banned from giving blood since 1985. The gays say this is “discriminatory.” If the gays win their “social justice” argument and are allowed to pollute our blood supply with their STD’s, then the chances of an innocent person contracting an STD “for life” from a homosexual will be greatly increased.
Also, there is the matter of cost. Please be sure to study this link
( http://fairfoundation.org/update.htm ) where it shows how much per patient we taxpayers spend on HIV compared to other conditions such as cardiovascular conditions and cancer.
What is occurring is that because of the strong political support for the gay agenda, huge amounts of money are being spent by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on HIV/AIDS that should be going toward helping to alleviate other conditions/diseases that people develop NOT based upon their sexual choices.
In fact, it is not a stretch to say that we might have had more breakthroughs on solving cancer, heart, diabetes, prostate, and Alzheimer’s if the NIH had not spent so much time and money on HIV/AIDS research.
Yes, it actually does matter to the rest of us whatever people do in the privacy of their bedrooms.
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7.1.11
Enhanced Comprehensive HIV Prevention Planning and Implementation for Metropolitan Statistical Areas Most Affected by HIV/AIDS
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/nhas/echpp/index.htm?source=govdelivery
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/nhas/echpp/dallas.htm
Texas Department of State Health Services
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/nhas/echpp/pdf/echpp-dallas.pdf
The Enhanced Comprehensive HIV Prevention Plan for The Dallas Metropolitan Division
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In the Dallas MD, approximately 15,957 people are living with HIV, and approximately 900 new cases of HIV have been identified annually. 83% of people with HIV in the Dallas MD reside in Dallas County. Gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) account for 67% of those living with HIV and represent 70% of all new diagnoses.
Black MSM alone account for 25% of people living with HIV in the Dallas MD.
Heterosexual transmission is the second largest exposure category for people living with HIV and females comprise 77% of these cases.
…as many as 1 in 4 black gay men in Dallas may be HIV positive.
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http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/nhas/echpp/pdf/echpp-chicago.pdf
In Chicago, 70% of all diagnosed cases of HIV are among men, with male-to-male sexual contact being the leading mode of transmission across all ethnic groups. Among men who have sex with men (MSM) diagnosed with HIV in 2008, 51% are black. In 2008, blacks accounted for 66% of AIDS diagnoses while whites and Hispanics represented 15% and 17% of the diagnoses respectively.
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http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/nhas/echpp/pdf/echpp-houston.pdf
Houston
A closer look at HIV/AIDS prevalence in Harris County shows that the epidemic continues to be predominantly among males (74%), specifically among men who have sex with men (43%) and among people of color (70%).
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7.1.11
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: HIV among Gay, Bisexual and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM)
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/msm/index.htm
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Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM)1 represent approximately 2% of the US population, yet are the population most severely affected by HIV and are the only risk group in which new HIV infections have been increasing steadily since the early 1990s.
In 2006, MSM accounted for more than half (53%) of all new HIV infections in the United States, and MSM with a history of injection drug use (MSM-IDU) accounted for an additional 4% of new infections.
At the end of 2006, more than half (53%) of all people living with HIV in the United States were MSM or MSM-IDU.
Since the beginning of the US epidemic, MSM have consistently represented the largest percentage of persons diagnosed with AIDS and persons with an AIDS diagnosis who have died.
The Numbers
New HIV Infections2
- In 2006, more than 30,000 MSM and MSM-IDU were newly infected with HIV.
- Among all MSM, whites accounted for nearly half (46%) of new HIV infections in 2006. The largest number of new infections among white MSM occurred in those aged 30–39 years, followed by those aged 40–49 years.
- Among all black MSM, there were more new HIV infections (52%) among young black MSM (aged 13–29 years) than any other racial or ethnic age group of MSM in 2006. The number of new infections among young black MSM was nearly twice that of young white MSM and more than twice that of young Hispanic/Latino MSM.
- Among all Hispanic/Latino MSM in 2006, the largest number of new infections (43%) occurred in the youngest age group (13–29 years), though a substantial number of new HIV infections (35%) were among those aged 30–39 years.
Estimated Number of New HIV Infections among Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM), by Race/Ethnicity and Age Group, 2006
Source: CDC. Subpopulation Estimates from the HIV Incidence Surveillance System—United States, 2006. MMWR. 2008; 57(36):985–989.
HIV and AIDS Diagnoses3 and Deaths
- A recent CDC study found that in 2008 one in five (19%) MSM in 21 major US cities were infected with HIV, and nearly half (44%) were unaware of their infection. In this study, 28% of black MSM were HIV-infected, compared to 18% of Hispanic/Latino MSM and 16% of white MSM. Other racial/ethnic groups of MSM also have high numbers of HIV infections, including American Indian/Alaska Native MSM (20%) and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander MSM (18%).
- In 2007, MSM were 44 to 86 times as likely to be diagnosed with HIV compared with other men, and 40 to 77 times as likely as women.
- From 2005–2008, estimated diagnoses of HIV infection increased approximately 17% among MSM. This increase was likely due to a combination of factors: increases in new infections, increased testing, and diagnosis earlier in the course of infection; it may also have been due to uncertainty in statistical models.
- In 2008, an estimated 17,940 MSM were diagnosed with AIDS in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the US dependent areas—an increase of 6% since 2005.
- By the end of 2007, an estimated 282,542 MSM with an AIDS diagnosis had died in the United States and 5 dependent areas.
Prevention Challenges
The high prevalence of HIV infection among MSM means they face a greater risk of being exposed to infection with each sexual encounter—especially as they get older
Many MSM with HIV are unaware of their HIV infection, especially MSM of color and young MSM. A recent CDC study found that among urban MSM in 21 cities in 2008 who were unaware of their HIV infection, 55% had not been tested in the previous 12 months. Low awareness of HIV status among young MSM likely reflects several factors: they may have been infected more recently, may underestimate their personal risk, may have had fewer opportunities to get tested, or may believe that HIV treatment minimize the threat of HIV. CDC recommends that all MSM get tested for HIV once a year— and more often if they are at higher risk. MSM at higher risk includes those who have multiple or anonymous sex partners or use drugs during sex.
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Ft. Worth ISD Student Suspended for Saying Gay Is Wrong
Published : Wednesday, 21 Sep 2011, 4:48 PM CD
Lari Barager
FOX 4 News
Adapted for Web by Tracy DeLatte | myFOXdfw.com
FORT WORTH, Texas - A Fort Worth high school student was sent to the principal’s office earlier this week for telling another classmate he believes homosexuality is wrong.
Fourteen-year-old Dakota Ary spent most of the day Tuesday serving an in-school suspension. It was punishment for discussion in his German class at Fort Worth’s Western Hills High School.
“We were talking about religions in Germany. I said, ‘I’m a Christian. I think being a homosexual is wrong,’” he said. “It wasn’t directed to anyone except my friend who was sitting behind me. I guess [the teacher] heard me. He started yelling. He told me he was going to write me an infraction and send me to the office.”
An assistant principal called Ary’s mother at work to let her know he was in trouble.
“At first I was in disbelief. My son is on the honor roll with great grades. I don’t have any problems out of him,” Holly Pope said.
After hearing Ary’s explanation of what happened, the assistant principal reduced the original suspension from two days to one. But Pope was not satisfied with that.
“He was stating an opinion. He has a right to do that. They punished him for it,” she said.
Attorney Matt Krause joined Ary and his mom at a Wednesday morning meeting with the principal. They asked for the blemish to be taken off his record and reassurance there would be no retaliation.
“Students don’t lose their first amendment rights just because they go in the schoolhouse door,” Krause said.
District spokesman Clint Bond said the Fort Worth Independent School District does not comment on specific employee or student-related issues.
“We are following district policy in our review of the circumstances and any resolution will likewise be in accordance with district policy,” Bond said.
If Ary continues taking German he’ll have to learn from the same teacher who punished him. His mom is relying on faith that things will work out.
“I want to believe the school will make the right decision. That’s something the school will need to handle,” she said.
Read more on myFOXdfw.com: http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/education/092111-student-suspended-for-saying-gay-is-wrong#ixzz1YkM2BdFV
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Donna Garner
Wgarner1@hot.rr.com
Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at 12:28AM