Tag Archives: education

A teacher is being investigated in northern Alabama after a student recorded him making slurs against gay people and Michelle Obama. School district officials are investigating allegations that a Lauderdale County High School teacher made slurs in the presence of students regarding first lady Michelle Obama and gays. Superintendent Jennifer Gray confirmed the investigation concerns the school’s head football coach, …

You may recall GOP Tennessee state Rep. Stacey Campfield’s continuing attempt to ban any mention of homosexuality or LGBT people in public schools.  Campfield has reintroduced his bill in the new legislative session, this time with the command that schools notify parents if their child is deemed to be “at risk” of having the gay.  Think Progress has some excerpts …

Tomorrow night PBS will air The Revisionaries, which examines the Texas Board Of Education and its campaign to insert Christianist dogma into public school textbooks. RELATED: Visit the PBS blog Independent Lens for “ten interesting lessons from creationist textbooks.“ They link the below clip as an “in a nutshell” recounting of what’s already being taught in some schools.

The above Arizona Republican representatives have introduced a bill requiring that public high school seniors swear loyalty to the Constitution and to God in order to graduate. The wording of the oath is familiar: I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear …

The Texas Freedom Network Education Fund has issued a new report on the continuing expansion of Christianist dogma into Texas public school lessons. A sampling of what they found: –Instructional material in two school districts teach that racial diversity today can be traced back to Noah’s sons, a long-discredited claim that has been a foundational component of some forms of …

Florida Gov. Rick Scott is defending a “religious liberty” bill that now allows public schools to grant students permission to read prayers at school assemblies.  Local Satanists are cheering him, because this means them too. Members of the Satanic Temple are gearing up to rally on behalf of the Republican leader to commend “his defense of religious liberty,” the group …

An Alabama teenaged white supremacist was arrested yesterday after a teacher found his journal in which he outlined a plan to murder black and gay fellow students. Derek Shrout, 17, was released Monday afternoon from Russell County Jail on a $75,000 bond after he was arrested for allegedly planning to use homemade explosives in a terrorist attack on fellow students …

What could possibly go wrong? Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s armed volunteer posses are set to begin patrolling areas around Phoenix, Ariz. schools on Monday, more than a week after the plan drew national attention in the wake of the deadly mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. Arizona’s 3TV reports that Arpaio’s volunteer force is comprised of …

I mentioned this issue last year and now it appears that Christian parents may take the case to court.

Indiana GOP state Rep. Dennis Kruse has introduced a bill that requires public schools to force students to recite The Lord’s Prayer. The chairman of the Senate education committee, who last year unsuccessfully sought the teaching of creationism in schools, now wants public schools to have the option of beginning each day with the Lord’s Prayer. Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, …

“Do we really want to live in a world of police checkpoints, surveillance cameras, metal detectors, X-ray scanners, and warrantless physical searches? We see this culture in our airports: witness the shabby spectacle of once proud, happy Americans shuffling through long lines while uniformed TSA agents bark orders. This is the world of government provided ‘security,’ a world far too …

Wackadoodle Virginia state Rep. Bob Marshall wants to introduce a bill that requires public schools to arm some of their teachers. Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) said this week that there should be a discussion about whether school staff should be allowed to carry concealed weapons to protect children against intruders. Marshall’s proposal goes beyond the governor’s comments, which were …

The Sixth Federal Court of Appeals has upheld the firing of former University of Toledo human resources director Crystal Dixon, who was canned in 2008 after a local newspaper published her op-ed column in which she denounced LGBT rights and promoted the “ex-gay” movement. In a ruling handed down on Monday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals …

Yesterday Eastern Michigan University settled the lawsuit of a counseling graduate student who was expelled in 2008 after refusing to treat gay clients. The suit was brought in 2009 by the anti-gay Alliance Defense Fund, who represented the student pro bono. The former graduate student Julea Ward will be given a $75,000 settlement from the university. Ward was kicked out of …

Saying he can no longer stomach incessant proselytizing by his Christian commanders, an atheist cadet at West Point has resigned. “Countless officers here and throughout the military are guilty of blatantly violating the oaths they swore to defend the Constitution,” wrote Blake Page, who was slated to graduate in May. “These men and women are criminals, complicit in light of …

On Friday a state judge ruled that Louisiana’s school voucher program is unconstitutional. The program allows parents to use public funding to send their children to private and religious schools. Governor Bobby Jindal, who had championed the program, called the ruling “wrong-headed” and “a travesty for parents across Louisiana who want nothing more than for their children to have an …

An Arizona high school principal has punished two fighting boys by forcing them to hold hands in front of the entire school and thereby allow fellow students to cruelly mock them as homosexuals. The boys were so humiliated, they shielded their faces rather than face their taunters. Earlier this week, the two students at Westwood High School in Mesa, Ariz., …

A public middle school teacher in Michigan has been suspended for playing a popular pro-gay music video upon a request by a student. “I asked him a few questions about the song. If it was violent, if there was any profanity, and he said no. And I said this sounds like a great song to go ahead and use for …

A Kentucky public high school teacher has been reprimanded and forced to apologize after writing “You can’t be a Democrat & go to heaven” on her classroom’s white board. According to Superintendent Doug Bennett, the accused teacher, Kendra Baker, heard the statement from a student then proceeded to write it on her board. The statement was not a part of …

(Via Good As You)