on December 08, 2017

Sticky

US Civil Rights Commission Turns to American Experiment on School Discipline Issue

[caption id="attachment_8611" align="alignleft" width="266"] U.S. Commission on Civil Rights member Peter Kirsanow[/caption] Today the United States Commission on Civil Rights will hold a public briefing in Washington, D.C., entitled The School-to-Prison Pipeline: The Intersections of Students of Color with Disabilities. The briefing will examine the race-based school discipline policies imposed on public schools by the Obama administration in its notorious January 2014 “Dear Colleague” letter. At the briefing, the Commission will hear presentations from various parties, including advocacy groups and academics. In the open comment period that follows, U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner Peter Kirsanow will read into the record the following statement...

0 Comments

on December 05, 2017

Sticky

Workplace Democracy for Minnesota’s Teachers is a Myth: Time to Update the Law

Written by Kim Crockett

in Unions, Education, Employee Freedom, Uncategorized

Teachers in the classroom today are being represented by an heirloom union that was selected by teachers a generation or more ago. Anyone old enough to watch the news back it the 1970’s will remember the Minneapolis teachers’ strike in 1970 –yes, we got our news from watching TV. Along with the latest on the Vietnam war, I would catch the news in the kitchen with my Mom when we were making dinner. ...

0 Comments

on November 14, 2017

Sticky

Video: Edina High School Students Refuse to Stand for Veterans

Written by Tom Steward

in Liberalism, Education

This video shows how extremely disrespectful some students at Edina High School were towards veterans at a school assembly to commemorate Veterans Day last Friday. In a message to Edina parents as tensions mounted over the incident yesterday, Superintendent John Schultz praised the students who refused to stand during the ceremony. During one of the EHS assemblies, a small group of students chose to peacefully protest during the playing of the national anthem. Since the event, EHS administration engaged in multiple conversations both with the students who protested and with others who expressed their concerns about the protests. In addition to discussions of...

0 Comments

on November 14, 2017

Sticky

How “Creepy” is Video Targeting Edina High School Conservative Students?

Written by Tom Steward

in Liberalism, Education

Members of the Youth Conservatives Club at Edina High School were targeted yesterday by a threatening YouTube video. The video was apparently posted by an anonymous student wearing a Guy Fawkes mask under the YouTube account of Antifa EHS. The controversy erupted after a group of students refused to stand for the national anthem and playing of Taps last Friday at a Veterans Day school assembly. Edina Superintendent John Schultz characterized the video as "inflammatory and creepy" yet not an apparent threat to students' safety. But the Star Tribune reports the leader of the Edina YCC left school yesterday out of concern for...

0 Comments

on November 13, 2017

Sticky

Ongoing Turmoil at Edina High School as Police Investigate Video [Updated]

Written by Tom Steward

in Liberalism, Education

The meltdown in Edina public schools has taken a turn for the worse. The Edina Police Department is now investigating a threatening online video posted by an anonymous group called EHS Anti-fascists, targeting members of the Youth Conservatives Club at Edina High School. The individual on the video was wearing a Guy Fawkes mask and could not be identified. But from the sound of it, the real fascists appear to be the apparent students behind the video. Over the years we have been watching you, your inability to condemn racism, your corruption of the EHS administration, your sanctioning of hate-speech towards innocent...

0 Comments

on November 07, 2017

Sticky

Do mandatory fees trap students into supporting groups they don’t agree with?

Written by Catrin Thorman

in Freedom of Speech, Education

Mandatory student fees to support campus groups are a common practice at many colleges and universities. But lawmakers in Wisconsin and Minnesota want to give students the right to “opt out of required fees that go to clubs and causes with which they disagree,” as reported by the Washington Post. They [lawmakers] say their proposals would give students the right to vote their consciences when choosing how their money is divided up—and would slow the growth of student fees. [caption id="attachment_8291" align="aligncenter" width="510"] Source: Minnesota Daily[/caption] University of Minnesota Twin Cities students pay $436.60 in Student Service Fees per semester if they are registered...

0 Comments

on November 06, 2017

Sticky

Parental Choice is Working: Why are the teachers’ union and Hollywood attacking charter schools?

Written by Kim Crockett

in Unions, Culture, Race, Freedom of Speech, Education

Charter schools are the “polite cousins of segregation,” in the words of Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. Last year the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People called for a moratorium on charters. Film festivals are screening “Backpack Full of Cash,” a pro-union documentary narrated by Matt Damon that portrays charters as separate and unequal institutions....

0 Comments

on October 31, 2017

Sticky

Teacher Reveals Required English Course Aims to Eradicate White Privilege at Edina High

Written by Katherine Kersten

in Liberalism, Education

As controversy swirls around the debate over the Edina public schools that Center of the American Experiment has launched, some charge the Center with exaggerating the political indoctrination going on in the district’s schools. They also say we fail to draw a connection between Edina district leaders’ embrace of an agenda based on racial identity politics and the district’s declining academic performance. Those who read Edina English teacher Jackie Roehl’s account of the hidden agenda of the high school’s notorious “Pre-AP English 10” course—written in an unguarded moment—can judge for themselves. The account is linked here. “Welcome to Pre-AP English 10, an...

0 Comments

on October 30, 2017

Sticky

What Counts as a “Crisis” at the Teachers’ Pension Funds?

Written by Kim Crockett

in Unions, Education, Pensions

TRA admits to a $30.7 billion liability but only has $21.2 billion to cover those promised pensions. TRA says based on the 2017 valuation, it only has $0.69 on the dollar to pay pensions to teachers. If there are no changes, it will only have 50% of funds in 2046. TRA used 2017 numbers because the markets were up—a lot. If it uses the 2016 valuation, the fund is expected to have only 37% of the needed funds in 2046. Why isn’t this a crisis? ...

0 Comments

on October 26, 2017

Sticky

Edina Schools’ Equity Trainer Says Whites Must Change “From the Cells Out”

Written by Catrin Thorman

in Education

The Center recently wrote about white privilege training Edina school bus drivers and custodians were forced to attend in 2012. The “training” program, led by Dr. Heather Hackman, focused on diversity, cultural competency, oppression, racism, and whiteness. The Center's post prompted a reader to confirm the district’s obsessive focus on racial equity is pushed on other Edina Public Schools (EPS) employees, as well: Heather Hackman operates Hackman Consulting Group—a consulting agency in Minneapolis—and consults nationally on “issues of deep diversity, equity and social justice and has focused most of her recent training work on issues of racism and white privilege, gender oppression,...

Latest Posts