Category: Education

New Bill Would Make Arizona Teacher Pay Increases Transparent, Require School Districts to Comply

Neil Jones

Arizona State Senator J.D. Mesnard (R-Chandler) shared in his weekly update to constituents that his bill, aimed at ensuring school districts comply with the state transparency laws, is moving along through the Legislature.

“Given the importance of having transparency with such a critical topic as teacher pay, I sponsored a bill (SB 1599) that would add some teeth to the law and instruct the Arizona Department of Education to engage if a school district is not in compliance. The bill has passed the Senate and is poised for a House Floor vote,” Mesnard said.

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Commentary: The Problematic Rise of ‘Media Literacy Education’

RealClearWire

New Jersey is enlisting public-school teachers and librarians to show children how to combat what it calls the grave threat of disinformation.

“Our democracy remains under sustained attack through the proliferation of disinformation,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in signing the nation’s first law mandating “information literacy” instruction for all K-12 students. The law, which aims to provide students with the “critical thinking” skills necessary to differentiate between “facts, points of view, and opinions” will, Murphy proclaimed, ensure “that our kids … possess the skills needed to discern fact from fiction.”

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Parent Groups ‘Fed Up’ with Striking Los Angeles Unions ‘Using Kids as Pawns’

Susan Berry, PhD

Parent groups in California and those specifically in Los Angeles are enraged that tens of thousands of staff and teachers of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) went out on strike Tuesday, demanding higher pay and increased staffing in district schools.

“Parents are fed up with LAUSD unions using kids as pawns in contract negotiations,” tweeted Parent Union (CPC), a coalition of parents, parent groups, education reform advocates and community leaders dedicated to advancing meaningful education policies, accountability and choice in California’s K-12 education system.” 

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Commentary: The Things Students Are Learning After They Left Public Schools During Pandemic

Arizona Sun Times Staff

The education disruption caused by mass school closures and prolonged remote instruction beginning three years ago this month led many families to seek other learning options beyond an assigned district school. Emerging research reveals just how significant and sustained that shift was.

In a new report, “Where the Kids Went: Nonpublic Schooling and Demographic Change during the Pandemic Exodus from Public Schools,” Stanford economist Thomas Dee reveals that more than 1.2 million students left district schools during the pandemic response. That exodus endured throughout the 2021/2022 academic year, as families continued to opt for private schools and homeschooling even though most district schools reopened. 

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California School District Hires CRT Critic Consultant to Teach Staff, Parents, and Students

Susan Berry, PhD

The governing board of the Temecula Valley Unified School District (TVUSD) in California has voted 3-2 to approve a consulting contract with an anti-Critical Race Theory (CRT) attorney who will educate teachers, parents, and students about the ideology and the “myth” of systemic racism.

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Diversity Dean Who Derailed Law School Speaker Event Placed On Leave

Admin

An elite Stanford Law School (SLS) dean who berated a federal judge during a speaker event earlier this month was placed on leave, the school announced on Tuesday. Federal Judge Kyle Duncan attempted to deliver remarks about COVID, Twitter and guns on the California campus on March 9 but was repeatedly interrupted by student hecklers. SLS Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Tirien Steinbach responded to his request for an administrator to help silence the room, but instead took the podium to accuse Duncan of causing “harm” and questioned if his speech was worth delivering.

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New York Attorney General Hosts Drag Queen Story Hour with Drag Group Receiving City Contracts

Susan Berry, PhD

The attorney general of New York State hosted a drag queen story hour event for young children in New York City to protest a perceived “rise in anti-LGBTQ+ protests, rhetoric, and policies.”

In a press statement following the event Sunday, James’ office said “nearly 200 guests enjoyed four back-to-back Story Hours hosted by the Drag Kings, Queens, and Royalty of Drag Story Hour NYC at The Center, which has been a home and resource hub for the LGBTQ+ community and allies since its founding in 1983.”

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Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: Once Vaunted as the Best in the Word, Stanford University’s Wayward Record is Growing Infamous

Admin

Stanford was once one of the world’s great universities. It birthed Silicon Valley in its prime. And along with its nearby twin and rival, UC Berkeley, its brilliant researchers, and teachers helped fuel the mid-20th-century California miracle.

That was then. But like the descent of California, now something has gone terribly wrong with the university.

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Commentary: The Universities I Knew in Soviet Russia Valued Merit More than Some American Schools Do Today

Admin

Walking near Temple University, I noticed a flyer advocating for “socialism in our lifetime.” The message from an outside group reads in full, “Socialist Revolution: Join the fight for socialism in our lifetime.” Having grown up in Soviet-era Ukraine and now a tenured professor at Temple, I feel strongly that most college-age Americans do not understand what they are saying when they advocate for socialism. 

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Dem-Linked Nonprofit Sues DeSantis Admin for Records on Decision to Reject AP History Class

Arizona Sun Times Staff

A left-wing watchdog organization sued Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration on Thursday for allegedly withholding records relating to the decision to reject the AP African American Studies course.

American Oversight filed a lawsuit against the Florida Department of Education claiming the government agency is allegedly not responding to eight public records requests for the communications between state agencies, DeSantis’ office and outside parties discussing the decision to reject an AP African American Studies course because it lacked “educational value and historical accuracy.” The lawsuit comes after DeSantis rejected the college-level course because it violated state law against the teaching of CRT.

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Texas Announces State Takeover of Houston Independent School District

The Center Square

The state of Texas intends to take control of the Houston Independent School District, citing poor academic accountability, violations of the law and the expiration of an injunction that had previously prevented the state from acting, state officials said Wednesday.

The Texas Education Agency said it would name a new district superintendent and suspend the district’s board of trustees. This is the latest in a yearslong fight between the state and the district of about 200,000 students over poor academic performance and the behavior of trustees.

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‘Apparently, I Am the Wrong Kind of Black’: California Equity Director Fired for Viewpoint Diversity

Arizona Sun Times Staff

Dr. Tabia Lee, faculty director for the Office of Equity, Social Justice, and Multicultural Education at De Anza College, alleges that she is being terminated for not adhering to anti-racist “orthodoxy.”

Lee, a Black woman who grew up in central California, was fired last week from her position as a tenure track Faculty Director for the Office of Equity, Social Justice, and Multicultural Education at the community college in Cupertino, California, according to Inside Higher Ed.

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University of Arizona Hikes Tuition by Three Percent for Incoming Students

The Center Square

The University of Arizona proposed a 3% increase in tuition for all incoming resident undergraduate students, effective in the 2023-24 academic year. Out-of-state incoming students will experience a 4% increase in tuition.

Current students will not be affected by the change, thanks to the Guaranteed Tuition Program, which started in 2014. The program ensures that all undergrad degree-seeking students will pay the same tuition and fees throughout their time at the university.

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Arizona Christian University Alleges Religious Discrimination After Glendale School District Terminated Teacher Contract

Rachel Alexander

Washington Elementary School District No. 6 (WESD) in Glendale terminated the contract of Arizona Christian University (ACU) to provide student teachers last month, despite an ongoing teacher shortage, citing the religious tenets of the university as the reason. In response, The Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit on behalf of the ACU on March 9, demanding multiple types of damages, including punitive.

The suit alleges a violation of the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment. It asserts that “Arizona Christian and its students do not share religious messages and beliefs within its student teacher programs with local public Schools.”

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Dr. Mark McDonald Tells Parents What They Need to Do to Save Their Children from Government Schools

Susan Berry, PhD

Los Angeles-based psychiatrist Dr. Mark McDonald said “America’s schools are broken” beyond repair and have now become “dangerous” centers of leftist indoctrination – a problem parents must solve by changing their lifestyles, if necessary, to save their children.

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Arizona Education Chief: The Key to Success in College Depends Directly on the Academic Quality Students Receive Before They Enroll

Neil Jones

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne (R) told The Arizona Sun Times over the phone that he hopes his administration can increase the number of Arizona high school graduates enrolling in universities by improving the education they receive before graduating.

“In order to go onto college, students have to get a good academic education, and that’s my total focus, to improve the academic education students get,” Horne said via the phone. “I’m doing everything I can to raise the academics in the schools.”

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Teachers, Activists Push School Districts to Drop Calculus in the Name of Equity

Admin

Teachers and activists are pushing for high schools to drop their calculus courses to increase equity as many minority and low-income students don’t have access to the class, according to The 74, a nonprofit news organization covering education.

In the 2017-2018 school year, 76% of schools with “low student of color enrollment” offered calculus while 52% of schools with a high proportion of students of color offered the advanced math course, according to a Learning Policy Institute report. The course, teachers and activists argued, is disproportionately offered to students not of an underrepresented group, giving other students an advantage in the college admissions process, according to The 74.

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Professor Argues Cancer Research Needs More ‘Antiracism’

Admin

Christabel Cheung, a professor at the University of Maryland, recently gave a presentation arguing that principles of “antiracism” must be incorporated into cancer research.

The presentation came as part of a symposium hosted by the University of Michigan School of Social Work on “Achieving Health Equity in Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Psycho-Oncology Care.”

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Arizona High School’s Policy Tells Girls to Leave Their Locker Room If Uncomfortable with Trans Students

Admin

An Arizona high school has a policy allowing transgender students to change in their preferred locker rooms and telling female students to use alternative facilities if they are uncomfortable, according to emails obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Students and parents at Catalina Foothills High School (CFHS) in Tucson, Arizona, found out about the new policy after Bart Pemberton, a parent of a female student from CFHS, spoke with radio host Garrett Lewis about an “unwritten policy” that his daughter had told him about. The policy not only allows transgender students in the bathroom or locker room of their choice but also tells students who are uncomfortable with the policy to request an accommodation to use different changing facilities, according to emails obtained by the DCNF.

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Commentary: Student Debt Forgiveness Won’t Cure Higher Education’s Ills

RealClearWire

On February 28th, the Supreme Court heard arguments on President Biden’s plan to extinguish an estimated $400 billion in student debt. Biden deserves credit for highlighting a debilitating federal program in desperate need of reform. His proposal, however, would make the problem far worse, not better. Any serious reform would force academic institutions to take some responsibility for the education they provide—and to show some responsibility to the many young Americans they induce to go deeply into debt. 

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Study: Average American IQ Is Declining for the First Time in a Century

Admin

A new study asserts that the intelligence quotient (IQ) of the average American citizen is now on the decline for the first time in nearly 100 years.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, the study was published in the psychology journal Intelligence. Analyzing the time period between 2006 and 2018, the study’s authors note that the biggest decline in IQ occurred among Americans between the ages of 18 and 22.

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Raucous School Board Meeting After District Decides to Stop Hiring Teachers From Arizona Christian University

Rachel Alexander

Over 100 concerned parents, educators, and others showed up at a school board meeting of Washington Elementary School District No. 6 (WESD) in Glendale to speak Thursday night, most of them upset that the school board unanimously decided that the district would no longer hire student teachers from Arizona Christian University (ACU). Newly elected School Board Member Tamillia Valenzuela, who describes herself as “witchy AF” and “queer AF,” led the effort, stating the university’s “biblically-informed” values made her feel unsafe.

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Commentary: The Importance of Philosophical Fiction

Arizona Sun Times Staff

I must admit that I have not always been a serious reader. Like the vast majority of consumers of art, I was more interested in the escapist element of fiction and cinema. I would read a book or watch a film as a way to escape into another world for a couple hours. I was enthralled by the likes of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia, Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and Stephen King’s The Shining.

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Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne Announces ‘Empowerment Hotline’ to Report CRT in Schools

Neil Jones

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne announced Thursday that he is launching the “Empowerment Hotline” (EH) so constituents can call in reports of students receiving alleged inappropriate teachings in the classrooms.

“I promised to establish this hotline so that anyone could report the teaching of inappropriate lessons that rob students of precious minutes of instruction time in core academic subjects such as reading, math, science, history and the arts. That promise is being kept,” Horne said.

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Commentary: The Right’s Long Countermarch Through the Institutions

RealClearWire

Is the Right commencing a long countermarch through the institutions, including the very one – the academy – from which the Left’s own long march began? 

Judging by the distress shown by some in the educational establishment, and like-minded corporate media, regarding higher-education reform efforts in North Carolina and Florida, one might get the impression that the countermarch is not only underway but rapidly advancing – threatening progressives’ stranglehold over schools and virtually every other American power center. 

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Parents Organization Reports Nearly 6,000 U.S. Public Schools Support Keeping Child’s Gender Identity Hidden from Parents

Susan Berry, PhD

A Parents Defending Education (PDE) report revealed that 5,904 government schools in the United States maintain transgender or “gender nonconforming” policies that openly assert school staff can or should keep a child’s preferred gender identity hidden from parents.

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Civil Rights Commissioners Urge Speaker Kevin McCarthy to Hold Hearings on Title IX to Assure ‘Biological Sex’ is Protected

Susan Berry, PhD

In a letter obtained by The Star News Network, four members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) are calling upon House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to hold hearings on the Biden administration’s “radical and legally unsupported proposals to change Title IX” to require that its prohibition on sex discrimination be interpreted to bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

The letter, signed by USCCR Commissioners labor attorney Peter Kirsanow, University of San Diego law professor Gail Heriot, Public Interest Legal Foundation President J. Christian Adams, and South Carolina African American Chamber of Commerce CEO Stephen Gilchrist, asserts to McCarthy that the Biden Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has erred in its claim that the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County “requires that Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination be interpreted to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.”

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Arizona Freedom Caucus Calls for Removal of ‘Racist’ Scottsdale School District Superintendent Who Still Hasn’t Been Fired

Rachel Alexander

All three Scottsdale legislators last month called for the termination of Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) Superintendent Scott Menzel after “racist” comments he made about white people in 2019 were reported in the media. Since no action has been taken, the Arizona Freedom Caucus (AFC) held a press conference last Thursday demanding the school board fire him.

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Arizona School Board Cuts Ties with Christian University After ‘Witchy AF’ Board Member Says Its Biblical Values Make Her Feel Unsafe

Admin

An Arizona Elementary School District cut ties with a Christian University after a “witchy AF,” “queer AF,” and allegedly “disabled” school board member wearing cat ears said the university’s “biblically-informed” values made her feel unsafe.

For the past five years, the Washington Elementary School District, which serves pre-k through eighth grade students in Phoenix and Glendale, had a contract with Arizona Christian University, which allowed their student teachers to be placed in its schools for field experience, Fox News reported. The contract provided valuable opportunities for recruitment as the nation grappled with the ongoing teacher shortage.

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Liz Cheney to Teach Politics at the University of Virginia After Losing Re-Election

Just the News

Former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., will take up a post as a professor at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.

“I am delighted to be joining the UVA Center for Politics as a Professor of Practice,” Cheney stated in university press release. “Preserving our constitutional republic is the most important work of our time, and our nation’s young people will play a crucial role in this effort. I look forward to working with students and colleagues at the Center to advance the important work they and others at the University of Virginia are doing to improve the health of democracy here and around the world.”

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House GOP Proposes Parents’ Rights Legislation to Allow More Say in Curriculum

Arizona Sun Times Staff

House Republicans under the leadership of Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California are reintroducing legislation to promote parental rights in their children’s education, giving them more of a say in school curriculum, according to The Associated Press.

The Parents’ Bill of Rights Act will be the first piece of legislation McCarthy has introduced as speaker, the AP reported, and will ensure that parents are aware of their rights and that schools understand them. School systems will be required to publish the curriculum and budget spending, and must ask permission of parents before any medical examination takes place, such as mental health counseling.

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Catholic University Drops Theology Degree, Nine Others

Arizona Sun Times Staff

The Board of Marymount University unanimously voted on Friday to eliminate ten degree programs in the humanities and social sciences, including English, History, and Theology and Religious Studies.

Founded as the first Catholic college in Virginia in 1950, Marymount is affiliated with the Sacred Heart of Mary and serves approximately 3,500 students in its undergraduate and graduate programs.

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AG Merrick Garland Faces Republicans on Senate Judiciary Committee Over Weaponization of DOJ Against Parents, Catholics, and Pro-Life Activists

Susan Berry, PhD

Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland is expected to face tough questions from Republican senators Wednesday regarding what many in the nation say has been the purposeful weaponization of the Department of Justice against parents of schoolchildren, Catholics who live their faith in the public square, and activists who fight for the vulnerable unborn.

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Doctors Condemn Radical Woke Medical School Ideology: ‘Sacrifices the Needs of Patients, Even Their Lives’

Susan Berry, PhD

More doctors are publicly condemning the Marxist racial and gender ideological agenda into which medical school students are being trained, asserting patents’ health, and even their lives, are being sacrificed for a totalitarian political worldview.

A report published last week, for example, by Do No Harm, an organization of physicians, healthcare professionals, medical students, patients, and policymakers, revealed the pervasive infiltration of woke diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) ideologies in Tennessee medical school curricula and programs.

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Arkansas Senate Passes Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ Massive Education Reform Bill

Susan Berry, PhD

The Republican-led Arkansas Senate Thursday passed Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ (R) Arkansas LEARNS Act, a comprehensive education reform plan that seeks to eliminate Critical Race Theory (CRT) in classrooms, increase the salaries of teachers, and broaden school choice in order to “empower parents.”

“We are one step closer to unleashing the boldest, most comprehensive, conservative education reform package in the nation — a blueprint for success for the rest of the country,” Huckabee Sanders tweeted.

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California Christian Teacher Allegedly Fired for Refusal to Comply with District Gender Policies: ‘The District Cannot Accommodate Your Religious Beliefs’

Susan Berry, PhD

A California Christian physical education teacher was allegedly fired for refusing to lie to parents about their children’s gender identities at school and reject having males in female locker rooms – both policies that violate her faith beliefs, Fox News Digital reported Wednesday.

Jessica Tapias apparently shared with Fox News Digital the notice she received from the office of Jurupa Unified School District Superintendent Trenton Hansen.

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Government School Districts Plan K-12 Closures as Student Enrollment Plunges

Susan Berry, PhD

Some of the largest public school districts in the nation are planning to close K-12 schools as they face plummeting student enrollment rates. “Nationwide, public school enrollment fell by more than 1.4 million students to 49.4 million between fall 2019 and fall 2020—a decline of roughly 3%, according to data from the U.S. Education Department,” reported the Wall Street Journal in January. “The following school year, enrollment failed to return to prepandemic levels and remained roughly flat.”

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Massachusetts Teachers’ Union Fundraises on GoFundMe to Pay $300K in Illegal Strike Fines

Susan Berry, PhD

The Woburn Teachers Association in Massachusetts, a local affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA) has created a GoFundMe page to solicit cash in order to pay about $300,000 in fines with which it was penalized following an illegal week-long strike beginning January 30.

“Any help would be immensely appreciated!!” the Woburn Teachers Association [WTA] tweeted Wednesday, providing a link to its GoFundMe page. “We have some fines to pay and unfortunately the (bake) sale couldn’t cover it all!!”

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Black Lives Matter at School ‘Week of Action’ Gives Leftist Teachers Free Rein to Push Social Justice Activism in K-12 Schools

Susan Berry, PhD

Radical Marxist teachers are celebrating Black Lives Matter at School’s (BLM at School) “Week of Action” February 6-10 in thousands of K-12 government schools. The national BLM at School movement spends the first week of February – named as Black History Month – “organizing for racial justice in education,” its website touts.

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‘Trans Lives Matter’ Activists Occupy Oklahoma Capitol Building to Protest Protecting Minor Children from Life-Altering Transgender Drugs and Surgeries

Susan Berry, PhD

Transgender rights activists occupied the Oklahoma Capitol building Monday to protest Republican-led proposed legislation that would protect minor children and teens from life-altering hormone drugs and surgeries, the consequences of which they may not fully comprehend until they are adults. The protesters, many from LGBTQ activist groups Oklahomans for Equality and Freedom Oklahoma, descended upon the Capitol building and into the rotunda, where they proceeded to chant loudly.

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Community Tortured by Prostitutes Soliciting Sex Outside California Catholic Elementary School

Susan Berry, PhD

Parents and parish school officials in East Oakland, California, are desperate for police assistance as scantily-clad young prostitutes solicit sex along the sidewalk of St. Anthony’s K-8 elementary school.

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Chinese Companies with Links to CCP Buying American Private Schools with ROTC Programs, Florida U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz Warns

Susan Berry, PhD

Companies with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are purchasing private schools with junior ROTC [Reserve Officers’ Training Corps] programs and military academies in the United States, warns Representative Mike Waltz (R-FL).

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Trump Delivers Plan to Protect Children From ‘Chemical, Physical, and Emotional Mutilation’ of Gender ‘Insanity’

Susan Berry, PhD

Former President Donald Trump announced a plan Tuesday to protect the nation’s children from the “child abuse” of “chemical, physical, and emotional mutilation” at the bidding of radical gender ideology.

“The leftwing gender insanity being pushed on our children is an act of child abuse – very simple,” the 2024 presidential contender began laying out his vision. “Here’s my plan to stop the chemical, physical and emotional mutilation of our youth.”

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Scores Victory Over College Board’s AP African American Studies Course

Susan Berry, PhD

The New York Times is lamenting the College Board’s revised curriculum for its course in Advanced Placement African American Studies (APAAS) – its abandonment of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the move to make Black Lives Matter (BLM) merely an optional topic of study – both changes that suggest Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s (R) firm rejection of the radical content of the prior version significantly contributed to the new direction.

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Smithsonian Allegedly Ejects Catholic Students from Museum for Wearing Pro-Life Hats

Susan Berry, PhD

The staff of the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum allegedly ridiculed, swore at, and then kicked out an entire group of Catholic pro-life students and their chaperones for wearing hats that say “Rosary PRO-LIFE,” reports the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which now represents the mother of two of the students.

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Planned Parenthood Sex Educator Teaching Minors on TikTok to Use ‘Spicy Toys’ or Vegetables for Sexual Pleasure Under Fire

Susan Berry, PhD

The work of a Planned Parenthood sex educator whose viral TikTok videos instruct children and young teens to use “spicy toys” and fruits and vegetables for sexual pleasure has been condemned by a former sex educator also trained by the abortion industry giant. Monica Cline, who, prior to her conversion, educated children as young as middle schoolers to engage in sex acts “safely,” said in comments sent to The Star News Network that Planned Parenthood sex educator and digital creator Mariah Caudillo is engaged in a “crime against children” paid for by American taxpayers.

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Taxpayer-Funded Study Concluding Teens on Puberty Blockers, Cross-Sex Hormones Have Improved Mental Health Draws Fire

Susan Berry, PhD

A taxpayer-funded National Institutes of Health (NIH) study that drew the conclusion that teens who receive puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones have greater life satisfaction has come under fire. The study, published at the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), states researchers from the Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago sought to investigate the psychosocial functioning of 315 transgender and nonbinary young people, aged 12-20 years, over a period of two years after “gender-affirming hormones” (GAH), i.e., testosterone or estradiol, had been administered for gender dysphoria.

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