Back-to-School Basics: Public Schools Are Not Sunday Schools

As public-school students return to classrooms for the new #school year, some could face an unexpected test: #religious #indoctrination.
#civilrights #publicschool

https://www.aclu.org/news/religious-liberty/back-to-school-basics-public-schools-are-not-sunday-schools

Baltimore County Public Schools: "Due to the extreme heat forecasted for Tuesday, September 5, 2023, all outdoor Baltimore County Public Schools’ athletic games and practices will be cancelled on Tuesday, September 5, 2023. All indoor games, matches, and practices may proceed as scheduled for Tuesday, September 5, 2023. All teams are encouraged to practice indoors when applicable."
#BaltimoreCounty #PublicSchool #ClimateChange

Thoughts on #publicschool, #homeschool and #communityschooling.

What public schools could and should be is miles away from what public schools actually are, in practice, today.

Public schools could and should be safe, comfortable places where all children get an equal chance at a quality, diverse education in an environment that celebrates them, led for and by a community.

The reality is that they are often dangerous places where children receive a limited and developmentally inappropriate education in an environment that resembles a prison even more strongly than it does the "real world" jobs schools claim to prepare our children for. How extreme the issues are is highly dependent on the wealth of the community and individual family.

My experience with all of these comes particularly from Florida, but please don't kid yourself into thinking these issues are exclusive to here, or that they won't spread across the country faster than a wildfire.

Most families simply do not have an option but to send their children to public schools. Many others simply haven't considered any other options because public school is right there, with a beautiful promise of education, socialization, and free childcare.

Homeschooling universally gets a bad reputation because holy shit for some families they are a means to extend child abuse around the clock and have been for some time. Plus it can be a lot of time, work and money and comes with a whole lot of judgement and downright aggression from others.

Actual community schools are borderline non-existent.

Faced with these issues, my child's father and I began researching schooling options long before I was even pregnant with our first baby. We looked at studies showing what developmentally appropriate education is for young children and how that contrasts with traditional schooling. We looked at studies showing how homeschool kids actually are socialized and what their lives looked like after finishing high school.

We decided then that our child would not attend a traditional school at least through early elementary school. In the years since, we are both quite adamant that she never attends a public school.

Does this mean we are individualist monsters who hate public education and any children who go to public schools? Of course not, and we both are dedicated to fighting for public schools and for children who attend them. A quality, safe education is a right and all people should have access to that. However it is not our child's responsibility to suffer public schools in their current state as some sort of martyr or symbol that her parents are real anarchists and the only anarchist thing to do is public school.

Since our child was born we have found many wonderful homeschooling groups and programs. She is so young and has a social group as large as mine ever was and more diverse ethnically, racially, economically, etc than I had ever had by the time I went to a university. She interacts with children from a much wider age range than she would in a public school. Her education is built around her interests, play and exploration. Her education is by teachers, her parents, parents of friends and community members. At her supplement school, there are students who are openly trans and she sees them accepted by everyone in our community. She sees nothing even abnormal about queer relationships. She compares her nail art with the boys she hangs out with and nobody is teased for it.

But the reality is that this is a lot of work. Work I will gladly do and that I can do, but especially as she gets older, this isn't going to be cheap. We live in a rural area and spend a LOT of time driving to activities and lessons. Which means I need constant access to a safe, reliable vehicle. It takes so much time to put together schedules and make sure she is getting everything she needs. I love that I get to be so involved in her education and the education of other kids around us, but it's a lot. Not everyone can do this.

However, homeschool co-ops and supplement programs can help make things a lot easier. Time when your child is educated by other adults, in a regularly scheduled setting where they are around kids and having academic needs met is huge. As these grow and become more organized, they can become an actual alternative to traditional education that is truly run by a community, by the families (including the kids!) and educators and include families of all backgrounds regardless of income. They can provide opportunities for parents to continue working. They can truly be a dual power solution to crumbling public education.

We can fight to save public education while also helping to make sure our children get the education that is their right even if we lose that fight.

#Denver #Archdiocese sues over free pre-K: The state's #bigotry ban hurts our bottom line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwFVDcvEKqc
#christian #catholic #preschool #religious #colorado #publicschool

Aren't common core and school choice public school issues? How do they affect homeschoolers?

Alex Newman joins Yvette Hampton with a sobering warning for homeschool parents.

https://youtu.be/VtPrZZrSWbM?si=8NVTPsTdpWmTlmfD

#schoolchoice #education #school #publicschool #homeschooling #podcast

" 'We will bomb every school in the Union district': Tulsa school threatened for 'woke ideology' "

Oklahoma school district faces bomb threats after video shared by far-right TikTok account #KOSU #Oklahoma #Tulsa #PublicSchool #RyanWalters #BombThreat #Librarian
https://www.kosu.org/education/2023-08-23/we-will-bomb-every-school-in-the-union-district-tulsa-school-threatened-for-woke-ideology

The Battle Over a ‘#Catholic #PublicSchool’ in #Oklahoma
https://flip.it/OSMyGn
#separationofChurchandState #SOCAS #charterschools #privateschools #religion #theocracy #religiousschools

#America’s First #Religious #PublicSchool Hits Legal Roadblocks
https://www.worldreligionnews.com/religion-news/americas-first-religious-public-school-hits-legal-roadblocks/

#Colorado Department of #HigherEducation warns of massive #databreach
You're impacted if:
Attended a public institution of higher education in Colorado between 2007-2020.
Attended a Colorado public #highschool between 2004-2020.
Had a Colorado #K12 #publicschool educator license between 2010-2014.
Obtained a #GED between 2007-2011
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/colorado-department-of-higher-education-warns-of-massive-data-breach/

The #CollegeBoard, a powerful nonprofit, has been waging war w/ the administration of Gov Ron #DeSantis, a #Republican, since earlier this year when his admin rejected the College Board’s new #AfricanAmericanStudies course. The #curriculum included topics such as “#QueerStudies,” #reparations & the #BlackLivesMatter movement, & the admin objected, citing a #FloridaLaw limiting how #racism & other aspects of #history are taught in #PublicSchool.

#APPsychology #FLDOE #Education #Discrimination

Civil rights leaders line up against DeSantis after slavery curriculum flap :

DeSantis has perfected the art of using policy violence that we must stop," said Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP.
#BoardofEducation #curriculum #democrat #DerrickJohnson #JoeBiden #MannyDiazJr #NAACP #presidentialcampaign #publicschool #race #republican #RonDesantis #Slavery
#Miami #news

https://kbindependent.org/2023/07/28/civil-rights-leaders-line-up-against-desantis-after-slavery-curriculum-flap/

#PublicSchool. Found only 3 of the #Baltimore cannery children were attending; 5 others had attended and dropped out. Location: Pass #Christian, #Mississippi

#Photography #LewisHine #ChildLabour #ChildLabor

https//www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018678050/

A #Utah #highschool student ignored his #church’s teachings on #premaritalsex. His #publicschool isn’t responsible for that.
https://www.au.org/the-latest/articles/religious-freedom-boundaries-examined/#

" Ransomware criminals are dumping kids’ private files online after school #hacks
#Ransomware gangs have been stealing confidential documents from schools and dumping them online. The documents describe student sexual assaults, psychiatric hospitalizations, abusive parents — even suicide attempts. "

https://apnews.com/article/schools-ransomware-data-breach-40ebeda010158f04a1ef14607bfed9b0

#Technology #Children #Security #Malware #Privacy #IdentityTheft #News #ChildSafety #PublicSchool #School

To Drummond — to anyone concerned about the integrity of the public school system — the board’s vote was obviously out of bounds. But it’s actually in line w/an increasingly successful effort by the #ReligiousRight & its enablers on the #SupremeCourt to dismantle what Thomas Jefferson described as the “wall of separation between Church & State.”

#ChurchState #PublicSchool #illegal #Oklahoma #CharterSchool #unconstitutional #OK #law #constitution #funding #legal #SCOTUS #nonsectarian

Publicly #funding a #Catholic school so clearly flouts both of these provisions that the state AG, Republican Gentner Drummond, accused board members who voted to do so of violating their oath of office & promised to take #legal action once a contract w/the school is signed.

#ChurchState #PublicSchool #illegal #Oklahoma #CharterSchool #unconstitutional #OK #law #constitution #SCOTUS #nonsectarian

A #CharterSchool “shall be nonsectarian in its programs, admission policies, employment practices, & all other operations,” #OK #law states.

Public schools “shall be open to all the children of the state & free from sectarian control,” the OK #constitution declares.

#ChurchState #PublicSchool #illegal #Oklahoma #unconstitutional #funding #legal #ReligiousRight #SupremeCourt #SCOTUS #nonsectarian

Oklahoma’s #breach of the #ChurchState line in #PublicSchool is #illegal

The #Oklahoma Statewide Virtual #CharterSchool Board’s recent decision to allow a #Catholic archdiocese to operate a public school is both illegal & #unconstitutional.

I’m not exaggerating — I’m just reading.

by Kate Cohen

#OK #law #constitution #funding #legal #ReligiousRight #SupremeCourt #SCOTUS #nonsectarian
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/06/27/oklahoma-public-religious-school-church-state-funding/

I did a pro bono #SpEd consulting and am left with a bit of a #moral dilemma, so tell me #edutooters, what would you do. 7yo girl attends a middle class #PublicSchool. A 1st grade boy repeatedly enters the girl's bathroom and taunts the girl's as he looks at them under the doors. After the girl's privacy had been violated a number of times over weeks, she finally kicked the boy in the face the last time, as he was peering at her. Girl is developmentally delayed and school punished her, not 1/2

Dishonest #Republican #Christofascists in OK are attempting to violate the #SeparationOfChurchAndState by mandating that framed copies of the #TenCommandments be displayed prominently in every #publicSchool classroom. They claim "expressions of faith in God" have been banished from our #school systems. The fact is that students are, and always have been allowed to #pray in school. But it's #unconstitutional for school staff to initiate or lead such efforts.

#GOPfascists

https://www.alternet.org/the-right-wing/unconstitutional-oklahoma-superintendent-calls-for-framed-copy-of-10-commandments-in-every-class/