education
Wisconsin teacher training session says parents ‘not entitled to know their kids’ identities’
Wisconsin parents are being described by their school district as “not entitled to know” if their children are changing identities because that is “knowledge that must be earned” according to leaked training documents.
Staff development sessions for teachers in the Eau Claire Area School District in central Wisconsin “focused on safe spaces, gender identity, microaggressions, and oppression” reported the website Defendinged.org.
One of the slides in the training session reads, “Remember, parents are not entitled to know their kids’ identities. That knowledge must be earned. Teachers are often straddling this complex situation. In ECASD, our priority is supporting the student.”
The group Parents Defending Education obtained “additional material from concerned community members that the school district used in training teachers.” The training video host praised states that mandate schools teach LGBTQ in classrooms beginning in kindergarten, and condemned the states that don’t.
One of the trainers said parents who disagree with their kids about gender identity issues are guilty of “abuse.” The trainer said, “we understand and acknowledge that teachers are often put in terrible positions caught between parents and their students. But much like we wouldn’t act as stand-ins for abuse in other circumstances, we cannot let parents’ rejection of their children guide teachers’ reactions and actions and advocacy for our students.”
The trainers also encouraged the teachers to be activists: “to vote, to demonstrate, to protest.” National Review notes “the fight over teacher training in Eau Claire is the latest skirmish in the national debate over the role of schools in promoting activism, and teaching ‘woke’ concepts about race, gender, and sex.”
In response to the instruction, three local school board candidates, Nicole Everson, Corey Cronrath, and Melissa Winter, issued a joint statement, saying they were “appalled” and “dismayed that current school district leadership would pressure teachers into breaking a social contract that we all know and understand – that parents and guardians hold primary responsibility for the welfare and care of their children.”
In a statement to Empower Wisconsin, superintendent Michael Johnson offered no such apology, and said the district “prides itself on being a school district that makes all students feel welcome and safe in our schools.”
After Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona vowed to shut down Grand Canyon University (GCU), the largest Christian university in the U.S., GCU officials are pushing back, telling Fox News Digital the crackdown stems from “deeply held bias.”
In response to Cardona’s comment about shutting down universities like GCU, a GCU spokesperson told Fox News Digital that “officials continue to make derogatory and inflammatory public statements that are legally and factually incorrect and not shared by any of the other 26 regulatory and accrediting bodies that oversee GCU.”
“The Secretary’s comments to the House Appropriations Committee were so reckless that GCU is demanding an immediate retraction, as they do not reflect the factual record in this case. He is either confused, misinformed or does not understand the actions taken by his own agency,” the spokesperson added.
The president of GCU previously expressed to Fox News Digital sentiments of being “unfairly targeted.”
Grand Canyon University President Brian Mueller told FOX News Digital in October why he believes the university is being targeted by the Department of Education.
Cardona made comments during a House Appropriations Committee hearing about cracking down on GCU and other universities like it on April 10.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., asked Cardona how the administration is working to shut down GCU, which she called “a predatory for-profit school.”
Cardona openly embraced their enforcement methods, declaring “we are cracking down not only to shut them down, but to send a message to not prey on students.”
“Last year, your Department took action against Grand Canyon University, a predatory for-profit college, over the school’s failure to accurately disclose its cost to students, driving up the true cost for those students requiring for them to pay for continuation courses before they would graduate – scam courses added about $10,000 or more to the cost of education to these kids,” DeLauro said.
“Going after predatory schools preying on first generation students. They have flashy marketing materials, but the product is not worth the paper it is printed on. Increased enforcement budget to go after these folks and crack down. Levied largest fine in history against a school that lied about costs and terminated a school from Title IV. We are cracking down not only to shut them down, but to send a message not to prey on students,” Cardona responded.
GCU appealed a $37.7 million fine imposed by the department in November on allegations that the Arizona-based higher learning institution misled students about the cost of its doctoral programs over several years.
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Ralph Lawrence
March 18, 2022 at 8:41 am
How dare a teacher(s) or superintendent take over the duty of determining that a student(child) must be trained in activism and gender responsibility. A student does not belong to a school board nor is “trained” by a teacher whose personal dynamic is taught in a classroom.