Parents’ Bill of Rights
Monday numbers: As national conservatives target schools, a look at the new wave of book banning
Last week the U.S. House passed H.R. 5 -- a federal “Parents Bill of Rights” that's part of a conservative wave of similarly named legislation that targets books and speech on topics like race, gender and sexuality in schools and would compel teachers and school staff to out transgender children to their families.
GOP bill establishing a federal parental bill of rights passed in U.S. House
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans on Friday passed a bill designed to empower parents to inspect books and other teaching materials in local public schools, but Democrats sharply criticized the measure, saying it would censor teachers and ban books. The legislation, called the Parents Bill of Rights, passed on a 213-208 vote. It would codify federal […]
“Don’t say gay” legislation: A threat to the embodied classroom
I am a Black lesbian woman with 20 years teaching experience. However, when I began my teaching career at a predominantly Haitian high school, I was not out to my students. I wasn’t closeted either. As a 22-year-old novice instructor, I believed sharing my private life to my 17- and 18-year-old students would disrupt the […]
Senator Sydney Batch on the tenuous state of reproductive freedom
Senator Sydney Batch discusses the tenuous state of reproductive freedom in North Carolina, along with some of her other concerns (and hopes) for the 2023 session of the North Carolina General Assembly
U.S. House GOP preps for debates on ‘parents’ rights,’ school vouchers and transgender athletes
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans laid the groundwork for some top legislative priorities during a Wednesday hearing that examined public funding for charter schools and voucher programs, as well as increasing parents’ oversight of school curriculum. The Republican chair of the Education and the Workforce Committee, North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, provided a forum for […]
We don’t have to choose between supporting trans kids and respecting their parents
Republicans in the Iowa General Assembly and Gov. Kim Reynolds are determined to earn their culture war medals this winter with multiple bills attacking the phantom menace of transgender indoctrination. But perhaps the thorniest and most dangerous of these mean-spirited proposals is House File 180 (formerly House File 9). This would, among other things, require schools to obtain a parent’s permission before “facilitating any accommodation that is intended to affirm a student’s gender identity” if that identity is different from the one on the student’s birth certificate. [Click here to read North Carolina Senate Bill 49.]
Republican lawmakers to NC schoolchildren and teachers: The attacks will continue until morale improves
In case you hadn’t noticed, North Carolina public schools, along with the children and teachers who inhabit them, are suffering mightily these days. The Public School Forum of North Carolina reports that the number of youth suicides in our state has doubled in recent years and that there’s been a 46% increase in the number of kids who have suffered with one or more “major depressive episodes” since the start of the pandemic. Meanwhile, thousands of educators are voting on the state of our public schools with their feet.
Yes, let’s do talk about ‘rights’ in public education
American politicians have a fondness for bestowing grandiloquent titles on the legislation they sponsor. It’s not enough to describe merely and accurately what a bill does; there needs to be a catchy acronym or inspiring and propagandizing headline built in that will make the bill harder to vote against. Remember the U.S.A. Patriot Act (which stood for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism”)?
Kids are already struggling as ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’ head to governor’s desk
This week House Bill 755 - the “Parents’ Bill of Rights” - is headed for one more procedural vote in the N.C. House and then to the desk of Gov. Roy Cooper. Cooper, a Democrat, has signaled he will veto the bill. But democratic lawmakers say tha will serve Republicans’ political purposes, letting them campaign on their opposition having killed a bill that would ban any instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in Kindergarten through third grade.
“Parents’ Bill of Rights,” targeting LGBTQ kids, is full of wrongs, opponents say
On Wednesday night, after the state Senate voted to approve House Bill 755, the “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” State Rep. Cecil Brockman sounded exhausted. “I can’t believe this is what we’re talking about right now in our short session,” said Brockman, a Guilford County Democrat and vice-chair of the house standing committee on K-12 education. […]
Senators advance controversial ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’ disregarding concerns of educators, LGBTQ advocates (w/video)
Members of the Senate Health Care Committee sought to limit debate over the Parents’ Bill of Right Thursday by restricting comments to only the portion of the bill that deals with parental consent for treatment. But even with that narrow focus, more than half a dozen speakers told lawmakers House Bill 755 would be harmful […]