Please watch the Glenn Beck video below. Have a very serious conversation with your child and find out what influences are affecting them at their school.
There is a war on parents in our public schools and parents need to find a way to get their children out of toxic environments. The problem is recognizing it’s actually happening right here in “conservative” Utah. Nobody takes action until it’s necessary and they recognize a problem, which means it’s often too late and damage is done.
Davis School District just fought to keep the book “Red Hood” in schools. I couldn’t even read this whole excerpt it’s so shocking. It’s x-rated explicit and being delivered to minors IN UTAH. There are many examples surfacing now of pornographic material being given to our children.
This mom in a Las Vegas school district had her microphone turned off for reading an excerpt from one book to a school board. She was quoting from an assignment her daughter was REQUIRED to do.
Another example that made national news, a Utah teacher in Lehi is on leave after indoctrinating 4th graders on the queer lifestyle.
7th graders in a Salt Lake City middle school were required to take notes on all the different kinds of genders and sexes (beyond male and female).
This war on parents has been going on for decades. A true effort to separate children from parents and get them to adopt a completely different set of values from what their parents have.
You will be shocked by some of the quotes on this page like these:
“Public education has served as a check on the power of parents, and this is another powerful reason for maintaining it.”
– John Goodlad, Developing Democratic Character in the Young, pg. 165
“Most youth still hold the same values of their parents… if we do not alter this pattern, if we don’t resocialize, our system will decay.”
– John Goodlad, Schooling for the Future, Issue #9, 1971
John Goodlad is a nationally prominent educator and was HIRED BY BYU. He worked there for a few years in the early 1980’s and then left to start a National Network for Educational Renewal (NNER). BYU’s education department was one of 11 colleges that became founding members and Goodlad was CLEARLY ANTI-FAMILY. BYU’s affiliation with his network continued until 2010 (when we pressured them enough to leave it) and every year’s conference was on topics like social justice and how to put the gay agenda in classrooms. BYU even HOSTED the 2006 NNER conference.
If you don’t think this influence has affected our schools in Utah, you are gravely mistaken.
Today’s rising generation is in a danger zone and so are many teachers who are trying to resist and do their best under hostile working conditions. Both students and many teachers are in a combat zone.
Unless we re-establish the fact that schools should solely teach academics and stay away from beliefs and actually get rid of the indoctrination and teachers pushing it, we are going to lose more and more children while parents are unaware of what’s happening out of sight.
Yes this is happening everywhere including Utah. CRT, SEL, CSE, and other garbage is taught right here in Utah. Children are tracked, teachers are indoctrinating, and students’ lives are being turned against their parents. Every school that embraces equity, inclusivity, and diversity programs, is engaged in this effort.
Watch this now, probably without kids in the room. Academics are dead, America has been turned by Leftists to sexual deviancy ripening us for the judgements of God. Pray that America repents and reverses this dangerous course.
For example, in Seattle, math isn’t taught from an academic standpoint anymore. It’s all SEL/CRT based. The 4 components or threads are:
Origins, identity, and agency
Power and Oppression
Reflection and Action
History of Resistance and Liberation
Total insanity. The future of America is one of utter desolation unless we reverse this.
If your school denies teaching CRT, just look for where they are teaching SEL because SEL is now completely linked to CRT. CASEL describes the purpose of education to be:
How Big Tech takes control of teaching and learning in our public schools
Utah taxpayers should say “NO” to Summit Learning, here is why.
Over the past five years Davis School district has progressively mandated Summit Learning in two High Schools and three Jr. High Schools without choice or transparency to taxpayers. This year, a new cohort of seventh graders at Mueller Park Jr. High means twelve-year-old’s I dearly love, hate learning with Summit. Summit Learning has no place in our public schools.
I’m an educator with twenty-five years of experience and several degrees, I read educational research as a hobby. I knew everything that was wrong the Summit Learning model. I didn’t understand how bad Summit Learning was until recently. Much of this article is informed by the National Education Policy Center’s Report on Summit Learning.
Summit Learning – Complete capture of your public schools by Big Tech
In 2015 a few online learning charter schools named, Summit Public Schools caught the imagination and funding of Big Tech. Since 2015, Summit Public Schools (SPS) has received philanthropic funding totaling at least $177.6 million. Donors include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Silicon Schools Fund, the Silicon Valley Community Fund, Meg Whitman, and the XQ Institute. The Hechinger Report shows the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) alone committed $142.1 million to SPS since 2016. CZI website reports providing $48.8 million to SPS between 2016 and 2020 and $40 million to T.L.P. Education, a non-profit which fronts Summit Learning, between 2018 and 2020. In-kind donations by Facebook developed the marketing strategy and engineered the platform for SPS to become Summit Learning.
The CZI, a for profit LLC, aggressively markets Summit Learning to public school districts through Gradient Learning, a non-profit which allows districts to bypass state privacy and curriculum adoption laws. Districts quietly “partner” with Summit Learning. In doing so they offer up control of learning and teaching to Summit Learning. Yes, District leaders are choosing this for your child. The Participation Requirements a district must accept to “partner” with Summit are staggering. https://www.summitlearning.org/join-us/program-requirements. These requirements make it clear, Taxpayers do not have local control with Summit Learning. This explains the lack of transparency when adopting Summit.
Once a “partner,” Summit Learning controls and dictates public school schedules, bi-yearly, MAP assessments (on the taxpayer’s dime). Summit requires districts use their Summit grading system for an entire Summit school or grade, making it difficult to compare Summit student achievement to traditional students within a district. Teachers are trained by Summit Learning to facilitate Summit and direct students on the platform instead of leading the classroom with proven pedagogy and instructing on content. Administrators are trained in Summit promotional rhetoric and check-in, two hours weekly with a Summit rep. All student learning is dictated, controlled and data mined by Summit including student-centered learning, project-based assignments, learning standards, content and curriculum in math, science, English and history, they call it the four-core. Summit is written from California and Oregon standards, the eighth and ninth worst schools in the nation. Utah schools are tenth best (according to U.S. News and World Report). Summit standards include the CRT, LBGTQ and social justice themes which is not core content. These social themes are driving ideals on the Gradient Learning website.
Data Privacy contracts grant Gradient Learning access and use of de-identified student data in perpetuity, which the CZI can convert to re-identifiable data. Contracts signed in 2018-2019 explicitly provide SPS to use de-identified student data “for any lawful purpose” (the same language appears in the current Data Privacy Addendum on the Summit Learning website). By extension, this means that the CZI, its technology partner, may also access de-identified student data to use in any way it wishes in perpetuity. Uses may include analyzing data for insights about student learning and psychology using big data statistical methods and selling it to third parties in perpetuity.
Reimagining education to increase control and profits for Big Tech at the cost of children’s growth and success
Summit Learning is not innovative or progressive, it is not a proven model and taxpayers are not resistant to change for rejecting its rhetoric. We know bad education when we see it. Summit Learning brings no empirical data to support its multitude of claims on student success. Summit refuses to participate in large scale educational research, a huge red flag. The “Science of Summit” document is ‘rooted in science,’ offering circular logic, rhetoric, and personal anecdotes, but no data. Most concerning for our children, Summit Learning has packaged together the least effective learning and teaching strategies for students, according to decades of mainstream research. These failed strategies posture students for the least success with learning. Learning is more difficult using Summit. If you are an underserved student, have an IEP, 405, are a poor reader or an ESL student, all the cards are stacked against your success when using Summit Learning.
Farmington High School Students claim they become expert at manipulating the platform to complete their work and receive points with little learning. Further, the lowest performing students at Farmington get all the attention from the teacher to help them pass while higher performing students are ignored. This is a poor, inequitable education model that only benefits Big Tech.
Personalized Learning adoption opens the door for Big Tech platforms
A June 2017 report to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative outlined public relations efforts to create social conditions amenable to widespread adoption of personalized learning. The report described the marketing efforts as part of a strategy to create “one consistent narrative” promoting a positive answer to the question of “Does Summit Learning work?”
Big Tech aggressively markets the ill-defined, unproven ideal of personalized learning to school district leaders, not because it is effective, but because it leads to 1:1 learning in public classrooms.
Public Schools were created to offer equitable content and skills to many children from differing backgrounds through direct instruction and quality feedback from professional educators using quality curriculum and daily practice. When public schools implement well defined, actionable, proven strategies, they can measurably improve student achievement, despite a student’s social-economic background. Summit Learning drives schools away from proven, high performing models of education, master teachers and proven curriculum.
The narrative that “Summit Learning works” is embraced by district leaders, who promote Summit Learning as an effective “whole school reform” to school board members and educators within their district. Summit’s slick rhetoric, seen in their YouTube videos, is used to train District leaders, administrators and teachers to become salesmen for Summit Learning. They no longer focus on the job of educating students in math, English, factual history, science and formal learning skills based on proven models. They are pushing Summit and endlessly trying to make it work. It does not work.
There are additional concerns with the dangers of excessive screen time to the mental and emotional health of students. Then there’s Summit’s easily manipulated computerized curriculum, that has not been adopted by state law or aligned to standards. Summit’s curriculum is governed by algorithms which are proven to reflect the bias of the creator. Summit states online tools can be, “manipulated and changed easily. We know, they can promote a narrative, or they can cancel ideas all together. There is no oversight of Summit Learning’s centrally programmed course content.
Utah Taxpayers should say “NO” to Summit Learning, Especially, Davis County taxpayers.
We can and should constantly improve our public schools by looking to proven models. Education is the great equalizer; it can lift every child. This is not the goal of Summit Learning.
Summit Learning is at the cost of educational excellence. It’s at the cost of proven teaching and learning strategies. It’s at the cost of local control. It’s at the cost of our children’s privacy. It’s at the cost of our children’s mental health. It’s at the cost of training master teachers and using proven, state vetted curriculum with oversight. It’s at the cost of student’s growth, their success and ultimately their self-esteem. It is at the cost of taxpayers.
Davis School District currently requires Summit Learning at Farmington High School, Clearfield High School, Farmington Jr. High, Centennial Jr. High, North Davis Jr. High and Mueller Park Jr. High.
*****
Big Claims, Little Evidence, Lots of Money: The Reality Behind the Summit Learning Program and the Push to Adopt Digital Personalized Learning Platforms
As many across the country are aware, a Lehi, Utah chemistry teacher was fire after the first day of school for going on a threatening anti-parent, pro-gay rant toward her students.
Instead of an atmosphere of inclusion and equity that left-wing teachers preach, they are the worst hypocrites for violating their own “standards.” Only when parents take control at the local level will this nonsense end by terminating teachers that can’t stick to their subject matter.
One mom in Alpine school district showed this video to her children and posted this on Facebook.
I showed this video to my 8th grade daughter who goes to Mountain Ridge. I told her that this video was making national news. She watched it, then I asked her what she thought. She said: “I don’t know why this is going viral. I hear stuff like this from my teachers all the time”.
I showed this video to my oldest who attended American Fork High School and is now at BYU. He watched it and said: “Mom, this is not new. I heard this in High School and I hear this at BYU.”
I knew snippets of their experiences, but now I am painfully aware that this mentality has permeated our local schools. I am sick about it.
That is 100% believable. BYU is one of the worst offenders for social justice and political correctness. Their education department actively promotes this garbage including through math.
Another mom just sent me this picture of a form her seventh grader received in an art class at the new Viewpoint Middle School in Lehi.
Beloved Music Teacher at Draper Park Middle School for being required to teach the Social Emotional Learning program “Second Step” (shared with permission). They didn’t even give his last 2 weeks:
My Dear DPMS families,
This is a difficult email to write.
I have given notice to the School and District of my resignation. I will be leaving Draper Park Middle School within the next two school weeks. This has been a heart-rending decision. I love working with your children, watching them grow and develop. I will miss being with them very much.
I know that this will come as a surprise. It has come as a surprise to me and my family. I intended to be at DPMS for years to come. Unfortunately the social emotional learning (SEL) curriculum, “Second Step” was rolled out to Draper Park MS this year. Because I felt uncomfortable when our Admin announced that we would be implementing this program, I spent time reviewing the lessons, videos, teacher scripts, and student handouts from unit 1 for 7th grade curriculum, which is what I would be teaching. The more I watched and read, the more uncomfortable I became.
As a rule, I think that most people will agree that the skills, which the Second Step curriculum is supposed to teach students, are good and helpful. But way that these skills are presented in the Second Step Curriculum is concerning enough to me that I cannot, in good conscience, present the material to my students; material which teaches students that their parents are “roadblocks” to their goals; material which contains propaganda, and encourages students to become activists, among other things. I am especially uncomfortable with the anti-family undertone I have found find in the “Second Step” curriculum (particularly regarding the relationship between the students and their parents, which the curriculum occasionally calls “other generations”.) I am very concerned that this is in our schools.
I shared a detailed list of my concerns with our school Administration, who referred the issue to School Performance at the District level. At every level of interaction with school and district administrators I was treated better than I expected to be. (Parenthetically, Dr. Watts is perhaps the finest, most evenhanded administrator that I have had the pleasure to work with. His hands are tied in this situation. But even so, he has done more than I deserve to support me as we wrestled through this issue. We are fortunate to have him at Draper Park Middle.) My concerns were listened to, and a group at the district have taken the time to look at the relevant content to understand my concerns. Unfortunately, in the end, district personnel kindly told me that that my concerns are unfounded, and that I was seeing what I was “looking for”. They further indicated that the program, as applied in other schools through the district, is working well and helping achieve what they want. I was told that, as a teacher in the district, I am required to teach the concepts from the provided “Second Step” curriculum.
As a kind of compromise, I was offered some small flexibility in the way that I teach the material to the students, as guided an assigned district personnel. But having someone else tell me what I have to teach from a curriculum, which I believe doesn’t belong in the school, is even less appealing than the alternative.
I have advocated for total transparency of the curriculum for parent review, and an opt-out option for parents who are uncomfortable with the course. Because “Second Step” is a copyrighted program requiring a purchased license to access the content, parents can only review the lessons being taught to their students by going into the district office and having district personnel show it to them. No opt-out option will be offered.
I don’t expect all of you to agree with my decision, or that, given the same material to review, you would all feel reason for concern. But I hope that you will understand why I have felt the need to resign: that I cannot teach content to your children that I believe is harmful.
I also want you to know that I have not shared, and will not share, all that I am sharing with you with my students. I do not want to influence your children’s perception of the school, the “Second Step” program, or give them preconceptions about things which might make their time at the school more difficult or stressful. I will tell them that I was asked by the district to do something that I couldn’t do with a clear conscience, but will indicate that I have written to you with more detail so that you can share as much or as little of my concerns as you feel is appropriate.
I hope that you, and your children, will think kindly of me as we part ways. I have tried all that I know to find an acceptable solution which would allow me to stay. I wish all of you, your students, the school and the choir program all the best.
Sincerely,
Sam Crowley
—-
His email with specific concerns sent to his school administration and the Canyons District School Performance office with more details:
Sam Crowley
“Thank you for taking time to visit and hear some of my concerns. Pursuant to our conversation this afternoon, here is a list of my specific concerns relative to the 7th grade (returning student) Second Step course. I acknowledge that my perspective will be different from others, and that not everyone will share my concerns about the material. With the first day of school looming, I have only taken time to go through the first unit of the 7th grade course, which is what I would be teaching. I have read all of the material, teacher notes and scripts, student handouts, scope and sequence, and the lessons which are presented to the class in unit 1. Most of the concepts in the scope and sequence are good skills that I have no objection to. It is in the narrative of the videos, the examples used, and the assignments students work on that I find the material which makes me so uncomfortable.
Before getting into the details of my specific concerns, I want to express my displeasure that curriculum content was not available to teachers and administrators earlier in the year for review. I also want to advocate strongly for total transparency to parents. After reviewing the material myself, I believe it is critical for absolute transparency – that parents have total access to all of the materials used to teach the curriculum; videos, scripts, lessons, student handouts and worksheets, all of it. Parents retain the right to manage the education of their children. I feel strongly that, if Second Step is going to be a mandated curriculum at our schools, there should be an opt-out option allowing parents to remove their children from Second Step SEL courses.
UNIT 1 – General concerns about the unit:
•No discussion of what a worthy goal is.
•No discussion of what to do when a goal is not reached/achieved, even when you plan and work hard.
•Distinct anti-family undertones
Lesson 1
From the introductory video (not the “video” section of the lesson):
1- Students are taught that other generations have not had to “think about the issues” that they to face today. If we follow that thought, that leads to the conclusion that other generations are not prepared to be helpful. Other generations is just nice language for parents, guardians, grandparents, etc. Teaching students that other generations, ie. their parents, are unprepared to help them is the same as saying that their trust and confidence should be in the system, and not the family. It is anti-family.
2- BLM propaganda is included in the video. I am happy to discuss being just and helping to end suffering. But when the only visual cue given to for the students to consider as the narrator speaks about the hardship of dealing with the “injustice and suffering” in the world is video footage of a Black Lives Matter protest, it is biased; it is propaganda. Propaganda has no place in our schools.
Lesson 2
From the video in the “video” section of the lesson
1- Video example promotes students becoming activists and starting campaigns around the school. Activism is loud, pushy, and almost always places people into a closed-mindset. This is counterproductive.
Lesson 3
Concerns across the lesson, video, script, and student handout
1- This lesson is poorly designed and left me with incorrect conclusions about the nature of mistakes and their relationship to progress or success. The lesson video tells the students that if the bridge hadn’t collapsed, the research that led to better, safer bridges wouldn’t have happened. Thus the lesson being taught is that ‘mistakes are necessary’. Or stated another way, we make mistakes to learn. This is wrong. We learn from our mistakes; but we don’t make mistakes to learn. The lesson promotes the idea that the building of the first bridge was not only justified because of what followed after the disaster, but that it was a good thing because progress was made. Not so. A good thing would have been to heed the warnings of engineers who were opposed to the cheaper project, conduct more research, and construct the bridge the right way the first time.
Lesson 4
Concerns across the lesson, video, script, and student handout
1- A discussion about reaching our goals and identifying and planning for “roadblocks” that might keep them from reaching a goal. The lesson gives the following scenario: student has a goal. The student’s parents say that the goal is not an appropriate goal for the student. The lesson asks the students to decide if the parents are an “internal roadblock” or an “external roadblock”. Teaching students that their parents are “roadblocks” is not acceptable. This is anti-family.
Lesson 5
Concerns from the lesson video in the “video” section and with the lesson conclusions
1- Game of Thrones reference in the video. Cartoon student has a book on the desk called “Game of Dragons”. Game of thrones is reprehensible media containing pornography, overt and explicit violence, and all manner of debauchery. The prequel series to game of thrones is ‘House of Dragons’. I discovered this when I googled ‘game of dragons’ to see what came up. There is no place for this in the schools.
2- The lesson promotes the incorrect idea that hard work, bravery, and careful planning will result in success. This is a fallacy. Sometimes, whatever you do, you lose, you don’t make it, you fail. No acknowledgement of this possibility, or the important skill of dealing with this kind of disappointment.
Lesson 7:
Concerns from the video, which is a repeat of the video shown in lesson 2, with the same
I am very uncomfortable that I am being required to teach this content to my students. I hope that I have expressed my thoughts and concerns clearly. I haven’t been able to review the entire course, but it seems reasonable to me to believe that there is sufficient evidence to pause and reconsider what we are teaching.
—
Music expresses feeling and thought, without language; it was below and before speech, and it is above and beyond all words. ~Robert G. Ingersoll
A few days ago I received an email sent from a Utah State Office of Education employee. I’ll leave the employee anonymous because it’s truly irrelevant since so many employees there are fully on board with this programming.
The email from the state employee is below my response. It was sent to teachers and administrators all over Utah.
******My Letter to this Employee & the State Board of Education
____________, in reviewing your recent email, I noticed this Ham4Progress scholarship you promoted is only available for children that are not white.
“The award is open to students who meet the following eligibility requirements:
· Black, Latino/a, Indigenous, Asian, or Pacific Islander”
I see this is from a private entity so it’s apparently not state taxpayer funds being used to favor people based on race, but I am troubled why a state employee would promote a scholarship designed only for minorities.
Would you similarly promote a scholarship from another private entity if their scholarship was only for white children?
If not, why not? Would that be racist but this is not? I’m getting confused over how the new politically correct rules work when implemented because they clearly don’t work by logic.
Is the state not committing itself to the practice of “inclusion, diversity, and equity?” How is this inclusive? How does this promote diversity? How is this equitable? There are thousands of scholarship opportunities. Why would you promote this one that doesn’t fall in line with the new state policy???
Inclusive means comprehensive, yet the indoctrination taking place today has inclusive mean everyone but Caucasian. Diversity literally means having people from various ethnicities and backgrounds, but the indoctrination taking place is geared toward excluding Caucasians, conservatives, and Christians. Equity means being fair like the phrase “justice is blind,” but the indoctrination is straight out of Orwell’s “Animal Farm” where some pigs declared themselves “more equal” than others. Instead of equal opportunity, the preaching is for equal outcomes and the exalting of one over another.
The new “racism” is all about pointing the finger to make one race feel guilt, another pride, and the end result is exactly the division Karl Marx preached, not Martin Luther King.
It’s particularly troubling that a Social Studies specialist would send this out. My own deficient background in history and social studies is enough to recognize that all these idiotic policies being implemented lead to DIVISION, not UNION.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (George Santayana)
Preaching white fragility, original sin due to whiteness, reparations, micro aggressions, and so on, are anti-Christian teachings. For a state population that is highly Christian, it’s stunning so many have accepted these teachings instead of returning to what the preacher Martin Luther King taught, which is what Jesus taught. Love one another. That solves every problem. Every problem.
All this other nonsense (and that’s putting it mildly) leads to fear and anger, and you know what the wise sage of Star Wars said about that. It’s the path to the dark side and we can plainly discern that’s exactly what’s happening right now. More violence and less tolerance leading to ripping the public apart, the goal of every Marxist who wants revolution which is what the foundation of Antifa and Black Lives Matter is based on, setting race relations back decades in the process.
It is my hope that the state school board will stand up to this nonsense and recognize the incredible harm that this path is promoting. This isn’t a “conservative” issue. It’s not even a race issue. There are evil forces at work seeking to divide people every way they can and it’s unconscionable that the state of Utah is promoting these divisions to state employees.
In a sad way it’s funny that the exact point I’m making is being illustrated in this email that the preaching of inclusion is clearly leading to exclusion.
Only true doctrine changes hearts and minds. Love one another led to the success of the civil rights movement 60 years ago. Historically, that’s the only successful policy for healing racial tension. Go watch the movie Invictus. That terrorist (Nelson Mandela) repented and came to the truth about loving each other and healed his country. The American terrorist Bill Ayers has been preaching the anti-Christ doctrine of social justice for decades and warping the meanings of inclusion, equity, and diversity. It’s a perversion of truth and leads us into dark paths and he’s been wildly successful selling this hatred.
Moses 6: 54. “Hence came the saying abroad among the people, that the Son of God hath atoned for original guilt, wherein the sins of the parents cannot be answered upon the heads of the children, for they are whole from the foundation of the world.”
We get what we preach. False doctrine leads to madness. Love conquers all.
Just a final word on your attached “Civil Dialogue” flier. It looks like yet another example of indoctrinating into these false beliefs.
“Teachers will…learn how to counter their own personal bias.”
Well what if a teacher just loves the children and helps them equally? Oh silly me, that can’t be happening. Teachers just don’t understand their own racism, right? This is insulting to teachers.
“Participants will be required to dedicate at least one class period Fall 2021 to practicing civil dialogue with their students…”
Does that mean other classes can be free from civil dialogue? Or is this just another thinly veiled indoctrination event? That would be my guess.
Dear State Board members, what direction do you really want to take Utah? This isn’t education. This isn’t progress.
Oak Norton
*********
Here is the email sent out along with the 2 attachments (1 referenced just above)
ABA Division of Public Ed Teacher Institute is Virtual This Year!
Judge John F. Grady Virtual Summer Teachers Institute
July 29th & August 5th, 2021
Here is the link to apply for the ABA Summer Teacher Institute:
Click Here For More Information and to Register
Utah 3Rs Project Civil Dialogue Training for Teachers (Flyer Attached)
The Utah 3Rs Project Civil Dialogue program will be held on the campus of Utah Valley University on Wednesday, July 28, 2021 from 9:00 am-3:00 pm. Optional tours of the Reflection Center and the Roots of Knowledge stained glass exhibit will immediately follow the end of the program.
Teacher incentives include:
The first 40 teachers to register will receive $100 stipends, which will be distributed after participants complete the evaluation for the in-service training and report on their Fall classroom civil dialogue session.
Participants will receive 6 re-licensure points for participating in the program.
If you are interested please contact Eleesha Tucker at the email address etucker@Utah3Rs.org to register.
Summer Professional Development Sessions from the OER Project Team
Virtual professional development sessions are coming up fast! Whether you’re new to OER Project courses or you’re already an active member of our community, this is your chance to strengthen your practice and prepare to guide your students through a year that will be like no other.
They have just launched their PD schedule page (bookmark it now!)
Professional Development Schedule Page and Registration
You are welcome to sign up for any session that interests you. They are opening registrations on a rolling basis, and encourage you to save the dates you’re interested in now.
Scholarship Opportunity – Ham4Progress
Gilder Lehrman is proud to partner with Hamilton on the Ham4Progress Award for Educational Advancement. This award supports college-bound high school students from communities that directly experience the consequences of injustice and discrimination.
The award is open to students who meet the following eligibility requirements:
Black, Latino/a, Indigenous, Asian, or Pacific Islander
College-bound high school junior
Minimum GPA of 3.2 on a 4.0 scale
Enrolled in a Gilder Lehrman Affiliate School
Recipients of the Ham4Progress award will receive $2,500 for educational purposes, such as
Test preparation courses
Tutoring
College visits
Technology (laptops, tablets, or other devices used for learning)
Applications are due June 30, 2021.
Please share thislink with other teachers in your district and pass it along to eligible students.
With permission I am publishing this Facebook post by Dr. Gary Thompson, one of my two favorite Utah doctors… :)
***
I received this letter last week from a political insider who worked during the Utah-Herbert/Cox Administration. I waited several days to do a background check on the writer before making this public. He/She checked out.
If you want to know why the Cox Administration will never meet with me, and quite frankly, why they are more than likely figuring out a nasty way to destroy my name and honor? Read on:
Doctor Thompson:
“Gary, you do not know me personally. I worked through__________and contacts on the UDOE, mainly ____________back in 2014-16, to try to stop the State’s work in digitizing children and creating electronic figure-prints, and using the data commercially. It was an epic failure.”
“You scared the hell out of the establishment. I suspect Gov. Herbert admin was especially concerned over the potential for you exposing them, and how they circumvented the intent of parental rights and stripped away all local control”
“And you would have exposed how they altered the legal language, so they could digitize minors for profit, while making parents responsible as the primary for exposing them, all while stripping parents of all editorial control over the classroom. You would have shown how digitizing minors completely ignored all the science behind the principle of “do no harm” .”
“And how it was never about improving educational outcomes. It was about them gaining power and the State profiting. In a word, you would have exposed the lie. And they knew you would.”
“What you may not know, is your battle exposed enough of their design as to prevent them from carrying it out in full. And it provided parents a way to take it back without having to fight the beast….”
Here is my [Gary’s] open response to the Cox Administration:
Dear Cox Administration:
I don’t want to fight you, expose you, or have ANY involvement with politics. I do not wish to be on TV, made famous by Tucker Carlson or any media talking head. I do not want to write a book, or receive monies from speaking engagements…..
All I want is to hang out with my beautiful wife and six kids, and to assist her with her efforts of providing trauma level services to the area of the State with the highest youth suicide rate in the country, and to raise my kids via the values passed on by several generations of African Americans in my family system.
Critical Race “Theory” goes directly against those values, and have a strong statistical possibility of harming both my marriage and my biracial children.
5 years ago I promised to “go away” quietly from the public spot light IF your future policies did not directly negatively affect my wife or kids.
I kept mine…but it appears to be that you may be under the direct influence of the Union, BLM, and other woke, left leaning entities which are championing CRT….thus it appears that you are thinking about breaking your promise.
I hope you have the fortitude to stop this harmful garbage in its tracks during the special legislative session coming next month. If not? You will leave me no choice but to come out like a bat out of hell to fight this on both a local and national level.
I won’t come out of this as a “winner”, but I do know this much: Neither will you.
I am more than willing to be “canceled” and shamed fighting for family my against CRT……are you willing to risk your political career and good name over this garbage?
Thank you for having the courage to advocate for your child! Gone are the days you can just sit back and hope your child will be safe at school. The following are some important steps to help you proactively advocate for your child. Please share with other concerned parents.
1) Get Educated on the Harmful Programs in Schools:
Social Emotional Learning programs groom your children to accept Critical Race Theory, Comprehensive Sexuality Education, Gender Ideology, BLM Curriculum, and intersectionality. Learn more here:
A perfect example of how they are trying to indoctrinate our teachers and students: Keynote from the Utah Pride Center’s conference for Utah Educators, held 1/23/2021 “Gender Creative Education: Building an Inclusive and Equitable Learning Community”
The school will not always tell you when something controversial is going to be taught unless you make your wishes known in unmistakable terms. These opt out forms will help you do just that!
Feel free to edit the forms to include anything not already mentioned that you do not consent to having your child taught or exposed to. For example:
“I do not consent to my child being read stories that include the topic of intersectionality, gender identity/orientation, or homosexuality ideology”
“I do not consent to my child participating in the Second Step program and I request that my child be allowed to go to the library to do an alternative assignment whenever the class is participating in these program materials.”
“I do not consent to my child participating in any discussions, activities, programs, or presentations on the topics of Cultural Proficiency/Competency/Revelance, Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, Privilege, White Fragility, Intersectionality, Anti-Racism, Systemic Racism, bias/sensitivity training, Critical/Crucial Conversations (i.e. Critical Race Theory), Social Justice, Racial Justice, etc.”
I would recommend that you add signature lines at the bottom of each form for the principal and teachers to sign showing they read and understand your desires. Have them sign two copies of each opt-out form, one for your records and one to be kept in your child’s official file.
3) Know the Laws – and how they pertain to your parental rights and child’s learning environment. Cite these laws whenever asserting your parental authority over your child’s education:
Be sure remind your school that yours and your child’s first amendment rights are guaranteed even at school – freedom of speech, religious freedoms, and rights of conscience – and that Utah code 53G-10-402(6) states that political, atheistic, sectarian, religious, or denominational doctrine may not be taught in the public schools (except as provided in Section 53G-10-202).
Constitutional free speech laws also protect against compelled speech of any kind (i.e. having to choose an identity group, having to state whether they are an oppressor or oppressed, having to state their own preferred pronouns, having to use someone else’s “preferred” pronouns, having to state their sexual orientation, having to admit guilt for something they didn’t do, having to say they are “racist”, have “privilege” or “power” etc.).
Utah laws protecting parental rights are cited in the attached opt-out form for “subversive content”.
You may want to edit the “sexual content” non-consent form to include the following Utah laws and Board Rules that require parental consent to be given before anything related to sexuality or gender orientation are discussed in class:
4) If your child is taught or exposed to inappropriate materials in their classroom or library:
1) Find out if your local school board approved the book, curriculum, or program. If they did not, have them remove the inappropriate materials from the classroom, and send out a formal apology to all parents in the school informing them of what happened and what actions they are taking to remedy the situation and ensure it does not happen again. If they did approve it have them remove it from the approved list.
2) Ask teacher/administrator what content on the opt-out forms have already been taught to your child so you can discuss the content with your child, share your family’s values and why these are important to you.
3) Report incident to the Utah Education Hotline: 801-538-7813, include the offending teacher or administrator’s name(s) if you suspect your complaint may require disciplinary action. Also, mail the State School Board with your concerns at board@schools.utah.gov.
5) Right to Know:
Parents have a right to know everything their children are taught. Assert your parental rights by visiting the school and insisting they let you see all books, curricula, resource materials, and computer programs being used. Ask to be logged in through the student portal so you can see what is only available through the student portals. Write down the names of any programs or curricula being used and research them at home. See attachments below for more helpful tips.
6) School Community Counsels:
Find out about your local school community councils on your school’s website and in the attachment below. This is where you as a parent can have a voice in what happens at your child’s school. Attend their meetings and work to get informed parents on the counsel or get on it yourself.
Teach them what is ok and not okay for them to be taught in school so they know when to call you. Not sure what to tell them to watch out for? Study the links in the “Get Educated” section at the beginning of this letter and then you will know.
Teach your child to trust their instincts. If something doesn’t feel right it probably isn’t. If your child is “sick” about what is being taught or presented in class or online, have them tell the teacher they “do not feel well” so they can go to the office and call you. Come up with a code word they can use when they call you so that you understand they need rescuing from the uncomfortable situation such as a fake name for a relative that if they mention it on the phone you know they are in distress (ex. “Did Uncle Charlie arrive safely?”). Be sure to follow up with the school about whatever it was that caused your child discomfort.
8) Utah Parents United:
Last, but not least, go to http://www.utahparentsunited.org/get-involved.html and join with other concerned parents and learn powerful ways you can advocate for your child! We must stand together to protect our children.
Thank you again for caring about your child enough to get involved!
Please watch these critically important videos from the 2021 Eagle Forum conference. These issues are here in Utah.
5:33 Gayle Ruzicka, Eagle Forum President speaking on the reproductive mutilation of children happening in our state. Ask your legislators to support HB 92 which prevents surgeons in Utah from performing transgender procedures on minors.
7:16 Jennie Earl (currently serving on the Utah state school board), on critical race theory and cultural Marxism.
7:35 Merrilee Boyack (Abortion-Free Utah and Family Watch International) on comprehensive sex ed in Utah schools.
7:50 Nicholeen Peck – discusses pornography happening in Utah schools through the databases children have access to. Ask your legislators to support HB 38 which requires Utah schools to block obscene and pornographic material from students.
