In Wisconsin, few colleges and universities consider “legacy” status in admissions decisions, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel review. And because most Wisconsin schools accept far more students than they reject, it’s likely many legacy students would have gotten in regardless of their family’s history of attendance.
But there’s another way in which legacy can benefit already advantaged students: Some schools offer scholarships specifically for students with a family member who graduated from there. At least 13 Wisconsin institutions do, according to the news organization’s review of 28 school scholarship websites.
UW System data indicates drastic enrollment drops by “non-underrepresented” students. They’re defined as students who are white, international students, or those with family heritage in Asian countries well-represented in the student body—such as China, Korea, and Japan.
Enrollment by those students fell around 20%, from almost 160,000 in the fall of 2010 to just under 130,000 in the fall of 2022.
Well, let’s see… over the last decade or more, the UW system has been actively biasing their enrollment criteria to favor underrepresented students while telling your average white or Asian Wisconsin kid that they are not welcome. UW administrators have carved out “safe spaces” for underrepresented students under the premise that they are needed because white and Asian kids as threats. Is it any wonder that when you spend years telling a group of people that they are terrible bigots because of the color of their skin that they might choose to go elsewhere for an education?
Here is my full column that ran in the Washington County Daily News earlier this week. As I expected, I’ve received several outrage emails (and a few in praise) since it ran by folks in West Bend. Not a single person on either side mentioned the outrageous spending from the district. That’s the apathy that allows the district to increase spending by 40% when they lost 10% of the students. And they will keep increasing spending unless the voters stop them.
The West Bend School District is in the news again for promoting adult material to minors, but that controversy, while important, ignores the elephant in the classroom. Let us first discuss books and appropriate material for minors.
The issue in West Bend is that the schools are making available to children several books that discuss, and often evangelize, complex, and often controversial, topics like transgenderism, sex, and sexual intercourse. The books often include graphic descriptions of sexual activity and drawings of the same. While nobody is arguing that such books should be banned, many community members think that such graphic and complex issues are not appropriate for children.
The boundaries of age appropriateness waver by culture and temperament, but we have long held that there is a progression by which people are educated on increasingly complex and graphic material as their minds develop. What is appropriate for a 6-year-old is not the same as for a 26-year-old as the 6-year-old’s knowledge and experience has not yet developed to understand and contextualize the same materials. Issues like transgenderism, sex, and sexual intercourse, or for that matter the invisible hand, natural rights, or Mao’s Cultural Revolution, are issues that require a more mature mind to understand.
In most contexts, adults allowing access to, much less showing, graphic sexual material to children would rightly be considered deviant or predatory — like a creepy guy showing porn to his 10-year-old neighbor. In West Bend, as in other communities, there is now a passionate group of adults who insist that access and advocacy of such materials for children in school is paramount and any opposition to such is akin to Goebbels burning books before the Berlin Opera House in 1933. Such bombastic parallelism is the mark of a soft mind and softer morals.
With a near infinite amount of material to make available to our children, our government schools are obligated to curate content to the values and customs of the majority of their constituents. San Francisco will have a different perspective than West Bend — or so one would think. With the availability of school choice, parents of any economic means can and should be diligent about putting their kids in environments where the other adults are teaching values contrary to their own. If the school will not support parents, then the parents are obligated to take action in the best interests of their children.
While sex and books attract the ire of the community in West Bend of late, left unremarked is how the school district continues to spend the community into oblivion with absolutely no restraint or respect for the taxpayers. Let us consider just four important numbers: 6,623. 5,972. $87.5 million. $108.7 million.
According to the West Bend School District, in 2018, the district had 6,623 students and spent a total of $87.58 million. In 2023, they had 5,972 students and budgeted spending a total of $108.7 million (final audited numbers of what they actually spent has not yet been published).
That is a 10% decrease in students; a 25% increase in total spending; and a whopping nearly 42% increase in spending per pupil in just five years. During the period of a 10% student decline, spending on staff and on facilities increased. There has been no perceptible effort to reduce spending in proportion to the reduction in the number of students they serve.
If we are to discuss the immorality permeating the West Bend School District, we must start with the gluttony, hubris, and malice towards the taxpayers that saturates their financials. It is no surprise that where immorality exists, we see it manifest in many ways. Furthermore, given the record increase in state school funding in the state budget, coupled with the state’s dramatic increase in the property tax levy limit, we can expect the school board to continually increase taxing and spending ad infinitum.
The West Bend School District is now spending over $18,200 per student per year with no signs of moderating. In return for that extravagant expense and largesse from the taxpayers, the community is insulted and ignored when asking for school employees to demonstrate some decency and respect for the age of the children and the values of their parents. It is detestable but will continue as long as the community tolerates it by electing School Board members who support it.
It’s about time. Enrollment is declining. They should be cutting back staff. Also, as someone who has spent some time on the UWO campus, there is plenty… PLENTY of fat to trim. Note to UWO leadership: if you make small reductions as you go based on actual conditions and future projections, you won’t have to make big reductions all at once.
UW-Oshkosh plans to cut about 200 non-faculty staff and administrators this fall, while furloughing others, UW-Oshkosh Chancellor Andrew Leavitt said Thursday, as the university faces an unprecedented $18 million budget shortfall. The cuts amount to about 20% of university employees.
“It is no longer sustainable for us to operate without dramatic reduction in expenses,” Leavitt said in an email to employees.
Administrators referred to a “perfect storm” in conditions that have led to budgetary issues: a decline in the number of high school graduates choosing to go to college or university and declining state support for the University of Wisconsin System leading to an over-reliance on tuition revenue.
[…]
Oshkosh is the third largest of the 13 UW System campuses after Madison and Milwaukee. Its fall 2022 enrollment was 13,714 students, or about 700 fewer than a year before.
One of our faithful readers pointed this out to me. The author of one of the books that is being challenged in West Bend campaigned for the three liberal board members who were elected in April.
While not denying that this author is a radical leftist who wants to indoctrinate children to her beliefs, this is also a rather smart marketing tactic. There is almost an unlimited number of books that a school district can choose to put in front of kids. By stoking controversy, this author is creating a group of passionate adults who are demanding that schools buy HER book.
The West Bend School District is in the news again for promoting adult material to minors, but that controversy, while important, ignores the elephant in the classroom. Let us first discuss books and appropriate material for minors.
[…]
In most contexts, adults allowing access to, much less showing, graphic sexual material to children would rightly be considered deviant or predatory — like a creepy guy showing porn to his 10-year-old neighbor. In West Bend, as in other communities, there is now a passionate group of adults who insist that access and advocacy of such materials for children in school is paramount and any opposition to such is akin to Goebbels burning books before the Berlin Opera House in 1933. Such bombastic parallelism is the mark of a soft mind and softer morals.
With a near infinite amount of material to make available to our children, our government schools are obligated to curate content to the values and customs of the majority of their constituents. San Francisco will have a different perspective than West Bend — or so one would think. With the availability of school choice, parents of any economic means can and should be diligent about putting their kids in environments where the other adults are teaching values contrary to their own. If the school will not support parents, then the parents are obligated to take action in the best interests of their children.
While sex and books attract the ire of the community in West Bend of late, left unremarked is how the school district continues to spend the community into oblivion with absolutely no restraint or respect for the taxpayers. Let us consider just four important numbers: 6,623. 5,972. $87.5 million. $108.7 million.
According to the West Bend School District, in 2018, the district had 6,623 students and spent a total of $87.58 million. In 2023, they had 5,972 students and budgeted spending a total of $108.7 million (final audited numbers of what they actually spent has not yet been published).
That is a 10% decrease in students; a 25% increase in total spending; and a whopping nearly 42% increase in spending per pupil in just five years. During the period of a 10% student decline, spending on staff and on facilities increased. There has been no perceptible effort to reduce spending in proportion to the reduction in the number of students they serve.
A foundation that supports a private Christian school in Milwaukee has bought the now shuttered Cardinal Stritch University campus for $24 million.
The Ramirez Family Foundation, run by Gus and Becky Ramirez, supports schools for “underserved students” across the globe. Now, they plan to bring a Christian voucher school to Milwaukee County.
[…]
“While we have a broad vision to expand access to a high-quality, Christian education for underserved students in Milwaukee, our specific plans for the campus will be determined after careful consideration, analysis and input from educational leaders at Aug Prep,” the statement said.
Teachers are mad. Water is wet. I wish they got this angry about the porn in the curriculum.
According to the district, the changes would lead to lower deductibles and lower out-of-pocket maximums, and employees will have two plans to choose from and three family sizes to choose from for the plans. There will be additional incentives for the second plan and minimal employee premium increases from 2023.
One reason for dropping the current HRA model was that the district had to reserve an increasing amount of dollars each year due to rollovers, which led to less dollars being available for wage increases. Another was that not every employee used it the same and received the same benefit from it.
However, during the School Board meeting on Monday, teachers spoke out against the plan, with some saying they had been promised the HRA benefit as a form of compensation in addition to their salaries.
“I am concerned about the district’s decision to take HRA dollars away from teachers who had been promised this money as part of their compensation,” said Shelly Krueger, a teacher in the district for 32 years. “… I urge the school board and the district administration to reconsider its decision to take HRA money away from our teachers, otherwise future promises may sound empty.”
“It was understood that one of the possibilities in new health insurance plans meant that the HRA may be discontinued. It was not, however, made clear until the July 10th board meeting that teachers that have banked their HRA money, me as one of them, which was given to them as part of their compensation, would have that money taken away from them by the district without having any additional compensation in return,” said teacher Hailey Dougherty. “There are teachers with thousands of dollars saved in their accounts, and taking away that money is robbing teachers of their overall compensation. I strongly encourage the board to speak with HR and find a solution to allow teachers to use this money that has been earned.”
Here’s the rub:
an HSA works more like a bank account that the employee can put money into before it is taxed, whereas an HRA is an employer-funded plan.
And, separate from the issue of the content and children, this is another case of a meeting that could have been an email.
In June, Eau Claire Area School District [ECASD] students were allegedly “required” to report to a classroom where they found their orchestra teacher Jacob Puccio, a school counselor, and the ECASD Diversity, Equity and Inclusion director Dang Yang.
Students were allegedly told that Puccio would be undergoing a gender transition from male to female from a “scripted statement” that was read to several classrooms of elementary and high school music students throughout ECASD.
Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) alleges that the statement was crafted by ECASD to “ensure that students received information in a particular way.” Furthermore, WILL claims that parents are still not aware of what was read to students and want to know the details.
[…]
According to an email obtained by Fox News Digital, McCausland responded saying, “I briefly talked with and forwarded your email on to Dang Yang (the ECASD Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion); the district specified that the script I read on Monday needed to be a verbal presentation only and was not to be shared electronically. He should give you the info you need, but let me know if you need anything else. Thanks – [redacted] had a fantastic first year here in band, hope you all enjoy your summer!”
[…]
The complaint filed by WILL states that a Wisconsin statute requires that public entities comply with their duties “as soon as practicable and without delay” and that “no justification exists” for withholding the statement that was read to students.
“The District withheld the requested record despite it’s not being subject to any statutory or common-law exemption to the public records law. The District is therefore required by law to produce the record,” the complaint states.
In a plan approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature last year, Arizona became the first state to make every student, even those from wealthy families, eligible for a school voucher — on average worth about $7,200 per student annually.
The state deposits the money into Education Savings Accounts for parents, which can be used to pay for private school or home schooling. If the student was enrolled in public school, the money follows the student. If the student was being privately educated, the voucher is a new cost to the state.
The program has been highly contentious — and hugely popular.
Since launching in September, it has grown from about 12,000 students to more than 59,000, outpacing projections. State education officials estimate enrollment could grow to 100,000 by next summer.
The head of Texas A&M University has suddenly left her role amid “negative press” surrounding the hiring of a journalism professor.
President Katherine Banks said she took responsibility for the “flawed hiring process” involving former New York Times editor Kathleen McElroy.
[…]
Dr McElroy, a 20-year veteran of The New York Times, has previously conducted research on the role race plays in the media.
Texas A&M had originally hired her on a tenured track to revive the school’s journalism programme, which was later changed to a five-year and ultimately a one-year offer. She declined the offer.
The initial move to hire her was reportedly met with criticism from some staff members and members of the school’s alumni network.
In a resignation letter, Dr Banks said that “negative press” over Dr McElroy’s job had “become a distraction” at Texas A&M, which has a student body of about 70,000.
“The recent challenges regarding Dr McElroy have made it clear to me that I must retire immediately,” she wrote.
A university statement added that Dr Banks suggested to colleagues Dr McElroy had fallen victim to “anti-woke hysteria” and “outside interference” in the hiring process.
[…]
In the case of Dr McElroy, the Rudder Association – a collection of current and former Texas A&M students and staff – said it had concerns that, in hiring Dr McElroy, the university was not embracing “egalitarian and merit-based traditions” and was instead turning towards the “divisive ideology of identity politics”. It objected to claims that alumni, donors and taxpayers constitute “outside influence”.
I will say that I liked a lot of the work that Dr. Banks had done for the engineering college and some other things in her short tenure. But I understand that she was not well liked by the students, the former students, or much of the staff.
The US Supreme Court struck down decades of legal precedent that allowed colleges and universities to consider race as a factor in admissions.
The court on Thursday specifically ruled against race-conscious student admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.
In concurring with the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that under the 14th Amendment, “the color of a person’s skin is irrelevant to that individual’s equal status as a citizen of this nation.”
If signed into law, UWM-Washington County could become the second UW branch campus to effectively shutter its doors since a 2018 restructuring put the UW System’s two-year campuses under the oversight of four-years.
The Joint Committee on Finance voted to shift UWM-Washington County from a UW branch campus to a “joint Moraine Park Technical College/Washington County operation.” It’s unclear from the motion what, if any, UW’s involvement would be post-merger. UW System could receive $3.35 million, pending the budget committee’s approval, to aid in the transition.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republican lawmakers voted to cut the University of Wisconsin System’s budget by $32 million on Thursday despite a projected record-high $7 billion state budget surplus, leaving the university nearly half a billion dollars short of what it requested.
The cut comes in reaction to Republican anger over diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs on the system’s 13 universities. Republican leaders have said the $32 million is what they estimated would be spent on those programs over the next two years.
“They need to refocus their priorities on being partners on developing our workforce and the future of the state, and we’re hopeful that they’re going to be ready to do that as we move forward,” Republican state Rep. Mark Born, co-chair of the Legislature’s budget-writing committee, said at a news conference.
The university system could get the $32 million back at a later date if it shows how it would be spent on workforce development efforts, and not diversity, equity and inclusion programs, lawmakers said. The GOP plan also aims to cut more than 180 diversity, equity and inclusion jobs on UW campuses.
The UW System has been bleeding students and money for years, and yet, they have steadfastly refused to make any significant structural reforms to adapt to that reality. Meanwhile, they continue to increase spending in areas that don’t have anything to do with education. Until they prioritize students and education, the UW System should not be given more taxpayer money to waste.
Teachers from around Wisconsin gathered at the state Capitol Saturday to ask for more education funding. They described their large class sizes, lack of mental health support for students and colleagues leaving the profession.
They called on lawmakers to support Gov. Tony Evers’ proposed $2.6 billion funding boost for public schools, as the state contends with an unprecedented budget surplus most recently projected at $6.9 billion.
In addition to general aid for schools, Evers’ plan would support free meals for all students, more special education funding and more mental health support. Lawmakers, who have already tossed some of those provisions, are now crafting their own budget proposals through the Joint Finance Committee.
[…]
“It’s a desperate situation,” Strieker said. “The needs are higher than ever. And then from the teacher side, the cost of living goes up.”
According to the DPI, here’s the average per-student spending in the past decade.
In the past decade, spending is up a whopping 33.88%. If we are spending a full third more on schools than we did a decade ago and the teachers are still complaining about a lack of resources, where is all the money going? Yes, I do know the answer…
A growing number of students are falling below even the basic standards set out on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a rigorous national exam administered by the Department of Education. About 40% of eighth graders scored “below basic” in U.S. history last year, compared with 34% in 2018 and 29% in 2014.
Just 13% of eighth graders were considered proficient — demonstrating competency over challenging subject matter — down from 18% nearly a decade ago.
[…]
The dip in civics performance was smaller but notable: It was the first decline since the test began being administered in the late 1990s. About 22% of students were proficient, down from 24% in 2018.
[…]
Instructional time for social studies declined after the implementation of No Child Left Behind, a pattern that was amplified during the pandemic, when schools had to triage academic losses, resulting in more of a focus on reading and math.
“It doesn’t bode well for the future of this country and for the future of democracy if we don’t start doing more instruction in social studies,” said Kristin Dutcher Mann, a history professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, who helps train middle and high school social studies teachers. At one point, she said, older elementary school students in her community received an hour of social studies each day. Now, she said, “they will be lucky if they get 30 minutes for social studies twice a week.”
Instruction has changed, too.
Students spend far less time memorizing state capitals or the preamble to the Constitution — information they could easily Google — and instead focus more on key skills, like distinguishing between primary and secondary source documents. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, Dr. Dutcher Mann said. Students need to be taught to think critically.
But she said that emphasis can contribute to a troubling lack of background knowledge. Even in her college classes, she said, she has noticed a “rapid and very significant decline” in what students know about history and geography — like the fact that Africa is a continent, not a country.
I do think that the emphasis on “how to think” is useless without a base of knowledge. You can’t evaluate information if you lack the historical and factual context of the information. It’s not that we want to move away from teaching critical thinking. It’s that we have to teach a lot of rote facts first so that we CAN teach critical thinking.
I part ways with the Republicans on this one. The data is clear that more money will not result in better educational outcomes – especially in MPS. Don’t give them any more money. The leftist educrats will drop or circumvent the requirements as soon as they can, but the increased spending is eternal. Starve the beast.
Furthermore, whether or not a district uses police, private security, arms staff, or other security measures seems to me to be a strictly local concern.
The district had cut its last contracts with Milwaukee police in summer 2020, as racial justice protests landed outside MPS offices. School board members have stood by that decision, but lawmakers could go over their heads.
While previous attempts by lawmakers to require school districts to hire police officers have been subject to veto by the governor, this one could be harder for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to block if he wants to pass the whole bundle of proposals in the same bill. Evers’ spokesperson has not replied to questions from the Journal Sentinel about the plan.
Evers would not be allowed to use his partial-veto power on this bill if it lands on his desk, according to Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau Director Richard Champagne. On bills that spend public funds, Evers is allowed to use a partial veto, crossing out only certain parts of it. But Champagne said this bill does not qualify as an appropriations bill, and Evers would only be allowed to veto it in full.
The bill, released by state Assembly leaders Tuesday, could still change as it moves through the Legislature. It includes a range of other measures, including allowing the city of Milwaukee to levy a sales tax if approved by referendum.
[…]
MPS stopped using school resource officers in its buildings in 2016 in response to complaints about police unnecessarily citing and arresting students for incidents that could have been handled as disciplinary matters by the district. In 2020, it also ended contracts with police to patrol outside buildings and events.
Here is my full column that ran earlier in the week in the Washington County Daily News:
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly has finally found something to get vocal about. It’s not about the fact that only about 9.1% of Milwaukee government schools kids are proficient or better at math. It’s not about the fact that only 5.1% of Kenosha government schools kids are proficient or better at language arts. No, those immoral and abysmal failures escape Underly’s notice. But the fact that some kids in the Waukesha government school district are not singing “Rainbowland” by Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton has drawn her full wrath. Underly’s priorities are clear and wrong.
The root of the issue is that the Waukesha School District is policy 2240. I invite readers to go to the Waukesha School District’s website and read the actual policy. The policy is simply that controversial issues should only be addressed in an age-appropriate, educational manner. Teachers should only express opinions on controversial issues in the context of instruction and make it clear that it is their opinion. The goal of the policy is to keep classrooms focused on education and not indoctrination. Note that the policy is not specific to liberal or conservative issues, but any issue that elicits controversy. Last month, a first-grade teacher wanted her students to sing “Rainbowland” for a concert. Instead, the kids will sing “Rainbow Connection.” The district administration insisted on the change under policy 2240 because “Rainbowland” is considered to be controversial. The song was released in 2017 by Miley Cyrus, and despite being a pretty terrible song, it has become something of a symbol for the LGBTQ+ political movement. To avoid the introduction of controversial adult issues at what is supposed to be an innocuous grade school concert, the administration made the change against the teacher’s wishes.
Into this intensely local issue, state Superintendent Underly inserted herself and the full weight of the DPI. Without the courtesy of engaging in an actual discussion by calling the Waukesha superintendent, Underly sent a strongly worded letter to the district in her full capacity as state superintendent. She accused the district of “causing undue harm to students and staff” and urged the district to reverse their policy. Underly has made it clear that she wants controversial issues to be infused into every part of the school day at the arbitrary discretion of individual teachers.
Understand that if those same teachers were infusing biblical teachings or gun rights into every day, then Underly’s stance would be different. But since those teachers want to indoctrinate kids with critical race theory, gender ideology, and Marxism, Underly wants to enforce unfettered access to kids under the banner of inclusivity. Leftist activists like Underly never seem to consider how ferociously exclusive they are to people with whom they disagree.
This is the trick by which leftists have been using our schools increasingly as indoctrination centers. Through activists posing as teachers and staff, they push the latest leftist ideology into our schools through every crevasse. With flags on the walls and off-topic rants, they program kids to accept their world view as the only normal. Then, when challenged by parents who disagree, they gaslight and accuse parents of being controversial and oppressive. It is a proven tactic by leftist cry-bullies.
In Waukesha, the citizenry, through their elected school board, has decided that they want their teachers to spend their time teaching. Their policy does not prohibit the discussion of controversial subjects but relegates them to the appropriate educational context. The district’s recently approved Parental Rights and Transparency policy reaffirms this commitment to education and inclusivity and leaves the teaching of values and religion to parents.
The good folks of Waukesha are making it clear that they want their government schools to spend their valuable time teaching core subjects and skills instead of wading into the latest cultural controversy. Government schools are only required to teach 1,137 hours per school year for grades seven through 12 — less for other grades. That’s less than 13% of a child’s time. Kids can spend the other 87% of their time engaging in cultural warfare, but for that 13%, Waukesha wants their kids to learn something.
Under Superintendent Underly’s watch, like that of her predecessor, the performance of government schools to educate kids has been in decline. Our kids are falling increasingly behind and are less equipped to be successful adults than their parents were. Despite this, Underly is choosing to spend her finite time and considerable resources bullying school districts to allow leftist teachers to use their classrooms to indoctrinate the next generation.
Time is our most finite resource and the way people choose to use their time tells you everything you need to know. The Waukesha School District is using their finite classroom time to teach. Superintendent Underly is using her time for leftist activism.
Bearing in mind that we only get one side of the story in this article and it’s from the aggrieved teacher, but this is the kind of stuff that parents are rightfully getting upset about. This is a 3rd grade teacher. 3rd grade. I don’t want her delving into queer theory any more than I want her to 2nd Amendment rights. I want her to teach the curriculum. Is that so hard? Just do the job. The classroom is not your personal activism space.
Sophie Marie (@soph4president), a third-grade teacher in Austin, Texas, recently came under fire for certain ways she conducts her class. Her attire was also a point of contention.
“you’d think I was teaching way out west but this is downtown Austin…,” she writes.
“OK, so today I got pulled into a ‘check-in meeting’ with my administrator at school, and she had this lovely list of concerns that she wanted to bring to my attention,” Sophie explains in the video.
Included in the list is the concern that Sophie is “intentionally” teaching her third-grade students about their rights.
“But my favorite amongst them is, ‘We’ve noticed an intentional attempt at teaching your students about their legal and constitutional rights.’ That’s the concern,” she reveals. “Why are you concerned? Why is that a concern? Why does that concern you?”
Sophie, who is “queer until proven straight,” is outspoken about human rights on her social media platforms. She covers a plethora of current events, including the Queer Capitol March and Texas legislation.
“I have no other choice but to be political. life is depending on it,” reads her Instagram bio. “unwilling to die for the dow. abortion advocate.”
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly has finally found something to get vocal about. It’s not about the fact that only about 9.1% of Milwaukee government schools kids are proficient or better at math. It’s not about the fact that only 5.1% of Kenosha government schools kids are proficient or better at language arts. No, those immoral and abysmal failures escape Underly’s notice. But the fact that some kids in the Waukesha government school district are not singing “Rainbowland” by Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton has drawn her full wrath. Underly’s priorities are clear and wrong.
[…]
Understand that if those same teachers were infusing biblical teachings or gun rights into every day, then Underly’s stance would be different. But since those teachers want to indoctrinate kids with critical race theory, gender ideology, and Marxism, Underly wants to enforce unfettered access to kids under the banner of inclusivity. Leftist activists like Underly never seem to consider how ferociously exclusive they are to people with whom they disagree.
This is the trick by which leftists have been using our schools increasingly as indoctrination centers. Through activists posing as teachers and staff, they push the latest leftist ideology into our schools through every crevasse. With flags on the walls and off-topic rants, they program kids to accept their world view as the only normal. Then, when challenged by parents who disagree, they gaslight and accuse parents of being controversial and oppressive. It is a proven tactic by leftist cry-bullies.
In Waukesha, the citizenry, through their elected school board, has decided that they want their teachers to spend their time teaching. Their policy does not prohibit the discussion of controversial subjects but relegates them to the appropriate educational context. The district’s recently approved Parental Rights and Transparency policy reaffirms this commitment to education and inclusivity and leaves the teaching of values and religion to parents.
The good folks of Waukesha are making it clear that they want their government schools to spend their valuable time teaching core subjects and skills instead of wading into the latest cultural controversy. Government schools are only required to teach 1,137 hours per school year for grades seven through 12 — less for other grades. That’s less than 13% of a child’s time. Kids can spend the other 87% of their time engaging in cultural warfare, but for that 13%, Waukesha wants their kids to learn something.
Under Superintendent Underly’s watch, like that of her predecessor, the performance of government schools to educate kids has been in decline. Our kids are falling increasingly behind and are less equipped to be successful adults than their parents were. Despite this, Underly is choosing to spend her finite time and considerable resources bullying school districts to allow leftist teachers to use their classrooms to indoctrinate the next generation.
