Conservatives are taking over (and destroying) schools across America

[CitizenVectron]

I think we all know this is happening, but here is a specific example covered in greater detail:

 

A right-wing takeover of a Colorado school board has some of the town’s conservatives deeply concerned

WWW.NBCNEWS.COM

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A new school board quickly enacted its agenda in Woodland Park. Now teachers are leaving and the board faces growing opposition, including from lifelong GOP voters.

 

Changed history and social studies:

 

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WOODLAND PARK, Colo. — When a conservative slate of candidates won control of the school board here 18 months ago, they began making big changes to reshape the district. 

Woodland Park, a small mountain town that overlooks Pikes Peak, became the first — and, so far, only — district in the country to adopt the American Birthright social studies standard, created by a right-wing advocacy group that warns of the “steady whittling away of American liberty.” The new board hired a superintendent who was previously recalled from a nearby school board after pushing for a curriculum that would “promote positive aspects of the United States.”

 

Chose not to have counsellors for students:

 

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Teachers grew particularly alarmed early this year when word spread that Ken Witt, the new superintendent, did not plan to reapply for grants that covered the salaries of counselors and social workers. 

 

At Gateway Elementary School in March, Witt told staff members he prioritized academic achievement, not students’ emotions. “We are not the department of health and human services,” he said, as teachers angrily objected.

 

Their board members are crazy:

 

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When asked to respond to criticism from school personnel and parents, Illingworth, the board's vice president, replied in an email: “I wasn’t elected to please the teacher’s union and their psycho agenda against academic rigor, family values, and even capitalism itself."

 

And staff are leaving:

 

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At least four of the district’s top administrators have quit because of the board’s policy changes, according to interviews and emails obtained through records requests. Nearly 40% of the high school’s professional staff have said they will not return next school year, according to an administrator in the district. 

 

And it's all part of their plan:

 

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These rapid and sweeping shifts weren’t coincidental — instead it was a plan ripped from the MAGA playbook designed to catch opponents off guard, according to a board member’s email released through an open records request. 

 

“This is the flood the zone tactic, and the idea is if you advance on many fronts at the same time, then the enemy cannot fortify, defend, effectively counter-attack at any one front,” David Illingworth, one of the new conservative school board members, wrote to another on Dec. 9, 2021, weeks after they were elected. “Divide, scatter, conquer. Trump was great at this in his first 100 days.”

 

Vote early and vote often, when it comes to lower-level elections in your areas.

[Greatoneshere]

I think there should be a SCOTUS criminality mega thread and a schools are getting fucked by the right wing mega thread. It'd be helpful to have it all in one place.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Well that article was completely infuriating.

[thewhyteboar]

Republicans want to destroy public schools so every kid has to go to a Betsy Devos charter school and learn how to be a Calvinist soldier for Christ.