Western civilization faces its deepest crisis since the resurrection of Jesus Christ according to former U.S. Attorney General William Barr told a Christian conference in Chicago, Illinois, last weekend.
&#8220;That&#8217;s because our whole civilization is based on the Judeo-Christian tradition, and that tradition is under sustained attack by increasingly militant secular forces,&#8221; Barr said. Among such forces, Barr said, were the many so-called &#8220;progressives.&#8221;
Barr, who recently served as the country&#8217;s top attorney in the Trump Administration, attended the 2022 Issues, Etc. &#8220;Making the Case&#8221; Conference at Concordia University Chicago as a keynote speaker with six other doctors and reverends.
During his segment on Saturday, Barr told the audience about what he believed was a threat to the entire western world: the U.S. public school system — which seeks to control how children are raised while creating a hostile environment for traditional religion, The Federalist <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2022/06/27/barr-public-schools-are-now-so-hostile-to-christians-theyre-unconstitutional/">reported</a>.
The former attorney general has argued that for years, America&#8217;s unique self-government system cannot exist without traditional religion — an argument that <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-3102">closely aligns</a> with the words of the second U.S. President John Adams: &#8220;Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.&#8221;
In 2019, Barr delivered <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-william-p-barr-delivers-remarks-law-school-and-de-nicola-center-ethics">remarks</a> to the Law School and the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame about religious liberty in America and how modern secularism has attacked that freedom over the last 50 years.
During that speech, he said ground zero for such attacks on religious liberty occurs in the public school system by adopting a curriculum incompatible with traditional religious principles or mandating—in some states—LGBTQ+ lesson plans without parental consent of the child. Meanwhile, the state starves private schools from generally-available funds, he said.
Barr reiterated the largely controversial speech at the conference last weekend and called out the unconstitutional anti-religious rhetoric in American public schools. He said the government violates the Free Exercise Clause by establishing one religion over another. The clause prohibits the government from interfering with the religious obligations of citizens.
&#8220;What we&#8217;re living through is not a situation where religion is intruding into the government&#8217;s rightful arena—it&#8217;s exactly the opposite,&#8221; Barr said. &#8220;It&#8217;s that government and politics are usurping the role of religion.&#8221;
Barr said the progressive movement in the United States represents these ideas.
&#8220;It basically is an ersatz religion that gives them a sort of truncated version of the place filled by religion in people&#8217;s lives,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It also explains the bitterness in our politics today because once you adopt this view, then your political opponents aren&#8217;t just disagreeing with you, they&#8217;re evil.&#8221;
However, he thanked the current Supreme Court&#8217;s adherence to the original Constitution and believes it&#8217;s a moment in history to address the existential national crisis by ending the government monopoly over the education system that pushes transgender and anti-white racism ideologies, The Federalist reported.
Barr instead promoted full school choice that would allow parents access to public education dollars and spend it on the institutions that match their beliefs.
However, Barr warned American Christians that the idea could not cure the crisis alone. He said he could not see a way out and the way for Christian citizens to live in peace in this republic until the educational system is addressed.

Attorney General Barr Testifies Before House Judiciary Committee

Former Attorney General William Barr Warns Western Civilization Facing Its Deepest Crisis Since Jesus Christ

Former Attorney General William Barr Warns That The Progressive Movement Is Dangerous

Christianity

Education

Religion

Supreme Court

William Barr

The United States <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-s-army">Army</a> has dropped its requirement that recruits must have a high school diploma or a G.E.D. degree in an apparent attempt to increase the number of troops.
On Thursday, the Army announced the changes. Recruits must be 18 years old and eligible for a job in other areas of active duty and they also must score at least a 50 on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) to test their academic ability, <a href="https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/06/24/army-drops-requirement-high-school-diploma-amid-recruiting-crisis.html">according</a> to Military.com.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/military">military</a> outlet also noted, &#8220;The Army and its sister services have scrambled this year, offering increasingly generous benefits and policy tweaks in an effort to improve recruiting numbers. The Army has hit 40% of its recruiting goals this year, with the struggle to fill the ranks seemingly so grim the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/department-of-defense">Defense Department</a> reduced its planned total force size because prior recruiting goals were out of reach.&#8221;
Last week, the Army also <a href="https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/06/23/army-relaxes-tattoo-rules-it-scrambles-new-recruits.html">relaxed</a> its regulations regarding the placement, size, and number of tattoos that recruits may have.
&#8220;Social norms, people are getting more tattoos,” Sargent Major Ashleigh Sykes told reporters Thursday. &#8220;It doesn&#8217;t stop readiness if someone has a tattoo on the back of their neck.&#8221;
According to a memo regarding the rule change, &#8220;This directive announces a change in policy for the allowable placement of tattoos for currently serving Soldiers and applicants for enlistment or appointment. Changes to the Army tattoo policy allow individuals who meet all other qualifications for appointment or enlistment the opportunity to serve.&#8221;
&#8220;They also support the Army’s People Strategy, our number one priority, by offering Soldiers options for appearance that take into account professional appearance and good order and discipline,&#8221; the memo added.
On Monday, NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/every-branch-us-military-struggling-meet-2022-recruiting-goals-officia-rcna35078">reported</a> that every branch of the U.S. military is on schedule to not meet its recruiting goals for the year.
“This recruiting crisis is like a slow-moving wave coming at us,” one senior defense official involved in recruiting and personnel issues told NBC News. “As the military has gotten smaller and the public have gotten less and less familiar with those in uniform, it has grown. And COVID accelerated it.”
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth also recently created a stream that meets bi-weekly to discuss recruiting efforts.
“The Army, like other services, is facing the most challenging recruiting market in the last 20 years,” Wormuth told the media outlet “I expect these recruiting market headwinds to persist, so the Army must improve how we recruit in this new market environment. In March 2022, the Army began a comprehensive review and analysis of our accessions enterprise, recruiting policy, organizational structure and marketing practices. Recommendations for this review, coupled with other immediate steps we are taking, will help the Army address recruiting challenges and position the Army recruiting for success in the future.”
The military is also reportedly considering using the Chinese-operated Tik Tok and other social media outlets to reach young Americans.
“We have to be where the recruits are, and TikTok is one of the biggest social media platforms in the world,” one defense official involved in personnel issues said.
Former President Donald J.Trump banned members of the military from using TikTok over security concerns that the Chinese Communist Party would use it to access information about Americans.

U.S. Army Recruiters

U.S. Army Drops High School Diploma Requirement As It Struggles To Find New Recruits

Military

U.S. Army

U.S. Military

The Biden administration on Thursday officially proposed extending Title IX&#8217;s protections to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/transgender">transgender</a> students.
The proposed change would &#8220;protect LGBTQI+ students from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics,&#8221; the Department of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/education">Education</a> <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-releases-proposed-changes-title-ix-regulations-invites-public-comment">said</a> in a statement.
The department proposed the Title IX change on the 50th anniversary of the civil rights law, which bars schools that receive federal funding from discriminating on the basis of sex. When Title IX was passed half a century ago, it was meant to protect the rights of women and girls in educational settings. Since then, it has been interpreted to apply to other protected classes, including LGBTQ people.
&#8220;Over the last 50 years, Title IX has paved the way for millions of girls and women to access equal opportunity in our nation&#8217;s schools and has been instrumental in combating sexual assault and sexual violence in educational settings,&#8221; said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.
&#8220;As we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of this landmark law, our proposed changes will allow us to continue that progress and ensure all our nation&#8217;s students – no matter where they live, who they are, or whom they love – can learn, grow, and thrive in school,&#8221; Cardona said.
Along with the changes on transgender students, the proposed rules would also overhaul the process by which schools handle sexual assault and sexual harassment allegations. The overhaul would nix changes made by the Trump administration that were intended to make the process more fair for accused students. While campaigning for president, President Joe Biden said the Trump administration&#8217;s changes &#8220;shame and silence survivors&#8221; and vowed to scrap them.
The new rules will &#8220;restore vital protections for students in our nation’s schools which were eroded by controversial regulations implemented during the previous Administration,&#8221; the education department said Thursday in a <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/t9nprm-factsheet.pdf">fact sheet</a> accompanying the proposed rule.
&#8220;Those regulations weakened protections for survivors of sexual assault and diminished the promise of an education free from discrimination,&#8221; the department said.
The new rules would rollback constitutional protections for students accused of heinous crimes, including the right to a live hearing, to cross-examine their accuser and the witnesses against them, and allowing a &#8220;single investigator&#8221; model that allows a single person to act as investigator, judge, jury, and executioner. This model would also prevent accused students from learning the evidence against them, such as what the accuser and witnesses are specifically accusing them of, and allow schools to keep individual testimonies hidden, making it more difficult for wrongly accused students to file a lawsuit to protect their civil rights.
Courts have consistently upheld civil rights for accused students in recent years, and legal challenges to the Trump administration&#8217;s regulations all failed.
In 2016, the Obama administration <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/obama-administration-title-ix-transgender-student-rights-223149">issued</a> guidance saying Title IX protections also apply to a transgender student&#8217;s bathroom preference. The next year, however, the Trump administration <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/22/516664633/trump-administration-rescinds-obama-rule-on-transgender-students-bathroom-use">reversed</a> that guidance, saying the issue should not have been dealt with at the federal level and that there &#8220;must be due regard for the primary role of states and local school districts in establishing educational policy.&#8221;
Over the last year, parents have raised the alarm about biological males in girls bathrooms at school. In some cases, even elementary schools have <a href="https://abcnews4.com/news/nation-world/parents-push-back-against-elementary-schools-trans-bathroom-policy-olentangy-school-district-gender-inclusive-restroom-title-ix-lgbtq-transgender-students-single-sex-spaces">adopted</a> policies allowing transgender-identifying boys to use the girls bathrooms, prompting parents to complain at school board meetings.
The Biden administration did not address what the new rules would mean for transgender students competing on the college sports team of their preferred gender, an issue that has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lia-thomas-teammate-competitor-blast-title-as-illegitimate-in-wake-of-fina-transgender-restrictions">sparked</a> national debate in recent months.
The proposed rule is slated to be published in the Federal Register and will be open for public comment for 60 days afterwards. If approved, the policy would not take effect until next year at the earliest.

North Carolina Clashes With U.S. Over New Public Restroom Law

Biden Officially Proposes Extending Title IX To Transgender Students

Biden Administration

Department of Education

Joe Biden

LGBTQ

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Transgender

Transgender Athletes

The U.S. Department of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/education">Education</a> settled a class action lawsuit arguing that the agency was ignoring students’ <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/student-loans">loan cancellation</a> claims — a move that resulted in the nixing of $6 billion in debt.
The case — Sweet v. Cardona, formerly Sweet v. DeVos — represented 264,000 people constituting the “current borrower defense backlog,” according to a press release from the <a href="https://predatorystudentlending.org/news/press-releases/landmark-borrower-defense-settlement-to-cancel-over-6-billion-in-student-loans-for-200000-borrowers-release/">Project on Predatory Student Lending</a>. The group’s 2019 <a href="https://predatorystudentlending.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Complaint.pdf">lawsuit</a> contended that for-profit schools such as Corinthian Colleges and DeVry University “delivered worthless products that left students with thousands of dollars in debt, damaged credit, and depleted access to further student aid” while lying about prospects for high-paying jobs.
Education Secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/miguel-cardona">Miguel Cardona</a> lauded the settlement, which the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California will independently review before approval.
“Since day one, the Biden-Harris Administration has worked to address longstanding issues relating to the borrower defense process,” Cardona said in a <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/statement-us-secretary-education-miguel-cardona-sweet-settlement">statement</a> about the settlement. “We are pleased to have worked with plaintiffs to reach an agreement that will deliver billions of dollars of automatic relief to approximately 200,000 borrowers and that we believe will resolve plaintiffs’ claims in a manner that is fair and equitable for all parties.”
Earlier this month, the Department of Education <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-education-department-issues-largest-single-student-debt-cancelation-in-agency-history">canceled debt</a> from former attendees of Corinthian Colleges, which filed for bankruptcy in 2015. The move forgave $5.8 billion in debt among 560,000 borrowers.
More broadly, the Biden administration is weighing various proposals to nix student debt for citizens at large. Last month, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-plan-to-cancel-10000-in-student-debt-would-not-be-enough-for-black-borrowers-naacp-chief-says">The Washington Post</a> reported that the White House was weighing a plan to scrap $10,000 per borrower earning up to $150,000 per year. However, several Democratic lawmakers — such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) — have repeatedly pressed Biden to cancel student loan debt of up to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/aoc-spars-with-biden-over-canceling-student-debt">$50,000 per borrower</a>.
Schumer has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-cpac-footage-is-nuts-progressives-blast-pelosi-for-saying-student-debt-forgiveness-is-a-bad-idea">argued</a> that “all President Biden has to do is flick his pen” to erase the $50,000 sum. Earlier this week, Schumer <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/22/bidens-mind-is-open-on-student-loan-forgiveness-schumer-says-.html">sought to dismiss</a> the “awful myth” that student debt “concerns the wealthy or the Ivy League” rather than “working-class people.”
However, data suggest that student loan cancellation tends to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/six-groups-who-lose-if-joe-biden-forgives-college-loans">benefit wealthy Americans</a>. Almost one-third of student debt is owed by the wealthiest 20% of households, while 8% is owed by the bottom 20%, according to a paper from the <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/student-loan-forgiveness-is-regressive-whether-measured-by-income-education-or-wealth/">Brookings Institution</a>.
Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has characterized the student debt crisis as a “racial justice issue.”
“African-Americans borrow more money to go to school, more money while they’re in school, and have a harder time paying it off when they get out of school,” she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/warren-says-that-canceling-50000-in-student-loans-is-a-racial-justice-issue">told</a> CNN anchor Don Lemon last year. “Canceling $50,000 of student loan debt would help close the black-white wealth gap for people with student loan debt by twenty-five points. And for Latinos, by twenty-seven points.”
Likewise, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) President Derrick Johnson <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-plan-to-cancel-10000-in-student-debt-would-not-be-enough-for-black-borrowers-naacp-chief-says">argued</a> last month that $10,000 in student loan cancellation is not enough for black borrowers, since black Americans “are the only people who have student debt higher than their median annual income.”
As of the first quarter of 2022, Americans owed $1.75 trillion in student loans, according to the <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/SLOAS">Federal Reserve</a>.

President Biden Hosts National Teacher Of The Year Ceremony At The White House

Federal Government Agrees To Cancel Student Debt For 200,000 People

Education Department Nixes $6 Billion In Debt For 200,000 People

Miguel Cardona

Student Loans

The Nebraska Association of School Boards (NASB) has left the National School Boards Association (NSBA), making it the 25th state to exit.
The NASB&#8217;s decision on Saturday adds to a mass exodus of departures following a September letter that compared upset parents at school board meetings to domestic terrorists.
&#8220;President Brad Wilkins confirmed that they will not pay dues to the NSBA this year. The money would have been due by June 30,&#8221; <a href="https://omaha.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/nebraska-school-board-group-cuts-ties-with-national-association/article_20fa52dc-e758-11ec-a45e-0f06a12e525f.html#:~:text=Background,-Semi%2DTransparent&amp;text=The%20board%20of%20directors%20for,made%20against%20school%20board%20members." target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to</a> the Omaha World-Herald.
In addition to Nebraska, <a href="https://defendinged.org/press-releases/state-school-board-associations-responses-to-the-nsba-letter/#:~:text=As%20of%20December%208th%2C%2028,Ohio%2C%20Pennsylvania%2C%20South%20Carolina%2C" target="_blank" rel="noopener">24 other states</a> have left the NSBA, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
A total of 30 states have distanced themselves from the national association since the September letter, according to Parents Defending Education, a nonprofit that <a href="https://defendinged.org/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">describes</a> itself as “a national grassroots organization working to reclaim our schools from activists imposing harmful agendas,”
The NSBA board sent a letter in September asking federal law enforcement to investigate threats against school officials as domestic terrorism, including implementing the use of the Patriot Act.
“As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes,” the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/05/21/nsba-report-domestic-terrorism-parents/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> read in part.
In a Texas <a href="https://nsba.org/-/media/Files/NSBA-Report.pdf?la=en&amp;hash=A001354D23C9AE88B54D398270C9790D91B01FF9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">independent investigation</a> prior to its departure from the NSBA in May, it was found that the NSBA had previously apologized for the letter. However, according to a Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/texas-school-board-group-cuts-ties-nsba">report</a>, interim CEO and executive director Chip Slaven “was behind the Letter, both in origin and substance” and prematurely had exchanges with a senior education advisor at the White House on the letter’s release.
The Texas Association of School Boards determined that the apology was insufficient to change its decision to leave the national association, a move repeated by a growing number of states.
The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ben-sasse-and-others-want-ag-garland-back-in-hot-seat-the-fbi-should-be-going-after-mobsters-not-soccer-moms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Senate Republicans had called for Attorney General Merrick Garland to return to Capitol Hill to face additional questions about the Justice Department’s role in addressing tensions between parents and school boards in November.
“We remain deeply concerned that your October 4 Memorandum is being used by the DOJ and the FBI as a basis to pursue investigations against American parents for First Amendment-protected activities,” the letter read.
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Senate Judiciary GOP calls upon AG Merrick Garland to testify before them again: “We remain deeply concerned that your October 4 Memorandum is being used by the DOJ and the FBI as a basis to pursue investigations against American parents for First Amendment-protected activities.” <a href="https://t.co/yMrnJ8iuCu">pic.twitter.com/yMrnJ8iuCu</a>
&mdash; Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) <a href="https://twitter.com/JerryDunleavy/status/1465491869949956099?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2021</a></blockquote>
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“You stated that the ‘purpose of this Memorandum is to get our law enforcement to assess the extent of the problem’ and that the Memo ‘comes before investigations.’ When asked why the DOJ was treating parents at school boards as domestic terrorists, you said: ‘[m]y Memo says nothing about domestic terrorism, says nothing about parents committing any such things,” the letter continued.

Merrick Garland

25 States Have Now Left National School Boards Association As Nebraska Departs

National School Boards Association

Nebraska

Parental Rights in Education

A majority of Oregon voters think public K-12 education is heading in the wrong direction and would prefer to see tax dollars follow students, according to a new poll provided exclusively to The Daily Wire.
About 55% of Oregon voters said they believe Oregon’s public K-12 education system is &#8220;headed in the wrong direction,&#8221; while only 16% said they think it&#8217;s on the &#8220;right track,&#8221; according to the poll commissioned by the grassroots group <a href="https://www.oregonmomsunion.com">Oregon Moms Union</a>.
An even bigger majority, nearly 73%, said they generally support <a href="https://www.schoolchoicefacts.org/?gclid=CjwKCAjwtIaVBhBkEiwAsr7-c7fbA9n1ekCQE3-163Oof-Q9S934JDABH_ac4JVf0zhNN9HcR2osmRoCGzYQAvD_BwE">school choice</a>, which lets parents use the tax dollars designated for their child’s education to send their child to the public school or private school of their choice. About 56% said they strongly support school choice, and nearly 17% said they somewhat support it. Only 24% of Oregonians said they oppose school choice, and less than 17% said they strongly oppose it.
&#8220;Oregonians are demanding more options for parents and kids. It&#8217;s time politicians began to listen to the choices of parents instead of imposing their own will on students,&#8221; MacKensey Pulliam, president and co-founder of Oregon Moms Union told The Daily Wire.
A majority, 57%, also said they support school vouchers, which help parents pay to send their child to a private school rather than a public school. Only 35% said they oppose school vouchers.
About 70% said they support open enrollment, which allows parents to send their child to the public school of their choice, even if the school is not in their district. Oregon allowed open enrollment from 2012 to 2019, but it is now <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/ode/schools-and-districts/Pages/transfers-between-districts.aspx">illegal</a>. Less than 22% said they oppose open enrollment.
A majority, 63%, also said they support taxpayer-funded education savings accounts, which help parents pay for their child&#8217;s education expenses such as private tutoring or textbooks.
Majorities also said they would support legislation to give parents more school choice and eliminate virtual charter school caps.
A majority, 54%, said they agreed with the statement, &#8220;School choice strengthens our education system because it allows parents and students to choose the education that best serves their needs.&#8221; Less than 33% said they agreed with the statement, &#8220;School choice weakens our education system because it potentially takes money out of local public schools that are already struggling.&#8221;
The poll surveyed 727 Oregon voters in early June and has a 3.6% margin of error. It was conducted by Oregon-based public opinion survey research firm Nelson Research.
Oregon has received <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/education/2021/08/oregon-school-board-politics-have-never-been-so-polarized-partisan-and-hostile-to-racial-equity.html">backlash</a> from parents for adopting progressive policies in its K-12 public schools over the last several years.
Oregon&#8217;s state education board adopted updated health education <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/ode/educator-resources/standards/health/Documents/2016ORHEStandards.pdf">standards</a> in 2016 requiring kindergarteners and first-graders to come up with examples of &#8220;how friends and family influence how people think they should act on the basis of their gender.&#8221;
In second grade, children in Oregon are taught how to &#8220;recognize differences and similarities of how individuals identify regarding gender,&#8221; and in third grade, the kids must be able to &#8220;define sexual orientation.&#8221;
Meanwhile, the “Menstrual Dignity Act,” which was <a href="https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2021R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB3294/Enrolled">passed</a> last year by the Democrat-controlled Oregon legislature and signed by Governor Kate Brown, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/parents-social-media-react-to-oregon-requiring-tampons-in-boys-school-bathrooms">requires</a> that all Oregon public schools provide free menstrual products like tampons and pads in boys and all-gender restrooms by the end of the upcoming school year, including at elementary schools.
Earlier this year, the Oregon Moms Union <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/desantis-joined-oregon-parents-push-school-curriculum-transparency-1693161">called out</a> an elementary school in the North Clackamas School District, saying the school gave fifth graders a lesson about gender identity that included a graphic called the &#8220;Genderbread Person&#8221; without getting parents&#8217; permission.

School bus with traffic camera attached

Poll Shows Majority Of Oregon Voters Think K-12 Heading In Wrong Direction, Want Money To Follow Students

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Education Secretary <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/education-secretary-miguel-cardona-tweeted-about-children-smiling-at-school-critics-immediately-noticed-one-problem/">Miguel Cardona</a> claimed on Thursday that it would be among the &#8220;stupidest proposals&#8221; to arm teachers — and then argued that was because if a trained teacher were to then take time off, a gun couldn&#8217;t just be handed off to the substitute.
Cardona joined the conversation on ABC&#8217;s midday talk show &#8220;The View,&#8221; where he fielded several questions about school safety in the wake of the recent shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
&#8220;Secretary, you know, rather than regulate guns or of course, ban AR-15s, some Republicans have proposed arming teachers to stop these shootings,&#8221; regular cohost <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/sunny-hostin-calls-guest-host-a-black-republican-an-oxymoron-on-live-tv/">Sunny Hostin</a> began. &#8220;My mother is a teacher. In Ohio, the governor is preparing to sign a bill that would lower the training requirements for a teacher to carry a gun in the classroom from 700 hours to 24 hours. In your view, do you support teachers carrying guns in the classroom?&#8221;
WATCH:
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Education Sec. Miguel Cardona says it&#39;s &quot;stupid&quot; to arm teachers because if a trained teacher takes maternity leave, you can&#39;t just give the substitute a gun. <a href="https://t.co/xJKo5hfgdU">pic.twitter.com/xJKo5hfgdU</a>
&mdash; Virginia Kruta (@VAKruta) <a href="https://twitter.com/VAKruta/status/1534924581894504448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2022</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Those are some of the stupidest proposals I’ve heard in all my time as an educator. So that’s my answer to that,&#8221; Cardona replied emphatically.
&#8220;Listen. We need to make sure we’re doing sensible legislation, making sure our schoolhouses are safe as much as possible,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;But to say that we’re going to arm teachers to protect students, what happens when a teacher goes out on maternity leave? Are we going to give the substitute of the day a gun?&#8221;
Cardona went on to argue that anyone who was in favor of arming teachers was &#8220;clueless when it comes to what’s happening in our schools&#8221; and was showing &#8220;further disrespect&#8221; to teachers — especially after so many had worked so hard to make sure that kids were learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also claimed that any lawmakers who were promoting arming teachers were doing so to raise their own &#8220;national profile&#8221; rather than out of any concern for children&#8217;s safety.
&#8220;It just shows further disrespect to a profession that has bent over backwards these last two years to protect students and give them an opportunity for an education,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I’m tired of hearing about the silly proposal that are doing more to lift up people’s national profile than protect children.&#8221;
Lawmakers in Ohio and Louisiana have <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/two-states-aim-arm-teachers-opposition-educators-experts-rcna31731">proposed measures</a> that would make it easier for teachers to train and carry firearms on campus in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting.

President-Elect Joe Biden And Vice President-elect Kamala Harris Announce Miguel Cardona As Hhe Nominee For Education Secretary

Education Secretary Says Arming Teachers Is Among ‘Stupidest’ Proposals Because You Can’t Just Give A Gun To A Substitute

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona Says Arming Teachers Is Among 'Stupidest' Proposals Because You Can't Just Give A Gun To A Substitute

School Shooting

Texas

Uvalde

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/harvard">Harvard</a> University President Lawrence Bacow announced on Wednesday that he would step down from the helm of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ivy-league">prestigious school</a> next year.
“There is never a good time to leave a job like this one, but now seems right to me,” Bacow said in a message to the school community, per <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/harvard-president-lawrence-s-bacow-stepping-down-next-june-after-five-years-11654715428">The Wall Street Journal</a>. “Through our collective efforts, we have found our way through the pandemic. We have worked together to sustain Harvard through change and through storm.”
The 70-year-old academic expressed a desire to spend more time with his children and grandchildren. Before serving as the 29th president of Harvard for the past five years, Bacow <a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/lawrence-bacow">held roles</a> in Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Graduate School of Education. He also served as chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and president of Tufts University.
Harvard’s endowment grew from $39 billion in 2018 to $53 billion in 2021, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Under Bacow’s leadership, Harvard battled in court over a lawsuit contending that the Ivy League school <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/just-in-supreme-court-will-hear-cases-challenging-race-based-affirmative-action">discriminated against Asian-American students</a> in their admissions process. The Supreme Court took up the case earlier this year.
Bacow also led Harvard through COVID-19 and the political controversies that followed the death of George Floyd. In most instances, Bacow reacted by nodding to the progressive Left.
“Our nation has once again been shocked by the senseless killing of yet another black person — George Floyd — at the hands of those charged with protecting us,” Bacow <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/president/news/2020/what-i-believe/">said</a> in May 2020. “Cities are erupting. Our nation is deeply divided. Leaders who should be bringing us together seem incapable of doing so.”
Bacow also launched an initiative to examine the school’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/harvard-releases-slavery-report-findings-pledges-100-million-to-right-past-wrongs">history with slavery</a> in 2019. A report revealed last month that between the school’s founding in 1636 and the abolition of Massachusetts slavery in 1783, Harvard affiliates held at least 70 slaves. As a result, Harvard pledged $100 million to right past wrongs.
“The truth is that slavery played a significant part in our institutional history,” Bacow announced. “The truth is that the legacy of slavery continues to influence the world in the form of disparities in education, health, wealth, income, social mobility, and almost any other metric we might use to measure equality.”
Over the past two years, Harvard joined other postsecondary institutions in rolling back its <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/harvard-wont-require-standardized-tests-through-2026">standardized testing requirements</a>. High schoolers vying for a spot in the undergraduate class of 2027, 2028, 2029, or 2030 will no longer need to submit scores for the SAT or ACT.
In the wake of President Joe Biden’s victory, Harvard <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gop-rep-elise-stefanik-responds-after-harvard-cuts-her-from-politics-advisory-board">removed</a> Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) — a Harvard alumna — from her role on the advisory board of the school’s Institute of Politics over her claims about election integrity.
“My request was not about political parties, political ideology, or her choice of candidate for president,” Dean of the Faculty of the Kennedy School Doug Elmendorf explained in a statement. “Rather, in my assessment, Elise has made public assertions about voter fraud in November’s presidential election that have no basis in evidence, and she has made public statements about court actions related to the election that are incorrect.”
“In my conversation with Elise, she declined to step aside, and I told her that I would therefore remove her from the IOP’s Senior Advisory Committee at this time,” he added.

Harvard

Harvard’s President To Step Down

Harvard President Lawrence Bacow To Step Down

College

Ivy League

It is difficult to overstate how controversial it is to try to change Title IX. Or rather, how controversial it is to limit excesses under the law. Generations of Americans associate Title IX with progress for women in education and athletics, and rightly so. For feminists of a certain age, it is the weapon with which they have fought for fifty years, not just to create opportunities for women, but to break down the differences between the sexes. Now, with the advent of the transgender movement, Title IX is being used to abolish the notion of biological sex altogether. Making the law more sweeping than Congress intended was pretty easy—Democratic administrations had been doing it for decades. But reining in excesses under the law—that was hard. 
There are credible legal scholars who argue that Title IX doesn’t apply to sexual harassment cases at all. In fact, the minority opinion in a 5–4 case on the topic before the Supreme Court said Title IX didn’t have such a broad reach. But we chose not to make that argument. My goal was to preserve the integrity of the law, and the advancements for girls and women within it, while at the same time restoring due process to sexual harassment cases. Our strategy was simple: To do the opposite of what we had done nine months earlier with the transgender bathroom rule. The first thing we would do is explain what we were doing and why to the public and provide the rationale for changing a landmark civil rights law. 
We planned a speech announcing that I was pulling the Obama rule and writing a new one. It would be a major address, scheduled to be given at the University of Virginia (UVA) in Charlottesville in August 2017. The Jefferson rotunda on the UVA campus was a great place to talk about falling short of our ideals but still honoring and pursuing them. There was another reason UVA was a good place to announce our reform of Title IX: The university had recently been tarred with sexual assault allegations that were ultimately discredited. The accuser turned out to be a fraud. And the accused were pronounced guilty until proven innocent. 
In November 2014, Rolling Stone magazine published an inflammatory report under the clickbait headline, “A Rape on Campus.” The article alleged that an undergraduate identified only as “Jackie” had been gang-raped on campus. Investigators later uncovered that the journalist who wrote the piece had been looking for a sexual assault case to show “that there’s this pervasive culture of sexual harassment/rape culture” on campus. She found Jackie, who told a horrifying story of going to a party at the fraternity house, being taken into an upstairs bedroom, and serially raped by seven members of the fraternity. The article immediately went viral, attracting more than 2.7 million views online. 
Literally days after the article was published, Jackie’s account began to fall apart. It was discovered that she fabricated key parts of her story, including inventing a fictional frat brother who took her to the party. Rolling Stone eventually retracted the story and settled defamation lawsuits with both the fraternity and the university. But the damage had been done. The narrative depicted in the article—that university officials are indifferent to widespread rape on campus— had trashed UVA’s reputation.
UVA had been a victim of the rush to judgment that surrounded many Title IX sexual assault claims on campus. It was a perfect venue for us to announce our intention to reestablish justice under the law. We were ready to go. Then Charlottesville happened. 
My speech was scheduled for a just a week after the white supremacist riots. It was a tough time for the administration. UVA dean of students Allen Groves called to say that I was still welcome, but we might want to reconsider coming to Charlottesville just then. Though it was a noble offer from someone who has a spine of steel when it comes to protecting free speech on campus, we told Dean Groves we weren’t going to come. I was a lightning rod, the subject was wildly controversial, and the community was already on edge. Speaking at UVA was simply not a good idea. 
So we went back to the drawing board. But school after school turned us down when we contacted them to host the speech. Many of the same schools that had quietly complained to us how bad the Title IX rules were lost the courage of their convictions when it came to hosting the speech. After eleven tries, we were concerned I wouldn’t be welcome anywhere. We had begun planning to give the speech at the Department of Education when a group of principled and courageous students from George Mason University (GMU) Federalist Society chapter agreed to host the speech at GMU’s Antonin Scalia Law School. 
On the day of the speech, I arrived at the venue in Arlington, Virginia, to a large group of protestors screaming “Stop Betsy DeVos!” Another group of protestors lined the hallway leading to the auditorium screaming “Rape apologist!” in my face. Thankfully, the audience for the speech itself was attentive and respectful. The theme woven through my address was “a better way.” Sexual harassment and assault on campus was a genuine problem, I said, and Title IX had protected students’ right to learn in safety for decades. 
But there had to be a better way. 
I talked about the many students I had heard from since I became secretary whose lives had been forever changed by sexual assault. I talked about the parents who cried as they recounted stories of receiving the phone call from their daughter who had been a victim or their son who had been accused of sexual assault. I talked about being a mom to daughters and sons and trying to imagine what it would be like to receive that call. This was not a problem we could ignore. It was a difficult conversation we had to have. 
“One rape is one too many,” I said. “One assault is one too many. One aggressive act of harassment is one too many.” 
“One person denied due process is one too many.” 
The Obama rules had failed too many students. They forced the hand of schools and tilted the scales of justice. The new rules compelled colleges and universities to step into roles and deal with situations that were beyond their capabilities. So many instances of sexual harassment on campus were “he said, she said” cases in which the truth is difficult for even trained lawyers and investigators to determine—and completely beyond the scope of most college administrators. Alcohol too often clouded memories and distorted motives. Even university officials with the best of intentions were stretched beyond their capabilities by the Title IX rules. In that environment, nobody wins. 
“Any school that refuses to take seriously a student who reports sexual misconduct is one that discriminates,” I told the audience. “And any school that uses a system biased toward finding a student responsible for sexual misconduct also commits discrimination.” 
There clearly was a better way. We were committed to find it by issuing new regulations. We would welcome the feedback of the public, the advice of experts, and the real-world experiences of students. But some lines we would not cross. We would not pit men against women. We would not ignore survivors. We would not cast aside any American’s right to due process. We would not punish speech. And we would seek justice for all students. 
The response to the speech was . . . split. Lawyers, including legal counsels at schools, welcomed the prospect of change. They knew how broken the situation was. Some civil libertarians also welcomed our pledge to restore due process to the accused. But most of the broad Title IX bureaucracy—in Washington, in regional Education Department offices, and at colleges and universities—were vitriolic in their response—extraordinarily so. Catherine Lhamon tweeted absurdly that the new Title IX regulation would be a return “to the bad old days, that predate my birth, when it was permissible to rape and sexually harass students with impunity.” 
There were some positive reviews—one particularly so. At a Camp David retreat for cabinet members a few days after the speech, President Trump held up a Wall Street Journal editorial during lunch. Under the headline “DeVos Pledges to Restore Due Process” was an approving article. Trump brandished the piece and congratulated me. Then he started talking about the Duke University lacrosse scandal. 
In 2006, members of the team hired a woman to dance at a party. The woman subsequently charged three of the players with raping her in the bathroom. Despite the fact that her account of the facts changed multiple times; that she couldn’t identify any of the accused in a lineup; that there was photographic evidence that the event could not have occurred; and that none of the players’ DNA was present on the accuser, the Durham County, North Carolina, district attorney, who was in a close race for reelection, pursued the case for months, permanently scarring the reputations of three men who were eventually declared innocent. 
Trump associated Title IX sexual harassment with the Duke scandal, I think, because he knew the father of one of the lacrosse players. He was a filmmaker. One night Dick and I went to the White House with other cabinet members and spouses for a screening of one of his movies. The president once again mentioned how important it was that I was reforming the Title IX regulation, despite the controversy it caused. As we were leaving, he turned to Dick and said, “She’s tough. She’s tougher than both of us.”
Betsy DeVos served as the 11th U.S. Secretary of Education from 2017-2021. During her term, DeVos delivered historic reforms to improve education and ensure the protection of civil rights. For more than three decades she’s led the fight for policies that allow students and their parents the freedom to choose the best available educational option.
This post is an excerpt from the author’s new book Hostages No More: The Fight for Education Freedom and the Future of the American Child available June 21, 2022 from Center Street, an imprint of the Hachette Book Group. The book is now available for pre-order on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hostages-No-More-Education-American/dp/1546002014/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2U9511FHJA8EH&amp;keywords=hostages+no+more&amp;qid=1654607722&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=hostages+no+more%2Cstripbooks%2C62&amp;sr=1-1">Amazon.com</a>. 
 
The views expressed in this piece are the author&#8217;s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Readers Pass – DeVoss – title TBD16x9

Secretary DeVos: Restoring Due Process To Title IX And Fighting False Claims Of Campus Sexual Harassment

Readers Pass

Universal preschool programs could carry price tags in the hundreds of billions of dollars, according to an analysis released last week by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
The Penn Wharton Budget Model — a nonpartisan initiative that evaluates the fiscal impacts of public policy proposals — <a href="https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2022/6/2/total-cost-of-universal-pre-k">determined</a> that a universal pre-kindergarten program for three-year-olds and four-year-olds would cost $351 billion over the course of ten years. President Joe Biden, according to his <a href="https://joebiden.com/education/">2020 campaign platform</a> and <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/28/fact-sheet-the-american-families-plan/">2021 American Families Plan</a>, favors a similar program.
The Wharton analysis showed high costs for the initiative — even though it would have “essentially no impact” on long-run economic output. With each student, the federal government must spend $21,000 for facilities expansion, costing $41 billion before the program officially begins. Over ten years, it would also require $310 billion for operating expenses.
Colleen Hroncich, a policy analyst with the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom — told The Daily Wire that the plan is a “bad idea” altogether.
“A federal program will come with burdensome mandates that will drive preferred providers out of business, increase costs, and worsen outcomes,” she argued. “The type of providers that are likely to survive — as the Wharton study seems to recognize — are secular, center-based preschools modeled after K-12 schooling. Yet this model has no track record of success when implemented on a large scale.”
Hroncich wrote in a <a href="https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/universal-preschool-lawmakers-should-approach-caution#previous-studies">recent analysis of federal preschool programs</a> that a mere 31% of parents are currently opting for the center-based, K-12 model for their young children. She also pointed to a 2012 study from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services which found that the federal preschool program Head Start had little or no effect on student outcomes once the children hit third grade — despite spending $7,900 per child at the time. Today, the program costs more than $10,000 per child.
Despite producing 0.21% more labor productivity per capita by 2053, the $351 billion universal program would increase economic output by 0% over the same time period — even as it increases government spending. “As the program’s expenses continue to grow the debt, capital crowd-out reduces the productive capital of the economy, which offsets the increase in GDP from a larger labor supply,” the Wharton analysis explains.
Hroncich told The Daily Wire that the federal government has no constitutional authority to implement a universal preschool program — and should, therefore, “get out of the preschool business altogether.”
“Barring that, any aid should be directed to families so they can choose the option that works best for their children,” she remarked.
Likewise, Jeremy Tate — the founder of the Classic Learning Test, a standardized exam geared toward students with Christian and classical educations — told The Daily Wire that “school choice options are even more important at the preschool level.”
“There are countless amazing options, from Spanish immersion programs to Montessori, that uniquely benefit children under the age of six,” he said. “The funding should go to parents and parents should be able to choose.”
“Any kind of compulsory pre-K program would only further deteriorate family bonds, which we know is the number one factor for academic success. School choice options encourage parents to take more ownership — which is exactly what we need.”

Rear view of students raising hands while teacher showing digital tablet at preschool

‘A Bad Idea’: Federalized, Universal Preschool Carries A $350 Billion Price Tag

Universal Preschool Carries A $350 Billion Price Tag, Wharton Report Says

Preschool

University of Pennsylvania

A Canadian college made students a faculty agree they’ve benefited from white privilege before they could join a zoom call.
George Brown College in Toronto presented those attending the Zoom call to read a lengthy statement check a box saying the agreed that they had benefited from white privilege and would commit to “decolonization,” The College Fix <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/college-requires-students-faculty-to-agree-theyve-benefited-from-white-privilege/">reported</a>.
“The students and faculty who click the ‘I Agree’ box are acknowledging they ‘benefit from the colonization and genocide of the Indigenous peoples of this land’ and are agreeing it is ‘imperative we constantly engage in acts of awareness and decolonization,” the outlet noted.
A note at the bottom of the statement explains that by selecting “I agree,” they are merely “indicating your acknowledgment of this statement.” The college insisted that it did not intend “to impose agreeance, but to inform through acknowledgment.”
As the Fix noted, a statement acknowledging indigenous land appears on every webpage hosted by the college. The college says in these statements that it is “located on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and other Indigenous peoples who have lived here over time.”
“We are grateful to share this land as treaty people who learn, work and live in the community with each other,” the statement also says.
Some colleges and universities in the U.S. also provide land acknowledgments, which have caused controversy, the Fix reported.
At the University of Washington, Professor Stuart Reges’ syllabus was censored when he <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/university-censors-professors-syllabus-for-his-controversial-native-land-acknowledgement/">included</a> a statement that the local Native American tribe “can claim historical ownership of almost none of the land currently occupied by the University of Washington.”
“The University of Colorado Denver <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/five-page-guide-instructs-professors-how-to-embed-equity-justice-and-inclusion-in-their-syllabi/">recently issued</a> a five-page syllabus equity guide suggesting students and professors join together in reading a statement honoring Indigenous people and acknowledge the campus sits on land formerly inhabited by Native Americans,” the outlet also reported.
Meanwhile, San Diego State University has moved in <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/cannot-impose-political-viewpoints-sdsu-faculty-rescind-mandatory-land-acknowledgement-policy/">the opposite direction</a>, with professors voting recently to end a policy that required them to include a land acknowledgement statement in their syllabi.
The full text of the George Brown acknowledgment read:
<blockquote>It has been the site of human activity since time immemorial. This land is the territory of the Huron-Wendat, Mississaugas, Anishinaabe and the Haudenosaunee.
The territory is the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Confederacy of the Anishinabek and Allied Nations to peaceably care for and share the resources around the Great Lakes.
We also acknowledge all Treaty peoples – including those who came here as settlers – as migrants either in this generation or in generations past – and those of us who came here involuntarily, particularly forcibly displanted Africans, brough here as a result of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and Slavery.
As settlers or the displanted, we benefit from the colonization and genocide of the Indigenous peoples of this land. In order to engage in resistance and solidarity against the past and present injustices inflicted on the Indigenous peoples of this land, it is imperative we constantly engage in acts of awareness and decolonization.
**By selecting ‘I agree,’ you are indicating your acknowledgment of this statement. Our intent is not to impose agreeance, but to inform through acknowledgment. This acknowledgment is to generate awareness and offer opportunities for personal reflection.**</blockquote>

Woman smoking at George Brown college’s concrete balcony,

Canadian College Requires Students, Faculty To Agree They’ve Benefited From White Privilege, Commit To ‘Decolonization’

George Brown College Requires Students, Faculty To Agree They've Benefited From White Privilege, Commit To 'Decolonization'

Canada

White Privilege

Properly armed and trained teachers should be central to the conversation around school safety, firearm instructor and founder of Patriot Academy Rick Green told The Daily Wire. 
A gunman recently killed 19 children and two teachers in an attack on an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. As the community attempts to piece itself together after the tragic loss, political battles have erupted over what should be done to decrease the odds of a repeat tragedy in the future.
While lawmakers and experts debate the wisdom of gun bans and mental health programs, Green says willing teachers should be taking steps now to harden their classrooms against disaster by learning to use a firearm. His firearms training program, Constitutional Defense, is free for teachers aiming to do just that.
“Look, there’s always going to be wolves. There is always going to be evil in the world. We’ve had mass murder events all throughout history,” Green said, noting that often the perpetrator of such an attack uses something other than a gun, such as a knife or a vehicle. “What we need is more sheepdogs. We need more citizens prepared to respond in the moment.” 
Green emphasized the importance of “proximity” in halting any kind of attack. The attacker is not likely to stop until he faces resistance, and the chance of resisting successfully is better if the resister is armed. And relying solely on responding police officers to handle a dangerous situation can be a deadly choice.
“Proximity is the number one issue. Do you have a trained person with a firearm in close proximity to where the bad guy starts the carnage? And if you do, you can have a West Virginia situation where the lady takes him out immediately, sheepdog with a ponytail ends the threat before a single innocent life is taken,” Green said, referring to a May 25 <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61615236">incident</a> where an armed woman shot and killed a gunman targeting a birthday party of roughly 40 people.
In 2019, the U.S. Secret Service conducted an <a href="https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/Protecting_Americas_Schools.pdf">analysis</a> of attacks on K-12 schools across the United States. The analysis found that roughly four out of five attacks ended after less than five minutes. Outside law enforcement generally took longer to respond. In roughly half of the incidents, police officers arrived on scene more than five minutes after the incident began.
“You need sheepdogs and citizens everywhere. Responding after the fact is not working and we’ve got to get that through our skulls. The idea that the police are going to save you in every situation is a fantasy,” Green said. “The answer is training and arming more citizens, not fewer of them.”
Critics of firearms in K-12 schools point to the potential of a firearm mishap. The Giffords Law Center, an organization pushing for greater gun control, <a href="https://giffords.org/lawcenter/report/every-incident-of-mishandled-guns-in-schools/">found</a> nearly 100 examples of gun-related mishaps taking place in schools from 2014 to 2021. The mishaps include such scenarios as students discovering a gun left in a bathroom to a parent accidentally shooting himself in the leg in a parking lot.
The number of accidental injuries or deaths from firearms wielded by teachers in schools remains exceedingly rare. A 2019 analysis from the Crime Prevention Research Center <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3377801">found</a> not a single documented case of someone being wounded or killed from a shooting between 6 AM and midnight at any of the schools in 20 states that lets teachers carry guns (to varying degrees) from January 2000 to August 2018.
The inherent risk of carrying a firearm is similar to the risk most people take driving a car to work every day, Green said. Skeptics of allowing educators to bear arms should consider the relatively low risk of doing so against the benefit of having at least one armed individual between an attacker and a classroom full of children.
“Just imagine hearing the mass murderer coming down the hall firing away, would you want someone in the classroom with you to be armed or not? Would you want someone near you to be capable and trained to stop the threat, or would you rather have to go hide in a closet?” Green said.
Data suggest that a majority of Americans support arming properly trained educators. As of January 2020, nearly 30 states allow teachers or staff at K-12 schools to carry a firearm in some situations, though regulations vary widely from state to state. A poll from The Trafalgar Group and Convention of States Action released on Tuesday <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-majority-of-americans-believe-armed-educators-make-schools-safer">found</a> that about 58% of likely general election voters believe that arming properly trained teachers makes schools somewhat or much safer than they currently are. About 31% said arming teachers would have the opposite effect.
In the wake of the Uvalde tragedy, lawmakers in Ohio are taking steps to lessen the law’s demands on teachers who want to carry a weapon on school grounds. Currently, any teacher wishing to be armed at school must receive over 700 hours-worth of instruction, due to the Ohio Supreme Court requiring them to be held to the same training standards as police officers.
A new proposal that has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ohio-gop-governor-expected-to-sign-bill-allowing-armed-teachers-school-employees">passed</a> both chambers of the legislature, and is expected to be signed by Governor Mike DeWine soon, would reduce the initial time investment to about 24 hours. The teacher must receive another eight hours of training annually to stay up-to-date with the certification. 
Green’s own recommended firearms training course is of a similar length, taking part over five days and containing at least 28 hours of firearms training and 12 hours of classroom work. He says in that time, he has seen students who had never picked up a gun before become proficient.
“I&#8217;m not at all hesitant to say to a teacher that has never had any experience with a firearm, ‘You can do this.’ If you are willing to come get the training, at least go through the training with us or somebody else, but go through the training,” Green said. 

The opinions expressed in this piece are the author&#8217;s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Pearce – Proximity Is The Number One Issue’- Armed Educators Key To Preventing School Shootings, Expert Says16x9 copy

‘Proximity Is The Number One Issue’: Armed Educators Key To Preventing School Shootings, Expert Says

Guns

Schools

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