Chicago Teachers Union Local 1, the primary collective bargaining body for Chicago&#8217;s teachers, has been an integral part of &#8220;Black Lives Matter&#8221; protests in Chicago, but on Thursday, CTU took their interest in social change national, tweeting out support for a threatening &#8220;guillotine protest&#8221; that took place in front of Jeff Bezos&#8217; house, demanding a $30 minimum wage or threatening Bezos with violence.
&#8220;More than 100 demonstrators gathered outside Jeff Bezos&#8217; Washington, DC, mansion on Thursday and constructed a guillotine outside his front door to protest Amazon workers&#8217; wages,&#8221; Business Insider reported Thursday. &#8220;The protest came the day after Bezos&#8217; net worth surpassed $200 billion, making him the richest person in history, according to Forbes. His wealth has grown by about $85 billion since January, boosted by Amazon&#8217;s soaring revenue amid the COVID-19 pandemic.&#8221;
The protesters, who told reporters they were agitating for a $30 minimum wage &#8212; &#8220;Give a good reason why we don&#8217;t deserve a $30 minimum wage when this man makes $4,000 a second,&#8221; they said &#8212; did note that the guillotine they constructed was &#8220;not functional,&#8221; but the message was clear, regardless.
Washington Examiner reporter Nic Rowan captured the guillotine in action.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Protesters build a guillotine outside of Jeff Bezos’s house. Yesterday the Amazon billionaire was reported to become the first man worth $200 billion. <a href="https://t.co/tY1wb0F1uj">pic.twitter.com/tY1wb0F1uj</a>
&mdash; Nic Rowan (@NicXTempore) <a href="https://twitter.com/NicXTempore/status/1299021205161283586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Guillotines have become a staple of recent protests &#8212; a clear threat of oncoming, bloody revolution (though protesters do seem to ignore that French Revolution&#8217;s founders were the apparatus&#8217;s final victims) &#8212; and have appeared at a number of demonstrations nationwide, including one that took place outside the White House Thursday night, during President Donald Trump&#8217;s RNC speech.
The Chicago Teachers Union <a href="https://twitter.com/CTULocal1/status/1299101069163859968">tweeted out its approval</a> of the protest: &#8220;We are completely frightened by, completely impressed by and completely in support of wherever this is headed. #solidarity&#8221;
<div id="attachment_142742" style="width: 265px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-142742" class="size-medium wp-image-142742" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/chicago-teachers-union-255x300.jpg" alt="Chicago Teachers Union" width="255" height="300" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/chicago-teachers-union-255x300.jpg 255w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/chicago-teachers-union-490x576.jpg 490w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/chicago-teachers-union-768x902.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/chicago-teachers-union.jpg 1191w" sizes="(max-width: 255px) 100vw, 255px" />Twitter/@CTULocal1</div>
The CTU is, of course, no stranger to radical policies. As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nations-largest-teachers-unions-back-safe-schools-plan-that-demands-police-free-schools-an-end-to-private-education">The Daily Wire reported</a> back in July, the Chicago Teachers Union was one of a handful of national teachers unions that signed on to a radical &#8220;safe schools&#8221; plan that outlined demands that had to be met before public school teachers would return to the classroom amid the coronavirus pandemic.
&#8220;The group [of unions], under the banner of the Journeys for Justice Alliance, claims that no return to classrooms will be truly &#8216;healthy&#8217; until those same schools are also &#8216;equitable,'&#8221; the Daily Wire reported, noting that CTU, among others, demanded not just PPE and regular sanitization of classroom facilities, but “police-free schools,&#8221; handouts funded by a tax on &#8220;Wall Street,&#8221; a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures, and a complete “moratorium on charter and voucher programs and standardized testing&#8221; &#8212; an end to private education.
More recently, CTU has been agitating for fully online learning for the 2020-2021 school year and hazard pay, even for teachers who are returning to work in otherwise empty school buildings, <a href="https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/08/25/remote-learning-concerns-growing-for-chicago-public-schools/">according to Chicago&#8217;s CBS affiliate</a>.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nations-largest-teachers-unions-back-safe-schools-plan-that-demands-police-free-schools-an-end-to-private-education">RELATED: Nation’s Largest Teachers Unions Back ‘Safe Schools’ Plan That Demands ‘Police-Free Schools,’ An End To Private Education</a>
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe"> member</a>.

chicago teachers union

Chicago Teachers Union Tweets Out Praise For Guillotine Protest: ‘Completely In Support Of Wherever This Is Headed’

Chicago

Teachers Unions

Chicago Teachers Union Local 1, the primary collective bargaining body for Chicago&#039;s teachers, has been an integral part of &quot;Black Lives Matter&quot; protests

description

robots

index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1

googlebot

bingbot

Chicago Teachers Union Tweets Out Praise For Guillotine Protest: &#039;Completely In Support Of Wherever This Is Headed&#039; | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/chicago-teachers-union-tweets-out-praise-for-guillotine-protest-completely-in-support-of-wherever-this-is-headed/

twitter:card

https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/GettyImages-1179219431.jpg

twitter:image

An Arizona school district has been forced to cancel a planned Monday reopening after more than 100 teachers called in sick.
&#8220;We received an overwhelming response from staff indicating that they do not feel safe returning to classrooms with students,&#8221; J.O. Combs Unified School District superintendent Gregory A. Wyman said in a <a href="https://www.jocombs.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=908409&amp;type=d&amp;pREC_ID=1963944">statement</a>. &#8220;In response, we have received a high volume of staff absences for Monday citing health and safety concerns. Due to these insufficient staffing levels, schools will not be able to re-open on Monday as planned.”
The future of the school year is unknown.
&#8220;At this time, we do not know the duration of these staff absences, and cannot yet confirm when in-person instruction may resume,&#8221; Wyman wrote. &#8220;Please know that we are acutely aware of how polarizing this issue is, and how challenging these ongoing developments are for our entire community. We will continue to work closely with our employees and our families to develop solutions that provide a safe and healthy return to school.&#8221;
&#8220;The district said that all classes, including virtual learning, would be canceled,&#8221; Arizona Central <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/education/2020/08/14/jo-combs-unified-school-district-not-reopen-teachers/5586523002/">reported</a>.
&#8220;Of the 600 employees in the district, approximately 250 are teachers, a district spokeswoman said Friday. Of those, 109 certified staff had put in for absences on Monday. Since the district voted to reopen in person, two certified employees and two classified employees have resigned. The district has had 23 employees resign for various reasons since July 1.&#8221;
The move comes after teachers from the two other Phoenix-area districts announced earlier this week that they would resign or sit out of classes in protest following votes to reopen schools, Arizona Central reported.
Arizona&#8217;s school system&#8217;s cancellation comes as some schools are set to reopen – but only as &#8220;learning centers.&#8221;
A half dozen schools in the Durham Public Schools (DPS) system in North Carolina will operate six &#8220;learning centers,&#8221; and families who send their children there will pay $140 a week, plus a $35 registration fee.
“Opening our school year remotely is the right decision to protect our students and staff from COVID-19,” said DPS Superintendent Pascal Mubenga, WRAL <a href="https://www.wral.com/durham-public-schools-will-provide-learning-centers-for-k-5-students-who-need-supervision-in-remote-learning/19235986/">reported</a>. “However, there are many families in Durham who need additional support during the school day. It will take a community effort to support each of these children, but DPS is doing its part.”
<blockquote>The DPS Learning Centers will provide a safe space to complete online learning, meals and snacks, and social-emotional activities. Students will be assigned to small pods with daily wellness screenings, distribution and required use of facemasks, and planned circulation and seating of six feet social distancing.</blockquote>
The plan was ripped on social media. Corey DeAngelis, director of school choice at the Reason Foundation, said the fees are unconstitutional.
&#8220;BREAKING: Durham is reopening public elementary schools as ‘learning centers.’ They are charging families up to $140 per child per week. That&#8217;s on top of what families already pay through property taxes. That&#8217;s unconstitutional,&#8221; he <a href="https://twitter.com/DeAngelisCorey/status/1294706305740005376">wrote</a> on Twitter.
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Science Classroom

School District Forced To Cancel Monday Reopening After Teachers Stage ‘Sickout’

Coronavirus

Education

An Arizona school district has been forced to cancel a planned Monday reopening after more than 100 teachers called in sick. &quot;We received an overwhelming

School District Forced To Cancel Monday Reopening After Teachers Stage &#039;Sickout&#039; | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/school-district-forced-to-cancel-monday-reopening-after-teachers-stage-sickout/

https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/classroom-2.jpg

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned world leaders that the coronavirus pandemic has led to an unprecedented disruption in education across the world and impacting millions of children.
Guterres’s remarks came in a recorded video <a href="https://www.un.org/en/coronavirus/future-education-here">released</a> on Tuesday along with a 26-page <a href="https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/sg_policy_brief_covid-19_and_education_august_2020.pdf">policy brief</a> over “education during COVID-19 and beyond.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the largest disruption in education ever. In mid-July, schools were closed in more than 160 countries, affecting over 1 billion students. At least 40 million children worldwide have missed out on education in their critical pre-school year,” Guterres said.
The U.N. secretary-general said that the impacts of school closures are hitting more than just students’ education, placing additional strain on parents and stifling sorely needed opportunities for children with disabilities or in poverty.
“We already faced a learning crisis before the pandemic. More than 250 million school-age children were out of school. And only a quarter of secondary school children in developing countries were leaving school with basic skills,” Guterres continued. “Now we face a generational catastrophe that could waste untold human potential, undermine decades of progress, and exacerbate entrenched inequalities. The knock-on effects on child nutrition, child marriage and gender equality, among others, are deeply concerning.”
The policy brief released alongside the secretary-general’s message outlines several key components to combatting the growing global education crisis. First, students must return to school as quickly as possible. Then, Guterres said global investment in education should be increased while prioritizing the most disadvantaged. Finally, countries should use the pandemic to jump start massive technological investments in the future of education.
“We are at a defining moment for the world’s children and young people the decisions that governments and partners take now will have lasting impacts on hundreds of millions of young people, and on the development prospects of countries for decades to come,” Guterres said.
<iframe title="UN Chief on the launch of the policy brief on Education and COVID-19" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wt81QWg49M0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The United Nations’ message comes as the Trump administration is pushing against Democrats in Congress and influential teachers unions to reopen schools in the fall. President Trump has called for most schools to be reopened, exempting those where spread of the coronavirus is high. The Trump administration has also floated the possibility of withholding federal funds from schools who refuse to reopen.
Democrats and teachers unions are pushing back against school reopenings asserting that schools must be “safe” before students and teachers can be brought back. Schools must institute proper social distancing rules in classrooms and other crowded areas, a challenging if not impossible standard for most institutions.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/american-academy-of-pediatrics-get-students-back-to-school-in-the-fall">American Academy of Pediatrics</a>, and more recently the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cdc-sides-with-trump-says-students-need-to-go-back-to-school">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> (CDC), have appeared to support the Trump administration position, saying that the costs to children future development is far above the risk posed by the disease. CDC Director <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cdc-director-threat-of-suicide-drugs-flu-to-youth-far-greater-than-covid">Robert Redfield</a> recently testified that barring children from attending school in person increases their risk of suicide, drug use, and abuse.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/north-carolina-teachers-union-demands-benefits-for-illegal-immigrants-before-returning-to-school" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">North Carolina Teachers’ Union Demands Benefits For Illegal Immigrants Before Returning To School</a>
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Antonio Guterres

U.N.: Pandemic School Closures A ‘Generational Catastrophe’

United Nations

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned world leaders that the coronavirus pandemic has led to an unprecedented disruption in education

U.N.: Pandemic School Closures A ‘Generational Catastrophe’ | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-n-pandemic-school-closures-a-generational-catastrophe/

https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Antonio-Guterres.jpg

Washington, D.C., teachers lined up &#8220;body bags&#8221; outside school system offices Tuesday morning as a way of protesting a potential return-to-work order, set to be issued later this week.
The group, like teachers in Chicago, Los Angeles, and elsewhere, are concerned they may be asked to return to in-classroom instruction, rather than to a preferred system of virtual learning, and the &#8220;body bags&#8221; were meant to draw attention to the possibility that they could be classified as &#8220;essential workers&#8221; and put at risk of contracting the novel coronavirus.
The bags were accompanied by signs that read, &#8220;RIP Favorite Teacher&#8221; and &#8220;Distance ONLY,&#8221; referring to the blended virtual learning used at the height of the pandemic, back at the end of the 2019-2020 school year.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
D.C Public Schools teachers briefly lined up “body bags” outside school system offices, protesting plans that could send them back to classrooms in the fall
Mayor Bowser is expected to announce if schools will partially open in the fall later this week <a href="https://t.co/ARmqgkBfrG">pic.twitter.com/ARmqgkBfrG</a>
&mdash; Debbie Truong (@debbietruong) <a href="https://twitter.com/debbietruong/status/1287812716950884352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser will be left to make the final decision whether to allow students to return to classrooms in the fall and, by extension, force teachers to return to work in schools. A final announcement is expected to be made on Friday. <a href="https://wjla.com/news/coronavirus/parents-asked-to-fill-out-survey-ahead-of-dc-public-schools-reopening-announcement">Parents were asked, last week</a>, to fill out a survey asking whether a blended, or all-virtual school year would even be possible and whether they possess the resources to assist in their children&#8217;s education.
Washington, D.C.&#8217;s public schools issued a guidance document outlining steps being taken to ensure that both teachers and students stay healthy, but the Washington, D.C., teachers union objected to the guidance, the <a href="https://www.washingtoninformer.com/teachers-union-dcps-clash-on-fall-plans/">Washington Informer notes</a>, preferring district-wide distance learning.
Meanwhile, as the district works to make a final decision on the matter, Washington, D.C.&#8217;s, private schools report an uptick in enrollment, <a href="https://wamu.org/story/20/07/28/as-plans-for-reopening-d-c-region-public-schools-remain-uncertain-some-families-are-looking-at-private-education/">according to WAMU</a>. Private schools, which are bound neither by teacher&#8217;s unions nor city officials, largely plan on returning to in-classroom instruction come August.
“I have several families a day contacting me right now,” one private school principal told the public radio network. “We’re hearing the same thing over and over again — I need my kid to go to school, I really need my kid to go to school. They say they’re looking for a school that will be opening in September and are trying to understand what their other options are right now.”
The Trump administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are pushing for children to return to full-time classroom instruction with accommodations made to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, which does not appear to affect otherwise healthy children.
Teachers unions across the country, though, are objecting to the push to return to in-classroom instruction. As The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nations-largest-teachers-unions-back-safe-schools-plan-that-demands-police-free-schools-an-end-to-private-education">Daily Wire reported Monday</a>, a number of the nation&#8217;s largest teacher&#8217;s unions signed on to a &#8220;safe schools&#8221; pledge outlining eight demands that must be met before members of the Chicago Teachers Union, the Boston Teachers Union, and others return to work.
Those demands include proper virus prevention measures &#8212; PPE, additional cleaning and sterilization, and social distancing &#8212; but also the removal of police and community resources officers from school buildings, a tax on billionaires and Wall Street, and the end of private education, charter schools, and voucher programs.
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

covid teaching

D.C. Teachers Line Up ‘Body Bags’ Outside School Offices After Being Warned They May Have To Return To Classrooms

COVID-19

Washington, D.C., teachers lined up &quot;body bags&quot; outside school system offices Tuesday morning as a way of protesting a potential return-to-work order, set

D.C. Teachers Line Up ‘Body Bags’ Outside School Offices After Being Warned They May Have To Return To Classrooms | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/dc-teachers-line-up-body-bags-outside-school-offices-after-being-warned-they-may-have-to-return-to-classrooms/

https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/GettyImages-1225395924-scaled.jpg

Some of the nation&#8217;s leading teachers unions are backing a &#8220;safe schools&#8221; plan that outlines what teachers and administrators need for students to return to classrooms either amid or immediately following the coronavirus pandemic, but few of the topline demands have much to do with COVID-19.
In a <a href="https://www.demandsafeschools.org/demands/">document labeled &#8220;demands</a>,&#8221; the group, under the banner of the Journeys for Justice Alliance, claims that no return to classrooms will be truly &#8220;healthy&#8221; until those same schools are also &#8220;equitable.&#8221; And to that end, they have a list of eight demands that outline conditions under which union teachers may agree to return to in-classroom instruction.
At least two of the demands are, in fact, related to the novel coronavirus, with teachers demanding &#8220;safe conditions including lower class sizes, PPE, cleaning, testing, and other key protocols equitable access to online learning,&#8221; and at least one other is tangentially related, asking that &#8220;all schools must be supported to function as community schools with adequate numbers of counselors and nurses and community/parent outreach workers.&#8221;
The list also notes that schools should not be required to open until &#8220;scientific data&#8221; supports a mass return to classrooms.
But in addition to PPE and cleaning requirements, the list of demands also includes &#8220;police-free schools&#8221; &#8212; a marked change from previous memos which, following a rash of school shootings, demanded heavier security for at-risk schools &#8212; a &#8220;moratorium&#8221; on evictions and foreclosures, direct financial handouts to those with unspecified &#8220;critical social needs,&#8221; a &#8220;moratorium on charter and voucher programs and standardized testing,&#8221; &#8220;adequate and equitable funding,&#8221; and a fresh influx of cash for public schools provided by &#8220;taxing billionaires and Wall Street.&#8221;
Although it&#8217;s not directly specified, <a href="https://j4jalliance.com/">Journeys for Justice Alliance</a>, the Chicago-based activist organization that authored the list of demands, also wants a full moratorium on private education, not just charter schools and voucher programs.
Several large teachers unions, including the one that <a href="https://www.kusi.com/a-los-angeles-teachers-union-says-public-schools-should-not-reopen-unless-their-demands-are-met/#:~:text=Their%20demands%20include%20implementing%20a,education%20funding%20to%20the%20states.">serves Los Angeles Public Schools</a>, have made similar demands, issuing individual statements to school districts. The &#8220;Equity or Else&#8221; agenda, though, is a collective effort, supported by the Chicago Teachers Union, the Boston Teachers Union, United Teachers Los Angeles, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the Center for Popular Democracy, the St. Paul Federation of Educators, Midwest Academy, the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association, National Educators United, the Racine Educators United, the Little Rock Education Association, the Oakland Education Association, and, of course, the Democratic Socialists of America.
The group is also looking to host a &#8220;national day of action&#8221; on August 3rd, right before many states make the final decision whether to allow in-person learning during the 2020-2021 school year.
So far, at least in Chicago, the demands are going unmet. Although the city does not appear to be headed toward mandatory in-person instruction in 2020, a policy, which would have removed Chicago Police Officers and other safety officials from city schools, was voted down 4-3 by the Chicago School Board.
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

school

Nation’s Largest Teachers Unions Back ‘Safe Schools’ Plan That Demands ‘Police-Free Schools,’ An End To Private Education

Defund The Police

public schools

Some of the nation&#039;s leading teachers unions are backing a &quot;safe schools&quot; plan that outlines what teachers and administrators need for students to return

Nation’s Largest Teachers Unions Back ‘Safe Schools’ Plan That Demands ‘Police-Free Schools,’ An End To Private Education | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/nations-largest-teachers-unions-back-safe-schools-plan-that-demands-police-free-schools-an-end-to-private-education/

https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/GettyImages-1226457364-scaled.jpg

A teacher in Michigan was fired after tweeting simply that President Donald Trump is the president.
Justin Kucera of Walled Lake School District, about 30 miles northwest of Detroit, faced the wrath of the school&#8217;s administration and was told to either resign or be fired after tweeting on July 6: &#8220;I&#8217;m done being silent. [Donald Trump] is our president. Don&#8217;t @ me,&#8221; according to <a href="https://freebeacon.com/campus/mi-school-fires-popular-teacher-for-saying-trump-is-our-president/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Washington Free Beacon</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I’m done being silent. <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> is our president ❌🧢 
Don’t @ me
&mdash; Coach Kucera (@CoachKWLW) <a href="https://twitter.com/CoachKWLW/status/1280312826796675074?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 7, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;I was required to meet with [human resources], the superintendent, and my principal [on July 10],&#8221; Kucera said. &#8220;They initially took my statement on why I tweeted those tweets and they told me they would have a decision about my future employment in the upcoming days. When they completed the meeting, I was told I had the option to either be fired or resign.&#8221;
Kucera, who was described by some at the school as an &#8220;apolitical&#8221; figure who was popular, was adamant that there was no malicious intention behind the tweet. &#8220;I know a lot of people are just rooting for Trump to fail, and I don&#8217;t think that anybody should do that. Agree with him or not, you should want the president to do well. I apologized that [my tweet] brought so much negative attention, but I&#8217;m not sorry for what I said.&#8221;
A parent who spoke to The Washington Free Beacon on condition of anonymity to avoid retribution said, &#8220;Justin coached my son his entire high school career and also was his AP History teacher and student leadership teacher for two years. I know Justin very well. If there&#8217;s one thing that I would commend Justin for is, he always tried to stay apolitical. He always tried to stay right down the middle, avoid [political] conversations, and let the students make their own call based on their own life experiences.&#8221;
The parent blamed the online mob for Kucera&#8217;s downfall more than anyone who was involved in the school district.
The cancellation of Kucera&#8217;s career comes as President Donald Trump faces intense backlash from teachers&#8217; unions that are demanding schools remain closed amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Some have demanded the implementation of far Left policies before schools can be reopened, such as the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA). A 35,000-member union in the Los Angeles Unified School District, UTLA stipulated that the district cannot reopen until charter schools are closed, the local police are defunded, the wealthy are taxed more, there is “Medicare-for-All,” and the district is bailed out by the federal government.
An association of teachers in Durham, North Carolina, similarly demanded welfare for illegal immigrants before in-person classes resume. The Durham Association of Educators (DAE) issued a statement claiming, &#8220;There are concrete policies that have permitted other countries to flatten the curve and return to public life: moratoriums on rent and mortgage, universal health care, direct income support regardless of immigration status.&#8221;
“We must fight together, collectively, for changes that will permit our communities to thrive during this pandemic and beyond,” the association added.
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/north-carolina-teachers-union-demands-benefits-for-illegal-immigrants-before-returning-to-school" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">North Carolina Teachers’ Union Demands Benefits For Illegal Immigrants Before Returning To School</a>
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Trump in Michigan

Michigan Teacher Fired After Tweeting ‘Trump Is Our President’

Cancel culture

Michigan

A teacher in Michigan was fired after tweeting simply that President Donald Trump is the president. Justin Kucera of Walled Lake School District, about 30

Michigan Teacher Fired After Tweeting ‘Trump Is Our President’ | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/michigan-teacher-fired-after-tweeting-trump-is-our-president/

https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/GettyImages-1133312158.jpg

A teachers&#8217; union in North Carolina is demanding sweeping benefits for illegal immigrants to lower COVID-19 cases and reopen schools.
In a <a href="https://daenc.com/2020/07/13/statement-on-school-re-open-plans/">recent statement</a> denouncing the school district&#8217;s reopening plan, the Durham Association of Educators (DAE) called for universal healthcare, as well as guaranteed income regardless of a person&#8217;s immigration status.
After claiming &#8220;Trump, DeVos, and Berger want schools to open because they care about protecting wealth and big business,&#8221; the union&#8217;s statement continued, &#8220;There are concrete policies that have permitted other countries to flatten the curve and return to public life: moratoriums on rent and mortgage, universal health care, direct income support regardless of immigration status.&#8221;
&#8220;We must fight together, collectively, for changes that will permit our communities to thrive during this pandemic and beyond,&#8221; the statement added before linking to a petition.
Many teachers <a href="https://www.wral.com/coronavirus/teachers-balk-at-plan-to-reopen-schools-in-august/19188760/">have balked</a> at Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper&#8217;s <a href="https://www.wral.com/coronavirus/cooper-some-businesses-must-remain-closed-so-schools-can-begin-to-reopen/19187322/">plan to reopen schools</a> in mid-August, for which reason Durham Public Schools voted unanimously to postpone in-person instruction, instead holding virtual classes for at least the first nine weeks of the school year.
DAE is not the first to use the coronavirus crisis as an opportunity to implement far Left policy goals. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/schools-cant-reopen-unless-charter-schools-shut-down-police-are-defunded-los-angeles-teachers-union-says">Earlier this week</a>, the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) — a 35,000-member union in the Los Angeles Unified School District — stipulated that the district cannot reopen until charter schools are closed, the local police are defunded, the wealthy are taxed more, there is &#8220;Medicare-for-All,&#8221; and the district is bailed out by the federal government.
&#8220;It is time to take a stand against Trump&#8217;s dangerous, anti-science agenda that puts the lives of our members, our students, and our families at risk, UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz said. &#8220;We all want to physically open schools and be back with our students, but lives hang in the balance. Safety has to be the priority. We need to get this right for our communities.&#8221;
In New Jersey, the state teachers&#8217; union listed among their &#8220;acceptable standards for a return to in-person instruction&#8221; both weekly COVID-19 tests for all students and mandatory door-to-door mask-wearing. &#8220;Consequences for refusal to wear the required mask shall be clearly delineated in board policy and in the student/parent handbook, and shall include consequences up to and including suspension,&#8221; the union said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Insanity in New Jersey: the <a href="https://twitter.com/NJEA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@njea</a> &#8211; the state teachers union &#8211; plans to demand <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SARSCoV2?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SARSCoV2</a> tests for all students before they return to school, WEEKLY tests, and DOOR-TO-DOOR mandatory masks for all students. <a href="https://t.co/1tb112jGNG">pic.twitter.com/1tb112jGNG</a>
&mdash; Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexBerenson/status/1282683966668111872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
President Donald Trump met with pushback from many teachers&#8217; unions earlier this month when he threatened to yank federal funding from schools that do not reopen in the fall. On July 8, Trump tweeted, &#8220;In Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS. The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children &amp; families. May cut off funding if not open!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
In Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS. The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children &amp; families. May cut off funding if not open!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1280853299600789505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The American Academy of Pediatrics stressed the importance of in-person schooling for children in <a href="https://services.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/clinical-guidance/covid-19-planning-considerations-return-to-in-person-education-in-schools/">a lengthy statement</a> released last month. &#8220;[T]he AAP strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school,&#8221; the statement read in part. &#8220;The importance of in-person learning is well-documented, and there is already evidence of the negative impacts on children because of school closures in the spring of 2020.&#8221;
The AAP released another statement on July 10 that clarified their previous one, saying in part:
<blockquote>Returning to school is important for the healthy development and well-being of children, but we must pursue re-opening in a way that is safe for all students, teachers and staff. Science should drive decision-making on safely reopening schools. Public health agencies must make recommendations based on evidence, not politics. We should leave it to health experts to tell us when the time is best to open up school buildings, and listen to educators and administrators to shape how we do it.</blockquote>
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/teachers-union-teams-black-lives-matter-organize-jeffrey-cawood">Teachers Union Teams With Black Lives Matter To Organize Students Against School Police</a>
The Daily Wire is one of America&#8217;s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

School bus stop sign

North Carolina Teachers’ Union Demands Benefits For Illegal Immigrants Before Returning To School

Illegal Immigration

North Carolina

A teachers&#039; union in North Carolina is demanding sweeping benefits for illegal immigrants to lower COVID-19 cases and reopen schools. In a recent

North Carolina Teachers&#039; Union Demands Benefits For Illegal Immigrants Before Returning To School | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/north-carolina-teachers-union-demands-benefits-for-illegal-immigrants-before-returning-to-school/

https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/GettyImages-1136042971.jpg

A prominent teachers union is training it members to inject identity politics into nearly all aspects of teaching, and included in its journals biased and debunked information.
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the nation’s second-largest teachers union, took to the pages of its quarterly journal, “American Educator,” to instruct members to incorporate liberal ideology in classroom teachings. The College Fix <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/teachers-union-instructs-members-how-to-push-identity-politics-on-students/">reported</a> that the main theme of the issue is confronting bias in schools, but “the essay that kicks off the issue almost treats the theme as an afterthought.”
That essay, written by AFT President Randi Weingarten, wrote that President Donald Trump “has fanned biases that aim to dehumanize ‘the other’ and that erode our democracy,” and said teachers “can’t ignore Trump’s bigotry and cruelty, or the fact that his erratic behavior is intended to create chaos and confusion.”
Weingarten also wrote that Trump is “leading a homegrown hate movement.”
The implication is clear: That children need to be taught these things about the president of the United States, even though it is an ideological point &#8212; no matter how much the Left claims it to be fact.
The Fix also pointed out that the “44-page issue includes 13 references to ‘tolerance,’ 15 to ‘equity,’ 32 to ‘racial identity,’ 33 to ‘racism,’ 34 to ‘diversity,’ 39 to ‘discrimination,’ 52 to ‘prejudice,’ 54 to ‘hate,’ 79 to ‘identity,’ and 102 to ‘bias.’”
Some of the people who wrote articles for the issue promoted misleading and biased information in an effort to suggest that America is racist and in need of further leftist ideology in schools.
For example, one article in the issue was written by staff from the Southern Poverty Law Center, a notoriously biased organization that paints pro-family, pro-Christian organizations as “hate groups” in the same league as the KKK. The authors, Maureen Costello and Coshandra Dillard, cite the SPLC’s woefully inadequate report from three years ago that claimed hate crimes increased after Trump was elected. The report relied on unproven and unchecked allegations of “incidents involving racial slurs and symbols, bigotry, and the harassment of minority children in the nation’s schools.” The SPLC did not confirm the anonymous reports it received, some of which <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mississippi-man-pleads-guilty-hate-crime-hoax-splc-ashe-schow">turned out to be false</a>.
Further, the SPLC’s report ignored 2,000 similarly anonymous reports of anti-white hate incidents in schools, the Fix reported. The authors of the article try to downplay these allegations by writing, “Teachers also reported a handful of incidents involving name-calling directed at white people.”
It should also be noted that the SPLC is currently conducting an internal investigation after allegations from current and former employees surfaced claiming the organization is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/inside-southern-poverty-law-centers-sexism-racism-ashe-schow">a hotbed of racism and sexism</a>. The allegations led to the firing of the group’s co-founder and the resignation of its president.
Another article in the journal, from Adam Sanchez, implores teachers to teach students an anti-American version of the country’s history, which emphasizes racism and inequity over all else. That version of American history is from Marxist historian Howard Zinn, whose work was criticized by a Stanford University history expert as “a crusade built on secondary sources of questionable provenance, omission of exculpatory evidence, leading questions and shaky connections between evidence and conclusions.”
The main theme of the journal is actually teaching students what to think, not how to think.

Teachers Union Now Training Members To Use Identity Politics in The Classroom

Social Justice

A prominent teachers union is training it members to inject identity politics into nearly all aspects of teaching, and included in its journals biased and

Teachers Union Now Training Members To Use Identity Politics in The Classroom | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/teachers-union-now-training-members-to-use-identity-politics-in-the-classroom/

https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2019/10/GettyImages-1086472080.jpg

Three Chicago teachers and a union organizer used a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for a trip to Venezuela. The teachers, all members of the Chicago Teachers Union, wrote public blogs and social media posts casting the socialist government of the country in a favorable light.
The Chicago Tribune <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-chicago-teachers-union-venezuela-trip-20190819-tbpa3lhjifduxgupdxfs3mosr4-story.html">reported</a> Monday that the educators have been criticized for their trip and praise of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro. The Chicago Teachers Union also distanced itself from those who went on the trip, putting out a statement that it was not an official union trip and was not funded by the union.
“Members go all kinds of places in the summer. This was neither an official trip nor something that was funded by the union,” CTU president Jesse Sharkey told WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight.” “This is a group of people who are members of the CTU who decided to go to Venezuela.”
Another union member, Karen Moody, told the Tribune that she was “appalled” by the delegation.
“I am appalled a delegation representing themselves as CTU went to Venezuela, not to support striking teachers, not to object to human rights violations, but to go on what appears to be a state-chaperoned propaganda tour,” she told the outlet.
The CTU retweeted some of the group’s tweets regarding their trip, including one from teacher Sarah Chambers who praised the lack of homeless people she saw while traveling in the struggling country.
“While staying in #Venezuela, we didn’t see a single homeless person. USA is the richest country in the world; yet, there are homeless people everywhere. Over 17k CPS students are homeless &#8230; This is why @CTULocal1 is fighting for fair housing #CTUAgainstVezIntervention.&#8221;
Though the CTU distanced itself from the travelers, they clearly used the CTU to solicit donations. Their GoFundMe campaign was called “Sent CTU Strikers to Venezuela,” and they wore CTU hats in the photo they used to accompany the fundraiser.
In one blog post, the group also called itself the “CTU Delegation to Venezuela” and described the blog as representing “the members delegation of the Chicago Teacher’s Union that are currently in Venezuela to learn from educators and activists on the ground.” The blog also explained: “We are three rank and file charter school teachers and one CTU organizer. We organized this delegation ourselves and fundraised for the trip independent of the CTU.”
Chambers also compared Maduro to former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The comparison was meant as a compliment.
“Through major economic hardships, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro never closed a single public school or a single health clinic. This stands in stark contrast to our experience in Chicago, where Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed 50 public schools and several mental health clinics in a single year,&#8221; Chambers told <a href="http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/7/23/chicago-teachers-show-solidarity-venezuela">Fight Back! News</a>.
The Tribune described some of the group’s trip:
<blockquote>In the latest post, one member of the group wrote that she’d wanted to observe a method for teaching reading that combines numeracy and literacy skills. She was also curious about if and how educators incorporated the country’s social movements into their curriculum, she wrote.
They visited a commune and talked to educators involved with Misión Robinson, a social welfare program to improve literacy started under former President Hugo Chavez.</blockquote>
The group’s blog was named “Radical Educator Collective.”

Charter Schools Of Chicago Teachers Hold Rally Ahead Of Proposed Strike

Chicago Teachers Crowdfund Trip To Venezuela, Come Back Praising Socialism

Venezuela

Three Chicago teachers and a union organizer used a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for a trip to Venezuela. The teachers, all members of the Chicago

Chicago Teachers Crowdfund Trip To Venezuela, Come Back Praising Socialism | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/chicago-teachers-crowdfund-trip-venezuela-come-ashe-schow/

https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2019/09/gettyimages-650582792.jpg

The 31,000-member United Teachers Los Angeles Union has gone on strike to force the school district to pay more and hire more, and they&#8217;ve got backup: the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), who are more than willing to help enforce the strike &#8212; even if that means physically blocking &#8220;scum&#8221; substitute teachers from trying to make sure students aren&#8217;t left sitting in classrooms alone.
In a series of videos and photos posted on the group&#8217;s Twitter page and highlighted by education reform group <a href="http://eagnews.org/video-la-teachers-surround-cars-block-parking-lot-scream-scum-at-subs/">EAGnews.org</a>, the DSA Los Angeles expressed their solidarity with the union&#8217;s ongoing strike against the Los Angeles Unified School District. In the posts, DSA members, holding a &#8220;Socialists for Public Education, We Stand With LA Teachers!&#8221; banner, can be seen surrounding vehicles of substitute teachers, whom they refer to as &#8220;scabs&#8221; and decry as &#8220;scum.&#8221;
After physically blocking the would-be subs&#8217; cars and chanting at them to &#8220;turn around,&#8221; the DSA LA members cheer as their intimidation efforts succeed in forcing teacher after teacher to give up. Below are videos and images proudly posted by the DSA LA.
&#8220;Rise and shine and hit the picket line!&#8221; DSA LA posted Tuesday morning. &#8220;Scabs beware: The DSA-LA Central Branch is out here at Robert F Kennedy Community Schools.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Rise and shine and hit the picket line! Scabs beware: The DSA-LA Central Branch is out here at Robert F Kennedy Community Schools <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UTLAStrong?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UTLAStrong</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RedForEd?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RedForEd</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StrikeReady?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StrikeReady</a> <a href="https://t.co/mohAVsaQbc">pic.twitter.com/mohAVsaQbc</a>
&#8212; DSA Los Angeles (@DSA_LosAngeles) <a href="https://twitter.com/DSA_LosAngeles/status/1085197887464660992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
&#8220;Join us at 8th &amp; Kenmore (or Venice High or NoHo High) if you want to holler at scabs,&#8221; the group wrote, along with video of them chanting &#8220;turn around&#8221; to what is presumably a substitute teacher in a red car.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Join us at 8th &amp; Kenmore (or Venice High or NoHo High) if you want to holler at scabs. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RedForEd?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RedForEd</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UTLAStrong?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UTLAStrong</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StrikeReady?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StrikeReady</a> <a href="https://t.co/9e47451xNH">pic.twitter.com/9e47451xNH</a>
&#8212; DSA Los Angeles (@DSA_LosAngeles) <a href="https://twitter.com/DSA_LosAngeles/status/1085198102628159488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
&#8220;Day two of the @UTLAnow strike and @DSA_LosAngeles is holding the line. The scene just before this scabstitute turned tail,&#8221; the socialist group boasted.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Day two of the <a href="https://twitter.com/UTLAnow?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UTLAnow</a> strike and <a href="https://twitter.com/DSA_LosAngeles?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DSA_LosAngeles</a> is holding the line. The scene just before this scabstitute turned tail. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StrikeReady?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StrikeReady</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UTLAStrong?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UTLAStrong</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RedForEd?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RedForEd</a> <a href="https://t.co/qL8gi8waej">pic.twitter.com/qL8gi8waej</a>
&#8212; DSA Labor (@DSA_Labor) <a href="https://twitter.com/DSA_Labor/status/1085202385801076740?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
&#8220;NO SCABS ALLOWED IN UNION TOWN,&#8221; they declared in a post with another video of them surrounding a sub&#8217;s car.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
NO SCABS ALLOWED IN UNION TOWN <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RedForEd?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RedForEd</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UTLAStrong?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UTLAStrong</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StrikeReady?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StrikeReady</a> <a href="https://t.co/95qJiX4PYB">pic.twitter.com/95qJiX4PYB</a>
&#8212; DSA Los Angeles (@DSA_LosAngeles) <a href="https://twitter.com/DSA_LosAngeles/status/1085205527393533957?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Here&#8217;s a post they retweeted praising the DSA for yelling at &#8220;scabs&#8221;:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Watching <a href="https://twitter.com/DSA_LosAngeles?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DSA_LosAngeles</a> yell at scabs gives me chills <a href="https://t.co/z8K6xKPAuP">pic.twitter.com/z8K6xKPAuP</a>
&#8212; Arielle Sallai (@ariellesallai) <a href="https://twitter.com/ariellesallai/status/1085216586078740480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
The group felt the need to explain why they despise &#8220;scabs&#8221; so much: &#8220;We say no to scabs because we care more about our children&#8217;s futures than a sub making them watch movies all day today.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
We say no to scabs because we care more about our children&#8217;s futures than a sub making them watch movies all day today. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UTLAStrong?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UTLAStrong</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RedForEd?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RedForEd</a>
&#8212; DSA Los Angeles (@DSA_LosAngeles) <a href="https://twitter.com/DSA_LosAngeles/status/1085220030948597765?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Here&#8217;s another proud moment for the group: &#8220;That moment when we made the scabs turn around.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
That moment when we made the scabs turn around <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UTLAStrong?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UTLAStrong</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RedForEd?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RedForEd</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StrikeReady?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StrikeReady</a> <a href="https://t.co/uXehwJzvYH">pic.twitter.com/uXehwJzvYH</a>
&#8212; DSA Los Angeles (@DSA_LosAngeles) <a href="https://twitter.com/DSA_LosAngeles/status/1085222099122147328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
After taking down would-be substitute teachers the DSA wanted to make sure everyone knows they&#8217;re targeting &#8220;charter cronies&#8221; next &#8212; and about their &#8220;tacos for teachers&#8221; campaign: &#8220;Scabs down, charter cronies next! We&#8217;re headed over to the California Charter School Association at 10:30 to fight back against privatization. And hey @UTLAnow: There will be tacos.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Scabs down, charter cronies next! We&#8217;re headed over to the California Charter School Association at 10:30 to fight back against privatization. And hey <a href="https://twitter.com/UTLAnow?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UTLAnow</a>: There will be tacos. <a href="https://t.co/SFduS6zxka">https://t.co/SFduS6zxka</a>
&#8212; DSA Los Angeles (@DSA_LosAngeles) <a href="https://twitter.com/DSA_LosAngeles/status/1085226906046230528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
And here&#8217;s the DSA&#8217;s post explaining why they back the massive teachers&#8217; strike: &#8220;Today we walk the line with LA teachers who are standing up for public education. We got some of them together &#8212; public &amp; charter school teachers alike &amp; mostly DSA members &#8212; to share why they strike &amp; why investment in schools is an imperative. Join them!&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Today we walk the line with LA teachers who are standing up for public education. We got some of them together &#8212; public &amp; charter school teachers alike &amp; mostly DSA members &#8212; to share why they strike &amp; why investment in schools is an imperative. Join them! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RedForEd?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RedForEd</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UTLAStrong?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UTLAStrong</a> <a href="https://t.co/V2XVRNkLO0">pic.twitter.com/V2XVRNkLO0</a>
&#8212; DSA Los Angeles (@DSA_LosAngeles) <a href="https://twitter.com/DSA_LosAngeles/status/1084873775408009216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
EAGnews.org&#8217;s Victor Skinner notes that the Communist Party USA has also expressed their solidarity with the massive LA teachers union.
&#8220;The CPUSA well recalls that in socialist countries a commonly heard expression is, &#8216;There is only one privileged class of people here: Children,'&#8221; the communist group wrote in a <a href="http://www.cpusa.org/article/communist-party-agrees-with-utla-enough-is-enough/">statement</a> Monday. &#8220;Los Angeles today is a testing ground for society to determine just how much of a priority it places on a full and rich education for its people as an investment in its future.&#8221;

WATCH: Democratic Socialists Surround ‘SCUM!’ Substitute Teachers’ Cars To Enforce Teacher Strike

California

Democratic Socialism

Los Angeles

The 31,000-member United Teachers Los Angeles Union has gone on strike to force the school district to pay more and hire more, and they&#039;ve got backup: the

WATCH: Democratic Socialists Surround &#039;SCUM!&#039; Substitute Teachers&#039; Cars To Enforce Teacher Strike | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-democratic-socialists-surround-scum-james-barrett/

On Wednesday, in a decision that was a <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-1466_2b3j.pdf">major blow to public sector and teachers&#8217; union</a>s, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a public sector employee who refused to join a public union and objected to paying a union fee that was automatically deducted from his paycheck every month under the union&#8217;s contract. As Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the decision, &#8220;States and public-sector unions may no longer extract agency fees from nonconsenting employees.&#8221;
The case involved Mark Janus, a child support worker in Illinois, who would not join the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents state employees. He would not pay the $45 union fee (known as an &#8220;agency&#8221; or &#8220;fair share&#8221; fee) the union demanded every month from his paycheck.
The right of the union to collect the fee was based on the SCOTUS decision in Abood v. Detroit Bd. of Ed. That decision permitted a union to charge only for services from which nonunion members benefited, including negotiating and administering a collective bargaining agreement and handling grievance procedures, as <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2018/06/25/economy/unions-brace-supreme-court-janus-ital-decision">marketplace.org</a> noted.
But the Supreme Court reversed the Abood decision, ruling that Janus was &#8220;undisputedly injured in fact by Illinois&#8217; agency-fee scheme and his injuries can be redressed by a favorable court decision &#8230; The State&#8217;s extraction of agency fees from nonconsenting public- sector employees violates the First Amendment. Abood erred in concluding otherwise, and stare decisis cannot support it. Abood is therefore overruled.&#8221;
Slamming the Abood decision, the Court wrote, &#8220;Abood was poorly reasoned, and those arguing for retaining it have recast its reasoning, which further undermines its stare decisis effect.&#8221;
The Court continued:
<blockquote>
Forcing free and independent individuals to endorse ideas they find objectionable raises serious First Amendment concerns. That includes compelling a person to subsidize the speech of other private speakers &#8230; Neither of Abood&#8217;s two justifications for agency fees passes muster under this standard. First, agency fees cannot be upheld on the ground that they promote an interest in &#8220;labor peace.&#8221; The Abood Court&#8217;s fears of conflict and disruption if employees were represented by more than one union have proved to be unfounded: Exclusive representation of all the employees in a unit and the exaction of agency fees are not inextricably linked. To the contrary, in the Federal Government and the 28 States with laws prohibiting agency fees, millions of public employees are represented by unions that effectively serve as the exclusive representatives of all the employees. Whatever may have been the case 41 years ago when Abood was decided, it is thus now undeniable that &#8220;labor peace&#8221; can readily be achieved through less restrictive means than the assessment of agency fees.
Second, avoiding &#8220;the risk of &#8216;free riders,&#8217; &#8221; Abood, supra, at 224, is not a compelling state interest. Free-rider &#8220;arguments . . . are generally insufficient to overcome First Amendment objections,&#8221; Knox, su- pra, at 311, and the statutory requirement that unions represent members and nonmembers alike does not justify different treatment. As is evident in non-agency-fee jurisdictions, unions are quite willing to represent nonmembers in the absence of agency fees. And their duty of fair representation is a necessary concomitant of the authority that a union seeks when it chooses to be the exclusive representative. In any event, States can avoid free riders through less restrictive means than the imposition of agency fees.
</blockquote>
As expected, the Justices voting to overrule Abood were Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kennedy.
President Trump took note of the decision&#8217;s effect:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Supreme Court rules in favor of non-union workers who are now, as an example, able to support a candidate of his or her choice without having those who control the Union deciding for them. Big loss for the coffers of the Democrats!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1011975204778729474?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>

BREAKING: Big Blow To Democrats: SCOTUS Rules Against Public Sector Unions

Supreme Court

On Wednesday, in a decision that was a major blow to public sector and teachers’ unions, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a public sector

BREAKING: Big Blow To Democrats: SCOTUS Rules Against Public Sector Unions | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-big-blow-democrats-scotus-rules-against-hank-berrien/

A <a href="https://www.projectveritas.com/video/nj-perry-video/">new video</a> from Project Veritas shows a New Jersey teachers union president explaining the methods he would use to cover for a teacher if the teacher physically or verbally abused their student.
Undercover employees for Project Veritas taped Hamilton Township Education Association President David Perry asserting he would misrepresent the events of altercations between teachers and students by back-dating reports as well as urging the teacher to remain silent about what happened.
Perry also stated that if a teacher abused their student, they should go to the union where a report could be created protecting them from students asserting that they had been abused.
Some sample quotes from Perry:
<blockquote>
I got people who are on drugs. And she, five times she was fired, and I got her job back five times.
If nobody brings it up from school, I don&#8217;t say boo.
Interviewer: So, after a certain point, the cameras are erased. Perry: Exactly. That&#8217;s why I would never want to bring it up. The longer we wait, the longer there&#8217;s no cameras.
Now, if you go to the house of the board of education and report this, they&#8217;re going to call the police, call parents and all that s***. We don&#8217;t do that. We don&#8217;t do that here. I&#8217;m here to defend even the worst people.
But I don&#8217;t want him coming in here with a bunch of lies. We need to know the truth so we can bend the truth.
</blockquote>
Video below:
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cGfa9pDYRPs" width="560"></iframe></div>

Project Veritas Catches Teachers Union President Admitting He Hides Teachers’ Abuse Of Students

New Jersey

Project Veritas

A new video from Project Veritas shows a New Jersey teachers union president explaining the methods he would use to cover for a teacher if the teacher

Project Veritas Catches Teachers Union President Admitting He Hides Teachers&#039; Abuse Of Students | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/project-veritas-catches-teachers-union-president-hank-berrien/

On Thursday, ReasonTV uploaded a new video featuring John Stossel.
Stossel begins the video with the following: &#8220;The Supreme Court is about to decide: Do you have to pay union dues if your workplace is unionized? When I worked at CBS and ABC, I had to. I was told: &#8216;This is a union shop; you must pay up.&#8217; But now the court may say for government workers, that&#8217;s unconstitutional.&#8221;
Over the course of the video, Stossel speaks with teacher Rebecca Friedrichs, who sued the California Teachers Association, as well as Steve Kreisberg, a representative for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
&#8220;Rebecca got mad at her union during the last recession. When she tried to save some teachers jobs by getting all the teachers to take a slight pay cut,&#8221; Stossel says.
<blockquote>
STOSSEL: They were willing to take a cut?
FRIEDRICHS: Absolutely [they] were willing to have that discussion. And all of America was taking a pay cut pretty much &#8211; why should we be any different?
</blockquote>
But Stossel notes that &#8220;the union wouldn&#8217;t even allow her to survey the other teachers.&#8221;
<blockquote>
FRIEDRICHS: They said absolutely not &#8211; would not let me send out that survey. They told me: &#8220;Rebecca, don&#8217;t worry about those teachers who are going to lose their jobs, the union&#8217;s going to take care of them. We&#8217;re going to give them a seminar on how to get unemployment benefits.&#8221;
</blockquote>
Rebecca sued the California Teachers Association, and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court. However, upon the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the court deadlocked, sending the judgment back down to the lower court. The union won &#8211; but that&#8217;s not the end of the story. Another government employee, Mark Janus, filed a separate lawsuit that, like Friedrichs&#8217; before it, has made its way up to SCOTUS.
Stossel&#8217;s then speaks with Kreisberg, the rep for AFSCME:
<blockquote>
KREISBERG: It&#8217;s his right to dissent and not be a member of our union. He only has to pay the fees. &#8230;
STOSSEL: But what&#8217;s the point in that if you have to pay? That&#8217;s the main reason he doesn&#8217;t want to join. He doesn&#8217;t want to be forced to pay for something he doesn&#8217;t agree with.
KREISBERG: Well, I&#8217;m not sure if he doesn&#8217;t agree with it, or he simply doesn&#8217;t want to pay because he&#8217;d like to get those services for free.
</blockquote>
Back with Friedrichs, Stossel plays devil&#8217;s advocate: &#8220;The union could say: &#8216;We are bargaining for all you teachers. If you don&#8217;t join the union, you&#8217;re a free rider.&#8217;&#8221; Friedrichs replies, &#8220;I never asked for their representation.&#8221;
<blockquote>
STOSSEL: All right, but you&#8217;re getting it, and presumably benefiting.
FRIEDRICHS: If I saw their representation as a benefit, then I could agree with that. But I don&#8217;t see it as a benefit. Their benefits aren&#8217;t worth the moral costs.
</blockquote>
Hearing Friedrichs&#8217; statement, Kreisberg says, &#8220;To me, that sounds like the words of a right-wing activist, not the words of a teacher.&#8221; Stossel hits back: &#8220;She was a teacher who got together with other teachers and said, &#8216;Let&#8217;s take a pay cut so nobody has to get fired,&#8217; and the union said, &#8216;No, you may not even put that to a vote.&#8217;&#8221;
<blockquote>
KREISBERG: They elected somebody else. So she has no more right to call a vote than Hillary Clinton has the right to conduct foreign policy for the United States of America.&#8221;
STOSSEL: Thomas Jefferson believed that &#8220;to compel a man to furnish contributions &#8230; for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves &#8230; is sinful and tyrannical.&#8221;
KREISBERG: Thomas Jefferson had no sense of 21st century labor relations.
</blockquote>
Stossel concludes the video with the following: &#8220;Now the Supreme Court will decide. Oral arguments are scheduled for Monday. The court will announce its decision sometime this summer. I hope they&#8217;ll see it the way Jefferson did. Forcing someone to pay for something they don&#8217;t want is tyranny.&#8221;
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="385" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c_JGRpqln8E" width="720"></iframe></div>

WATCH: ReasonTV’s John Stossel Talks About The Upcoming SCOTUS Case That Could Cripple Public Sector Unions

Reason Magazine

On Thursday, ReasonTV uploaded a new video featuring John Stossel. Stossel begins the video with the following: &quot;The Supreme Court is about to decide: Do

WATCH: ReasonTV’s John Stossel Talks About The Upcoming SCOTUS Case That Could Cripple Public Sector Unions | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-reasontvs-john-stossel-talks-about-upcoming-frank-camp/

The union that represents Los Angeles public school teachers will co-sponsor a rally next month with Black Lives Matter, the ACLU, and other groups that have been organizing students against the district&#8217;s police force.
Titled &#8220;Making Black Lives Matter in Schools,&#8221; the demonstration on February 24 will feature a live performance by Common, a multi-faceted entertainer who has been using his musical talent to promote radical reforms to California&#8217;s criminal justice system.
United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) recently posted the <a href="https://www.utla.net/events/black-lives-matter-forum">details</a> on its website, tucked away in next month&#8217;s calendar of upcoming events. The union speaks for upwards of 33,000 employees, most of whom are responsible for educating the more than 640,000 students enrolled in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).
A flyer encourages students to gather on the south quadrangle at Los Angeles Trade Technical College to &#8220;join the next round of our fight to end random searches and criminalization,&#8221; while calling for &#8220;community schools funding.&#8221; The bottom of the announcement reads, &#8220;We have nothing to lose but our chains,&#8221; a quote often recited by Black Lives Matter activists to honor Assata Shakur, who was part of a revolutionary extremist group called the Black Liberation Army. Among the FBI&#8217;s &#8220;<a href="https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_terrorists/joanne-deborah-chesimard">Most Wanted</a>,&#8221; Shakur escaped from prison in 1979 while serving a life sentence for the murder of a New Jersey state trooper. She is living in communist Cuba under political asylum.
[[{&#8220;fid&#8221;:&#8221;30009&#8243;,&#8221;view_mode&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;fields&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:false,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:false},&#8221;type&#8221;:&#8221;media&#8221;,&#8221;field_deltas&#8221;:{&#8220;1&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:false,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:false}},&#8221;attributes&#8221;:{&#8220;class&#8221;:&#8221;media-element file-default&#8221;,&#8221;data-delta&#8221;:&#8221;1&#8243;}}]]
As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/26194/black-lives-matter-youth-vanguard-organizes-jeffrey-cawood">reported</a> one week ago, the drive to end LAUSD&#8217;s mandatory random search policy is part of an incremental strategy by some activists to completely remove police stationed throughout the nation&#8217;s second-largest public education system.
On a recent talk show, youth-organizers <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/26194/black-lives-matter-youth-vanguard-organizes-jeffrey-cawood">discussed</a> their work toward &#8220;abolishing policing&#8221; in LAUSD institutions. The activists represented the Black Lives Matter Youth Vanguard and an education reform group called Schools L.A. Students Deserve, which is also a co-sponsor of next month&#8217;s rally. During the discussion, the leader of Black Lives Matter&#8217;s L.A. chapter referenced &#8220;taking an abolitionist approach, and beginning by ending random searches.&#8221;
Opponents of the existing policy claim it is racist, disproportionately targeting students of color. Black Lives Matter, Schools L.A. Students Deserve, the ACLU, and other allies <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/838759546275000/">organized a similar demonstration last May</a> outside LAUSD headquarters, demanding an end to &#8220;policies that criminalize&#8221; non-white schoolkids. An English teacher employed by the district took to the microphone, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/17157/la-public-school-teacher-whiteness-not-default-jeffrey-cawood">galvanizing</a> the students in attendance. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to get these cops out of our schools, and we&#8217;re going to end these random searches, and we&#8217;re going to be proud to be black and brown,&#8221; she declared.
Although UTLA was not an official co-sponsor of last year&#8217;s protest, the union <a href="https://www.utla.net/events/black-lives-matter-forum">endorsed</a> the upcoming rally in February &#8220;to affirm the humanity of our students, teach students to oppose racism&#8221; and &#8220;fight the school to prison pipeline and end random searches in LAUSD schools.&#8221;
Patrisse Cullors, a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/16357/exclusive-radical-professor-calls-abolition-police-jeffrey-cawood">police abolitionist</a> who is also a founder of Black Lives Matter, is advertised as a featured speaker. She has been touring the country promoting her new book, &#8220;When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir,&#8221; which is currently number 12 on the New York Times bestseller list for hardcover nonfiction.
UTLA has a history of uniting with Black Lives Matter. In 2016, the two groups <a href="https://www.facebook.com/YouthJusticeLA/photos/a.320299461384906.73054.269856989762487/1166651263416384/?type=3&amp;theater">co-sponsored</a> the first Black Lives Matter event held inside an L.A. public school. Students, parents, and faculty filled an auditorium where the conversation focused on the over-policing of several campuses.
&#8220;It&#8217;s about having a movement, not a moment,&#8221; Cecily Myart-Cruz, a vice president for both UTLA and the National Education Association, <a href="http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2016/09/29/for-first-time-black-lives-matter-event-held-at-lausd-school/">told</a> KCAL-9 Los Angeles at the time.
Last Wednesday, UTLA leaders <a href="https://www.utla.net/events/black-lives-matter-forum">passed</a> a motion to endorse the Black Lives Matter in Schools National Week of Action, February 5 &#8211; 9.
UPDATE: After publication, Common&#8217;s name was removed from the list of &#8220;live performances&#8221; posted on UTLA&#8217;s website and the promotional flyer, replaced with &#8220;street dance activism.&#8221;
Follow Jeffrey Cawood on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/Near_Chaos">@Near_Chaos</a>.

Teachers Union Teams With Black Lives Matter To Organize Students Against School Police

Black Lives Matter

The union that represents Los Angeles public school teachers will co-sponsor a rally next month with Black Lives Matter, the ACLU, and other groups that

Teachers Union Teams With Black Lives Matter To Organize Students Against School Police | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/teachers-union-teams-black-lives-matter-organize-jeffrey-cawood/

James O&#8217;Keefe of Project Veritas, determined to reveal that teachers&#8217; unions protect their members even if they have abused students, <a href="https://twitter.com/Project_Veritas/status/844180130197131265">uncovered</a> a San Francisco teachers&#8217; union official who admitted having struck a student but making it look like an accident. The official, Antonio Mankini , a staff organizer with United Educators of San Francisco, also admitted that teachers he knew had struck students but were still working.
O&#8217;Keefe sent two journalists undercover to the United Educators of San Francisco, one to pose as a teacher and one as the teacher&#8217;s friend.
The first interview on the video showed the supposed friend of the teacher interviewing Mankini. The exchange went like this:
<blockquote>
Friend of teacher: If the teacher that himself confirmed that it happened, but it wasn&#8217;t just a matter of correcting the kid in an unorthodox corporal way, not spanking necessarily, I don&#8217;t mean like spanking, but literally hitting, it would still, but &#8230;
Mankini: I can see grabbing a kid; I can see throwing a kid up against a locker. Not that I&#8217;ve ever done that. Okay, maybe once, maybe twice. But striking a kid is pretty serious stuff, you know, with a fist. Slapping is one thing, hitting is serious, whether it&#8217;s to the face or the chest or whatever, you know.
Friend: That&#8217;s the situation that no one knows about it, except the kid and the teacher.
Mankini: Were there any witnesses? Just keep it that way. Seriously. It&#8217;s your word against the kid&#8217;s. Kids f***ing lie. Seriously. I mean it&#8217;s­ &#8211; I&#8217;ll disavow any knowledge of this conversation. But you know what? It&#8217;s your word against the kid&#8217;s. Hell, maybe you really didn&#8217;t hit him. He walked into your fist. I don&#8217;t know; I wasn&#8217;t there. But if there were no witness then you have that deniability and that&#8217;s something that could be used. No, I didn&#8217;t do it. There&#8217;s no scars, marks, tattoos or bruises or anything. There&#8217;s no evidence.
Friend: If word got out out from the kid, the union would be able to vouch for the teacher&#8217;s side of the story?
Mankini: Well, I don&#8217;t know about vouch, I mean, we don&#8217;t go to the paper or anything like that. So maybe you just shoved the kid.
Friend: To potentially get him, to prove him &#8230; that there&#8217;s no proof he did it. I mean, if he actually did it &#8230; they would still vouch for him?
Mankini: Yeah, I mean, teachers have smacked kids before. And &#8230; sometimes they&#8217;re still working.
Friend: And people don&#8217;t know about it? Like in terms of press or authorities? &#8230; But the thing is to just not say anything about it? Yeah, and if it does get out, treat it like it&#8217;s a rumor.
Mankini: Yeah. Because it is. There&#8217;s no proof.
Friend: Okay.
Mankini: Unless, of course, the kid&#8217;s got a big bruise on his chest.
</blockquote>
The next meeting was with the supposed teacher, who confessed that he &#8220;did cross the line, probably &#8230; it was a swat, sort of like that.&#8221;
Mankini said, &#8220;And it didn&#8217;t really hurt him&#8221;.
The &#8220;teacher&#8221; responded, &#8220;No, he was taken aback by it. I think it more shocked him.&#8221;
The &#8220;teacher&#8221; continued, &#8220;I know you see a lot of this. Does it happen? Have you seen similar things? Have you seen it just go away?&#8221;
Mankini answered, &#8220;I&#8217;ve seen it go away more than anything else. Lot of kids don&#8217;t come forward with it; it&#8217;s how they&#8217;re treated at home &#8230; most of the time it just goes away.&#8221;
Mankini later explained:
<blockquote>
I spent 17 years working with law enforcement, so I know ways to &#8230; It&#8217;s like I told them; I could hurt you and never leave a mark &#8230; Elbows are awesome weapons, too; they&#8217;re harder than a fist &#8230; I can use equal force. My force is bigger than yours, though &#8230; I mean, I clotheslined a kid in class one time, you know, and I was pretending I was pointing at the kids and the kids saw the kid went down &#8230; And that one still bothered me. That one, yeah, because I crossed the line. I know, I mean, I made it look like an accident and all the witnesses would have said, no, he ran into my arm.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
&#8220;Were there any witnesses? Just keep it that way. Seriously. It&#8217;s your word against the kid&#8217;s.&#8221;
Antonio Mankini
</blockquote>
Video below:

<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZMgIEQN3W4g" width="560"></iframe></div>

WATCH: SF Teachers’ Union Official Admits To Hitting Students: ‘I Made It Look Like An Accident’

Students

James O’Keefe of Project Veritas, determined to reveal that teachers’ unions protect their members even if they have abused students,

WATCH: SF Teachers’ Union Official Admits To Hitting Students: ‘I Made It Look Like An Accident’ | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-sf-teachers-union-official-admits-hitting-hank-berrien/

Despite opposing proposals to increase market forces&#8217; impacts on schooling through the implementation of taxpayer-funded educational vouchers, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) sent his own children to <a href="https://www.dalton.org/page/admissions/tuition-and-financial-aid/tuition">$45,000-per-year</a> private school in New York City, NY.

<div class="image"><img alt height="222" src="https://dw-wp-dev.imgix.net/2019/09/dalton_school_tuition.jpg" width="780" /></div>
The Dalton School &#8211; <a href="http://pagesix.com/2013/02/07/exclusive-wealthy-parents-fume-over-e-mail-naming-dalton-school-rejects/">described by Page Six</a> as &#8220;uber-exclusive&#8221; and &#8220;upper crust&#8221; &#8211; has educated Anderson Cooper, Chevy Chase, Sean Lennon, and Claire Danes.

Franken was <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/watch-al-franken-destroys-education-appointee-betsy-devos-over-her-support-for-gay-conversion-therapy/">widely</a> <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/betsy-devos-confirmation-hearing-bernie-sanders-al-franken-real-bad">celebrated</a> by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/al-franken-rips-new-secretary-of-education-betsy-devos-2017-2">left-wing</a> and <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2017/01/18/franken-skewers-betsy-devos-basic-education-policy-question/a454JPmoPx4v4kJtCv2mIO/story.html">Democrat-aligned</a> <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/1/18/1621845/-Sen-Al-Franken-exposes-how-breathtakingly-incompetent-education-pick-Betsy-DeVos-is">news</a> <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/schooled/2017/01/betsy_devos_confirmation_hearing_showed_she_s_either_underprepared_or_a.html">media</a> <a href="http://forward.com/fast-forward/362492/watch-al-franken-denounces-betsy-devos-as-fundamentally-incompetent/">outlets</a> for his questioning and subsequent criticisms of Betsy DeVos during the latter&#8217;s confirmation hearings for secretaryship of the Department of Education.

The Daily Caller <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2017/01/08/senate-dems-opposing-trumps-ed-sec-nom-attended-private-schools/">reported</a> that Franken <a href="https://www.unionfacts.com/pac/National_Education_Assn">received $10,000</a> from the National Education Association (NEA). The NEA &#8211; essentially the foremost advocate for teachers&#8217; unions &#8211; opposes all free market reforms in the marketplace of education that would increase accountability for teachers and education administrators via free market pressures.

In a 2012 interview with Harvard Magazine, Franken claimed to have studied at <a href="http://www.blakeschool.org/">Blake</a>, a Protestant charter school. Blake&#8217;s <a href="http://www.blakeschool.org/page.cfm?p=577">current tuition</a> runs nearly $30,000 from grades 1 through 12.

<div class="image"><img alt height="341" src="https://dw-wp-dev.imgix.net/2019/09/blake_school_tuition.jpg" width="780" /></div>
Franken subsequently graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor of arts.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRXFU56PSI0">In early February</a>, Franken <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crec/2017/02/06/CREC-2017-02-06.pdf">took to the Senate floor</a> to oppose DeVos&#8217; nomination as Secretary of Education. He criticized DeVos for apparently not having sent any of her four children to public schools, implying that this diminished her qualifications for the role of education secretary: &#8220;She has never sent a child to a public school.&#8221;

Franken accused DeVos of &#8220;[having] a long history of undermining public education.&#8221; DeVos and her family, said Franken, pushed an &#8220;ideology that would steal funds from public school in order to fund private and religious education.&#8221;
Taxpayer-funded education vouchers under the guise of &#8220;school choice,&#8221; said Franken, would not fully cover the costs of a private school tuition or associated costs of transportation, school uniforms, or school supplies. He described such a proposal as amounting to wealth redistribution from low-income families to families &#8220;who could already afford to pay for private school.&#8221;

Increasing market forces&#8217; impacts on the education marketplace via &#8220;school choice,&#8221; concluded Franken, &#8220;represents a serious threat to the public school system.&#8221; 
H/T Brandon Morse at <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/03/09/democrat-who-blasted-betsy-devos-over-school-vouchers-is-a-big-fan-of-school-choice-for-his-own-kids">The Blaze</a>

Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k">Twitter</a>.

dalton_school_tuition

Franken Sent Kids To $45K Tuition Private School

Al Franken

Betsy DeVos

National Education Association

U.S. Senate

Despite opposing proposals to increase market forces’ impacts on schooling through the implementation of taxpayer-funded educational vouchers, Sen.

Franken Sent Kids To $45K Tuition Private School | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/franken-sends-kids-45k-tuition-private-school-robert-kraychik/

https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2019/09/dalton_school_tuition.jpg

A House Republican has <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/318310-gop-lawmaker-proposes-abolishing-department-of-education">proposed</a> abolishing the Department of Education.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) put forth a bill that simply states that the department will cease to exist at the end of 2018. It has the support of at least seven other House Republicans, including Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Raul Labrador (R-ID).
Here are seven reasons why eliminating the Department of Education would be a great idea.
1. Jimmy Carter created the Department of Education as a form of political payback to the teachers unions. According to <a href="http://reason.com/blog/2017/02/07/department-of-education-jimmy-carter">Reason</a>, Carter had decided to establish the department to thank the National Education Association (NEA) for their support in 1976 and, given his low approval ratings at the time, he hoped that forming the Department of Education would ensure the NEA&#8217;s support for the 1980 election.
A House Democrat even admitted at the time, &#8220;The idea of an Education Department is really a bad one. But it&#8217;s NEA&#8217;s top priority. There are school teachers in every congressional district and most of us simply don&#8217;t need the aggravation of taking them on.&#8221;
The NEA&#8217;s executive director in 1980 declared, &#8220;There&#8217;d be no department without the NEA.&#8221;
What better way to help break the teachers unions&#8217; iron grip on education than abolishing the Department of Education?
2. The department is <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/yes-department-education-unconstitutional">unconstitutional</a>. The Constitution makes no mention of education; it is not an enumerated power given to the federal government. Therefore, under the Tenth Amendment, education should be left to the states and the federal government should be kept out of it.
3. The results under the Department of Education have been abysmal. In January 2016, the Daily Wire <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/2553/trump-just-vowed-axe-two-federal-departments-aaron-bandler">highlighted</a> the following statistics from Mark Levin&#8217;s <a href="http://townhall.com/tipsheet/aaronbandler/2015/08/11/plunder-and-deceit-a-millennials-take-on-mark-levins-new-book-n2036858">Plunder and Deceit: Big Government&#8217;s Exploitation of Young People and the Future</a>:
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>U.S. fifteen-year-olds scored below average in math, science and reading among OECD nations, according to the Program for International Student Assessment. This is despite the fact that Luxembourg and Norway are the only two OECD nations that spent more per student on education than the U.S.</li>
<li>Only 43 percent of students who took the SAT in 2013 were deemed as &#8220;college-ready.&#8221;</li>
<li>2013 was the fifth straight year where less than half of those taking the SAT scored above 1550, which is &#8220;the threshold for demonstrating the capability to maintain a grade point average (GPA) of B-minus or better in a four-year degree college or university.&#8221;</li>
<li>Only 26 percent of U.S. 12th graders are skilled in math and only 38 percent are skilled in reading, according to the 2013 NAEP report.</li>
<li>66 percent of all applicants to the Armed Services Vocational Battery &#8220;fail to meet the minimal educational standards on the tests.&#8221;</li>
</ul>
Levin also cites a study by Andrew Coulson, director of Cato Institute&#8217;s Center for Educational Freedom, which determined that SAT scores over the past 40 years have declined by an average of 3 percent, similar to trends observed by the NAEP.
&#8220;Consistent with those patterns, there has been essentially no correlation between what states have spent on education and their measured academic outcomes,&#8221; Coulson writes.
</blockquote>
The Department of Education has been an abject failure; it only makes sense to get rid of it.
4. Eliminating the Department of Education would end Common Core. The <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/12573/please-leave-obamas-9-worst-domestic-policy-aaron-bandler">Daily Wire</a> has previously highlighted the following about Common Core:
<blockquote>
As Michelle Malkin has explained, Common Core has further federalized education and co-opted schools into dumbed-down standards, revisionist left-wing history and ridiculous math problems that are more complicated than they need to be while setting back children&#8217;s progress in this crucial subject compared to other countries. It is also a massive data mining scheme that collects &#8220;information on every student&#8217;s personality, attitudes, values, beliefs, and disposition, a psychological profile called Interpersonal Skills Standards and anchors&#8221; that the federal government uses as part of a &#8220;decision making model,&#8221; according to Fox News.
</blockquote>
In other words, Common Core has further federalized education and decreased the quality of education by doing so. While newly confirmed Education Secretary <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/11083/7-things-you-need-know-about-betsy-devos-trumps-aaron-bandler">Betsy DeVos</a> is strong on school choice, her previous support for Common Core does raise questions as to whether she will actually scale back the program. The best way to ensure the demise of Common Core is to end the Department of Education altogether.
5. Abolishing the department would be a major victory for school choice. Even if DeVos were to successfully implement school choice reforms in her position as Education Secretary, what would stop a future Democrat Education Secretary from undoing her reforms? The federal government&#8217;s involvement is a liability more often than not, so the best way to advance school choice is to eliminate the department. This way, states and localities would solely be in control of education, governments that are closer to the people and more willing to listen to parents&#8217; input about how their children can best obtain a quality education.
6. Ending the department would also allow states to experiment with various education models and standards. One of the key aspects of a free society is <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/federalism">federalism</a>; the concept of having authority divided between the federal government and the states. This <a href="http://www.cnsnews.com/blog/jeannette-richard/levin-capitalism-and-federalism-are-two-greatest-models-human-behavior">concept promotes freedom</a> by allowing people to move from one state to another if they are unhappy with the policies of a state. States can also conduct their own policy experiments that other states can learn from.
The same concept applies to education. States and localities can try a range of education models and standards; parents and children are free to choose from a wider variety of schools and education standards and decide which ones are the best fit for them instead of being forced into a centralized government scheme.
7. The Department of Education spends <a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2017/02/08/thomas-massie-wants-to-get-rid-of-education-department/">around $70 billion</a> annually. If that can&#8217;t be eliminated when the country faces <a href="http://www.usdebtclock.org/">nearly $20 trillion</a> in fiscal operating debt, then there isn&#8217;t much hope in solving the country&#8217;s pending debt crisis.
Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/bandlersbanter">@bandlersbanter</a>.

Republican Proposes Eliminating Department of Education. Here Are 7 Reasons That’s A Great Idea.

Trump Administration

A House Republican has proposed abolishing the Department of Education. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) put forth a bill that simply states that the department

Republican Proposes Eliminating Department of Education. Here Are 7 Reasons That&#039;s A Great Idea. | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/republican-proposes-eliminating-department-aaron-bandler/

There is a way for all children to receive a quality education: school choice.
Rebecca Friederichs, a public school teacher in California, explains in <a href="https://www.prageru.com/courses/political-science/why-good-teachers-want-school-choice">Prager University&#8217;s latest video</a>&#8211;the first in a four-part series on school choice&#8211;that school choice works because it allow parents to decide which school they want to send their children to, whether it&#8217;s a &#8220;public, private, charter or even homeschool,&#8221; instead of allowing the government to mandate where children attend school based on their zip code.
The results speak for themselves, as &#8220;students in school choice programs saw their reading and math scores improve by 27 percent and 15 percent, respectively,&#8221; per a University of Arkansas study. The problem is that teachers&#8217; unions are a major obstacle toward achieving school choice.
Teacher&#8217;s unions raise over $300 million annually from mandatory fees, which are used to advocate for more taxpayer dollars for education. However, that money is actually used to empower the teacher&#8217;s unions rather than improve the quality of education. For instance, &#8220;California, which ranks 45th in the nation in reading and math despite spending over 55 billion dollars a year on education.&#8221;
&#8220;That&#8217;s over 52% of the state&#8217;s total budget,&#8221; Friederichs said. &#8220;Yet rarely is anyone held accountable for these dismal results. I&#8217;ve personally seen excellent, new teachers lose their jobs while incompetent, and even abusive, veteran teachers keep theirs because of the unions&#8217; infamous &#8216;last in, first out&#8217; layoff and tenure rules.&#8221;
School choice wrestles away the teachers unions&#8217; iron grip on education by allowing teachers to be held accountable and not be subject to the unions&#8217; regulations. That&#8217;s why teachers&#8217; unions are so virulently opposed to it&#8211;they hold their power as a higher priority over the quality of education.
The Supreme Court may have struck a blow to school choice in the deadlocked Friederichs v. California Teachers Association case, which upheld the ability for teacher&#8217;s unions to charge mandatory fees to even those aren&#8217;t members of the union, but Friederichs remains optimistic.
&#8220;The unions and the politicians do not ultimately have the power,&#8221; Friederichs said. &#8220;We do. If you believe, like me and millions of others, that parents&#8211;not the government&#8211;should decide where their children go to school, and that competition will make all schools better, then join the school choice movement.&#8221;
You can take Prager University&#8217;s pledge to support school choice <a href="https://www.prageru.com/school-choice-now">here</a>.
Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/bandlersbanter">@bandlersbanter</a>.
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe width="480" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PnQu8iRiVYU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

Friederichs: Why Good Teachers Want School Choice

Prager University

There is a way for all children to receive a quality education: school choice. Rebecca Friederichs, a public school teacher in California, explains in

Friederichs: Why Good Teachers Want School Choice | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/friederichs-why-good-teachers-want-school-choice-aaron-bandler/

Barbara Madeloni, the President of the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), wrote an <a href="http://www.massteacher.org/news/presidents_emails/barbara_email_111516.aspx">email</a> to union members on Tuesday calling for safe spaces in Massachusetts public schools following Donald Trump&#8217;s election. The email called upon teachers to &#8220;organize standouts across the state next Tuesday, November 22, to let students and parents know that love trumps hate, that we welcome all students and their families, and that we will provide places of safety in our classrooms, schools and colleges.&#8221;
In addition, Madeloni encouraged teachers and professors to institute safe spaces across academic buildings, saying it is &#8220;a time to push past rules and bureaucracies that limit our ability to show and live our compassion.&#8221; Madeloni suggests that these safe spaces would create a positive atmosphere of empathy and support. 
Madeloni&#8217;s email cited University of Massachusetts, Amherst as an <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfAOeRXwINgfwXkml3JcSqLHuwf4Se5K6hfvvvr_Qh-pnEp-Q/viewform?c=0&amp;w=1">example</a> of a place where safe spaces exist. UMass Amherst is also where Milo Yiannapoulos, Steven Crowder, and Christina Hoff Sommers <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCcp36n2cDg&amp;feature=youtu.be">famously triggered several leftist students</a> for daring to present differing viewpoints. Following this event, <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/05/03/left-wing-student-allegedly-pens-demand-letter-to-college-officials-after-viral-triggering-event-featuring-milo-yiannopoulos-and-steven-crowder/">a student wrote a scathing email</a> to the administration demanding that the school &#8220;discipline and monitor&#8221; UMass Republicans for allowing the event to happen.
The Massachusetts Teachers Association claims in its mission statement that it is &#8220;a member-driven organization, governed by democratic principles, that accepts and supports the interdependence of professionals and unionism.&#8221; The <a href="http://massteacher.org/news/archive/2016/mta_today_fall_2016.aspx">MTA fought heavily to defeat Question 2</a> of the Massachusetts ballot this year, which would have lifted the cap on charter schools to give Massachusetts families more choices for their children&#8217;s education.

Massachusetts Teachers Association President: We Need Safe Spaces!

Donald Trump

Leftism

Massachusetts

Barbara Madeloni, the President of the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), wrote an email to union members on Tuesday calling for safe spaces in

Massachusetts Teachers Association President: We Need Safe Spaces! | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/massachusetts-teachers-association-president-we-elliott-hamilton/

As the city of Chicago reels from the devastation of intra-racial violence and spontaneous shootings of children in residential neighborhoods, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is putting kids first&#8230; by threatening not to teach them. 
The CTU is threatening the city with a walk-out strike if a deal isn&#8217;t reached by Oct. 11. Ranking among the city&#8217;s most powerful unions, the CTU is demanding the city submit to its list of concessions or else.
&#8220;Should there be no agreement between the Union and the Board of Education by October 11, we will begin our third strike since 2012,&#8221; the union said in a statement on its Facebook page. 
First and foremost, the union is demanding an immediate end to pay cuts. There&#8217;s only one problem though. The city is debt-ridden. It barely has the money to pay pensions, let alone keep teachers&#8217; salaries as they are.
&#8220;Nearly <a href="http://cps.edu/About_CPS/At-a-glance/Pages/Stats_and_facts.aspx">400,000</a> students are taught by close to 22,000 teachers at Chicago&#8217;s 660 Public Schools,&#8221; <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2016/09/30/chicago-teachers-union-sets-october-11-strike-date/">reports</a> The Daily Caller, adding:
<blockquote>
The teachers have not had a working contract since June 30, 2015, when the contract that was negotiated after the 2012 strike expired. The teachers are vehemently opposed to a proposal from the district that would require them to pay an additional 7 percent of their salary into pensions. The union has also <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8HbxVbgn-Q">demanded</a> caps on class sizes and a moratorium on charter expansions.
</blockquote>
According to Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the city offered a &#8220;serious deal&#8221; in February, promising to &#8220;stabilize finances.&#8221; But the CTU rejected the offer, suggesting that CPS was negotiating in bad faith.
The union&#8217;s brinksmanship couldn&#8217;t come at a worse time for the city. 
&#8220;Chicago is in crisis right now and a large part of the problem centers around the gangs who already provide far too much temptation for at risk teenagers,&#8221; <a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2016/10/03/great-time-chicagos-teachers-go-strike/">notes</a> Hot Air&#8217;s Jazz Shaw. &#8220;Is this really the time to suddenly shut down the schools and potentially unleash tens of thousands of kids out on the streets during the work day? That just sounds like a formula for disaster.&#8221;

Chicago Teachers Union Plans To Go On Strike At The Worst Time. Ever.

Teachers

As the city of Chicago reels from the devastation of intra-racial violence and spontaneous shootings of children in residential neighborhoods, the Chicago

Chicago Teachers Union Plans To Go On Strike At The Worst Time. Ever. | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/chicago-teachers-union-plans-go-strike-worst-time-michael-qazvini/

Menu