‘Kite Runner’ Concerns Fall On Deaf Ears In Buncombe

Posted on June 17, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

You can’t say that Lisa Baldwin hasn’t fought the good fight  over the use of The Kite Runner, which includes graphic homosexual rape scenes, suicide and violent beatings, in her child’s Buncombe county school.

Upon closer inspection during the course of questioning the assignment, Baldwin noted that The Kite Runner had been substituted for a different text, All Quiet On The Western Front.

Mrs. Baldwin then went through the process of challenging the assignment; giving a long list of what bothered her to the school officials.  A few parents came to the defense of the book, ignoring the well-stated concerns obvious parental rights issues.

The complaint filed by Baldwin at the school level traveled to the Reynolds High Media/Technology Advisory Committee (MTAC) for review. MTAC voted to approve the use of the book. However, Baldwin filed an appeal and until an appeal took place, the book would be suspended.

It’s worth noting that MTAC’s meeting was held behind closed doors.  Mrs. Baldwin communicated to me that her public information requests for the MTAC meeting minutes and vote count have so far been denied.  Whether you’re in favor of this book or opposed, the denial of this information to a parent by this committee should give you pause.

Baldwin didn’t let up. There was an appeal filed and it was heard this week before a committee, where the concerns of the parents fell on deaf ears.  The committee was made up of 25 administrators and 2 parents and voted to keep the book, despite multiple parents speaking out against the assignment. The story doesn’t end there, it has to now go before the school board for a final decision.

Comments by MTAC’s Larry Weigel and English Language Arts “specialist” Eric Grant, underscore the theme that school systems and officials see children as creatures of the state; they are the ‘experts’ and have the right to impede on parental rights:

Eric Grant, English Language Arts Specialist, “should provide resources representing various points of view on controversial issues so that students as young citizens may develop, under guidance, the skills of critical thinking and critical analysis.”

After committee members discussed their standpoints.

Larry Weigel, Media-Tech Advisory Committee, “I feel that there is merit in this text in a high school curriculum and I support the decision to keep it there.” – WLOS

This appeals meeting was recorded and can be view on YouTube:  6 16 15 The Kite Runner Appeal Special Called Meeting

Around the 11:25 mark, Mrs. Baldwin makes her case. She opens with the following statement:

‘The Kite Runner’ is in the top 10 challenged books of the 21st century for these reasons:

Profanity demeaning to women, inaccurately assigning Judeo-Christian characteristics to a Muslim god, graphic descriptions of rape, child sexual assault, molestation, sodomy, murder, cruelty, and a child’s suicide attempt pervade this fiction book which was written at a 6th grade reading level.

Read the text of her full statement.  Consider, that this book was chosen for an honors English class assignment.

Baldwin makes the case that her objection is not censorship. The book is available in the library. This is the objection of a parent and parties using the criteria of a parent objecting to content being called censorship is absurd.

Her objections and concerns included questioning why the teacher was going to compare The Taliban to U.S. police forces and ethnic cleansing of the Hazera race to the deaths of African-Americans in Ferguson and Baltimore.

More comments from citizens are found  at the 1:14:40 mark, which just after the debate by the committee on whether to allow such public commentary.

All three citizens who spoke at the meeting questioned the use of the book. The second speaker raised objections with the book, but also with the committee’s “whole process”.

Related:

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, Parental Rights | Tagged , | 2 Comments

School Employees Resigned or Did They Intend Not To Return… Back in March?

Posted on June 16, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Local media outlets are reporting that teacher Omar Currie and Assistant Principal Goodhand have resigned from Efland Cheeks Elementary over the reading of a Gay Fairy Tale to 8 and 9-year-old Third graders.

 

In fact, it is News and Observer is the one reporting these two school employees have resigned.

“Omar Currie and Meg Goodhand of Efland-Cheeks Elementary School submitted resignation letters, Orange County Schools spokesman Seth Stephens said Monday.”

I have it on good authority from multiple parties associated with Efland Cheeks Elementary that school officials informed them that the pair did not just ‘resign’, but in fact paperwork back in March of their intent not to return to Efland Cheeks the next year.

I reached out to Mr. Stephens on these ‘resignations’ earlier today. Stephens could not comment on the “intent” letters due to confidentiality reasons.

Stephens was able to confirm claims that the original meeting covered by News and Observer had a “large number of attendees not from Efland Cheeks Elementary”, including the Mayor of Carboro.  This confirms complaints by parents who did attend that the crowd was “astroturfed by LGBT activists”.   Stephens has offered to send me the list of attendees.

I invite Mr. Currie and Ms. Goodhand to comment here or to contact me to either verify or deny such ‘intent’ paperwork was filed. Current attempts to reach them for comment have gone unanswered.

I also inquired with Mr. Stephens as to whether a report of this alleged bullying incident was filed. ” No report of bullying in Currie’s classroom, “, said Stephens,  “or in the entire Third grade at Efland Cheeks was report this year.”

I’ve also been in touch with many of the families involved in the alleged bullying incident as reported by Currie.  Three families have countered his claim that the ‘bullying’ incident did not occur in the fashion Currie has recounted to date. In fact, Currie has changed or altered his story three times now.

The incident did not involve students bullying another student using a ‘gay slur’, but instead an argument over access to a “station” during their Specials program. A teacher intervened, and from the report I received, the intervening teacher was the one doing the bullying which resulted in a young girl crying.

It was indicated to me that the young boy who was the alleged target of the alleged slurs or insults actually had been the one to insult another person earlier in the school year — that person being Mr. Currie himself.

Parents at the school also tell me that Currie did not contact all the parents. Several families were left out of communications. Conspicuously, these families self-identified as Christian.

It was also brought to my attention by two separate parents that the day the alleged incident occurred, no parents were contacted and the book was read that very same day. Apparently, Assistant Principal Goodhand had it waiting and ready to give to Currie.

Three complaints are filed and, according to the parents, will remained filed despite the ‘resignations’ and alleged pressure being put on them from the school to drop the complaints. The next public meeting is June 18th, 6pm at Gravelly Hill Middle School, in Efland.

Again, I invite Mr. Currie and Ms. Goodhand to affirm or deny they filed paperwork with the intent not to return to Efland Cheeks next year prior to their “resignations”.

Related Reading

Posted in EDUCATION | Tagged , | 6 Comments

NC Common Core #ASRC June Meeting Update

Posted on June 16, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Dont mend it end itYesterday was the June meeting of the Academic Standards Review Commission (ASRC), which is tasked at reviewing the Common Core standards in order to give replacement recommendations to the State Board of Education at the end of this year.

Local media was on hand for yesterday’s event, as it included public comment from parents. Well, it was supposed to be parents. Near the end, the NC PTA President, Donald Dunn, jumped in.

Dunn’s comments were a series of pro-Core talking points; one in particular on Military families “needing the Common Core” has been thoroughly debunked. Time Warner Cable news covered the introduction of the NC Plan, which is a full set of free standards based on the best of the best state and international standards available. Time Warner Cable new also interviewed NC parent, Amy Wilmoth:

“Amy Wilmoth attended with her son Reeves.

She made the decision in February to pull her 9-year-old son from Mangum Elementary School in favor of a home school online curriculum with Liberty University; however, they remain conflicted.

“We wanna send him back to the public school system. My husband and I both are products of the public school system. But it was a very different environment then. We were able to learn and teachers had the ability to teach the children as they saw fit to teach then, and I see that missing in our school system,” said Wilmoth.”

I attended the event and also spoke as a parent of a Wake county student. Around 15 parents spoke; only three spoke in support of the standards. I’ll have more on this testimony from the supporters once I compile my notes and finish some research on some of the attendees.

I live-tweeted the event, which can be read on Storify.

Related Reading 

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Academic Standards Review Commission, Common Core, EDUCATION | Tagged | 2 Comments

Speech By Presidential Hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz Fires Up The Crowd At The NC GOP Convention

Posted on June 15, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Applause and cheers greeted 2016 presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz as he took the stage at the North Carolina Republican Convention.

Opting to move around instead of speaking from behind a podium, Cruz sounded Reaganesque as he spoke on three main points of economic growth, defending our Constitutional rights and restoring America’s position in the world.

Cruz’s speech was fluid, fast-moving, had the crowd laughing and on their feet applauding multiple times. The speech lasted just over 40 minutes — and he did it all without a teleprompter.

 

Senator Cruz warmed up the crowd by thanking them for retiring Senator Kay Hagan and electing Senator Thom Tillis in her place. The Senator then transitioned into a ‘central issue’ of his campaign, which is “reigniting the promise of America.” and the fundamental idea that our kids will ‘have it better’ than we did.

On economic growth, Cruz pressed the need for tax reform by scrapping the current tax code and adopting a flat-tax. Cruz added that regulation reform was also needed and cracked a joke, that was captured by TWC News, about firing the 90,000 IRS workers and putting them on the border.

“There are about 90,000 employees at the IRS. We need to padlock that building and take everyone of them and put them on our Southern border,” he said.

While some of Sen. Cruz’s speech could be considered tongue in cheek, some delegates say they appreciated the honesty.

TWC News did not include the punchline of the joke. “If the first thing you see is 90,000 IRS agents,” said Cruz, “you’d turn around and go home too,”. The audience rippled with applause and laughter.

Obamacare, which the Senator has long opposed, was also made mention of. “We should repeal every word of Obamacare.”, the Senator said. Cruz noted Obamacare as being a jobs killer and the recent propose rate hikes by insurance companies, including the 27% hike proposed North Carolina’s Blue Cross Blue Shield.

“I will always, always, always stand and fight for religious freedom!”, exclaimed Cruz while speaking about defending the Constitution.  Senator Cruz also defended the Second Amendment and the 10th, slamming the Obama administration on the latter.

Unlike Governor Walker, Senator Cruz’s comments on education almost immediately went to Common Core. Cruz cited the need for the states to ‘repeal every word of Common Core’; stressing the need to get rid of the Dept. of Education and return to state and local control of education.

On Cruz’s final leg of the speech, he turned towards the failed foreign policy of the Obama administration, condemning the administration’s negotiations with Iran. Cruz said we should not be allowing Iran to obtain nuclear weapons.

Senator Cruz criticized President Obama’s broken relationship with Israel and for not meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Cruz said, “Imagine a President standing unapologetically next to the Prime Minister of Israel.” This statement received the biggest and loudest standing ovation of the afternoon.

 

Related:

Scott Walker Brought the Audience at the North Carolina GOP Convention To Its Feet

On Common Core, I had Sen. Ted Cruz “at Hello”

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), ELECTIONS, EXCLUSIVE | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Durham Academy: “I Don’t Say” Anything About The First Amendment

Posted on June 15, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Folks, in this country we are blessed with free speech under the First Amendment.

At Durham Academy, they seem to have forgotten about the concept of speaking one’s mind or being able to express oneself using a simple turn of phrase, like ‘boys will be boys.

“Durham students are trying to put an end to verbal bullying.. by eliminating words that people might use every day.. without thinking about the impact.

Lib LogicI don’t say, ‘Don’t be a sissy,’ because it implies being feminine or associating with femininity is undesired or makes you weak,” said Breanna Byrd, age 18, a graduate of the program.

“I don’t say, ‘Ghetto’ because it trivializes the struggles of impoverished people and communities,” Samantha Baker said.

These Durham Academy students are saying a lot… by expressing what they don’t say.

“I don’t say, ‘Boys will be boys’ because it negates responsibility for boys,” Justin Warren said.

“I don’t say, ‘I’m so OCD’ because it trivializes a real disorder that many people struggle with,” a girl, Anna Baker, said.
– Source: WNCN

 

Well then, what DO they say?  That’s not mentioned in the article, but I am sure  that whatever they say, it is nothing “trivializes” anything else.

The “I Don’t Say”  wording of the message… aims to not tell others what to do… but rather set an example.
– Source: WNCN

Do they just stand there with their mouths agape, staring blankly?  Probably.  The goal here is apparently to “end verbal bullying” and “set an example”??

What this “collaboration” by two ‘clubs’ at the school is engaging in here actually is  verbal bullying. It’s Shutuppery.

The example they are setting isn’t one of the responsibility of free speech — they do’t even mention the First Amendment, much less  honor it. Part of the beauty in having free speech is that one can be offended by it.

Their teacher, Harrison Haynes, seems to miss this point, given his commentary and praise for what is essentially censorship.

So who are these kids?

“The year-long project is a  collaboration of the Durham Academy Upper School’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA), Diversity Club and Advanced Photography class”
– Source: WNCN

At Durham Academy, it appears they’re more about censoring speech that offends them than actually addressing any issues. These days, with the ‘Outrage Industry‘ in full swing, offending someone doesn’t take much.

 

 

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION | 3 Comments

#DM7 Article: How I Spent Common Core’s 5th Birthday

Posted on June 14, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

This is a reposting of my weekly Da Tech Guy column:

How I spent Common Core’s 5th Birthday.

By A.P. Dillon

In North Carolina, I’m known by many as the ‘Stop Common Core lady’ and with good reason.

I’ve been fighting Common Core every single day and have written over 1,300 articles on Common Core in various places (including my personal blog and here at Da Tech Guy) over the course of the last three and a half years.

I have participated in the national Common Core event put on by Glenn Beck and the Blaze, We Will Not Conform. I’ve testified in front of the NC Legislature and will be giving public comment at the upcoming Common Core Commission meeting on June 15th.

I even recently had the opportunity to express my frustrations on Common Core to Presidential candidate, Senator Ted Cruz. I had him at “hello“.

As you can see, I’ve been busy.

This past week, Common Core turns five. So, how did I celebrate?

I yawned and continued doing exactly what I’ve done for years: Fight Common Core.

I did manage to say ‘Happy Birthday’, though:

 

I also managed to garner a shout out and a few links in a smartly written Common Core birthday post by Dr. Terry Stoops of the John Locke Foundation:

Judging from approved meeting minutes from 2009 and 2010, the discussions referenced above appear to have involved key members of the board, N.C. Department of Public Instruction staff, and then-Gov. Bev Perdue. State education officials spent little time engaging a diverse group of stakeholders or soliciting input from the public.

That is not to say that there was no feedback from parents, teachers, and concerned citizens. Before publication of the final version of the standards, the CoreStandards.org website served as a portal for public comment nationally.

Blogger extraordinaire Lady Liberty obtained, published, and analyzed feedback from the site. She found that, of the 8,731 comments collected on CoreStandards.org, only 195 came from North Carolina.

“Blogger extraordinaire”. HEH!  I suppose that goes hand in hand with being one of Da Tech Guy’s “Magnificent Seven” bloggers.

Glad to see the research and hard work I put in on exposing the ‘public feedback’ seeing some attention.

What I also hope receives more attention is that the Academic Standards Review Commission that is reviewing the Common Core in North Carolina will be hearing from the public at their upcoming meeting.  Spaces are limited, so parents should get moving if they want to express their concerns.

Whether Common Core turns 5 or 25, it makes no difference to those of us who have exposed what the standards really are: A fundamentally flawed experiment, created by unqualified individuals and trotted out to the public by unelected non-governmental organizations all with the financial backing of big business.

DM7 small LL1885A.P. Dillon resides in the Triangle area of North Carolina and is the founder of LadyLiberty1885.com.
Her current and past writing can also be found at IJ Review, StopCommonCoreNC.org and Watchdog Wire NC.
Catch her on Twitter: @LadyLiberty1885

 

 

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core | Tagged , | Comments Off on #DM7 Article: How I Spent Common Core’s 5th Birthday