Drag queen movie played in Tulsa Union class

A Tulsa Union High School parent "is speaking out after her child's teacher played a movie with drag queens and LGBTQ scenes," KTUL reports.

OKCPS, TPS all in for Pride Month

LGBT Pride Month is behind us, and once again the state's two largest school districts were all in. Here's Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) superintendent Sean McDaniel:



Here's an OKCPS school bus with a small child inside, doubtless wondering what it all means:



"Hands up for love," says Team OKCPS:




Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) also signaled support, unsurprisingly. As far back as Pride Month 2016, TPS was flying the rainbow flag outside its administration building, and in 2017 Superintendent Deborah ("Reality Is Optional") Gist said that TPS students "have the right to use restrooms, locker rooms, and other facilities that are consistent with their gender identity."

Oklahoma teacher: “I teach my students that the phrase ‘law and order’ is steeped in systemic racism”

"The prevailing narrative about government-run schools," the Cato Institute reminds us, is that they "harmoniously bring together people from various racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds and instill in their children the civic values necessary for a pluralist democracy. In reality, however, government schooling often forces citizens into political combat. Different families have different priorities on topics ranging from academics and the arts to questions of morality and religion. No single school can possibly reflect the wide range of mutually exclusive views on these fundamental subjects."

Unsurprisingly, we see this conflict in public schools here in a Bible Belt state where Barack Obama twice won 0 of 77 counties. In the Mid-Del school district, for example, there's a history teacher named Aaron Baker who describes himself as a "proud liberal progressive public school teacher" who promotes "radical social justice in Oklahoma public schools." How radical? Mr. Baker believes educators should avoid using male and female pronouns. He believes that some opinions—such as views he deems "anti-gay hate speech"—"should not be allowed to be heard."

In a state where political-correctness slayer Donald Trump won 77 of 77 counties, all this is going over about as well as you might expect.

To his credit, Mr. Baker doesn't hide what he's doing. "I teach my students that the phrase 'law and order' is steeped in systemic racism," he recently informed us. "I teach my students that concentrated wealth multiplies poverty. ... I teach my students that the greatest nuclear threat the world has ever seen is the United States of America."

Mr. Baker is not a supporter of school choice—earlier this year he encouraged people to "agitate and disrupt" a school choice summit—but in truth he illustrates better than anyone why we so desperately need it. "In a market-based education system, parents can select the school most closely aligned with their priorities," Cato says. "By contrast, when these questions are decided through a political system, such as elected school boards, parents with differing views must struggle against each other to have the school reflect their views. Inevitably, some parents will lose that struggle. To add insult to injury, all citizens are forced to pay for the government-run schools through their taxes, even when those schools are antagonistic toward their most deeply held values."

OKCPS to participate in OKC Pride Week 2017

News 9 has the story.

Oklahoma teacher: Avoid male and female pronouns

Aaron Baker is an 8th-grade history teacher in the Mid-Del school district and a blogger who promotes “radical social justice in Oklahoma public schools.” (See my earlier post titled "Oklahoma teacher says some opinions 'should not be allowed to be heard.'")

In a new blog post (“Best Practices for Inclusive Classroom Language”), Mr. Baker says that “if a teacher’s words are not inclusive, students will not feel safe.” Thus, he offers some advice to his fellow educators, including the following.

• “Avoid saying ‘he’ or ‘she.’ … [T]he safest way for educators to be inclusive of all gender identities is to all together drop the male and female pronouns for students.”
• “Avoid saying ‘mom and dad.’” Mr. Baker says the traditional family structure “is just one of many family options.”
• “Avoid saying ‘guys.’ … Instead, say something like ‘people.’”
• “Avoid saying ‘boys and girls’ or ‘ladies and gentlemen.’ … The problem is that these phrases are binary and automatically exclude any students who don’t fit into these two defined categories. Instead, say something like ‘students of all genders’ or ‘students and scholars.’”

Read the whole thing here.

Transgender teachers talk about their experiences at school

Public Radio Tulsa has the story.

Oklahoma teacher says some opinions ‘should not be allowed to be heard’

Aaron Baker is an 8th-grade history teacher in the Mid-Del school district and a blogger who promotes "radical social justice in Oklahoma public schools." He is a principled thinker and a clear writer. And when he says "radical," he's not kidding:

Reading "I Am Jazz" in class today as part of a nationwide campaign from @HRC to support #transgender students. #MDPurpose #oklaed pic.twitter.com/8iPbJUWnbe

— Aaron Baker (@bakerleft) May 18, 2017

Mr. Baker is not a fan of educational choice policies—even going so far as to encourage agitators to "disrupt" a school choice summit earlier this year at Oklahoma City Community College:

Agitate and disrupt. #oklaed https://t.co/jXBJ2ZgDOR

— Aaron Baker (@bakerleft) January 21, 2017

In a recent blog post, Mr. Baker argued that in districts like his with inclusive nondiscrimination policies, "LGBTQ issues are non-debatable in classrooms" and certain opinions "should not be allowed to be heard." Now that's interesting. How might that play out?

Let’s say a teacher is leading a robust, healthy discussion of LGBTQ issues and a dozen or so students express views consistent with an essentially tolerant, affirming, live-and-let-live ethos. But then one plucky 8th-grader raises her hand and submits the following view for consideration:

I believe that every single one of the 7.5 billion persons on this earth is a precious human being made in the image of God—and thus possesses inherent dignity and worth. All people are worthy of respect, and no one should be subjected to ridicule or bullying. Nevertheless, sometimes there are hard truths which need to be told. All of us—heterosexual and homosexual alike—are sinners. Whether our sexual brokenness manifests itself in heterosexual perversion or in homosexual deviancy, these evil acts are a serious affront to a holy God. Rather than just shrugging my shoulders, I actually have enough compassion for people to tell them the truth. (As Seinfeld character Elaine Benes famously said to her boyfriend, "You should be trying to save me! … If you think I’m going to hell, you should care that I’m going to hell!") So in a spirit of genuine love and compassion, I would say to anyone who is in bondage to same-sex intimacy and who has chosen to embrace an LGBTQ lifestyle: I hurt with you over your ­­­sexual brokenness and your sadness and your confused "sexual identity." But I have some very good news: God is offering his mercy to you! I plead with you to renounce your sexual sin and turn to Christ. I implore you to repent and believe the good news, namely, that Christ died for your sins and was raised for your justification. Jesus says to all sinners, heterosexual and homosexual alike: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." This is wonderful news. But it is through tears that must I warn you that, if you do not repent, you will fall into the hands of an angry God and be cast forever into "into the outer darkness [where] there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Would Mr. Baker consider that young lady's discourse to be what he calls "anti-gay hate speech"? Should her opinion "not be allowed to be heard"?

Red-diaper baby David Horowitz, one of the founders of the New Left in the 1960s, likes to say that "inside every liberal is a totalitarian screaming to get out." This liberal intolerance was on display last week in Bernie Sanders' ugly outburst. Let's hope it doesn't come to Oklahoma classrooms.

OKC school board passes LGBTQ Pride Month resolution

The Gayly quotes school board chairman Paula Lewis as saying, "We want OKCPS to be a sought-after district."

Islam being taught in public schools?

Interesting segment here with Tucker Carlson.

Gist affirms that reality is optional

Tulsa Public Schools superintendent Deborah Gist says TPS celebrates diversity in all of its forms, including "gender identity" and "gender expression."

We honor the dignity and equality of our transgender and gender non-conforming students. These students have the right to present themselves in a way that is consistent with their gender identity so long as rules are followed for appropriate dress that apply to all students. They also have the right to use restrooms, locker rooms, and other facilities that are consistent with their gender identity. This may include the use of gender neutral restrooms. 

Gist's fealty to the Sexual Revolution—and its promises of "godlike self-autonomy"—is deeply disappointing.

While we must always show love and compassion toward our gender-confused neighbors, Andrew T. Walker writes, we must also show concern for "children’s privacy and the implications for free speech and religious liberty that come from disagreeing with newfound social policy."

Public education system is indispensable to leftist cultural power

"I had to laugh at the Democratic memes on Twitter implying that DeVos bought her confirmation votes with campaign contributions," David French writes.

DeVos’s contributions are a drop in the ocean compared to the financial impact of the teacher’s unions in American politics. In 2016 alone, teachers’ unions gave $33.2 million in political contributions, 93 percent to Democrats. DeVos’s contributions—even if you include contributions from her entire family—are inconsequential by comparison. Who’s buying whom?  

But it’s about so much more than money. The public educational system is indispensable to leftist cultural power in the United States. As a practical matter, if your child goes to public schools from kindergarten through college, they are (with some exceptions) educated by the Left. Yes, there are conservative teachers here and there (especially in conservative towns), but they work in a system designed, built, and maintained by the other side of our great ideological divide. Moreover, given the public school monopoly in town after town, parents often have little choice but to expose their kids to public school morality, (often) public school incompetence, and public school ideology for seventeen consecutive years. It’s simply naive to believe this reality doesn’t carry with it profound cultural and political consequences.  

Finally, you can never forget the extent to which large numbers of secular progressives simply hate DeVos’s brand of Christianity. The idea that even a dime of taxpayer funds (through school choice) would go to a single Christian school is abhorrent to them, and they’d prefer that such schools vanish from the face of the earth. These ideologues want to control public education, they want to use public education to inculcate secular progressive values, and they want public education to be freed from any meaningful competition. 

Deb Gist tackling the important issues

Like sexual orientation and "gender identity." Regrettably, this is nothing new.

Princeton professor understood that public schools would be the engine of atheism

Insightful post from Zachary Garris here.

Profane Owasso teacher doesn't like vouchers

FOX 23 reports on an Owasso High School teacher who was disgusted with Tuesday's election results, especially with the fact that Oklahomans would elect people to office who favor school vouchers. "Ridiculous," he said.

The teacher was unhappy that Oklahomans would "elect uninformed, ignorant, racist pieces of [bleep]."

Norman teacher: 'To be white is to be racist, period.'

KFOR has the story.

PTA wants to create a new protected class for LGBTQ persons

At its annual convention this month, the National PTA adopted a resolution on the Recognition of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) Individuals as a Protected Class. According to a press release, "National PTA and its constituent associations will advocate for legislation that explicitly recognizes LGBTQ as a protected group and addresses discrimination based upon sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression."

One of those constituent associations, the Oklahoma PTA, promptly did its part by retweeting this:

It's no secret that the transgender revolution has already made its way to Oklahoma. For example, Tulsa Public Schools—which recently had a gay pride flag flying outside of its headquarters—has trained teachers on the subject of "gender nonconformity" issues, including which bathrooms transgender children are allowed to use. And this was before the Obama Administration's bathroom decree (Commode Core, it's been dubbed), which essentially, in David French's words, enlisted "every single public educational institution in the country to implement the extreme edge of the sexual revolution."

If some of the Oklahoma PTA's Twitter posts are any indication, the organization appears to be on board with the revolution:

It is worth noting that not everyone believes it is wise to treat LGBTQ persons as a protected class. In a memorandum titled "Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Laws Threaten Freedom," Heritage Foundation scholar Ryan T. Anderson explains:

All citizens should oppose unjust discrimination, but sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) laws are not the way to achieve that goal. SOGI laws are neither necessary nor cost-free. They threaten fundamental First Amendment rights. They create new, subjective protected classes that will expose citizens to unwarranted liability. Furthermore, SOGI laws would increase government interference in labor, housing, and commercial markets in ways that could harm the economy. Yet SOGI’s damage is not only economic: It would further weaken the marriage culture and the freedom of citizens and their associations to affirm their religious or moral convictions, such as that marriage is the union of one man and one woman and that maleness and femaleness are not arbitrary constructs but objective ways of being human. SOGI laws would treat expressing these widely held beliefs in certain contexts as unlawful discrimination.

Are Edmond schools assigning smut?

"Public schools are slipping kids text porn and treating parents like crazy people," Jenni White writes at The Federalist ("Parents Shouldn’t Let Schools Force Kids To Read Smut"). She gives the example of Edmond mother Kim Heinecke:

After her son, a public school sophomore, was assigned the books “The Kite Runner” and “The Glass Castle” as required reading for English II and Pre-AP English II, Heinecke went to the principal and asked for a conference. 

“He talked to the teachers [prior to the meeting] and the English teacher’s response to him was that it was an award-winning book and kids hear this kind of thing all the time. I felt as though I didn’t have a right to tell them I didn’t want my kid to read it. They made me feel stupid,” Heinecke said. 

She then wrote a letter to the Superintendent of Edmond Public Schools and to the Edmond School Board, detailing her concerns about the books, along with excerpts such as these: 

I went into Grandpa’s bedroom and saw Erma [grandmother] kneeling on the floor in front of Brian [9-year-old grandson], grabbing at the crotch of his pants, squeezing and kneading while mumbling to herself and telling Brian to hold still, goddammit. Brian, his cheeks wet with tears, was holding his hands protectively between his legs. ‘Erma, you leave him alone!’ I shouted. Erma, still on her knees, twisted around and glared at me, ‘Why, you little bitch!’ she said. (page 146, “The Glass Castle”) 

My mind flashed to that winter day six years ago. Me, peering around the corner in the alley. Kamal and Wali holding Hassan down. Assef’s buttock muscles clenching and unclenching, his hips thrusting back and forth. (page 116, “The Kite Runner”) 

She also made as many parents aware of the situation as she could, even creating a form letter they could send to the superintendent and board on their behalf, but found few parents would use it. 

“They didn’t want to make waves because they didn’t want their kids to be singled out,” Heinecke said. “Parents didn’t know what was in the book, but once they knew, they assumed if a teacher was putting their signature on it, the teacher knew best, instead of saying it’s my kid, it’s my choice. Making waves with teachers is intimidating.”

Tulsa schools want you to call a little girl a boy

You may have seen the news last week that two daycare workers in Texas were fired because they refused to call a little girl a boy, even though the girl's two fathers wanted them to.

Now KJRH and News 9 are reporting that Tulsa Public Schools—which is already on record declaring that reality is optional—is moving ahead with staff training on "gender nonconformity" issues.

Opt-out movement can 'loosen the state's grip on the children'

"To a large extent, the opt-out conflict is no different than the seemingly endless battles over countless matters into which public schooling forces Americans," Neal McCluskey writes today.

[A]ll children, families, and communities are different. They have different needs, desires, abilities, values, educational philosophies, and on and on, and no single system can possibly treat them all equally. That is why educational freedom—connecting educational funding and decisions to individual children—is the essential reform. That said, if parents are allowed to opt their children out of government-dictated tests it would be a welcome move in the right direction. It would loosen the state's grip on the children, at least a little bit.

School choice and freedom of conscience

Great post by my colleague Trent England here.