School staff at Oregon-based Portland Public Schools (PPS) will now be required to consider a disruptive student's race, gender identity, and sexual orientation before disciplining them.
A new collective bargaining agreement between Portland Public Schools and its teachers includes a change in policy regarding disciplinary actions.
Be informed, not misled.
"The new policy reads, ‘the superintendent or designee shall review disciplinary disparities apparent by race, gender, LGBTQ, plus ID, special education status or other relevant categories with individual building leaders at least annually and plan with them building level responses aimed at reducing disparities,'" according to FOX News.
According to the agreement, the support plan "must take into consideration the impact of issues related to the student's trauma, race, gender identity/presentation, sexual orientation, disability, social-emotional learning, and restorative justice as appropriate for the student."
The agreement also says the district utilizes a research-based "Racial Equity and Social Justice, Restorative Justice, and Trauma Informed" program to reduce exclusionary discipline practices.
Reacting to the latest development on Fox's "Outnumbered," Rebeccah Heinrichs, a mom of five, said that the policy is "completely backward" and that there is "implied racism in it."
"I mean, you do not tell a child that because of his or her skin color that they're going to get a lesser punishment because there's something about that that's driving them to skip school or something," she said. "It really kind of takes away the dignity of the child and the choice in autonomy."
Indeed it does, and she's right; there is implied racism in this "progressive" approach to discipline.
Kevin O'Leary of ABC's "Shark Tank" fame and a famed investor and entrepreneur, said he realized the union structure was broken after spending half of his career in the educational software business trying to advance reading and math scores in the United States.
"We're talking about punishing students, when really parents – who pay the taxes to support this and pay teachers – have never been asked this question: Why does a union not reward good teachers that advance in terms of metrics that they have to advance in to get into college, which is reading math scores? And punish the ones that are no good at it," O'Leary said. "It’s a cancer in our educational system."
Fox Host Harris Faulkner added that paying teachers based on their performance was common sense.
"It's actually practical. It makes sense. But unfortunately, these teachers unions and these kinds of policies are just rooted in a virtue signaling," Faulkner said.
The disciplinary plan reveals in detail what it means to be “informed” by racial equity and social justice. In the case of “continuous disruptive student behavior,” the plan authorizes the school to create a “support plan” for the student. This plan “must take into consideration the impact of issues related to the student’s trauma, race, gender identity/presentation, sexual orientation, disability, social-emotional learning, and restorative justice as appropriate for the student.”
Furthermore, the document also requires that all staff submit to “implicit bias, antiracism, and culturally responsive practices training.”
It appears that, in the interest of racial and social equity, Portland Public Schools is ironically choosing to treat students differently on the basis of their skin color and sex.
"This contract is a watershed moment for Portland students, families, and educators," Portland Teachers Association President Angela Bonilla said in a statement.
There is no question these kinds of policies are "watershed" moments.
Actor and Christian activist Kirk Cameron says public schools are "grooming" children.
The evangelical Christian says public school systems have become so bad that they are "doing more for grooming for sexual chaos and the progressive left than any real educating about the things that most of us want to teach our kids."
In a video, Cameron says those who are "rotting out the minds and souls of America's children" are defending and spreading terminal disease, not education.
"The problem is that public school systems have become so bad. It's sad to say they're doing more for grooming, for sexual chaos, and the progressive left than any real educating about the things that most of us want to teach our kids," he told Fox News Digital. The solution to the problem, he said, was for parents to take the lead on their children's education and teach them at home. To make the case, the award-winning actor referenced his upcoming movie, "The Homeschool Awakening."
Cameron's father, grandmother, and grandfather were teachers. He stressed that there are many excellent teachers in the U.S., but the school system is holding them back from being a "light in the darkness, [and] to pass on the kinds of values and virtues that made this the freest, strongest, most prosperous nation in the whole world."
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Bold. Be Prayerful.