FL Dept of Ed Commissioner said he fired a teacher for #BlackLivesMatter #CRT #ISUPPORTAMY | Cloaking Inequity

FL Dept of Ed Commissioner said he fired a teacher for #BlackLivesMatter #CRT #ISUPPORTAMY | Cloaking Inequity

FL DEPT OF ED COMMISSIONER SAID HE FIRED A TEACHER FOR #BLACKLIVESMATTER #CRT #ISUPPORTAMY

You should know this is happening: Richard Corcoran, the Florida Dept of Education Commissioner, said he fired a teacher for #BlackLivesMatter

Here is what the Florida Times-Union said about the situation

A Duval County teacher who hung a Black Lives Matter flag in her classroom says she heard she was fired through a YouTube video. 

On Monday, Amy Donofrio’s legal team released a statement criticizing a recent guest speaking engagement from Florida Department of Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran at Hillsdale College, a private conservative school in Michigan. Until recently, Corcoran was short-listed in the running for the new Florida State University President position. He is not among the three finalists for the position.

Corcoran used Donofrio as an example while speaking about critical race theory and curriculum oversight and announced that he had her fired.

They continued,

In March, the school district announced Donofrio would be removed from her classroom while Duval Schools conducted an investigation for “several allegations.” The district declined to say what those allegations are, citing the active investigation. By April, the Southern Poverty Law Center announced it was suing Duval Schools on Donofrio’s behalf.

“I’m getting sued right now in Duval County, which is in Jacksonville because there was an entire classroom memorialized to Black Lives Matter,” Corcoran said during his presentation. “We made sure she was terminated and now we’re being sued by every one of the liberal left groups who say it’s freedom of speech issue.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center weighed in,

“That this decision has been made by those at the highest level of Florida’s Department of Education before the DCPS investigation is even completed shows the depth of the retaliation and deprivation of due process and free speech upon which Ms. Donofrio’s lawsuit against the District is based. According to Corcoran, a classroom that teaches Black Lives Matter or what Corcoran has labeled ‘crazy liberal stuff’ justifies censorship and the firing of teachers.”

We’ve recently heard quite a bit about “cancel culture” and “free speech” from a certain ilk. Here’s what I tweeted about it recently.

In fact, we used Critical Race Theory in a Harvard Education Review article some years back to talk about the very issue at stake here: Politicians have abused their power to limit scholarly conversation about slavery, racism and other prejudice in classrooms. We found in our research that policymakers and elected official have gone out the way to sanitize historical truths.

Their current strategy is to try to cancel history, Critical Race Theory and limit freedom of speech in the classroom. The irony of their actions relative to their rhetoric is NOT lost on anyone. #ISupportAmy

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FL Dept of Ed Commissioner said he fired a teacher for #BlackLivesMatter #CRT #ISUPPORTAMY | Cloaking Inequity

Big Education Ape: Lee High teacher reassigned to paid, non-teaching post amid controversy over BLM flag, her organization says #BLM #BLACKLIVESMATTER #SPLC - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/04/lee-high-teacher-reassigned-to-paid-non.html

At Supreme Court, Mean Girls Meet 1st Amendment : NPR

At Supreme Court, Mean Girls Meet 1st Amendment : NPR

At Supreme Court, Mean Girls Meet 1st Amendment

Even Supreme Court advocates can look at a case before the court with their own teenage years in mind. And lawyer Gregory Garre sums up Wednesday's case this way: "Mean girls meet the First Amendment."

More than a half-century ago, the court, in a 7-to-2 vote, ruled that students do have free speech rights at school, unless the speech is disruptive. Now, the justices are being asked to clarify whether, in the internet age, schools can punish students for off-campus speech.

The case was brought by a 14-year-old high school cheerleader, Brandi Levy. A freshman on the junior varsity cheerleading team, Brandi failed to win a spot as a varsity cheerleader for the following year, and she failed to get the position she wanted on the softball team too. So that weekend, frustrated and upset — and off campus — Brandi took a photo of herself and a friend flipping the bird to the camera. She then typed the words at the center of this dispute: "F*** school f*** softball f*** cheer f*** everything."

"I posted it on my Snapchat, so I was expecting everyone to see it," she says. Still, she CONTINUE READING: At Supreme Court, Mean Girls Meet 1st Amendment : NPR

The Villains of Education | Teacher in a strange land

The Villains of Education | Teacher in a strange land

The Villains of Education

Back in the early days of internet bulletin boards and discussion platforms, there was a seminal piece on forming virtual communities that was passed around by educators interested in using technology to do more than record grades and attendance. Its author (Howard Rheingold, maybe?) posited a working theory of how virtual communities evolve, and the kinds of connections they built, if they were allowed to exist over time without moderation.

The author said most groups and interactions tend to cluster, over time, into three patterns: Sex. Religious veneration. Common villains. (Or something pretty close to those.)

What s/he meant was that people in online groups either flirt, worship particular heroes, heroines or initiatives—or communally post critiques about persons or initiatives they don’t like.

These were not the outcomes of virtual communication that I wanted to consider when I read this white paper. Back then, I wanted to believe that real and complex work, deep learning and genuine community could be accomplished online, and that the crummy habits we develop in face to face encounters could be avoided. But no.

If you wallow in ed-related social media (and if you’re reading this, you likely do), then CONTINUE READING: The Villains of Education | Teacher in a strange land

Teacher Tom: Setting Ourselves, and Others, Free

Teacher Tom: Setting Ourselves, and Others, Free

Setting Ourselves, and Others, Free

I want the children themselves to tell me their stories, in their own words, reticences, giggles, and gestures. 

I want to listen to them, not just with my ears, but my combined senses; the one comprehensive sense which is, in the end, the only way to really "listen" to anything. 

I want to know them, as much as I can, as they know themselves, not filtered through the "knowing" of the important adults in their lives. That this is how I should strive to know all people is not lost on me, it's just simpler with young children. I suppose it's because they lack the layers of subterfuge and denial with which most of us adults armor ourselves. We call it "innocence," but I think it's also freedom: freedom from the shame that plagues too many of us. What will the others think if they know who I really am? That's not a question young children know to ask until they are taught it through the judgements of others. We teach it when we criticize and equally when we follow them around chirping, "Good job."

We teach children to be ashamed in both overt and subtle ways. It's too bad, of course, because lessons learned CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Setting Ourselves, and Others, Free

Republicans Usher in the Land Free from the Truth: Free Speech v. Free Markets – radical eyes for equity

Republicans Usher in the Land Free from the Truth: Free Speech v. Free Markets – radical eyes for equity

Republicans Usher in the Land Free from the Truth: Free Speech v. Free Markets

We know of course there’s really no such thing as the “voiceless.” There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard.

ARUNDHATI ROY: THE 2004 SYDNEY PEACE PRIZE LECTURE

Labeled as “surreal” by Emilia Petrarca, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R – Georgia) wore as “censored” face mask while speaking from the floor on Congress.

First, we must recognize that statistically no one in the U.S. has the sort of access to a bully pulpit that a member of Congress has (535 out of 330 million people), and then, we must consider whether Greene is incredibly dishonest, spectacularly ignorant, or both.

After the insurrection at the Capitol by rightwing domestic terrorists supporting Trump—and emboldened by Trump and many Republicans in office—conservatives and Republicans across the U.S. has evoked “censorship,” “First Amendment,” and “freedom of speech” tirades in response to Trump being banned from several social media platforms as well as many Republicans losing followers on those platforms.

Here is the disturbing thing that Greene represents among conservatives and Republicans: There appears to be the same sort of dishonesty/ignorance running rampant because there is essentially no relationship between private businesses and free speech guaranteed in the Constitution since the First Amendment is about the role of government in protected speech.

Let’s not forget very recent history when Republicans and conservatives CONTINUE READING: Republicans Usher in the Land Free from the Truth: Free Speech v. Free Markets – radical eyes for equity

The Politics of Calling for No Politics: 2021 – radical eyes for equity

The Politics of Calling for No Politics: 2021 – radical eyes for equity

The Politics of Calling for No Politics: 2021

As a part of the education community, I noticed two immediate responses to the insurrection of the U.S. Capitol by domestic terrorists seeking to disrupt the confirmation of the next President of the U.S.

One response anticipated that (once again) teachers would be on the front line of addressing trauma by suggesting ways that examining the riot in DC could be (should be) incorporated into the classroom—notably for those teachers dealing with history.

Another response, however, was the both-sides warning calling for no politics in the classroom.

Some educators received the identical email shared after the November elections, essentially telling teachers not to take political sides in the classroom.

We stand in the first weeks of 2021 once again needing to clarify language and confronting just what being “political” means.

First, to remain neutral or to use the “both sides” approach (or to remain silent) is a form of politics—often imposed by those with power onto those who CONTINUE READING: The Politics of Calling for No Politics: 2021 – radical eyes for equity

DAVID L. HUDSON JR: Public Employees, Private Speech: 1st Amendment doesn't always protect government workers - ABA Journal American Bar Association

Public Employees, Private Speech: 1st Amendment doesn't always protect government workers

Public Employees, Private Speech: 1st Amendment doesn't always protect government workers

High-profile controversies over police shootings, questionable promotions, racial profiling, attacks on law enforcement and race-based incidents have led to an increase in public employees being disciplined for publicly posting commentary deemed offensive or incendiary.

Public employees have been suspended for all manner of speech—supporting the shooting of police officers, lauding officers for shooting citizens, criticizing their students or co-workers, mocking minorities or religions and for a litany of other messages on social media. Consider the following:

• A Nashville, Tennessee, police officer was fired in February after an investigation into a Facebook comment he made about how he would have shot motorist Philando Castile five times instead of four. Castile died last July after a St. Paul, Minnesota, officer shot him four times during a traffic stop.

• A fire captain in Austin, Texas, was suspended in November after posting inflammatory political opinions regarding Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama on Facebook.

• A Mount Vernon, New York, fire lieutenant was suspended last August for an Instagram post expressing support for Micah Johnson, who killed five Dallas police officers and wounded seven others in a sniper attack.

• A New Rochelle, New York, police sergeant was suspended in August because of a Facebook post  CONTINUE READING: Public Employees, Private Speech: 1st Amendment doesn't always protect government workers