News

Scholastic backtracks on separating diverse books following public backlash: ‘It was a mistake’

Friday, October 27th, 2023

via The Times (Indiana)

Scholastic Books is walking back a plan to separate books that celebrate diversity at book fairs after critics said it pandered to extreme-right 'anti-woke' culture and set a dangerous precedent.

Parents

1 election, 2 parts: Political hot-buttons and hyper-local school, city topics

Friday, October 27th, 2023

via Dayton Daily News (Ohio)

Abortion and marijuana rights are on all Ohioans' Nov. 7 ballots; but the direction of our individual school districts, cities and townships is too.

Parents

From Stalin to Putin, abortion has had a complicated history in Russia

Friday, October 27th, 2023

via The Associated Press (North Carolina)

Abortion has had a complicated history in the Soviet Union and Russia. It was outlawed under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin but legalized and commonplace under later Kremlin leaders.

Parents

State board denies requests to change student gender records despite court orders

Thursday, October 26th, 2023

via Tulsa World (Oklahoma)

The Oklahoma State Board of Education rejected requests Thursday from Cushing and Moore schools seeking permission to comply with court orders to change the gender designation on two students' records.

Parents

Iowa Gov. Reynolds defends library book restriction law as schools pull books from shelves

Wednesday, October 25th, 2023

via Quad-City Times (Iowa)

The law banned books that include a defined list of sex acts from public schools.

School Board – General, Parent Involvement

Gov. Murphy slams N.J. district’s call to end Halloween activities in school

Wednesday, October 25th, 2023

via NJ (New Jersey) (New Jersey)

"Give me a break," Gov. Phil Murphy said of the move by the South Orange-Maplewood school district.

Parents

Amy Schumer’s memoir, ‘The Art of War’ and many other books are banned in US prisons. Here’s why

Wednesday, October 25th, 2023

via The Times (Indiana)

A new study from PEN America finds that tens of thousands of books are banned or restricted by U.S. prisons. The most common official reasons for bans are security and sexual content, terms that can apply to a very wide range of titles.

Parents

Texas voters split on House, Senate handling of Paxton impeachment, poll finds

Wednesday, October 25th, 2023

via The Texas Tribune (Texas)

Republicans showed a more clear divide, giving the Senate higher marks than the House for how the attorney general's impeachment was handled.

Parents

Champlain Valley School District Spells Out the Rights of Transgender and Nonbinary Students

Wednesday, October 25th, 2023

via Seven Days (Vermont)

The Champlain Valley School District has become the first in Vermont to clearly spell out the rights of transgender and nonbinary students in a wide-ranging...

Parents

Jewish Florida lawmaker breaks from DeSantis and endorses Trump

Tuesday, October 24th, 2023

via The Washington Post (Washington)

Randy Fine, a top DeSantis ally and sole Jewish GOP lawmaker in the Florida legislature, announced he was switching his support to former president Donald Trump.

Parents

Seminole Republicans: Discrimination claims by Chris Anderson are ‘baseless’

Tuesday, October 24th, 2023

via Orlando Sentinel (Florida)

Seminole County Republican Party leaders say claims of racial discrimination made by Supervisor of Election Chris Anderson are ‘baseless.'

Parents

More Miami-Dade families signed up for vouchers, but majority were private school students

Tuesday, October 24th, 2023

via Miami Herald (Florida)

In the short term, 'there appears to be minimal impact on public school enrollment,' said Miami-Dade Public Schools' chief academic officer

Parents

Tennessee GOP is willing to reject millions in funding, if it avoids complying with federal strings

Tuesday, October 24th, 2023

via The Associated Press (Tennessee)

Tennessee Republican leaders are escalating their calls to reject millions of federal dollars rather than comply with requirements over LGBTQ+ rights, abortion access and other hot-button issues.

Parents

Keeping the faith: Evangelical voters in Iowa crucial to GOP hopefuls

Monday, October 23rd, 2023

via Sioux City Journal (Iowa)

Ever since Mike Huckabee won the Iowa Republican caucuses in 2008 on the strength of the evangelical vote, support from Christian conservatives has been a hot commodity in the caucuses.

Parents

Q&A with James ‘Stu’ Boyd, running for Thompson School District …

Monday, October 23rd, 2023

via Fort Collins Coloradoan (Colorado)

We asked the same questions of all candidates for the Thompson school board, and here's how District G candidate James ‘Stu' Boyd answered.

Parents

Meet the leader behind Patriot Mobile Action and North Texas’ conservative revolution

Monday, October 23rd, 2023

via Dallas Morning News (Texas)

Patriot Mobile's chief communications officer, Leigh Wambsganss of Southlake, is one of the leaders behind a conservative revolution playing out in some...

Parents

Democrats in NJ are headed toward election disaster because of this issue

Sunday, October 22nd, 2023

via New Jersey 101.5 (New Jersey)

The hot-button issue of parental rights in schools may play a significant role in November's legislative races in New Jersey.

Parents

Q&A with Dawn Kirk, running for Thompson School District Board of …

Sunday, October 22nd, 2023

via Fort Collins Coloradoan (Colorado)

We asked the same questions of all candidates for the Thompson school board, and here's how District A candidate Dawn Kirk answered

Parents

Iowa’s evangelical voters crucial to presidential candidates

Sunday, October 22nd, 2023

via The Gazette (Iowa)

A ‘deep conviction' drives evangelicals to participate in caucuses.

Parents