My last class…Just before retirement
My little first graders, 7 yrs ago…Honor Roll Winners…
Reminding me of how very same they are to those precious babies killed Tues
They’re in high school…
“Pray they live out their dreams”
#PrayersForUvalde #VoteBlueToSaveOurKids 💙🌈🙏🏾🇺🇸🍎
Here in Florida especially…Our children and schools are definitely under attack…All these concerns are manufactured by divisive politics….
In my many years as a teacher of young children…we never discussed their sexual identity…They were learning how to socialize with others…And to become who they were …And accept our differences…
“What Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill really says | The Week” https://theweek.com/education/1011116/florida-dont-say-gay-bill-briefing?amp
MARCH 13, 2022
Why Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill has caused a nationwide uproar
Ron DeSantis.
GRAYSON QUAY
MARCH 13, 2022
A controversial piece of legislation commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill passed the Florida Senate on Tuesday after being approved by the House last month. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has signaled that he plans to sign the bill. Why is the bill getting so much national attention?
What’s in the bill?
The legislation, more officially titled the “Parental Rights in Education” bill, seeks to restrict the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity with public school children, especially from kindergarten to the third grade.
The text of the bill, which was filed on Jan. 11 by state Rep. Joe Harding (R), stipulates that “[c]lassroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate.”
“If that language seems vague, it is,” writes CNN. “But vague legislation can have massive consequences.”
The bill also empowers parents to sue schools and teachers that violate this ban, enhancing the ability of Florida’s parents to object to their children’s curricula.
Notably, the “Don’t Say Gay” nickname was created and spread by activist opponents to the bill. The bill does not seek to prohibit the use of the word “gay” in schools, supporters note.
LGBT advocacy group Equality Florida threatened to “lead legal action against the State of Florida” if “the vague language of this bill” is “interpreted in a way that causes harm to a single child, teacher, or family.” Kara Gross of the ACLU’s Florida branch told Time the bill could infringe on teachers’ First Amendment rights.
In his State of the Union speech, President Biden told “younger transgender Americans” he would “always have your back … so you can be yourself and reach your God-given potential.”
DeSantis is expected to sign the bill into law. He has repeatedly expressed support for the legislation, though he hasn’t explicitly said he will sign it if it reaches his desk, ABC News reports. If he does, however, the law would go into effect July 1.
Teachers speak out as Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill heads to DeSantis’ desk…
I am quite proud to have been a teacher for thirty-eight years…
I came to teaching quite by accident… I always had an interest in the arts; perhaps becoming a fashion designer…
Happy Life Moment…Dream Maker…My family together at Aunt’s wedding… I was the flower girl…
My early life, definitely lead me to the realization….I had a tremendous need to helping others….
So, in my senior year of high school, I made the decision to become a social worker, and attend Florida State University, in Tallahassee…In sharing my decision with an uncle…It was he who suggested, becoming a teacher, because it would better suit me… He believed it was….
A more stable career for a young woman...
Following this insight; One particular day that I will never forget, in my senior English class at Miami High School…My favorite, pretty, young teacher, Ms. Kempler, commented that she liked my dress!… She said that it reminded her of the University of Florida… It was the University’s colors of “orange and blue“…
Wow, I so appreciated her comment!.. Back then because of my personal life, I never felt noticed … Ms. Kempler did notice me!
Ms. Kempler had gone to the University of Florida; in a town called Gainesville… I had never even heard of, until this very moment…Well… my decision becoming a teacher, was made that day in 1966 my senior year, and go to the University of Florida, just like Ms. Kemper!
Thank you,
Dear Ms Kempler
Soon after, that February in 1967…my mother died unexpectedly, but before she passed…
I shared with her the news, in the hospital, that I was just accepted to the University of Florida, and made her a promise that day, I would go to college!
The road was definitely not easy…Living with friends until this challenging high school year ended… Graduation, and then working that summer in New York where my father was living…Monies earned would help with college expenses… College funds were minimal…
I would be beginning my college career alone … My best friend’s mother saw me off at the Miami Seaboard Train Station August,1967…I Arrived on campus in a taxi… alone … Watching everyone with their families , and I by myself and determination…
My early college school years were quite difficult… I was even told by a college advisor…I did not belong because of my test scores…Yet, I was determined to prove them wrong …And I feel so blessed…I was determined…I succeeded… Even getting married young, while attending college; and having my daughter,…
March of 1972 I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education…
Doing it with self- determination and blessed with college grants and loans, and food stamps…
Then immediately, getting my first teaching job…April 1, 1972…Traveling 90 miles a day just to teach…
Now as I reflect on my thirty-eight years; I am quite proud of all accomplished…
I have taught so many children from grades ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade; dating back from “1972”, up to my last year, retiring in “2015” …And spending more than twenty-five years in first grade…
I also went on to get a Masters of Science in Administration from an accelerated program from Nova University…an opportunity I felt would enrich my teaching journey …
And then later, I even had a wonderful opportunity teaching a college seminar for beginning teachers back at the University of Florida, while on a paid sabbatical working on an advanced course work in counseling education…I felt like I was living dream my mother had for me…
And I have never looked back… Becoming a teacher was the most important decision I made to channel my passion for helping…
Thanks to my mother, and those that believed in my determination... I was teaching our young precious children!!…
“How I hope my students can still remember back to the time they spent in my class so many years ago, and remember that love I have for them, smile warmly at some of the memories, and definitely have the confidence in themselves that they can amount to everything they put their minds”…
And…now more than ever…I will always advocate for our children…
First posted back in 2013…Almost ten years ago…I was close to my retirement in 2015… thirty-eight years dedicated to teaching young children…
Being reminded …
Teaching our children has always been impacted by the political climate…And back ten years ago… Funding definitely was an issue making our profession less of the regard it deserves…
And truthfully, even back when I began in 1972…We did have that critical moment because of the political policies of the sixties…
Integration and a strong focus on the young child were given that priority…
We were needed, and in demand!! We had so many of us wanting to become teachers…I was willing to travel ninety miles a day just to teach…
We had such Hope!!…I so believe, we go into teaching because it is a calling.. “our passion”…
Here we are, 2022…Our teachers are dealing with insurmountable obstacles… pandemic, staggered teaching… shortages with staff… political interference …
Yet, teachers still put their “Heart” into teaching!!
The joy I get from my children each year, has sustained me all these many years…
I have so loved their special writings and pictures; and personal, little notes…that some, I have even saved over the years…
That many of the momentos are displayed in my home and classroom that my children have given to me through the years…
I can even say that I do have a place setting for twelve, in “teacher mugs”…
I have truly loved reconnecting with former students, and I may still have that special momento they have given to me…
In fact, there are those special parents that I taught, now with their own children, at the very school where I am presently teaching first grade…
I feel such joy, I am still remembered…And see who they became!
All of which are part of my…World of Teaching, that resides in my heart and memory…
The joys of teaching are impactful… I feel so blessed to have touched their lives…
And moreover our precious children suffer the consequences!!
First, back in the nineties, it was the “No Child Left Behind Movement” where children were being classified by a standardized test, taught from developmentally inappropriate curriculum…
That outcome led to the privatization of schools, taking resources and funds away from our our public schools… giving it to private and charter schools, And we still are grappling with these issues today!!
And in these last twenty year, safety issues have been a major concern for schools…where arming teachers was one of the solutions…And since the pandemic, social media influences, and the divisive of our Country, has gotten much worse…
Thus leading to what many school districts teach…Controlling what children learn in classrooms… Especially when it comes to history!!
Author: Jacqueline Quynh
January 12, 2022 at 11:14 pm
Filed Under: Broward County Public Schools, Jacqueline Quynh, Local TV, Miami News
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – While lawmakers in Tallahassee debate a new proposal to allow schools districts to put cameras in classrooms, a select few in Broward County Public Schools already have them.
“That is happening right now, yeah,” Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco said.
According to the Broward County Public Schools website, parents of a student can request a camera system with visual and audio capability be placed in a classroom if the child is a student with a disability and is an individualized education program from where the majority of the students have a disability. This came into existence after Florida House Bill 149 passed in July 2021.
“And it’s not in every classroom. We have parents that have not exercised that right. It’s kind of two fold. If one parent wants it, the camera goes in the room. If the other 10 parents don’t want it, they don’t have a say,” she said.
“Everything that happens in a classroom is monitored and watched and heard all day. There is absolutely zero privacy for anybody, even when the students are in the room and the teacher needs to do a parent conference on the phone,” Fusco said..
The bill filed by Rep. Bob Rommel, a Republican out of Naples, is proposing to allow districts to adopt policies that could install cameras in classrooms and require teachers to wear microphones for all students.
“I think if we can do it in a safe way to protect the privacy of students and teachers I think we should do it. I haven’t heard a response good or bad from any teachers but you know what it’s not their private space, it’s our children’s space too,” Rep. Rommel, R-District 160, said.
“It can be looked at any time. We don’t know how they’re going to keep in in record, so they never get that piece out, and also the funding, there is no funding,” Fusco said.
However, should there be a window into a student’s classroom in the first place?
The bill is still currently in the house…
https://miami.cbslocal.com/2022/01/12/florida-lawmaker-bill-cameras-classrooms-mics-teachers/?amp
This is why our children must learn history…
Six years ago, I was teaching young, impressionable first graders, who came from diverse cultures… brown and black…We were a celebration of “Rainbow Ethnicity”…
I felt it was my role to provide them with their history at a developmentally appropriate level that would embolden their spirit…I made sure they had that understanding…
I, myself growing up during the civil rights of the sixties, and began teaching in the seventies when our schools were recently integrated…I would tell the children their history from my own experiences of those times…
This gave them such insight and a feeling of empowerment…They were proud of who they were…
On this day in 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges was escorted into William Frantz Elementary School by a team of U.S. Deputy Marshals, desegregating the public school system of New Orleans…
In 2011, the painting was put on display at the White House and Ruby Bridges Hall visited with President Barack Obama; “I think it’s fair to say if it hadn’t been for you guys, I might not be here and we wouldn’t be looking at this together,” he told her.
In the past, historically, school board members are elected by a community to make important decisions about our schools…They have a local authority… Their meetings are open to the public…to discuss issues that may be concerning…
However since the influence of our political divisiveness…These meetings are being attended by an outside influence of political activists who utilize threats of violence…
WH aided school board group’s ‘domestic terrorism’ letter before Garland sicced FBI on parents
By Samuel Chamberlain
October 21, 2021…
In a letter to the president last month, the head of the nation’s largest school board association reached out to the Biden administration before suggesting that parents who object to mask mandates and the imposition of critical race theory in classrooms are engaging in “a form of domestic terrorism,” the emails show…
Garland announced on Oct. 4 that the FBI would take the lead on probing what he called “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.”
Arguments over education and cultural issues are nothing new, said Daniel Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, recalling debates on how math is taught and the Common Core… But this year is different.
“There have always been disagreements that were discussed, if not necessarily amicably, at least respectfully,” Domenech said. “The climate is very different now, what we’re seeing around the country. School board meetings that actually turned violent, where the police have to be called, people that are disrespectful, they’re shouting and shoving.”
“It’s something that we have not seen on a scale that we are seeing it now,” he said.
And board meetings “have turned into ground zero of the nation’s political and cultural debates,” Education Week noted…https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/06/23/virginia-school-board-critical-race-theory-mh-orig.cnn
Once again, all this political divisiveness will affect our children…They are dealing with so much and it is up to all of us to do better for them
Janis Sexton...Teacher...Advocate 