-If you hear “you’re the only parent that has ever complained about the program”
-If your school board believes in, encourages, and defends their right to “enculturate“ your children into a social democracy
-If the district mission statement page mentions the word democracy 13 times but academics 0
-If the person the district deems to be the expert on whether America is a Democracy or a Republic also believes that Christ is a Vampire
-If over 200 parents show up peacefully at a board meeting to express their concerns about their children’s education and the board refers to them as a small special interest group who they won’t bow down to
-If your child’s teacher gives an assignment to name the kinds of governments around the world and Republic is not an option
-If your child has to write an essay entitled “Education in a Democracy”
-If your child is told that the book “The 5000 Year Leap“ with quotes from Founding Fathers is “pure science fiction”
-If your child knows that America is a Republic, but his history teacher argues with the child in front of the class that we live in a Democracy
-If your district uses every experimental education method but not the ones proven to work
-If the teachers and employees jobs are threatened if they speak out against failed district policies
-If a teacher tells the class that there are 3 ways to communicate: 1) like a child in which you throw tantrums and cry, 2) like a parent in which you yell, threaten and give orders, and 3) like an adult in which you can be any age as long as you communicate calmly, listen attentively, and weigh the options (unlike parents…)
-If the district claims we live in a democracy where everyone has a voice and then silences all opposition
-If all school books are kept at school and not allowed home
-If administrators stress the need for critical thinking yet students and parents aren’t allowed to question the school’s political agenda
-If your 5 year old kindergarten son is told he has critical thinking problems and possible long term learning problems because he doesn’t like to color
-If your school’s hallways are filled with posters and quotations from humanists, atheists, agnostics and homosexuals, and NOT from the Founding Fathers or other moral leaders
-If your child is asked to write a detailed essay on how to kill their best friend
-If your child is given an assignment that everyone in the world is going to die and they have to decide which 100 people will be allowed to live and why
-If your school celebrates Ramadan, Chinese New Year, Cinco de Mayo and Traditions Around the World, but can’t sing Frosty the Snowman at the Winter Choir Concert
-If your district decides to sponsor their own candidate for the Board of Education because the existing Board Member represents parental concerns and not the district agenda
-If your superintendent is a member of the executive board of a socialist organization whose keynote speaker at the next conference is Bill Ayers
-If your child is excelling and bored in class but is not allowed to go ahead in his studies
-If numerous parents go in to complain about the math program and the same district math specialist tells all of them, “you’re the only parent that has ever complained”
-If your child has to read stories about social inequality and is made to feel guilty about living in a nice neighborhood and having 3 meals a day
-If reading, writing and arithmetic have been substituted with “The New Three R’s: Reflection, Responsibility, Renewal”
-If after reading this list you realize that you don’t really know much about your “non-partisan” school board member
Go Paula Hill! I hope you win and help free our schools from the examples of socialist “leadership” we’ve observed.
-If at a PTSA/SCC meeting, scheduled by the board to explain the Mission Statement and bond proposal, a board member tells a parent, who has been complaining about the word “democracy” in the Mission Statement for YEARS, “I was just at two other schools and no one even mentioned the word democracy”, as if her voice, and the 200 other parents who complained months ago, don’t count.
-If at this same PTSA/SCC meeting, a head administrator tells the parents “Aren’t we allowed to define our own terms?”, and then can’t even adequately express WHAT those terms mean.
Great additions guest. I went to one of those meetings where the facilitator assured us from the bottom of her heart (and grabbed her heart) that to ASD, democracy is about “how we treat each other” and that we “all get along and are nice to each other”. She assured us that it is NOT a political statement AT ALL and she was very sorry that we parents took it that way. Show THAT definition to me in ANY dictionary. I figured it was a good time to quote Goodlad’s own words, “Schooling is a practical, political affair”. It’s no secret what Goodlad means by democracy. He defines these terms in his books all the time. They shouldn’t quote him and then redefine their mentor’s own words. Progressives redefine words and phrases all the time to trick people. It’s a means to an end. “Hope and change” and “fundamentally transforming America” ring any bells?
I have been completely unsuccessful at finding any definition, anywhere, of the word “democracy” meaning “how we treat each other”.
That word, I believe is “respect”, and this is NOT what ASD board and administrators are showing us.
I love how these things are so biased and off base. “200 parents” there are almost 60,000 kids in ASD so yes 200 parents (many of whom are not patrons of ASD- Charter school, retired etc.)
Quotes around what a teacher said about 5,000 year leap? Were you there? or are you paraphrasing your child?
Most of these attacks are about every school district in the nation and are not specific to ASD. This just shows the emotional bias of the creator of this website.
So many of these points are ridiculous- I literally laughed out loud while reading them.
Randy – you weren’t there at that meeting. The mother of the child who had the teacher berate her for reading the 5,000 year leap, and who told her we were NOT a republic but a democracy, was. . And considering the fact that rarely do ANY parents show up for a school board meeting, other than if their child gets an award – 200 parents showing up to voice concern over one issue is pretty significant. The majority of my neighbors, active in their kids lives and professional working class folks, have NO IDEA what is happening in the district unless they see a specific impact on their child, and even then, they have a hard time getting those issues addressed.
One thing to remember is that everyone has a vested interest in the school district – whether it’s Charter school parents or retired folks… Everyone within the boundaries of the district pays taxes (and Orem folks pay 70% of their property taxes directly to ASD), and should really start paying attention to bond issues, building projects, and yes, even the philosophy guiding the district.. Business owners need to pay attention as their work force comes directly from this school district. All citizens of the ASD community really should wake up, pay attention, and not just skip the board vote on election day or take the first name at the top of the list. Complacency has gotten us to the point where we have allowed the liberal philosophies to slip into our “guiding documents” (ASD boards words). When a board member will cry and become extremely heated in a public meeting because she firmly believes the district has every right to be enculturating our youth, you know we have a problem.
That’s exactly the problem! Too many school districts in America have these problems!! The change HAS to begin somewhere. Who will do it if not us?
Often books aren’t sent home because one set of books is used with multiple classes.
I taught at a school where the Utah History books had to be shared between 3 different classrooms. I finally gave up and created my own Utah History curriculum. Anybody that wanted to take a look at it was welcome to.
Sending books home often results in their loss.
I’ve actually had to pay out of pocket to xerox chapters of a textbook my oldest daughter was using using at LPH.
Guest – glad to hear there were others that heard this lame explanation of “democracy” as used by ASD. I attended one of these school meetings on the 12th and a mother asked about the continued use of the word democracy in ASD’s mission statement and we were told by the administrator that ASD’s use of the word is, and I quote,”not a political process or party but means a way of life.” He asked us to let ASD define the word the way they want to and we can define it the way we want to, and that both definations are in the dictionary. I didn’t find “a way of life” as a defination in any of my dictionaries. They, being the district, seem to be very determined to keep using this word and I don’t think they realize where this path may be taking them and our children. Hopefully with new blood on the board we’ll be able to make some headway in turning the tide.
Don’t know if anyone will see this late post – but I did a little research, and found that out of ALL of the school districts in Utah (40) only TWO use the word democracy, or it’s form. The other districts seem to focus on an upbeat, academic message. The other use of the word besides in Alpine School District is in Juab where they state: “The mission of the Juab School District is to ensure that all students will learn well the skills and essential knowledge that will allow them to enjoy economic success, and be effective and ethical participants in a democratic society in the 21st Century.”