Today’s entry - School pledge: How about a pledge from teachers to teach without political bias?
Bottom Line: After the most recent incident in Palm Beach County, requiring middle school students to answer that President Trump is an idiot - in order to provide a “correct” answer, I agree with your sentiment. But here’s the thing, they already have taken that pledge by virtue of accepting employment. According to the Florida Department of Education, these are the principles and code of ethics agreed to by all educators in Florida’s public education system under the heading Obligation to the student requires that the individual:
Given that violations of code are subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination, what’s the real issue educators who go rouge in the classroom? Lack of accountability.
In Palm Beach County, not only has the “Idiot Trump” teacher been “reassigned”, so has the Holocaust-denying principal William Latson. Even when busted for egregious violations of code and ethics policies in our schools these “educators” still get paid. That takes me back to the broader issues with the education establishment. The National Education Association, the largest teacher’s union, pledged 92% of their donations in last year’s elections to Democrats. They actively promote Democrat politics in their messaging. From Washington D.C. to the classrooms in South Florida.
This takes us back to the lack of local accountability. If local school districts were aggressive in doling out accountability, ie. Immediate job loss, loss of education certification, loss of accrued pension, all of which could be pursued, rather than paid vacations until the storm passes, maybe teachers inclined towards bias would exercise restraint. But in the current environment, at least as we’ve witnessed with the Broward and Palm Beach County School Districts, accountability for violations of ethics and code are often tolerated to the extent that taxpayers still pay for “educators” who are reassigned. It’s my belief that the state needs to become far more involved in oversight of ethics violations, as local school districts seem unwilling to hold violators accountable in a meaningful way.
In early 2020, Florida Education Commissioner Ricard Corcoran will be making recommendations to overhaul aspects of Florida’s education establishment and curriculum.
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