In Mississauga, Ontario, a public high school library removed every book that had been published in 2008 or earlier, under the justification of “inclusivity,” “anti-racism,” “equity” and “diversity”
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
September 15, 2023
In Mississauga, Ontario, a public high school library removed every book that had been published in 2008 or earlier, under the justification of “inclusivity,” “anti-racism,” “equity” and “diversity.”
Gee, I always thought that the word “inclusivity” was about including things, not excluding things.
And I always thought the word “diversity” meant there should be more choices, not fewer.
And I’m not sure how getting rid of The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank contributes to the fight against racism.
You can read about it in this article:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/peel-school-board-library-book-weeding-1.6964332
‘Empty shelves with absolutely no books’: Students, parents question school board’s library weeding process
Books published in 2008 or earlier removed from school library amid confusion around new equity-based process
September 13, 2023
Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
Those are all examples of books Reina Takata says she can no longer find in her public high school library in Mississauga, Ont., which she visits on her lunch hour most days.
In May, Takata says the shelves at Erindale Secondary School were full of books, but she noticed that they had gradually started to disappear. When she returned to school this fall, things were more stark.
“This year, I came into my school library and there are rows and rows of empty shelves with absolutely no books,” said Takata, who started Grade 10 last week.
She estimates more than 50 per cent of her school’s library books are gone.
In this video from 2005, Whoopi Goldberg explains why she’s against censoring old Looney Tunes cartoons that have racial stereotypes. I agree with her. And I’m against suspending her for her recent comments about the Holocaust. And I’m Jewish.
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
February 2, 2022
Whoopi Goldberg has just been suspended from The View for her recent comments about the Holocaust.
I’m Jewish, and I’m against her suspension. I support free speech for everyone, and for all points of view.
In the past, Goldberg herself has defended free speech for old Looney Tunes cartoons that have racial stereotypes. This video is from The Looney Tunes Collection Vol. 3, which was released in 2005:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCT1clqci3I
I’m Jewish, and I think it’s ridiculous that anyone would be upset by what Whoopi Goldberg said about the Holocaust
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
February 1, 2022
The people who insist on getting offended and upset by everything are saying that Whoopi Goldberg should be fired for her recent comments about the Holocaust.
I say those people are a bunch of totalitarian idiots.
I support anyone’s right to express their opinion on any subject.
I support Whoopi Goldberg’s right to say what she said about the Holocaust.
And I also support the right of people to say that Goldberg should be fired for her comments about the Holocaust. I disagree with what they say. But I do support their right to say it.
And I also support free speech for people who disagree with me.
I support free speech for everyone.
Free speech is awesome!
A Pennsylvania school called police after a 6-year-old girl with Down Syndrome pointed her finger like a gun, her mother says
https://www.yahoo.com/news/pennsylvania-school-called-police-6-025708501.html
A Pennsylvania school called police after a 6-year-old girl with Down Syndrome pointed her finger like a gun, her mother says
February 11, 2020
* A 6-year-old with Down Syndrome pointed her fingers like a gun at her teacher, prompting officials to call the police, her mother said.
* Maggie Gaines said in a statement to the school board that the call was unnecessary, as her daughter clearly did not understand the gesture and was not a threat.
* The school district said in a statement it had agreed to review its policy requiring school officials to call police in such situations.
A Pennsylvania family is pleading with their school board to reconsider its policy on “threat assessments” for students, after their 6-year-old daughter with Down Syndrome was reported to police for pointing her finger like a gun.
Margot Gaines, a kindergartener at the Valley Forge Elementary School in Tredyffrin, Pennsylvania, made the gesture in November and told her teacher, “I shoot you,” according to her mother, Maggie.
Maggie said her daughter made the comment when her teacher asked her to do something she didn’t want to do, but had no idea what the words or the gesture meant.
“I imagine the utterance was not unlike the instances when I’ve told her it’s time for bed and she says, ‘I hate bed. I hate mommy,'” Maggie said in a statement last month to the school district.
Maggie said the teacher perceived the response as a “threat” and brought Margot to the principal, who realized that Margot was no danger to the teacher or her classmates.
But instead of dropping the incident, the principal followed a school district policy requiring a “threat assessment” team to be convened and decide whether disciplinary action was warranted.
Maggie said in her statement she was fine with that process, which concluded that Margot didn’t intend to harm anyone. But then the school called the police.
“I think most people would agree that this is where the issue should have ended. And yet it did not,” she said.
Maggie said school officials called the police department and provided authorities with the Gaines’ personal information, as well as information on the incident. Maggie said in her statement that an officer told her the information would be entered into the department’s database and would be publicly available.
“Because the school staff and administration chose to blindly follow this policy, an incident that resulted in no disciplinary action … is part of her permanent school record,” she said. “What’s more, her personal information has also been recorded at our local police department, where it is noted, without any context to the situation or her disability that she ‘threatened’ her teacher. How or if this information will be used against her in the future, I can’t say for certain.”
The Tredyffrin Police Department told the website SAVVY Main Line that an incident report was filed containing Margot’s name, address, age, and disability, but that it is “not releasable” and not a criminal record.
The Tredyffrin-Easttown School District told CBS Philly in a statement it would review its policy in the wake of the Gaines’ complaint.
“When developing the current practice, the District worked collaboratively with parents, law enforcement and private safety/mental health agencies and legal consultants to ensure our safety measures reflected considerable input from both our local community and experts in the field of school safety,” the statement said.
Oxford University Press bans pigs from children’s books, so here’s Porky Pig reciting the Pledge of Allegiance
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world.
The Telegraph reports:
The Oxford University Press has warned its writers not to mention pigs, sausages or pork-related words in children’s books, in an apparent bid to avoid offending Jews and Muslims.
Jews?
I’m Jewish, and I have neither been offended, nor heard of any Jew claiming to be offended, by pigs being mentioned in literature.
(more…)
New Jersey public school forces student to get psychological evaluation, blood test, urine test, and to strip, because he twirled a pencil. The state threatened to take him away from his father.
Ethan Chaplin, Student, Says He Was Suspended For Twirling Pencil
April 7, 2014
Was it a twirling pencil or something more sinister?
That’s the question that hovers over the story of Ethan Chaplin, a Vernon, N.J. seventh-grader who, last week, was told he could return to Glen Meadow Middle School only after he received a psychological evaluation.
According to News 12, Chaplin said he was sitting in class, spinning a pencil with a pen cap on top when a fellow student told his teacher, “He’s making gun motions, send him to juvie.”
After the incident, Chaplin’s dad, Michael, said his son was effectively suspended pending a psychological examination, which the middle schooler passed.
The school tells a different story.
Vernon Schools Superintendent Charles Maranzano told HuffPost he couldn’t discuss the specific incident because of privacy laws, but he did say “no school in the state of New Jersey or nationally would leap to a school suspension for twirling a pencil. That’s not what the basis of our actions are.”
Instead, Maranzano said the student was not suspended, but was told he could return as soon as a doctor completed a psychological evaluation and determined the student posed no threat to himself or others.
“Our actions are always based on what’s best for the health safety and welfare of all the students,” Maranzano said. “We’re responsible for their mental and physical health and safety and security. When a student misbehaves or displays actions that are non-conforming or don’t meet our expectations, it causes us some concerns.”
Maranzano also said, in the wake of several deadly shootings, schools are being especially careful.
“I don’t want to be the one who failed to act when there were warning signs being demonstrated or displayed,” Maranzano said.
Michael Chaplin told InfoWars about what his son had to undergo during the psychological evaluation.
“The child was stripped, had to give blood samples (which caused him to pass out) and urine samples for of all things drug testing,” Michael Chaplin said. “Then four hours later a social worker spoke to him for five minutes and cleared him. Then an actual doctor came in and said the state was 100 percent incorrect in their procedure and this would not get him back in school.”
Maranzano said Chaplin is back in school.
Dad: NJ threatens to take away son after pencil-twirling incident
June 10, 2014
VERNON, N.J. (PIX11) – A 13-year-old boy was the most famous kid in school for a few weeks.
A simple pencil-twirling incident landed Ethan Chaplin in hot water with his school, which threatened to suspend him after a classmate claimed he was spinning the writing utensil like a gun.
After media attention from PIX11 and around the world, school officials backed off — but child protection agencies did not.
Letters to Ethan’s father, Michael, show the school found his son did nothing wrong at all, and that there would be no disciplinary action. The superintendent was even confident the issue would be behind all of them.
And that’s exactly what happened, until Ethan’s father received startling communication from New Jersey’s Department of Child Protection and Permanency and Department of Children and Families.
“I received a letter from them saying they had found an incident of abuse or neglect regarding Ethan because I refused to take him for psychological evaluation,” Michael said.
In an effort to play along and clear his name, Michael agreed to take his son for an evaluation.
Ethan was seen by a social worker, and had his blood drawn and urine taken. In the end, no behavioral problem was found.
The state, it seems, is ignoring that set of testing, demanding further evaluation and threatening that if Michael doesn’t comply, they are will terminate his parental rights and free Ethan up for adoption.
“All I can do is keep fighting, keep telling the truth and (keep) presenting the evidence. That is all I can do and hopefully the state does the right thing,” Michael said.
He has even reached out to Governor Chris Christie’s office, who replied they would contact the Dept. of Children and Families to investigate.
“…I’m scared because they have a habit of running away with things unchecked and that’s exactly what’s going on,” Michael said.
PIX11 tried to get a comment from DCPP and NJ Department of Children and Families but received no answers.
The agency told PIX11 they can’t discuss the allegations or even acknowledge they have involvement with the family.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUxHIYkp20g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWwa9v-mxU0
Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog 