Actually, it’s a trick question. Finding fault with the picture says more about you than the picture. Yet the Southern Lehigh School District is wrestling with the fallout from this poster settling in one classroom earlier this month. One critic commented that “A teacher wearing a face mask endorsing a controversial position would be understood to be speaking on behalf of the district to a "captive audience" of students.”
Oh my God! What kind of sick doctrine are we teaching children? To proclaim that they belong? That they matter? That they are all a part of a community?
While school districts in Pennsylvania are contending with assaults on free speech and the banning of books, a bill sponsored by Rep. Russ Diamond (Republican, HD 102, Lebanon County), would place limits on what schools are able to teach.
It is noteworthy that such constraints on civil rights in Pennsylvania has a parallel in the recent news that a Russian court has banned Facebook and Instagram from doing business in Russia under the country’s “Extremism” law.
As one teacher has written, if HB 1532 becomes law, “analyzing the original text of the U.S. Constitution, reading Martin Luther King Jr.’s writing, and discussing inequitable school funding will be forbidden subjects in the classroom.”
These same legislators who have championed inequitable and inadequate school funding will therefore find new ways for districts to waste money on unnecessary lawsuits.
But the good news is that you can help to elect more good government officials who will not only prevent bad legislation like HB 1532 from seeing the light of day, but will enact legislation that will actually help the citizens of this state. Here is how:
REGISTER NEW CITIZENS
Spring is here, and the weather is moderating. Spend a few hours outside, registering new citizens in front of the USCIS Office in Philadelphia: 30 North 41 St Philadelphia, PA,19104. Follow the link below to sign up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E4DA9AE2DA5FECF8-uscis4
CHALLENGE PETITION CHALLENGES
The petition process is currently under way in Pennsylvania for the Pennsylvania House. Candidates need 300 good signatures to get onto the ballot. Given the GOP efforts to prevent fair legislative districts from being formed, we anticipate that they will aggressively challenge Democratic signatures. You can prevent their efforts from succeeding. If you are interested, please sign up here: Petition Challenge Project Training with HDCC and Turn PA Blue · Turn PA Blue (mobilize.us)