Friday is supposed to be that day when you can breathe a sigh of relief that the work week is almost done. But then we open the Frederick News Post to find an LTE from Cindy that is such a hot mess. And now we are going to have to spend our precious time getting the word out, again, about what a terrible BOE candidate she is! Thanks a lot Cindy!
Let’s dive right in shall we? She’s upset over the planned walk-outs organized by the Parkland students, who, for some reason, want to prevent any further gun violence in American schools. Since she can’t get an answer from FCPS (more on that in a minute), she mines the internet to misconstrue one:
“A Feb. 28 post on the school board president’s Facebook page by a retired FCPS teacher and current elected member of the Frederick County Democratic Central Committee (FCDCC) gives insight into FCPS’ stance.
The FCDCC member quotes a Slate.com article, and writes “I cannot love this article enough.” The article credits the organization of the Parkland walkout to the students. Both fail to mention that Oprah, George Clooney, and many others each donated $500,000 to help organizers who also organized the “pink hat” protests: Everytown for Gun Safety, Move On and Planned Parenthood, to name a few. It’s a gun protest victimizing victims of a tragedy. But I digress.”
First of all, is looking through the comments section of Brad Young’s Facebook page the best place to find FCPS policy? It is a good place, however, for her to fuel her vendettas against those she deems an enemy. We know this member of the FCDCC, and she is more a friend to education than Cindy will ever be, however, she does not set policy for FCPS!
Yesterday, your Lady Yokels came across this in our inbox:
There is one advocacy strategy we have asked students not to use–walking out of school. FCPS does not condone student walkouts due to safety concerns that could result from such action. The most significant factor in our request that students not walk out is safety not only of the students protesting but of students in the building as well. Participating in a walkout makes students vulnerable to the very safety concerns that they are advocating we need to address. The students outside are vulnerable to anyone in the community who may seek to harm or cause conflict with the students. Students leaving the building through numerous doors endangers the students in the building as opening the doors allows access for outsiders to enter without checking in at the front office.
Guess that Oprah and Clooney money didn’t find its way to the right people! Maybe she should contact Scott Baio to see if he’s got any cash to pass out!
Let’s delve into some of the hypocrisy present in her writing. Cindy has long been an advocate of those “good old days” of education. You know when schools just stuck to the learning, not the brainwashing. Shall we take a looky at that Slate.com article she referred to above? Yes, we shall:
Despite the gradual erosion of the arts and physical education in America’s public schools, the students of Stoneman Douglas have been the beneficiaries of the kind of 1950s-style public education that has all but vanished in America and that is being dismantled with great deliberation as funding for things like the arts, civics, and enrichment are zeroed out. In no small part because the school is more affluent than its counterparts across the country (fewer than 23 percent of its students received free or reduced-price lunches in 2015–16, compared to about 64 percent across Broward County Public Schools) these kids have managed to score the kind of extracurricular education we’ve been eviscerating for decades in the United States. These kids aren’t prodigiously gifted. They’ve just had the gift of the kind of education we no longer value.
Part of the reason the Stoneman Douglas students have become stars in recent weeks is in no small part due to the fact that they are in a school system that boasts, for example, of a “system-wide debate program that teaches extemporaneous speaking from an early age.” Every middle and high school in the district has a forensics and public-speaking program. Coincidentally, some of the students at Stoneman Douglas had been preparing for debates on the issue of gun control this year, which explains in part why they could speak to the issues from day one.
There’s also this super interesting article about the AP Government teacher at Stoneman Douglas who was quoted as saying:
These students are clear-eyed, media-ready, and sophisticated, often rejecting the premise of interview questions or entirely reframing them. Foster says it’s not surprising to him which kids are getting repeated interview requests and continue to speak publicly. He’s seen these same students shine in his classroom debating controversial issues like gun control, abortion, and Colin Kaepernick. Foster says he stirs the discussion to both sides. When students don’t bring up counter-arguments, he brings them up himself.
Let’s contrast all of that with this discussion that we were unfortunately a witness to on Facebook (since that is apparently the mode in which we find out how people and organizations feel about policy):
NO SIDES? WOW! Let’s go to another section of her LTE to find out more about that no sides she’s in support of:
You doubt this? When did you last see teachers unions or a student group “walk out” in defense of any Republican cause? Do Republican causes lack substance? More likely, conservative causes don’t fit the liberal political agendas in the classroom.
That’s her, “No-Sides” Cindy Rose! It is our conclusion, from not only today’s tome, but ALL of her writings, that she sincerely believes that anyone who does not feel the same way she does about certain issues must have been brainwashed by those liberal progressive teachers. There’s no other way that students have come to the conclusion that we have a gun problem in this country other than they have been brainwashed, is there? Oh, will someone please think of the children?
She is not interested in having a school system that creates free thinkers and good debaters. She’s only interested in having a school system that espouses her belief system. Take a look at her PIA requests if you are in doubt of that. We must also point out that someone who loves to lament that the Constitution isn’t being taught in school is surprisingly (?) against students learning how to exercise their First Amendment Rights!
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Cindy, along with the rest of her slate, doesn’t want our children to learn about the issues. We are super curious how you are supposed to teach a subject like World War II without talking about “sides.” How anti-intellectual and anti-American can you get, we ask you?! We are still waiting for her, and her slate, to tell us what qualifications and special skills they possess that give them the authority to tell us what our kids should be learning in school! NOTE: COMMON SENSE IS NOT A MEASURABLE SKILL! Stay vigilant friends! We cannot make the third time the charm for her!
*And lest you think that FCPS isn’t encouraging our students to make their voices heard, here’s another section of the letter we quoted above:
… staff are meeting with student leaders to discuss the variety of ways we can work together to help students express their concerns. As a united school and through student and staff collaboration, we have explored options that include the following: Creating a video to share student advocacy via school announcements, our website and our multiple means of social media; Creating short video clips to share on Twitter to help individual students share their perspectives; Arranging in-school activities during Connect so students can follow the national trend of 17 minutes of advocacy to honor the 17 victims of the recent tragedy in Florida; Printing and distributing contact information for government officials that students may contact with concerns about legislation and policies; Providing forums for students to gather signatures on petitions to government officials; and Ensuring delivery of student-generated concerns to community leaders and elected officials. These potential activities are constantly evolving as we deepen our conversations with students about effective and safe advocacy.
