Timely Comments and Quotes By Noah Webster and others on Education and other Important Issues

Childhood innocence is a powerful political tool.  By now (20 yrs. from 9/11) those youngsters are grown up.  They have graduated from college, entered professions, begun corporate careers and become voters.  Some are teachers.  They bring with them into adult life the attitudes they have been carefully taught.  

There is more than a single cause for the ruin of a nation.  Still, historical ignorance and its harvest of disbelief in the rightness of this country (USA) -- generated in the classrooms -- is a powerful destroyer." The federalist.com

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

If you haven't realized the importance of education the young, READ THIS:

“...the final conclusion would surely be that whereas other civilizations have been brought down by attacks of barbarians from without, ours had the unique distinction of training its own destroyers at its own educational institutions, and then providing them with facilities for propagating their destructive ideology far and wide, all at the public expense. Thus, did Western Man decide to abolish himself, creating his own boredom out of his own affluence, his own vulnerability out of his own strength, his own impotence out of his own erotomania, himself blowing the trumpet that brought the walls of his own city tumbling down, and having convinced himself that he was too numerous, labored with pill and scalpel and syringe to make himself fewer. Until at last, having educated himself into imbecility, and polluted and drugged himself into stupefaction, he keeled over--a weary, battered old brontosaurus--and became extinct.” ― Malcolm Muggeridge, Vintage Muggeridge: Religion and Society

The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next. -- Abraham Lincoln

Relevant Colorado Constitutional Sections Pertaining to Public Schools

 

ARTICLE 9

Section 3.  School fund inviolate. The public-school fund of the state shall, except as provided in this article IX, forever remain inviolate and intact and the interest and other income thereon, only, shall be expended in the maintenance of the schools of the state, and shall be distributed amongst the several counties and school districts of the state, in such manner as may be prescribed by law. No part of this fund, principal, interest, or other income shall ever be transferred to any other fund, or used or appropriated, except as provided in this article IX. The state treasurer shall be the custodian of this fund, and the same shall be securely and profitably invested as may be by law directed. The state shall supply all losses thereof that may in any manner occur. In order to assist public schools in the state in providing necessary buildings, land, and equipment, the general assembly may adopt laws establishing the terms and conditions upon which the state treasurer may (1) invest the fund in bonds of school districts, (2) use all or any portion of the fund or the interest or other income thereon to guaranty bonds issues by school districts, or (3) make loans to school districts. Distributions of interest and other income for the benefit of public schools provided in this article IX shall be in addition to and not a substitute for other moneys appropriated by the general assembly for such purposes.

Section 8.  Religious test and race discrimination forbidden � sectarian tenets. No religious test or qualification shall ever be required of any person as a condition of admission into any public educational institution of the state, either as a teacher or student; and no teacher or student of any such institution shall ever be required to attend or participate in any religious service whatsoever. No sectarian tenets or doctrines shall ever be taught in the public school, nor shall any distinction or classification of pupils be made on account of race or color, nor shall any pupil be assigned or transported to any public educational institution for the purpose of achieving racial balance.

As amended by the People, November 5, 1974 � Effective upon proclamation of the Governor, December 20, 1974.

Section 15.  School districts � board of education. The general assembly shall, by law, provide for organization of school districts of convenient size, in each of which shall be established a board of education, to consist of three or more directors to be elected by the qualified electors of the district. Said directors shall have control of instruction in the public schools of their respective districts.

Section 16.  Textbooks in public schools. Neither the general assembly nor the state board of education shall have power to prescribe textbooks to be used in the public schools.

Comments on the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) Initiative

 On March 16th, the School District D20 Accountability Committee presented the Superintendent's Initiative,  Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), to the D20 Board of Directors (BOD). A DEI RFP Selection Committee was formed, consisting of 15 members.  There were 7 proposals and 4 Presentations.  The Award was made to Colorado Education Initiative (CEI).  Question:  Who or what group authorized the school Superintendent to proceed with this Equity Audit and Task Force, and on what basis of need?  What were the specific facts from which the Superintendent and the Board made this decision?

The Collaborative Input Model developed implies the following: "Increasing concern has been expressed in recent months by students, parents, and patrons regarding restricted educational opportunities based on race and/or skin color, disproportionate discipline statistics, exclusion of marginalized populations, expressions of hate and racism, and the absence of a culturally diverse staff in Academy District 20"  "This expression is concerning and has no place in our school district."

This  "concern" smells of boilerplate verbiage designed to create work for CEI, as it is apparent that their reason for being is to be paid for grants to identify "problems" that the school will then pay them to specifically "identify" so that the CEI staff can then suggest solutions that they will then be paid to monitor.  

Question:  As one reviews the scope of DEI programs across the U.S. and realizes that DEI is spreading...see Critical Race Training in Education , it becomes immediately evident that it is a multi-billion business built on the false premise that there is systemic racism EVERYWHERE.

Therefore, this (CEI) initiative must immediately be discontinued, UNLESS the Superintendent can identify a substantial number of students/faculty to verify that there is in fact continuing "victims" of widespread "systemic racism" and indicates that he is unable to handle such complaints within the policies of the school.  If the Superintendent indicates that he and staff are unable to deal with this false narrative, then the Board should reevaluate whether its policies are sufficient or whether the Superintendent should evaluate his hiring practices.

This Equity Audit should be scrubbed immediately because our American ethos does not uphold the concept of Equity, but rather Equal Opportunity for all, regardless of race.  To the contrary, the Equity Audit Framework includes, 

• Equity in student outcomes
• Equity in student access
• Equity in resources and supports
• Equity in students' school experiences
• Equity in families' school experiences and 
• Equity in staff members' school experiences

The D20 School Board should reexamine its policies with respect to maintaining any statistics on the race of students and faculty, because the keeping of these statistics is racist on its face and leads to decisions based on race.

DEI MUST be completely scrubbed!!!! It is no more than an adjunct to Critical Race Theory.  We must be DONE with classifying ANYONE by Race.  We must adhere to being a race-blind community.  

Dave Schultheis, Concerned citizen and D20 property taxpayer.

Full Report by President Trump's 1776 Commission

Your new President Joe Biden had the 1776 Commission Report removed immediately from the White House website.  We must NOT let this report lapse into obscurity.  We must all purpose to RESIST the move to silence and cancel us.  WE MUST!!!!!

 Let's demand that our public schools use the 1776 Commission's report in their curriculum

Please join me in this effort.

Fmr. CO Senator, Dave Schultheis