Wednesday, August 21, 2013

So. Cal. School Kids Forced To Take a Knee

As school starts, students need become accustomed to new routines. But some things should never be countenanced. 

Some parents from the Calimesa Elementary School in Yucaipa, California (around 80 miles east of Los Angeles) were outraged when they learned of a new policy which required grammar school students to kneel down before a school administrator until they are excused.


Flyer on Calimesa Elementary kneeling policy (via Tom Wait/ KCAL)


Calimesa Principal Dana Carter
Calimesa Elementary School Principal Dana Carter reportedly instituted the policy as a "positive way to enforce safety". In this safety schema, students were required to kneel down on one knee after lunch or recess and wait for the principal or another school administrator to dismiss them. 



 Superintendent Cali Binks
 After some adroit parental pressure and inquiries from KCAL-TV, Yucaipa Calimesa Unified School District Superintendent Cali Binks announced that this take a knee "positive behavior intervention" would no longer be enforced at Calimesa Elementary. The Inland Empire based school district will hold a future meeting to plan with parents on different safety options to tame the Wildcats (the elementary school's mascot). 

 Reacting to the one knee policy, one parent exclaimed: “I feel that the principal wants to be like a king, and we don’t have kings in America.” This policy was outrageous as it inculcated vassalage into elementary education. In addition, the powers that be leaned on the canard "for safety reasons".

It would be curious to learn what has changed in dealing with energetic adolescents that convinced these school administrators that their their wards must periodically kneel before them.  Would such a practice merit an investigation by child protective services if an individual parent were to require it?

While this kneeling practice was deplorable, it is prudent to reserve judgment on the "safety concerns" for the government  to make compelling case for the need  for alternate "safety" procedures.  While census statistics indicate that the areas demographics are between 70% to 85% white, it is worth noting Calimesa Elementary School's academic goals are couched in whether students are English proficient.  Moreover, the Calimesa Elemetary School's website offers translations for Spanish (with a Mexican flag), Portuguese (with a Portuguese flag), Russian, Japanese, Korean, French and German. Perhaps school administrators have difficulty communicating with their students. 

But school administrators should not have to worry about pesky things like worrying about order.  They have more important things to instruct, bow to power and being servile to government authority.  Then there are the innovations which California Governor Jerry Brown (D-CA) has signed into law, like teaching homosexual history and LGBTQ? contributions starting at an early age.  Or implementing the transgender students' bill, which allows public school students to choose which restroom they identify with at any given moment.

h/t: KCAL 
      The Blaze

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