On this day, May 5, 1903, James Beard, US culinary expert, author (Delights & Prejudices), was born in Portland, Ore.
Also on this day, May 5, 1945, A Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, killing Mrs. Elsie Mitchell, the pregnant wife of a minister, and five children after they attempted to drag it out the woods in Lakeview, Oregon. The balloon was armed, and exploded soon after they began tampering with it. They became the 1st and only known American civilians to be killed in the continental US during World War II.
Also on this day, May 5, 1945, Bly minister Archie Mitchell, his pregnant wife Elsie, and five children from Mitchell's Sunday school class were on a Saturday morning picnic. Thirteen miles northeast of Bly, or about sixty miles northeast of Klamath Falls, Mitchell parked the car, and Elsie and the children headed to Leonard Creek. Mitchell later remembered: "As I got out of the car to bring the lunch, the others were not far away and called to me they had found something that looked like a balloon. I heard of Japanese balloons so I shouted a warning not to touch it. But just then there was a big explosion. I ran up there--and they were all dead." It was a Japanese balloon bomb. They were 70 feet tall with a 33-foot diameter paper canopy connected to the main device by shroud lines. Balloons inflated with hydrogen followed the jet stream at an altitude of 30,000 feet.
Teachers are withdrawing their membership from unions
The Oregon Department of Education (ODE), Oregon School Board
Association (OSBA) and Coalition of Oregon School Administrators
(COSA) met to work together on a roster of bills:
- Board and Superintendent Professional Learning Bill
- Racial Equity and Justice Student Collaborative Bill
- Superintendent Contract Protections Bill
- Funding for Wildfire Impacted Districts Bill
These bills include what was
SB 334 in the 2021 session. The planned
difference is to give unelected superintendents more power than the
elected school board and limits the authority of the school board from
firing the superintendent without cause. This will protect
superintendents to follow the framework that ODE suggestions
including what is put forth in SB 334 regardless of the school board and
community positions.
Senator Rob Wagner (D-Lake Oswego) and
Representative Janeen Sollman (D-Hillsboro) sponsored SB 334 in 2021
to require minimum professional learning and training for leadership
positions that is under the control of ODE.
Their control suggests
training in controversial areas of equity, diversity and sexual identity to
be decided at ODE outside of local input as the law requires.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
The bill listed training to include the basics for critical race theory:
- Prohibitions against discrimination, including requirements for
compliance with ORS 659.850
- Methods for promoting inclusion and for eliminating racism and
bias in the classroom and the workplace
- Methods for achieving equitable academic outcomes for all
students
- Failure to provide specified training causes the school district to
be nonstandard and in jeopardy of losing funding under ORS
327.103
The Coalition of Oregon School Administrators and the Oregon School
Board Association provided an amendment to SB 334.that eliminated
the CRT content and focused on collaboration to strengthen the
partnership between boards and superintendents to enhance student
success. They eliminated the threat and replaced it with a self-
assessment of the adopted plan every two years that gives each board
the flexibility for local decision making. It remains to be seen whether
the proposed legislation will include these amendments.
The amendment may have had good intentions, but it still allowed ODE
to control the training and framework to include CRT elements. How
much input are parents really allowed? This framework eliminates
feedback from parents when it is dictated by ODE. When parents object
in numbers, it made the news when the National Association of School
Boards proposed making parents that demonstrate domestic terrorists.
ODE wants to not just silence parents’ voices, but handicap school
boards from disciplining administration when not following the board
directives. As of November, Oregon school districts filed 29 openings
for school superintendents this year. Recently there were three
superintendents removed from their positions.
- Adrian School District Superintendent Kevin Purnell for mandating
masks
- Newberg Superintendent Joe Morelock for not enforcing a ban on
political flags in classrooms
- Greater Albany Public Schools District fired Superintendent
Melissa Goff to resolve a polarizing situation
Dr. Sue Reike-Smith, Superintendent of Tigard Tualatin School District,
made national news when students forced her hand to address racial
slurs at Tigard High School by walking out. The video that instigated the
walkout was racist and needs addressing. However, Suzanne Gallagher,
Executive Director of Parents’ Rights in Education, says “Dr. Sue†is
telling students if someone says anything offensive to you, the one
saying it should be punished. Those remarks have inspired students to
ask for those responsible be expelled for what they do on their own
time. That is unlawful, and goes against the First Amendment and
Discrimination statutes. Since the video was made on school break, the
superintendent is not responsible for speech outside her domain and
giving students the wrong guidance puts her leadership into question.
It may be poor ODE leadership that is ultimately causing teachers to
withdraw their membership from unions including Oregon Education
Association (OEA). More then 1,100 have terminated their membership
as a result of Freedom Foundation efforts informing employees of
political and social stances the unions have taken that seems to be
carrying out the agenda of ODE.
Teachers see the cry of parents that OEA, OSBA, COSA and ODE seem to
ignore for the political agenda of state leaders.
--Donna Bleiler| Post Date: 2021-12-11 16:36:35 | Last Update: 2021-12-11 21:14:06 |
