What’s the difference between 141,714 and 88,866? Take a few seconds to do the math, and feel free to use a calculator if you’d like.
If you answered 52,848, you’re correct! Congratulations and give yourself a pat on the back because your math skills are far superior to those of Save Our Schools (SOS) and the rest of Arizona’s teachers’ unions.
On Friday, SOS Executive Director Beth Lewis boldly proclaimed—with all the confidence in the world—that the wall of boxes she was standing in front of contained the signatures of 141,714 Arizona voters who supported a ballot initiative aimed at overturning universal Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) in Arizona. She was giddy. Her supporters cheered. SOS declared blocking universal school choice for all a “historic victory.” And corporate media jumped on the opportunity to push their narrative, accepting everything SOS said at face value.
But there was a problem. And that’s where simple math comes into play…
Nicole Solas, the Rhode Island mother who was sued by the nation’s largest teacher union for requesting public records, offered advice to Arizona parents facing similar transparency battles. As AZ Free News reported last week, Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) will post the names of individuals online who submitted records requests — an update that inspired controversy within the community.
The National Education Association of Rhode Island (NEARI), a teacher’s union, sued Solas last year for seeking records on Critical Race Theory (CRT) and gender theory from her child’s Rhode Island school. Not only was Solas sued — the school district attempted to charge Solas $74,000 for access to the requested records.
Solas advised Arizona parents to be loud and engaged until they achieved victory. Her examples of loud engagement were submitting public records requests and filing lawsuits. She advised that district officials would “fold like a paper tiger.” Solas offered the advice and discussed her ongoing legal battle on “Conservative Circus” with host James T. Harris on Tuesday.
Solas pointed out that parents speaking out at school board meetings serves to inform the public, which she says has a far greater impact on schools.
“Keep in mind that when you make public comment at school board meetings, you’re doing that to talk to, not the school board, you’re trying to talk to people that don’t know what’s going on,” said Solas. “You need to be brave.”
Parent Nicole Solas discusses being attacked by teachers' union on curriculum transparency and also being kicked of https://t.co/VT8Snw7eWJ
The Goldwater Institute, a Phoenix-based think tank and legal organization, represented Solas in the lawsuit, National Education Association of Rhode Island, et al. v. South Kingstown School Committee, et al. Most recently, the Rhode Island Superior Court denied Solas’ motion for summary judgment early last month.
Nicole Solas wanted to know what her daughter would be taught in kindergarten.
Her school district hit her w/a $74K bill for asking. But she hasn’t stopped fighting for academic transparency.
Most recently, Twitter deplatformed Solas with a permanent ban for speaking out against child grooming. She revealed that she is seeking legal representation currently to restore her account.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
This is probably hard to believe, but there once was a day when journalists didn’t feel the need to include their own slants and biases. When they didn’t make themselves a part of the story. When they would simply report the news.
Unfortunately, those days are long gone. Today’s establishment media is much more concerned with protecting its own interests—and the interests of those they’re in bed with. We’ve seen this mentality at the national level for quite some time, but now it’s taken over our local media as well—especially right here in Arizona.
The latest comes from ABC15 news anchor Steve Irvin. If you’re not sure what Steve stands for, you don’t need to look much further than his professional Twitter account where he regularly spews liberal talking points, refers to people he disagrees with as “bigots,” and shares his disdain for school choice.
By now, you’re probably fed up with talking about school shutdowns. And frankly, we’re getting fed up with fighting the left on this issue. But leave it to the teachers’ unions and RedforEd to call for more school shutdowns right before students returned from their winter break.
While death of any sort is heartbreaking, these numbers prove that COVID is no more dangerous for children than the seasonal flu. But the teachers’ unions and RedforEd just can’t help themselves—because, as usual, it’s always about them.
After nearly two years of ever-changing pandemic protocols, it appears that some members of the Democratic Party and teachers unions disagree with remote learning as a viable mitigative strategy for COVID-19. State Representative César Chávez (D-Maryvale) commended Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s insistence that “enough is enough” with distance learning for K-12.
“Mayor Lightfoot’s statement is commendable,” wrote Chávez. “We have wedged a gap within a generation of children that might never obtain the lost curriculum due to the pandemic. We need to stop politicizing this situation, roll up our sleeves, and get these kids back in school.”
Chávez’s commentary provoked Arizona Education Association (AEA) President Joe Thomas to ask, “Was your account hacked?” Thomas has been one of the principal activists pushing for remote learning coming off of the holidays. As AZ Free News reported, Thomas was one of the individuals responsible for launching the RedforEd movement.
This ? explains why parents should be preparing for a temporary shift to remote learning. It will be due to not enough staff being able to report to work. This is not a difficult concept to understand. https://t.co/nIES0JF5FF
Chávez joined the likes of Governor Doug Ducey with his stance on remote education. Following the organized push by teachers unions to close schools, Ducey pledged that in-person education would continue for all of Arizona. To back his promise, Ducey announced that families could receive up to $7,000 if their child’s school faces unexpected closures.
For that, former state representative and current attorney general candidate Diego Rodriguez called Ducey “the worst governor in Arizona history.” It appears that Chávez wouldn’t be at odds only with his former colleague — other Arizona Democrats signaled support for teachers demanding remote learning.
State Representative Mitzi Epstein (D-Ahwatukee) asserted that she supported school closures; the Arizona House Democrats agreed with her remarks. State Representative Kelli Butler (D-Paradise Valley) excoriated Ducey for “punishing” schools if they decided to close due to COVID-19 outbreaks.
State Representatives Athena Salmon (D-Tempe) and Andrea Dalessandro (D-Sahuarita) insisted that teachers have “safe environments” in which to teach. Likewise, State Senator Juan Mendez (D-Tempe) retweeted commentary criticizing Ducey for jeopardizing children.
IN-PERSON LEARNING WILL CONTINUE IN ARIZONA
"The science is clear, and overwhelming. We know how to keep our kids safe from COVID-19 in school. K through 12 schools should be open." 1/
