Shooting at a High School in Perry Iowa: Investigation ongoing

Perry-High-School-Shooting

Important Takeaways:

  • Perry High School shooter injures two Iowa students and an administrator on first day back from winter break before turning the gun on themselves
  • County Sherriff Adam Infante confirmed at a press conference at 11am that police officers arrived at the high school seven minutes after the first call was made.
  • The first responders found ‘multiple gunshot victims’ inside the school, but Infante said they are still working on confirming the number of victims. He did not confirm if anyone was deceased.
  • Local news outlet WHO 13 said the shooter, who may be a student, is believed dead from a self-inflicted gun wound.
  • Adam Infante said that there were few people in the building at the time of the shooting, because the school day had not started yet.
  • The sheriff said: ‘The community is safe. We are now working backwards, to see what happened.’

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NY High School students mob teacher for attending pro-Israel rally

classroom

Important Takeaways:

  • ‘Vile show of anti-Semitism’: High school students mob teacher for attending pro-Israel rally
  • Hundreds of students rampaged through the halls of a New York high school for around two hours after learning a Jewish teacher attended a pro-Israel rally, vandalizing school property and forcing the faculty member to take refuge in a locked office.
  • The planned protest occurred last week at Hillcrest High School after a photo surfaced on Facebook of the unnamed teacher attending the rally on Oct. 9 and holding a sign that read “I stand with Israel.”
  • As The New York Post reported Saturday, the students behind the riot planned it in a group chat, flooding the hallways and waving Palestinian flags.
  • According to City Councilman James Gennaro (D-Queens), the NYPD also contacted its counterterrorism bureau. Police returned to the school the day after the riot to arrest an 18-year-old student, later charged with aggravated harassment, for making threatening messages inside of a group chat.
  • One senior at the high school told The Post that the students had found out the teacher’s address, personal contact information and details about her family. While a source told The Post that some people made harassing phone calls to the teacher, the outlet could not confirm the report.
  • In a statement to The Post, the teacher shared that she has taught in the New York City Public School System for over 20 years and has spent seven years teaching at Hillcrest High School. The unnamed teacher said that she was “shaken to [her] core” by the violence she experienced online and outside of her classroom.
  • “No one should ever feel unsafe at school — students and teachers alike,” she said.

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Palestinian protestors storm the New York Times

Students-Teachers-Pro-Palestine

Important Takeaways:

  • Pro-Palestinian protesters storm the New York Times building, vandalizing the façade – as hundreds of high schoolers and teachers walk out of class in protest of Gaza bombings
  • Masses of pro-Palestine protesters took to the streets of New York City and made their way to the New York Times building, criticizing their coverage of the war in Israel.
  • On Thursday, demonstrators took over the lobby of the newspaper building, holding up Palestinian flags and a sign that said ‘Ceasefire now.’ They read off names of those killed in Gaza from a paper called ‘The New York Crimes.’
  • It has been just over a month since Hamas launched their surprise attack that killed 1,400 Israelis and seized about 240 hostages in the worst attack in the country’s history.

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CEOs don’t want to hire students who signed letter blaming Israel for Hamas attack

Harvards-Leading-Antisemites

Important Takeaways:

  • A truck drove around Harvard University’s campus on Wednesday displaying the names and faces of several students allegedly affiliated with student-groups that co-signed a letter blaming Israel for Hamas’ attack.
  • The stunt claimed by the conservative media group Accuracy in Media comes after several CEOs have called on Harvard to release the names of students affiliated with groups tied to the controversial letter that solely blamed Israel for the attack.
  • The billboard called the students “Harvard leading antisemites.”
  • In a message on X, Hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman called for students to be named so he and other companies don’t hire them.
  • “One should not be able to hide behind a corporate shield when issuing statements supporting the actions of terrorists,” Ackman wrote.

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CDC shows rise in students identifying as LGBQ; could it be because that’s what they teach/glorify in schools now?

Students in Hallway

Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Important Takeaways:

  • One-in-Four High School Students Identify on ‘LGBQ’ Spectrum
  • As curricula across the country feature “LGBTQAI+” content and “Social Emotional Learning” methods, the numbers of students who are identifying as something other than heterosexual is rising to levels more than double seen historically and even dwarfing rates seen among adults, according to data collected by Centers for Disease Control.
  • CDC data shows 12.1% of students 14-18 years old say they are bisexual, 3.2% say they are gay or lesbian, 3.9% say “other,” and 5.2% say they are “questioning” their sexuality. In the adult population, 7% identify as gay, bisexual, or “other.”
  • The data shows that total number of students on the LGBQ spectrum has jumped from 11% in 2015, to 24.5% in 2021.
  • “There is no doubt in my mind that schools are absolutely playing a role in this growth,” Jay Richard, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation told the Mail.
  • “Queer” themes are being presented to school children as young as pre-K and Kindergarten — in many cases without parental consent.
  • The national CDC survey included data from 17,232 students across 152 schools in 45 states.

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4 Idaho students targeted in attack; police continue to investigate

Matthew 24:12 – “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

Important Takeaways:

  • Police: Knife Used to Murder 4 Idaho Students in Targeted Attack
  • Four University of Idaho students found dead in an off-campus home were targeted, and the killer or killers used a knife or other “edged weapon,” police disclosed Tuesday
  • The students were killed in what is considered to be “an isolated, targeted attack and there is no imminent threat to the community at large,” according to police
  • The police said anyone with information should contact the department and asked that people respect the privacy of the victims’ family and friends.

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VA school being investigated for ‘Endorsing Sex work’ for Students

Luke 17:2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.”

Important Takeaways:

  • Police Investigate: Are These VA School Districts Endorsing ‘Sex Work’ for Students?
  • The conversation reportedly began when a middle school teacher, whose name has been withheld, asked the librarian if the school had a copy of the book Seeing Gender; an Illustrated Guide to Identity and Expression by Iris Gottlieb. The book includes a chapter titled “‘Sex Work’ Is Not a Bad Term”
  • A chapter of the book describes so-called “sex work” as a normal and acceptable job. “It’s a job like being a store clerk, an architect, or a freelance writer. We all, unfortunately, have to do work in order to make a living. Some of us hate our jobs and some of us love them — the same goes for those who do sex work,” the chapter claims.
  • The teacher reportedly told police in a recorded conversation that the librarian, whose name has also been withheld for privacy reasons, confirmed the library had the book and claimed it was useful to students engaged in sex work, according to The Daily Wire.

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Missouri attorney general sues school districts that mandate masks

(Reuters) – Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against school districts in his state that have required masks for students and teachers, calling the practice in a statement “arbitrary and capricious.”

The lawsuit filed in Boone County Circuit Court named Columbia Public Schools, its school board and its superintendent as defendants but also includes other schools that have issued such mandates.

Columbia’s school district, with about 19,000 pupils in the center of the Midwestern state, issued a mask mandate this month for all students, teachers and staff to protect against a surge in COVID-19 cases.

“We filed this suit today because we fundamentally don’t believe in forced masking, rather that parents and families should have the power to make decisions on masks, based on science and facts,” Schmitt said in a statement.

The lawsuit asked the court to rule the mask mandate is unlawful and to block the district from carrying it out.

The lawsuit is one of several court battles being waged in the United States over masking and COVID vaccinations as educators, parents and lawmakers grapple with another coronavirus surge just as students head back to the classroom.

In Florida, the state Board of Education on Friday ordered two school districts to provide parents with a way to opt out of a requirement that their children wear masks or face having some of their state funding withheld. On Tuesday, the Broward County School Board, which oversees a system of 261,000 students, said it rejected the order.

Columbia Public Schools officials were not available for comment on Tuesday. On Aug. 13, when the district announced the masking requirement, it cited a high rate of transmission of the Delta variant in the community.

“We know not everyone will agree with this decision,” the district said in a statement. “This decision is not a forever decision, but it is a decision that is currently necessary.”

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Editing by Chris Reese and David Gregorio)

CDC recommends masking indoors for unvaccinated students, teachers in U.S. schools

(Reuters) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday updated its guidance to help reopen schools in the fall, including recommending masking indoors for everyone who is not fully vaccinated and three feet of distance within classrooms.

The CDC in its latest guidance said all kindergarten through grade 12 schools in the United States should continue to mandate wearing masks indoors by all individuals who are not fully vaccinated.

The agency said that if localities decide to remove prevention strategies in schools based on local conditions, they should remove them one at a time. Schools should monitor closely for increases in COVID-19 cases before removing the next prevention strategy.

“Because of the importance of in-person learning, schools where not everyone is fully vaccinated should implement physical distancing to the extent possible within their structures, but should not exclude students from in-person learning to keep a minimum distance requirement,” the new guidance said.

A study by the CDC also released on Friday showed that half of unvaccinated adolescents and parents of unvaccinated adolescents reported being uncertain about getting a COVID-19 vaccine, or did not intend to get one at all.

(Reporting by Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Dan Grebler)

COVID-19 mask mandates latest flashpoint for U.S. schools

By Sharon Bernstein and Colleen Jenkins

(Reuters) – Two days after the school board in Johnston, Iowa, decided last week to keep requiring mask wearing in schools to prevent coronavirus transmission, the state’s Republican governor signed a law that immediately prohibited such mandates.

The reaction in Johnston was swift and sharply divided, with some parents applauding the move to make masks optional for the waning days of the school year and others calling it dangerous given the continued threat from COVID-19.

“I just find it super disappointing and selfish,” said local parent Sara Parris, who is still sending her two sons to class with face coverings.

The debate over masks in schools is yet another flashpoint for U.S. educators grappling with how to keep students and staff safe during the pandemic. Friction around returning to in-person learning has given way to heated disagreements over whether masks should be shed for good.

Iowa and Texas have banned school districts from requiring kids to wear masks on campus. Similar moves are under consideration in other states and local jurisdictions, spurred in part by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) saying on May 13 that vaccinated people no longer needed to wear masks in most situations.

With children under age 12 not yet eligible for vaccinations, however, the CDC recommends face coverings in educational settings at least through the end of the school year. While children are less likely to suffer severe COVID-19, they are not without risk and can readily transmit the virus.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said on Twitter that her state was “putting parents back in control of their child’s education and protecting the rights of all Iowans to make their own health care decisions.”

Responding to the governor via Twitter, Democratic state Senator Sarah Trone Garriott said: “I’m hearing from lots of parents reporting that their children are being bullied for wearing a mask. Are you going to stand up for their personal choice?”

At the Johnston school board meeting last week, most parents spoke in favor of making masks optional, with one mother calling masking requirements for children abusive. Other parents emailed school officials asking for mask mandates to remain in place.

“It’s been difficult to try to find the right balance,” Justin Allen, president of the school board and a parent of two high school students, said in an interview.

“Just when you think you are in kind of a comfort zone and you think you can focus on education for awhile, something else emerges and you have another controversial issue to address.”

CDC STUDY BACKS MASKS

In North Carolina, parents opposed to mandatory face coverings staged a protest in Wake County after Democratic Governor Roy Cooper lifted mask requirements in some situations but not in schools.

“Parents should determine if their child should wear a mask, not school systems or the governor,” parent Nazach Snapp wrote in a letter to the Wake County school board.

Others urged the board to continue its mask requirement.

“Given that vaccines are not available yet for children under 12, I implore you to continue to require students in middle and elementary settings to wear masks,” wrote parent Mimosa Hines.

A study published by the CDC on Friday showed that in elementary schools that required masks, transmission of COVID-19 was lower by 37% than in schools where masks were optional. The study, which included 169 elementary schools in Georgia that were open for in-person instruction, also showed improved ventilation slowed virus transmission.

It advised increasing, not decreasing, the use of masks and ventilation in schools.

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association, two unions that represent a total of about 5 million teachers and staff, have urged states to keep their mask requirements at least through the end of this school year.

While nearly 90% of AFT’s members have been vaccinated against COVID-19, many of their students have not.

U.S. regulators earlier this month authorized use of the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc and partner BioNTech SE for children ages 12 to 15. It is still being tested for use in younger children.

AFT President Randi Weingarten said Texas and Iowa “jumped the gun” in removing their mask requirements. Politics around masks, along with unclear guidance from the CDC, have left teachers in an awkward position, she said.

“Teachers don’t want to become the mask police,” she said. “It’s time to let us actually teach.”

(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, California and Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Editing by Bill Berkrot)