is it bye fenicia time?
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Tag Archives: Great valley school district
we should listen to our kids: books don’t belong behind bars…
My commentary is simple: don’t these parents in Radnor Township have anything better to do, either? Apparently some homophobic/everything phobic types down in Radnor filed a police report AGAINST the Radnor High School Librarians/Library for having Gender Queer in the library. (There is no police report I can find, although I know one exists, so if you are interested, please file a Right to Know with Radnor Township Police.)
So I don’t know if all of these insecure- about -their- own -sexuality- or- the- potential -sexuality- of- their -children parents all get together in dark rooms and swap war stories, but whomever did this is taking a page out of the Fenica Redman vs. Great Valley School District playbook. The descriptive adjective I have for the taxpayer time and money wasting people like this is ridiculous. If you don’t like a book, don’t read, but make it forbidden fruit or fall on your proverbial sword trying means every kid everywhere will want to read it. I mean, d’oh on that one, right?
These people give their kids Internet access and they are worried about ONE book? Do these people also care about the pariahs they are creating out of their own kids in these schools?
Now this issue has been ongoing in Radnor since November sometime if not earlier, but the words of the students via their own newspaper stopped me in my tracks. These are the words of the kids these “adults” claim to be protecting:
Sammy Rosin/Radnorite: Books Don’t Belong Behind Bars
December 14, 2022
As the hub of the school, students stream in and out of the RHS library all day, in groups or alone, but always feeling welcomed. Any RHS student can tell you about the warm ambience of this space filled with comfortable blue chairs, half-finished chess games, and shelves full of brightly covered books. Senior Sabina Eraso explained, “The RHS Library is not only a place where you can do homework, but also a place where you can hang out with friends and take a break. All of my friends and I love sitting together in the library during lunch and free periods, and we especially enjoy talking to the librarians.” Even more than the friends, books, and study space that students find in the library, it is the kindness of the librarians, Mrs. Wetzel and Mrs. Richter, that helps so many students feel comfortable here.
Unfortunately, certain parents in the Radnor School District do not understand or respect the importance of the library, the books within it, or the librarians themselves. On November 6th, a Radnor parent filed a police report about the Radnor High School library having the book Gender Queer available to students. This event occurred just months after a committee of Radnor parents and educators, including Dr. Batchelor, participated in thoughtful discourse that ultimately ended in a vote to keep Gender Queer in the Radnor High School Library. As Common Sense Media describes, Gender Queer: A Memoir is “a comics-style illustrated account of the author’s journey toward understanding nonconforming gender and sexuality.” In 2020, the book received an Alex Award from the American Library Association (ALA), which commends books that have a “special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18.” Despite this thorough review and approval from members of the community and the ALA, the parents targeting the book labeled it as “porn” and felt it necessary to report it to the police.
The trend of parents labeling books that focus on race or LGBTQ+ issues as dangerous or inappropriate has skyrocketed across the country, and Radnor has been no exception. Parents have tried to target books including All Boys Aren’t Blue, George, and Lawn Boy – all of which are LGBTQ+ inclusive. As these parents try to insert their belief system into the school for the “safety” of their children, they are simultaneously harming so many others. Sophomore Finn Metzger, who uses They/He pronouns, explained, “Some children are gay, some children are trans, and those children enjoy reading books that reflect their experiences and tell them that everything is going to be okay. It makes me incredibly sad to know that there are some parents out there who would deny their children that feeling of belonging.” The reason that parents have given for targeting books such as Gender Queer usually comes back to “explicit sexual content.” Senior Michael McNicholas drew attention to the hypocrisy of this claim, stating, “I have had to read plenty of books within this school with heterosexual sex scenes and those aren’t getting banned, so why the homosexual ones?”
Despite parent attempts that started over a year ago to ban books in RTSD, many RHS students are still not aware that this is happening. Finn Metzger pointed out that they usually find out about these attempts through other students, adding that there is a need for “transparency and assurance that [the school administration] won’t give into these parent’s demands” from the school district. He also suggested that “a message on the [RTSD] website or on Schoology saying that [RTSD administrators] won’t stand for this hate would go a long way.”
To students, the RHS library is a place of trust and belonging, and these parents are trying to chip away at that with their attacks. Many students rely on the librarians’ kindness and support each day, but how can we expect them to do their job the same way if they’re threatened for doing it. At Radnor, our librarians do more than help people with books. RHS Executive Director Michael McNicholas emphasized, “One time last year I was about to have a panic attack, and neither my case manager nor the school psychologist was here. I was freaking out, and Mrs. Wetzel was there for me and helped talk me down.” Michael described the two librarians as “godsends” and “true inspirations,” a sentiment shared by so many students at Radnor. In addition, the librarians make great efforts to enhance every single students’ education. Finn Ryan, class president for the Class of 2024, commented, “We have access to amazing resources that some students may not have access to outside of Radnor. Mrs. Wetzel and Mrs. Richter do a great job of bridging that gap and helping students get access to those resources, and they are able to help you figure out how to use them.”
Along with the different databases and websites the library provides, books with representation, whether in regards to race, gender, or sexuality, are a critical resource for students. Finn Metgzer explained, “Books can act as the bridge between staying in the closet and coming out. For somebody who knows they’re not cishet but doesn’t have the confidence to do something like join SAGA or enter a queer online space, books can be a fantastic way to learn and experiment with their identity without having to tell other people.” They emphasized that these books help make the library and the school safer for many students, possibly even “safer than at home.”
Any parent is allowed the right to try to protect their children, but when it comes to efforts to ban books, our community really needs to consider who is being harmed in the long run and why parents see certain books as a threat. In surveying nearly 34,000 LGBTQ youth, The Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health found that “LGBTQ youth who live in a community that is accepting of LGBTQ people reported significantly lower rates of attempting suicide than those who do not.” When parents actively denounce and vilify books that feature LGBTQ+ characters, they send a message to the children in our community. Finn M described that parents targeting certain books conveys the message that “[LGBTQ+ students] will only be accepted if we never talk about our identities and experiences.” He continued, “I was really hurt when I found out that Gender Queer was being targeted last year because I felt that the casual “‘I’m okay with gay people as long as they don’t shove it down my throat’” homophobia that I had sometimes faced at home was making its way into my school.” Finn R. pointed out, “The books that certain parents might not agree with, just the fact that they’re in [the library] doesn’t really mean anything because someone has to choose to pick up that book. Even if they do choose to pick up that book, the books chosen serve no other purpose than to broaden the scope of understanding and the awareness of people, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing whatsoever.”
As students reach high school, we receive more freedom and more opportunities to make our own decisions. We are told that as high schoolers we now have more responsibility and that we must act as role models for younger students. In keeping with these messages, parents should be able to trust their students to read books that are right for them. Students should have the freedom to experiment and choose independently of their parents’ influence. As Finn Ryan explained, “It’s sometimes a little insulting to students to think that just picking up a book means that we’re indoctrinated and learning all of these new things that we’ve never been exposed to before.” RTSD parents need to understand that while a high schooler can easily make the choice not to take a certain book off the shelf, if that book is not there in the first place, then so many students, including those who may be struggling with their identity, will be deprived of a safe outlet.
We, as adults, need to actually listen to the kids at times. No, they may not legally be able to make their own decisions, but we need to rid our school districts of parents who feel they should act in the interest of EVERY kid, EVERY parent, EVERY everyone and they do not in fact speak for, nor have the ability to represent everyone. They don’t care about anyone other than themselves. They are selfish and ugly minded people who feel ALL of our rights don’t matter no matter how we feel, only theirs. Seems to me they need a basic refresher course on the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence but I am sure they are trying to ban those works from libraries and bookshelves as well.
Kids have enough issues being kids today without this nonsense. And it is nonsense. The phobias of the few, should not always be everyone in general’s problem.
The words of this student are profound and true. I hope someone gives Sammy Rosin a college scholarship somewhere so she can continue writing. Maybe adults should stop and listen?
To Sammy Rosin I say, brava, well done. And thank you.
in case residents in great valley school district ever wonder why taxes will go up
So it’s almost Christmas and good ol’ Fenicia is still on her crusade to protect her child from bad things. Is it true her “child” is a teenager? Like 16 or something? Does he want mom to protect him? Has anyone ever asked this poor kid how he feels about his mom’s performances at school board meetings and in Federal Court?
It is her right to do this to be sure, but what has she gained? How much has she cost the taxpayers in the Great Valley School District and in East Whiteland Township since she is also trying to sue our law enforcement personnel for doing their jobs, essentially?
She still has a Go Fund Me up. Here are most of her donors for it:
So do you know any of these people? Make sure you tell them thank you, right? This costs ALL of us money. And for what?
Redman was granted a delay to find an attorney – that expired on Nov 28 and she admitted she still didn’t have an attorney, BUT then she requested and was granted another 30-day extension to submit amendments. Her GoFundMe page lays out the details from her point of view.
Once she amended her original complaint the judge dismissed the defendants’ motions to dismiss as moot (they had said she had no standing based on what she originally filed).
My opinion is this is bullshit. And is she doing her own filings or is some attorney helping her on the side?
Now it seems the judicial system is getting tired of these things, so read the Daily Local article about the election drama this fall. Some rather familiar names got a judicial spanking. Here is an excerpt of Michael Rellehan’s article:
WEST CHESTER — In his ruling last week dismissing the demand for a recount of the results of the Nov. 8 election in 11 Chester County precincts, Judge Jeffrey Sommer not only called into question the legal basis for the petitioners’ claims but suggested that four of them had been at the least disingenuous and at most dishonest.
“Were you lying then or are you lying now?” the judge asked rhetorically in his decision last week.
The quartet — voters from Birmingham, West Pikeland and Willistown — each served as a poll worker during the past election, as a Judge of Elections, a Majority Inspector, and two clerks — had alleged in their petitions requesting to have the ballot boxes in their home precincts opened and the votes there recounted by hand that un-detailed instances of fraud or error in the counting of votes for governor and the lieutenant governor had occurred…. In his 18-page opinion and order, Sommer noted that the four had sworn an oath to uphold the Election Code, and at the end of the day had signed a verification to that effect — that as poll workers they had “followed all of the procedures proscribed by law.”
How could there then have been fraud under their watch if they said nothing illegal had been done at the time, Sommer asked.
“The four petitioners who conducted the election in their precincts and who swore that they would uphold the law, who counted and reconciled the votes, and who then swore that they followed all procedures proscribed by law, now claim there was fraud in their precinct,” the judge noted incredulously. “In short, they now claim they themselves acted fraudulently or in error,” he wrote. “Aside from the obvious question, ‘Were you lying then or are you lying now?’ it reinvigorates one of the seminal inquires (in the case): Do you have specific claims of fraud?”
Because attorney Joseph D. DiGuglielmo of Wallace, who represented the plaintiffs, assured the judge during a hearing that there indeed was evidence of fraud, although he declined to specify what, “the court wonders if perhaps it is because his own petitioners may have acted fraudulently and could be subject to investigations by the District Attorney.”Sommer did not identify the four who worked the polls in his opinion. However, they were named in separate memorandums filed by the Chester County Solicitors Office ahead of the Dec. 5 hearing. They are Birmingham voters Marc Altman, who worked as Judge of Election in Precinct 2, and Kathleen Perri Dobson, who worked as a clerk there; Shannon Grady of West Pikeland, who served as Majority Inspector; and Deirdre “Dee” Miller, who worked as a clerk in Willistown’s N-1 precinct.
Attempts to reach Altman, Grady and Miller for comment were unsuccessful. Messages were left for the trio at phone numbers for them listed publicly but were not returned…Contacted on Wednesday, Dobson refused to comment.
“I will not talk to a reporter,” Dobson said in a brief telephone conversation. “You guys distort everything. Until you guys get some integrity — if you even understand the word — don’t call me again. I don’t trust you.”…“Petitioners cannot ‘lay by and gamble upon receiving a favorable decision of the electorate and then upon losing, seek to undo those ballot results in court actions,” he said, quoting a 1973 federal election case. “By first swearing and attesting that the election results were legal and valid, these petitioners must now be (barred) from asserting unspecified fraud in the votes tally they certified.”
In his withering 17-page decision, Judge Jeffrey Sommer turned aside the contentions by the 33 voters that they should get access to the ballots to prove that there had been some sort of skulduggery in the election, evidence of which DiGuglielmo said existed but which he would not produce.
Sommer filed his order denying the request “with prejudice,” meaning the litigants are legally prohibited from re-filing their demands in Common Pleas Court…. The petitions were filed by more than 30 voters in 11 precincts across the county — in Birmingham, East Bradford, Kennett, Tredyffrin, West Goshen, West Pikeland, Willistown, Upper Uwchlan and Uwchlan. Filed in boilerplate style with spaces left for voters to fill in the blanks, the petitions sought a hand recount of ballots because of unspecified “fraud or error” in the election…. An effort that appears to be at least partially coordinated among conservatives has inundated counties with ballot recount requests even though no races are close enough to require a recount and there has been no evidence of any potential problems.
The attempt to delay certification could foreshadow a potential strategy for the 2024 presidential election if the results don’t go the way disaffected voters want in one of the nation’s most closely contested states.
Never fear readers, I am sure these lovelies will be back at school board meetings wearing gas masks soon enough.
So Raffi Terzian and Chesco GOP are y’all still hitching your proverbial wagons to these crooked stars, aka extremist groups and school board terrorists?
Here is the PACER Monitor on the book burning err banning in Federal Court: https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/45724937/REDMAN_v_WOLF_et_al
Here is Justia:
https://dockets.justia.com/docket/pennsylvania/paedce/2:2022cv03389/600100
Well that’s it. Just sharing the information that is out there. And I am still asking why we have to keep paying for the phobias of others like this? These people have no interest in the rights of everyone, this is about their comfort level. Whatever happened to not making every single god damn person on the planet pay for what one person or a small group of people are not comfortable with? In this case, does she pay court costs when this is all over?
And here are some of the recent docket filings to read:
something brewing over teacher contracts in great valley school district?
There was a sea of blue union shirts at the Great Valley School District School Board meeting this evening. The shirts were worn by staff and teachers I am told.
I have to ask was that a polite message most easily translated as “We’re waiting for our new contract, get busy” ?
The head of the Great Valley School District teachers union (Great Valley Education Association) spoke briefly basically with a “friendly“ message that they are “frustrated“ that school has started and there’s no contract yet.
To me that’s a friendly threat to strike if they don’t get something soon.
I will admit it was nice to see teachers at the meeting as opposed to the usual crazy anti-maskers, book banners, etc.
she wants to sue great valley school district in federal court? and taxpayers get to pay for it and the public is supposed to fund it?
It’s back to school season and it’s also back to school with the latest bunch of litigation and litigants whom in my opinion are wasting school district and school board time and wasting taxpayer monies. THAT is a legitimate opinion, and allowed by law.
Further and to the point, there is a parent named Fenicia Redman suing Great Valley School District, school board members, Governor Wolf, Attorney General Josh Shapiro, local police officers, and whomever else she can fit on a docket. She is representing herself pro se in Federal Court in front of Judge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro. If you want to know how to contact anyone in this esteemed Judge’s office, CLICK HERE.
I am posting publicly available information on this case, because I think it is in the interest of residents of this school district, this county, this state. I am posting the court dockets, filing, and links to information on the GoFundMe that also appears on some “Christian” funding site.
I do also have an opinion and comment regarding the audacity of doing a GoFundMe, etc. It’s pretty simple: she has a need for all of us to pay for what she is doing quite literally and financially. I have no issue with friends and relatives deciding whether or not to support Ms. Redman, but I find it outrageous that she is using a GoFundMe for public funding, which should be for actual need vs. self-created drama funding, and can you understand how I and others might feel? I will note that you can see some of the donors. Very interesting.
Ban Sexually Explicit Books In Great Valley SD, Mom Asks In Lawsuit
A federal judge denied Fenicia Redman’s request for a preliminary injunction to ban the books before the case is litigated.
Holly Herman’s profile picture
Holly Herman,
Patch Staff
Posted Thu, Sep 8, 2022
This lady has the former School Board Chair who went from being a fiscally responsible individual whom you always didn’t agree with to one flew over the cuckoo’s nest politically singing her praises, and supposedly Doug Monsteriano (of course). Perhaps The Man From Oz will pop up with a miracle cure for her as well? And what about little man Guy Ciarrocchi and Stepford Wife for Totalitarianism Sarah Marvin or Gail I Run For Everything Newman? Have they popped up in support? Or are they steering clear because it might be a little too close to the bone for them? I don’t know, just wondering aloud, which is also allowed.
Apparently this lady did a “press conference” on school district property? And the police were called to escort her off the property? So now the police are bad (see “sic cops” below) for doing their job? Umm if she had done this on a courthouse steps, she would have probably been left alone, correct? But this adds more drama, maybe?
People sue school districts all of the time. Over taxes being raised, evil spying laptops (Lower Merion), and many other things with actual validity in my opinion. This new brand of school board/school district litigation is basically a nice way to drive up costs, you know like the lawsuits that thus far have gone exactly nowhere in multiple district over masking?
Enbedded is what is on the dockets. It is public information. People should know why their school taxes etc go up. Things like this contribute. And because other various and assorted public officials not in the Great Valley School District are involved, also consider that taxpayers pay for that as well.
Finally, this lady is part of the regular circus at Great Valley School Board meetings, complete with her often grotesque story boards or poster boards, correct? She always says she is doing this for her child? Poor child. Wouldn’t therapy for both of them be less expensive? I say poor child, because whatever this parent does will follow an innocent child and well shouldn’t we pray for that child?
“Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.”
~Isaiah 33:2
Heaven help us. What a world we live in. So many phobias, so little time. What happened to enjoying life as you see fit, without trying to impose your will on others? What happened to it’s a big, big world with a lot of room for lots of different kinds of people? What happened to peace on earth?
Sigh.
pi (π) day and other fun tales
Yesterday for Pi (π) Day, I made a dinner pie. I made a chicken sausage pot pie with a mashed potato top crust.
Now that we have the pleasantries out-of-the-way, let’s dive into the Stepford wives for totalitarianism. They don’t love me this week because I kind of object to their gender phobias when it comes to kids in school along with everything else they are phobic or rabid about.
There is an issue going on in the Great Valley School District. It was highlighted by a website.
📌If you are the parent of a child questioning their gender identity in the Great Valley School District, their teacher is not allowed to tell you.
In fact, under district policy, the teacher is required to keep that information secret from parents. And the teacher must also call your child by the name they choose and refer to them by the pronouns they wish.
“It seems to be a very disturbing thing to me, keeping this information from parents,” a long-time Great Valley school teacher told Delaware Valley Journal. DVJournal is withholding the teacher’s name at their request, to allow them to speak freely without the fear of backlash.📌
I don’t have a child who has dealt with gender or questioning their sexual identity. But I am not closing my mind to it, just because we didn’t experience it. Our child did have a classmate in high school who did work through gender identity. The school and the class were very supportive. I know it was hard for this kid even with support.
I have friends whose kids are figuring it out. Two identify as non-binary. They are both lovely kids, one of whom I first met when they were a toddler. These are kids who are lucky because their families are supportive, and their schools seem supportive.
I also don’t pretend to be a person who can get all the pronouns and how they relate straight. I screw them up all of the time because it’s not something I’m familiar with. It’s beyond my realm of personal experience, and I don’t see the world that way. However, I’m not going to criticize anyone who sees things via different gender identities and or sexual preferences. And learning about it doesn’t make me a bad person, because to some if you are tolerant with regard to these issues or try to be understanding that makes you the enemy. But a lot of these people are the same ones who don’t want special needs kids mainstreamed, either.
However for any of these children school can be a very hard place. Home can also be a difficult place. I remember years ago back to when I was in high school. I had friends who are gay who were afraid to come out as such back then. It was very hard for them to feel accepted in this world and to learn to speak their truth. None of us ever loved them any less. As their friends we supported them and we figured when they were ready to tell the world, they would. And eventually they did.
The problem I have with this whistleblower teacher is they don’t even understand these kids nor do they seem capable of trying.
This whole informing the parents issue has missed a rather large point. Legally speaking, certain occupations are mandatory reporters (ie medical personnel in an ER must report a dog bite, teachers must report abuse.) They want teachers to be required to report gender issues? Perhaps consider that FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act ) exists to protect students privacy? The relationship is between the student and the teacher is it not?
Also if they (a teacher) did report gender issues to the parents and it led to any type of abuse at home then the school district could be held liable in a civil case. And if a teacher doesn’t actually know how mandatory reporting works, that’s a little frightening.
So now that they have their Pyrrhic victory over masking in schools they have moved on to basically thinking it’s OK to belittle people who are still wearing masks because they are still uncomfortable after the two years of living with La Vida COVID. They are also working on their book banning list, which also has a lot to do with their fear over gender identity and the sexuality of teenagers essentially.
To these parents who live in this fear is it because you think you will be less of a person somehow if you have a kid who has a different gender identity or sexual preference? Are you saying it’s bad to be gay or to identify as other than the traditional male/female? Or are you just saying it’s bad to be different from what you are or understand?
I have to be honest and say I don’t understand these people. We all try not to judge them but they feel free to judge us and tell all of us that their rights supersede ours always. And we are supposed to just sit there while they spread misinformation and prejudice?
At this point because my views are uncomfortable for these people, I take a daily flogging or stoning. I am a bad woman, I am evil, I’m nasty, I am unhappy, I have problems. Essentially they bully and harass me every single day. But I am the one who is doing the bullying and harassing if I stand up for myself or something I believe in. (Pretzel logic.)
OK we all have problems. No one‘s life is perfect, but honestly? I’m not an unhappy person and it is quite all right if I do not think the way everyone else does. It makes me an individual. I am not mean, unhappy, or troubled because my thought process does not mimic the Sheeple.
I am also not going to apologize for posting about a dysfunctional national group trying to infiltrate every school district and community in our area in hopes of controlling them. Most of these people in these groups are not from our area. And for all the locals that belong to their local “chapters” they don’t even realize that they are the ones being indoctrinated and literally brainwashed. If you look at those groups the national group keeps a hand in every local chapter. These people worry about control and undue influence and they are perfect studies of the topic.
We are put on this earth as individuals, capable of independent thought. We live in a messy world and given all that we are facing globally now, I kind of can’t get over these people who are literally concerned about what the neighbors might think if their children don’t identify exactly as little mini me versions of who they are.
I remember a time when everyone used to be able to coexist a little better. We didn’t always agree, but it wasn’t a death star battle if we did disagree. And again I remind these purported adults, that when they complain to their school districts about bullying in their schools, this is where it comes from: THEM.
Try to go out and enjoy the sunshine today.
excerpts from the 11/15/21 great valley school board meeting
The meeting is recorded.
Was there someone special in the back of the room?
The school board meeting last evening for the Great Valley School District picked right up where meetings leading up to the election left off. The public comments were inane at times.
There were two appearances (for example) by local politician and former school board candidate Sallie Campbell. Sallie lost the election but she’s standing on her Alamo. I have to ask is she still a practicing nurse? She’s against masking and vaccinations for Covid, so when she enters a room or a hospital is she even vaccinated? If she is not what is the hospital doing about that? While it might be her right to make her choices, her choices affect other people because she goes to public meetings and she says she still a nurse correct??
Then there was the woman who also spoke a couple of times whose name escapes me who really dropped a bomb at the end of the meeting concerning the school superintendent’s past in Boyertown. It’s public information (CLICK HERE.) there is actually quite a bit out there on this, and other things because face it Boyertown as a bit of a hot mess of a school district. I guess y’all have to do your Googling I’m not going to list everything because I don’t know if the superintendent is really guilty of anything. I do however think that the school district needs to address this.
Then there was the older gent who seems rather homophobic? He also seems concerned with the functionality of women’s reproductive systems. Apparently women aren’t pregnant, barefoot and in the kitchen enough?
I also take issue with the way the Great Valley School Board handles problems at meetings. I’ve watched enough of the meetings of other districts in Chester County and when there’s too much of a problem the solicitor for whichever district it is will tell people to either come to order or they will be removed. Instead they play the deny the presence card and say essentially if people don’t behave they all will leave the meeting. Sorry not sorry but that is crap because the taxpayers are paying for this. And they need to grow a pair and tell people to come to order or have them removed.
Anyway you can watch all the snippets from the November 15, 2021 meeting. You can find the balance of the meeting on their YouTube channel.
unacceptable
I am starting this post with humor. Why? Because by the END of this post, you will appreciate a little humor.
Saturday Night Live had a skit recently on what school board meetings have become from coast to coast.
Why?
Because from coast to coast, people have just plain lost their damn minds.
I have written about the school board meetings here. I have written about the anti-masker, anti-vaxxer protests. I have written about the QAnon school board candidates…and the anti-masker, anti-vaxxer candidates.
Now it occurred to me with posting the cartoons and Saturday Night Live skit and cartoons that this is what I find unacceptable. Ummm, no, and nice try. I find the election season bull sheit unacceptable.
Let’s start with Caroline O’Halloran’s startling revelation in the recent Savvy. I will be quoting liberally:
“For the last month, we’ve been trying to decipher the new forces in play in local school board races.
It hasn’t been easy.
We sought answers from four new groups: Reimagine Radnor PAC, Back to School PA PAC, Pioneer PAC and Neighbors United PA. In an age when campaigns clamor for “transparency,” our questions were straightforward: Who are you? Do you have ties to statewide or national groups? How are you funded? What is your purpose?
At the same time, we reached out repeatedly to Conservative Women of the Main Line (CWML), a one-year-old PAC with T/E roots that hosts monthly speakers for paid members.
CWML’s September speaker was high-profile Stop the Steal activist Scott Presler, who’s been traveling the country helping the GOP “take back the school boards.” A lightning rod for progressives, Presler has been blasted for his work supporting the anti-Muslim group, Act! for America, and for calling the January 6 insurrection “the largest civil rights protest in American history.”….For weeks, we didn’t know if we’d even run a story. We were simply gathering information to see if there was a story worth reporting.
And then a few days ago, we received this from an encrypted – and therefore, untraceable – IP address. A pre-emptive strike to scare us off the story? You decide. Here it is, copy-pasted, unedited and word-for-word:
~ Savvy October 21, 2021
Now before I get to THAT, let’s talk about the other part of this article:
About that photo with far right activist Scott Presler:
Tredyffrin Republicans Chair Raffi Terzian and CWML President/Tredyffrin Republicans Vice Chair Rosanna Hagg ignored our repeated questions. We tried three times.
We did, however, hear back from T/E’s best-funded school board candidate, Deana Wang, who was also pictured with Presler. Wang said she was “not aware of any of those events associated with Scott Presler” and attended the CWML event “to meet more voters.”
When we asked in a follow-up email if she regretted posing with Presler, Wang suggested that Presler may have been mistreated by the press. “We should stop basing all our opinions about a person … based on what the media publishes,” she said.
We also took the opportunity to ask about her funding. Wang had already amassed $16,000 in the spring and who-knows-how-much since then – huge dollars for a school board candidate. Hence, her omnipresent yard signs and polished mailers.
~ Savvy October 21, 2021
Deana, Deana, Deana…if you expect us to believe that you knew NOTHING about this long haired conservative Jesus, is the Tooth Fairy your running mate? If you actually for reals know nothing, you are a dangerous candidate for your ignorance alone, but my take? You all in that dumb photo thought you would enjoy 15 minutes of Internet fame, so honey how is that working out for you?
These people are exhausting. PACs popping up faster that dandelions in June.
Now back to the nasty-gram sent to the ever so nice Savvy Caroline:
So now this journalist is getting nasty comments threatening her publication?
This is unacceptable. I will note that I have had comments come in from protonmail as well. The latest one was from someone who didn’t like me mocking the anti-masker anti-vaxxer protest I saw on 100 in Exton in front of the mall.
These people told the writer to stick to writing about Kentucky Derby Hats and her writing was poor and she was political, etc. etc.
Really Trolls? She’s a great and seasoned writer, is polite and respectful to those she writes about and interviews, and then you threaten her site and advertisers?
And her writing isn’t remotely political – she is covering local stories and hey now y’all do your crap for attention, right? And then you complain when you get attention and threaten? Nice. Pretzel logic. Awesomesauce.
These are total troll moves, what many of you attempt with me a blogger quite often. It’s not acceptable with me either, which is why some comments over the past few months have actually been reviewed by police in more than one jurisdiction, and PS they came to me after they read them. I actually didn’t go to them.
The first amendment entitles me to my opinions and Savvy to their local reporting of whatever THEY choose to cover. It’s not Pravda on this bus, Comrades.
This is why no matter where you are in Southeastern Pennsylvania whether it’s on the Main Line or in Chester County you need to send these school board candidates that these threateners, meeting disrupters, and harassers are backing… packing.
I will also note that although Caroline O’Halloran has always written about fashion and style (she had an awesome section once upon a time when Main Line Media News/Main Line Times was still a real newspaper, as opposed to the hedge-fund eviscerated shell), that is not all she has ever done. And for what it is worth, she has never written about Kentucky Derby Hats BUT she has been a guest judge at Devon Horse Show’s Ladies Hat Day. THAT makes me laugh because I am sure many of those broads in Conservative Women of the Main Line have paraded in front of her and other judges like tarted-up Thanksgiving turkeys and well the humor in the hypocrisy of it all much?
Keep exposing the nasty comments, Caroline. Bullies breed in the darkness. Bring them into the light. You keep doing you, it’s why we think you are wonderful, no matter what our political persuasion. With the distinct lack of local news reporting, you keep us in the know, accurately and fairly. You share all sorts of things with us of all topics, and we thank you.
These school board races.
They are hideous.
Can we talk West Chester Area School District for a Nanosecond? We’ll start with Anonymous Ada Nestor. After all, she claims she ain’t no QAnon Hussy BUT…
And of course lil’ Ada isn’t Q’Anon according to her mouthpiece Stacey Whomsley, until you see this:
For more on the crazy that is West Chester Area School District candidates please visit HERE. And HERE.
There are all sorts of pages and blogs cropping up which seem to be targeting West Chester and Downingtown. Can’t keep up with them, don’t want to it’s like the fake news express with a few thees and thous thrown in and potential “a-ha” moments that are more accurately “D’oh we already knew that so what?”
In the Great Valley School District the “Republican” candidates are as scary as their counterparts in Downingtown School District and West Chester Area School District. Here is their latest propaganda (their mistakes included):
I like fiction, don’t you? So is Lauren Dicranian able to legally drink yet? You have to laugh at the home printed literature that is being distributed by the 2 Region 1 candidates- ZERO attempt to look professional by having a real flyer. A bunch of nonsense put together on lunch break or something, with typos…By the way…The survey mentioned has been around for years and it is not mandatory, it’s an easy opt out; students also have the option to skip questions they don’t want answered.
Now onto the other “unacceptable” because the Great Valley School District loving hands at home literature isn’t unacceptable, merely pathetic. West Chester Area School District’s triplets of crazy (Whomsley, Nestor, Edgarian) are also ridiculously predictable in their onbviousness. Everyone knows they are generally unacceptable, but we go next to Downingtown.
Yes that sign is popping up all over the Downingtown Area School District.
This is the crappiest campaign stunt yet from the lunatics in Downingtown. These women referred to (Rebecca Britton and LeeAnn Wisdom) also happen to be friends of mine. They are among the nicest, most genuine, thoughtful women I know.
I stand with them, and condemn the bull sheit being hurled and spewed at them. No one is claiming production of these signs and a lot of them are appearing where not invited, so I am guessing a lot are disappearing, as well they should. One little child of one of these candidates keeps asking their mommy why these people say these things? How do you explain to an innocent child that there are just people as mean as snakes? Oh wait, I just did.
But these signs? Unacceptable.
Folks this is all I have got on this topic. At least for now. Send the nutters packing on election day. Our democracy and public school system depend upon it.
Peace, love, and candy corn (it is almost Halloween, after all.)
fun and (mask) games at tredyffrin easttown school district school board meeting
Last night was more of the same: pro-mask, anti-mask, with the anti-maskers spitting, sputtering, screaming, and cursing. Makes me think of the Crosby Stills, Nash, & Young song “Teach Your Children” every time. But what are these people teaching? What is their message?
Anyway, last night was tame, at least outside. But inside? Flip out city.
Flip Out 1:
Now one thing gave people pause. Check out this screen shot someone posted and asked if this was the same person:
Left photo is Captain Pink Shirt from last week’s UNsanctioned Great Valley School DIstrict School Board Takeover Meeting. On the right Angry Grey Shirt Man from Tredyffrin Easttown School District School Board meeting.
Is this also the guy outside Valley Forge Middle School cussing out a handful of high school students calling them “Soyboys” and more offensive things? Is this the SAME person???
So here, check this out:
Another perspective:
A snippet from the Great Valley School District School Board UNsanctioned meeting:
So yeah, the sound is not great. People were recording in large rooms off of their phones. But if you turn up the volume, you can hear.
But it’s odd, isn’t it? People who say they live in one school district who appear to have twins or doppelgängers in other school districts? Coincidence or a road show? And what of these people who don’t live in school districts showing up everywhere? Who is organizing them and to what end? Is a political party paying for this? It sure is troubling.
I will note that law enforcement agencies are following these events.
Be safe out there.
bless their hearts, more nastiness
The man above wishes to be famous, so I am obliging.
I received this comment overnight to this blog. I perceive it to be threatening in nature.
One funny thing is I had to look up what NPC was (Non Player Character), and it still means nothing to me because I do not live by video game jargon.
I know people on school boards and elected officials and even reporters are no stranger to nasty comments and emails like this these days, but it seems like since 2020 and prior to that because of the election, people have no boundaries and feel behavior like this is acceptable.
It is not. I am not a public figure or elected official, I am essentially a housewife who blogs sometimes.
This person is obviously male and very angry. If by his IP address you know who he is, someone should have a chat with him. This behavior is not acceptable towards anyone.
Obviously his email is fake.
He says he lives in Willistown so his comment in situ went to the Great Valley School District superintendent and school board, Willistown and East Whiteland supervisors and police departments.
This was a comment sent in response to a post I wrote called the dysfunctional states of america.
What he said for those who will complain about having to read a screenshot is as follows:
I am a Willistown homeowner and father of current students. Several distinct but loosely related points that constitute fair warning to the renegade officials we unwisely trusted with our institutions:
* The “mask dictatorship” is reprehensible, driven by propaganda of fear and “othering” that is shockingly effective. I know this because I am a student of propaganda otherwise known as marketing.”The school board is typically dictatorial, fragile, and evidently low IQ “electing” to punt their responsibilities to some mid-level nurse in West Chester that runs the health department. Pussy is an understatement for people so frightened of the literal bogeyman as to extra-legally and casually inflict this on their neighbors.
(don’t even get me going on the Willistown sewer smash-and-grab scheme.)
* And this latter point is the most enraging: “covid” is a weaponization to deprive citizens of information from and directions to their supposedly elected representatives, notably LOCAL officials re GVSB. The GVSD is behaving like the small-minded dictators one might expect in a Latin American banana republic from the 19th C. than elected officials in the United States.
* The irresponsible government situation is intolerable. After a year of pompous official indifference to the nationwide burning, looting, mayhem and murder of BLM/Antifa, the FUD fueled “covid” sanctimony is enraging on a visceral level. When the sleepy, gentlemanly yeomen of Willistown rise in righteous anger, you should understand the boiling point has been reached.
* LEsson Learned: as a political experiment, “democracy” has proven a complete and total failure thanks to corruption and easy public manipulability if not outright idiocy. You liberal-leftist dreamers are about to see your life-long aspiration achieved but you are not going to like how it turns out with a mafia version of old school feudalism that will replace this joke of government. That is to say, the law of the jungle is kill or be killed or sometime put as Only the strong survive. A motley coalition of rabbit people stands no chance.
IDGAF if you agree with my points, if you hate them, or if they inspire you to roll your eyes while spewing some stupid canned insult so typical of NPCs.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. NO MORE.
He’s right. Enough is enough. No one should put up with this brand of verbal abuse. And it is happening everywhere.