|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By Paul Bean
Vermont’s Secretary of Education and Attorney General have issued a joint statement saying Vermont schools need not and will not make any changes to comply with President Trump’s executive orders that require public schools nationwide to remove DEI initiatives.
“Our priority is to protect Vermont’s values, preserve essential federal funding, and support schools in creating positive school environments free from the type of bullying and manipulation we see in our national politics today,” wrote Secretary Zoie Saunders in response to an April 3 letter sent from the U.S. Department of Education that warned that noncompliance with the Trump administration’s DEI programming ban could result in schools losing federal funding.
“Nothing about this directive requires a change to our diversity, equity and inclusion practices, and we’re not going to change. It is critical to be calm, confident, and clear eyed about the difference between lawful education initiatives and political rhetoric,” continued the joint statement.
“For example, the Trump administration has issued several executive orders that characterize DEI as practices that shame or exclude students of majority groups, calling supportive mental health and school climate initiatives ‘veiled discriminatory practices’ and accusing schools of assigning less value to certain students because of their race.”
The letter says that the pressure from the administration is not in compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “which is the existing law prohibiting race-based discrimination in schools that Vermont schools have followed for decades.”
“These descriptions could not be further from the truth of what takes place in Vermont classrooms,” continues Saunders, “In Vermont, diversity, equity and inclusion practices are about being supportive of all students to create and sustain positive, welcoming learning environments.”
The letter also questions the legality of Trump’s executive orders and assures readers that instruction in Vermont schools is perfectly legal. “Importantly, none of President Trump’s executive orders are legally binding related to instruction in Vermont classrooms. The Agency of Education continues to provide information to the field, reassuring school districts that current initiatives, which are perfectly legal as a matter of state and federal law, can and should continue.”
Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark echoed Secretary Saunders’ legal concerns on the validity of President Trump’s executive orders. “Vermont has been following the law, will follow the law, and we will continue to protect Vermonters against any unlawful actions by the federal government,” said Clark. “I also want to remind Vermonters that Vermont has our own state laws that offer greater protections for students, employees, and the general public, and we will enforce those with equal vigor as well. A change in administration in Washington doesn’t change Vermont’s sovereign right to educate its children consistent with the laws.”
Cover photo of Vermont Pride Flag by prideflag.com
Discover more from Vermont Daily Chronicle
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categories: Education
Guess Vermont won’t be getting Federal funds, how wonderful of progressives to think about how this will impact taxpayers
…especially since “government money” is the mother’s milk of their ideology and the currency to buy votes.
Empty their goddamned schools then……We’ll build our own via “associations” of homeschooling families Teach things that are real and useful. Dennis Morrisseau
I am sooo in favor of this. We need to divest ourselves from the state-run indoctrination system.
Looks like at this present time Vermont has no values to protect.
I guess Vermont AG and Secretary of Education were on vacation when Janet Mills got her education in Maine. Interestingly it sounds like they might get their own education, up front and personal. Unfortunately, Vermont loses until they wise up. DEI has been removed from the Dept of Education in all 50 states, according to the Executive Branch of the United States. Maybe they want to take Trump to court. In Maine, the Governor was told by her legal counsel, “you will loose” ! If that wasn’t enough, the people of Maine wanted to remove her from office. That could be the fate of Vermont’s AG and Secretary of Education, if all Federal Funding is eliminated.
Homeschooling is booming in Vermont.
Oh this is going to get good. Finally we have somebody with a brain and backbone in charge, the uniparty won’t know what hit them.
The subversion is going to fail, thank you Lord!
I would like to offer some benefit of the doubt to Secretary Saunders’ motives since she had likely felt the strong need to endear herself to the demo/prog legislators who fail to approve of her. She is still an asset to the Vermont education system regardless of this kiss up. It’s going to come down to the courts to decide what constitutes a “DEI practice” anyhow and whether some school curriculum fits the definition. We can only hope that she will not take this any further and go along with some of the left’s ideas on what the criteria should be for playing women’s sports and access to restrooms and changing facilities in the schools.
Come On Rich!
If Saunders doesn’t have the courage to do what is right here, she has failed at her job. This is what is wrong with Vermont Government. It’s an echo chamber of mostly Far Left, Lawless Activists.
This is a Civil Rights Matter. True biological females are denied their ability to exist and function as they were born; while some who have the mental illness of gender dysphoria are allowed to redefine their own sex in opposition of biology.
Let’s see how the Federal Court rules on the present ongoing case of Alliance Defending Freedom and Vermont Christian School against the State of Vermont.
Well, there goes our federal education funding. Guess we’ll be bumping up our taxes again to push DEI instead of math and reading. I had thought Scott picked an educator, not an indoctrinator.
Unfortunately, he probably picked her because she’s just like him. To advance in Vermont political circles you have to be diagnosed with TDS prior to appointment.
Well of course these two, didn’t get the message ” DEI ” is dead, but these two DEI “hires ” think its a great plan or just won’t follow the law…………More fools in charge.
Maybe they missed the DEI Governor of Maine, and pushing her agenda and she wouldn’t follow the Presidents order, how did that work for her ??
We have fools in charge, these two will end up costing you more tax dollars as the federal funding will be removed all for an agenda.
Calling Paul Dame, …..
Calling Paul Dame, …..
All you “reasonable, centrist republicans”?
Want to get out in front of an 80/20 issue?
(Of course, in VT it’s more like 60/40, but wait til the federal funding dries up and taxpayers are holding the bag.)
No worries here. Once federal funds stop all of this DEI nonsense will stop as well.
However, Homeschool IS the answer!
Read the rich history of Vermonts one room school house’s. Over 2,500 and I believe 3 normal schools , (created to produce teachers ), were here in Vermont at one point. This basically is what the homeschool movement is doing!
Take the time to talk to homeschooling parents and their children. A diverse group regarding politics and religion but a unified group concerning the rights of parents to educate their children and the desire for a traditional education, which produces intelligent, mature, well behaved and well adjusted citizens of the United States.
All the sudden they care about The Civil Rights Act which they have been openly defying since covid with health, economic, housing and education programs and “affinity” groups only for people with specific skin colors or sexual preferences. As a former school board member i was forcefully kicked off of a VSBA “BIPOC affinity group” because of my skin color. A group that supposedly was created to fight discrimination discriminated against me because of my skin color. Anyone else feel like they’re surrounded by emotionally driven, virtue signaling, lunatics that are completely unaware of Maoism and history in general?
” Vermont has our own state laws that offer greater protections for students.” Ptotections ? DEI, and gender bending protects students ? Maybe when up is down, left is right, or when black is white. But until then I prefer the tried and true “when pigs fly!”
I choose to support a leader, Trump, instead of the inept Vermont clowns that are, unfortunately, in a position to cost me a lot of money with their bad decisions!
Well I guess we will see if less money for VT schools produces better results.
So much for Zoe actually had high hopes for her
What happened to Christian Academy, or the Northfield case which was awarded a settlement, testament that it is happening , allowing boys to compete and shower with the girls is part of Trumps message, and of course the market did rebound, I think Vermont is stepping on a hornet’s nest.
Vermont is always behind the eight ball and sucking hind tit. Always having to learn the lesson the hard way.