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Ohio Joe

(21,896 posts)
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 10:51 AM Aug 2023

Idaho loses its 'Teacher of the Year' after right-wing parents chase her out of state

Karen Lauritzen, who was named as Idaho's "Teacher of the Year" last year by a Republican administration, has now been chased out of the state by angry right-wing parents.

The Boston Globe reports that, shortly after receiving her award for excellence in teaching, Lauritzen became the target of a right-wing media campaign that flagged her social media posts expressing support for LGBTQ rights and the Black Lives Matter movement.

This led to parents angrily demanding to see her lesson plans, despite the fact that there was no suggestion she ever brought her personal politics into the classroom.

However, parents nonetheless objected to teaching students about other cultures around the world and even teaching them about the United Nations on the grounds that the parents said they "don't believe" in the institution.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/idaho-loses-its-teacher-of-the-year-after-right-wing-parents-chase-her-out-of-state/ar-AA1f6gfx?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=04c517a1f1534d52b741be0f7b79eef5&ei=160

Hateful, fearful and ignorant is no way to go through life... It just makes you an angry and violent person.

38 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Idaho loses its 'Teacher of the Year' after right-wing parents chase her out of state (Original Post) Ohio Joe Aug 2023 OP
I wonder what news sources those folks enjoy, maybe investigate and press some suits/make stink! Brainfodder Aug 2023 #1
My husband traveled to Boardman Ohio last week louslobbs Aug 2023 #11
Thank you for this post. calimary Aug 2023 #22
Thank you louslobbs Aug 2023 #32
I agree with calimary... MiHale Aug 2023 #28
You're welcome....believe it or not louslobbs Aug 2023 #33
Tell him to block Fox from her TV when she's sleeping ExWhoDoesntCare Aug 2023 #29
That's actually a really great idea louslobbs Aug 2023 #36
Oh lordy do I know this scenario, sort of. lambchopp59 Aug 2023 #31
Thank you soooo very much for this lambchopp59 louslobbs Aug 2023 #38
This KentuckyWoman Aug 2023 #37
My wife is a professor at a State University in a red state. Happy Hoosier Aug 2023 #2
My daughter just started her first year as a chemistry professor leftieNanner Aug 2023 #6
Did Not Know That Nanner! ProfessorGAC Aug 2023 #13
Thanks Professor! leftieNanner Aug 2023 #16
And they'll suffer more of a brain drain, too. calimary Aug 2023 #23
They should home school. They don't believe in those institutions? tulipsandroses Aug 2023 #3
Sane parents want their children to learn more and achieve more than they did but right-wingers Solly Mack Aug 2023 #4
That should be their motto - badhair77 Aug 2023 #5
Imagine that: a teacher concerned about everyone GreenWave Aug 2023 #7
How LeftLife Aug 2023 #8
We don't believe in things that exist, but believe in things that don't exist MagickMuffin Aug 2023 #9
How sad for the children. mwb970 Aug 2023 #10
Then home school your damn kids, you sanctimonious... 3catwoman3 Aug 2023 #12
Your loss, Idaho. (nt) Paladin Aug 2023 #14
We should check the social media posts of those RW parents IronLionZion Aug 2023 #15
Colleges and universities should take notice SpankMe Aug 2023 #17
Running teachers out of Idaho is a time-honored tradition jmowreader Aug 2023 #18
Once for a joke, I stood on a sidewalk in Seattle with a cardboard sign that read, spike jones Aug 2023 #19
Disgusting. Let the teacher teach. n/t iluvtennis Aug 2023 #20
Fuck these insane lunatics. Initech Aug 2023 #21
I believe the only thing consistently good that ever came out of Idaho is...potatoes! usaf-vet Aug 2023 #27
Fucking Idaho BlueIdaho Aug 2023 #24
When the state is wholly owned and operated... 2naSalit Aug 2023 #25
Might as well leave. Idaho's Reich-MAGA went after librarians... Grins Aug 2023 #26
My union has supported and inspired my journey struggle4progress Aug 2023 #30
United Nations? jcgoldie Aug 2023 #34
I wish I could say I was surprised, but I'm not. Aristus Aug 2023 #35

Brainfodder

(7,781 posts)
1. I wonder what news sources those folks enjoy, maybe investigate and press some suits/make stink!
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 10:57 AM
Aug 2023

Use their tactics....

louslobbs

(3,416 posts)
11. My husband traveled to Boardman Ohio last week
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 12:09 PM
Aug 2023

to assist his 87 year old mother after she suffered a brain bleed and fall. It’s his hometown and a yearly trip usually lasts for seven days and then he gets to make the great escape back to reality. Unfortunately, this trip is keeping him in crazy town way longer than anticipated. All his mom does is sit on the sofa watching FOX and commenting on how criminal the Biden’s are. Even though my husband asked her to respect his request to not discuss politics or religion with him, she seems to be unable or unwilling to respect his request. She’s supposedly a “good Christian,” but she STILL supports Don the traitor trump and it’s clear to us why. Though she admits that she’s racist, she’s not racist in a bad way….she just thinks that “they” would be happier with their own “people.” I asked my husband to not engage her, I told him to restate his requests about not wanting to discuss politics or religion, every time she disrespects what he has asked of her. Also, with the brain bleed, she might be having less control of her mouth, but this is standard practice even in their morning phone call’s when he is here in Palm Springs. My husband and I have been together 30 years and she has never accepted our “kind of love.” You see, our love is “the devil’s lust” and we will answer for our “behavior” on “judgment day.” She never misses an opportunity to tell him, that “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” Anyway, she sits there getting agreement from FOX about all her hatred’s and biases and that makes her feel good. She feels good that this FOX propaganda enforces her belief that she’s right and her son is wrong. He said to me last night, that he believes that this trip will probably be the last time he sees her alive, so he’s going to be the good son and deal with it. I rarely speak with her, but she did get on the phone to thank me for all the Amazon packages I sent and the giant fruit basket, cookies, muffins and the new Keurig Brew Station and 400 Keurig coffee pods. I noticed she didn’t turn them down because we’re gay. She still thinks if both of us found the “right woman” and went back to church, we could “beat the devil” and take away two of his converts. So basically, the devil has had us in his grip for 30 years and all we have to do is find the right woman and go to church and just like that, we’ve beaten the devil…lol. Sorry this was so long winded, guess I needed to vent, but these people are fanatics and they are convinced that they are right and anyone who doesn’t agree with them, is wrong…..and in many cases, the enemy.

calimary

(89,041 posts)
22. Thank you for this post.
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 01:17 PM
Aug 2023

You’re not just venting. You’re giving me/us a look inside. And you’re very likely offering support to others who read this and maybe, just maybe, don’t feel so isolated and alone. And misunderstood.

MiHale

(12,629 posts)
28. I agree with calimary...
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 01:51 PM
Aug 2023

Thank you for a peek inside the living room of a maga. “Racist but not in a bad way”, haven’t heard that line in a while.
Just from the little you wrote I’m thinking you two are a great couple.



 

ExWhoDoesntCare

(4,741 posts)
29. Tell him to block Fox from her TV when she's sleeping
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 02:06 PM
Aug 2023

Whens she complains, tell her it must be down right now, let's watch MSNBC, or even, bloody awful CNN.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

The white lie might get him his mom back.

louslobbs

(3,416 posts)
36. That's actually a really great idea
Fri Aug 11, 2023, 05:27 PM
Aug 2023

I’d do it, but he and I are really different….perhaps that’s why we’ve been together for 30 years. He’s really quiet and reserved…..I’m kinda energetic….lol🔥🎶😈💕

lambchopp59

(2,809 posts)
31. Oh lordy do I know this scenario, sort of.
Fri Aug 11, 2023, 10:55 AM
Aug 2023

Pretty much profile of my father towards his demise. It represents the wildest irony of my long damaged relationship with them:
1976 my father got influenced by the long arm of Westboro Baptists, via persistent efforts despite my father's non-religious nature, these radicalized local southern Baptists convinced him to commit an honor killing of his "evil" son.
He set up an electrocution death trap and scenario designed to lead me into it. Not only was the palpable feeling that something was very wrong about this scene when I came home from the school bus, but after my father demanded I retrieve a tool for him with specific instructions from under a vehicle, I walked around the corner towards the tool shed and our German Shepherd jumped on me... stared me directly in the eyes and whined. It just confirmed to me something was "off". Sure enough, in the shed a 220 volt welding line was wired into the all metal torque wrench my father had asked me to retrieve, from my stocking feet my father had demanded I take off my "good school shoes" before stepping in the oily puddle he'd created I'd have to step in to get there, where the opposite line was wired into. (I digress to add the threadbare nature of those "good school shoes&quot I took a wooden handle tool and flipped the electrified item off the table, several sparks flew. I was madder than hell. I let out a staccato yell as things crashed around and sparks flew, to simulate a having been suddenly fried.
When he entered the tool shop, I handed his slack-jawed face the tool and told him in icy tone never to demand anything of me again. I didn't sleep a wink that night. I became very frightened of what he'd try next, maybe with a firearm. I grabbed the hidden pack frame early the next morning I'd been preparing for some time, disappeared from there and survived on the streets nearly 2 years until nearly my 18th birthday when I surfaced at my Aunt's home in Southern California.
I had been dealing with physical bullying at school for two years, the religious freaks were the ringleaders of. I was covered with bruises, obviously so yet none of the faculty of that school in a deeply religious town, and now a very red area intervened.
I had sublimated this event for many years, until odd nightmares, flashbacks were driving me out of ability to sleep at all. After exposure therapy via a university study, all this shit came to the surface.
Flash forward 30 years. My parents were fiercely independent, however, my father was wrecking his car every day. Futile attempts by local police to remind him he had lost his driving privileges led to impounding his vehicle. My older siblings were tied up with health problems of their own, and begged me to see if I could go rectify some of the quagmire their situation had become. Ironic twist on the prodigal son, if you will, I returned to put my father into a lock down nursing home against his will, and set up home care and meals on wheels for my mother. She was relieved not only to have her physical abuser out of the house, but then she could watch her classic movie channels without constant exposure to Fox News drivel that had driven him completely, violently mad.
My father passed away a couple months later. My mom enjoyed the relative peace and care for 2 more years.
There it is. I finally publicly posted the actual crux event that drove me to homelessness in my youth that has always only remained in my unpublished novel.
Best hopes your husband is able to rectify the troubles there and come home.

louslobbs

(3,416 posts)
38. Thank you soooo very much for this lambchopp59
Fri Aug 11, 2023, 05:44 PM
Aug 2023

All I can say is WOW!

You know, when his mom had her first of three strokes, he was unable to get back to Ohio, so I went instead. Took care of her for two months. Cooked, cleaned, laundry, helped with her physical therapy, drove to doctors appointments and doled out medication. She did really well and made a really quick recovery. When it was time for me to leave, she handed me a check and thanked me with these comforting words: “You’re a good person, but you really need to go to church and rethink your life.” I simply said, ok I will…..just take care of yourself. And with that I left, pretty much speechless. We donated the money, $500.00, to planned parenthood lol.

Happy Hoosier

(9,404 posts)
2. My wife is a professor at a State University in a red state.
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 10:57 AM
Aug 2023

So far, the state has left her and her colleagues alone. But if the bad guys prevail next year, we fully expect this state to go full-on fascist. She's about 9-10 years from retirement, so not sure if we will just tough it out until then or bail. We actually like our area, but if it becomes intolerable, we'll seek bluer pastures.

Lots of her colleagues considering the same. The red states will enter a downward spiral.

leftieNanner

(16,113 posts)
6. My daughter just started her first year as a chemistry professor
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 11:16 AM
Aug 2023

She will be a boon to the university that hired her. Mom's not biased or anything. But there were jobs open in Texas and Florida. She didn't even consider applying.

Brain drain will accelerate.

ProfessorGAC

(75,852 posts)
13. Did Not Know That Nanner!
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 12:13 PM
Aug 2023

Spent 43 years working as a chemist.
PhD in physical organic chemistry in 1981. The only thing I ever taught was advanced organic mechanisms in a graduate school in Chicago. That was in the 90s, but my travel schedule made that untenable.
Good luck to your daughter!

leftieNanner

(16,113 posts)
16. Thanks Professor!
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 12:17 PM
Aug 2023

She got her PhD in Physical Chemistry. Teaching general chemistry for science majors this fall. Quantum in the spring.

tulipsandroses

(8,131 posts)
3. They should home school. They don't believe in those institutions?
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 11:04 AM
Aug 2023

Que?
Keep living in that bubble.

Solly Mack

(96,343 posts)
4. Sane parents want their children to learn more and achieve more than they did but right-wingers
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 11:07 AM
Aug 2023

want their children to be the same as they are - hateful and ignorant.

No child of theirs is going to be educated.

GreenWave

(12,333 posts)
7. Imagine that: a teacher concerned about everyone
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 11:16 AM
Aug 2023

versus hate mongering "parents".

Bad guys won this time.

MagickMuffin

(18,075 posts)
9. We don't believe in things that exist, but believe in things that don't exist
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 11:21 AM
Aug 2023



Circle the wagons, because circle logic has entered the building equipped with facts.


These institutions exist whether you believe in them or not.

Willful ignorance rears its ugly head again!



mwb970

(12,079 posts)
10. How sad for the children.
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 12:08 PM
Aug 2023

Deprived of a decent, complete education just because their parents are right-wing aholes. What will they be when they grow up?

PS. They "don't believe" in the UN? What does that even mean? Dear God.

3catwoman3

(28,587 posts)
12. Then home school your damn kids, you sanctimonious...
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 12:10 PM
Aug 2023

…snowflakes. Don’t expect others to warp your kids’ minds for you.

IronLionZion

(50,821 posts)
15. We should check the social media posts of those RW parents
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 12:15 PM
Aug 2023

probably lots of sketchy stuff there.

SpankMe

(3,658 posts)
17. Colleges and universities should take notice
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 12:31 PM
Aug 2023

Colleges and universities should establish minimum requirements for high school education and should reject HS diplomas from schools that do this kind of thing.

UCLA, for example, should not accept students who were taught that enslaved people "learned a trade" and that "some were happy" and that gay people don't exist or can't even be talked about until everyone is over 18.

If this kind of thing continues, we will truly be a bifurcated society.

jmowreader

(52,901 posts)
18. Running teachers out of Idaho is a time-honored tradition
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 01:09 PM
Aug 2023

I moved back here in 2010 and almost immediately got a job doing prepress at the local newspaper. That year we did a feature on the best special education teacher in the state. Front page news. She was so successful at raising her students up to do regular schoolwork the US Department of Education was sending people up here to try to duplicate her methods.

She was also beautiful with what the kids call a “rockin’ bod.” The poor lady went through six months of being called everything from an exhibitionist to a pedophile before she went all “screw you guys, I’m going home” and left the state.

spike jones

(1,994 posts)
19. Once for a joke, I stood on a sidewalk in Seattle with a cardboard sign that read,
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 01:09 PM
Aug 2023

"Please help, I was raised in Idaho." I got some money but mostly laughs. Later, I gave the money and sign to a street person.

usaf-vet

(7,756 posts)
27. I believe the only thing consistently good that ever came out of Idaho is...potatoes!
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 01:46 PM
Aug 2023

And I bet they have a higher IQ than some of their voters!

BlueIdaho

(13,582 posts)
24. Fucking Idaho
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 01:24 PM
Aug 2023

Chock full of radicalized Xtians and MAGA faithful. It’s mighty pretty here but damn - the imbeciles are so proud of their hateful ignorance it’s embarrassing.

2naSalit

(100,024 posts)
25. When the state is wholly owned and operated...
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 01:26 PM
Aug 2023

By a singular obscure religious sect, that's what you get. They are pissed that they can't make you pray before each class session.

Self deportation, just like Mittens told us about. Happens a lot in that state.

Grins

(9,245 posts)
26. Might as well leave. Idaho's Reich-MAGA went after librarians...
Thu Aug 10, 2023, 01:44 PM
Aug 2023

...and they left, too.

struggle4progress

(125,382 posts)
30. My union has supported and inspired my journey
Fri Aug 11, 2023, 12:00 AM
Aug 2023

By: Karen Lauritzen NEA MEMBER
Published: 01/27/2023

I once taught at a charter school in Arizona. They didn’t have a union, and it was a terrible experience. I resolved that I would never be without a union again ...

My union has supported and inspired my journey in advocacy, which is why I now travel three hundred and eighty-six miles each way from my home in Post Falls, Idaho, to the Statehouse, in Boise, to lobby my lawmakers. I know it’s far, but it’s worth it to advocate for my students.

To connect with lawmakers, I share a story from my school, and then stay in touch with them throughout the legislative session. I draw on stories from my 20-plus years in the classroom ...

Some legislators aren’t interested in what I have to say. I meet with them anyway. I really want them to know what’s happening in our classrooms. Otherwise, they may be getting their information from one source, and it may be bad information. That, to me, is the heart of advocacy ...

https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/leadership-development/member-spotlight/my-union-has-supported-and-inspired-my-journey-advocacy

Aristus

(71,653 posts)
35. I wish I could say I was surprised, but I'm not.
Fri Aug 11, 2023, 05:25 PM
Aug 2023

Fucking Idaho, man. The dead-end dumping ground for all the racists and bigots who have been kicked out of all the other states.

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