C4QPE Collier

08/13/2024

70th Anniversary of Brown v. Board.

We will not go back!

06/07/2024

I heard parts of Byron Donald’s’ speech and, as a former history teacher, am flabbergasted!!!
To suggest that Blacks under Jim Crow enjoyed anything close to the equality of the American promise is just crazy!!!!
I know Byron is positioning for the VP position but making statements like this is just unbelievable!

05/26/2024

Stupid me!!!
I thought nonpartisan meant that political parties can not endorse candidates for school board. The Florida Constitution and state statute say school board elections are nonpartisan!
What am I missing???? Help!

04/27/2024

$4billion to private schools( lowest average teacher salary in the US. Florida.

usafacts.org

04/07/2024

Public funds for public schools

04/02/2024

Subject: The latest news for you
SCHOOL BUS

THE COALITION FOR QUALITY PUBLIC EDUCATION
C4QPE
Welcome to our new members and friends.

We have an exciting summer ahead as there is a school board election in August for Districts 2 and 4. All residents can vote for candidates in each district, not just the district in which you reside.

In 2022, the school board election was very partisan, despite the nonpartisan requirement of the Florida Constitution and Statute. We encourage all Florida residents to be cognizant of these statutes and report any violation to the county Supervisor of Elections and C4QPE.

We need to keep our public schools free of politics.

STUDY FIND THAT TEACHERS DO NOT INDOCTRINATE STUDENTS
According to a new study from the American Historical Association, the vast majority of middle and high school teachers strive to keep their lessons politically neutral. 97% of the approximately 3,000 teachers surveyed said the main focus is to turn students into critical thinkers and informed citizens.
Jim Grossman, executive director of the AHA stated:" The divisive concepts legislations that have been introduced by lawmakers make assumptions about what teachers are teaching. We always knew that teachers don't really teach critical race theory in their classrooms. But not one (piece of legislation) had any data on what being taught." "... the accusation that teachers are teaching kids to hate America is simply untrue."
For the study, the AHA reviewed k-12 content standards of all 50 states, interviewed district officials and surveyed 3,000 teachers. The study took 2 years to complete.

Naples Daily News 03/16/2024
Douglas Soule
3 FROM MOMS FOR LIBERTY IN STATE
LIBRARY TRAINING GROUP
Moms For Liberty members, who advocated for banning books, make up half of the state librarian training group. Some of Florida's loudest advocates for public school book removals make up half of a state government-sponsored group to advise school districts on how to select titles and when to pull them from shelves.
Who was not selected? Stephanie Ferrell, co-founder and director of research and insight for the Florida Freedom to Read Project applied, as did 20 others, and was not selected.
Instead, the department selected Priscilla West, chair of Moms for Liberty-Leon County, Indian River County Moms for Liberty Chair Jennifer Pippin and Jamie Merchant, Florida Legislative Chair for the national group. Pippin was responsible for pulling a variety of books, including "Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation", from an Indian River County high school.
The original online training program, which came out at the beginning of 2023, contained a slide that warned educators to "err on the side of caution" with their book choices. Another slide indicated that school officials could be charged with a third-degree felony if materials were found harmful to minors.
Schools districts responded in in wildly varying ways. Some pulled hundreds of books while other pulled very few. A national free-speech group ranked Florida #1 in book bans, a term used to describe books pulled from public schools.
There is still much confusion over new laws and how they apply. We believe that parents should be the overseers of what their children read.

CURRENT LIST OF 2024 CANDIDATES FOR COLLIER COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD
District 2
Pam Cunningham
Stephanie Lucarelli *
Mariela Naranjo
District 4
Erick Carter *
*notes incumbent
C4QPE, as a 501(c)(3) can not endorse candidates for office.

COLLIER SCHOOL BOARD MEETING SCHEDULE
Tuesday, April 9 - Regular Board Meeting 4:30 p.m.
(Everglades City School)
Wednesday, April 10 - Work Session
(Boundary Modification) 4:30 p.m.
Monday, April 18 - Work Session
(Social Studies Textbook Hearing) 12:00 p.m.
Tuesday, May 14 - Regular Board Meeting 4:30 p.m.
Unless indicated, all meetings are held at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Administration Building.

LINK TO THE C4QPE WEBSITE

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Coalition for Quality Public Education
6017 Pine Ridge Road
Box 111
Naples, FL 34119
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03/07/2024

Florida can give $4 billion to private school vouchers but is worst in the nation for public school teachers????

02/24/2024

My Letter to the editor today:

Public funds to public schools
In the beginning, private school vouchers were the Southern answer to integration and Brown vs. The Board. Private religious schools were established that could choose their student populations and discriminate against minority students. Then, vouchers were redefined to help poor, minority students escape from public schools that were supposedly poorly run or underachieving. Even then, over 80% of those schools were religious. What statistics showed us was those students didn’t do any better in the private schools than the public ones.
Now, in Florida, the governor and Legislature have eliminated the voucher 'need requirement' and are funding wealthy students who are already enrolled in private schools. Data from the first year of the program in Palm Beach County, according to the Palm Beach Post, show that nearly 80% of students who used the vouchers were already attending private schools, more than doubling the number of private schools vouchers — effectively subsidizing their private education with taxpayer dollars. This change actually creates a greater strain on Florida finances. In the past, the voucher amount was transferred from the public school to the private school. But these students are already in private school, thus creating an entirely new expense for the state.
What this means is that Florida will spend in excess of $3,000,000,000 on schools over which it has no control. Schools that can discriminate, hire non-certificated personnel, teach whatever curriculum they desire. And over 80% of these private schools receiving voucher students are religious, despite the prohibition in Article 3 Section 1 of the Florida Constitution.
Also consider that Florida’s support of public education is dismal in comparison to the state’s wealth. According to the NEA, Florida ranks 43rd in its support of education (2022) and 50th in instructional staff salaries (2022). Yet we can send billions to schools with no accountability. Zero.
Collier County public schools are doing just fine. They have been 'A' rated for years and are providing great educational opportunities for students from a wide spectrum of backgrounds. Please continue to support our local public schools and tell the governor and Legislature that we do not have to subsidize the already wealthy Floridians and religious groups. Public funds should go to public schools only.
Bill Korson, Naples

02/06/2024

PROPOSED BILL BEFORE THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE

HB931 - Chaplains in the Public Schools
Chaplains are clergy members who provide religious and spiritual care. We obviously oppose this bill because we have certificated and qualified school counselors who work within the context of a comprehensive counseling program. They help students apply academic achievement strategies, manage emotions and plan for college or the workforce. Chaplains are religious leaders who are trained to provide religious services and spiritual care.
In our opinion, this is another attempt by Christian Nationalists and other religious zealots to bring prayer into the public schools. In addition, we believe that this practice would violate the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.

11/11/2023

Collier school board to vote on invocations to open board meetings

THE INVOCATION ISSUE AT SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS IS BACK!

On the November 14 Collier County School Board Agenda, Item F2 of Unfinished Business is identified as Invocation at the Beginning of Regular Board Meetings. We believe that the current "Moment of Silence" allows each person to reflect in their own individual manner and therefore we oppose Invocations. New school board member Jerry Rutherford has pushed for this and it seems that it may well pass.
Please write to the school board members using the links below and tell them that a "MOMENT OF SILENCE" is appropriate and we do not want invocations at school board meetings.

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],

09/24/2023

COLLIER SCHOOL BOARD PRAYER

School Board member Jerry Rutherford proposed that school board meetings begin with an invocation (prayer). The vast majority of people spoke against the invocation. Bill Korson spoke for C4QPE opposing the motion. After much discussion, the board tabled the decision. In our opinion, this proposal should have failed. The Supreme Court is clear that organized prayer in schools is unconstitutional. Please be aware that this issue is NOT DEAD.

08/14/2023

RUTHERFORD PROPOSES
BOARD POLICY
We were informed that newly elected school board member Jerry Rutherford will propose the following School Board Policy at the September 11 school board meeting:

"We, the School Board of Collier County, solely in the interest of protecting our students, and District from the harmful effects of the following ideologies, do reject the following as Anti-American, Anti-God ideologies whose net effect is to alter or abolish the Constitution of the United States of America, and damage our American Culture.

We, therefore, will identify the ideologies, their origin, their object, and why we reject them.

Critical Race Theory
Social Emotional Learning
DEI Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
BLM Black Lives Matter
Anti-Fa
Gay Agenda
WOKE "

Mr. Rutherford's proposal is based on the following:

"BRIEF EXPOSITION OF IDEOLOGIES

Most ideologies permeating America today have their roots in Communism, Socialism, Marxism and Secular Humanism. All are anti-American and Anti-God doctrines. I will give a brief definition of each:

1) Critical Race Theory began in the 1930s in the Frankfort School in Germany. It is based in Marxism. Its premise is that all white people are racist white supremacists, and oppressors of black people. White people should be removed.
2) Social Emotional Learning is designed to groom a global work force. It was started in 1994 by Eileen Rockefeller Gronwald and CASEL (Collaborative on Academics, Social and Emotional Learning.) Stephen Rockefeller added CSE, the Collaborative on Spirituality in Education. SEL is connected with CRT, and with
the Resolution at the General Assembly of the United Nations Sept. 19 2016, related to the '2030 Agenda' for Sustainable Development, with the goal of complete control of society by 2030.
3) DEI-Diversity, Equity and Inclusion These programs tout the values of Tolerance and Inclusion--but in reality serve as racist ideology and promote partisan political action. They are designed to replace the system of academic merit with a system of race based preferences which are demonstrably discriminatory, and which, in many cases, explicitly violate Federal law.

4) BLM B l a c k Lives Matter This was sparked by the killing of George Floyd by police. It was truly a bad situation, but people started riots, fires, destroyed
property, looted and committed other crimes. The Bill of Rights preserves the Right of the people to PEACEABLY assemble, which was neither engaged in, nor enforced. The problem of police brutality will never be resolved by violence and destruction.
5) ANTIFA is a leftist Anti-Fascist and Anti-Racist political movement in the US. It consists of a highly decentralized array of autonomous groups. While some Antifa activism is nonviolent, there are an assortment of tactics used, including Digital Activism, Doxing, Harassment, Physical Violence and Property Damage.
These tactics directly violate the Constitution. (Information adapted from a wikipedia article)
6) WOKE is an adjective derived from African American English Vernacular, meaning 'alert to racial justice and discrimination. Beginning in 2010, it came to
encompass a broader awareness of social injustice, such as sexism. WOKE has also been used as shorthand for some philosophies of the American left, involving identity politics and social justice, especially regarding the doctrine of white privilege, and including the proposal of slavery reparations for African Americans.
7) THE GAY AGENDA was written in 1987 by Marshall Kirk and Erastus Pill. It was called, "Overhauling Straight America." The object is to make all Americans to be like themselves. They have been 100% effective in achieving their objectives,
convincing parents, communities, courts, judges and national leaders to accept their ideology as the norm.
These ideologies are all connected in various ways, and their objective is to change the culture, rewrite the history of America, and, ultimately to either rewrite the history of America, and, ultimately to either rewrite or completely discredit the Constitution."

Documents obtained through public records request.

If you are concerned about this proposal, write to the Collier school board members and share your concern. They actually do count their correspondence.