A Republican member of the state Board of Education unsuccessfully put forth a resolution Tuesday to remove state Superintendent Michael Rice if the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) does not remove videos designed to help teachers learn about students’ different identities and how to avoid outing students.
“A government deceiving parents about important matters involving their child is evil,” said Republican board member Tom McMillin, a former state House member, as he read in the resolution during a Tuesday meeting.
Tom McMillin
The move comes a month before the Nov. 8 election, as many Republicans have been campaigning on and anti-LGBTQ+ rights platform.
National far-right activist Christopher Rufo last month highlighted a short clip of an MDE training video from 2020 that was designed to help teachers learn about different identities, refer to students by their preferred pronouns and names and how to report concerns about mental health without outing the students to their families. Rufo pushed the narrative that educators who discuss gender identity or sexuality are “predators” and are “grooming children.”
GOP gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon last month called on Rice to resign. He’s declined to do so.
Dixon also said she would change the way the state superintendent is appointed by amending the state Constitution if she is elected governor. Dixon will be up against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Nov. 8.
The five Democrats on the board shot down the resolution without letting it go to a vote, something for which McMillin said he was prepared.
Vice President Pamela Pugh, a Democrat, called the resolution “disappointing.”
“Not only will I vote to not have this put on the agenda, but I have to say this is getting tiresome,” Pugh said. “We have provocateurs who come to this table and continuously take up the time that we have for this body to talk about what we’re here for, which is our children. … When will it stop?”
Pugh is up for reelection next month and there are two seats on the ballot. MSU professor Mitchell Robinson is the other Democrat running. Republicans have nominated Tamara Carlone, an accountant, and longtime activist Linda Lee Tarver, who was at Dixon’s press conference last month in Lansing on her anti-LGBTQ+ education platform.
The board spent hours listening to public comment Tuesday afternoon, with the meeting dragging on for longer than nine hours.
That’s turned into the norm for this ministerial board over the last few years as far-right groups have stirred controversy over COVID-19 protocols, LGBTQ+ issues, critical race theory, books in K-12 schools, transgender student athletes and other curriculum issues.
School safety
Another resolution was brought to the table Tuesday that urges intermediate school districts (ISDs) and local districts to use all of the additional funding for mental health included in the Fiscal Year 2023 budget and put in place strong anti-bullying policies, and urges the Legislature to adopt common sense gun laws.
The resolution, which was passed with a 5-2 vote, was introduced by Democratic board member Tiffany Tilley.
Following the November 2021 shooting at Oxford High School that killed four students and injured several others, State Sen. Rosemary Bayer (D-Beverly Hills), whose district includes Oxford High School, has asked Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake) to hold a committee hearing for some common sense gun bills that Democrats have previously introduced.
The FY 23 budget includes $150 million for per-pupil grants to districts to address student mental health, $168 million for school safety grants, $25 million for school resource officers and $15 million for cross-system interventions.
Michael Rice
“By your next board meeting, you will be 15 days from the anniversary of Oxford. You will be in the lame duck session. For our purposes, this resolution will come increasingly moot. If you’re going to do something, do it now. Have an impact now,” Rice said as the board compromised on the language of the resolution.
The board agreed to include a friendly amendment that would include that schools are required to act hastily to all threats of violence.
McMillin offered an amendment to the resolution that would allow teachers to carry a firearm in the school and include a line that states the school “will never deceive parents,” among other things. The amendment failed with a 5-2 vote.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
SUBSCRIBE
authored by Allison R. Donahue
First published at https%3A%2F%2Fmichiganadvance.com%2F2022%2F10%2F11%2Fstate-board-rejects-gop-resolution-to-fire-superintendent-over-teacher-training-videos%2F
Comments are closed.