Part 4 — BHS Politics in the Classroom

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Part 4 — BHS Politics in the Classroom

April 21, 2019

We have been following the long-running story of Mr. Nelson's transfer from the BHS faculty to the Aragon faculty for some time. Here are three prior posts (Parents Uniting for Nelson Parts 1, 2, and 3) here, here and here. There is extensive commentary on each that would take you an hour or more to catch up on, but in the interest of not having to scroll through it all to see the latest (a platform "feature" that I really dislike), here is Part 4. I'll quote KRN's comment that reignited the political angle of the issue

Since my Involuntary Transfer from BHS, the enrollment in AP Government and AP Economics has dropped from 188 students to 124 students. A loss of 64 seniors which translates to two full sections! (BHS WASC Report) I know, it was the conservative students who were threatened in class and left on their own.

I would love a link to that report since that sort of reduction in AP Anything is cause for concern. He goes on to elaborate at someone's request by noting (and I have edited it down and added some emphasis and links)

There is (and has been) a real fear of grade and college admissions retaliation by BHS teachers against students and/or families who dared to challenge the "reign of error." (citation to a former closet conservative at BHS)

When high school students are put down, shamed, or threatened because they hold a conservative and/or right wing political position on a school campus by teachers, then there is a problem. Students and parents should not live in fear of immature teacher retaliation for any reason.

Tax dollars support all political positions in a high school classroom.

Students have the right to hold and articulate positions conservative positions on: Rent Control, Minimum Wage, Unions, Immigration, Right to Arms, and a variety of other issues that are in opposition to a majority of students (and faculty) at BHS.

I get that names of students cannot be named – certainly not here and hopefully not elsewhere. I also worry that the longer Mr. Nelson is gone from BHS the less pressure there is to have him return as parents who do not know him replace those that do. He was an asset to my kids' education and as you could see from the news article in Part 2, there are plenty of other students and parents who feel the same. Playing a waiting game is not really playing and certainly doesn't provide a good example to kids.

Posted in Rent Control, Schools

57 responses to “Part 4 — BHS Politics in the Classroom”

Joe

November 11, 2021

Can a member of the public volunteer to be the advisor or does it need to be a staff member?
OneManginiWay

November 12, 2021

The article is a “hit piece” to shame the conservative kids.
The kids are not in charge, the adults are supposed to be.
Like every other student on the campus, these kids are looking to identify with a competent adult to engage and validate their conservative views yet all they get is mocked.
The advisor, who had been with group for two months since August, NOW claims he did not know about Turning Point USA?
The Lefties on campus know Turning Point USA.
If the faculty were “concerned” about TPUSA, then some counseling with the students to align with the local Republican Party would have been in order.
The article claims the club was suspended BECUASE the advisor quit, but then goes on to blame the students for their literature and a sticker with an image of a gun.
Isn’t the advisor in charge of approving all materials for distributed by the students?
“Students swarmed the table to get a look at the merchandise from the organization, and many took them as souvenirs to show they had gone to the TPUSA’s table.”
“Despite the large number of students who visited the club’s table, many disliked the sentiments. Some students altered the messaging with a Sharpie to contradict the original wording or threw the posters in the trash”
The article is a mockery of what is a minority opinion on the Burlingame High School campus, an opinion not supported or promoted by the faculty or in the classroom.
Why did the students engage with TPUSA?
Because the organization targets areas where right leaning students and opinion are marginalized or suppressed and then TPUSA offer support and gains membership.
A recent concern was issued nationally groups like TPUSA harvest their members in areas that press a “Woke Message.”
Instead of nurturing these student’s academic interest and political ideology, these adults have thrust them into the fire and called them out for being in the minority.
There is no logical reason to publish this article except to blame a group of kids in the political minority for the failure of the adults charged with protecting them.
Conservative thought is not a crime, unless you are sitting in the classroom of an adult who feels intellectually threatened by a 17 year old and feels the need to suppress or discipline them.
HMB

November 12, 2021

https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/06/15/turning-point-usa-accused-%E2%80%98boosting-their-numbers-racists%E2%80%99-long-established-conservative
OneManginiWay

November 13, 2021

This is not a defense of TPUSA.
TPUSA came looking for these kids (and others as well) as they are known as a marginalized group in the area.
The question is, why are these students values being mocked by the adults?
The SMUHSD an ADL alumni and speaker and then REJECTED the ADL’s “No Place for Hate” program (which was specifically mentioned in the SM Grand Jury Report). The district believed it could do a better job on its own.
The ADL presenter was an BHS alumni and would have most likely been able to engage the student population more effectively than anyone else!
FOX’s “The Hannity Show” is keeping a close eye on the SMUHSD as it is informed of what is going here on at the local level. Greg Gutfeld of “The Greg Gutfeld Show” is a Serra grade and from San Mateo.
The tone of the BHS campus is not inclusive of conservative or right of center political beliefs, forcing students to seek inclusion in outside groups.
The article clearly indicates that the student population is not only mocking the group, but so are the adults. The SMUHSD is in receipt of reports of threats made by faculty to conservative students who voiced legitimate academic based opinions in class or on campus.
OneManginiWay

November 26, 2024

“Now” the Left feels threatened…
–Read the previous post of the attacks on conservatives…
A Burlingame Bee student journalist “stumbles” into the depths of the how and why conservatives students were targeted at BHS.

They only “see it” now that the conservatives won the elections.

SM Daily Journal
Elephant in the room we’re afraid to address

https://www.smdailyjournal.com/opinion/columnists/elephant-in-the-room-we-re-afraid-to-address/article_a3a4c12a-a89b-11ef-a4da-a3d718928d99

As student journalists, our job is to write the truth and reflect the inner turmoil of our campus. Yet, the truth is that discussing politics has become the new “elephant in the room,”

“the inner turmoil of our campus…”

The author is encouraged to further investigate the incidents of retaliation and intolerance at her own school and publish her findings in the Burlingame Bee.

The status quo of the BHS campus was one of intolerance, by faculty, for the political views of students, primarily conservative male students.

You need to look no further than the front of the Journalism Room itself to find your source.

A senior male conservative staffer wrote an article on the Kavanaugh appointment to the Supreme Court.

The editorial staff approved of and placed the article on the front page of the next addition as approved by the advisor and principal. When the Burlingame Bee arrived, the article was no where to be found as the advisor has removed it AFTER its approval and placement. Why?- They (group) found the conservative article “offensive,” as they do most conservative males. The article was removed because of its conservative accuracy and advancement of conservative ideology on the BHS campus. They used the power of their positions to eradicate student work.

Like many conservative males at BHS, he continued to be targeted by small group of adults and bullied for the temerity in which he advanced his conservative ideology while in AP Government class and beyond. He was “pulled aside” by staff and threatened that if he did not “cut out the conservative talk,” his grade in AP Gov would be “docked” and “letters would go to his college of choice” to ensure he would not be admitted.

The “Mean Girls” as this small group of faculty were known would not tolerate a young, intelligent, and conservative male. They used not only their power and authority, but also the power of grades and threats of academic punishment to silence “alternative” conservative speech.

The November 3, 2021 edition of the Burlingame Bee featured a photograph, name, and a “story” shaming conservative male and his club, conservative activist club, Turning Point USA. (link is attached)

The real story was the negligence of the administration and faculty advisor of failing to follow rules and policy of the district, but instead this teen became the name and the fact of ridicule, literally using the school newspaper to advance the ideology of the advisor and her peers who despises conservative teen males.

https://theburlingameb.org/4294/news/administration-suspends-conservative-activist-club-turning-point-usa/

These incidents were reported to Superintendent Kevin Skelly and the Board of Trustees in a timely manner, who then ignored the issues.

One of these Republican lads is now sitting on Capitol Hill, forming policy for the country. As he is well past the antics of misguides Mean Girls (faculty) at BHS, but most likely not forgetting about the high school article on Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh, that had been placed on the front page of the Burlingame Bee, only to be removed by the advisor after the paper had been put to bed.

This has been fact checked and links are included.

It is ironic that this teen author has to write this article under the freedom of the editorial board of the SM Daily Journal as there is fear of censorship, as she stated in this piece, over at the Burlingame Bee.

We don’t have to look across the country to find censorship, the trouble is right here in River City.
Mom

November 27, 2024

I remember my kids referring to Ms. Liberalatore!
Yim-Gate Thickens…

November 28, 2024

Mom,

Ms. Liberatore is not mentioned in the post, but since your kids did reference the ONE of the culprits…. you are a winner-

Interesting…Ms. Liberatore left BHS and resigned from the SMUHSD in 2014 and took a job in the Sequoia District.

“Somehow” a teaching position in AP Government and AP Economics at BHS was mysteriously and suddenly made “available” in March 2016 concurrent to the resignation ceremony of Principal Yim.

As a good friend of Principal Di Yim, Ms. Liberatore was able to circumvent the process, and be rehired back at BHS for the 2016-2017 school year, taking over the AP Economics and AP Government sections made available by the still “unexplained to the public” departure of Mr. Nelson.

Funny… these things all seem to be connected?

Is it possible that Mr. Nelson’s removal from BHS was fabricated so that Principal Yim could reward her friend Ms. Liberatore with a job before the Yimster ran off to Las Vegas in a post-marital affair?

Where could those facts be found…

What can go wrong, will go wrong.

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