Candidates targeted with racist mailers win election

School board candidates Jerry Shi and Falguni Patel are not going anywhere.



Awwww yeah. Take that, racists! In New Jersey, the two school board candidates who were targeted with racist "Make Edison Great Again" mailers that made national headlines won seats in the election on Tuesday.

Last week, voters in Edison received postcards, mailed anonymously, warning "The Chinese and Indians are taking over our town!" and calling for the deportation of school board candidates Jerry Shi and Falguni Patel.

Shi and Patel, who respectively claimed their seats with 6,259 and 6,115 votes, will serve a three-year term on the Edison Township Public Schools board. So yeah, they're not going anywhere.

More here: Candidates targeted in racist 'Make Edison Great Again' mailers win election

"The Chinese and Indians are taking over our town!"

Racist mailers sent to voters in Edison, New Jersey.



With an election just around the corner, you can always count on some underhanded racist campaigning. But it's still pretty shocking when it's this blatant. The above mailer, targeting Chinese American and Indian American school board candidates, was apparently sent to voters in Edison, New Jersey.

With the super-original slogan "Make Edison Great Again," the postcard implores voters to "Stop Jerry Shi & Falguni Patel From taking over our School Board," with a red "DEPORT" stamped under Shi and Patel's faces.

"The Chinese and Indians are taking over our town!" the anonymous mailer declares. "Chinese school! Indian school! Cricket fields! Enough is enough!" But wait, they're not done yet.

The reverse side says, "Stop the overcrowding! Stop taking over our sports fields! Stop the McMansions! Stop the multiple families living in the same house! Stop wasting school holidays! Stop the outsiders! Let's take back our Edison & our Schools."

New York teacher fired for lesson about Central Park Five

Jeena Lee-Walker says administrators feared the lesson would incite "riots" and "rile up" black students.



In New York, a former teacher at an Upper West Side high school says she was fired for creating curriculum with lessons about the notorious Central Park Five case. According to a federal lawsuit, school administrators feared the lesson would incite "riots" and "rile up" black students. You've got to be kidding me.

NYC high school teacher claims she was fired for Central Park Five lessons that administrators feared would create 'riots'

Jeena Lee-Walker, who taught English at the High School for Arts, Imagination and Inquiry, says that administrators asked her to be more "balanced" in her approach to teaching about the racially-charged Central Park jogger case. She agreed to "soften" her approach, but after several tense exchanges with supervisors and a series of bad performance reviews, she was ultimately fired.

School to be renamed for Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz

Itliong-Vera Cruz Middle School will be the nation's first school named in honor of Filipino Americans.


A mural in Los Angeles' Historic Filipinotown honors Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz.
This week, a Bay Area middle school will be officially renamed in honor of labor leaders Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz. It is believed to be the first school in the nation to be named in honor of Filipino Americans.

Union City school first in nation named for Filipino-Americans

On Friday, Alvarado Middle School in Union City will be renamed Itliong-Vera Cruz Middle School. Itlong and Vera Cruz were key figures in the west coast labor movement, working with Cesar Chavez in the 1960s to organize agricultural laborers and improve working conditions.

The name change was approved by the school board in 2013 after a vigorous community debate over whether to retain the name Alvarado, in honor of a 19th century Mexican governor.

New York City adds Lunar New Year to public school holidays

City becomes only the second major urban school district in the nation to observe the Lunar New Year.



Hey, kids of New York City! You get another day off. This week, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city's public schools will officially recognize the Lunar New Year as a holiday, starting next year.

Lunar New Year Added to New York Public School Calendar

The mayor made good on a promise made during his 2013 mayoral campaign, adding the Lunar New Year as a holiday on the official public school calendar. The move came after de Blasio in March declared school holidays on the most-observed holidays in Islam, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

The mayor's office first made the announcement on Twitter, saying it "was working toward a more inclusive city." The tweet also appeared in traditional Chinese characters and in Korean.

Low-income students banned from school carnival

Kids who didn't pay a $10 fee were forced to sit out on the end-of-the-year festivities.



This heartbreaking news out of a Queens public school has New Yorkers in an uproar... PS 120 in Flushing recently held a carnival for its students, but kids whose parents didn't pay a $10 fee were forced sit out on the fun. Most of the students who were excluded from the carnival are from poor Chinese immigrant families.

No pay, no play! Poor kids banned from school carnival

Nearly 900 kids, from pre-K to fifth grade, took turns participating in the end-of-the-year carnival, enjoying inflatable slides, a bouncing room, a teacup ride and sweet treats. Meanwhile, more than a hundred of their classmates, unable to pay the ten bucks, were forced to sit in the school auditorium and watch a Disney movie.

According to the New York Post, Principal Joan Monroe insisted on getting accurate tallies of who paid and who didn't, and refused to bend her policy because it wouldn't be "fair" to those who paid the fee. Try explaining that to the poor kids who were left out.

School takes disciplinary action over bus bullying video

But they're not calling it bullying. It's apparently just "name-calling."



Last week, a Sikh student recorded and uploaded a video of kids bullying him on the school bus, calling him "terrorist." Now that the video has gone viral, Georgia school officials are taking disciplinary action.

Gwinnett County Schools takes disciplinary action over bullying video

Gwinnett County Schools and Duluth Middle School, where the students involved in the video attend, have reportedly taken disciplinary action. However, school officials could not specify what actions were taken, which students were disciplined, or if any students missed school after the incident, citing privacy laws.

The video was recorded on the school bus last week. The 12-year-old, who wears a turban in observance of his Sikh faith, can be heard explaining, "Kids being racist to me." He holds up the camera to show his classmates behind him, and a girl stands up, points at him and yells, "Terrorist! Terrorist!"

Lousiana school board settles religious harassment lawsuit

Federal lawsuit alleged sixth grader was routinely belittled for being Buddhist



Last week in New Orleans, the ACLU settled lawsuit with a Louisiana school board on behalf of a sixth grader who says he was routinely harassed by teachers and administrators because of his Buddhist beliefs.

Settlement In Suit Involving La. Buddhist Student

The federal lawsuit, filed in January, alleged that a teacher at Negreet High School in Sabine Parish declared that Buddhism was stupid. It also said the school regularly incorporated Christian prayer into classes and school events and scrolled Bible verses on an electronic marquee in front of the school.

The student, a lifelong Buddhist of Thai descent, enrolled at Negreet earlier this year and quickly became the target of religious harassment by the school's staff. When his parents raised the issue with school officials,the superintendent told them that "this is the Bible belt" and suggested they change their son's faith.

More than half of Sikh school children are bullied

"Go Home, Terrorist": A Report on the Bullying of Sikh American School Children



Last week, the Sikh Coalition released a groundbreaking national report on the endemic bullying of Sikh school children in America. The report was released at a briefing in the U.S. Capitol Building organized by the Congressional Anti-Bullying Caucus, the American Sikh Congressional Caucus, and the Sikh Coalition.

"Go Home, Terrorist": A Report on the Bullying of Sikh American School Children

The report found that the majority of Sikh children, just over 50%, endure school bullying. Even worse, over two-thirds of Sikh children report that they are bullied in school. The report is based on surveys and focus groups of over 700 Sikh school children and interviews of over 50 Sikh students in four metropolitan areas: Seattle, Indianapolis, Boston, and Fresno during 2012 and 2013.

The report cites the need for federal data on the bullying of Sikh school children to better target efforts to solve the issue. In addition, the absence of or negative representation of Sikhs in school textbooks nationwide is cited by the report as an opportunity to better combat or mitigate school bullying.

Here's video from the briefing, which included remarks from Rep. Mike Honda:

Louisiana school district sued for religious harassment

Federal lawsuit alleges sixth grader was routinely belittled for being Buddhist



This week, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against a Louisiana school board, alleging that officials at one school routinely harassed and proselytized a sixth-grader because of his Buddhist faith.

ACLU accuses La. school of religious harassment

The federal lawsuit was filed against the Sabine Parish School Board on behalf of two parents, Scott and Sharon Lane, and three of their children, including their son, "C.C.," who is a lifelong Buddhist of Thai descent.

According to the complaint, C.C. enrolled at Negreet High School earlier this year and quickly became the target of religious harassment by the school's staff. In addition to the school board, the lawsuit specifically names Superintendent Sara Ebarb, Negreet High Principal Gene Wright and science teacher Rita Roark:

That funny Chinese homework assignment... now with context!

Turns out, it was supposed to be written in Chinese.



This blog has recently received a spate of traffic from a Distractify list, 38 Test Answers That Are 100% Wrong But Totally Genius At The Same Time, which links back to this amusing November 2010 post, featuring a viral photo of a grade school homework assignment that a student seemingly took quite literally.

According to the assignment: "You are to assume the role of a Chinese immigrant in 1870 and write a letter home describing your experiences. Your letter should include the following: your contributions and experiences in the West." What folks found funny is that the student went the extra mile and wrote out the letter in Chinese -- just like an 1870s immigrant would.

But it turns out, that's exactly what the student was supposed to do.

I just heard from Anna Janssen, the former elementary teacher who came up with this assignment, circa spring 2008, for an English/Chinese dual language class. Owing to the language disparity in the class -- some were new immigrants from China with no English proficiency, while others were raised in America with minimal written Chinese, and everything in between -- the students were free to write the essay in English or Chinese.

And yes, Ms. Janssen speaks Mandarin. Here's part of the message she sent me:

Save Music in Chinatown, December 8

A benefit concert for music education at Castelar Elementary School



The poster alone makes this event worth posting. If you're in Los Angeles, check it... Save Music in Chinatown is the first in a series of fundraising concerts organized to pay for music education at Castelar Elementary School, located right in the middle of Chinatown. This event for local kids and community will feature sets by Bob Forrest, Lucky Dragons, Deradoorian and LA Fog, plus a raffle.

It's happening Sunday, December 8 at Human Resources. Here are some more details about the event:

School board member accused of possible wrongdoing in foreign student recruitment

If there's new money to be made -- particularly from China -- someone is going to find a way to exploit it.

What the hell is going on in the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District? A recent investigation in the school's international students program lays out serious problems, including host homes with no heat and inadequate food, students subject to verbal abuse, as well as a board member's potential conflict of interest: Report outlines problems with foreign student recruitment at Hacienda La Puente schools.

Here is the situation as I understand it... Basically, a recruiting company has been making a ton of money by bringing over Chinese students who want to study in the United States. But when they get here, the students are completely neglected and even abused. An employee of the recruiting company blew the whistle on what's been going down, prompting the district to conduct an independent investigation that verified his claims.

You can read the full report here. (It's long.) But that just got the ball rolling...

Chinese Immigrant Homework

Found this kind of amusing, though I don't know exactly what it is... Well, it's homework. It's a history/creative writing assignment. And the directions seem fairly straightforward. But I guess this student took the instructions quite literally: Chinese immigrant homework.

Hey, a Chinese immigrant in 1870 probably isn't writing home in English, right? I just wish I could have seen the look on the teacher's face when this assignment got turned in. (Thanks, Stephen.)

UPDATE: Hold up! Some background on this homework assignment, from the teacher who actually assigned it: That funny Chinese homework assignment... now with context!