Rookie Representative Kaleb Weis has another dumb idea. The Aberdeen Republican proposes House Bill 1113 and House Concurrent Resolution 1002, both of which call on local school boards to establish a code of ethics and professional conduct for teachers.
Now a code of professional ethics for teachers isn’t a dumb idea. It’s actually a pretty good idea… which is why South Dakota has had a code of professional ethics for teachers for decades.
But Kaleb Weis isn’t interested in reading South Dakota Administrative Rule Chapter 24:08:03. He’s interested in attacking public school teachers, accusing them of “abusing” their position and subjecting children to political and ideological indoctrination. In a Session where his fellow Republicans are trying to push teachers to talk more about civics in the classroom, Weis proposes broad restrictions that would chill any discussion of civic issues:
Each local school board shall establish a code of ethics and professional responsibility for teachers that provides that no public elementary or secondary school teacher, regardless of continuing contract status, is permitted during class time or while otherwise operating within the scope of employment as a teacher to perform any of the following actions:
- Endorse, support, or oppose any candidate or nominee for public office or any local, state, or federal official, regardless of whether the official is elected or appointed;
- Endorse, support, or oppose any local, state, or federal legislation or regulation, regardless of whether the legislation or regulation is pending, proposed, or enacted;
- Endorse, support, or oppose any local, state, or federal court case or judicial action, regardless of whether the court case or judicial action is pending, proposed, or decided;
- Endorse, support, or oppose any pending, proposed, or final executive action by any local, state, or federal executive branch agency;
- Introduce into any class any controversial subject matter that is not germane to the topic of the course being taught;
- Endorse, support, or engage in any activities that hamper or impede the lawful access of military recruiters to school property;
- Endorse, support, or engage in any activities that hamper or impede the actions of a local, state, or federal law enforcement agency; or
- Advocate for any issue that is part of a political party platform at the national, state, or local level [HB 1113, Section 1; similar text in HCR 1002].
Weis leaves it to the school boards to decide what penalties to impose, but he makes clear that he wants punishment to include firing any teacher at any time. He also imposes another unfunded mandate, dictating that schools provide their teachers at least three hours of training in his code of political silence.
I can save you three hours and break the Weis Code down in three minutes.
HB 1113 isn’t just an ideological attack on public school teachers, whom Weis perceives as liberals eroding his Trumpist values. HB 1113 would make it impossible to teach civics. Let’s look at what each plank would prohibit:
- Teachers could not say, “Donald Trump is the Commander in Chief, so soldiers have a duty to follow his orders,” or “Governor Noem is coming to speak today, so I want you all to listen respectfully.” Both statements express support for elected officials.
- Teachers could not say, “Thanks to Title IX, girls have as many opportunities to participate in sports as boys, and that fairness is good.” That statement supports enacted legislation.
- Teachers could not swear to uphold the Weis Code. Such an oath would express support for enacted legislation.
- Teachers could not encourage kids to do well on Governor Kristi Noem’s forced civics graduation test or even help them study. Such action would endorse and support the purpose for which legislation was enacted.
- Teachers could not say, “Brown v. Board of Education helped improve racial equality.” That statement endorses a judicial action.
- Teachers could not say, “Abraham Lincoln finally ended the evils of slavery by signing the Emancipation Proclamation.” That statement endorses and executive action.
- Teachers could not respond to a school shooting by telling kids to escape out the window. That advice would be controversial and not germane to whatever was being taught in class.
- Teachers could not explain at staff meetings their concerns based on research that military recruiters may harm students and require more regulation in the building. (They can’t say anything positive about military recruiters on campus, either, since that would express support for federal law.)
- Teachers could not state that searches of student lockers and backpacks without warrant or reasonable suspicion could violate the Fourth Amendment.
- Teachers cannot encourage kids to come to school and stay off drugs, since public education and drug awareness are part of of both major parties’ platforms.
If Republicans do consider passing Weis’s risible redundancy, they’ll need to amend it to include repealing SDCL 13-42-6, which requires teachers seeking certification to “take[…] an oath or affirmation to support the Constitutions of the United States and of the State of South Dakota.” If the Weis Code says teachers can’t endorse or support any law, we can’t very well swear to support the Law of the Land.
Kaleb Weis is free to think he’s a better teacher than certified educators. He’s free to choose not to send his kids to public school. But his problem—and now our problem, since we’ve elected him— is that Kaleb Weis isn’t satisfied to do his own thing and home school his own kids. To affirm his particular lifestyle, he feels the need to propose legislation that attacks public school teachers as bad and evil people who need his firm hand to keep them from telling children things he doesn’t want them to hear.
Weis’s state seal bill is at least harmless in its stupidity. Weis’s HB 1113 and HCR 1002 call for unworkable and chilling restrictions on teaching civics. Teachers already have their code of ethics, a code written by sensible educators who understand how to teach. The Weis Code is at best a redundant and unnecessary culture-war distraction. At worst, the Weis Code is a muzzle that shuts down all discussion of civics in our public schools.
Another mandate that would be impossible to enforce and could only further contribute to the shortage of good educators. As a former teacher, I can tell you that teachers are really careful about expressing personal opinions in the classroom. This needs to go to the 41’st day before it wastes any more time!
Cory,
Your analysis is spot on and covers a variety of classes.
On a subject close to both of our hearts, this legislation would make it impossible to coach debate or extemp.
Was this legislation entitled The Creating Stepford Citizens Act of 2019?
This needs to go to the 41’st day before it wastes any more time!
From over here in a parallel Uni the same could be said about South Dakota’s majority legislators. Give them their own Hypocritic Oaf- First do nothing.
This needs to go to the 41’st day before it wastes any more time!
Same could be said for South Dakota’s majority legislators. Give them their own Hypocritic Oaf- First Do Nothing.
I suspect this dribble of diarrhea will be too disgusting even for the likes of Brock and Al, but I wouldn’t bet on it at odds of less than 10-1 in my favor.
Somehow Weis seems to have slipped through that high school .5 credit requirement for a course in U.S. government. Or perhaps he has a cohort in Congress working on the repeal of the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth.
As seems usual, those tampering with education in the state legislature are those who appear to have been least exposed to it or affected by it. Their ignorance and lack of intellectual skills is astounding.
Looks like I trolled myself. Bad Mikey.
So HS English teachers ought to ignore the adopted State standards:
11-12.RI.8 Delineate (break down) and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. and global texts, including the application of founding principles and use of legal reasoning and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy.
and
11-12.RI.9 Analyze seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features.
Methinks legislators need a code of conduct. Oh, wait. The people passed one, and the legislature voided it.
Y’all don’t need a “code of silence”. When the wind chill’s 40 below, nobody down there says anything anyway. 😉
The only teachers that will have a problem with this are the teachers that are trying to indoctrinate children.
I think he should add that a teacher can be personally sued for breaking this law.
Looks like a ‘Hold my beer and watch this moment’
I agree Francis. I want to know which teachers oppose this law.
Jason, I believe there is a place for you in the diarrhea caucus of the SoDak legislature.
I suppose the troll, is the one to define indoctrinate. UGH!!!
Jason,
My thinking was more on the order of the Republican caucus members getting together to come up with a new conceal carry law, or a law about sonograms, or transgender discrimination; and Kaleb sat there and thought; ‘Well boys hold my beer and watch this’. I wasn’t thinking of any teacher doing something against the code of ethics. I see how what I posted could have been misunderstood, I apologize for any confusion I may have caused.
In general, I think the bill is useless. I can’t speak for every district, but when I was on the Rapid City Area Schools Board of Education in the early 2000s, we created policies dealing with these topics. I see the main policy was last updated when I was a member of the Board.
http://public.rcas.org/administration/SoS/RCASPolicies/Documents/I%20Policies/INB/Policy/INB%20%20-%20%20Teaching%20About%20Controversial%20Issues.pdf
And it’s not just this one policy. All through the instructional policies of the Rapid City Area Schools, the district touches on this area multiple times. Creating a fair, tolerant, but engaging classroom experience is woven into the fabric of how teachers in Rapid City go about their business. And it’s been that way since for longer than some of the young legislators have been around. New teachers are oriented in the policies and teachers get updated regularly.
Just to hammer this into the marble of Third Floor, let’s touch on several other policies. Another policy that touches on this is already in place in Point 6.
http://public.rcas.org/administration/SoS/RCASPolicies/Documents/G%20Policies/GBC/Policy/GBC%20-%20Staff%20Ethics.pdf
Here is another policy touching on this:
http://public.rcas.org/administration/SoS/RCASPolicies/Documents/I%20Policies/IIAE/Policy/IIAE%20%20-%20%20Special%20Interest%20Materials.pdf
Another policy dealing with academic freedom:
http://public.rcas.org/administration/SoS/RCASPolicies/Documents/I%20Policies/IB/Policy/IB%20-%20Academic%20Freedom.pdf
I think it is wise for districts to have general policies on this, but carrying it to the absurd level that Rep. Weis does shows he doesn’t understand the process of education, and how seriously the education community takes this issue. School districts have been dealing with these issue far longer than Rep. Weis has been on earth. Maybe he should study up a little before proposing what Cory correctly stated was “another dumb idea.”
Grudgnutz … does the fact that you’ve been in sunny Mexico all winter have anything to do with your references to diarrhea? You’ve been splattering that **** all over the blog. #grins
Jason is disagreeable by nature. He comes here to disagree with every post Cory puts out. Nothing but a troll.
I posted a longish comment, with references to Rapid City Area Schools Policy, but apparently it went “poof.” School districts have been dealing with this issue for a lot longer than Rep. Weis, and I suspect they all have some policies on this topic already.
When I was on the Rapid City Area School Board in the early 2000s, we updated a policy on this. Rep. Weis could have easily have accessed these polices and policies in other districts to see with this is already covered.
I ran through the Rapid City Area Schools policies and, aside from this being covered in a separate policy, it is covered in 4-5 other policies, including in a policy on “academic freedom.”
It’s good that districts have some general policies on this, but Rep. Weis goes wacky. If you want students engaged in current events and civics, this legislation is one to way abort that baby. The main point, I think, is that districts have had policies in place for decades. By the way these policies came about because politicians, including Ronald Reagan, wanted to use school district resources, students and teachers as a backdrop for their candidacies. How about some policies that legislators do not use school district resources, such as students and photos of buildings, in their political advertising?
Any parent or student can complain if they think a teacher is overstepping policy or professionalism. They can actually take it up the ladder of the district appeals process if they can’t work it out with the teacher. The complaint process that school districts have in place are made to work any problems out.
Kal Lis, HB 1113 would also make it impossible for teachers to judge debate. Consider the current debate topics:
Lincoln-Douglas Debate: Resolved: The United States ought not provide military aid to authoritarian regimes. Imagine a student effectively argues the affirmative and convinces the judge to write on the ballot: “Affirmative analysis is correct: providing aid to a regime like Saudi Arabia violates basic American values.” That judge thereby endorses the bill passed by the Senate last month to reduce aid to the Saudis in Yemen. Weis Code says, you’re fired!
Public Forum Debate: Resolved: The United States federal government should prioritize reducing the federal debt over promoting economic growth. A ballot in either direction implicates the judge in endorsing any number of past or present bills in Congress, including the Trump tax breaks of 2017.
Policy Debate: Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially reduce its restrictions on legal immigration to the United States. Great galloping gopher ghosts! All those Aff teams who dig up some bill from some Senator can never get my ballot, because I cannot endorse any proposed legislation. As a matter of fact, I can’t vote for any AFF Plan. The Weis Code refers to any federal legislation “proposed.” That passive-voice structure omits the subject, the proposer. The Weis Code thus embraces any policy proposal, even those proposed by high school students.
But I can’t vote for any NEG team, either. NEG defends the status quo. A NEG ballot endorses the status quo, thereby endorsing the sum total of enacted policy proposals. The Weis Code forbids ethical teachers from issuing any such endorsement.
Good grief! The Weis Code forces teachers to adopt the performance paradigm and vote for debaters based solely on who puts on the best show! Kaleb Weis is trying to turn high school debate into a Republican primary!
Jason, the only people who have a problem with warrantless searches are those with something to hide.
As your next Governor, I promise to send the DCI to search every nook and cranny of Jason’s house. He won’t mind. He has nothing to hide.
But seriously, the fact that Jason defends this redundant culture-war posturing (I haven’t heard what actual misconduct isn’t already governed by the code of ethics, or why Weis phrases his bill as if there is no professional code of ethics for teachers… or as if he’s never bothered to research whether there is one what normal rule-making process is followed in conjunction with experts in the field to create it) shows that he, like Kaleb Weis, is far less interested in serious, thoughtful, conservative policy-making and far more interested in attacking teachers and other perceived enemies to his narrow, Fox-News-rotted worldview.
Here beginneth some sarcasm:
I may well have to attend the next faculty meeting and excoriate my former colleagues for leaking our liberal plot to indoctrinate young’uns to Representative Weis.
No one outside of the school system was supposed to know that every word problem in math was to be configured in such a way that it shows Medicaid expansion saves states money in the long run. Of course, English departments did make the plot obvious when they decided.” to teach “Mending Wall” and “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Clearly, lines like “Something there is that does not love a wall” and “My little horse must think it queer” promote a liberal thought process.
Those darn geography teachers with their liberal omniscience picked last week to have students study Australia and look up the weather to discover the continent was undergoing a record breaking heatwave just so they could mention the term “climate change.” Subtlety was never their strong suit.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, I have to make a confession. As I sat in meetings to help hatch these plots and put them in motion in my class over nearly three decades in the classroom, I was always struck by one curious fact. The more we attempted to indoctrinate students, the more Republican South Dakota became.
I don’t want to take issue with Francis Schaffer, but it seems to me that someone in the Republican Caucus should have had Weis hold his own beer and stopped him from proposing this legislation. Clearly, the liberal machinations are growing more Republicans, so it would be far better to let the matter continue apace. I am certain a Republican elder statesman will have the matter deferred to the 41st day without debate because that action is in the Republican party’s best interest.
Herein endth the sarcasm
Mexico? You have me confused with someone.
Grudge … I guess I do. Sorry. Must be the warm weather up here. It’s making my mind wander. heh HEH ho
You don’t seriously believe any so called straight white wingnut would be caught dead giving harness bells a shake, do you. More liberal shenanigans, no doubt.
Of course trespassing and watching woods fill yup with snow might be a precursor to eminent domain proceeding and that would be more right wingish.
GOP on all levels really has it in for teachers except the ones under their thumb and happy to spout their propaganda at private schools. They don’t like smart constituents.
I just do not get what goes on in Pierre. If this is what legislators think they were elected to do, please just stay home and quit wasting our tax dollars.
There are real issues to deal with like the nursing home crisis and skyrocketing healthcare costs.To me so much time is wasted on bills like this, that important issues that impact peoples lives barely see the light of day.
I think local school districts can come up with their own policies if they have a problem with these type of issues. Issues like nursing homes and healthcare is a statewide issue that need the legislators full attention.
Where do these repubs get their ideas (Koch Industries)
This can be fine tuned. I would like to see it apply to elementary school teachers only, because children should not be burdened with adults’ problems.
The teenagers can deal with it.
Several years ago, parents in Dell Rapids reported their very young children coming home in tears because their teachers couldn’t afford to buy food. It was all the Governor’s fault and the teachers were telling the children to to tell their parents to contact their legislators. The parents I heard this from barely made minimum wage themselves so they didn’t appreciate this at all.
Prior to that, I heard from some parents that their small children were yelling at them about their consumption of alcohol and tobacco. They learned to do that in school, too.
Wait. Children learned in school that alcohol and tobacco are bad for people? No!
They also learned their teachers were going hungry and legislators should be contacted about that. Sounds very important to the quality of their education.
Teacher salary was certainly not the only shortcoming of the school. Perhaps it would have been better to communicate those things directly to the parents, but parents are notoriously poor at connecting with teachers.
But in your mind children should not know these things. It would be very nice if they didn’t have to, but they do, whether it comes in the classroom or elsewhere. I’d rather they hear it from their teachers.
Anne Beale (SDGOP Platform Committee) thinks it’s proper to muzzle SD’s teachers? But, only elementary teachers? Anne has a long and tall history of alternate facts concerning anecdotal information. Might be better to let teachers police themselves. Liberals are quite good at professionalism.
Why fine tune it by a bill, Anne? Tell me what part of the existing Professional Code of Conduct for Teachers does not cover your concerns? If you can identify gaps in the existing code, tell me why those concerns cannot be addressed through the normal Department of Education rule-making process and require the heavy hand of the Legislature to intervene? Who specifically is aggrieved here? Who specifically does not already have recourse for concerns related to the Weis Code through their local school boards?
The real problem to deal with is the politicians and the political parties. Where is legislation on that?
Politicians continually use schools and teachers as a punching bags and then demand schools provide a backdrop, seat fillers and school resources for a political rally or ad.
Just consider some history. I realize this may not apply to small districts, but Rapid City and Sioux Falls get hit a lot with candidates. Whenever some big mucky muck candidate for president or a president or vice president comes to Rapid City, they try to finagle some sort of freebie from the school system. Generally, of course, they want a school band to play patriotic and rah-rah songs for their rally. They want schools to close so they can fill the otherwise empty seats, because usually these things are in the afternoon when HARD-WORKING PEOPLE, as opposed to POLITICIANS, have to WORK. But, apparently, POLITICIANS think STUDENTS SHOULD SIT AND LISTEN TO THEM, rather than, oh, STUDY.
There was a lot of controversy in Rapid City over Ronald Reagan’s use of taxpayer money to politicize the school day when he came calling. Many students, being students, said they were going to Ronnie’s rally, but instead skipped out. Ha. There’s civics lesson for legislators. Other students went, and even took notes!!! They along with the skippers, of course, were brow-beaten for using the event as an excuse to skip school, while the district was brow-beaten for letting a politician steal school time and taxpayer resources.
This is when policies started in this area, and since the 1980s, it hasbeen addressed by the Rapid City school district saying. “No, we don’t allow our students to be used as props in a politicians’ rally.” Students could still go to a rally, but parents were responsible, and no school resources would be used, including bands.
This problem starts and ends with politicians and political parties. They need to get a grip on themselves, pass some legislation that constrains politicians and political parties from trying to use the schools for political ends. Politicians should address this issue from their end and stop trying to use schools for whatever political axe they are grinding.
Politicians have nothing to do with a teacher trying to indoctrinate a child Donald.
Parents decide what is taught to their children and when Debbo, not you.
Wrong, Jason. Politicians can decide where textbooks are bought and from who. The vast majority of all textbooks are printed by ultra conservative publishers in Texas, which is absolutely political indoctrination.
Wrong Porter.
A parent can choose to home school if they don’t like the textbooks.
Link us to proof that every school book published in Texas has conservative bias.
I bet you can’t.
I won’t discuss anything with you, Jason. You have a poor history of comprehension and a long history of misdirection and deception. Everything I say is factually accurate. Prove me wrong with valid links.
Porter,
You made the claim, you back it up. It’s time for you to put on your big boy pants.
Jason. When I refute your assertions, I’m not talking to you. I’m helping inform any reader who might wonder about what’s wrong with what you said.
Jason, districts and teachers already have this covered. The bill is not needed. What is needed is that politicians and political parties need to clean up their act. Consider how many scandals and how much corruption has occurred in political and state government circles in the last 40 years and compare that to the near zero cases of teacher misbehavior that Rep. Weis assumes is occurring. Get real.
There already is policy at the school district level that’s far better than what Rep. Weis came up with because it is more general and covers a broader range of issues. Certainly Rapid City Area School District has had policies that stress many of the points in the bill, and they have had them for generations, the same generations that state-level politicians have let corruption fester.
I’m sure any district that has faced these issues has developed policy. Even absent this, school districts already have a way for students/parents to address the issue through a grievance procedure. Simple research would show this bill is not needed.
As Cory said, this is also covered in professional teacher codes. It is also covered in ed schools. Rep. Weis wasted time and taxpayer dollars drafting this unneeded bill, He should have put his efforts into an issue that is far more needed: corruption in state government.
Jason, I’ll take your bet:
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-op-20180911-story.html
So in 2012, when the textbook cycle arose again, the Dallas Morning News on Nov. 21 reported the bad news: “State Board of Education members,” began the story, “voting along party lines, Friday gave final approval to a new generation of social studies textbooks and e-books that will reflect a more conservative view of U. S. history than books used for the past dozen years.”
Last year, “the Texas Board of Education rejected a measure that would require university experts to fact-check the state’s textbooks in public schools,” Kirkland said. “So things like deleting and dismissing concepts such as evolution from the thinking of schools to other controversial parsings of history such as references to slaves as ‘workers’ gained state justification.”
http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/11/29/textbooks-education-ground-zero-americas-culture-wars
At the same time, “this erasure of actual facts for propaganda is dangerous and manipulative,” Kirkland said. “Not only does it harm individuals who have their histories tainted or completely destroyed; it hurts all children who grow up believing in lies and never get to access the truth and sheer breadth and complexity” of human knowledge, history, reasoning, and rationality.
Well done, O. Hopefully the kids in Watertown are still getting the balanced education the town is known for.
You lose the bet o. Porter wasn’t talking about the school books that Texas is using in their schools and neither was I.
Jason said: “Link us to proof that every school book published in Texas has conservative bias. I bet you can’t.”
I linked two articles that said JUST THAT.
Then Jason said: You lose the bet o. Porter wasn’t talking about the school books that Texas is using in their schools and neither was I.
The articles make clear that the whole conservative publishing bias (an issue because many other districts also use the Texas adopted books). School texts have become more conservative to please the Texas conservatives who hold a 2-1 political majority on the textbook adoption deciding school board (that alone is a topic for discussion). The books Texas is using ARE the books they are adopting ARE the books they are shifting to conservative bias. It is al one-in-the-same.
Again, you attempt to shift the goalposts each time your positions are discredited. The EVIDENCE supports that you were wrong; Porter was right.
I think if Texas has its way, we would use both science books: the Old and New Testament.
O,
Do you not understand what “The vast majority of all textbooks are printed by ultra conservative publishers in Texas” means?
Jason. When I refute your assertions, I’m not talking to you. I’m helping inform any reader who might wonder about what’s incorrect with what you said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/29/arts/textbook-publishers-learn-avoid-messing-with-texas.html
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/06/21/how-texas-inflicts-bad-textbooks-on-us/
Jason, do you know what that means?
Yeah. Unfortunately, Texas has had outsized control over national textbooks for many years.
I know some teachers who skip entire sections of textbooks because they’re simply wrong. They provide their own materials from reputable sources for the students.
If that mean that colleagues cannot show “Fox News” all day in their classrooms, then I am in favor of it. In the meantime, I will present factual information and let students judge for themselves what is right and wrong.
I would suspect, Robert, that as written, HB 1113 makes it too dangerous to show any broadcast/cable television in class. Among other problems, the moment a commercial comes on, you’ve introduced non-germane content. Fired!
Robert.
What factual information are you talking about?
I strongly mandate all Lawmakers follow Code Of Ethics. HB1113 and HCR1002 should receive a “NO VOTE”. They are silly and a waste of time. They do not look as though the primary sponsor put any effort to research. WASTE!