Thread by @LauraAnnSTL

Almost to Jeff City to fight MO GOP’s attack on public ed. The hearing for these 3 bills is at 8 am. If that’s not enough of a gut punch, there’s a 9:15 hearing on #HB148 right down the hall that would arm MO teachers. If you’re not involved, now’s the time. #MoLeg @MomsDemand

Ready to learn more and join us in this fight to end the gun violence epidemic in Missouri? Text READY to 644-33. @MomsDemand @Everytown #MoLeg

Are you a student/have a student that wants to get involved and make Missouri a safer place? Text STUDENTS to: 644-33 to learn more about @StudentsDemand. Have classmates that are interested in starting a Students Demand Action of their own? Text GROUP to 644-33! @MomsDemand

If you’d like to follow along, you can watch the live stream here. house.mo.gov/MediaCenter.as…

Rep. Richie is presenting his “parent’s bill of rights.” Richie’s 1st reason for parents having more say in public ed than administrators is because parents know their children’s birthday, while administrators don’t. He also states that adults can’t name their childhood teacher.

Rep. Richie claims that teachers and administrators who are doing it right aren’t threatened by this bill. He then states that anyone who testified against it is questionable. I have some thoughts about that, but I woke up way too early to get thrown out of the hearing.

Rep Nick Schroer, who claims he learned accurate history when he was in school (I have thoughts about that as well), is presenting a similar bill. You can view Representative Nick Schroer’s #HB1474 here: house.mo.gov/billtracking/b…

Representative @IanMack03007724, while speaking on the problems with these bills points out that most of us had a very different education experience from Rep Richie in that he remembers all of his teachers. Rep. Mackey then proceeds to name off every teacher he had. I concur!

Rep Mackey, along with every other pro-education lawmaker asks again that we let teachers teach, and let the students learn. Rep Mackey also reminds the bill sponsors that education is a discussion, not just a teacher reciting information. We learn the most from discussions.

Representative @Dogan4Rep speaks on how deep this legislation goes. That under this bill, teachers could very likely be banned from teaching about slavery, among many other important parts of our history.

Hearing room is full and the overflow area is packed. There is an entire army here to testify against this legislation. When it came time for testimony, Rep. Basye called Ashley Lawson in from overflow to speak 1st. Lawson is with MO Prosper, the org trying to dismantle public ed

Heather Flemming is currently testifying against this awful legislation. “You speak about not wanting a neo-marxist education. Well I don’t want my kids and students learning neo-fascist education.” @HeatherFSpeaks @EquityMissouri @inpurposeea

Going back up a couple of tweets, Ashley Lawson, who came out of the Concerned Parents of Rockwood and is now with Missouri Prosper, was pulled in to testify first. This is Lawson in “concerned parents” attacking the finances of a newly hired Black administrator.

A little story time on the group No Left Turn In Education, that is here in support of this dangerous legislation. Andy Wells is the leader of the Missouri chapter. Wells is invested in destroying public ed in MO with a side of gun fetish and anti-transgender propaganda.

Linked here is the 59 page playbook “No Left Turn” put together explaining how they plan on dismantling public ed in Missouri. Page 2 lists all of the MO school boards they plan on taking over. cdn.fbsbx.com/v/t59.2708-21/…

Andy Wells is incredibly active in every district’s extremist Facebook group. Currently he is sharing a spreadsheet he created in these hate groups that names and targets every MO educator that signed a pledge to teach the truth. This is his description.

I will not share “No Left Turn” spreadsheet, as it targets educators, but linked below is the @ZinnEdProject pledge that these brave educators signed. zinnedproject.org/news/pledge-to…

Speaking of Andy Wells with “No Left Turn In Education.” He just testified in favor of censoring Missouri educators. I apologize for the poor sound quality. I’m now in the overflow room filled with people opposed to these bills, and we’ve started adding our own commentary. 😬

Laura Horowitz with @westoriesstl: “Many white parents fear what will happen if they talk with their children about race and it goes bad, but what happens when it goes well?”

“Don’t take this opportunity away from Missouri children.”

.@westoriesstl is under attack by this legislation. We Stories is an organization helps families start & strengthen conversations about race & racism. In community, families engage in lifelong learning and advocate for change in spaces where they live, work, and play.

You can learn more about @westoriesstl here: westories.org

If you’d like to support We Stories, you can do so by visiting this link: westories.org/support