First off I want to thank The LaClair family for stopping by and talking to us DFA'ers. Secondly I would like to thank Cristina Rojas, the Hudson DFA Organizer for finding the agenda time. Last but not least I'd like to thank Paul Aronsohn for dropping by (Paul recently ran against Scott Garrett in NJ-05).
Is was great to meet the LaClair family, Paul wasn't sure he could stay for long, but Matts compelling story and the ensuing discussion went on for over an hour. We talked about Dominionism and the Rapture, but most important was Matts story.
(We can't let this one fall in the cracks. - promoted by Xpatriated Texan)
UNDATE II; Paul LaClair just called me to confirm he will be dropping in to the Hudson DFA meeting tonight, 319 Grove St. Jersey City: http://www.dfalink.c...
The BLUE JERSEY folks have been blogging on this issue as far back as "njdem" on Feb 19th, Nick Lento did a follow up on Feb 21st, and the father of the 17 yr old student, Paul LaClair's diary of Feb 26th, Nick Lento then posted some video on Feb 27th, as well as my own hack job on March 8th.
Since David Paszkiewicz has been teaching in Kearny for 14 years, I had wondered if this proselytizing was new behavior, or a long term trend. If its been a trend, and the BOE knew and did nothing, its a great issue to elect new BOE members on.
So after trading emails with Paul LaClair, I hit the google, and here is what I found....
It's in a quicktime format and runs around 15 minutes. If it loads slow for you and stops/sputters; just pause it and leave that window alone for a spell. Then come back after it's loaded and it should play smoothly.
I'm trying to load a second, longer excerpt. If you appreciate this one; the second will be better.
Unfortunately my battery crapped out so the end of the event was not recorded by me. However, I dare say, there'll be more than enough to get the flavor of what our Constitution is up against.
Matthew LaClair, the gutsy young man who exposed the fact that a Kearny High School history teacher was using his classroom as a pulpit call for Christianist nuttery, will be attending the Kearny school board meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 20.
Though it's possible that young master LaClair may be planning to make a prediction of which character will be killed off in the upcoming Harry Potter novel, it's far more likely that he'll be there to offer his thoughts on the board's "Don't Bother Asking and Don't Even Try to Tell Us" philosophy for dealing with educational malfeasance.
You'll recall that LaClair taped-recorded history teacher David Paszkiewicz informing his captive audience that evolution and the Big Bang were an unscientific hoax, that dinosaurs were part of the cargo on Noah's Ark, and that only those who were down with the wingnut program were going to get a pass through the pearly gates. The school board responded with a number of weak-kneed measures, the most odious of which was to ban all future taping within classrooms - the only way LaClair had been able to prove his complaints in the first place.
The board meeting will be at 7 p.m. at Washington School in Kearny. I'm not saying you should go, but if you did, your rational well-mannered presence might help counterbalance the mob of religious hysterics that will probably be there as well. The values of American civilization have to be defended in all sorts of unexpected places, and if Kearny is one of them, so be it.
Maybe you thought New Jersey was free of the problems other states have with creationists trying to turn public schools into platforms for proselytizing?
Among his remarks in open class were statements that a being must have created the universe, that the Christian Bible is the word of God, and that dinosaurs were aboard Noah’s ark. If you do not accept Jesus, he flatly proclaimed to his class, “you belong in hell.” Referring to a Muslim student who had been mentioned by name, he lamented what he saw as her inevitable fate should she not convert. In an attempt to promote biblical creationism, he also dismissed evolution and the Big Bang as non-scientific, arguing by contrast that the Bible is supported by what he calls confirmed biblical prophecies.
