Lt Gov Patrick Calls FW ISD Parents to Speak Out Over Bathroom Policy

[geronl]

https://www.ltgov.state.tx.us/2016/05/09/lt-gov-patrick-asks-fort-worth-isd-parents-to-speak-out-against-unilateral-action-of-superintendent/

AUSTIN – Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, called for the resignation of Dr. Kent Paredes Scribner, Superintendent of the Fort Worth Independent School District. He issued the following statement:

“After less than a year as superintendent, Dr. Scribner has lost his focus and thereby his ability to lead the Fort Worth ISD. He has placed his own personal political agenda ahead of the more than 86,000 students attending 146 schools in the district by unilaterally adopting ‘Transgender Student Guidelines.’

“Without any discussion with parents, board members, principals, and other community leaders, Dr. Scribner’s unilateral action, underscores this lack of fitness to hold his position as superintendent.
“Campus safety should be of paramount concern for anyone in his position. Every parent, especially those of young girls, should be outraged.

“The State of Texas has an affirmative responsibility to provide a safe environment in the schools where attendance is compulsory. While this may be an example of the need for the Legislature to pass a meaningful School Choice Bill, we must not allow the actions of Dr. Scribner to go unnoticed or unanswered.
“I call upon the parents within the Fort Worth ISD to take immediate steps to repeal this stealthy scheme and remove Dr. Scribner from his post.”

Parents can address the elected members of the Fort Worth ISD School Board meeting on Tuesday, May 10, 2016, at 5:30 p.m. The meeting will be held in the Board of Education complex at 2903, Shotts Street, Fort Worth, TX 76107.

[Bigun]

Good for Dan!

[geronl]

Parents need to rise up!

[sinkspur]

Patrick is nothing if not a grandstander.   I thought Republicans like him were all about local control.  Scribner won't resign and the School Board won't fire him.  Let the ISD work it out Patrick.  Haul your ass back to Austin and focus on a broken CPS system in the state.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Parents need to rise up!

My son and his wife live there and have already wised up by home schooling.

[geronl]

There is nothing to work out.  Men are men and women are women, regardless of the small percentage of delusional people who think otherwise.  The lunatics are the ones trying to force women and girls to share their facilities with men.

Local governments are agents of the state. The state is the primary sovereign body in this country

[Bigun]

Patrick is nothing if not a grandstander.   I thought Republicans like him were all about local control.  Scribner won't resign and the School Board won't fire him.  Let the ISD work it out Patrick.  Haul your ass back to Austin and focus on a broken CPS system in the state.

Dan Patrick is the best thing to happen to the State of Texas in a LONG time and I, for one, stand squarely behind him on this!

[geronl]

Governor Abbott says he will fight this unconstitutional diktat from Obama.

[Ghost Bear]

Patrick is nothing if not a grandstander.   I thought Republicans like him were all about local control.  Scribner won't resign and the School Board won't fire him.  Let the ISD work it out Patrick.  Haul your ass back to Austin and focus on a broken CPS system in the state.

It seems that White House Spokesman Josh Earnest sort of agrees with you:

(from http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/05/13/conservatives-outraged-over-obama-transgender-directive-to-public-schools.html?intcmp=hplnws)

White House spokesman Josh Earnest later defended the letter as “guidance” that was requested by schools across the country and said it “does not add any additional requirements under the law.”

He also pushed back on Patrick’s comments that the letter was “blackmail.”

“This does underscore the risk of electing a right-wing radio host to statewide office,” Earnest said, referring to Patrick’s talk radio show.

[INVAR]

Trump just said when asked about this, that he "has no opinion" about whether or not boys should use the Boys bathroom and girls should use the Girls Bathroom.  He kept repeating that the "minority must be protected" and "States should decide" yet Obama has circumvented the States and imposed it by his own will and Directives.

When asked if he would reverse this decision - Trump has no opinion.

How inspiring!

[HoustonSam]

Local governments are agents of the state. The state is the primary sovereign body in this country

Guess I'm pretty late to the party on this thread, but maybe someone will give me some feedback.

Much as I like Dan Patrick, I did think he was inconsistent on this, advocating that the Fed Gov should stay out of a local issue, but then inserting himself into it as a state official.  I agree completely with the substance of his remarks, but aren't the school boards in TX independent, with Trustees elected by the local population?  That's the way it works here just west of Houston anyway.  Seems to me that the people of FW have it in their power to reverse this if they want to at the ballot box.

I suppose one could argue that Obama was attempting extortion by withholding funds, while Patrick was merely exhorting the people with no threat, so their actions are not directly comparable.

How do we decide between local control and basic sanity in human relations, both of which are hard principles?

[sinkspur]

Guess I'm pretty late to the party on this thread, but maybe someone will give me some feedback.

Much as I like Dan Patrick, I did think he was inconsistent on this, advocating that the Fed Gov should stay out of a local issue, but then inserting himself into it as a state official.  I agree completely with the substance of his remarks, but aren't the school boards in TX independent, with Trustees elected by the local population?  That's the way it works here just west of Houston anyway.  Seems to me that the people of FW have it in their power to reverse this if they want to at the ballot box.

I suppose one could argue that Obama was attempting extortion by withholding funds, while Patrick was merely exhorting the people with no threat, so their actions are not directly comparable.

How do we decide between local control and basic sanity in human relations, both of which are hard principles?

As a conservative, I always subscribed to the principle of subsidiarity.  That principle holds that the authority closest to the people should make the decision in its area of competence.  So, in this case, the Fort Worth ISD should make the decision and Patrick should butt out.

[HoustonSam]

As a conservative, I always subscribed to the principle of subsidiarity.  That principle holds that the authority closest to the people should make the decision in its area of competence.  So, in this case, the Fort Worth ISD should make the decision and Patrick should butt out.

Yeah I tend to agree with you on that principle, and that's where I think Patrick got this one wrong.

But there has to be some limit to that principle somewhere.  Aren't there some shared moral expectations somewhere that form part of a common political identity?  I recognize that line of thought could quickly run afoul of the Tenth Amendment, but what if, in a ridiculously extreme example, a state repealed its law against murder?  Would we believe the people of that state had that sovereign right and we could continue in union with them?

I'm not trying to argue with you, I agree with you.  Just trying to test the principle at its extremes.

[geronl]

Much as I like Dan Patrick, I did think he was inconsistent on this, advocating that the Fed Gov should stay out of a local issue, but then inserting himself into it as a state official.

The state is the perfect level. States are sovereign, they are the basis of our government. Cities and counties are agencies of the state. It makes perfect sense for a state official to be involved.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Local governments are agents of the state. The state is the primary sovereign body in this country

And that goes for the bodies below them in their individual states as well as those above them at the federal level, with only a few exceptions which exist specifically in the Constitution.

Most states should just tell the federal bureaucrats like the EPA to pound sand.