Stay ConnectedTake Back Our Schools puts you on the front lines of the culture wars as Andrew Gutmann and Beth Feeley explore the increasing politicalization of our schools and universities and just what to do about it.
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On March 30, former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, president of Young America’s Foundation, and former Wall Street Journal reporter and parent activist extraordinaire Asra Nomani, joined Andrew Gutmann to record a live episode of “Take Back Our Schools.” The trio talked about battling a formidable collection of foes in the quest to right the ship: school boards, teacher unions, accreditation organizations and state legislatures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Andrew welcomes in Corey DeAngelis to talk about educational freedom and school choice. Corey is the national director of research at the American Federation for Children, the executive director at Educational Freedom Institute, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, and a senior fellow at Reason Foundation. Andrew and Corey talk about legislation being pursued in many states to give parents choice in their children’s education by funding students rather than public schools. Corey gives advice on how to counter the teachers unions objections to school choice issues and shares his views on what parents can do to join the growing movement to break the public school monopoly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Andrew speaks with Matt Beienburg, Director of Education Policy at the Goldwater Institute. Matt shares his views on the politicization of America's public schools, critical race theory, and the genesis of curriculum transparency legislation, which Matt helped draft. We discuss the key features of this legislation and learn how it will help parents understand what is being taught in their children's schools. We also talk about the intense pushback from the national teachers unions on this issue. You can follow Matt on Twitter at @MBeienburg Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Andrew speaks with parent advocate Beth Feeley. We discuss Beth's journey from concerned parent in suburban Chicago to founding New Trier Neighbors, one of the largest and most active local parent groups in the country. Beth shares her views on the state of public school education and how the parent movement has changed in the five years she has been involved in her local school district. Beth also gives her advice to other parents fighting against identity-based indoctrination and for curriculum transparency and balance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Bethany and Andrew talk to Paul Rossi. We discuss Paul's journey from high school math teacher to education activist and learn how he went viral for exposing critical race theory at the prestigious New York City private school at which he taught. We also discuss his recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal (co-authored with our own Andrew Gutmann) entitled "Inside the Woke Indoctrination Machine." Paul discusses the 100 hours of leaked video he and Andrew viewed from one of the leading educational conferences on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and illustrates how this toxic ideology has completely taken over our nation's elite private schools. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Bethany and Andrew talk to Daniel Buck, middle school English teacher and co-founder of the website, The Chalkboard Review. We discuss Twitter's recent censorship and deplatforming of The Chalkboard Review account as well as Daniel's views on how to fix our education system. We also ruminate over the this week's decision of several blue state governors to finally relax mask mandates in schools. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Bethany and Andrew interview Jennifer McWilliams, a parent advocate and expert on the proliferation of social emotional learning (SEL) in our nation's schools. We learn about the relationship between SEL and critical race theory (CRT), how parents can recognize SEL in their children's schools, and Jennifer walks us through why SEL is so dangerous to our children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In the latest episode of Take Back Our Schools, Bethany and Andrew interview Dr. Jennifer Reesman, a specialist in pediatric neuropsychology about the damage that unnecessary covid restrictions are doing to our nation’s children. We discuss how school and other closures have impacted educational outcomes and the mental health of children, and Dr. Reesman offers her views on the resiliency of kids. We also talk about Dr. Reesman’s (and Bethany’s!) own advocacy in Montgomery Country, Maryland, fighting for libraries to be open and for in-person school board meetings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Parent Defending Education’s Erika Sanzi talks about her own experiences as a teacher, concerned parent, local school board member and as one of the leaders of the exploding parents movement. Sanzi, who has been in this fight longer than almost anyone else, also shares her views on the perverse incentives of the teachers unions. Plus Bethany and Andrew discuss Bethany’s new book series for children, Heroes of Liberty. (For a special 5% discount use the promo code TBOS at checkout.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In the latest episode of Take Back Our Schools, Bethany and Andrew interview political strategist and father of three, Rory Cooper, about the recent election of Glenn Youngkin as Virginia’s new governor. We discuss Rory’s experiences organizing parents against Covid school closures and the role that parents played in the recent election. Bethany and Andrew also talk about the enormous damage Covid policies are doing to our children and discuss whether the new “Omicron” variant will shut down schools again. This is the third installment of this series. Episode 1 introduces the series and Episode 2 featured journalist Suzy Weiss about her two recent pieces for Bari Weiss’s Common Sense Substack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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