KOENIG: Far-Left Activists Bully Jefferson Parish School Board over PragerU

Last week, the Jefferson Parish School Board (JPSB) hosted its monthly public meeting. Most meetings for the School Board are relatively laid back, but last Wednesday’s meeting stirred some controversy when a far-left sorority group hijacked the School Board meeting.

During the meeting, school board member Ricky Johnson invited the president of the New Orleans alumnae chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority to speak. In her speech, the sorority president bashed PragerU and education savings accounts.

After this speech, the sorority group decided to leave the meeting early—not even staying for half of it. I have attended several Jefferson Parish School Board meetings in the past, and I am not alone in my views here: Why do we have to dignify radical, far-left ideologues in Louisiana?

Over the weekend, the Sadvocate decided to published a hack story about the JPSB meeting in order to continue its crusade against educational media nonprofit PragerU:

“A prominent group of local Black women is urging the Jefferson Parish School Board to reject the use of PragerU videos in the classroom, arguing that the content produced by the right-wing nonprofit and endorsed by State Superintendent Cade Brumley perpetuates racial biases and distorts historical facts.

Wearing their signature red blazers, alumnae of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority appeared at Wednesday’s school board meeting less than two weeks after the state Department of Education announced it was partnering with PragerU to promote the use of its animated “edu-tainment” videos in the classroom.

In remarks shared with school board members, the New Orleans chapter president of the alumnae group, Belencia Breaux, described the PragerU videos as a form of “indoctrination” and said parents should be notified if and when the content is utilized in the classroom.”

Fair and balanced? This radical sorority is anything but “fair and balanced.” To get a feel for it, we can look at some Delta Sigma Theta’s honorary members from its 2023 inductee class: President of MSNBC Rashida Jones, US Supreme Court Justice Kentanji Brown-Jackson, and former BET CEO Deborah Lee.

To top it off, the Delta Sigma Theta invited US VP Kamala Harris to the group’s national convention last year. Yes, the same Kamala Harris who smeared the Louisiana Legislature and state Sen Thomas Pressley over common-sense legislation just last month.

As I stated in another recent article here on The Hayride, PragerU content is just one of many resources available to Louisiana teachers. It is dishonest when this sorority acts like PragerU material is mandated in Louisiana classrooms:

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“The reality is that the new PragerU social studies materials are not mandated or required. They are just new resources available to Louisiana K-12 teachers.”

This story should remind us that the far-left contingent of Louisiana politics is still alive and well. Even though they possess little institutional power in Louisiana politics, far-left groups will continue to attempt to pressure Republican politicians to cave to their demands. In this instance, their target is Louisiana’s partnership with PragerU.

Let’s hope that the Republican super-majority on the Jefferson Parish School Board does not fall for this pressure from such radical activists.

In closing, I wanted to share a quote from one of the solid conservatives on the Jefferson Parish School Board, Mike Pedalino,

“The real question is why does Prager U even exist? What is the supply and demand factor here? 

We talk about the word “Indoctrination.” For the past two to three decades / generations the progressive left has dominated the minds in education with an Anti-American sentiment in particular. PragerU challenges left-wing orthodoxy in our education systems which is why it has become a lightning rod for the democrat party.

I will be working with the administration and my colleagues to discuss a balanced approach on how PragerU videos can be incorporated into the Jefferson Parish School System and to be shown at the teacher’s discretion when giving history lessons to our students.

The reason for this is that I trust our State Superintendent Cade Brumley’s judgement in allowing this partnership in classroom instruction to take place.”

If you want to see the far-left hijinks in this meeting, check out the video recording at the 56-minute mark below from last week:

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