Banfield: Prove it was legal.
Things are getting rough for the Bedford School District over the salacious surveys given to kids at the Ross A. Lurgio Middle School. Girard at Large has learned that the New Hampshire Department of Education has opened a formal investigation into the matter to determine what laws, if any, were violated. We have also learned that at least one parent has filed a complaint with the federal Department of Education under Title Nine believing the surveys could constitute sexual harassment because of the environment it created between boy and girl students. Bedford resident and education advocate Ann Marie Banfield has taken aim at district claims that federal law was followed in administering the survey. In an email to the district, Banfield supplied excerpts of federal law that literally bans every kind of question
Wolf: Says she’s listening
the kids at Lurgio were asked unless the district obtained written consent from their parents. She wants to know if the district has written parental consent for all the children who took the test and if not wants to know how the district claims it stayed within the law. In a separate email to the Bedford School Board, Banfield called for the survey to be discontinued saying decisions like the one made to use it should be made collaboratively, not with by individuals who may be seen as either incompetent or willing to deceive parents in the community. She said there appeared to be a disconnect between the leadership in the school district and the potential problems that can arise from exposing children to information that could cause them harm if they act upon it and between what parents expect from their school district and what they are receiving. As if to prove her points, Board Chair Terry Wolf replied with an email that regurgitated past communicates from the district about the process used to inform parents, though she did say quote unquote “we” take parent and community input very seriously and was looking forward to continued conversations on this topic. This is a big deal folks and I promise you there’s more coming. We hope that folks like Superintendent Tim Mayes will accept our invitation to be on the show, especially since Wolfe complained in her email to Banfield that Fox News only used a fifteen second clip of his interview, leaving the more informative parts of it out.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
Sanborn: Zohydro too addictive to be legal?
State Senator Andy Sanborn, Republican of Bedford, announced plans to introduce legislation that would prohibit the use or distribution of the painkiller Zohydro in New Hampshire for up to eighteen months. Since becoming the only pure hydrocodone pain pill available on the market following approval by the F D A late last year, attorneys general in twenty eight states, including our own, have asked the F D A to reassess its decision and legislation has been filed in Congress to prohibit the drug. Sanborn said given the growing heroin epidemic that’s been driven in part by the widespread availability of cheap, addictive prescription pain killers, he believed the legislature must take a look at highly addictive drugs like Zohydro that could pose serious new or additional risks to the public’s well being. We’ve posted Sanborn’s announcement containing exactly how the legislation will come into the arena with this news read at Girard at Large dot com.
Senator Comprehensive Kelly Ayotte’s favorite conservative will be in the state soon. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, whom Ayotte took every possible opportunity to bash over his filibuster of Obamacare, will headline a fund raiser for Citizens for a Strong N H. For over a year, the
Cruz: Coming to NH
Paul: Coming to NH.
organization has fought Obamacare and advocated for fiscally conservative policies that limit government, lower spending, and cut taxes to grow the economy. They have dogged the state’s congressional delegation with questions they’ve refused to answer on camera providing some pretty interesting YouTube experiences. They’ve also played an active role in various State House races across the state. Cruz will be in town on April twenty seventh. Tomorrow, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul appears at a fund raiser for the group in Manchester.
Brown: Declares candidacy
Former Bay State Senator Scott Brown declared his candidacy for the U S Senate yesterday at an event near his home in Rye. In his speech,which we’ve uploaded with this news read, he made a pretty overt play for independent voters, who he’ll need to win the primary and served up a little red meat to conservatives saying quote “We have a whole establishment in Washington that spends too
Smith: Wants to debate Big Gov’t with Brown
much, taxes too much, and borrows too much. And for the sake of working people who just want a chance to live their lives and get ahead, I am running to challenge that establishment – to get the federal government off our backs.” End quote. That brought a chorus of cat calls from opponents Jim Rubens and Bob Smith. Both declared that the choice of the G O P establishment was now formally in the race and said the voters of New Hampshire will get to make their choice on Election Day. Smith chided Brown for the remarks saying he quote “voted for Dodd-Frank which is one of the largest big government’ pieces of legislation in recent memory. In fact,” continued Smith, “Scott was the 60th vote in the U S Senate for Dodd-Frank which has killed innovation, choked small
Rubens: Brown is establishment pick
business growth, and crippled community banks in New Hampshire and across the country.” Smith said he’d be glad to talk about that law and the idea of smaller government in debates with Brown, whom he’s challenged to 10 debates, one in each county. Rubens had this to say:
Pretty cool that they sent audio clips, eh?
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is straight ahead.
