Exclusive: Springfield school's shocking double standard — immigrant students can't fail



Immigrant students are given a much easier grading scale at a school in Springfield, Ohio, effectively preventing them from failing because they are still considered English "language learners," an email from the superintendent confirms.

A high school principal in the Northwestern Local Schools district previously sent an email to staff members at Northwestern Jr./Sr. High School, instructing them not to give so-called "English language learners" — often referred to as ELL students — a grade lower than a "C," Superintendent Jeff Patrick confirmed in an email obtained by Blaze News.

'It seems like a better solution might be possible.'

"The email [from the principal] did indeed state not to give our ELL students any grade under a 'C' based on the fact that for the first three years in an Ohio School system, ELL students are considered to be Language Learners," Patrick wrote in the email dated October 9.

Blaze News reached out to Patrick and asked a series of questions, including whether ELL students received passing grades even if they failed to turn in assignments and/or attend class as required. Patrick did not respond.

However, Patrick did indicate in the email viewed by Blaze News that the grading policy at the school may soon be changed.

"It seems like a better solution might be possible, so I have given our Director of Instruction and his team of Administrators the task of coming up with a better solution to this grading issue," he wrote.

The grading scale in the online version of the school handbook is not currently accessible, but prospective graduates of Northwestern Jr./Sr. High School must earn at least 21.5 credits and "demonstrate competency in math and English by passing the state’s algebra I and English II tests" or through other approved means.

As Patrick did not respond to any of Blaze News' questions, it is unclear whether students who are U.S. citizens and native speakers of English received failing grades while their ELL counterparts could not.

U.S. News and World Report claims that Northwestern Jr./Sr. High School has a graduation rate of greater than 95%, which suggests that at least a few students have failed to graduate. The outlet cited government data for its report but did not clarify when that data was collected.

The student handbook also warns that chronically truant students and their parents or guardians may face prosecution at a local municipal court. Truancy may even affect a student's ability to acquire a state driver's license, even though some of the city's 20,000 Haitian immigrants have been caught driving without a license.

Springfield, Ohio, has been in the national spotlight for more than a year after an unlicensed Haitian immigrant there crashed into a school bus, killing 11-year-old Aiden Clark.

At the presidential debate last month, former President Donald Trump also suggested that some of the Haitian immigrants in Springfield are eating pets. Democrats balked at the suggestion, but statements from Springfield residents indicate that maltreatment of wildlife is a problem in the area.

"I [saw] a group of Haitian people — there was about four of them — and all had geese in their hand," one resident stated during a 911 call on August 26.

Anthony Harris, a 28-year-old Springfield resident, said at an August city council meeting: "They're in the park grabbing up ducks by their neck and cutting their head off and walking off with them and eating them."

"I don't know how y'all can be comfortable with this."

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Flashback: Biden in 2006 tells MSNBC's Chris Matthews 'illegal aliens' must 'learn to speak English,' 'earn their way' in



Last week, Democrats spent quite a bit of energy criticizing President Joe Biden for daring — amid his State of the Union address — to characterize Laken Riley's suspected murderer as an "illegal."

You know, as opposed to being outraged over the murder itself — and for policies that allowed the suspect to roam across the U.S. border in the first place.

Biden, of course, dutifully walked back his "illegal" characterization during an interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart over the weekend: "I shouldn’t have used 'illegal.' It’s 'undocumented.'" When Capehart asked Biden if he regretted using the "illegal" term, Biden replied, "Yes."

It wasn't always that way.

Let's flash back to another MSNBC clip that's been making the rounds on social media since left-wing undergarments got in a twist over Biden's ghastly "illegal" utterance.

It's a 2006 video of then-U.S. Sen. Biden telling MSNBC's Chris Matthews that "illegal aliens" need to "learn to speak English," among other requirements for getting to reside in the U.S.

In the clip, Matthews kicks things off with — count 'em — three "illegal" references in one question as he asks Biden if there's "a Democratic Party position which accommodates the need to stop illegal entry, punish people who hire people with cheap wages illegally, and also gives hope to people who live here illegally and people who want to come here right now?"

After some back and forth, Matthews asks Biden if you can "scare an employer in this country, whether he's an agricultural worker or a housewife, into not hiring an illegal because the punishment's so high that if you get caught, it's a huge embarrassment to your family, and you may just ... get hit with a fine that'll kill you?"

Biden replies, "Absolutely you can, and that's what we should do. I think we should do that."

From there, Biden remarks that Democrats understand that "illegal aliens ... have to have a way to earn their way into the deal. This isn't amnesty." He also says that "they pay a fine, they gotta learn to speak English, they gotta pass tests."

Matthews chimes in on the importance of encouraging illegal immigrants to learn English, even adding that "English is gonna unite this country potentially. It always has in the past."

Biden then observes that "I can't think of a country that has two languages as their accepted languages that is doing all that well, including Switzerland and/or Canada."

Matthews says that having multiple languages in the U.S. "divides us. You can't talk to each other."

Oh, how times have changed. Check it out:

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Election 2022 : John Fetterman vs. English Language | 10/26/22

Election 2022 : John Fetterman vs. English Language | 10/26/22

Joss Whedon mocks Israeli-born Gal Gadot after she claimed he threatened her career: 'English is not her first language' — but Gadot slaps back, 'I understood perfectly'



Famed director Joss Whedon hit out at Gal Gadot's claims that he "threatened" her career during the filming of "Justice League," saying that English is not the actress's native tongue, and that she likely didn't understand his remark.

Israeli-born Gadot, however, fired back with a thundering response: "I understood perfectly."

Whedon has been at the center of lurid entertainment industry allegations over the past several years, which have seen him accused of misogyny, racism, verbal abuses, sexual harassment, and more.

How did this all play out?

In May, Gadot said Whedon threatened her career during the filming for 2017's "Justice League."

"[He] said that if I do something, he will make sure my career is miserable, and I took care of it on the spot," she said at the time.

During a later interview, Gadot addressed the exchange again and said that she was "shocked" by Whedon's remarks.

During a recent interview with New York Magazine, Whedon addressed Gadot's claims and said, "I don't threaten people. Who does that? English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech."

Whedon clarified that the exchange he believes was at the crux of problem was a joke that Gadot would have to tie him to a railroad track and cut a scene from the film over his dead body. He added that she must have misinterpreted his response to being over her dead body rather than his own.

Gadot in response to Whedon's claims said, "I understood perfectly."

Anything else?

In 2020, actor Ray Fisher — who portrayed Cyborg in "Justice League" — accused Whedon of "gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable" behavior toward the cast and crew during filming of the movie.

At the time, he did not delve into the specifics of Whedon's purported behavior.

Fisher — who is black — later went on to complain that Whedon used color correction to lighten his complexion.

In the New York Magazine interview, Whedon insisted that he'd brightened the coloring of the entire movie.

"Whedon was stunned," the report said. "He had given the whole movie a lighter look, brightening everything in postproduction, including all the faces. He said the claim that he had disliked a character’s skin tone ... was false and unjust."

Whedon suggested that Fisher wasn't much more than a troublemaker, and that the Cyborg thespian was a "bad actor" in more than just one sense and a "malevolent force."

Fisher hit back at Whedon's defense and on Monday tweeted, "Looks like Joss Whedon got to direct an endgame after all... Rather than address all of the lies and buffoonery today—I will be celebrating the legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Tomorrow the work continues."

Looks like Joss Whedon got to direct an endgame after all\u2026\n\nRather than address all of the lies and buffoonery today\u2014I will be celebrating the legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.\n\nTomorrow the work continues.\n\n#MLKDay \n\nA>E
— Ray Fisher (@Ray Fisher) 1642446331

By Tuesday, Fisher added, "Before I get started today, I want to thank you all for lifting and supporting EVERYONE that has been negatively affected by Joss Whedon. I was not the first to speak out about him, but I hope to be one of the last that has to."

Before I get started today, I want to thank you all for lifting and supporting EVERYONE that has been negatively affected by Joss Whedon.\n\nI was not the first to speak out about him, but I hope to be one of the last that has to.\n\nA>E
— Ray Fisher (@Ray Fisher) 1642520832

He later continued, "I’m starting a team called 'The Malevolent Force.' Who wants in? *Joss Whedon’s need not apply*"

I\u2019m starting a team called \u201cThe Malevolent Force.\u201d\n\nWho wants in?\n\n*Joss Whedon\u2019s need not apply*
— Ray Fisher (@Ray Fisher) 1642532520

10 Politically Correct But Factually False Words And Phrases To Stop Using Immediately

To counter the left’s lies, conservatives have to use words that accurately reflect the truth — not words that actively mean the opposite.

Ivy League school's English department actually votes to change name so it's not conflated with 'English as a nationality'



The Department of English at Cornell University recently voted by a wide margin to change its name to the "department of literatures in English" in order to eliminate — as one faculty member put it — the "conflation of English as a language and English as a nationality," the Cornell Daily Sun reported.

Huh?

The Daily Sun — the college's student newspaper — said faculty members of color proposed the name change during the English department's first faculty meeting of the fall semester. The paper said a significant majority of the department approved the name change, and now all that awaits is an OK from the administration.

Director of Undergraduate Studies professor Kate McCullough, English, indicated to the paper that the change would help do away with the "conflation of English as a language and English as a nationality."

More from the Daily Sun:

The decision to demand such a change was spurred by this summer's resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement following George Floyd's death, according to Prof. Carole Boyce-Davies, English, one of the original proposal writers. As a result, the faculty felt a sense of obligation to react in their own department.

"Faculty around the country — not just faculty of color, but faculty in general — began to look at the institution to see how we can help advance a discourse that challenges structural forms of racism which get reproduced in students and in teaching over and over again," Boyce-Davies told the paper.

She added to the Daily Sun that there was worry about how the department as a whole would react.

"What surprised us was the fact that so many of the white faculty of the English department signed on — we were amazed," Boyce-Davies told the paper. "By the time we were ready to officially take it to the department as a whole, we had over 75 percent of the faculty signed on."

Department chair Prof. Caroline Levine added to the Daily Sun that smaller discussions about anti-racist changes have been happening for years, but current events gave faculty confidence to take concrete, unified action.

"I think leadership matters," Levine noted to the paper. "This isn't just us doing a symbolic gesture; this is in keeping with the University's call to have us really rethink our everyday practices around racism."

(H/T: The College Fix)

Merriam-Webster adds 'offensive' to definition of 'sexual preference' amid controversy over Barrett using phrase during Senate hearing

Merriam-Webster changed the definition of “preference” to include that it is an “offensive” term when used to describe someone’s sexual orientation.