McKinney ISD’s Come-to-Jesus Moment. The school district has made news for anti-transgender and anti-Islamic tweets from teachers, leading prayers at mandatory staff assemblies, and hosting high school graduations at Prestonwood Baptist Church. After taking some heat from parents and residents, the district finally agreed to move the commencement ceremony to the Allen Events Center. The church’s pastor sent off an angry tweet, saying “religious freedom is under attack.” I wonder if he would feel the same way had the school been holding the ceremony at a mosque.
And Then There’s Birdville ISD’s “Gay Bar” Questionnaire. Something you might expect in a bad community college ethics class, but not in one with 12-year-olds.
Plano Parents of ISIS Recruits Going to Prison for Lying to Feds. Mohommad Hasnain and Sumaiya Ali were in communication with their sons, both Plano Senior High grads, when the brothers traveled to Syria and joined ISIS in 2014. In an interview a year later, the parents told federal agents their sons were in Egypt and not involved with any terrorist groups. Authorities and the parents are now unaware of the brothers’ whereabouts, and whether they are dead or alive.
Home of the Mean Green Gets Greener. Denton plans to purchase all of its electricity from renewable resources by 2020, which would make it the largest “green power” city in the U.S.
Happy Valentine’s Day. I used the term “Galaentine’s Day” in the office recently, and Kathy Wise thought I coined it. That was a good day.