It’s Teacher Appreciation Week and Arkansas’ gay-hating governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders took a break from promoting her transphobic “real woman” beer koozies to let educators in her state to know that she thinks they’re just great… provided they don’t stray from the strict “anti-woke” agenda she’s been imposing upon them since taking office five months ago.
“Thank you to every Arkansas teacher for your service to our state’s future!” she tweeted late yesterday, along with a video of herself praising schoolteachers in Republican-controlled Arkansas, which currently ranks 47th in the nation in education (plus 49th in health care, 43rd in infrastructure, and 41st in economy.)
“Thank you to ever Arkansas teacher for your service to our state’s future,” she says in the video. “God bless.”
But Sanders’ appreciation stops there.
Since taking office in January, she’s launched an all-out assault on Arkansas schools and LGBTQ+ students and teachers.
Not only did she appoint Jacob Oliva, the guy who was responsible for implementing Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, to lead the Arkansas Education Department, but she quickly signed a law banning trans teachers and students from using school bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identities.
She also signed a 145-page education overhaul that gives teachers a small pay increase ($2000 a year) but also totally silences them from speaking about gender identity or sexual orientation.
Oh, and she signed an executive order to prevent “indoctrination” in classrooms by banning teachers from talking about critical race theory.
“Schools must educate, not indoctrinate students, and their education policies must protect children and prepare them to enter the workforce,” the order read. “Teachers and school administrators should teach students how to think—not what to think.”
Here’s how people responded to Sanders’ teacher appreciation message…
Taking a break from calling teachers indoctrinators? pic.twitter.com/4b1D9kywqd
— living life as a host body (@angryamaggdyla) May 10, 2023
5th lowest pay in the nation for teachers. Miserable teaching conditions; overcrowding, old materials, failing infrastructure. Wow thanks teachers for putting up with this.
— Mark Richardson (@Mark0Richardson) May 10, 2023
AYKM??? You trash teachers by saying they are indoctrinating students and bash them for teaching the mythical CRT. You made it easy to fire them and made their continuing education useless. You literally ran on a ‘AR teachers suck platform’ GFY
— Darin 🟧 (@PearceDarin) May 10, 2023
You have no friends that are Teachers……
— btowngirl1 (@btowngirl1) May 10, 2023
"Thanks teachers, but y'all are a bunch of pedophiles and indoctrinators, beware what you say because now you can be fired with no teacher fair dismissal act lmao"
— Chenoa Summers 🟧 (@Chenoa4AR) May 10, 2023
Arkansas is 47th in Education.
— ISS Enterprise (@ISS_Enterprise) May 10, 2023
"Thank you to every Arkansas teacher for your service…" Now you're all fired, you pinko, commie, America hatin' pedophiles!
— Brian Regal PhD. (@Tarbosaurus89) May 10, 2023
This is hypocrisy at its worst. You accuse teachers of “indoctrinating” students. You say they’re “grooming” kids into some sort of evil conspiracy. You threaten to cut off schools because you think they’re failing.
— Andy Morgan (@mrmorganmusic) May 10, 2023
Oh, but you love and appreciate them?? 🙄
Last week, Sanders went on right wingnut Dan Bongino’s podcast to crow about how people from blue states, California in particular, are flocking to Arkansas because it’s such a wonderful utopia for people with conservative values.
“We believe not only in individual and personal freedom, but in making sure we do things that protect those freedoms,” she said, adding, “We have seen people from all over the country, blue states in particular, flooding into our state. Particularly California.”
“And the message I gave them was very simple. Welcome to Arkansas. Don’t forget why you left California. … We’re going to keep taking them as long as they remember why they left those blue states in the first place.”
Related:
Sarah Huckabee Sanders says all are welcome in Arkansas… as long as they’re cis, hetero & Republican
“Our door is open,” she said.
correctio
there’s a good read today over at the Ny times about the Biden 2024 campaign’s perceived “sluggishness” — check out the comments. people are rightly scared that Biden is not up to the challenge of running against a candidate who will likely be Trump.
we need to be scared. the Republicans are crazies, but they are doing real things (an extra $2k a year is a lot for a school teacher in most parts of the country). the Dems NEED TO FIGURE OUT A NEW STRATEGY if they want to beat Trump and save the country.
dbmcvey
correctio says “LOOK OVER THERE!”
correctio
well yeah, you should look over there
dbmcvey
That’s what we want. correctio chasing his tail.
correctio
here’s the #2 voted comment. educate yourselves!
“Democrats are refusing to learn. Biden won the first time by not being Trump. But many of those who voted for him have been betrayed or let down. Forty percent of Americans sell leftovers and clutter online, and despite having paid once for the items, will be hit with a tax bill for it next year, right before elections. Strike one. Students and retirees desperate for student loan relief, don’t have it. Millions who survived on emergency Medicaid, lost it. The environment got sold to the oil companies, women lost their rights over their own bodies and Bidens response was negligible, the border was and is a humanitarian disaster, railroad workers got a sharp lesson on how deep the administration’s commitment to labor is, and Democrats still blithely assume they’ll win again.
Cam
The same old right wing troll account desperately defecting from the fact that the first thing Sarah Huckabee did when she became governor was to beg the Federal Government and Wealthy blue states to bail Arkansas out.
Bengali
I totally agree with your and I share your angst. I was watching Biden today deliver a speech about passengers’ rights and when he named the website he got it wrong…TWICE.
I will check out the NY Times article. THANK YOU.
Sarah Huckabee will go down in history as the first SASQUATCH who spoke about teachers’ rights.
correctio
@Bengali it’s terrifying!
@Cam not deflecting, there is no shortage of reporting on how awful SHS is
barryaksarben
correct so how does this story about Sarah huckabitch case you to comment with a lie about Biden. Sluggishness is the Arkansas school system 47th in the nation cuz she treats teachers like shit and used them to get elected. GFY troll
correctio
@barryaksarben where is the lie?
Fname Optional Lname
Why does Fox news and/or most Republicans bring up Biden the very minute anyone or anything else is mentioned? Whataboutism is real and it’s getting kinda boring..
Fname Optional Lname
$2000 a year is not a lot for a school teacher in MOST parts of the country. It wouldn’t even be considered “a lot” for a person making minimum wage. It might cover those school supplies the teachers wind up paying for but they’re not going on vacation each year because of this substantial increase.
correctio
@Fname Optional Lname
it’s not fox news, it’s people commenting on a nytimes article and also me, not a Republican. also, do a quick search of the queerty archives and compare the number of articles they’ve done on Biden with the much greater number on Republica ghouls. safe to say that queerty is not often championing the work of the Biden admin. instead, relying on outrage to get engagement
2k is a substantial pay raise, not nearly enough but still something
Dems on the other hand have introduced bills at the federal level to increase pay for teachers:
– American Teacher Act would incentivize states to pay teachers 60k/year as a minimum
– Pay Teachers Act would require states to pay teachers 60k/year as a minimum
Biden did briefly mention in his most recent state of the union that teachers should get paid more. do you remember that? do you think most Americans remember that?
LGBT+ people make up a significant number of teachers in the US. so, paying teachers more would help a significant number of LGBt+ people. (I’m sure we all remember fondly a gay teacher or two who helped up realize ourselves)
every liberal or left-wing news organization (INCLUDING QUEERTY) should be promoting these kinds of actions. Biden should be using his bully pulpit to call for higher pay for teachers (and others)
JaredNorthcutt30
I love how they think you’re a right wing troll. These are the same braintrusts who bellowed “I’m with her!” and disregarded working class people in the rust belt states. It will be a joy watching the meltdown come 2024. Right on cue.
abfab
You can give this woman a fashion make over but not a heart or a brain make over. She is an idiot and a hate filled individual. God Bless……………oh brother. And those faux pearl ear rings.
barryaksarben
she is a trashy ignorant pos and correction or whatever is an idiot. LOOK OVER THERE idiot. If anyone was let down it was every single American when that orange traitor tried a COUP to destroy this country so look over there
correctio
you can call me an idiot, but millions and millions of Americans feel the same way
JaredNorthcutt30
I’m one of them. Sixty nine percent of independent voters agree with me. Y’all need to work harder at earning our votes. Propping up Weekend at Bernie’s ain’t cutting it.
JaredNorthcutt30
You know, a lot of people on the far left (myself, Susan Sarandon) want Donald Trump to burn this failed system right to the ground. Y’all had the same problems in 2016. This has been going on for a decade.
correctio
don’t even get me started on what the Senate Dems leadership did to poor old Dianne Feinstein yesterday, wheeling her in to cast a vote even tho it is well past time for her to retire
Fahd
The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution reads, in relevant part:
“No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
So why isn’t the 14th Amendment being applied in some of these “red” states (e.g. Arkansas, Florida)? Whatever happened to the ACLU, Lambda Legal, etc. ?
I guess the corrupt Supreme Court majority (see also Tr*** appointees), has discouraged good people from fighting for their rights… hell in a handbasket.
JTinToronto
Did I hear that she is now the spokesperson for Mad Cow Disease?
Mary Jane
Another liar in good Santos’ company and father.