As I have mentioned in prior Advocate articles, during my investigations I have spoken to parents who wish to be anonymous about their negative experiences with the teachers in the Newberg public school district, especially those who are part of Newberg Equity in Education (NEEd) group. Many of these parents have provided me additional insight into what has been taking place in Newberg, Oregon, and I have put this information in my articles.
Recently, I have been provided a few statements from parents who have removed their children from the public school district in Newberg, so they can share their personal stories about why they made the decision to remove their children from the Newberg public school system.
I hope these stories help people understand the negative impact the Newberg Equity in Education (NEEd) “social activism” is having on the children in the school district, and will help them understand why School board directors Dave Brown, Brian Shannon, Renee Powell and Trevor DeHart are trying to get the politics out of the classrooms with their new policy for the district, as well as why I write so passionately about the activities of this group pushing Critical Race Theory onto the kids.
Erin Ochoa
While many parents sent me their stories anonymously, this parent was willing to sit down for a video interview with me to share her story,
Parent A
“To whom it may concern,
I recently was asked why I removed both of my children from Newberg School District. My decision to remove my children was based on several things. First my decision to remove my older child, who would have been a Junior at NHS, was based on his experience with teachers and students there. My son, felt bullied and picked on by his peer group. He relentlessly was made fun of for his pale white skin by several classmates. The harassment started in the 6th grade for him and continued until we pulled him this year. Yes, my white skinned child was bullied for his skin color. However, that was not the only issue my son had to deal with. While in both middle school and high school, he was tripped in the halls, had chairs pulled out from him, he had his lunch bag thrown onto the air ducts, and his phone was stolen and then returned, but not until my son was nearly in tears asking for the kid to return it back to him. He was humiliated! I honestly could go on and on but, I’m sure you get the point. At both Mt. View and the High School the principles and teachers were notified and they did absolutely nothing to remedy the situations. My son dreaded going to school.
We finally pulled our son from Newberg High, because he literally hated it there and I could see his mental health was far more important than being a student at NHS. So, now we’re 4 months into him being at a new public school and the difference I’ve seen in my son is unreal. He’s joyful again, he has friends that treat him with kindness and respect and for the first time in 6 years, he likes school. I’ll never regret my discussion to remove my son from NHS.
As for my younger child, I pulled her this year because she academically was getting behind and I saw no “Game Plan” for how this school district was going to get her or any of the kids at Newberg back on track. The last year and a half was a complete joke as far as education goes. Oh I know, we’re dealing with a pandemic… yada yada yada… We’re making the best of it…yada yada yada. Um…nope! The last year and a half was a complete waste of time and money for this district and it completely degraded the education of my child. Our district did the absolute bare minimum. 2hrs of education 2 days a week. Ridiculous! I should have pulled her much sooner. So, while my younger child didn’t deal with the same harassments my older child did, I pulled her because she deserved a better education than she was receiving at Newberg.
In closing, I’m going to tell you why my children will NEVER return to Newberg schools again. This district has been taken over by teachers who think they know what’s best for my child. My child’s learning environment doesn’t need BLM fist flags hanging, pride flags hanging, or any other non education item hanging in their classrooms. The staff at Newberg Schools have become hyper focused on race, sexual orientation, and sexual identity right now. I’m focused on making sure my children get a proper education without being bullied in the process. Apparently, the only way to make sure they do get the education they deserve is to keep them as far away from Newberg teachers and a certain group of students as I can.”
Parent B
“Our family pulled our kids out of Newberg Public Schools because we felt that it was not a place of education. Grades were dropping, kids had the run of the place. Teachers were having more and more discipline issues and no support from leadership. We expect our schools to be a safe place for our kids to learn and this wasn’t happening.
Another reason we pulled our kids was that there was a growing number of progressive teachers [creating] an environment where our kids, who’ve been taught to respect others, were receiving no respect in return.
We’ve found a better school district, sold our house and moved from the town we thought we would grow old in. Our heart is still in Newberg.”
Parent C
“I pulled my child from Newberg Public Schools because of the way they continued to lower the bar academically and with behavior issues.
In a conference with the kindergarten teacher I said, “How do you teach with all of these behavior issues??” She replied, “It’s very hard.”
I said , “I have always been a proponent of public schools. My older kids had success in a different district but I’m considering other options because I don’t see him progressing here.”
Teacher replied, “I think that’s a good idea for him.”
It made me so sad for the kids who WANT to learn and for the teachers who WANT to teach, but don’t have the support.
He is now thriving in a different district. The children are supported with admin who follow through with consequences for misbehavior & there is a lot of opportunities for them to thrive academically.“
Parent D
“Our family members moved their kids into private school last year because they wanted in-person instruction for the children and Newberg was, at the time, doing part remote and part-time in person schooling. They found the remote learning experience with Newberg Schools to be pitifully poor. And the in-person instruction to be a waste of time as well.
As a result, they enrolled the children in private schools. The parents now say with embarrassed humility that they should have made the move before Covid. Their children are prospering in a learning environment that is 4X more demanding and 10X more rewarding. The children love it. If Covid disappeared tomorrow, they would keep their kids in the private school.
Sadly, most people can’t afford a private school. Our family understands how fortunate we are.“
Parent E
“I pulled my kid from middle school at NPS beginning of 2019. Many things were going against our family values. First was the classroom disruptions and behavior problems. Kids were wandering around the classroom while teachers were teaching. Taking other kid’s notebooks and slamming them across the room. Coming up to other kids and drinking from their water bottle. Stabbing other kids with pencils during class. Swearing and disrespecting teachers and other students openly. Kids refusing to open their books or engage. Kids were literally afraid of other kids inside the school building while being expected to learn.
None of these things received consistent and swift consequences (a common approach was to send the kid to the office and have them sit it out and calm down. Or maybe go outside to cool off. Just to have the same thing happen over and over. Or be blamed on the teacher for not “de-escalating”). Nor were they consistent with getting an education.
Then add in that the level of education was focused on the lowest students. For example, an assignment would be given on Monday and due on Wednesday. My kid would make sure it was done by Wednesday. However, since many students did not have it completed, the class time on Thursday was used for all to finish. This same thing might happen again on Friday. My kid ended up with free time to be on their Chromebook [laptop] and play games.
This is why we, as a district, are below state standards and should be using every opportunity to learn. Another example is in math class only 1/3 of students were at grade level. The teacher found it necessary to teach to the majority of the class’s level. Leaving the kids at grade level and above, stagnant. Tests and assignments were also allowed to be retaken anytime during the semester for all classes.
All of these changes were based on the idea of equity. When in reality, all it did was lower the bar. The values the school was teaching, were not the same as our family. Respect Responsibility Do your best Work hard The middle to upper level kids are stagnant and not even seen at times. We wanted higher academic standards. Higher behavior standards. Higher respect standards. Higher safety standards. We tried to make change and be heard but it fell on deaf ears. We went through all the proper channels. We had to make the difficult decision to find the values and standards for our child and realized it wasn’t going to happen at NPS.“
Parent F
“What prompted us to initiate a transfer out of the Newberg school system was the lack of academic attention. Our child was being overlooked because he wasn’t identified as TAG student or as a challenged student. He was simply getting by. He and us, knew he could perform at a higher level with more attention and resources.
What made our decision final was not only the high number of publicly known drug issues but also the NHS ranking in the state of Oregon. Once we met with the new high school’s principal we knew right away it was a better fit for our student and his
future. We are so grateful still that we were accepted and able to transfer.“
Parent G
“I had to get something for the kids fast and online charter was the online thing I found until I came across our new school. I work at home and having three kids trying to TEACH them was impossible. I was desperate for anything better than what Newberg gave us which was next to nothing.
It was how they handled the Covid shut down. Or lack of handling.
So yes, I was unhappy the kids lost the last two months of their education that year. I was unhappy they had zero help from anyone in the dual language program to help us continue.
Had Covid not happened the kids would still be there, until now. They would’ve been pulled when this fight on politics in schools began. Believe me, I’d love to not have a mortgage payment for school tuition!”
Parent H
“It has been devastating for her. She would come home every day telling me she was mentally exhausted. It was very difficult for her to be surrounded every single day with imagery relating to sexuality and political movements absolutely everywhere she looked. She said it felt like walking into a war every day….but it’s one she couldn’t fight.
She hated that her teachers plastered this stuff all over their rooms in a variety of ways to simply to display their own ideologies. These posters and signs have nothing to do with supporting students. They are there to divide students, indoctrinate them and wear them down to the point that they aren’t free to oppose anything happening in school or society in general.
She said that there was no reason to try to achieve academically or to have exemplary behavior because the teachers and staff didn’t care about kids like her – they only care about kids covered by the BLM or Pride moments so she may as well do the bare minimum to get by. This is coming from a child that had absolutely no behavioral issues and was a straight A student!
All of this is distracting to kids, takes their focus off of their education and unless it is in alignment with the belief system of their family, makes them feel very unwelcome.“
Parent I
“The thing is, she is sick of it more than I am. It was definetly a decision she and I made together.
My daughter is 16, a straight A honor roll student, who up until this crap all started, absolutely loved school, now not so much. That makes me angry.
All she wants to do is learn but she doesn’t want to learn about transgender stuff or BLM. Her best friend is gay, she absolutely has no problem with gay people, she is just not into all of this switching genders nonsense.
She is scared of BLM and not because I told her to be. She doesn’t want them destroying our town like they did Portland.
I get it.”
Update 12/8/2021:
Another parent has provided a testimony,
“I did not pull my son from Newberg school. I should have. We had homeschooled through an online learning program and he excelled at it. When we moved to Newberg he wanted to more social and be around other kids. Big mistake!
I had to fight constantly with teachers and administration to get him help under an IEP. He had an IEP at his previous school but Newberg wanted a “new” one. Newberg refused to recognize the diagnosis from his previous doctors. Since we had just recently moved at the beginning of the school year we did not have doctors or counselors set up for him yet. We could not get a new diagnosis. They refused to give him an IEP or any other learning plan to help him succeed. Their response to him having academic issues was to try to push him into a different program that neither he nor I wanted.
One specific teacher I had to remind that we were not friends and I was not interested in being anything other than the parent of a student. From that point on he consistently gave my son the identical grade on every single assignment. Always one point below failing. Didn’t matter what the assignment was, how small or large it was, or how much time had been given to do it. Exact.same.grade.
My son barely graduated and now hates school so much he will not go to community college or university. He fears the same thing repeating.”
If any other parents would like to submit stories for publishing, anonymous or otherwise, you can email us at yamhilladvocate@gmail.com
