The simmering community debate over sex education that surfaced at Tuesday night's marathon Santa Barbara school board meeting is the point of departure for Newsmakers TV this week, as the panel drills down on the politics of education.
Hours of testimony objecting to the progressive political values embodied in the curriculum of "Teen Talk" preceded the school board's predictable unanimous adoption of the program, and Josh Molina and Delaney Smith join Jerry to talk about what the debate and the vote mean, both for the three unelected incumbents running to keep their seats and the four outsiders seeking to oust them.
The gang discusses the recent spate of big endorsements split among incumbents Laura Capps, Jackie Reid and Wendy Sims-Moten, joined by Montecito school administrator Virginia Alvarez; highlights the common sense comments about the Teen Talk controversy by challenger and literacy champion Monie de Wit; and discusses whether the opponents of the program represent a big enough bloc of voters to benefit conservative candidates Brian Campbell and Elrawd MacLearn.
With six contenders seeking two seats on the Goleta Union school district, Mr. Cranky Pants points to two upcoming online candidate forums sponsored by the Independent -- with Delaney set to moderate the Santa Barbara seven on September 24 and the Goleta six on September 30 -- as key events for the campaigns, while Josh previews his coverage of the Goleta mayor's race between incumbent Paula Perotte and councilmember Roger Aceves.
It's all here, right now on Newsmakers TV and....the podcast version is here.
JR
Image: teentalk.ca (Manitoba, Canada).