I am currently in school to be a teacher and asked my professors their opinions on the topic and many of . Crow laughed. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter. The rumor has been spreading persistently, but was unfounded each time: An Iowa superintendentsent a letterto parents to dispel the myth. Go to the bathroom in a toilet and flush. In NY state, a baby can be aborted at birth, but it is illegal, no joke, to declaw a cat. DEIJ Policy | Ethics Policy | Privacy Policy. I wish I were making this up. In Iowa, an unsourced, anonymous reportclaimed that school boards were considering placing litter boxes in the bathrooms, while a Canadian public school director took to the mediato connect similar rumors in his []. Therefore, if you identify as a dog or cat you can no longer go to a public school because animals are not allowed. "This is simply and emphatically not true," and goes on to say " It is very unfortunate that this rumor has been spread over the last several weeks. The Gazette is Iowas independent, employee-owned source for local, state, and national news coverage. 1. No. I asked Keenan Crow of One Iowa, a LGBTQ advocacy group, if they think its a coincidence that a story like this would pop up at a time when public schools are under attack and conservative lawmakers are working to put restrictions on transgender and LGBTQ students. In Kentucky a spokesperson for a school said a TikTok trend has students making animal noises toward each other specifically barking. Rollinger, according to Gazette education reporter Grace King, insisted he was not there as a representative of the school board. She previously covered the Iowa Statehouse for 10 years for newspapers in Davenport, Waterloo, Sioux City, Mason City and Muscatine. Period. If you have people who act like and believe they ARE animals, that is NOT a Furry. You read that right. Todd Dorman. As . During his transphobic chat with conservative politician Tulsi Gabbard, right-leaning podcaster Joe Rogan repeated a far-right lie about student "furries" using litter boxes in public schools. Carroll School District Superintendent Casey Burlau said it got so bad that he had to send a letter to students and parents on Monday. Symptoms include a fever, which is worsened by spending lots of time in conservative culture war fever swamps. litter boxes in schools for furries maine. April 11, 2022 Updated: April 11, 2022 8:55 a.m. Mint Images/Getty Images . Wow! Abbott's school voucher pitch. The Iowa Standard has heard from a handful of parents across the state concerned about students identifying as "furries" at various schools throughout the state. [] reports have popped up elsewhere. At the school sit-down, concerned parent Lisa Hansen said she was really disturbed after reportedly learning from a student that at least one of our schools in our town, in one of the unisex bathrooms, a litter box for the kids that identify as cats. Sign up for my, according to Gazette education reporter Grace King, submitting a letter to the editor or guest column. This has led to students resenting the furries and furry community. Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Bostelman made the comments during a debate over a bill, introduced by Gretna Sen. Jen Day, that would require schools to have "points of contact" for students with behavioral health issues, Put them on a leash to go to the bathroom outside. The flurries of furries has reached North Dakota, with some school districts in Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo issuing statements to debunk the kitty litter rumors, as detailed in a Forum. Of course, the media is keeping littergate secret. If youve ever used the phrase Fake News now YOU can actually DO something about it! One post calling for school districts to take action has been shared more than 31,000 times. A Facebook post detailing the hilarious rumor is blowing up online. In the Dec. 21, 2021, YouTube video, which has over 80,000 views, Lisa Hansen says during the Midland Public Schools board meeting she had been told there was a litter box in the bathroom of at . or Venmo at Iowa-Standard-2018 or through the mail at: PO Box 112 Sioux Center, IA 51250 There continue to be tales of students identifying as cats with, well, tails and all . Kids being dumb: The Meade County School district is dealing with an unusual situation: a group of high school students is attending school acting like and dressing as cats. Same thing, wear ears, wear hooded onesies with ears and tails, purr, etc. In the Dec. 21, 2021, YouTube video, which now has more than 91,000 views, a woman said during the Midland Public Schools board meeting that she was told there was a litter box in the bathroom of . (Photo by pixelfit/Getty Images). Brilliant. I live about two blocks from the school board administrator in my county, whom through his wife told us that a young lady in our district is indeed putting up a squabble about being denied accommodation as a cat. Locker rooms! The same story has popped up at a few school districts across the country, starting with Midland Public Schools in Michigan in December after a parent brought up concerns about litter boxes in restrooms at a school board meeting. Kraayenbrink and other conservatives are working overtime to prove allowing transgender kids to live authentically in a safe school environment puts us on a path toward societal collapse. They're furious. Not at all, they said. Connect with him on Facebook or Twitter. Like us on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/TheSunUSand follow us from our main Twitter account at@TheSunUS, News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. But the cost of using transgender kids as pawns in the war against teachers unions is much higher. She continued: "It was addressed by a child a couple of months ago that they are put in an environment where that are kids that identify as a furry cat or a dog or whatever. 0. The rumor had also been peddled on Facebook by the co-chair of the Michigan GOP, Meshawn Maddock. There is no truth whatsoever to this false statement/accusation! wrote MichaelE. Sharrow, the superintendent for Midland Public Schools, near Detroit, which was accused of the bizarre concession at a Dec. 20 board meeting. They're not super realistic outfits, so they mostly look like the kind of suit a mascot would wear. Theres also a loss of appetite, for facts. And the school was allowing kitty litter to be placed in the classroom or bathroom or both. He didnt inform his colleagues or the district about the meeting. School districts in Iowa, Michigan and Nebraska have debunked claims that they are providing litter boxes in bathrooms. If these student animals are so messed in the head, lets treat them like a cat or dog! A recent story out of small-town Iowa was getting lots of twitters and titters: The Carroll school superintendent sent out an email to parents to knock down a false rumor that there were litter boxes in school bathrooms to accommodate students who identify as cats. This week, on the same day Iowa Capital Dispatch published the Carroll litter box story, lawmakers were debating bills to ban transgender girls participation on womens sports teams and throw educators in jail for making obscene literature available to students. You can join the conversation by submitting a letter to the editor or guest column or by suggesting a topic for an editorial to editorial@thegazette.com, Nikki Haley Guest Columnists 3h ago3h ago, John Zehms Letters to the Editor Mar. Also, the litter boxes dont exist. Urinating and defication in a litter box, for others to clean up is unsanitary and quite frankly disgusting. it is, i go to high school with plenty of these people and want to drop out because the things i have to see. by Kathie Obradovich, Iowa Capital Dispatch February 14, 2022. In 2021 and 2022, various American conservative and far-right politicians and . Lewton noted that each school within the Dickinson Public Schools district has its own handbook that lays out dress code. I'm a real-life furry and my lifestyle is no dirty 'cat litter box' joke. Nothing wrong with being Transphobic . Rumors have now begun circulating in Dickinson and other Western Edge communities that have sparked more than one phone call to The Dickinson Press with questions on whether the school district has, or will be, installing litter boxes in its restrooms. Naturally, Wingert wanted to know which school district the senator was referring to. In short: This behavior is not related to Furries so please stop lumping a harmless hobby in with an actual mental illness. No wonder the kids are not learning! Consider the message it sends transgender kids. There are an estimated 250,000 people in the US who identify as furries, a subculture whose members enjoy dressing up as cartoonish animals, sometimes as a sexual fetish but more often as a fun escape. bizarre concession at a Dec. 20 board meeting. The only animals allowed in public schools are for the blind or those with a medical condition requiring a dog. Iowa State Education Association Director Mary Jane Cobb said the litter box rumors are a right-wing attempt to mock LGBTQ+ restroom equality. Some furries even wear animal costumes or tails in public. In Iowa, an unsourced, anonymous report claimed that school boards were considering placing litter boxes in the bathrooms, while a Canadian public school director took to the media to connect similar rumors in his [], [] Similar reports have popped up elsewhere. May 31DICKINSON In schools across the United States, a growing trend of students identifying themselves with the "fursona" of cats, dogs, ponies and more. Youre missing the point. I want to weigh in here, because I am a Furry. And despite the best efforts of the reality-based community to find a cure, the condition continues to spread. Dont think its not happening in your area because it probably is. 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