Perspectives; Thoughts; Comments; Opinions; Discussions

Posts tagged ‘Hudson High School’

As rents soar, homelessness hit record high: HUD


By Leonardo Blair, Senior Features Reporter Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Read more at https://www.christianpost.com/news/as-rents-soar-homelessness-hit-record-high-hud.html/

A homeless man pushes his belongings past tents on August 16, 2023, on a Skid Row sidewalk in Los Angeles, California, where homelessness has seen a 10 percent surge compared to last year. A recent report from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reveals an estimate of 42,260 people living on the streets of Los Angeles without shelter, as the homeless population has more than doubled over the past decade. | FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

As rents soared and programs focused on preventing evictions and housing loss ended, homelessness hit a record high in 2023, with roughly 20 out of every 10,000 people in the United States found to be experiencing homelessness on a single night, a new report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development shows.

Among the key findings of HUD’s 2023 Annual Homeless Assessment Report: Part 1: Point-in-Time Estimates, officials found that homelessness increased across all household types. Roughly 653,100 people nationwide were experiencing homelessness during a Point-In-Time count conducted in January 2023. Between 2022 and 2023, the number of people experiencing homelessness increased by 12%, or an increase of roughly 70,650 people. The 2023 Point-in-Time count is the highest number of people reported as experiencing homelessness on a single night since reporting began in 2007, officials say. 

Homelessness among people in families with children rose 16%, while individuals registered an 11% increase in the homeless population.

Most of the homelessness crisis remains centered in the nation’s 50 largest cities. According to the data, nearly 60% of the people experiencing homelessness did so in urban areas, while the remainder of the homeless population was noted in suburban areas (23%) and rural communities (18%).

Reacting to the findings Friday, HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge said homelessness “should not exist in the United States” because it is “solvable.”

“From day one, this Administration has put forth a comprehensive plan to tackle homelessness and we’ve acted aggressively and in conjunction with our federal, state, and local partners to address this challenge,” Fudge said in a statement.

“We’ve made positive strides, but there is still more work to be done. This data underscores the urgent need for support for proven solutions and strategies that help people quickly exit homelessness and that prevent homelessness in the first place.”

The data also shows a sharp increase in people who became homeless for the first time. Between the federal fiscal years of 2021 and 2022, there was a 25% increase in people who became newly homeless, even as the number of people who exited homelessness to permanent housing increased by 8%, the agency said.

HUD attributes the rise in homelessness to several factors, including “recent changes in the rental housing market and the winding down of pandemic protections and programs focused on preventing evictions and housing loss.” Additionally, rental housing conditions were “extraordinarily challenging” in the year leading up to the January Point-in-Time count. 

“[T]he supply shortage of 2022 likely contributed to this increase in rents and homelessness in 2022,” the HUD release states. 

A 2019 report released by the White House Office of Economic Advisers during the Trump administration titled “The State of Homelessness in America” called homelessness a “serious problem” in America “due to decades of misguided and faulty policies.” It also pointed out that homelessness is concentrated in major cities on the West Coast and the Northeast, like Boston, New York City and Washington, D.C., with nearly half (47%) of unsheltered homeless people found in California alone.

Contact: leonardo.blair@christianpost.com Follow Leonardo Blair on Twitter: @leoblair Follow Leonardo Blair on Facebook: LeoBlairChristianPost

Category:

Political

Tagged with:

Ohio mayor orders school board to resign or face criminal charges over ‘child pornography’ taught in schools


Reported By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter| Friday, September 17, 2021

Read more at https://www.christianpost.com/news/mayor-to-school-board-resign-over-child-porn-taught-in-school.html/

Craig Shubert
Craig Shubert, the mayor of Hudson, Ohio, orders all members of the Hudson City School District Board of Education to resign or face criminal charges for allowing a high school class to use a book asking students to write several sexually explicit writing prompts, Sept. 13, 2021. | Screenshot: Twitter/Jenny Beth Martin

The mayor of a city in Ohio ordered the school board to either resign or face criminal charges for allowing high school students to be exposed to course material that he described as “child pornography.”

At the Hudson City School District Board of Education meeting Monday, Hudson Mayor Craig Shubert, a Republican, addressed the school board, saying, “It has come to my attention that your educators are distributing essentially what is child pornography in the classroom. I have spoken to a judge this evening; she has already confirmed that.’ 

“I’m going to give you a simple choice: You either choose to resign from this board of education or you will be charged,” he added. The crowd gathered at the board meeting erupted into applause following Shubert’s speech. 

The course material that raised concerns for Shubert and many parents and students who attended the school board meeting is called, 642 Things to Write About, one of several required texts for composition in the liberal arts II, a college-level English course offered at Hudson High School in conjunction with Hiram College.

Before Shubert spoke, a local resident shared his concerns about the book with the board. “Do not sexualize our kids,” he demanded. “The raw filth that snuck past the gatekeeping functions of this board of ed of 642 Reasons was disgusting.” The man listed one of the prompts students were asked to write about, including “explain a time when you wanted to orgasm but couldn’t.” He alleged that “students were told not to take the book home” so that their parents would not be aware of the material their children were exposed to at school. 

Meredith Judson, a student at Hudson High School, recalled: “The first day we got it, within 10 minutes of us getting this book, all of us around the room had already found the things out” about the problematic prompts in the book. “If we found out in 10 minutes … that all of these prompts were in the book, it’s just interesting how … the teacher wouldn’t have known about this.”

Judson indicated exposure to sexually explicit material in the classroom was not an isolated incident. She described how in a previous class, she was “watching movies that were rated R that showed very sexual … scenes and very explicit content,” including “a child that was a 10 year old that was up on stage taking off her clothes to do a perverted dance.” 

Monica Havens read aloud several additional prompts from the book. One prompt asking students to “Write a sex scene you wouldn’t show your mom” was followed up by a subsequent prompt asking students to “rewrite the sex scene from above into one that you’d let your mom read.” 

According to Havens, 642 Things to Write About also asks students to “describe your favorite part of a man’s body using only verbs,” “write a sermon for a beloved preacher who has been caught in a sex scandal,” “write an X-rated Disney scenario,” “drink a beer” and “write about the taste,” discuss “the first time you had sex” and “write a scene that begins ‘It was the first time I killed a man.’” 

“I hope each and every one of you is as uncomfortable as I am after reading that,” she remarked. “Now, imagine you are 17 and in a room full of peers with an adult teacher. How do you feel now?” 

“This is what Hudson teachers are asking our children to write about. When these topics are encouraged and read by adults, that is pedophilia and this is happening on your watch.”

Accusing the school board of allowing “grooming” to take place, she told them that “all of you need to be replaced.” Noting that the book has been in schools for six years, she concluded that “you have allowed the sexualization of our youth and grooming material to be approved for classroom content.”

In response to Shubert’s call for him and his colleagues to step down, Hudson City Schools Board of Education President David Zuro issued a statement asserting that “While we respect the Mayor’s position … at this time, no board of education member has indicated any intention to resign.”

The terms of three of the five members of the board of education will expire on Dec. 31, while the other two members have two years left in their terms. 

At Monday’s meeting, Board Vice President Steve DiMauro proclaimed that “the fact that our children were exposed to this, it needs to be addressed.” Superintendent of Schools Phil Herman maintained that an investigation into the matter was “underway.” 

Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com

Category:

Education, Political

Tagged with:

Tag Cloud