Texas Transvestite Teacher Confuses 5th Grade Students at Lumberton ISD – Suspended after Outrage

The small, predominantly Christian community of Lumberton, TX is once again about to hit the national scene. The Lumberton Independent School has suspended a transvestite teacher. There will be a School Board meeting this Thursday night at 7pm where it is expected there will be a large number of outspoken people from both sides who show up to speak during the public comment time. State Board of Education member David Bradly had this to say regarding the upcoming school board decision, “He does not have to be fired as substitutes are not under contract. The district just fails to call him for the next days work.” Furthermore, men who want to dress up as women are not a protected class under the Constitution or state law and therefore the teacher can be fired. Especially in schools, there is broad authority to make decisions based on what the people of the community wants and believes is in the best interest of the vulnerable students of the school district. I suspect the man will try to sue and we will have a trial with national implications.

If the board goes into executive session to privately discuss personnel, some believe that the School Board will also discuss who hired him in the first place and thought it was ok for him to wear a dress in front of 10 year olds who were so distracted that they could not take their tests. Superintendent John Valastro has taken heat in recent years due to high profile issues. In this case, Valastro is not over picking substitute teachers, but he did suspend the teacher following the recent complaints. I have written several articles regarding Lumberton ISD issues, from vulgar school plays with cursing, to CSCOPE, to students wearing Muslim Burqas, to liberal teachers wearing vote Obama shirts and telling students not to watch Fox News. John Griffing’s WND story on the Burqa issue led to national attention and even helped push out CSCOPE curriculum on a statewide level (although it is still around).

Lumberton is a great community and has a great educational environment compared to other public schools. I live here and I personally hate to see the school getting so much negative attention because it is not a reflection of the majority of the teachers and administration. Unfortunately, in order to fix problems and make sure they do not happen again, you have to expose the problems. It is a dirty job but someone has to do it.

I first heard about the issue when my youngest brother came home and told me about the kids talking about a male substitute teacher that was in a different class. This teacher was signing his name as Mrs. I thought that was strange, but I did not realize the extent of what was going on until I heard Chip Darby talking about the issue on freedom 1300. Apparently there was a male teacher wearing a dress and makeup at the Lumberton Intermediate School.

The teacher’s name is Laura Jane Klug (born Kurt Klug). I looked him up on Facebook and what I found was an emotionally disturbed and confused older man. He has not always wanted to be a woman. According to a note he posted on his Facebook page on July 7^th, 2011 titled “How Much More Can I Take?” Kurt Klug was emotionally distraught and seemingly ready to give in with his life because of the pain of his female wife leaving him. The pain and distraught of his wife leaving him must have driven him to decide that he wanted to become a woman. From 2011 until now, Kurt changed his name to Laura Jane Klug and started dressing up like a woman and acting like a woman. He has joined many lesbian, gay and transgender pages on Facebook. Oh, and he also likes Texas Politician Dan Branch’s page.

Let me get one thing straight, I do not hate this man, nor am I angry at him. I feel bad for him. He was so hurt and emotionally distraught that he was driven to wanting a radical change. He seems like he was and maybe still is a Christian, but he is certainly hurting and has lost his way. We all have issues and this is his issue.

That being said, a school house with young, impressionable, easily distracted and easily confused children is not the place for this man to be. The school has very strict dress codes and boys cannot even have long hair. The environment is controlled to minimize distractions so that the students can learn. Like it or not, a transvestite is a distraction. Not only that, he frightened and confused many students who then went home to their parents who had to have age inappropriate conversations with their children.

Roger Beard, whose son was in the class Klug was subbing, is an outspoken parent who talked to the local Channel 12 News about this issue. He said what concerns him is the distraction he believes a transgender teacher poses to ten and eleven year old children.

"If it does affect my child and his ability to learn or if it causes questions that I don't feel are appropriate then undoubtedly there's an issue with having somebody transgender, transsexual or transvestite, to be teaching that age group," Beard said.

Sheli Jones Wells also had a child in the class and she posted this comment on Facebook about the situation, “I did have to explain to my daughter what transgender was last Thursday afternoon because it was her home room class he was in. I was none to happy to venture down that road with my 11 year old. Judge? No. But do I have reservations about WHY this person wants to be in our schools for $60 a day, you better believe it.”

I wanted to hear what others in Lumberton had to say, that is when I took to Facebook to see what I could find out from friends who work at or have students at the Intermediate School.

The response I got was overwhelming.

Below are screenshots of what I posted on Facebook, and some of the responses that I got:

Texas Teacher Wears "Vote Obama" Shirt at Lumberton ISD - Vulgar, Anti-Christian/GOP/Fox News Pics on Twitter - Uses CSCOPE

This woman is not the teacher, this is one of the
pictures posted on the teacher's Twitter page

During the November 2012 election, several students claim that Lumberton High School teacher Michelle Champagne paraded around the high school wearing a shirt with a picture of Barack Obama and "Vote Obama" written above the picture. This Texas teacher also has vulgar, anti-Christian, anti-Republican, anti-Fox News, anti-Rick Perry messages and pictures posted openly on her Twitter page and says her fellow Lumberton residents “cling to guns and Bibles.” One tweet on her Twitter Page even refers to a Christian Cross as a Swastika! It is no surprise that this teacher also says she relies heavily on the flawed CSCOPE curriculum!

The recent Lumberton ISD Muslim Burqa Lesson and CSCOPE curriculum controversy has apparently encouraged other students and parents to speak out about things that have happened in Lumberton schools. Over the past month I have been contacted about all kinds of incidents, including this one. Parents in other cities are also standing up and speaking out. Just today I saw that a parent in Flour Bluff, TX exposed a CSCOPE approved supplement lesson that blamed the 9/11 terrorist attack on America.

I 100% believe that the Lumberton School Board and Lumberton Administration are NOT trying to push liberalism on any children. I also believe that most of the teachers in Lumberton are awesome! I do believe however that there ARE some liberal teachers who DO try to influence students with liberal ideas, even here in predominantly conservative East Texas. I also believe that, even if not intentional on the part of the school, the CSCOPE curriculum does try to negatively influence students. Thankfully, LISD has created a committee to look into replacing CSCOPE.

Lumberton Teacher Wears “Vote Obama” Shirt to School

Last week I got a call from a student who said that, during the November 2012 election, Lumberton High School teacher Michelle Champagne paraded around the high school wearing a shirt with a picture of Barack Obama and "Vote Obama" written above the picture. This allegation was backed up by other students who saw her wearing the shirt. Even after at least one student and the student's parents complained to the school about this shirt, the teacher still wore the shirt to Lumberton High School, according to the complaining student and parent. It is not known what action, if any, was taken against the teacher for wearing the shirt.

The Burqa incident might have been as an honest mistake not meant to push anything onto the students, but there is nothing innocent about a teacher wearing a shirt to the high school that says "Vote Obama." This shirt in my opinion, is clearly an attempt of an authority figure to push a liberal person and ideas onto impressionable students at Lumberton High School. A teacher with a shirt with "vote" written on it would be fine at a school to encourage students to get involved. I would even be fine with a shirt that just had a picture of Obama on it. But a teacher wearing a shirt that has the words "Vote Obama" is clearly crossing the line. Students wearing religious or political shirts are ok because it is student led. A teacher is in a position of authority over impressionable students who are there to learn from the teacher, so teachers are NOT allowed to wear these kinds of things.

It is interesting to note that on Michelle Champagne's LISD Teacher Webpage, she says that the students in her class only do CSCOPE for the first 9 weeks!

This Lumberton Texas teacher labels herself as a LIBERAL TEACHER on TWITTER and has VULGAR anti-Republican pictures and messages on her Twitter

Just in case you want to try to argue that this teacher is not a liberal who, in my opinion, wants to push radical ideas onto the students in Lumberton, go check out this teacher’s past public twitter posts.

The following are some of the past tweets on Lumberton Teacher Michelle Champagne’s twitter account. These past tweets on her account have been archived at http://topsy.com/twitter/mbchampagne because she has now deleted her twitter page

Michelle Champagne’s Twitter Description:

@mbchampagne

twitter.com/mbchampagne

Lumberton, Texas – Liberal Texas school teacher surrounded by people who cling to their guns and Bibles...

Vulgar,  anti-Christian, anti-Republican, anti-Fox News Tweets found on Michelle Champagne’s Twitter Page:

 

This following picture of Texas Governor Rick Perry that was posted on Michelle Champagne’s Twitter came with this caption “Here comes Rick Perry, with a crippled swastika aka a cross.” 

Other Lumberton Teachers have also tried to influence Students with Liberal Propaganda

The idea of liberal influences from teaches in the conservative state of Texas is nothing new. Nearly two years ago, I wrote an article about a Lumberton Teacher, Karen Talbert, who Chastised 6th Grade Students for Watching Fox News Instead of CNN.

Also, who can forget the article I wrote last year about a Lumberton Teacher having students perform (in front of the entire school) a vulgar, sexually obscene play written by a liberal who is intent on promoting a pro-homosexuality agenda in schools via his dramas and plays.

Interestingly enough, this is not my first unpleasant run in with Michelle Champagne. It was only a couple years ago that I passed out an American flag to every house in Lumberton on the anniversary of 9/11. The flag came with a flyer promoting conservative values. After passing out the flags, I got an email from a liberal who was not happy. She said I was wrong and she sarcastically said that she will pray to Mother Mary to have her son Jesus help us conservatives make it through this Democratic Rule. The thing that surprised me though was that this person signed this letter as “Michelle Champagne Junior English and World History Teacher”. As you can see, this person did not sign her letter as a concerned citizen. She signed her letter as a high school teacher. In my opinion, she is proud that she gets to spread liberalism to students at Lumberton High School without professionally keeping liberal politics separate from her position as a public teacher.

This article should make you sick to your stomach just thinking about what kind of thins liberal teachers are telling your kids while they are in school.

Parents Should Always Take Time to Ask Your Kids What They Are Learning In School and Take Action When Your Kids Tell You Something Wrong. Also, Check Their Homework and Ask for Copies of Lessons because the Kids Might Not Know They Are Being Taught Wrong. Parents are the Front Line Defense to Stop Liberal Ideas and Lessons from Taking Over our Schools!

Lumberton ISD Mother Says Bullying (even by Teachers) at School Needs to Stop Being Ignored (VIDEO)

This mother addressed the Lumberton School Board at the 3/7/2013 meeting. This meeting was attended by many Lumberton parents who wanted to talk about the Muslim Burqa Lesson incident and the District's use of the flawed CSCOPE curriculum.
She was very upset and wanted to tell the School Board what was going on and ask for help and for answers.

I  am not going to comment on this video, I just want to post it here for everyone to see and come to their own conclusions.

Lumberton ISD Reponds to CSCOPE & Muslim Burqa Lesson - Blames Texas, Starr/EOC Tests, School Choice (Video)

Lumberton ISD School Board Meeting 3/7/2013

Superintendent Valastro Responds to Angry Parents who packed the
meeting demanding answers to many questions. Some Parents were
upset that the School uses CSCOPE, which has recently been exposed
as a flawed lesson plan that lacks transparency, was designed by
liberals, and contained pro Islam lessons and lessons that have
students draw a communist flag. Some parents were upset about the
situation in which Lumberton Students put on Muslim Burqas at the
school without being informed that Burqas are oppressive objects that, in some countries, must be worn by women or fact death. Some were not as upset at the Burqa lesson as they were upset about the handing of the Burqa incident
such as no parental notification and bullying by teachers and
students. Others felt that teachers are punished if they speak out when things have happened in the past at Lumberton schools.

Mr. Valastro had a long presentation that put the focus for the
problems, and needing to use CSCOPE, on money hungry testing
corporations, the Texas Legislature, too many testing requirements
and school choice.

I am not going to give my opinion about what was said at the
meeting. I simply want to post the response from Mr. Valastro in a fair
way for everyone to see and come up with your own conclusions.

The Islamification of Texas, by Todd Starnes

from Todd Starnes posted on TownHall.com

Imagine browsing Facebook one day and discovered a photograph of your 14-year-old daughter wearing a burqa – at school.
That’s exactly what happened to a parent in Lumberton, Tex. She asked me not to disclose her identity because she fears for her daughter’s safety.
Her daughter’s world geography class was supposed to be learning about the continents. Instead, they were given a tutorial in Islam – complete with authentic Muslim garments. Some of the young ladies were photographed – and the image has now gone viral.
The students were told the purpose of the class was to change their perceptions of Islam. They were instructed to no longer call those who commit terrorist attacks terrorists. Instead, the Muslim terrorists were to be called freedom fighters.
They were also assigned to write an essay based on a Washington Post story that blamed Egypt’s troubles on democracy – instead of the Muslim Brotherhood.
“I am outraged,” the angry mom told me. “I felt my blood pressure go through my head.”
The parent said she was not even aware of the lesson until she discovered the Facebook photograph.
“As parents we should have been made aware this,” she said. “I felt like the line had been crossed.”
The parents said they immediately contacted the principal of the high school who defended the program and said it was required under CSCOPE – a controversial electronic curriculum system that provides online lesson plans for teachers.
“The principal told me it was world geography and they have to learn this stuff,” she said. I called Janice VanCleave, a vocal critic of the CSCOPE program and the founder of Texas CSCOPE Review. She said the education program is without question promoting the Islamic religion – and students are not given the full story.
“They are not telling students how these young women are treated in this religion,” she told me. “In the Islamic countries women are not treated well at all.”
Last month, evidence was presented at a state hearing showing that CSCOPE offered a number of lessons about Islam.

One particular lesson instructed teachers to provide classroom readings of selected texts from the Koran.
Students were also taught that Allah is God.

CSCOPE offered no comparable lessons on Christianity or Judaism, VanCleave told Fox News.

“I do think CSCOPE promotes the Islamic religion,” she said. “I don’t think it’s right to be proselytizing the Islamic religion in our schools.”
She’s got a point.
Imagine for just a moment the school directing Muslim children to dress up like priests – or pretend to be baptized in a pool of water.

read the rest of the article here: http://townhall.com/columnists/toddstarnes/2013/02/26/the-islamification-of-texas-n1520673

Parents to Demand Answers about Muslim Lesson at Lumberton School Board Meeting March 7th, 2013 at 7pm

Parents to Demand Answers about Muslim Lesson at Lumberton ISD School Board Meeting March 7th, 2013 at 7pm. Before the meeting starts, anone can sign up to speak to the school board. This is In response to the High School lesson in Lumberton, Texas that made outrageous claims to the students such as terrorists should be called freedom fighters and Muslim Burqas are just a fashion statement instead of an oppressive object that, if not worn, could mean the death penalty for women in some countries. I am all about students learning other cultures, but this is told far. It is biased, offensive, and does not even show the truth about Muslim things like Burqas. The lesson might have had good intentions but what ended up happening was wrong. This lesson should be immediately suspended and an investigation made into the lesson and what needs to be changed to make sure these mistakes do not happen again.

Senator Patrick says Lumberton ISD is lying about Muslim Lesson

Yesterday, Texas State Senator Dan Patrick launched an investigation after a photo surfaced of students wearing Muslim Burqas and being taught to call Muslim terrorists 'freedom fighters.'  The school defended the lesson by claiming it was a state mandated lesson. It was just announced that Senator Patrick has dropped the investigation because it has been determined that the school lied about the content of this lesson being state mandated. In fact, the contents of this class is something that the Lumberton teacher and/or administration has developed the content of this class and not the state, therefore this is a local issue and not a state issue. The school will have some explaining to do at the next school board meeting.

Lumberton Students told to call 9-11 Hijackers 'Freedom Fighters' and NOT call Holocaust 'Genocide'

Click on the article below from Todd Starnes to read about these important updates to the story from yesterday about Lumberton Students wearing Muslim Burqas as part of Lumberton ISD (Texas) lesson.

Students Told to Call 9-11 Hijackers “Freedom Fighters” | FOX News & Commentary: Todd Starnes

Update: After Muslim Burqa Lesson, Student Pulled From Lumberton School - not CSCOPE, or was it? - Sen. Patrick Investigating

I took down the original picture and put one up with faces blurred

Update: After Muslim Burqa Lesson, Student Pulled From Lumberton School - minor students cried today after being forced to sign incident report about what happened without parent notified or allowed to be at the meeting, parents furious - the school says this lesson seems to be a Lumberton lesson and not CSCOPE lesson, but CSCOPE Experts say it was CSCOPE influenced - Senator Dan Patrick Investigating

There have been lots of updates after I posted this article this morning: Lumberton ISD (Texas) Students Told to Wear Muslim Burqas in CSCOPE High School Lesson http://www.texasconservativerepublicannews.com/2013/02/lumberton-isd-texas-cscope-students-burqas.html

Here are the updates:

One parent contacted me and said that he pulled his kids out of Lumberton schools 2 years ago because of this exact Islam lesson

Another parent contacted me and told me that her child called her from the school crying because she had to go to the Principal's office this morning and sign an incident report statement staying that they were not forced to wear the Burqas. The parents are now even more furious because they were not informed or asked to be present when their minor child was told to sign a potentially legal form. One parent got a lawyer who said the school was in violation for not letting the parent be present.

It was confirmed that this was a geography class and not a history class.

The teacher I hear was upset that she even had to teach the lesson and told the students she did not agree with it so I am not out to bash the teacher. Clearly this lesson has been forced into the classroom by someone and it needs to be corrected.

State Senator Dan Patrick has today called for an investigation into this lesson.

National News has picked up the story including Todd Starnes of Fox News, Alex Jones Prison Planet, and I got a call from MSN.

It was also confirmed by a parent this morning that the students were not FORCED to wear the Burqas but they were brought as Larry of the lesson and students were asked to try them on. Here is the worst part though, It was also confirmed that the students were told to call terrorists 'freedom fighters' and also the students were taught that Burqas are really just a fashion and the students were not taught that they are a form of oppression and women can even be put to death for not wearing one. Also, it was confirmed that the students were asked to do a report on Egypt that portrayed democracy as bad.

This is OUTRAGEOUS! Look, I am ok with students learning other religions and regions as part if a history or geography class. It sounds like this was the INTENT of the lesson and I think the state of Texas has lessons that teach students different religions and regions. That is ok. What is NOT ok is what happened here and what this lesson has become over the years. Somehow, this lesson that was supposed to talk about different religions ended up only talking about Islam. Burqas were brought and presented as a fashion instead of an oppressive object. The students were asked to call terrorists freedom fighters. This is wrong and the Lumberton School Board needs to take action. I do not believe that the school board knew this was going on. I do not even know how much the superintendent knew of what was going on because I think, or hope, that if he did he would have asked the teacher to make sure it was fair and balanced instead of a lesson slanted in favor or Islam.


Also, although Texas CSCOPE has had major issues because of Islam lessons in schools, this Muslim Burqa lesson was not part of CSCOPE (sccording to the school) and it is a lesson that Lumberton ISD has been doing for years. John Griffing from WND.com believes the school is covering for CSCOPE and he believe this Muslim lesson was influenced by CSCOPE.

Here is a statement from John Griffing about this Lumberton lesson and CSCOPE: 

CSCOPE has been in place for the last 8 years, and due to its influence in classrooms, it is premature to rule out CSCOPE as a culprit philosophically, if not materially in this case.

Teachers, as we know from user agreements supplied by Mary Bowen at the hearings on January 31st, are required to teach CSCOPE lesson content exclusively. What this means from an application standpoint is a matter for discussion, but would anyone attempt to argue that prior to CSCOPE such incidences would be as likely?
It certainly seems as if we should be cautious in throwing out CSCOPE as a factor in this case.

TESCCC 2012 - Contract, from Mary Bowen:

“To support implementation of this detailed curriculum, districts must have processes and people in place to insure that there is sustained monitoring of the curriculum and that individual teachers do not have the option to disregard or replace assigned content.”

How exactly can we separate CSCOPE--used by Lumberton ISD--from the current situation? After someone is caught in the commission of an unethical act, can their testimony be trusted?

Lumberton does not deny use of CSCOPE, but does deny it as a factor in this case. Again, it is questionable to throw out CSCOPE as a factor simply due to denials coming in the wake of discovery. I don't know which is worse. The lesson described closely parallels CSCOPE content, and I referenced some of this content in my original article. It's the chicken or the egg. Either way, Lumberton is in violation of an SBOE resolution disallowing the promotion of Islam in classrooms.