The Politics of Education in Burlington
By Linus Leavens 

We are seeing alarming changes in Burlington’s School System; changes brought about by a Socialist Progressive mentality aimed at grabbing power by co-opting the minds of our children from Pre-K onward through our public schools.

On May 8, 2007 Shelburne Farms Sustainable Schools Project (funded by Shelburne Farms.Org) & the Burlington Legacy Project (funded by CEDO, Burlington’s Community Development Office) presented a "Theme-based Magnet School Proposal" to Burlington School Superintendent Jeanne Collins (the PDF is on the Burlington School District website- click Vision, then see Current Info).

On June 25th, 2007, the Burlington School Board sponsored a public meeting in which members of the public were not allowed to ask questions or comment on a presentation about the International Baccalaureate Organization (funded by UNESCO). The presenter represented that all participants in the International Baccalaureate program must be carefully screened, & only then would they be given password-protected access to websites promoting the agenda. Listeners were cautioned that everyone involved in the "programme" would have to be "on board".

The IBO powerpoint offered at the meeting mentioned learning outcomes for the 21st century, global significance, sharing the planet, spiritual health, beliefs & values, the nature of self, interconnectedness, global perspectives, & societal decision making (the International Baccalaureate link is on the Burlington School District website- click vision, then see Current Info).

The IBO endorses the Earth Charter. The United Nations promotes the Earth Charter & its goals. The UN’s Agenda 21 was adopted at the Rio Conference in 1992. "Local Agenda 21" is the plan that brings the Agenda to Vt.

In 2001, Burlington’s City Council voted to adopt the Earth Charter, and to use taxpayer money through CEDO to forward the UN’s Local Agenda 21. They still do through the Legacy Project.

On Sept. 9, 2001, two thousand Gaian, Pagan, & Wiccan followers gathered at Shelburne Farms, Vt. to celebrate the new "Arc of the Covenant" (Shelburne Farms endorses the Earth Charter). The Earth Charter was placed in a box carved from a solid block of sacred pagan sycamore, & decorated with pagan symbols of earth, water, fire, & sky. Placed inside were "Temenos" books & masks made by Vt. school children. The Temenos is a magic circle inside of which "special circumstances" prevail. UN front man Maurice Strong (a member of the Church of Gaia) "wants to replace the Ten Commandments with the Earth Charter".

The battle for the minds of our children is being waged by the NEA, whose founders are at the roots of the UN. Teachers using Local Agenda 21 policy & curriculum bring left-wing politics & pagan religion directly into publicly funded school classrooms. At the Peace Summit held at UVM Sept 28, 2002, Bernie Sanders & Steven Rockefeller helped to chart a course for "integrating Earth Charter ethics into schools".

While perfectly acceptable individual concepts, key words like diversity, tolerance, globalization, & sustainability are woven into a cloak that masks the UN’s true intentions- global taxation, a standing UN army, demilitarization of all nations, disarming of all civilians, ending veto power & permanent security council status, giving control of the US economy to the UN, suspension of the US Constitution, suspension of the Vermont Constitution; in effect, a World Socialist Government.

The Burlington School Board intends to use taxpayer money to forward the Socialist agenda & Pagan religion by teaching Earth Charter Ethics in public schools. They are engaged in social engineering on a global scale. The founders of the NEA would be proud. It is all happening right now in front of our very own eyes.

Linus Leavens lives in South Burlington