South Dakota
South Dakota teacher’s letter to transgender student prompts protest
College students and oldsters are urging Watertown Faculty District officers to take motion after a instructor gave a letter to 4 high-schoolers in what mother and father known as a devastating “pre-meditated assault” on transgender college students.
The letter, given to college students Monday by a Watertown Excessive Faculty German instructor, sparked a small protest by college students Tuesday morning. The instructor, Calvin Hillesland, tried to refute college students’ gender identities and advised the scholars within the letter that once they requested him to name their mates by masculine names, he felt it was “unsuitable” and “a lie.”
Hillesland then wrote in his letter that “biologically, each cell in your physique is feminine, female. That is the organic reality. The identical is true on your mates.”
Together with the letter, it is alleged Hillesland provided to ship a DVD that he mentioned “will clarify the whole lot extra clearly than I can — the religious in addition to the scientific info,” in addition to sweet.
Extra:Why parent-child interplay remedy is seeing rising help from households in South Dakota
An announcement despatched to oldsters from the varsity district by way of textual content message confirmed the letter was despatched to 4 college students at the highschool Monday and {that a} school member tried to open a dialog in regards to the college students’ gender id.
“The Watertown Faculty District doesn’t help this kind of motion, and we respect the rights of our college students to be who they’re,” the district’s assertion learn. “We wish to present a protected studying atmosphere for all college students. We proceed to work by the scenario and ask on your help as we deal with it.”
Watertown Faculty District Superintendent Jeff Danielsen met with the Watertown Public Opinion on Tuesday morning and confirmed that Hillesland remains to be actively educating.
“The administration has notified the scholars and their households that we’re investigating the scenario and assessing what has occurred,” Danielsen mentioned. “We’re nonetheless within the courtroom of figuring out what plan of action we must always take.”
Danielsen mentioned workers was made conscious of the scenario after college hours Monday and has not had time to finish an investigation.
“We’re dealing with this as rapidly as attainable,” he mentioned.
Father or mother pulls pupil from district
Highschool pupil Alex Bryant, who’s transgender, acquired one of many letters from Hillesland and instantly texted a replica of the letter to his mom, Ashley Bakke. Bryant then knowledgeable the varsity’s counselors of the incident.
Bakke went to the varsity at 3:30 p.m. Monday to aim to get some solutions in regards to the letter her little one was given. She spoke with highschool Principal Brad Brandsrud in regards to the incident.
“It was akin to speaking with a politician,” Bakke mentioned. “He was dancing across the subject and would rationalize it as generational and spiritual. I don’t really feel like something was addressed. It seemed like he was defending a pal.”
Bakke additionally talked about her little one had made a number of makes an attempt to treatment bullying and harassment points with the varsity all year long, however nothing has been achieved to curb the issue. She mentioned she has determined to tug her little one from the varsity district instantly.
“The extent of that is devastation,” Bakke mentioned. “Hillesland was one in every of his favourite academics. At this level, Alex can get a greater training and really feel protected at house, and I absolutely agree.”
‘He is misplaced all my respect’
A number of highschool college students who witnessed the letter being exchanged mentioned the incident occurred throughout lunch interval and that Hillesland is a lunch monitor.
“We had been all flabbergasted. Mr. Hillesland was at all times the great instructor who at all times mentioned hello to everybody, however he is misplaced all my respect,” mentioned Alex Rambow, a highschool pupil and one of many protestors Tuesday morning.
Heather Hoffman mentioned her 14-year-old son Kai Worth additionally acquired one of many letters at lunch Monday, as did a gaggle of his mates who’re additionally transgender.
“I felt extra disbelief than the rest,” Hoffman mentioned of the incident. “These individuals are in place to guard our kids, and that is not what’s taking place. This can be a premeditated assault, that he needed to kind up the letter. I do not perceive how that’s allowed and he’s nonetheless educating on the college right now.”
Hoffman mentioned her son Worth is upset as a result of Hillesland was once one in every of his favourite academics.
“It is heartbreaking for the youngsters,” Hoffman mentioned. “To have that occur out of your favourite instructor simply is not honest.”
‘We will not defend ourselves’
Rambow and a handful of different college students have been actively reporting ongoing incidents of bullying, sexual harassment and loss of life threats from college students and different college workers, however the college students say they really feel little is being achieved to stop the harassment.
“We will not defend ourselves. We will not retaliate. They inform us to be the larger individual or simply ignore it,” Rambow mentioned.
Firstly of the yr, high-schooler and fellow protester Shelby Bendel mentioned they would report the bullying to the varsity useful resource officer and the principal.
“We have reported many issues, however probably the most I’ve seen occur to the bullies is a 30-minute suspension,” Bende mentioned.
Extra:Shield Trans Youngsters Rally in Watertown pushes towards South Dakota anti-transgender payments
College students in Watertown who acquired the letter ought to file a grievance with the U.S. Division of Training’s Workplace for Civil Rights, mentioned Susan Williams, govt director of the Transformation Undertaking, a South Dakota advocacy group for transgender youth.
“These issues shouldn’t be taken calmly, and sadly, these sorts of issues have gone on in class districts round South Dakota for many years,” Williams mentioned. “We hope that this expertise could be a catalyst for change. We might be there each step of the way in which to direct individuals to assets, help youth and their households, and work with districts to make sure that all college students are handled with respect and dignity.”
Hillesland couldn’t be instantly reached for remark. His educating certificates remains to be lively, in keeping with the South Dakota Division of Training.
Faculty board Vice President Stuart Stein declined to remark, and 4 different college board members couldn’t be instantly reached for remark.
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South Dakota
Videos: Gundy, Players Recap Win against South Dakota State
![Videos: Gundy, Players Recap Win against South Dakota State Videos: Gundy, Players Recap Win against South Dakota State](https://pistolsfiringblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/53962121679_afc402ad55_k-1000x600.jpg)
STILLWATER — The Oklahoma State football team beat South Dakota State 44-20 on Saturday to start the season 1-0. After the game, Mike Gundy, Ollie Gordon, Alan Bowman, De’Zhaun Stribling, Collin Oliver, Korie Black and Trey Rucker met with reporters to recap the game.
South Dakota
South Dakota State vs. No. 17 Oklahoma State live stream (8/31/24): Watch college football, Week 1 online
![South Dakota State vs. No. 17 Oklahoma State live stream (8/31/24): Watch college football, Week 1 online South Dakota State vs. No. 17 Oklahoma State live stream (8/31/24): Watch college football, Week 1 online](https://www.nj.com/resizer/v2/P2NH7TDAORCA3K2CFKZ3D37LHE.jpg?auth=27a73779c5e6defa1fa563e3ee42ddc0fe62687da0c8b6ecc5664751c4c0c4a2&width=1280&quality=90)
The South Dakota State Jackrabbits face the No. 17 Oklahoma State Cowboys on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024 (8/31/24) at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Fans can watch the game with a subscription to ESPN+.
Here’s what you need to know:
What: NCAA Football, Week 1
Who: South Dakota State vs. Oklahoma State
When: Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024 (8/31/24)
Where: Boone Pickens Stadium
Time: 2 p.m. ET
TV: N/A
Channel finder: Verizon Fios, AT&T U-verse, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice,Cox,DIRECTV, Dish, Hulu, fuboTV, Sling.
Live stream: ESPN+
***
Here’s a college football story from the Associated Press:
Y’all ain’t played nobody!
It might as well be college football’s slogan. Debates about strength of schedule are part of the fabric of the sport, like marching bands, cheerleaders and tailgating.
With the size of the College Football Playoff tripling in size from four teams to 12 this season — including seven at-large bids — expect the arguments over the relative difficulty of teams’ schedules to increase exponentially.
The posturing and politicking has already begun.
“This is the NFL of college football in my mind,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said during Big Ten media days. At Southeastern Conference media days, the NFL was also invoked when the topic steered to schedules.
“As coaches we want to play the best. People forget that when you’ve spent time in the NFL, every week was like that,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “So when Texas and Oklahoma came into the conference, every schedule was going to get harder.”
The debates aren’t just about which conferences are the best. With super-sized conferences of 16-18 teams, the differences in strength of schedule within leagues can be significant.
The CFP selection committee uses a strength-of-schedule rating provided by SportSource Analytics that includes components such as wins and losses, scoring differential and game location.
Balancing who you played with how you played will be harder than ever.
“There’s a weight on the committee that’s new. I want to see how the committee processes that,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said during spring meetings. “And my encouragement is that this, ‘Well, we have an undefeated team so they’re in’ is not the standard. It never was the standard. Obviously, that stirred up controversy last year.”
Toughest schedules in the Power Four
There are dozens of data-based rating systems to measure the relative strength of college football teams, and all have some type of schedule-rating component.
The AP took three systems — ESPN’s SP+, FEI and KFord Ratings — and averaged their strength of schedule rankings for all 134 Bowl Subdivision teams to determine where each Power Four team’s schedule ranks nationally (all games, not just conference games, are factored in).
Using those projections, SEC teams on average will be facing the toughest schedules this season.
The average strength-of-schedule ranking among the 16 SEC teams is 11.2, from Florida (a unanimous No. 1 among all three systems) to Missouri at 36.7.
Half the teams in the SEC have schedules with an average national ranking of 10 or better, including No. 1 Georgia at 3.7. No. 11 Missouri is the only SEC team with an average schedule-strength ranking below 25.3.
Rating the rest
The Big Ten, now including Southern California, UCLA, Oregon and Washington, is next with an average strength-of-schedule ranking of 26.9 among its 18 teams.
Purdue’s 7.7 average ranking is the highest followed by No. 23 USC at 9. Big Ten favorite No. 2 Ohio State’s average is 34. No. 3 Oregon’s is 26.7.
The ACC and Big 12 are about the same. The 17-team ACC has an average strength of schedule ranking of 49.9. The 16-team Big 12′s average ranking is 47.3.
Assessing strength of schedule
Straight up rankings can be deceiving. How to quantify the difference between facing the sixth-ranked schedule and 26th?
Brian Fremeau, the creator of FEI, does it three ways, asking three questions: How many games would an elite team lose facing a particular schedule? How many would a good team lose? How many would an average team lose?
AP used FEI’s strength of schedule ratings based on good teams in its composite rankings, since good teams are going to be the ones in the CFP race.
Based on FEI projections, the difference between playing Georgia’s schedule (rated 3.4 among the hardest in the nation) and Ohio State (34) is about one more loss for a good team against the Bulldogs’ slate. The difference between Alabama’s schedule and Big 12 favorite Utah’s is about two losses for a good team against the Tide’s.
If these schedule strength projections held — they will change throughout the season — it would then be reasonable to compare an 11-1 Utah to a 9-3 Alabama.
Reasonable to compare doesn’t necessarily mean the one with the tougher schedule should automatically be ranked higher.
“I don’t judge a team on its schedule. I judge a team on how it performs against a schedule, or my system does. And that is a little more of a nuanced take then, ‘Well, we played a tougher set of opponents than you did, therefore, we’re better,’” Fremeau said. “There’s a bit of a balancing act between the two.”
Intraconference debates
The SEC and Big Ten are both bigger and division-less for the first time. That necessitated new tiebreaker procedures to determine which teams qualify for conference title games featuring the top two teams in the standings.
Within the guidelines is an acknowledgment that the rigor of conference schedules will vary when teams are playing barely half the league. After head-to-head and record vs. common opponents are used to break ties, both leagues go to results that favor the team that fared better against the better conference opponents they play.
The ACC, a year ahead of the the SEC and Big Ten in abandoning divisions, has a similar nod within its tiebreakers to strength of schedule.
ACC Associate Commissioner Michael Strickland said the conference used 10 years of data that measures the success of its football teams to help create a new schedule rotation that would be competitively balanced. But the ACC also to had weigh travel now that Stanford, California and SMU are members, as well as protecting some traditional annual rivalries.
The ACC’s fourth two-team tiebreaker is combined winning percentage of conference opponents.
“Our head football coaches suggested that we insert that during our review process,” Strickland said.
The CFP choices
The CFP field announced Dec. 8 will be comprised of the five highest-ranked conference champions, regardless of league, and seven at-large selections. There is no limit to the number of at-large bids a conference can receive.
The most interesting comparisons for the CFP selection committee might end up being between the many conference rivals that do not play each other in the regular season.
What to do with a 10-2 Missouri and a 9-3 Alabama (composite strength-of-schedule ranking, 9.3)? Or Iowa (37) at 10-2 and Michigan (16) at 9-3? Over in the ACC, what would happen while assessing a 10-2 Virginia Tech (68) and a 9-3 Florida State (30.3)?
“Especially when we’re picking (seven) teams now, we’re looking at the loss column with a bit more scrutiny,” Fremeau said. “They’re going to be debating teams like that with a one or possibly two-game difference in record, but a comparable difference in expected schedule rating and they’re going to have that debate about which one they value more.”
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)
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South Dakota
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