‘This system is failing’: Why this Baltimore teacher left her job to home-school her youngest son

baltimore – Blanca Tapahuasco was terrified that her first-grade son was being exposed to mature topics like gender identity and sexual orientation, as well as worried that Charm City’s education system would fail him. So the mother of three quit her job to homeschool her youngest.

“Politics doesn’t belong in the classroom,” Tapahuasco told Fox News. “The system is failing because children are not being prioritized.”

Why this former Baltimore educator chose to homeschool her youngest child:

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Tapahuasco, who taught Spanish to elementary school students at a Christian school, said she saw teachers hiding their political biases in their classrooms. She also heard stories from students in the private and public schools she taught that lessons about sexual orientation in families were confusing. She worried that no school in Baltimore could effectively teach basic academics without introducing bias or adult themes.

“Whatever lifestyle you want to live, it’s your choice,” Tapahuasco said. “But don’t do it to a four-year-old.”

So she pulled her youngest son out of a public charter school in February 2020, leaving her oldest sons — now in 9th and 11th grades — to access social outreach and special lesson plans. in their vocational schools. But when schools were forced to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tapahwasco said his fears were confirmed.

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“I saw in virtual learning where the education trend is starting to take off,” Tapahuasco told Fox News. She said one teacher showed a picture of President Andrew Jackson and called him “another white man you don’t need to know about.”

Number of Maryland families Educated my children at home More than doubled from 2019 to the end of the 2021 school year, according to the Maryland State Board of Education. Tapahuasco told Fox News that parents are embracing homeschooling to have more of a say in their children’s education in the face of increased curriculum battles. Nationwide learning loss.

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“Let’s go. [kids] Enjoy the learning process instead of injecting your own ideas,” Tapahuasco said. The former educator said Baltimore’s schools are helping children’s future livelihoods by passing and developing them before they’re ready. Returning to

In recent years, Baltimore City Public Schools has posted Disappointing academic results. Last year, they played Lowest graduation rate In Maryland, while 77% of students in a high school can only read at the elementary or kindergarten level.

A Washington school district is considering closings due to declining student enrollment

And in February, FOX45’s Project Baltimore reported that 23 schools Zero students scored proficient. On the state math test.

“These are taxpayer funds that are going into these programs,” Tapahuasco said. “If the program doesn’t work, change the leader.”

In Maryland charter schools, meanwhile, nearly half of all fourth-graders had low basic skills in math and reading, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. 2022 Report Card.

Tapahuasco said Baltimore City’s public schools need to address the “basic needs of education” again. “Are we passing kids by the skin of our teeth or are we passing them because they’re ready?”

BCPS did not return a request for comment.

Tapahuasco withdrew her youngest son from a public charter school in part because it couldn’t offer lessons rigorous enough for his abilities. His teacher suggested several private schools, but they were too expensive.

“In the middle of first grade, in October, November, he started telling me he was bored,” she told Fox News. The teacher, Tapahuasco, was busy trying to manage “the low level of literacy in her classroom.”

Public schools saw the largest decline in student enrollment since 1943 — 1.4 million — between 2019 and 2020 and continued into the following year. National Center for Education Statistics. At the same time, Homeschooling nationwide spiked

In Maryland, as of January 1, 2020 to 2021, the number of home-schooled students increased by nearly 54 percent. Report of the Maryland State Board of Education. The following year, more than 2,000 additional students joined the homeschool ranks, bringing total enrollment to nearly 45,000.

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Tapahuasco told Fox News that parents should stop tolerating the failures of public education and “teach your own children.” This fall, she plans to open a bilingual education and child care center where homeschoolers can be tutored.

“We need to inform parents that there is an option for homeschooling,” Tapahuasco said. “There is an option for growth.”

To watch Tapahuasco’s full interview, Click here.