[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 54 (Friday, March 24, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H1435-H1436]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       RECOGNIZING BARTRAM TRAILS HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS' SOCCER TEAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 9, 2023, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Rutherford) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. RUTHERFORD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate St. John's 
County's Bartram Trails High School girls' soccer team for completing a 
remarkable 2022-2023 soccer season.
  Last month, the team won their third Class 7A Florida High School 
Athletic Association title in just 4 years, earning them a spot at 
number one in the Nation.
  Under Coach Jen Rodriguez' guidance, seniors Olivia Bori, Sophia 
Magdalein, and Reese Henley scored the winning goals in their final 
game and secured Bartram Trails' place as northeast Florida's first 
public school to finish unbeaten in girls' soccer.
  This impressive record is a testament to the discipline, focus, and 
skill the team has demonstrated on the soccer field throughout their 
season.
  I look forward to following along as they set new goals and break new 
records.
  Mr. Speaker, all I have to say now is: Go Bears.


                        Recognizing Bill Rogers

  Mr. RUTHERFORD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Bill Rogers. 
Bill has dedicated his life and creativity to developing safety 
equipment for some of our Nation's most highly skilled military and law 
enforcement elite tactical teams.
  It all began in 1969 when Bill became the youngest candidate to be 
selected for the FBI Academy. After losing his handgun during a 
pursuit, Bill decided to craft his own holster, a product which he 
later named the Kydex Holster.
  In 1973, he presented the holster to the FBI, and the agency went on 
to buy Kydex Holsters and integrate them for their agencywide use.
  With his newfound success, Bill Rogers began the Rogers Holster 
Company and developed Rogers Shooting School to begin teaching gun use 
and safety skills.
  In the 1970s and 1980s, Bill began working with the Department of 
Defense. He was training Navy SEALS, developing new styles of safety 
holsters, and accepting shooting school contracts from special 
operations units within the U.S. military and many international units. 
Many of these units continue to operate here today.
  In 1980, Bill Rogers sold Rogers Holster Company to Safariland, which 
is a U.S.-based safety equipment manufacturer and actually helped 
create Team Safariland, the first professional team in action shooting 
sports.
  Bill continued to expand his business by developing a series of 
competition holsters specifically designed for sporting use.
  I met Bill in the late 1980s when I was the training commander for 
the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office as we were transitioning from wheel 
guns over to semiautomatic pistols. It was during that time that I 
asked Bill if he could help us to develop a holster with a locking 
mechanism, a retention holster.
  Little did I know what would come of that, but I was struck by his 
humility in the face of such success and his ability to innovate 
firearm safety and training.
  What I didn't know was that while Bill was developing this retention 
holster for the Jacksonville Sheriff's officers, he was simultaneously 
being commissioned by the U.S. Navy to train classes of Navy SEALS.
  In 2017, Bill went on to contract with all five military branches, an 
incredible achievement and act of service to our Nation.
  Hundreds of recruits have been skillfully trained and protected under 
his guidance. His security holsters and training methods have also 
saved countless law enforcement officers from one of the most common 
events an officer ever experiences on the job, and that is a 
perpetrator trying to take control of their gun.

[[Page H1436]]

  If you look at any uniformed police officer today, it is very likely 
that that officer is wearing a Rogers retention holster.
  As a lifelong law enforcement officer, I am honored to recognize Bill 
Rogers' contribution to our Nation and to the safety of our law 
enforcement officers.
  On behalf of northeast Florida, we thank Bill for his continued work 
to keep our officers, our community, and our country safe.

                              {time}  1245


         Ensuring Parental Involvement in Education of Children

  Mr. RUTHERFORD. Mr. Speaker, today Congress passed legislation that 
guarantees parents have a right to be involved in their children's 
education and to hold their school administrators accountable.
  At face value, this should not be a controversial bill. Yet, it 
passed with a slim majority of 213-208. It is a parents' bill of 
rights. Yet, 203 of my Democratic colleagues voted against affirming 
parental involvement in a child's education.
  I would say I am surprised, but this opposition is just more of what 
we have already seen from Democrat leaders and the White House over the 
last 2 years.
  A campaign against parents, characterized by unnecessary school 
closures, masks in the classrooms, DOJ repressing parents' rights to 
participate in school board meetings, and an effort to label concerned 
parents as domestic terrorists.
  What do we have to show for 2 years of this kind of ``leadership''?
  Reports of historic learning losses and higher levels of anxiety and 
depression in our school-aged children.
  The fact that we even need legislation like this further proves how 
far we have come in this country. It is an unfortunate reality that 
there are individuals across this Nation actively questioning a 
parent's right to know what their child is exposed to in the classroom.
  A teacher in Arizona has even suggested that because she has a 
master's degree, she is more qualified to make a judgment call on what 
children are taught in the classroom and the parents are the ones who 
need to be vetted before they can voice their opinion.
  She even went so far as to say this: ``We must remember that the 
purpose of public education is not to teach only what parents want 
their children to be taught, it is to teach them what society needs to 
be taught.''
  Mr. Speaker, I reject this idea that my children are her children. 
Call me old-fashioned, but I don't believe a parent's right to have a 
say in their child's life ends at the edge of the schoolyard.
  Parents are the primary stakeholders in their child's education. I am 
proud to have voted for the Parents Bill of Rights Act today, which 
will ensure parents have the right to know what is being taught in 
schools and to see reading materials that are presented to their 
children; the right to be heard at school board hearings; the right to 
see school budgets and spending; the right to protect their child's 
privacy by prohibiting student data from being distributed to tech 
companies; and finally, the right to be updated on any violent activity 
that occurs at their school.
  Opposition to these reasonable provisions is just more of the same 
government-knows-best attitude that has led us to where we are now.
  I will put this plainly because this issue hits very close to home 
for me and for every American family, regardless of party affiliation.
  The future of this Nation rests on the education of the next 
generation. While I believe that teaching is a noble profession and our 
educators deserve recognition for their service, there is not a world 
in which a loving parent should be separated from taking an active role 
in their child's education.
  As a proud father and grandfather, I am committed to ensuring 
education decisions are made as close as possible to the classroom, so 
that the future of this Nation remains rooted in freedom for all, but 
it needs to be made with students, parents, and teachers.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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