Friday, February 4, 2011

Parents First Not Educrats or Bureaucrats

Looking for up to date information on New Hampshire Homeschooling Bills, visit the NH Parents First Blog spot.

Cathy
Spelling errors, grammar errors, misuse of homonyms and typos are left as an exercise for my readers.




Thursday, February 3, 2011

Should Children be Fined for Swearing in Schools?

I hear a lot of potty mouths when I am out and about, maybe a ticket or two to the Newport students would not only lower my taxes but aid my children's ears.



The following piece appeared on NBCDFW.com.

Cathy


Dallas Teen Fined $637 for Foul Mouth
Updated 10:47 AM CST, Mon, Jan 31, 2011

A suburban Dallas teen-ager had to take on a waitressing job to pay $637 after being ticketed for using bad language in a high school classroom.

Court records show that teacher Michelle Lene heard Victoria Mullins say "you trying to start (expletive)" loudly in class one day last October. She was sent to the principal's office and given lunch detention. The next day, the school resource officer presented the North Mesquite High School student a ticket.

The Dallas Morning News reported that the fine for disorderly conduct/abusive language was $340, but other charges included failure to show for a hearing.

The complaint said Lene was offended, and that Mullins' language was a breach of the peace.

Mullins acknowledges she was wrong. She said a classmate was getting on her nerves.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Educrats Gone Wild

Every day I receive google search results for teacher arrested. Some days I receive as many as ten stories about teachers arrested. Make sure you are having honest and frank conversations with your students about their activities with their teachers.

Cathy
Spelling errors, grammar errors, misuse of homonyms and typos are left as an exercise for my readers.

Teacher who advises colleagues on how to avoid affairs with students caught having sex with 16-year-old boy from her school
By PAUL THOMPSON
Last updated at 1:36 AM on 31st January 2011

Caught in the act: Courtney Bowles, 31, was discovered in the back seat of her car with a 16-year-old boy

A teacher who advises colleagues on how to avoid affairs with students was caught having sex with a teenager in the back of her car.

Courtney Bowles was found by a police officer naked lying on top of the boy, who was also completely naked, from her school in Colorado.

A partly consumed bottle of vodka was also found in the car with the couple.



Her student lover initially said he was 20 years old - but later admitted he was 16.

Bowles,31,was employed at his school as a teacher's instructional coach. It was her job to trains teachers on how to maintain a professional distance from students.

Unfortunately for the teacher, the evidence of her dalliance with the student was rather overwhelming when a police patrol spotted a lone car parked in a park in the town of Loveland.

When an officer shone his torch into the car he saw they were having sex.

According to an arrest report the officer wrote: 'The female was on top of the male and she quickly jumped off of the male when she saw my flashlight shining into the vehicle.

'I told both subjects that I could see they were naked and they needed to get dressed and talk to me.'


Mother of two: Bowles, who faces up to 10 year in jail if convicted, is on $50,000 bail - but cannot approach anyone under teh age of 18, including her own children


Awaiting hearing: Bowles faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of charges relating to the sexual assault of a child

Investigators said the boy initially told the officer he was 20 years old, but when asked for identification he produced a school ID card that showed him to be 16.

The officer also found a bottle of vodka inside the vehicle.

Bowles, a mother of two, was booked into the Larimer County Detention Centre on charges of sexual assault, sex assault of a child by a person in a position of trust and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

She was released on $50,000 bail but not allowed contact with anyone aged under 18 years of age, including her own children - both girls.

Counsellors were called into the Mountain View High School where she worked to help any children troubled by the arrest.

She faces up to ten years in jail if convicted of all the offences and placed on a sex offenders register for life.






Tuesday, February 1, 2011

HB 301 Could make you a Criminal

The following piece appears on the NH Parents First website. Be sure to visit their website for more great information about homeschooling legislation in New Hampshire.




Quote of the Day - ...we have come to realise that for most men the right to learn is curtailed by the obligation to attend school - Ivan Illich

Cathy
Spelling errors, grammar errors, misuse of homonyms and typos are left as an exercise for my readers.

HB 301

An analysis of the New Hampshire Homeschool Freedom Act


In George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four “Newspeak” means the opposite of what it says. The Ministry for Peace concerns itself with perpetual war; the Ministry of Plenty is responsible for rationing and controlling food and goods; the Ministry of Love is the agency responsible for the identification, monitoring, arrest, and torture of dissidents, real or imagined; and the Ministry of Truth is the propaganda arm of Oceania’s regime.



HB 301 is not what it appears to be. It is designed to leave in place the same regulatory framework as the HSLDA-designed home education law of 1990, so that HSLDA may benefit from mediating, for a fee, the relationship between homeschooling families and the state. This proposal is designed to ensure efficient state regulation of homeschoolers.

It is reasonable for the state to require attendance upon instruction in the hope of maintaining an educated citizenry. It is unreasonable to create a legal framework by which to prosecute parents who fail to properly educate their children based upon any state standard. It is censorship of the parental duty. If this is allowed, then parents no longer have any personal responsibility. They must simply implement the standards established by an elite, or be criminalized for their failure to do so.

Home School Legal Defense Association Attorney Michael Donnelly appears to be the author of HB 301. He sent drafts to various legislators for their review.



Your Tax Dollars Working Against You

The following chart is from OpenSecrets.org, yes the chart is a little old but it is a lesson on how much of your education tax dollars are not really going to education but to Democrats who are in bed with the teachers unions.





Cathy
Spelling errors, grammar errors, misuse of homonyms and typos are left as an exercise for my readers.




Monday, January 31, 2011

Glory Be!

Could it be, could a government body really right a wrong? Could a group of people finally take back schools from the teachers' unions? Public schools were hijacked by the teachers so long ago, it is time to take back schools so they become places of education not indoctrination.




The following piece appeared on SpartaNews.com.

Quote of the Day - We have a cultural notion that if children were not engineered, if we did not manipulate them, they would grow up as beasts in the field. This is the wildest fallacy in the world. - Joseph Chilton Pearce

TN House and Senate considering end of teachers’ unions

Cathy
Spelling errors, grammar errors, misuse of homonyms and typos are left as an exercise for my readers.

Two bills seek to abolish collective bargaining with boards of education
By Greg England
Staff Writer
greg@myspartanews.com
Published: Thursday, January 27, 2011 8:29 AM CST
Two bills, recently introduced in both the Tennessee Senate and House of Representatives, would abolish teachers’ unions ability to negotiate terms and conditions of professional services with local boards of education.

On Jan. 18, 2011, Rep. Debra Maggart and Rep. Glen Casada introduced House Bill 0130; while Senate Bill 0113, co-sponsored by Sen. Jack Johnson, Sen. Delores R. Gresham, Sen. Jim Summerville, and Sen. Brian Kelsey, was introduced on Jan. 24, 2011.

Both bills would amend Tennessee Code Annotated 5-23-107 and Title 49, also known as the Education Professional Negotiations Act.

The Education Professional Negotiations Act, which was enacted in 1978, gives any person employed by a local board of education or charter school, who has a position that requires a license for service in public elementary and secondary schools the right to form or join an union.

According to the bill’s summary, it would prohibit any local board of education from negotiating with a professional employees’ organization or teachers’ union.



While the bill would remove all rights and requirements under present state law that allows for negotiations between such professional organizations or unions and local boards of education, it would not immediately affect current contracts or previously negotiated terms or conditions.

Any such contract or agreement would remain in full force until the expiration of the contract or agreement.

Employees would then be allowed all employment rights afforded them under state and federal law, as well as any personnel policies applicable to them.



Sunday, January 30, 2011

Don't Tell the Unions

Don't tell the unions they will blow a gasket. Oh wait, they are already complaining silly me.
The union it mantra is that it is for the children. The reality it is for their agenda. Whose agenda you ask visit the Socialist Party of America website and the Socialist Party of the UK website to learn more. If you do not know there is a big socialist presence in public schools you are not paying attention.

Quote of the Day - A tax supported, compulsory educational system is the complete model of the totalitarian state. - Isabel Patterson, The God of the Machine

The following story appeared on the Banbury Cake website.

Cathy
Spelling errors, grammar errors, misuse of homonyms and typos are left as an exercise for my readers.


Ten groups interested in setting up 'free' schools
7:00am Thursday 27th January 2011
By Reg Little »

EDUCATION bosses have had 10 “serious” expressions of interest from parents over setting up free schools in Oxfordshire.

Now bosses at Oxfordshire County Council are asking parents interested in setting up the schools to attend a meeting at County Hall next month.

And the council says it is looking at free schools as a possible solution in areas where existing schools are over-subscribed.

Free schools are a key education policy of the coalition Government and offer parents, teachers, charities, trusts, religious and voluntary groups taxpayers’ cash to set up their own schools.



The county council has had three inquiries from groups in Oxford, two in the Cherwell district, one in Wallingford and, as reported in the Oxford Mail, one in Witney. Three others have not revealed what area of the county they would be interested in.

Parents who home school their children have shown an interest in setting up a free school at Cogges Manor Farm Museum in Church Lane, which volunteers hope to reopen.

Michael Waine, cabinet member for schools improvement, said: “We welcome the opportunity to talk to anyone who is interested in setting up a free school if they can contribute to ensuring high quality education in areas where there is pressure on existing school places.

“We have had approaches from organisations and individuals and we will be inviting them to a meeting where the council will outline the challenges and opportunities it faces against the backdrop of a rising school population in the county.”

Pressure on places has seen plans announced to tighten the catchment area of Wolvercote Primary School in Oxford and expand classes at two primaries in Grove and Wantage.

Grove CofE School would increase its reception class from 15 to 30. Charlton Primary School would increase its reception class from 45 to 60 from September next year, with a new building to accommodate four extra classrooms.

The council said there had been a “significant and sustained rise” in pupils numbers in Wantage and Grove.

Critics have said free school cash should instead go to the axed Building Schools for the Future programme, which was introduced under Labour to rebuild and renovate schools.

Chris Blakey, county member of the National Union of Teachers’ executive, said: “Free schools are not an efficient way to create extra spaces.

“The most efficient way would be for local authorities to be able to expand their schools or build new ones.

“Free Schools will take money from local authority schools. It is not new money.”

For information about the February 8 meeting, email Monika.Massiah@oxfordshire.gov.uk or call 01865 816453.




Cathy
Spelling errors, grammar errors, misuse of homonyms and typos are left as an exercise for my readers.