Citizens for Reasonable And Fair Taxes - Croydon

Can't we Just Focus on Reading, Writing and Math?

2011-03-04T08:14:00.005-05:00

We can not even get children to read, write or perform math at grade appropriate level, lets get that down first before we start teaching about orgasms. The NEA has some very messed up priorities.

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

Excerpt: Comprehensive sex education is “the only way to combat heterosexism and gender conformity,” Schneider proclaimed

Volume 14, Number 12
March 3, 2011

"Schools need to teach about orgasms" says NEA to UN
By Lauren Funk
NEW YORK, March 3 (C-FAM) Graphic sex education for youth is the new battleground at the UN, as evidenced by side events during the past week at the Commission on the Status of Women.

The theme of this year’s CSW is the “access and participation of women and girls to education, training, science and technology.” While delegates are busy negotiating resolutions and outcome documents, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and UN organizations campaign for the installation of socially radical curriculums in Africa and America alike.
“Oral sex, masturbation, and orgasms need to be taught in education,” Diane Schneider told the audience at a panel on combating homophobia and transphobia. Schneider, representing the National Education Association (NEA), the largest teachers union in the US, advocated for more “inclusive” sex education in US schools, with curricula based on liberal hetero and homosexual expression. She claimed that the idea of sex education remains an oxymoron if it is abstinence-based, or if students are still able to opt-out.

Comprehensive sex education is “the only way to combat heterosexism and gender conformity,” Schneider proclaimed, “and we must make these issues a part of every middle and high-school student’s agenda.” “Gender identity expression and sexual orientation are a spectrum,” she explained, and said that those opposed to homosexuality “are stuck in a binary box that religion and family create.”

A Belgian panelist at the same event explained how necessary it was to have government support when educating about anti-discrimination issues. He claimed that the “positive, pro-LGBT policies in Belgian schools are a direct consequence of liberal and open-minded legislation in Belgium,” and went on to stress the importance of states in providing relevant materials for students and schoolteachers. He also held up Belgium’s “gender in the blender” programs, which are discussion-based programs for Belgian teachers who want to discuss gender and transgender issues in their courses, as a model for other nations who wished to encourage their teachers to address these topics.

The UN system was also advocating for the sexualization of youth at this year’s CSW. A panel sponsored in part by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) advocated for “comprehensive sex education” not only as a tool to combat “gender oppression,” but also as the key to achieving all of the Millennium Development Goals. The panelists presented the highly controversial UNESCO guidelines on Sex Education, as well as a new IPPF-sponsored curriculum as the gold standard for comprehensive sex education. Both curriculums promote a liberal approach to sex, approve of masturbation, and expose children to graphic content in their youngest years. The panelists also insisted that these programs be implemented in schools in order to reach as many students as possible, and they also recommended they start as soon as possible, given the fact that many girls in developing countries leave school before the age of sixteen.

Although most of the side events during CSW are not sponsored by governments and attract few delegates, the NGOs who produce the events are UN lobbyists – which means that the agendas on display during this year’s CSW will influence UN policy in the near future.

The Pink Elephant

2011-03-02T12:26:00.002-05:00

The Pink Elephant is not only in New Hampshire but in Illinois too. The Pink Elephant is here in New Hampshire as well but it is CCeNH and HSLDA.

The following piece appears on ThatMom.com.

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

This plea to the homeschooling families in Illinois was sent to me and I am sharing it with you with her permission. Terri is a long time homeschooling mom and I believe she is speaking for the majority of homeschooling families in our state who do not want to be represented by those who have named themselves leaders and spokespersons for all homeschoolers. I heartily agree with her. We need to be sure our heads aren’t in the sand!!!

Dear Karen:

The Pink Elephant

I have been doing a lot of thinking since Thursday, and I may get rode out of town on a rail here, but I think the pink elephant in the room needs to be addressed. I am very, very concerned about those who are claiming to have a seat at the table with Senator Maloney, to be speaking on the behalf of all home schooling families in this state. Listening to that 2 hour interview Thursday* only confirmed my fears. I will admit, I am uncomfortable with IFI, ICHE, HSLDA, or even HOUSE representing my interest in any talks or negotiations in the scope of home schooling. David Smith proved Thursday that home schooling rights of parents is not IFI’s main focus. I feel that those rights will be lost in IFI’s agenda at that table.

Mr. Smith was given a perfect opportunity Thursday to take a firm stand against the registration/regulation of all home school students; to speak about SB 136 and what it meant for all home school students; to educate people on how these tactics have been implemented in other states and the effect that it had on homeschoolers in those other states. He chose not to do this. Instead, he and Laurie Higgins chose to spend a whole hour addressing IFI’s stand against homosexuality and liberal propaganda in the public school system. Quite frankly, it left me yelling at my computer “WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH REGISTERING/REGULATING HOMESCHOOLERS IN THE STATE OF ILLINOIS?!” Was he there to speak about the threat hanging over the head of every homeschooling family in Illinois or to further IFI’s agenda?
This led me to do some digging and I am frightened by what I found:

IFI is on a national list of hate groups? Of course I understand who drew up that list and I support IFI’s right to speak out for or against any issue they choose to, but the fact of the matter is that this is an “honor” which our opponents can throw out in front of the liberal media to bury us with. The last thing that we need is to be further labeled as a bunch of hateful, religious zealots who are “sheltering our children” (David Smith said something similar to this in that interview, btw) from the real world. They seemed unable to stay on track and focus on the rights of homeschooling throughout that interview. The fact that David Smith has bragged about knowing Senator Maloney personally (they shared office space before David started with IFI) and is working in secret with Maloney doesn’t instill a lot of my trust in him. IFI is heavily involved in a number of hot-button social issues. (I happen to agree with most of those stances.) To their followers, this is fine, but to others who do not share their beliefs, like a number of Democrat Legislators, it is not. Will they take the time to focus only on the home school issue? The fact that they could not give an interview on the subject of homeschooling without sidetracking the conversation for an entire hour to their anti-gay agenda instills very little of my confidence in this group’s ability to represent all home schooling families.

HSLDA is another concern. I have my own opinions on HSLDA from my personal experience with them. When you visit the HSLDA website, you can clearly see their own religious agenda. Google them and you will find their anti-gay stances. They also seem to be much more comfortable representing families that use a set curriculum, preferably one that they approve of. Where does that leave the unschoolers and the more eclectic and free spirited members of our community? I am all for HSLDA coming in and representing their clients in individual cases, even a group of their members in a case, but to come into a state and present themselves as “the” authority to speak on behalf of all homeschooling families is a bit much. They have a history of doing this on a national level as well. They completely refused to listen to anything that anyone outside of their closed circle has to say. I was fighting with them tooth and nail the entire two weeks leading up to the hearing. Despite the fact that I sent them emails from State Senators urging us to contact every member on the Education Committee, regardless of where you live, HSLDA maintained their position that only those who lived in their district should contact them. Furthermore, they discouraged people outside of Maloney’s district to contact him and from contacting their own State Senators if they were not on that committee. I can only say thankfully a large number of people either didn’t get the message or chose to ignore it! Did Scott Woodruff deliver a good testimony during that hearing? From all that I have heard, I think it was adequate. The thing that truly concerns me is the fact that they are still telling their members that this is over, we won, it is time celebrate. They, along with IFI, ICHE, and HOUSE are intentionally discouraging people from remaining active in this fight. Why are they doing this? While I was digging on the internet, I found a couple of interesting articles with HSLDA as the subject. One that I found similar to our situation is this one: http://reliableanswers.com/hs/law/honda_hslda.asp.
This well written and thought-out blog entry about HSLDA’s involvement with the HoNDA legislation definitely made me stop and think: http://homeschoolcommunity.blogspot.com/.

According to this, they were brokering a deal to make themselves the main entity to issue “home school diplomas”, diplomas that would be required for anyone who was home schooled entering the military. Some of the other things that I read, tying HLSDA with the military, if true, were very troubling.

ICHE is another matter. While I don’t agree with their religious doctrine or theology, I will support their right to practice any religion they choose to practice. Are they willing to say the same of others? Would they fight as hard for Catholic families as they do for their member churches? I get very uneasy when one group of Christians decides that another group of Christians is not Christian enough. Does anyone have any idea of just how many members this group has? I can only find 700 or so on their Facebook page. Even at 3,000 students, that is still only around 5% of the estimated home schooled students in this state. Very presumptuous of them to go and negotiate with Maloney on behalf of every home schooling family in the state, the majority of which do not follow their religious doctrine. Their idea of “true home schooling” scares me. I know that my family and I certainly do not qualify as “Christian” or “Godly” under their interpretation of the Scripture. I think I would be less afraid to stand before Christ Himself and answer for the way I live my life, rather than to have to stand before one of their board of elders. That is the true beauty of the freedom in living under the blood of Christ rather than under the laws of man. Sorry, I digress.
HOUSE was the one group that I had no knowledge of until the hearing. I have been home schooling for 12 years and this was the first that I had ever heard of them. I will say that a comment made by Dorothy Werner concerns me; she thinks that the truancy laws need to be more stringent. More stringent for whom? Also they state on their website that daytime curfews are “there to protect us, not to threaten us.” What? They go on to advise that children carry a home school I.D. card and cell phone in case they are stopped and questioned by the police. Well, why don’t we just sew big red “H”s on our children’s jackets to avoid having them stopped and questioned at all?! I just recently fought down a daytime curfew in our county seat. This was a bad law and it was meant to protect no one; only to give more power and authority to the ROE and local police. There was no exemption for home schooled students. None. So carrying an I.D. would have done little good in keeping my children from being charged with a petty offense and fined up to $100 for being in public, even on the roadways, during school hours. Even with an exemption, once these new daytime curfews and new truancy laws are put into place, our children can be stopped and question, often being presumed guilty until proven innocent. This is one very important issue that I vehemently disagree with HOUSE on.

IFI, ICHE and HLSDA seem to be working in unison to monopolize this whole process. As my papa used to say, “They are like a bucket of snakes. You reach in to pull one out and they are so inter-twined that it is hard to tell where one begins and the other ends.” All three of these groups have a highly religious agenda and that deeply concerns me. What concerns me even more about these three groups is that they seem to require a blind loyalty from their members, without question.

Most homeschoolers are independent and the range of reasons that they choose to home school is endless. The majority of people do not choose to home school for religious reasons, and yet here we have 3 very religious organizations pushing their way to the table to negotiate with the enemy. And yes, I do consider Senator Maloney and his like the enemy. They are hoping to turn him into the homeschooler’s biggest ally in Springfield? That shows a political naiveté that should exclude them from even being at the negotiation table. What is the purpose of these meetings anyway? There is NOTHING to negotiate. What are they hoping to get out of these meetings? Maybe something along the lines of what Julie Kleinke Durr has proposed; to set up a governing board, a non-education board as other states have, to oversee regulations imposed on homeschoolers by the State of Illinois, with them having guaranteed seats of authority on the board? Remember, they have already appointed themselvs the leaders of homeschooling in Illinois. One of the Senators at the hearing assumed that HSLDA knew where all the homeschoolers in Illinois were. Of course, when you set yourself up as the representative for an entire community, I can understand how she could have easily made that assumption. Really, is this what we are fighting for? To answer to some other authority on how we are allowed to educate our children? To report to them? To have them approve which curriculum can be used? Or maybe to decide what qualifies a parent to educate their own children? Is a board made up of IFI, HSLDA, ICHE and HOUSE members a better alternative to answering to the State Board of Education or the ROE? I am sure to their 2000-3000 members it would be. Why would they mind, they are already under their authority. However, I don’t think that the other 12,000 to 20,000 homeschooling families would think it any different than answering to the government. I am willing to wager that most who do not share these groups’ theology would rather be put under the authority of the government if given a choice.

I will sum this all up. What is the true agenda of IFI, HSLDA, and ICHE? Is it to fight registration/regulation/restrictions on homeschoolers in this state or to furthering their own agendas? I think it is a fair question, especially after hearing that interview, receiving their emails (all three sending out basically the same exact email to counter the Illinois Homeschool PAC and its efforts and then to encourage each of their members to join the two sister groups), and seeing how they manipulated the circumstances to put only themselves and their spokespeople on the front row at the education hearing. I have to ask again, what is there to negotiate with Maloney about? I would like to ask those at IFI if any of them are okay with testing home schooling students. I would like to ask the folks at HOUSE if any of them are okay with imposing daytime curfew on all Illinois homeschoolers to help the public schools reign in their dropouts and truants. Should our home schooling students have their freedoms limited because Regional Superintendents and Truant Officers are incapable of doing the job they are being paid to do? I would like to ask the attorneys at HSLDA if they will protect the rights of those parents who choose to unschool their children and also would they waive their fees for members in Illinois for 2 years after any deal they broker goes into effect? I would like to ask those in authority at ICHE if they can leave their religious beliefs out of the meetings. Will they be able to respect an atheist’s right to home school? How about a gay couple’s? Remember, these are the people who put themselves in a place to negotiate for all of us.

Now back to the pink elephant I spoke of before. Who exactly decided that these handful of organizations where the homeschooling “leaders” or “experts” and had the right to speak on everyone’s behalf? And even though these organizations are highly respected by their members, will they be able to represent all the homeschooling families equally; without prejudice and without judging and forsaking those who do not share their religious beliefs? Will they admit that they are the minority in the homeschooling community in this state? Will they only focus on the home school issue and be willing to leave their groups’ agendas at the door? Will they agree to be transparent, open and honest with everyone who could be affected by their actions, not just their groups’ members? Will they publically announce who will be representing them in these meetings with Maloney and give the public their bios so that all parties can let it be known whether or not these organizations are representing them? Will they let the public know when and where these meetings will be held? Out of respect for every homeschooling parent throughout this state, I hope that they will do all the above.

Thank you,
Terri Koyne
Macoupin County, Illinois

Running into Walls In New Hampshire

2011-03-01T11:46:00.002-05:00

I thought with a Republicans having majority control of the Senate and the House we would finally get homeschooling freedom in New Hampshire. But the iron grip of Statist Homeschoolers, HSLDA and educrate thugs prevails in the HEC. HB 301 and HB 595 have been sent to committee. HEC members need to decide if the believe in Homeschooling freedom and the Constitution or if they are just going to do the dirty work of those who oppose homeschooling freedom.

When Jim and I first decided to homeschool, I checked into HSLDA. First glance I thought they were great, I thought since Jim and I our vocal tax fighters we would need HSLDA on our side. I have come to find out they have an iron grip on homeschoolers and just in my opinion pretend to be homeschooler advocates. Something that some others found out long ago.

The right to homeschool your child without state interference is a constitution right. Those on the side of blocking homeschooling freedom and constitutional rights are either ignorant or evil.

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

First in the line-up is how HSLDA is out to protect their financial interests in part through fear. The Following piece appears on A -Z Home's Cool Homeschooling.

The Ravage of Home Education Through Exclusion By Religion

© 1998 Raymond Moore. All Rights Reserved. Reproduced with permission.

The Moore Foundation has requested that the two following cover letters be published along with the White Paper.

RAYMOND S. MOORE
Box 1, Camas, WA 98607

October 1994

SUBJECT: Your phoned request about HR-6, Farris and the religious ravage of homeschooling

TO: Allison Tucker, Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C. & others

FROM: Raymond S. Moore (typist's note: Dr. Moore's signature appears here)

You ask for clarification of issues related to the Ad Hoc National Coalition of Home Educators [Coalition] objection to the HR-6 alarm by Michael Farris, president of the Homes School Legal Defense Association [HSLDA] who in part generated a favorable 424 to 1 vote. This raises long-standing issues which I will try to summarize, then give details in reply to many questions which have been raised by others. One said I may be asked about sour grapes. We are too blessed to worry about that. My concern is for families suffering out there. As 25-year Movement pioneers, information has long gravitated to us. There will be some repetition here in view of the complexities of the issues. I don't mainly treat the HR-6 alarm as such, but mostly its relations, effects and rationales.

Top universities give our students scholarships. Unpaid laymen work smoothly, warmly and unitedly in helping us and others in their own states and across state borders, forming coalitions (not marriages!) that serve families of all faiths. We build mutual respect with school officials and legislators, as reasoning educational statesmen rather than as alarmed political hacks--in a Golden Rule treatment they prefer and most deserve. We show them which is the best of home education and why it works and how it becomes a model, a laboratory for better American schools.

But a "Christian" fired from a homeschool job for fraud began using a statement of faith to split states and obtain a following, His Protestant exclusivist [PE] move was joined by lawyer-preacher Mike Farris and Editor Sue Welch of TEACHING HOME magazine, making money from the move, yet it did not come from the Christ whose flag they wave. Backed by publisher who profit by formal, conventional programs, it destroys the historic unity and quality of the Movement, splitting state groups by requiring a statement of faith. When we helped him start his legal defense program, Mike promised when all states made good laws, he would work himself out of a job. But now into big money, he has changed his mind and campaigns across the U.S. and Canada scaring parents into joining. We will show how the HR-6 alarm, his most notable of many, places the homeschool movement at risk, particularly when added to the self-serving religious intrusion.

We believe that homeschoolers should capitalize on their peerless record of achievement, behavior, sociability and entrepreneurial skills to show themselves friendly to legislators, school officials and laymen as a positive , altruistic movement instead of one that is alarmist, defensive, hypercritical and exclusive by religion. "Radicalizing the right", vitiates the conservative movement.

We tell why, how, and when here, and are prepared to document all. For answers or information on proven answers for American schools or balanced, research-based work-study-service, low-stress, low-cost programs for homeschools' best, send a 52-cent SASE to me c/o HR-6, Box, 1, Camas, WA 98607.

We don't want to trade on anyone, but for those who feel generous toward what we are doing here, we would be grateful for financial sharing in this somewhat costly effort. Please make out any checks to the not-for-profit, IRS 5-2(c)(3), Moore Foundation, even though I am sending this out personally. Instead of giving my regular contribution to the operation of the Foundation, I will pay for extensive printing and mailing costs. Dorothy and I take no pay for our work in this Movement. She manages very well.

To read the rest of the story go to the A -Z Home's Cool Homeschooling website. It is a must to go to the website in read the whole report.

It has been 17 years since this piece came out but HSLDA continues their games in New Hampshire.

Conflict of Interest

2011-02-28T19:55:00.002-05:00

The following piece appears on the NH Parents First Blog. At this point in time the NH Parents First group appears to be the only group in New Hampshire besides CRAFT, that is fighting for homeschooling freedom. There are plenty of so called "homeschooling advocates" in New Hampshire but that is in name only, none of these other groups or people support homeschooling freedom.

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

Rep. Mirski’s Ethical Conflicts of Interest
Rep. Paul Mirski R-Enfield needn’t chase Rep. Michael Brunelle D-Manchester if he wants to eliminate ethical conflicts of interest within the House. He need only look in his own back yard. Rep. Mirski is co-sponsoring a controversial home schooling bill, HB 301, drafted by unregistered lobbyists from the Home School Legal Defense Association in Virginia. He has knowingly protected these lobbyists and undermined the constitutional rights of home schooling parents.

Rep. Mirski is a good friend of HSLDA, as one of their lawyers was his former Enfield neighbor. The prime sponsor of HB 301, Rep. Jim Parison, R-New Ipswich, is another good friend and a member of HSLDA, as well as the former president of HSLDA’s state affiliate group, which incidentally requires a statement of faith in order to join. Rep. Parison also shares Rep. Mirski’s summer home in Florida. It’s one big happy family.

HSLDA’s quasi-legislators boast that they are “the only national organization lobbying on behalf of homeschoolers.” They draft restrictive home schooling legislation across the country and then financially benefit by offering parents legal protection from these same laws. HB 301 proposes to criminalize parents, subordinating them to their districts. HSLDA has earned nearly one million dollars in protection fees from NH families since drafting New Hampshire’s first home education law in 1990.

Ironically, the penalty for HSLDA’s failure to register as a lobbyist is a felony under NH state law. Yet HSLDA has never once registered or worn those little orange lobbyist badges. Rep. Mirski’s own committee just heard a bill, HB 180, which attempted to address the problem of quasi-legislators writing our laws. Rep. Mirski voted to kill the bill, argued against it on the floor, and knowingly protected HSLDA’s unregistered lobbyists. It’s as if Rep. Mirski put a HSLDA lobbyist on the floor of the House, since HSLDA member Rep. Parison carries their water.

HSLDA’s bill, HB 301, proposes to criminalize home schooling parents for “failure to educate” their children based upon the state’s approval or disapproval of the outcome of their programs. HSDLA started lobbying NH legislators last October for support of this measure. This bill places inequitable requirements upon home schoolers which cannot be imposed upon other private teachers in this state. To do so would violate Art. 6, Pt. I of the NH Constitution.

Rep. Mirski ought to give up his crusade against Rep. Brunelle and acknowledge his own ethical conflicts, as well as his inappropriate opposition to the rights of parents.

As a result, the House Education Committee has retained all homeschooling bills in committee this year, including HB 595, which addressed the constitutional problems in the current law, disappointing parents across the state. Rep. Seth Cohn R-Canterbury proposed a stop-gap amendment to HB 542, which would prevent parents from sliding back down a slippery slope each year, arguing against the same increases in state regulation. Support for this amendment to HB 542 would redeem Republicans who promised to uphold the rights of homeschoolers.

Should the Teacher Have been Fired?

2011-02-23T06:57:00.005-05:00

Should the teacher have been fired? The teacher does not have a right to her job, if the school wants to fire they can. But should they have fired her? No! Parents need to get a grip, deal with it.

The following piece appears on the CBS 5 website.

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

Teacher: I Was Fired Over A Bumper Sticker
Ausburn Says She Wouldn't Remove Sticker As School Orders
Peter Busch
Weekend Anchor/Reporter, KPHO CBS 5 News

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- The longest red light in the world would not give you enough time to read all the bumper stickers on Tarah Ausburn's Toyota Prius hybrid.

"I just like the ability to take a controversial topic and sum it up in one clever line. I'm an English teacher; that's what I do,"

But this English teacher found herself in the principal's office after she said some parents at Imagine Prep High School in Surprise started complaining about a bumper sticker on Ausburn's car that asks, "Have you drugged your kid today?"

"It's kind of a criticism of us tending to over-medicate hyperactive kids who might not need those medications," said Ausburn, who said she has been a teacher for seven years.

Ausburn said she did not share her opinion in class, but that school officials fired her for refusing to remove the bumper sticker.

Ausburn's story was first publicized on the Web site thesociallyaware.com.

CBS 5 News contacted officials at Imagine Prep, who initially agreed to speak on camera about Ausburn's situation. They later canceled the interview.

Ausburn said she is fighting to get her job back, claiming that her First Amendment rights were violated.

Replace Wisconsin with the State of your Choice

2011-02-22T09:17:00.008-05:00

Just replace Wisconsin with the name of a State of your choice, the message still holds true.

Cathy

After Madison, I am Glad Croydon does not have a Teachers' Union

2011-02-22T00:00:00.002-05:00

After the past week's event in Madison I am glad Croydon does not have a Teachers' Union. It is bad enough that we have to deal with Newport's Teachers' Unions. Lets hope Croydon stays union free.

Unions are nothing more than legalized gangs or mobs, IMHO. I never liked unions, always hated working with people who did not like working as hard as me or told me to slow down you are working too fast or working too hard.

Oh and look at the signs union teachers made, do you really want people like this teaching your children?

Quote of the Day - As Sen. Barry Goldwater observed in Conscience of a Conservative, the First Amendment guarantees freedom of association for union members. But "[e]mployers are forbidden to act collusively for sound reasons. The same reasons [should] apply to unions...Let us henceforth make war on all monopolies -- whether corporate or union. The enemy of freedom is unrestrained power" -- whether it be unrestrained management power or unrestrained union power.

The following piece appeared on the American Thinker.

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

February 21, 2011
Why I Changed My Mind About Unions
By Michael Filozof

The organized tactics of intimidation by the public employee unions in Wisconsin last week came as no surprise to me. I'm from New York, one of the most union-friendly states in the country, and I've seen the negative effects of unions my entire life.

I dislike unions. But I didn't always feel that way. My first job as a 16-year old grocery store shelf-stocker was a union job. I grew up in a union household; my father was an employee of one of the Big Three automakers. Although he wasn't active in union politics, he worked in a "union shop" and was required to be a member. He always credited the union for the standard of living and benefits he enjoyed. When I was in grade school, the social studies curriculum taught the evils of management and the glory of organized labor, with morality tales like the Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911. Management had locked the doors to prevent non-unionized employees from leaving; when the place caught fire, workers were forced to jump to their deaths or be burned alive. Who could argue against the progress unions had made in safety and wages? In our blue-collar universe, there was one simple explanation for everything: management bad, unions good.

The industrial economy of Western New York imploded in the 1980s with the closing of the Bethlehem Steel plant in Lackawanna, which had once employed over 20,000 people. I'd heard stories about union people who worked in the steel mill or the auto plants who would punch the clock and than find a place to sleep all day, or would get drunk at lunchtime and return to work and still not get fired -- but those stories never really registered with me when I was a student. No one ever blamed overpriced union labor for forcing the big industrial employers out of the region; it was always foreign competition or management greed or rich fat-cats. It didn't matter to me; I was going to college, anyway.

I'd never heard word of criticism about unions in my life until I was in college and worked summers for a small, independent contractor with only two full-time employees. Those guys were courteous, professional, diligent craftsmen who worked very, very hard -- and they hated unions. Before long I'd discover why.

Right around the time I graduated, it happened that my Dad needed a ride from work. I went to pick him up. I was wearing a shirt and tie that day, and when I went in to get him he gave me a tour of the place. I'd never actually seen heavy industry in action, and it's very difficult to visualize without seeing it firsthand. I looked around, fascinated, while he leaned toward me, shouting explanations over the din of the machinery and pointing has he talked.

Then, some longhaired, leather-jacketed maggot with a scruffy goatee drove past on a forklift. Neither one of us knew him, but seeing an older man explaining things to a young kid in a tie, he must've thought I was a new hire, and shouted out "This f___ing job suuuucks!" as he drove past. He couldn't get fired for that, thanks to the union. And I am certain that he was making more money back then than I've ever made in my life, and I have three college degrees.

A few years later, studying for my Master's degree, I lived in a low-rent apartment. A tenant in one of the other units was a union roofer. From November to April, he'd get $400 a week in unemployment. It seems that in our state union employees didn't have to look for non-union work. If the union didn't call, the unemployment check was a certainty. But the phone stayed off the hook all winter to make sure the union couldn't call anyway. He wasn't idle, though; he worked "under the table" all winter doing side jobs tax-free while collecting unemployment. In the summer when he did union work he'd tell stories about the roofers getting drunk and stoned at lunchtime and making $22 an hour.

That really frosted me. Why in hell was I bothering to get a postgraduate degree while a semiliterate guy who barely made it through high school got $400 a week for not working half the year? The scales fell from my eyes. Management wasn't the root of all evil. Union workers were just as lazy, greedy, and corrupt. I now saw the union as a grand rip-off. The union working man wasn't some noble, virtuous saint, fighting the good fight against the Robber Barons, as I'd always been taught. He was a drunken, stoned, uneducated, vulgar slob, ripping off a piece of the action for himself. And in my state he had the full force of the law and the state government behind him. So private sector employers fled.

The unions have chased the private sector out of the Great Lakes "Rust Belt." But the government can't go out of business, and the unions here have a stranglehold on the government. If you want to make money in New York State, don't be a fool and go to college. Get a government union job instead.

Last year, a Buffalo city cop retired with a pension of $105,000 per year after making $189,000 in his final year on the job. If he lives another 20 years he'll cost the taxpayers $2.1 million for not working. The union contract allowed employees with the most seniority to get first dibs on overtime; it also allowed them to calculate their pensions on the overtime-inflated salaries. Also last year the New York Post reported that some unionized janitors in New York City public schools earned over $140,000, including one who made $181,000. Public sector union contracts here allow union stewards to be paid their full salary while they do union business full-time -- thus, they are paid by the taxpayers to lobby against the taxpayers for more taxpayer money. It's insane.

Buffalo is a place where actual union thuggery, violence and vandalism still exists in the 21st century. In 2010, members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 17, an AFL-CIO affiliate, pleaded guilty to Federal racketeering charges. According to The Buffalo News, the union members were charged with "death threats and stabbings," "throwing scalding coffee at non-union workers," "telling a construction company official they were going to his home to sexually assault his wife," and "pouring sand into the engines of 18 pieces of [nonunion] construction equipment, causing $330,000 damage." What employer in his right mind would want to do business here?

I don't deny that some unions have made contributions to worker safety and quality of life. But it's simply not true that management is always bad and unions are always good.

As Sen. Barry Goldwater observed in Conscience of a Conservative, the First Amendment guarantees freedom of association for union members. But "[e]mployers are forbidden to act collusively for sound reasons. The same reasons [should] apply to unions...Let us henceforth make war on all monopolies -- whether corporate or union. The enemy of freedom is unrestrained power" -- whether it be unrestrained management power or unrestrained union power.

HB 595 not HB 301

2011-02-21T08:56:00.002-05:00

Our Family supports HB 595 do you?

Quotes of the Day “It is better to tolerate that rare instance of a parent’s refusing to let his child be educated, than to shock the common feelings by a forcible transportation and education of the infant against the will of his father." Thomas Jefferson

Education is a privilege and not a right. It [should not] be proposed to take ordinary branches [of education] out of the hands of private enterprise, which manages so much better all the concerns to which it is equal. Thomas Jefferson, sixth annual message to Congress (1806), reprinted in The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (Memorial Edition 1907), volume 14, page 384.
Jefferson most definitely supported public funding of schools, but made clear he opposed compulsory attendance.

The following information came from the NH Parents First website.

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

Amendment to HB 595
Amend the bill by replacing it in its entirety with the following:

AN ACT amending the compulsory school attendance statutes to permit parent-directed instruction programs and repealing the home education statutes.

SPONSORS: Rep. L. Jones, Straf 1; Rep. Manuse, Rock 5; Rep. Cohn, Merr 6; Rep. Baldasaro, Rock 3; Rep. C. Vita, Straf 3; Rep. Accornero, Belk 4; Rep. Avard, Hills 20; Rep. S. Palmer, Hills 6; Rep. Simpson, Belk 1; Sen. White, Dist 9; Sen. Forsythe, Dist 4; Sen. Luther, Dist 12

COMMITTEE: Education
ANALYSIS
This bill:

I. Repeals the home education statute.

II. Permits parent-directed instruction programs.

III. Asserts that it is the natural right of a parent to determine and direct the instruction of his or her child and limits the involvement of the state in parent-directed instruction programs only to cases in which there is probable cause to believe that a parent is not instructing his or her child.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
11-0755
04/05
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Eleven

AN ACT amending the compulsory school attendance statutes to permit parent-directed instruction programs and repealing the home education statutes.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Statement of Purpose. It is the natural right and duty of parents to determine and direct the instruction of their children for their education. The general court acknowledges that the primary and natural instructors of a child are his or her parents, and the general court guarantees the right and duty of parents to provide for the instruction of their children. Parents shall be free to provide this instruction in the manner and at the location of their choosing, including in their homes or in private schools or in schools recognized or established by their resident school district or by the state or in other places where instruction can be given.

2 Child Protection Act; Definitions. Amend RSA 169-C:3, XIX(b) to read as follows:

(b) Who is without proper parental care or control, subsistence, [education as required by law,] or other care or control necessary for his physical, mental, or emotional health, when it is established that his health has suffered or is very likely to suffer serious impairment; and the deprivation is not due primarily to the lack of financial means of the parents, guardian or custodian; or

3 Truant Officers; Duties. Amend RSA 189:36, I to read as follows:

I. Truant officers shall, when directed by the school board, enforce the laws and regulations relating to truants and children between the ages of 6 and 18 years not attending school or who are not participating in an alternative learning plan under RSA 193:1, I[(h)] (b)(8); and the laws relating to the attendance at school of children between the ages of 6 and 18 years; and shall have authority without a warrant to take and place in school any children found employed contrary to the laws relating to the employment of children, or violating the laws relating to the compulsory attendance at school of children under the age of 18 years, and the laws relating to child labor. No [home school pupil] child in a parent-directed instruction program nor any person between the ages of 6 and 18 who meets any of the requirements of RSA 193:1, I[(c)-(h)] (b)(2)-(8) shall be deemed a truant.

4 School Attendance; Duty of Parents. Amend the section heading of RSA 193:1 and RSA 193:1, I to read as follows:

193:1 Rights and Duties of [Parent] Parents; Compulsory Attendance by Pupil.

I. It is the natural right of parents to determine and direct the instruction of their children. A parent of any child at least 6 years of age and under 18 years of age:

(a) Shall instruct such child or cause such child to be instructed as determined by the parent; or

(b) Shall cause such child to attend the public school to which the child is assigned in the child’s resident district. Such child shall attend the public school to which the child is assigned full time when such school is in session unless:

(1) The child is receiving parent-directed instruction and is therefore exempt from this requirement;

(A) Notification (optional). A parent may notify the superintendent of his or her resident school district or the principal of a nonpublic school of his or her decision to involve his or her child in a parent-directed instruction program pursuant to this section. Such notification shall not be required of a parent, and failure to send such notification shall not be considered probable cause under RSA 193:1(I-a).

(B) A parent who chooses to notify the superintendent of the resident school district or the principle of a nonpublic school under RSA 193:1(I)(b)(1)(A) may submit such notification within 14 days of the date the child is withdrawn from a public or nonpublic school, or moves into the resident school district, or reaches compulsory attendance age pursuant to this section. Notification may include the name, address, and age of each child whose education is being personally directed by the parent pursuant to this chapter. A parent may also send such notification if he or she ends a parent-directed instruction program for any period of time and then subsequently resumes such a program. A parent may choose to enroll a child previously involved in a parent-directed instruction program in a public or private school at any time that any other child may be enrolled.

(C) The superintendent of the resident school district or the principle of a nonpublic school receiving notification pursuant to RSA 193:1(I)(b)(1)(A) and to RSA 193:1(I)(b)(1)(B) shall provide written acknowledgment of the notification within 14 days of receipt of the notification.

(D) Privacy. Records or information maintained by the superintendent of the resident school district or the principal of a nonpublic school under this chapter shall not be public records pursuant to RSA 91-A and shall not be released to any person or agency without the express written consent of the parent.

[(a)] (2) The child is attending a New Hampshire public school outside the district to which the child is assigned or an approved New Hampshire private school for the same time;

[(b) The child is receiving home education pursuant to RSA 193-A and is therefore exempt from this requirement;

(c)] (3) The relevant school district superintendent has excused a child from attendance because the child is physically or mentally unable to attend school, or has been temporarily excused upon the request of the parent for purposes agreed upon by the school authorities and the parent. Such excused absences shall not be permitted if they cause a serious adverse effect upon the student’s educational progress. Students excused for such temporary absences may be claimed as full-time pupils for purposes of calculating state aid under RSA 186-C:18 and adequate education grants under RSA 198:41;

[(d)] (4) The child is attending a public or private school located in another state which has been approved by the state education agency of the state in which the school is located;

[(e)] (5) The pupil has been exempted from attendance pursuant to RSA 193:5;

[(f)] (6) The pupil has successfully completed all requirements for graduation and the school district is prepared to issue a diploma or the pupil has successfully achieved the equivalent of a high school diploma by [either:

(1)] obtaining a GED certificate[; or

(2) Documenting the completion of a home school program at the high school level by submitting a certificate or letter to the department of education];

[(g)] (7) The pupil has been accepted into an accredited postsecondary education program; or

[(h)] (8) The pupil obtains a waiver from the superintendent, which shall only be granted upon proof that the pupil is 16 years of age or older and has an alternative learning plan for obtaining either a high school diploma or its equivalent.

[(1)] (A) Alternative learning plans shall include age-appropriate academic rigor and the flexibility to incorporate the pupil’s interests and manner of learning. These plans may include, but are not limited to, such components or combination of components of extended learning opportunities as independent study, private instruction, performing groups, internships, community service, apprenticeships, and on-line courses.

[(2)] (B) Alternative learning plans shall be developed, and amended if necessary, in consultation with the pupil, a school guidance counselor, the school principal and at least one parent or guardian of the pupil, and submitted to the school district superintendent for approval.

[(3)] (C) If the superintendent does not approve the alternative learning plan, the parent or guardian of the pupil may appeal such decision to the local school board. A parent or guardian may appeal the decision of the local school board to the state board of education consistent with the provisions of RSA 21-N:11, III.

5 Compulsory School Attendance; Definitions. Amend RSA 193:1, III to read as follows:
III. In this section[,]:

(a) “Child” means a child or children of compulsory attendance age who is a resident of New Hampshire.

(b) “Parent” means a parent, guardian, or person having legal custody of a child.

(c) “Parent-directed instruction” means instruction determined and directed by the parent or guardian of a child who is of compulsory school age. Such instruction may also be referred to as “homeschooling.”

6 New Paragraph; School Attendance; Limitations on State, County and Municipal Action. Amend RSA 193:1 by inserting after paragraph 1 the following new paragraph:
I-a. Under no circumstances shall the neglect provisions of RSA 169-C and RSA 169-D apply to a parent involved in parent-directed instruction. Instead, only the following civil procedure shall apply to a parent involved in parent-directed instruction:

(a) Original jurisdiction of any action brought against a parent engaged in parent-directed instruction pursuant to this chapter shall be in the Superior Court in the county of the parent's residence.

(b) The state, a county or any local jurisdiction shall not interfere with the natural right of a parent to instruct his or her child unless the acting jurisdiction has probable cause to believe that a parent involved in a parent-directed instruction program has failed to instruct or cause the child to be instructed.

(c) If there is probable cause to believe that a parent involved in a parent-directed instruction program has failed to instruct or cause the child to be instructed, a local jurisdiction may investigate, after prior notice to the parent, to determine if there is sufficient evidence to proceed against the parent. The Division of Children, Youth and Family Services shall not investigate any case of failure to instruct or cause the child to be instructed. No other state agency shall investigate any case of failure to instruct or cause the child to be instructed. Not more than one jurisdiction shall ever investigate a case of failure to instruct or cause the child to be instructed.

(d) A local jurisdiction shall only proceed against a parent in accordance with the Constitutional provisions for due process and a fair trial, during which the parent shall retain the presumption of innocence.

(e) A local jurisdiction shall not compel a parent to submit evidence to prove his or her innocence, nor shall the local jurisdiction presume such parent has failed to instruct or cause the child to be instructed based on the parent's failure to submit such evidence.

(f) In any action relating to a parent involved in a parent-directed instruction program, no finding or opinion that a parent has failed to instruct or cause the child to be instructed shall issue except upon evidence proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

(g) A parent involved in a parent-directed instruction program who has failed to instruct or cause the child to be instructed may be found guilty only of a civil violation. Under no circumstances shall the state, a county, a local jurisdiction, or any other government official, including but not limited to a court, remove a child from a parent's custody based on an allegation or finding of failure to instruct or cause the child to be instructed or for any other allegation or finding pertaining to a parent-directed instruction program. Only after the procedure in this section has been followed, and a court has found by evidence proven beyond a reasonable doubt, in three separate court proceedings, that a parent has failed to instruct the child or failed to cause the child to be instructed, may the court, as of the third court proceeding, order the child to be returned to a public or nonpublic school, as shall be determined by the parent.

(h) No state agency or local jurisdiction shall have authority to write or enforce rules relative to parent-directed instruction programs.

7 School Attendance; Access to Public School Programs. Amend RSA 193:1-c to read as follows:
193:1-c Access to Public School Programs by Pupils in Nonpublic or [Home Educated Pupils] Parent-Directed Instruction Programs.

I. Pupils in nonpublic or [home educated pupils] parent-directed instruction programs shall have access to curricular courses and cocurricular programs offered by the school district in which the pupil resides. The local school board may adopt a policy regulating participation in curricular courses and cocurricular programs, provided that such policy shall not be more restrictive for [non-public or home educated pupils] pupils in a nonpublic or parent-directed instruction program than the policy governing the school district’s resident pupils. In this section, “cocurricular” shall include those activities which are designed to supplement and enrich regular academic programs of study, provide opportunities for social development, and encourage participation in clubs, athletics, performing groups, and service to school and community. For purposes of allowing access as described in this section, a [“home educated pupil”] pupil in a parent-directed instruction program shall not include any pupil who has graduated from a high school level program [of home education,] or its equivalent, or has attained the age of 21.

II. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a parent to establish a [home education] parent-directed instruction program which exceeds the provisions of RSA 193:1.

8 School Attendance; Bylaws as to Nonattendance. Amend RSA 193:16 to read as follows:

193:16 Bylaws as to Nonattendance. Districts may make bylaws, not repugnant to law, concerning habitual truants and children between the ages of 6 and 18 years not attending school or who are not participating in an alternative learning plan under RSA 193:1, I[(h)] (b)(8), and to compel the attendance of such children at school; failure to comply with such bylaws shall constitute a violation for each offense.

9 Legislative Youth Advisory Council; Membership. Amend RSA 19-K:2, I-IV to read as follows:

I. The president of the senate shall appoint the following 7 members:

(a) Three youths who are students in secondary schools, who are [home school] students in a parent-directed instruction program as provided in RSA 193:1, I, or who are enrolled in programs that lead to a secondary school diploma, certificate of attendance, or general equivalency diploma.

(b) Three youths who are residents of this state and who are students at postsecondary education institutions located in the state.

(c) One member of the senate.

II. The speaker of the house of representatives shall appoint the following 8 members:

(a) Four youths who are students in secondary schools, who are [home school] students in a parent-directed instruction program as provided in RSA 193:1, I, or who are enrolled in programs that lead to a secondary school diploma, certificate of attendance, or general equivalency diploma.

(b) Three youths who are residents of this state and who are students at postsecondary education institutions located in the state.

(c) One member of the house of representatives.

III. The governor shall appoint the following 3 members:

(a) Two youths who are students in secondary schools, who are [home school] students in a parent-directed instruction program as provided in RSA 193:1, I, or who are enrolled in programs that lead to a secondary school diploma, certificate of attendance, or general equivalency diploma.

(b) One youth who is a resident of this state and who is a student at a postsecondary education institution located in the state.

IV. The secretary of state shall appoint the following 3 members:

(a) Two youths who are students in secondary schools, who are [home school] students in a parent-directed instruction program as provided in RSA 193:1, I, or who are enrolled in programs that lead to a secondary school diploma, certificate of attendance, or general equivalency diploma.

(b) One youth who is a resident of this state and who is a student at a postsecondary education institution located in the state.

10 Special Education; Advisory Committee. Amend RSA 186-C:3-b, II(p) to read as follows:

(p) One individual representing children with disabilities who are [home-schooled] in a parent-directed instruction program as specified in RSA 193:1, I, appointed by the governor.

11 Granite State Scholars Program; Scholar Designation. Amend RSA 188-D:39, II to read as follows:

II. The state board of education shall adopt rules, pursuant to RSA 541-A, relative to establishing the granite state scholar designation in high schools that do not calculate class rank, in non-accredited high schools, and for [home schooled] students in a parent-directed instruction program as provided in RSA 193:1, I.

12 Statewide Education Improvement and Assessment Program; Assessment Required. Amend RSA 193-C:6 to read as follows:

193-C:6 Assessment Required. Each year, a statewide assessment shall be administered in all school districts in the state in grades 3 through 8 and one grade in high school. All public school students in the designated grades shall participate in the assessment, unless such student is exempted, or provided that the commissioner of the department of education may, through an agreement with another state when such state and New Hampshire are parties to an interstate agreement, allow pupils to participate in that state's assessment program as an alternative to the assessment required under this chapter. [Home educated students] Students in a parent-directed instruction program may contact their local school districts if they wish to participate in the statewide assessment. Private schools may contact the department of education to participate in the statewide assessment.

13 Safe School Zones; Definitions. Amend RSA 193-D:1, III to read as follows:

III. “School” means any public or private elementary, secondary, or secondary vocational-technical school in New Hampshire. It shall not include [home schools under RSA 193-A] a personal residence or other space used to conduct a parent-directed instruction program pursuant to RSA 193:1, I.

14 Chartered Public Schools; Establishment and Application. Amend RSA 194-B:3, VIII to read as follows:

VIII. [Home education programs established pursuant to RSA 193-A] A parent-directed instruction program as specified in RSA 193:1, I shall not be eligible to be a chartered public school.

15 School Administrative Units; Superintendent Services. Amend RSA 194-C:4, II(d) to read as follows:

(d) Compliance with laws, regulations, and rules regarding special education, Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act, [home education,] minimum standards, student records, sexual harassment, and other matters as may from time to time occur.

16 Cooperative School Districts; Procedure for Formation. Amend RSA 195:18, III(e) to read as follows:

(e) The method of apportioning the operating expenses of the cooperative school district among the several preexisting districts and the time and manner of payment of such shares. [Home education pupils] Students in a parent-directed instruction program who do not receive services from the cooperative school district[, except an evaluation pursuant to RSA 193-A:6, II] shall not be included in the average daily membership relative to apportionment formulas.

17 Cooperative School Districts; Procedure for Formation. Amend RSA 195:18, III(g) to read as follows:

(g) The method of apportioning the capital expenses of the cooperative school district among the several preexisting districts, which need not be the same as the method for apportioning operating expenses, and the time and manner of payment of such shares. Capital expenses shall include the costs of acquiring land and buildings for school purposes, including property owned by a preexisting district; the construction, furnishing and equipping of school buildings and facilities; and the payment of the principal and interest of any indebtedness which is incurred to pay for the same or which is assumed by the cooperative school district. [Home education pupils] Students in a parent-directed instruction program who do not receive services from the cooperative school district[, except an evaluation pursuant to RSA 193-A:6, II,] shall not be included in the average daily membership relative to apportionment formulas.

18 Costs of Capital Outlay and Operation. Amend RSA 195:7, II to read as follows:

II. [Home education pupils] Students in a parent-directed instruction program who do not receive services from the cooperative school district[, except an evaluation pursuant to RSA 193-A:6, II,] shall not be included in the average daily membership relative to apportionment formulas.

19 Repeal. The following law is repealed:

I. RSA 193-A, relative to home education programs.

20 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

Public Sector Unions Should not Exist

2011-02-20T08:12:00.000-05:00

Our Founders would have never approved of public sector unions. Any History teacher actually worth the weight of their diploma would know this and not be a part of a Teachers' Union. Any Math Teacher actually worth the weight of their diploma would know that the public education system and their pension system is unsustainable and would not be part of the union.

Quote of the Day - "A society that does not recognize that each individual has values of his own which he is entitled to follow can have no respect for the dignity of the individual and cannot really know freedom" -- F. A. Hayek, author of "The Road to Serfdom."

No teacher should be required to pay one cent toward a union, unions do not recognize individuals, unions are about group think.

Take a look at some of the signs teachers were carrying in Madison. Should these people be educating future leaders? I think not.

The following piece appears on American Thinker.com.

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

February 20, 2011
End Public Sector Unions...Period
By C. Edmund Wright

It's about time. I've been waiting for this debate to mature for 15 years.

The battles in Wisconsin and New Jersey over public sector union benefits are merely financial precursors to a much bigger ideological war that has been on the horizon now for years, if not decades. When you acknowledge the coming battle, you realize that Governors Walker and Christie -- courageously as they are behaving -- are only nibbling at the edges of the real issue.

And the real issue is whether public sector unions should even be allowed to exist. Frankly, when even a modicum of common sense is infused into the equation, the answer is a resounding no. And the foundational reason is simple. There is no one at the bargaining table representing the folks who are actually going to pay whatever is negotiated.

Gee, what could possibly go wrong?

Well let's see what went wrong: California, New Jersey, Illinois, Michigan, Chicago, New York State, New York City, Wisconsin...on and on I could go including almost every city and state where government workers are unionized.

Oh, and have you seen pictures of Detroit lately?

The problem is that our country has been lulled to sleep over decades of hearing that government workers are dedicated and low paid public servants who trade good pay for security. And every time a union pay debate came up, it seemed like only cops and fire fighters and teachers were mentioned. No one stopped to think that most government workers are actually bureaucratic charmers like those we see at the DMV and other government offices -- and not "heroic teachers" or crime fighters.

But as long as the private sector was humming along, there was no reason for reality to permeate that myth in most peoples' minds. But the reality is that government workers long ago passed private sector workers in pay and benefits, and now the compensation is more like 150% or even double, factoring in all the benefits, including more vacation days than private sector workers enjoy. And of course, the inestimable value of job security remains intact and strengthened -- while all of us in the private sector deal daily with the risk-reward constraints of reality that are only getting riskier.

And along the way -- with a public school teacher-educated population that understands virtually nothing about economics -- the sheer idiocy of the concept of government unions escaped almost everybody. It's almost as if the union teachers were lying to their students about economics on purpose.

Consider: Unions exist primarily for the function of collective bargaining, where the union bosses will negotiate on behalf of all the workers with the management of a company over pay and benefits and other conditions. This built-in adversarial relationship along with the realities of a limited resource -- known as operating revenues -- do a pretty good job for the most part of keeping contracts in line.

The union bosses represent the workers. Management represents everybody else, including the stockholders, vendors, customers and potential customers of the company. In other words, management represents everyone whose interests are served by keeping payroll costs down.

In the case of a government workforce, those whose interests are served by keeping costs down would include all who pay taxes and fees to said government. In other words, the universe of folks represented by management is far larger than that represented by the union. This inherent tension is the invisible hand of reality that keeps collective bargaining in line.

However, public sector "collective bargaining" is a bad joke, given that there are only chairs on one side of the bargaining table. The bigger universe of interested parties have zero representation in the process. There is no natural force working to keep costs in line.

Moreover, quite often the very politicians who are "negotiating" with the public unions are politicians who have been financed by those same unions. At least Bernie Madoff ripped off his clients with some panache. No such style is even required in a public sector union negotiation when the folks in charge are bought and paid for Democrats.

Under any circumstances and in any economy, it is simply a matter of time before these costs reach a tipping point. We are at that time. There is simply no more money to give to these public sector unions -- period.

And that is why we are seeing what we are seeing in Madison this week and it is why we have seen the emergence of Chris Christie as a national phenomenon. And I welcome it. Things are finally so bad -- that they are good. And by good, I mean that folks now cannot help but pay attention to the issue of public sector unions.

I submit that the very existence of these unions has only been allowed to happen because it's the kind of issue an electorate is never forced to confront -- until they are forced to confront it. And now they are. There is, as Charles Krauthammer said, a bit of an earthquake in the country. People are sensing that the nation is spinning off a cliff.

And of course it is, and public sector unions are one huge reason why. This conclusion is inescapable. And when you understand that, you understand that public sector unions cannot be allowed to exist. If they are, we will never turn back from the cliff.

Where is the Fight New Hampshire Homeschoolers?

2011-02-19T09:45:00.004-05:00

Homeschoolers in Illinois are putting up a fight in Illinois against notification, how come New Hampshire Homeschoolers are not putting up a fight? Could it be because for 20 years people like Chris Hamilton, Mary Faiella, CHeNH and HSLDA have fought for oppressive homeschooling laws and against freedom?

The following story appears in the Beacon News. Be sure to visit the Beacon News site to see the pictures and extras associated with the story.

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

Home school families fight state registration
By Jenette Sturges jsturges@stmedianetwork.com Feb 19, 2011

Onlookers said it was a crowded room, and not just by Illinois Senate committee hearing standards.

“My husband wasn’t even able to get into the room there were so many people there,” said Keturah Mindock, the full-time mother and educator of two in Oswego.

About 4,000 parents and their children flocked to Springfield Tuesday afternoon to oppose Senate Bill 136, a bill that would require Illinois’ estimated 50,000 home-schooled students to register with the State Board of Education for the first time.

“Basically it’s just government intrusion into our lives,” said Priscilla Kenney, an Aurora mother with four children, all home-schooled. “The system isn’t broken, so why try to institute unnecessary government watch-dogging?”

State Sen. Edward Maloney, D-Chicago, said he introduced legislation requiring registration after meeting an acquaintance who home-schooled and becoming concerned about a lack of oversight.

“There are virtually no rules in Illinois, except they’re asked to teach a curriculum of math, English, science and social studies. There’s no periodic testing, no qualifications, no accounting at all,” Maloney said.

And that’s true. Illinois has some of the most relaxed guidelines in the country for home schooling. So long as children between 7 and 17 years old are being taught the same subjects they would learn in school, in English, they are in compliance with the law. Illinois parents are not required to notify the state that they are home-schooling, unless they are brought to court for truancy.

Other states are far more stringent. In heavily regulated states like New York and Pennsylvania laws vary, but they can include curriculum approval, teacher qualification for parents and home visits by state officials.

The majority of states fall somewhere in between: parents have to notify or register with the state and may have to submit test scores or other proof that students are progressing.

But home school parents around the Fox Valley said they have plenty of proof.

Proof like admission to one of the country’s most prestigious universities: Kenney’s oldest daughter, 20-year-old Fiona McCoy, attends MIT. Her three high-school-age daughters participate on a math team of home-schoolers that has taken home the state title, competing against conventional small schools, for the past four years.

“If you look at all the statistics from testing and college, home-schoolers are doing an awesome job of teaching their kids,” Kenney said.

Or take, for example, Mindock, whose daughter, Lacey, will be 7 in April. “She already reads at a sixth-grade level,” said Mindock. “Each of my children gets one-on-one attention. I don’t have to worry about 30 other kids and what they’re doing.”

The individualized education home-schoolers get also means a lot more flexibility, from curriculum to scheduling to discipline.

Gina and Armando Regalado have two children, and both are sharing the responsibility for home-schooling their 6-year-old daughter.

“He (Armando) focuses more on the language arts and theology,” said Gina. “His degree is in theology and they’re more artists. I’m more math and science.”

The ability to teach their daughter on a flexible schedule fits their lifestyle and allows them more family time, she said. Gina works in child care during the day, and her husband works as the Paul McCartney in The Cavern Beat, a Beatles cover band. But both parents used to teach high school, and that’s what really drove them to teach their children at home.

“Knowing kids in public high school, they were not really concerned about their educations, and their parents weren’t always either,” said Gina. “Ask any teacher: the parents make or break the student’s ability to learn.”

Political intrusion?

Maloney is concerned more about those students who might be falling through the cracks. He is chairman of the Senate Higher Education Committee and a former administrator at both Brother Rice High School in Chicago and Oak Lawn Community High School.

“My concern isn’t with those who are doing a conscientious job, but it’s with those who aren’t. Ultimately, the state is responsible for people’s education, so to speak. If nothing is going on, they ought to know about that,” Maloney said. “I fail to see why this is such an imposition.”

Conservatives in the state senate largely agreed that the matter of education lies ultimately with parents.

“I’m a huge proponent of public education, especially locally, but I’m also a proponent of parental authority,” said state Sen. Chris Lauzen, an Aurora Republican who said the home-schooling parents from his district he talked to were relieved to hear he opposed the bill. “I am certainly opposed to state government having more control ... within our families. In the end, these are our families’ children, rather than the government’s children.”

State Sen. Linda Holmes said she also met with constituents Tuesday, but hadn’t come to any conclusions on home schooling.

“When they go on to college, home school students excel against their counterparts, but those are the kids who go on to college,” said Holmes, an Aurora Democrat. “Do we have any that don’t? How do they fare? It does pique my curiosity to want to know, if we did have a way of measuring home school kids, how well prepared they go out into world.”

Holmes said traditional schools are also a place for intervention when it’s needed. A teacher might notice, for instance, when a student is being abused.

“They’re (home school parents) doing a wonderful job and are dedicated,” she said. “I think the concern lies in: How do we address the 2 or 3 percent who are not?”

And Holmes pointed out that while registration is voluntary, there’s simply no way to know how many students are learning at home, or at the park district, the Morton Arboretum, their church, College of DuPage, and all of the other places home school parents take their students for extra classes, enrichment and socialization.

“I guess I would say the best way to explain it is: I understand the concern, but the problem is that senators tend to run with a lot of things,” said Regalado. “What they say it’s for ends up being more and more intrusive.”

Since the outpouring of opposition Tuesday in Springfield, Maloney has tabled the bill. But home-schooling families said they’re still watching carefully, expecting the registration bill to be reworded and brought back.

“I know it’s going to come back because I know there’s always going to be someone concerned about it because their family member or whoever chose a different path,” said Regalado. “I understand the concern, but I think it’s really unfounded.”

The Anti-homeschooling Freedom Crowd is just not in N.H.

2011-02-14T13:13:00.011-05:00

"A society that does not recognize that each individual has values of his own which he is entitled to follow can have no respect for the dignity of the individual and cannot really know freedom" -- F. A. Hayek, author of "The Road to Serfdom."

I think the reason all homeschoolers in New Hampshire have not fought for freedom is because they really don't know freedom. I believe they also believe what the Statists and Progressives tell them and that is that the State has a compelling interest in Education. The State does not have a compelling interest in education or its outcomes, if they did they would actually do something about the New Hampshire's failing public schools. Tenure serves the interests of teachers not students or educational outcomes. HSLDA and CHeNH have not supported or put forth a homeschooling freedom Bill in New Hampshire, because it does not serve the States interests, their financial interests or their need for power over other's lives.

Illinois currently has homeschooling freedom but will it last. Fight on Illinois homeschoolers because, "But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever." John Adams

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

The following piece appears on Big Government.com.

Nanny State Trolls for Homeschooled Children in Illinois
by Julie Schmidt

Recently Illinois Senator Ed Maloney (D) introduced SB136 which would require “the parents or legal guardians of children attending non-public schools, a defined term, or private or parochial schools to annually register their children with the State Board of Education, in conformance with procedures prescribed by the State Board of Education.”

Basically homeschoolers and anyone else who has deemed the public education system a failure would have to register their children with the State, since apparently Senator Maloney believes “that since the State was responsible for the education of our children, the State should know who was being homeschooled,” according to Pastor James McDonald who met with the Senator along with several homeschooling advocates.

I hate to burst the Senator’s progressive utopian bubble, but as Pastor McDonald points out “in the eyes of most home educators, the responsibility to ensure our children receive a competent education belonged to parents, not the State.” I don’t think registering children, like licensing a dog, was exactly what Thomas Jefferson had in mind when he envisioned public education.

Jefferson trusted the people closest to the issue to care most for the outcomes. Regarding education he stated in a letter to Joseph Cabell, “But if it is believed that these elementary schools will be better managed by the Governor and Council, the commissioners of the literary fund, or any other general authority of the government, than by the parents within each ward, it is a belief against all experience.”

Hardly a resounding endorsement of the power of the State, which he was extremely wary of, when he stated in the same letter, “What has destroyed liberty and the rights of man in every government which has ever existed under the sun? The generalizing and concentrating all cares and power into one body, no matter whether of the autocrats of Russia or France, or of the aristocrats of a Venetian senate.” Or even the Illinois Senate.

Jefferson also believed that education was–brace yourself progressives–voluntary. He stated, “It is better to tolerate that rare instance of a parent’s refusing to let his child be educated, than to shock the common feelings by a forcible transportation and education of the infant against the will of his father.” So I will give you a moment to consider how he would have viewed compulsory registration. “Appalled” would be kind.

Laurie Higgins of Illinois Family Institute (IFI) applies the “board of education” to our illustrious politicians’ posteriors when she said, “Serious thought should be given to the proper role and limits of our state and federal governments. If the vast majority of home schooling families are educating their children well, IFI doesn’t believe that it is appropriate to penalize them in order to solve the problem of the failures or inadequacies of a minority of home schooling families.”

If you happen to live in Illinois, or even if you don’t, and would like to apply your own board to the backside of this government intrusion, you can find the latest status and who to call at IFI’s website.

Homeschooling Laws in New Hampshire are Tyrannical

2011-02-13T13:36:00.003-05:00

These are part of the current homeschooling laws.

Annual evaluations are due by July 1.

Homeschoolers are required to evaluate their children and file the evaluation results annually with their participating agents. Homeschoolers can meet the annual evaluation requirement in one of three ways:

(1) have their children evaluated by a certified teacher, or a teacher currently teaching in a nonpublic school;

(2) test their children using a national student achievement test, or a state student assessment test used by the resident school district. A composite score on either test at or above the fortieth percentile is an acceptable score; or

(3) use any other valid measurement tool that is mutually agreed upon in writing by the parent (or legal guardian) and the participating agent.

If you submit a standardized test score, remember to order your exam in plenty of time to get your composite score back before the July 1 deadline. A list of testing options is available at the NHHC website.

If you submit a portfolio evaluation, please confirm in advance the evaluator’s credentials and availability to review your student’s portfolio this year. If you are seeking an evaluator, visit our evaluators page.

The above laws do nothing to improve the quality of education I provide to my children. The only interests they serve are the interests of the State. If a homeschooled student fails to score above the fortieth percentile they are put on probation. This is not equitable with what happens in the public schools, nor should it be. However, when a child in a public school fails to score above the fortieth percentile they are not forced into a private school or to homeschool they stay in the same failing school, the teacher is retained because she has tenure. Why are homeschoolers treated differently? Tens of thousands of public school students fail to score above 40% every year. Homeschooilng laws are tyrannical and only serve the interests of the State. For the seventh year our feeder school district has failed to make annual yearly progress. The teachers still have their jobs, taxpayers still have to pay for their failure. The above laws do nothing to improve the quality of the education I provide my child, in fact they hinder my child's education because they have absolutely no benefit to my child but to the State. The quality of my children's education will improve greatly when I am finally able to educate my child as I see fit and without people trampling on my rights to do so.

Quote of the Day - “It is better to tolerate that rare instance of a parent’s refusing to let his child be educated, than to shock the common feelings by a forcible transportation and education of the infant against the will of his father.” - Thomas Jefferson

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

HSLDA and CHeNH

2011-02-11T11:35:00.005-05:00

HSLDA appears to continue to fight for their own interests and keep New Hampshire Homeschoolers oppressed by promoting tyrannical homeschooling Bills. Frankly, I am tired of it, what fool buys a membership to HSLDA when it is HSLDA's backing of tyrannical laws that encourages membership into HSLDA in the first place. HSLDA has never put forth a Bill that would let New Hampshire Homeschoolers practice their Constitutional and Natural rights to educate their children as they see fit and in peace. The likelihood of HSLDA interrupting my school year 100%, the likelihood of NH DCYF interrupting my school year .0002. I suggest New Hampshire families boycott HSLDA and CHeNH until they put forth a full homeschooling freedom Bill.

Quote of the Day - "That all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights."

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

Testimony for HB 595

2011-02-10T08:14:00.003-05:00

The following is the testimony I gave to the House Education Committee regarding HB-595. Frankly, I do not think this legislation goes far enough but it is a step in the correct direction.

Quote of the Day - "A recent MORI poll, commissioned by the Campaign for Learning, found that 90% of adults were favourably inclined towards further learning for themselves.....The bad news is that 75% said they were unhappy and alienated in the school environment and that, therefore, they preferred to learn at home, in the local library, at their workplace - anywhere other than a school-type setting." - Meighan

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

Good afternoon, Chairman Balboni and Honorable members of the House Education Committee,

I am writing today to ask you to vote ITL on HB-301 and OTP on HB-595. I would like to see complete homeschooling freedom in New Hampshire because in a free society, the sole purpose of the State is to protect our freedoms. That's all. Nothing more.

Any parent willing to lift the education burden from fellow taxpayers should not be regulated by the State. Parents in 24 states have this right; Live Free Or Die parents should have it as well. I am asking you to pass HB 595 which will move us closer to freedom and away from the current laws that declare parents to be guilty until proven innocent.

There are approximately 200,000 public students statewide. According to the fall 2010 NECAP results 23% of our students in grades 3-8 and 11 failed to demonstrate proficiency in reading, 34% failed to demonstrate proficiency in mathematics and 45% of our students failed to demonstrate proficiency in writing. There are only about 5,000 homeschoolers in New Hampshire; far more public school students fail to achieve proficiency in basic academics than homeschool students. Taxpayers spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually, yet tens of thousands of students fail to read at grade appropriate level. Frankly, I do not understand the need of some legislators to focus on homeschooling's safely controlled campfire, while public school Rome is burning to the ground.

My children are my responsibility. I have decided that my children shall not be a burden on the rest of society by educating them at home. I have chosen that they not suffer as part of a failing educational system. If I wanted to provide my children a substandard education I would send them to my local public school which has failed to meet Annual Yearly Progress for its seventh year.

I am tired of having to fight for my constitutional right to instruct my children as I see fit. I am tired of fighting organizations that benefit from horrific homeschooling laws designed to fatten their pocketbooks. Frankly, I am tired of the witch hunt against homeschoolers and the nanny state homeschooling laws.

Today this fundamental question comes before to the legislature: Shall the state control parental instruction, or shall parents invoke their historical prerogative to instruct in freedom. Please OTP HB 595.

Best Regards,

Catherine Peschke

"Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives."
Ronald Reagan

"Education of all children, from the moment they can leave their mother's care, in national establishments at national cost." Friedrich Engels, 1847 in the draft of the Manifesto called, "Principles of Communism"

Jim's Testimony for HB - 545

2011-02-09T08:52:00.001-05:00

The following is Jim's testimony for HB - 545. If New Hampshire is going to get homeschooling freedom we must abolish the HEAC which serves the interest of the DOE and not homeschoolers.

Quote of the Day - "Homeschooling and public schooling are as opposite as two sides of a coin. In a homeschooling environment, the teacher need not be certified, but the child MUST learn. In a public school environment, the teacher MUST be certified, but the child need NOT learn." - Gene Royer

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

Good morning,

I am here today to urge this committee to abolish the HEAC by voting OTP on HB545. As a Homeschooling parent and Croydon School Board member, I offer my perspective on how the HEAC's activities are a disservice to homeschoolers, the legislature, and the public at large.

In support of the call to eliminate the HEAC, I offer two fundamental conjectures: 1) The HEAC serves no useful purpose, and 2) The HEAC actively operates against the interests of the very homeschoolers it purports to represent.

In theory, the HEAC provides collective representation for a group of citizens who do not benefit from, dare I say eschew, collectivism itself. To understand why this is irrevocably problematic, contrast this to the model of a public school board.

Communities elect school boards to apply collective representation to the operation of public schools. This model is necessary because public schools operate in a collective manner. Classrooms, schedules, and policies within public schools require a high degree of consistency. This necessitates compromises among the public stakeholders. The school board's job is to listen to the public and align school operation as best as they can, knowing they cannot please everybody.

Homeschooling is fundamentally different because it operates in an individual, not collective fashion. Indeed this very independence and lack of conformity draws many of us to choose homeschooling. Individuality means I may teach my child chemistry when someone else's child learns to draw, and another parent's child leans to write. Thousands of microscopic classrooms have no need for alignment, and thus have no need to develop consensus. When granted their inherent rights, parents have no use for a committee to represent their individual homeschooling preferences. The HEAC thus serves no useful purpose.

Every representative body runs the risk that members will fail to promote the will of their constituents. A common driving force is the motive of self-preservation. HEAC has repeatedly demonstrated this tendency. As homeschoolers across the state call for expanded freedom, such freedom makes the HEAC unnecessary to even the most obstinate observer.

The most destructive element of the HEAC is its ability to provide political cover to lawmakers hostile to the interests of homeschoolers. I have witnessed this on several occasions. When the HEAC or a subset offers support to hostile legislation, they allow homeschool opponents to deny their opposition to homeschooling freedom.

Sunshine is the best disinfectant. In this way, the HEAC is the shadow behind which homeschool opponents hide. HEAC becomes the enemy to those it claims to serve.

Please restore transparency legitimate self-representation to homeschoolers by eliminating the HEAC.

Jim Peschke

Screwtape and Karl Marx

2011-02-06T16:12:00.000-05:00

Screwtape would be so proud of the Department of Education and HSLDA. Karl Marx would be so proud of the HEAC and groups like the CHENH, yep just useful idiots in my book.

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

No to HB 301, Yes to HB 595

2011-02-06T15:54:00.002-05:00

HB 542 appears to be the only Bill that will give homeschoolers complete homeschooling freedom however, HB 542 appears to be stuck in Committee. I hope that Representative JR Hoell, a homeschooling parent will get HB 542 out of committee. At this point HB 301 supported by HSLDA is a big threat to homeschooling freedom as the article from the Union Leader states below, "House Bill 301 also would repeal the home education law and make it a violation under child welfare laws for parents to "purposely" fail to provide an education for their children."

Homeschooling parents need to come out in full force to the State House to speak out against HB 301 and in support of HB 545.

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

Education bills could create tax quandary puzzle
By SHAWNE K. WICKHAM
New Hampshire Sunday News Staff

Several bills aimed at supporting parental choice in education, if all were to pass, could create a financial incentive for some parents to keep their kids home to learn, one sponsor acknowledged last week.

House Bill 340 would require communities to grant property tax abatements of up to $3,500 for each taxpayer's child not enrolled in the public schools.

There's some confusion about whether the proposed tax abatement would apply to home-schooling parents. Rep. Carol Vita, R-Middleton, the prime sponsor, said that wasn't her intent.

Her idea was to give parents who pay to send their children to a school out of their district -- private, parochial, charter or even another public school -- the tax break. "This is only if you want to send your child out of the school district," she said.
But Sen. James Forsythe, R-Strafford, the sole Senate sponsor of the measure, said it "would also apply to home-schoolers as well."

"The intent is if you're not using a public school system, and spending money on private school or home school, this would allow you to get a tax break," said Forsythe, who said his wife previously home-schooled their two children for seven years.

"I think respecting parental choice is what this bill's all about. And empowering them to have more choices for their kids' education."

The tax abatement proposal comes at a time when home-school advocates are pushing for less state regulation. The House Education Committee on Tuesday will hear three bills related to home education:

House Bill 595 would repeal the state home education law and assert "the natural right of parents to determine and direct the instruction of their children."

House Bill 301 also would repeal the home education law and make it a violation under child welfare laws for parents to "purposely" fail to provide an education for their children.

And House Bill 545 would repeal the state Department of Education's rule-making authority for home education.

Forsythe, who also co-sponsored HB 595, said he does have some concerns about unintended consequences should all the measures pass.

"The only problem with that is it might set up an incentive for some folks to keep their kids at home to get the tax break but not actually school them," he said.

Daniel Kimble is president of Christian Home Educators of New Hampshire, which represents more than 100 families in the state. His six children, ages 2 to 17, are home-schooled.

He said his organization is looking for less regulation.

"You go back to the beginning of the founding of our country, and it's always been the parents' rights, the parents' responsibility, to educate their children," he said. "Required schooling, it's a modern phenomenon ... and it's ended up causing problems for home-schoolers and for those that want to go back to traditional ways of schooling."

Kimble said he supports repeal of the home-schooling law and likes the idea of a tax abatement for families like his. He doesn't believe it would create an incentive for parents to keep their kids home.

"I see it as a benefit that somebody who wanted to home-school their children but felt they didn't have enough money to be able to buy curriculum, you're now getting (money) ... back," he said.

Rep. Lucien Vita, Carol Vita's husband and a co-sponsor of HB 340, said the bill might have to be amended so it does not include home-schoolers. "The purpose of this bill is to stop people having to pay twice for something you only get once," he said.

Some have other concerns about the proposed abatement.

Greg Moore, House policy director, said Republican leadership supports the home-education bills, but has not taken a position on HB 340.

There is some concern, he said, that "because it requires the municipalities to offer tax abatements, it may well violate Article 28A of the (state) constitution." That prohibits adopting unfunded mandates that pass on costs to local communities, he explained.

Rep. Betsy Patten, R-Moultonborough, a member of the Municipal and County Government Committee that will hear the tax abatement bill, said she shares those concerns. And she said it also might open the door for other taxpayers who don't have children in the schools to demand abatements as well.

Passing a tax abatement or exemption for one group of taxpayers, Patten said, "just shifts it to everybody else in the community."

"You have to realize the consequences of it are that everybody else has to pick up that $3,500," Patten said. "And that's some amount on everybody's tax bill."

Judy Silva is deputy director for legal services and government affairs at the New Hampshire Municipal Association. She said the association would have "some real problems" with HB 340 as written.

Silva explained towns can collect an extra 5 percent on the municipal portion of property taxes, called an overlay, that is used to cover abatements. But she said HB 340 calls for the proposed abatements to come out of the education portion of the property tax bill, where no overlay exists.

Silva also said the proposal could raise equity issues, with other taxpayers claiming they are entitled to abatements if they don't use their municipality's schools, fire departments or landfills.

And she agreed with Patten that other taxpayers would have to pay more if the abatements were mandatory. "Since what is collected in taxes is based on what the budgeted amount is, it needs to be made up," she said.

Parents First Not Educrats or Bureaucrats

2011-02-04T08:12:00.002-05:00

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.

Should Children be Fined for Swearing in Schools?

2011-02-03T00:49:00.000-05:00

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.

Educrats Gone Wild

2011-02-02T00:39:00.002-05:00

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.

HB 301 Could make you a Criminal

2011-02-01T08:19:00.004-05:00

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

2011-02-01T00:09:00.004-05:00

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.

Glory Be!

2011-01-31T00:23:00.002-05:00

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.

Don't Tell the Unions

2011-01-30T00:49:00.001-05:00

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.

Could Homeschooling Freedom Become a Reality?

2011-01-29T00:13:00.000-05:00

New Hampshire Homeschoolers and future New Hampshire Homeschoolers, homeschooling freedom could become a reality in New Hampshire, please contact your Representatives and Senators and ask them to support House Bill - 595. HB595- amending the compulsory school attendance statutes to permit parent-directed instruction programs and repealing the home education statutes. Sponsors:(Prime)Laura Jones , Andrew Manuse, Seth Cohn, Raymond White, James Forsythe, Jim Luther, Alfred Baldasaro, Carol Vita, Harry Accornero, Kevin Avard, Stephen Palmer, Tyler Simpson.

Also contact the House Education Committee and ask them to support HB 595.

For more information visit the New Hampshire Families for Education website.

Quote of the Day - "Educate the child according to his way, even when he grows old he will not abandon it." Proverbs 22:6

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

Really this is a Big Deal?

2011-01-28T08:51:00.008-05:00

If this is a shocker to you, you are not paying attention. The million dollar Stupidintendent retirement package is not that uncommon, it is happening all across the United States.

Quote of the Day -"It's for the kids!"

The following story appeared on IndyStar.com.

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

Wayne superintendent's $1M retirement package creates storm

In 2007, the Wayne Township School Board and then-Superintendent Terry Thompson agreed to a renegotiated contract that provided a generous retirement package for whenever Thompson decided to step down.

But it wasn't until this month that board members realized just how lucrative that deal was, to the tune of more than $1 million.

Thompson, 64, who retired in December after 15 years with the district, already has received more than $800,000 of his retirement deal, which included a year's base pay at more than $225,000, as well as contract provisions that kicked in hundreds of thousands more.

But that's not all.

The contract also created the position of superintendent emeritus -- a position that has been paying Thompson $1,352 a day since his retirement to advise his successor, among other duties. That amount, over the 150 days laid out in the contract, would pay him more than $200,000 -- bringing the total to more than $1 million.

In addition, the contract called for one other perk -- a onetime $15,000 stipend for "retirement planning."

On Thursday, the board issued a statement asking Thompson to resign from the superintendent emeritus position, but it's unclear whether the board can force him to do so -- or reclaim any of the money in the contract.

"It's just a terribly difficult time because Terry Thompson did terrifically wonderful things for Wayne Township," said board member Shirley Deckard, who was not on the board in 2007.

Five of her colleagues, however, were on the board at the time. They either were not able to be reached for comment Thursday or deferred comment to the district spokeswoman.

Thompson did not return calls made to his home Thursday.

A call placed to Jon Bailey -- the school district's attorney at the time the contract was renegotiated -- was met with a recording that his voice mailbox was full.

Mary McDermott-Lang, the district's spokeswoman, said board members signed off on the provisions of the contract when it was reopened at Thompson's request in 2007. But she said they did so without full knowledge of the information tucked into lengthy documents that she said Thompson asked them to approve at several different meetings.

Visit the IndyStar.com website to view the rest of the story.

A Perfect Example as to Why we Need School Choice

2011-01-27T00:15:00.001-05:00

Mom jailed for sending children to a better school. The following piece appeared on ABCNews.go.com. Visit the ABCNews.go website to view the video associated with the story.

Quote of the Day " Don't wait for the perfect moment to break free -- there isn't any. Don't let officials, relatives or anyone else intimidate you into sacrificing your children. If you want to help public schools, give them your money, give them your time, give them your house and your car -- but don't give them your kids. There's a world of support out there for home schoolers. If you can't home school, find a decent private school and sacrifice for your kids' education like you would for that fancy car you want or that vacation or entertainment center or big house. Whatever you'd sacrifice for the thing you most want in life, sacrifice ten times as much for your children." Tammy Drennan, Alliance for the Separation of School and State senior writer

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

Ohio Mom Kelley Williams-Bolar Jailed for Sending Kids to Better School District
Judge Sentenced Mother Convicted of Falsifying Residency Records to 10 Days in Jail

1By ANDREA CANNING and LEEZEL TANGLAO
Jan. 26, 2011

An Ohio mother's attempt to provide her daughters with a better education has landed her behind bars.

Kelley Williams-Bolar was convicted of lying about her residency to get her daughters into a better school district.

"It's overwhelming. I'm exhausted," she said. "I did this for them, so there it is. I did this for them."

Williams-Bolar decided four years ago to send her daughters to a highly ranked school in neighboring Copley-Fairlawn School District.

But it wasn't her Akron district of residence, so her children were ineligible to attend school there, even though her father lived within the district's boundaries.

The school district accused Williams-Bolar of lying about her address, falsifying records and, when confronted, having her father file false court papers to get around the system.

Williams-Bolar said she did it to keep her children safe and that she lived part-time with her dad.

"When my home got broken into, I felt it was my duty to do something else," Williams-Bolar said.

While her children are no longer attending schools in the Copley-Fairlawn District, school officials said she was cheating because her daughters received a quality education without paying taxes to fund it.

"Those dollars need to stay home with our students," school district officials said.

Sentence Intended as Deterrent

The district hired a private investigator, who shot video showing Williams-Bolar driving her children into the district.

The school officials asked her to pay $30,000 in back tuition.

Williams-Bolar refused and was indicted and convicted of falsifying her residency records.

She was sentenced last week to 10 days in county jail and put on three years of probation.

She will also be required to perform community service, the Beacon Journal reported.

Williams-Bolar said she was being singled out.

"I don't think they wanted money ? ," Williams-Bolar said. "They wanted me to be an example."

Presiding Judge Patricia Cosgrove acknowledged as much.

"I felt that some punishment or deterrent was needed for other individuals who might think to defraud the various school districts," Cosgrove said.

School Board Meeting Tonight

2011-01-26T09:15:00.000-05:00

Croydon School Board budget meeting tonight.

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

Something you Probably did not Know

2011-01-25T09:20:00.002-05:00

Our form of compulsory schooling is an invention of the state of Massachusetts around 1850. It was resisted - sometimes with guns - by an estimated eighty per cent of the Massachusetts population, the last outpost in Barnstable on Cape Cod not surrendering its children until the 1880's when the area was seized by militia and children marched to school under guard. - The Underground History of American Education

American needs school choice not indoctrination.

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

School Choice Week

2011-01-24T09:15:00.003-05:00

Today is the start of National School Choice week, are you supporting choice for your communities children or are you making them a slave to a failing system?

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

Tenure

2011-01-23T05:09:00.001-05:00

Tenure does not belong in the K-12 system.

Quote of the Day - "Frustrated by procedural hoops and the high costs of dismissing a poor teacher, schools sometimes resort to buyouts rather than outright firings. They then try to hide that cost from public view." Scott Reeder The Hidden Cost of Tenure

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

Let the Teachers do Their Own Dirty Work

2011-01-22T00:42:00.010-05:00

Taxpayer dollars should not be used to do the dirty work for teachers. If teachers want to be a part of a union, let them write their own damned check. Teachers' unions do nothing to improve the quality of education in any school. It is time to get unions out of all public schools.

Quote of the Day - "When school children start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of school children." - Albert Shanker, Former President of the American Federation of Teachers

Today's picture came from StandUpforAmerica.com.

The following piece appeared on Reading Eagle.com.

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

Teachers, unions focus of message at Patriots' meeting
By Mary E. Young
Reading Eagle
Originally Published: 1/21/2011

School districts should be stopped from spending taxpayer money to collect dues for unions, a member of the Pennsbury School District in Bucks County told about 200 people Thursday night at the monthly meeting of the Berks County Patriots.

Simon Campbell, who also is president of the advocacy group Stop Teacher Strikes, said that in addition to a law banning teacher strikes, a law is needed to make Pennsylvania a right-to-work state in which unions would not be able to force teachers to join.

If teachers want to join, they should be willing to write a monthly check to the union themselves, he told the audience at Leesport Farmers Market in Ontelaunee Township.

Until Pennsylvania becomes a right-to-work state, school districts, county commissioners and township supervisors have the ability to negotiate the collection of union dues via payroll deduction out of union contracts, Campbell said.

Pennsbury School District did it, he said.

The teachers union is a political organization, not an educational one, Campbell said.

"Go after their money, because that's where their power comes from," he said.

The unions are not serving the public when they throw children out of school so they can strike for salaries and benefits that no one in any other profession gets, he said.

Ana Puig, co-chairwoman of the Kitchen Table Patriots in Bucks County, talked about the similarities she sees between the Obama administration and the Marxists who have taken over several Latin American countries under the guise of democratic elections.

Among those similarities are the introduction to the masses of a progressive candidate as a messiah who is going to eliminate the evil capitalist system, adoration of the candidate by the media, voter fraud and turning political opposition into demons, she said.

To change things, Republicans must reform their party and go back to its conservative values, said Puig, who was born and raised in Brazil but immigrated legally to the U.S.

"We must again constrain the federal government to its proper limited role in the Constitution, and return the power to the states and the people," she said. "We must not lose focus. The grass-roots movement is real. We have what it takes to free ourselves from the tyranny."

Also speaking were the six candidates seeking the Republican nomination for the March 15 special election to fill the 11th Senatorial District seat that became vacant with the Dec. 27 death of state Sen. Michael A. O'Pake, a Reading Democrat.

The Berks GOP executive committee plans to make a final choice Saturday.

The candidates are Register of Wills Larry Medaglia; former Sheriff Barry J. Jozwiak; Kenneth A. Smith, a financial adviser and Exeter Township supervisor; James M. Smith, a Richmond Township attorney; Michael Rivera, an assistant vice president at the Greater Reading Chamber of Commerce & Industry; and Dr. George Chovanes, a Hereford Township neurosurgeon.

Contact Mary Young: 610-478-6292 or myoung@readingeagle.com.

The Death of our Republic

2011-01-21T01:18:00.001-05:00

This sign is so true, ditto to the far too numerous entitlement programs and government agencies.
Actions started over 100 years ago put America on this path. Obama et, al., aided by apathetic and ignorant Americans are just putting the final stake in America's heart.

"When the people find they can vote themselves money from the treasury, that will herald the end of the republic." - Benjamin Franklin

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

Miss America was Homeschooled

2011-01-20T00:03:00.003-05:00

The following piece appeared on Belief Net.com, congratulations Ms. Scanlan and good luck with your future.

I certainly hope she is a vocal supporter of homeschooling freedom.

Quote of the Day - For thousands of years, in thousands of places, families educated their own. This tradition changed not because a better method was found but because economic conditions required it. To work one had to lreave one's children; one's children, furthermore, had to be trained for tasks no-one in their purview could be seen doing. For these reasons institutionalised schooling was invented' and while it adequately addressed a set of economic problems it inspired a new set of human ones that are psychological, emotional, and even spiritual in nature. - David Guterson 'Family Matters - Why Homeschooling Makes Sense'

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

Teresa Scanlan Miss America 2011
Sunday January 16, 2011

Miss Nebraska Crowned Miss America 2011 - Teresa Scanlan, only 17 years, becomes Miss America 2011.

After being homeschooled through her junior year, this young lady has become the youngest Miss America ever. Teresa Scanlan is a Christian an hopes to inspire good morals and honesty in her future career. She hopes to attend law school, become a judge and eventually a politician, according to the Miss America website.

She had this to say from her blog, "After being crowned Miss Nebraska 2010 in June and becoming the youngest woman to wear the Miss Nebraska crown, she deferred enrollment to Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia, where she is now set to attend in the Fall of 2011. She plans on majoring in Government: American Politics and Policy and then attending Law School to become a Trial Attorney in Criminal Prosecution. Hoping to become a judge and eventually become involved in the political arena, her highest career goals are to become President or a Supreme Court Justice. As a Christian in the political arena, she hopes to break down the stereotype of crooked and dishonest politicians, operating instead under character and integrity."

Congratulations to Teresa Scanlan Miss America 2011. May she wear the crown well!

Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/redletters/2011/01/teresa-scanlan-miss-america-2011.html#ixzz1BEMCeOoI

Real Solutions

2011-01-19T00:07:00.001-05:00

Anyone who is paying attention knows that public schools are a major part of the problem in America and not the solution.

The following piece appeared on WallStreetPit.com.

Quote of the Day - The real solution is to close schools, fire teachers, eliminate federal student aid, reorient most college students toward trade schools, and let the Internet deliver open courseware for free to anyone with a modicum of curiosity." Anthony Alfidi

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

Giant Step Backwards Looms for Education
By Anthony Alfidi Jan 16, 2011, 12:16 AM|Author's Website

Here’s further proof that mainstream journalism is incapable of performing even halfway decent analysis of national problems. The Associated Press eagerly awaits education “reform” that will turn back the clock:

American parents, teachers and students would be left laboring under a burdensome set of testing guidelines and other rules that many agree are pushing standards lower instead of bringing them up.

Ahem, firm standards are precisely what’s always been missing from American secondary education. The opposition of teachers’ unions to standards held back progress for decades until No Child Left Behind became law.

Banalities in this article abound. Focusing on “teacher performance” is impossible without the so-called onerous standards the article deplores. “Boosting college graduation rates” is just as meaningless. American colleges now graduate more bachelor’s candidates than ever before in history and yet the ROI of a college degree is nearing zero thanks to federally-encouraged student debt.

Our country’s educational system needs a reset. On that score, I agree with the critics of No Child Left Behind. Unfortunately the educational establishment wants more of the same: more money, more teachers, more student loans. All of that will lead to more failure. The real solution is to close schools, fire teachers, eliminate federal student aid, reorient most college students toward trade schools, and let the Internet deliver open courseware for free to anyone with a modicum of curiosity.

What is Wrong with the Truth?

2011-01-18T05:24:00.000-05:00

After reading a local newspaper I felt the need to write a letter to the editor. If you know Jim and I, it is something we have done for 8 years now. It never surprises us to see our Letters edited by the editors. But this last time when I wrote a letter to the editor they asked me to change it. I declined to change the letter but Granite Grok agreed to post the letter in full on their website.

The editor did not like the second to last paragraph. When reading the letter to the editor do your own research on this "person," you will indeed understand why I refused to take out the second to last paragraph in my Letter to the Editor.

The following piece appeared on GraniteGrok.com. To view the whole piece visit GraniteGrok.com.

“The first duty of a newspaper is to be accurate. If it be accurate, it follows that it is fair.” Herbert Bayard Swope

"Abortion is inherently different from other medical procedures because no other procedure involves the purposeful termination of a potential life.” Potter Stewart American Judge and associate justice of the US Supreme Court (1958-81

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

Cow Manure

2011-01-18T00:52:00.002-05:00

Madigan is just saying what people want to hear. If he really wanted to take on the teachers unions he would call for real reforms. Such reforms could include but would not be limited to the following propose a no strike law, eliminate tenure, revise collective bargaining laws, propose a school choice bill, propose a bill to ban forced dues and end state subsidies to the TRS.

The following piece appeared on MyFoxChicago.com.

Quote of the Day - "In keeping Americans ill-educated, ill-informed and constitutionally ignorant, the education establishment has been the politician's major and most faithful partner. It is in this sense that American education can be deemed a success." - Walter Williams, Professor of Economics, George Mason University (2005)

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

Mike Madigan Suggests Taking on Teachers Unions
Updated: Thursday, 13 Jan 2011, 9:33 AM CST
Published : Thursday, 13 Jan 2011, 9:33 AM CST
FOX Chicago News

Chicago - The turmoil over the Illinois tax hike almost obscured another bombshell out of Springfield this week. On the topic of public education, House Speaker Mike Madigan sounded like he was ready to take on teacher unions.

"We have more to do in the area of education. We have to work to provide for a better performance by the educational system in general and by the teachers that work inside of that educational system. And clearly the time has come once and for all to change the Illinois law so that incompetent teachers can be taken out of the classroom," Madigan said on the floor.

The President of the Chicago Teachers Union Karen Lewis agreed the education system needs to improve, but disagreed with Madigan’s suggestion.

"We need to attract and retain great teachers, principals and school boards who will commit their lives to education, not drive them away. A little respect goes a long way. It's time we focus on what's right and build on that," Lewis said.

Martin Luther King was not Born Today

2011-01-17T16:59:00.003-05:00

Martin Luther King was not born today he was born January 15th, 1929. It is a shame that bureaucrats mess around with this great man's Birthday to have a three day weekend. Students should be in school learning the truth about Martin Luther King.

"We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws." Martin Luther King.

My guess is Mr. King would not like the sorry state of Taxpayer Funded Socialist Indoctrination Centers today.

Another dandy fact you are not taught in school Martin Luther King was a Republican. Some other tasty tidbits of information for you to read.

Someone sent me this today, enjoy.

BY A 15 yr. OLD STUDENT IN ARIZONA
New Pledge of Al legiance (TOTALLY AWESOME)!

Since the Pledge of Al legiance
And the Lord's Prayer
Are not allowed in most
Public schools anymore
Because the word 'God' is mentioned.....
A kid in Arizona wrote the attached

NEW School prayer:

Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.

If scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene..
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all..
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks...
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong..

We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles..
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.

It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen

If you aren't ashamed to do this, Please pass this on..
Jesus said, 'If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before my Father.'

Not ashamed. Pass this on.

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

Kid's Aren't Cars - No Duh!

2011-01-17T00:32:00.002-05:00

Kid's Aren't Cars - No Duh!

It is a sorry state in America that a film like this has to be made. If parents do not know this already they are just not paying attention. If you are a parent you should be aware of your school's report card and what is in all the teachers', administrators' and support staffs contracts. You should also be reviewing your children's books and that is just for starters.

According to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) 09 report, the USA is 27th in math, 22nd in science, 32nd in reading – dead last in 32 industrialized nations! But so called good parents, conservatives and libertarians keep their children in Taxpayer Funded Socialist Indoctrination Centers, I have to ask once again, "Why are you allowing someone to bare the burden of educating YOUR children?"

The following piece appeared on Big Government.com. Be sure to visit the Big Government website to see the links associated with this story.

Quote of the Day - "Freedom requires responsibility. That is why most men dread it." - George Bernard Shaw

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

New Film Exposes Unions’ Decimation of Education
by Kyle Olson

“Kids Aren’t Cars” is a new short film series set for release February 1st. Using examples from the Midwest, it documents the impact organized labor has had on the American education system, creating a one-size-fits-all assembly line model that leaves students behind and treats teachers equally, stifling innovation and improvement.

Our government education system has been spending more and more each year, yet the results have been the same. While unions demand higher spending – which of course ends up in the pockets of their members – money is not fixing the problem.

Those that have been in the trenches gave shocking interviews – stories of money grabs by adults while children are left behind.

An executive director of a literacy clinic in Detroit – where high school graduates go to learn how to read – compared the actions of the school board to the Ku Klux Klan. “If they were sitting up there in Klan robes,” she said, no one would be tolerating what is going on, but the effect is the same. [Eight of the 9 school board members are black.]

We tell the story of two Indiana teachers recognized state-wide for their impact on students, only to be fired literally the next day because they lacked seniority of their co-workers.

Numerous leaders sound the alarm, but do elected leaders have the courage to stand up to the all-powerful teachers’ unions? The tide seems to be turning, but the need is dire. The United States continues to slip globally, with student achievement lagging behind Iceland and Hungary.

In short, it’s because our public school system is designed to benefits adults, at the expense of children. The focus has been on spending – which invariably ends up in pay, health benefits and retirement for the employees.

“Kids Aren’t Cars” is an unflinching look at the state of public education in America and what can be done about it.
The film’s Facebook page is here.

Bankruptcy, not a Bailout

2011-01-16T00:17:00.014-05:00

I received the following piece via email from Dick Morris. I totally agree with him. Outrageous pensions to government union employees should have never been promised in the first place they were irresponsible and unsustainable.

Quote of the Day -"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later "you run out of other people's money." Margaret Thatcher

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

TO SAVE THE STATES: LET 'EM DECLARE BANKRUPTCY
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
Published in the New York Post on January 12, 2011

Facing huge budget difficulties, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has been showing other states how to survive -- namely, by taking on the government-employee unions.

Christie's battles with the teachers unions over the past year have produced countless YouTube hits. And last month, he got a law passed to limit wage hikes from labor arbitrations between the state and public-employee unions to an average 2 percent annual increase.

As New Jersey, New York, California and Illinois -- the four with the highest insurance premiums on their bonds -- face life without a compliant Congress to approve their pleas for more cash, they'll increasingly have to follow Christie's example and rein in their unions.

As Margaret Thatcher famously said, the problem with socialism is that sooner or later "you run out of other people's money."

When the states come calling, the House must say, "No." More, it's time to amend the federal bankruptcy laws to create a procedure for state bankruptcies -- allowing states to abrogate their municipal-union contracts from the school-board level on up.

States, in bankruptcy court, should be able to reorganize their finances so as to put themselves back on a stable footing.

Initially, municipal-bond buyers will protest the lack of federal assistance and may even deny states and localities access to the bond market at any interest rate. But once the states reorganize, they should be able to proceed normally -- just as New York City did after its financial meltdown in the '70s.

Such reorganizations needn't require any ongoing federal involvement. The procedure would let the states help themselves, giving governors and legislatures a third way out of their financial mess. Raise taxes, cut spending or . . . alter union contracts. Each state would face the choice of whether to wallow in overspending or take steps to correct it.

Initially, Democrats will oppose the idea of state bankruptcies. But when House Republicans make clear that no more aid will be forthcoming and that the stimulus spigot is turned off, at least some Democrats will realize this is their best option.

Then, fiscal necessity will have achieved what so many of us want -- a return of true local government.

No more will schools be run for the teachers and by the teachers -- nor will such unions as the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees dominate state legislatures. School choice, charter schools and even voucher programs will have a chance to flourish.

Some fear the US Constitution prevents federal law from extending Chapter 9 to permit state bankruptcies, because it would violate state sovereignty. Yet Chapter 9 is voluntary, so states would remain sovereign -- with merely the option of subjecting themselves to Chapter 9 constraints.

Giving insolvent states the power to break their union contracts would alter dramatically the balance of political power all across the nation. No longer would municipal unions have the financial ability to underwrite the Democratic Party. Gone from our politics would be $200 million that the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, SEIU and AFSCME together spent on political action in the last election cycle.

Government would be returned to the people.

Why aren't you Homeschooling?

2011-01-15T00:08:00.006-05:00

My children, my responsibility, my neighbors should not have to pay to educate my children. Why are you allowing someone to bare the burden of educating YOUR children?

The following piece appears on the New American.com website.

Quote of the Day - "Where once a tyrant had to wish that his subjects had but one common neck that he might strangle them all at once, all he has to do now is to 'educate the people' so that they will have but one common mind to delude." - Richard Mitchell, "The Underground Grammarian"

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

Two Million Home Schooled, New Study Estimates
WRITTEN BY DAVE BOHON
MONDAY, 10 JANUARY 2011
A new study from the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) estimates that there are over two million children currently being home schooled in the United States. The author of the study, NHERI’s president Dr. Brian D. Ray, analyzed data from both state and federal education agencies as well as private home-school groups, concluding that there are as many as 2.346 million home-schooled students across the nation.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2010 there were about 54 million children between the ages of five and 17 in the U.S., meaning that nearly four percent of school-aged kids — or one in 25 — are being home schooled.

Factored into the study was Ray’s calculation that an estimated ten percent of home-schooled families are “underground,” meaning that parents have chosen not to register their children with the state because of compulsory attendance laws and other concerns.

“Today, home schoolers can be found in all walks of life,” noted a press release from the NHERI, “and with … a proven record of academic as well as social success, home schooling is rapidly becoming a mainstream education alternative.”

Michael Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association, called the latest numbers “remarkable,” noting that “just 30 years ago there were only an estimated 20,000 home schooled children.”

Ray predicts another “notable surge” in home schooling numbers in the next five to ten years, as those who were home schooled in the 1990s choose that education option for their own children as well.

A 2006 study by the Department of Education found that 31 percent of parents who taught their kids at home did so out of concern for the public school environment, citing such issues as “safety, drugs or negative peer pressure.” Another 30 percent said that home schooling offered them the ability to “provide their children with religious or moral instruction.” An additional 16.5 percent of parents cited dissatisfaction with “the academic instruction available” in the public schools, while about 14 percent said they chose home schooling because of special needs of their children.

While public school officials and education “experts” have tried to denigrate the home schooling option as inferior to the tax-funded marvel of public education, both research and anecdotal evidence has demonstrated that children taught at home perform better than their public school counterparts.

For example, a 2009 study by the NHERI found that home schoolers score an average of 34 to 39 percentile points higher than the norm on standardized achievement tests. According to Dr. Ray, who headed up the research, the national average for home-schooled students ranged from the 84th percentile for language, math, and social studies to the 89th percentile for reading.

The study also found that achievement gaps common among public school students do not exist among home schoolers. Among the findings:

• Home-schooled boys (87th percentile) and girls (88th percentile) scored equally well on standardized tests.

• The income level of parents was not an appreciable factor in how home-schooled students performed, with children from poorer households (incomes under $35,000) scoring in the 85th percentile, and those from wealthier homes (income over $70,000) scoring in the 89th percentile.

• Although the education level of parents did have somewhat of an impact on the results, even home schoolers whose parents did not have college degrees scored in the 83rd percentile, well above the national average for public school students.

Research also confirms that the high performance of home-schooled students continues when they reach college. The Journal of College Admission cited a recent report showing that “home school students possess higher ACT scores, grade point averages (GPAs) and graduation rates when compared to traditionally educated students.”

Research last summer by Dr. Michael Cogan of the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota revealed that home-schooled college students fare better than conventional students on a number of levels:

• They earn a higher first-year GPA (3.41) than the overall average (3.12).

• Similarly, their fourth-year GPA (3.46) bests the overall average (3.16).

• They have a higher college graduation rate (66.7 percent) compared to the overall population (57.5 percent).

According to Gena Suarez, publisher of the Old Schoolhouse magazine, on average home schoolers score “37 percentile points above the national average on standardized achievement tests and typically score above average on the SAT and ACT.”

Those numbers have caught the attention of colleges and universities across the nation, particularly private Christian institutions, which often send recruiters and admissions counselors to home school conventions and target families that teach their kids at home through direct-mail campaigns, promotions in home school magazines, and with ads on websites.

Schools such as the prestigious Wheaton College, which boasts that 10 percent of its incoming freshmen are home-school grads, sponsor such events as “Home School College Days,” where potential students can visit campuses and even meet with current college students who were taught at home. Others such as Regent University, founded by Christian media mogul Pat Robertson, flash ads on their websites touting themselves as the “the right choice for home-schooled students.”

But it is not just Christian universities that are reaping the benefits of home-schooled students. Suarez cited one successful home schooler, Seth Back, who got his GED at age 15 and is currently a student at Harvard University. Suarez noted that over the past five years, Back has earned “a juris doctor degree, passed the California Bar Exam, earned a master’s degree in church history, and studied at Oxford — all while managing his own consulting business.”

Back credits home schooling for his success, saying that because of it he was “better prepared for certain college situations than students who had been through the public/private school system.”

And what about after college? All indications are that home-schooled students are among the most prepared to take their place as productive members of society. A 2004 study by Dr. Ray and NHERI of more than 7,000 home-schooled graduates found that 71 percent had participated in ongoing community service activities compared to 37 percent of U.S. adults of similar ages, and 76 percent had voted in a national or state election, compared to 29 percent of graduates who had not been home schooled.

“Homeschoolers clearly learn about the real world, possibly more than do their public school counterparts,” commented Dr. Michael Romanowski, an education professor at Ohio Northern University. “While the purpose of public education is to educate future citizens who take an active role in improving the social, economic, and political conditions in society, Ray’s research indicates that public schools, not homeschooling, should be scrutinized for their efforts regarding ‘citizenship training.’ ”

As a relevant side-note, home school proponents point out that when U.S. Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler (R–Wash.) was sworn in for her freshman term on January 3, she became the first home schooler in modern history to be elected to Congress. They are confident that she will not be the last.

School Board Meeting Next Wednesday

2011-01-14T00:57:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to mark your calendars school board meeting January 19th, 2011.

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

Should schools be giving out tickets?

2011-01-13T09:41:00.005-05:00

I have always said respect is earned not commanded. Are schools commanding respect by giving out tickets? Do you think giving out tickets in schools is a good idea or a bad idea? Why? The following piece appears on CBSDFW.COM website.

Quote of the Day - "Common sense is in spite of, not as the result of education." - Victor Hugo

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

Schools Giving Tickets, Not Detention Slips, Report Says
January 12, 2011

School lockers at a high school in Houston, Texas. (credit: AP)

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Court has become a deterrent instead of detention for some North Texas students.

The social and economic group Texas Appleseed collected five years worth of data from 22 districts across the state and found young students, including a six year old in Dallas, who received class C misdemeanor tickets for things like disrupting class, leaving school early and school yard brawls that didn’t include weapons.

“Dallas ISD was one of the districts that had a very large number of elementary school students that were issued class C misdemeanors,” said Deborah Fowler, of Texas Appleseed.

Over the course of five years, more than 1200 elementary students in DISD received a ticket.

O.M. Roberts Elementary parent found Abby Amadore found that alarming. “It’s the (school district’s) job to help us as parents to help them determine what’s right from wrong. I don’t think it’s correct to give them a ticket at six years old,” said Amadore.

In 2006-2007, over 4,000 DISD students received tickets but one parents said depending on the student’s age it may not be a bad way to curtail persistent misbehavior.

“It just depends the age and what the student did,” said DISD parent Claudia Diaz.

Data shows the tickets can cost a family as much as $500.
DISD issued a statement on the report, saying “The district’s number one priority is safety and the learning environment should never be compromised. The vast majority of our students are not disruptive. Those who do receive tickets are hopefully learning that their actions have consequences.”

School Board Meeting Tonight is Cancelled

2011-01-12T09:56:00.001-05:00

No School Board Meeting tonight, it has been cancelled because of the snow.

Cathy

"We who are engaged in the sacred cause of education are entitled to look upon all parents as having given hostages to our cause." - Horace Mann, first secretary of education in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

We see it, do you?

2011-01-11T00:15:00.002-05:00

We see it, do you? A partial list of the many reasons why we homeschool.

The following piece appeared on Betrayed - Why Public Education is Failing.

Quote of the Day - "Together we have come to realize that for most men the right to learn is curtailed by the obligation to attend school." - Ivan Illich, "Deschooling Society"

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

Monday, January 3, 2011

"What I see" - Parent volunteer tells heartbreaking tale
By Breann Treffry, school volunteer and parent of three, Spokane, WA

We’ve heard much recently about the United States slipping in the education ranking of developed nations. Having been a product of the American public school system, I knew, like many other American parents, that the education it provides is, shall we say, lacking in certain areas. What I didn’t realize - until I enrolled my own children, immersed myself in their schools, classrooms, curricula, and classmates, attended school board meetings, and heard the stories of other concerned parents and teachers - is just how lacking that education truly is.

From home, it can be hard for parents to understand the damage that’s being done to our kids until it’s too late and our children suddenly require remediation, tutoring, or have their hopes for their future crushed when they discover they’re woefully unprepared for college. When I initially began volunteering at my kids’ school, I admit, it was to monitor the education my own kids were receiving. In these last years, however, the education all our kids are receiving has revealed itself as the train wreck from which I can’t look away. Moral duty compels me to share what I have seen that every parent should know.

While I have either personally witnessed or have reliable sources who have witnessed these atrocities within Spokane Public Schools, they are in no way isolated to this little town in eastern Washington. The trend is nationwide.

1. Cursive writing is no longer taught.
2. I see high schoolers who cannot read cursive because they were never taught to write in cursive.
3. I see math curricula that do not teach standard algorithms, but rather create dependency on calculators and technology.
4. I see curricula that drive a wedge between students and their parents by fostering a dependency on peers through excessive group work.
5. I see math curricula that prevent parental involvement by excluding the methods we were taught and teaching only “new math.”
6. I know parents who can’t help their elementary age children with math homework because it doesn’t make sense to parents or students.
7. I’ve seen the light come on for students who have struggled for years - after their tutors or parents show them standard algorithms.
8. I have heard teachers ask parents to “please, please” not teach their children standard algorithms.
9. I know teachers who have offered classes for parents on how to understand the “new math.”
10. I know kids who “get in trouble” in class when they use the algorithms they learned at home.
11. I’ve heard parents and teachers remark that math has “changed so much” since we learned it; but, of course, math doesn’t change. Two plus two still equals four.
12. I see 12-year-olds who cannot add or subtract, let alone multiply or divide, yet have been pushed through to the next grade regardless.
13. I’ve heard teachers telling students, “You have to draw pictures to show your work” in math.
14. I see third and fourth graders who draw literally hundreds of marks or pictures to figure a single math problem because they haven’t been taught efficient methods, and still get the answer wrong.
15. I’ve seen eleventh graders who cannot divide a 3-digit number by a 1-digit number without a calculator.
16. I see elementary school classrooms with a calculator in every desk.
17.I know teachers who have been told not to try to engage struggling and difficult students in lessons but to let them be content with picture books in class.
18. I know teachers who have been reprimanded for criticizing district curricula or policy.
19. I see teachers paranoid and intimidated over teaching traditional math like standard algorithms and facts drill in their classrooms.

20. I’ve heard district administrators openly discussing “problem teachers.”
21. I see students in classrooms where the teacher taught algorithms and drilled math facts excel the following year over students from classrooms where the teacher did not.
22. I know volunteer tutors who’ve been refused because they teach traditional math methods rather than “fuzzy” math.
23. I see students who are “good at math” in tears over their math homework.
24. I’ve heard a teacher tell students, “Abraham Lincoln fought and died in the Civil War.”
25. I see an appalling rate of high school graduates who require remedial math courses in college.
26. I’ve seen students who successfully test into college-level math ultimately struggle and learn that they need remediation after all to fill in the holes in their math education.
27. I see kids being taught daily to a level far beneath their capacity, and being told that they just have to sit there.
28. Alternately, I see teachers struggle to provide additional challenges for those kids using only “district-approved curricula.”
29. I see third graders singing preschool songs as a class.
30. I’ve seen district-provided material that tells teachers to spend more individual instructional time with lower-performing students than with higher-performing students.
31. I see students who mock and taunt adults in the school, with no significant consequences.
32. I see students with multiple truancies that result in no consequences.
33. I see unexcused absences that go undisciplined.
34. I see late work given full credit.
35. I see students receive extra credit points through no effort of their own, for example, when the teacher calls them by the wrong name in class.
36. I’ve seen implementation of a grading system where it’s often impossible to achieve either the highest or the lowest grade.
37. I’ve seen materials that tell teachers to train students not to question teachers or other students, not to raise their hand when they have the right answer, and not to take the lead in groups.
38. I see academic learning time used for social exercises designed to make sure everyone a) feels good and b) realizes that they’re a small part of a large group.
39. I’ve learned that - despite what the district has claimed - the WASL (now the MSP or HSPE at the high school level) is not required, not at any grade level and not for graduation in the state of Washington – rather, there are several ways to meet the graduation requirement.
40. I see students’ love of and excitement for learning turning to drudgery and perceived failure.

As much I want to spare my own children from these wrongs, it’s just as wrong for adults to sit quietly by as the next generation, with eyes wide and full of hope and excitement, receives what has become the empty promise of an American public education. The essence of public schools is education for all, yet our schools are falling far short of the claim that they will prepare students to compete as adults, let alone in a global market.

I ask parents and teachers, what have you seen that just doesn’t sit right with you? What have you been told to teach or not to teach? What have your kids brought home that didn’t make sense, but you feel you can only assume that the schools must know best? Any one of these seemingly little things as an isolated incident might not mean much but for our children’s sake, do not discount it. These incidents add up to one giant failure across the country, putting the United States at the bottom of the list. http://www.geographic.org/country_ranks/educational_score_performance_country_ranks_2009_oecd.html#maths

Parents and teachers, you are not alone. Get together, talk, stand up for our children. It’s their future and our nation’s future that are at stake.

SAU Meeting and School Board Meeting this Week

2011-01-10T15:13:00.002-05:00

Just a reminder there is a SAU meeting Tuesday night and a School Board Meeting, Wednesday night.

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

Are you Worthy?

2011-01-10T00:05:00.010-05:00

"Any fool can and will live DOWN to the standards of socialism. Our challenge is to inspire people to live UP to the far loftier requirements of liberty. The question every human being needs to ask of himself is this: 'Am I worthy of living in freedom or am I just another loser with lousy character who can't keep his hands off other people's lives and pocketbooks?'" -- Lawrence W. Reed

If conservatives and libertarians truly want to be free, they need to free their children and themselves from Taxpayer Funded Socialist Indoctrination Centers aka public schools aka government schools. Now is the time to prepare your family financially so you can either homeschool or send your children to private schools starting Fall, 2011.

"Our schools have been scientifically designed to prevent over-education from happening. [...] The average American (should be) content with their humble role in life, because they're not tempted to think about any other role."William Torrey Harris, U.S. Commissioner of Education, 1889

You Can't Have a Free Society with Compulsory School Attendance

2011-01-09T00:45:00.003-05:00

In New Hampshire we are fighting for homeschooling freedom. We will not have homeschooling freedom until the State stops interfering with how we educate our children. The Homeschool Legal Defense needs to man up and put a freedom Bill on the table if they insist on interfering with our laws if not butt out.

The following piece is long but well worth the read. If parents took responsibility for the education of their own children, not only would literacy and educational outcomes improve but we would save taxpayers billions upon billions of dollars every year. The following piece appears on The New American.com.

Quote of the Day - "True individual freedom will never be regained in this country until educational freedom is restored. " ~ SAM BLUMENFELD

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

Is Compulsory School Attendance Compatible With a Free Society?
WRITTEN BY SAM BLUMENFELD
THURSDAY, 06 JANUARY 2011 22:00

Is America still a free country? We like to think so, even with ObamaCare. Yes, we can get into a car and drive wherever we want. We can go to the mall and buy whatever we want. We can read whatever we want, and we can say whatever we want.

But when it comes to education, suddenly we are confronted with compulsory school attendance laws, compulsory property taxes to pay for the government schools, compulsory testing, compulsory inoculations, forced busing, restrictions against prayer, forced sex ed, death ed, and drug ed. And now, every day, four to six million children are forced to take Ritalin, or some other powerful mind- and mood-altering drug, if they want to attend public school.

Through the efforts of the Home School Legal Defense Association, the right of parents to homeschool their children without interference from the state has been established by the setting of court precedents and rulings. However, the National Education Association is still determined to put homeschooling out of business through onerous regulation.

Educational freedom means getting the government out of the education business and the idea of compulsion out of education. It means parents providing for their children's education in the same way that they purchase any other service in a free society.

The idea that parents can afford to pay rent, buy a car, feed the kids, and buy their clothes but can't pay for their education is preposterous. If parents had to pay for education, they would budget their finances to include that expenditure. And they would have the money to do so, because they would not have to pay the high taxes that now support the present wasteful government-owned-and-operated system.

That's the kind of educational freedom that existed in colonial times and the early days of our republic. Imagine how different our history would be if King George III had set up a sytem of government schools, with compulsory attendance laws, and a curriculum that would have brainwashed the children to become loyal and obedient subjects to the King. Would we have had a Declaration of Independence? Would we have had such independent-minded founding fathers as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and James Madison? Probably not.

We've been led to believe that without compulsory school attendance, we'd have illiterate, ignorant children sitting at home and watching TV all day or roaming the streets and committing crimes. But the glaring fact is that, despite compulsory school attendance laws, we now have more illiteracy, more ignorance, and more delinquency among young Americans than before such laws were enacted. In 1993, a survey of adult literacy in America sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, revealed that half the adult population of the United States can barely read or write. That's what 150 years of government schooling have given us!

Indeed, the reading problem is now so severe that the National Endowment of the Arts issued an alarming report, Reading at Risk, in November 2007, revealing the precipitous decline of literacy in America. According to the report, the number of 17-year-olds who never read for pleasure increased from 9 percent in 1984 to 19 percent in 2004. About half of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 never read books for pleasure.

Endowment Chairman Dana Gioia stated: “This is a massive social problem. We are losing the majority of the new generation. They will not achieve anything close to their potential because of poor reading.” The survey found that only a third of high school seniors read at a proficient level. “And proficiency is not a high standard,” said Gioia. “We’re not asking them to be able to read Proust in the original. We’re talking about reading the daily newspaper.”

Back in the days of educational freedom we had 99 percent literacy. In 1812, DuPont de Nemours, the Frenchman who founded the DuPont chemical company, published a book entitled National Education in the United States of America. He wrote:

The United States are more advanced in their educational facilities than most countries. They have a large number of primary schools; and as their paternal affection protects children from working in the fields, it is possible to send them to the school-master — a condition that does not prevail in Europe. Most young Americans, therefore, can read, write and cipher. Not more than four in a thousand are unable to write legibly — even neatly.... In America, a great number of people read the Bible, and all the people read a newspaper. The fathers read aloud to their children while breakfast is being prepared — a task which occupies the mothers for three quarters of an hour every morning. And as the newspapers of the United States are filled with all sorts of narratives ... they disseminate an enormous amount of information.

Obviously, back in the early days of the republic, education was a family affair closely connected to religious practice. A nation built on Biblical principles had to be a highly literate one. And all of this high level of literacy was achieved without any government involvement, without any centralized bureaucracy, without any professors of education, or accrediting agencies, or teacher certification. And, most significantly, without any compulsory attendance laws.

The fact that millions of young Americans now emerge from twelve years of compulsory schooling unable to read, write, spell, do basic arithmetic, or speak grammatically, means that the purpose of public education is no longer education but something else. What is that something else? It is politically-correct socialization. But even that doesn't work, since so many of these victims of the system become anti-social delinquents.

What our nation needs now, more than ever, is a return to educational freedom, so that the American people can apply their ingenuity and unbounded energies to the creation of alternatives to the present debilitating system. Technology has now made compulsory school attendance obsolete. One can now learn much more at home than in any public classroom, and at less cost to everyone.

The goal of homeschoolers, Christian educators, libertarians, and conservatives in general should be the repeal of all compulsory school attendance laws, which have become the most powerful weapons the education establishment can use to thwart the competition and force parents to do the educators' will.

These laws not only violate the parents' unalienable right to determine how their children are to be educated, but they violate the 13th Amendment, which prohibits involuntary servitude. No child should be forced to serve the state and the interests of the education establishment. No child should be forced to undergo brainwashing and indoctrination by a self-serving monopoly of facilitators and change agents.

True individual freedom will never be regained in this country until educational freedom is restored. The nature of a society is determined by the way its children are educated. The present atheistic, immoral education system has produced the Columbines, the violence and vandalism than now plague our public schools. The ultimate aim of the system is to lead us into a New World Order in which parents will be deprived of the right to control the education of their children.

If you're not sure what the New World Order will be like, just read the yearly resolutions of the National Education Association and get hold of the Student Data Handbook (NCES 94-303) which describes the scope of information that will be gathered on each child and put into the federal computer in Washington for the purpose of social control.

The compulsory attendance laws are the linchpin of the whole totalitarian plan. Such laws have been used by every modern dictator and tyrannical government to control their people and mold the minds of the children. Such laws are not only not needed in a free society, but ultimately lead to its demise.

Only when Americans get themselves solidly back on the road to freedom will they be able to transfer to the next generation the true legacy of liberty left to us by our founding fathers.

Where will the money come from?

2011-01-08T01:01:00.007-05:00

Pensions are unfunded. Where will the money come from? Should they just go bankrupt and restructure the pensions? The following piece appeared on American City & County

New Hampshire has the same problems, pensions were promised by legislators and bureaucrats not taxpayers. The pensions should have never been promised in the first place. When they can't be paid you can bet this will not sit pretty with those people and chaos will ensue just like it has in France, Greece, England and Spain. Lord help us, all let us hope these pensioners wise up and restructure their pensions now.

New Hampshire Legislators now is the time to solve the problem before it is too late.

“Any change is resisted because bureaucrats have a vested interest in the chaos in which they exist.” ~ Richard M. Nixon

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

States lack $1 trillion for pensions
May 1, 2010 12:00 PM, By Jennifer Grzeskowiak
Some states are drastically underfunding their obligations to retirees

ShareThis
States have only actually funded $2.35 trillion of the $3.35 trillion in employee retirement benefits they owe, according to a recently released report from Washington-based Pew Center for the States. The shortfall could lead to larger liabilities in the future and cuts in services, even at the local government level.

The report, "The Trillion Dollar Gap: Underfunded state retirement systems and the roads to reform," ranks state pension and retiree health care/non-pension benefit systems based on three criteria: a funding ratio of at least 80 percent; an unfunded liability below covered payroll; and an average payment of at least 90 percent of the actuarially required contribution over the past five years. It designates 16 states as "solid performers" for meeting all three standards for their pensions. Another 15 states are "in need of improvement" and 19 are designated as "meriting serious concerns," meaning they did not meet any of the criteria.

Many of the strong performing states consistently fund their systems in both financially good and bad years, and many have a legal requirement to fund their pension systems. The poorly performing states often failed to contribute enough to their plans in good times and made other mistakes, says Katherine Barrett, a consultant for Pew Center on the States.

If states fail to address their pension gaps, less money could be distributed to local governments, such as in the form of highway funds, and reimbursements from the state for social services could be cut, says Chris Hoene, director of research and innovation for the Washington-based National League of Cities.

It is difficult to predict when the unfunded liabilities will reach that critical level because of vagaries in the investment markets and other factors. "But, you can see that states with larger unfunded liabilities already have to pay a lot more each year," Barrett says. "That becomes more of an expensive problem the longer you put it off."

Jennifer Grzeskowiak is a Laguna Beach, Calif.-based freelance writer.

We Love Homeschoolers!

2011-01-07T00:26:00.004-05:00

Some colleges actively seek out homeschoolers, they know they out perform their public school peers on standardized tests and that they are "independent thinkers. The following piece appeared on Life Site News.com.

Any place that anyone young can learn something useful from someone with experience is an educational institution." ~ Al Capp

"A child educated only at school is an uneducated child." ~George Santayana

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

Colleges Nationwide Recruit Homeschool Grads
BY LIFESITENEWS.COM

GRAY, Tenn., January 4, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As the modern-day homeschool movement confidently marches forward into its fourth decade, colleges and universities are opening wide their doors to welcome its mature, prepared graduates to their ranks. Homeschoolers score an average of 37 percentile points above the national average on standardized achievement tests and typically score above average on the SAT and ACT, statistics that apparently have caught the eye of college admissions personnel. Since 1999, the number of homeschoolers in the United States has increased by 74%, and today thousands of young men and women are graduating from high school—at home.

Colleges are employing a wide variety of strategies aimed at recruiting homeschoolers, including strong representation at homeschool conventions, direct mailing campaigns, and promotions in catalogs, on their websites, and in publications such as The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, the nation’s most popular print magazine for homeschoolers. Colleges sponsor “Homeschool College Days” for juniors and seniors, and at Wheaton College, where nearly 10% of the freshman class is represented by homeschool grads, applicants can even be put in touch with current Wheaton students who were homeschooled. Regent University’s website heralds the school as “the right choice for home-schooled students,” and the U.S. Air Force Academy’s website includes guidelines addressed specifically to homeschooled applicants.

A number of institutions have appointed “homeschool liaison and recruitment specialists” to serve incoming freshmen and their families. In her 2009 article titled “‘We Love Homeschoolers!’ Prominent Colleges Jump on the Recruiting Bandwagon,” author Claire Novak, herself a homeschool grad, quoted one such specialist, who said, “As the number of homeschooled students grow, colleges are finding it’s a market you can’t ignore.”

Nearly 30% of Bob Jones University’s current students were educated at home. BJU’s website reports: “As a group, our homeschooled students are among the best students in the entire university student body. They have added a fresh dimension to the body of conventionally schooled students. We consider them a real asset.” Stanford Magazine reported that “among the nation’s elite universities, Stanford has been one of the most eager to embrace them [homeschoolers]. . . .[H]omeschoolers bring a mix of unusual experiences, special motivation and intellectual independence that makes them a good bet to flourish on the Farm.” Savannah College of Art and Design “welcomes home-schooled students and recognizes the outstanding talent and achievements of this diverse group of well-rounded individuals.” And these are just a few examples of the favorable reputation that homeschooled students have earned.

Recent studies confirm the academic success of homeschoolers who attend college. Citing results of a 2010 survey, the Journal of College Admission reports that “homeschool students possess higher ACT scores, grade point averages (GPAs) and graduation rates when compared to traditionally-educated students.”

Seth Back, a homeschooler who took and passed the GED test at age 15 and is currently enrolled at Harvard, is confident that he was “better prepared for certain college situations than students who had been through the public/private school system.” During the past five years, Seth earned a juris doctor degree, passed the California Bar Exam, earned a master’s degree in church history, and studied at Oxford—all while managing his own consulting business. He credits homeschooling with fueling a love of learning and teaching him to take personal responsibility for his education, which included pursuing a wide variety of opportunities for his personal enrichment. He is but one example of the thousands of motivated, successful, visionary students who have benefited tremendously from their home education.

Colleges are looking for young people like Seth. They are excited about the exceptional potential presented by homeschool graduates and are vigorously pursuing their attention.

As college professors nationwide are given the opportunity to influence and further equip homeschool graduates, surely they will be refreshed and encouraged by this new breed of “independent thinkers” who are filling their classrooms. Wise college professors will carefully take advantage of the privilege they are being given in those classrooms—to build on the strong foundation laid by these students’ former teachers: their parents.

School Districts Influenced By National Groups

2011-01-06T01:18:00.001-05:00

School policies are made by school boards. School boards even in small towns are influenced by the National School Board Association. Jim was asked several times to join the National School Board Association and to go to State School Board Association Training, he declined. Local control is a myth. See below the email from the National School Board Association to Jim.

You really should be visit the National School Board Association's website to see the agenda they are promoting, their agenda is not that far off from the NEA's and AFT's agenda.

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

Ten New Year’s Resolutions for
School Board Members

10. Get in shape by developing an obesity action plan for your district. Studies have shown that healthy children have less absenteeism, concentrate better, and perform better on tests. Make sure your policies and practices support healthy options and physical activity for all students.

9. Get organized by reviewing your district policies. The New Year is a great time to make sure your policies are current, especially those on hot topics like bullying, which will be a focus for the Department of Education in 2011. You can turn to your state school boards association for policy guidance and support should your district need assistance.

8. Learn something new, like how technology can improve student and community engagement. Professional development opportunities, conferences, and webinars offered by your state association, the National School Boards Association, and NSBA’s National Affiliate program can show you how.

7. Identify additional funding sources. With today’s tight budgets, every dollar counts. Take advantage of grant services like GrantsQuest, free to NSBA National Affiliates, to discover funding opportunities for your district and get grant writing tips.

6. Save money on district purchases. Buying cooperatives can save your district time and money by streamlining the procurement process and negotiating volume discounts for participants. Many are free to join and give rebates based on purchases. If your state association does not offer one, consider a national program like the BuyBoard Cooperative Program.

5. Improve your relationship with your school board team. Start the year off right by clarifying roles and responsibilities for every member of your team. The Key Work of School Boards guidebook and training programs, offered by your state association and NSBA, provide tips for developing a good working relationship.

4. Discover best practices in school governance. Your state school boards association’s publications and NSBA’s American School Board Journal , included in NSBA’s National Affiliate benefits package, highlight success stories from public schools which may be applicable to your district.

3. Connect with school board colleagues from across your state and the nation. Conferences and social networks offered by your state association and NSBA provide great opportunities to learn how your colleagues are coping with the challenges of public education today.

2. Become a champion for local school board governance. With the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act on the horizon, now is the time for you to speak up for local school board governance. Add your voice to your state school boards association’s and NSBA’s National Affiliate districts who are calling for the end of unfunded federal mandates and the return of local control.

1. Join NSBA’s National Affiliate Program. Working with and through your state school boards association, NSBA’s National Affiliate program advocates for increased federal funding and local school board governance, provides resources and information, and offers professional development opportunities to help your district succeed. A complete list of benefits is available at www.nsba.org/na. Enroll your district in the National Affiliate program today and make 2011 the best year ever.

National School Choice Week

2011-01-06T00:19:00.000-05:00

Do you believe in Choice?

National School Choice Week - January 23-29th, 2011.

Spread the word about school choice and demand that every parent has the option of school choice for their child. Contact your legislator today. Do schools exist to educate children or do schools exist as an entitlement program for teachers unions and other school bureaucrats?

To learn more about school choice visit the National School Choice Week website.

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

What about Socialization?

2011-01-05T01:29:00.000-05:00

Homeschoolers save taxpayers a ton of money, because taxpayers do not have to pay to educate homeschooler's children. My children, my responsibility and my neighbors should not have to pay to educate my children. If you assume 12,000 dollars per year, per child, we are saving Croydon taxpayers well over a quarter million dollars, for 12 years of school. But seriously, we know that it cost more than 12,000 dollars to educate a child in a public school.

One question I get is, what about socialization? That question is answered in No Thank You,
We Don't Believe in Socialization!

No Thank You,
We Don't Believe in Socialization!
©2000 Lisa Russell

I can't believe I am writing an article about socialization, The word makes my skin crawl. As homeschoolers, we are often accosted by people who assume that since we're homeschooling, our kids won't be "socialized." The word has become such a catch phrase that it has entirely lost any meaning.

The first time I heard the word, I was attending a Catholic day school as a first grader.

Having been a "reader" for almost 2 years, I found the phonics and reading lessons to be incredibly boring. Luckily the girl behind me felt the same way, and when we were done with our silly little worksheets, we would chat back and forth. I've never known two 6 yr. olds who could maintain a quiet conversation, so naturally a ruler-carrying nun interrupted us with a few strong raps on our desk. We were both asked to stay in at recess, and sit quietly in our desks for the entire 25 minutes, because "We are not here to socialize, young ladies."

Those words were repeated over and over throughout my education, by just about every teacher I've ever had. If we're not there to socialize, then why were we there? I learned to read at home. If I finished my work early (which I always did,) could I have gone home? If I were already familiar with the subject matter, would I have been excused from class that day? If schools weren't made for socializing, then why on earth would anyone assume that homeschoolers were missing out?

As a society full of people whose childhood’s were spent waiting anxiously for recess time, and trying desperately to "socialize" with the kids in class; It is often difficult for people to have an image of a child whose social life is NOT based on school buddies. Do you ever remember sitting in class, and wanting desperately to speak to your friend? It's kind of hard to concentrate on the lessons when you're bouncing around trying not to talk. Have you ever had a teacher who rearranged the seats every now and then, to prevent talking, splitting up friends and "talking corners." Were you ever caught passing notes in class?

Now- flash forward to "real life." Imagine the following scenes:
Your Employer is auditing the Inter-Office Email system and comes across a personal note between you and a coworker. You are required to stand at the podium in the next sales meeting to read it aloud to your coworkers. The Police knock on your door, and announce that because you and your neighbor have gotten so close, they're separating you. You must move your home and your belongings to the other side of town, and you may only meet at public places on weekends.

You're sitting at a booth waiting for a coworker to arrive for a scheduled lunch date. Suddenly a member of upper management sits down across from you and demands your credit cards. When your friend arrives, you just order water and claim you're not hungry, since he stole your lunch money.

You're applying for a job and in an unconventional hiring practice, you are made to line up with other applicants, and wait patiently while representatives from two competing companies take their pick from the lineup.

You're taking your parents out for an anniversary dinner. After you find a table, a waiter tells you that seniors have a separate dining room, lest they "corrupt" the younger members of society.

You go to the grocery store only to find that since you are 32 years old you must shop at the store for 32 year olds. It's 8 miles away and they don't sell meat because the manager is a vegetarian, but your birthday is coming up and soon you'll be able to shop at the store for 33 yr. olds.

To read the rest of this great article click here.

The Ruling Class

2011-01-04T00:40:00.003-05:00

We are ruled by an oligarchy not only at a federal level but at the state level and city level as well. Schools are run by an elite class who can not relate to the struggles of those who pay their salaries. The compensation, vacation and benefit packages of said groups are unsustainable and out of control.

The following piece appears on American Thinker.com.

“For the bureaucrat, the world is a mere object to be manipulated by him.”
Karl Marx quotes (German political Philosopher and revolutionary, 1818-1883)

Similar Quotes.

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

The government ruling class by the numbers
K.E. Campbell

The ruling class continues to live high on the hog at the expense of the rest of the country -- staggering national debt, 10th Amendment and Great Recession be damned. The figures that follow are more consistent with an aristocracy, monarchy or plutocracy than our constitutional republic.

Home prices

According to the Washington Post, the Washington DC area experienced "the highest year-over-year home price gains in the nation this fall, as real estate values slumped in nearly every other metropolitan area." The article cited Standard & Poor's latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released last week. From October 2009 to October 2010, home prices dropped in 16 of the 20 metro areas studied. Of the four cities with increases, home prices in the DC area rose most: 3.7%.

From September 2010 to October 2010, home prices declined in all of the 20 markets tracked. Still, the nation's capital region enjoyed a relative advantage, tying Las Vegas for the lowest month-over-month decline, -0.2%.

Unemployment rates

In late November 2010, Forbes reported that the DC area "boasts a better than average unemployment rate of 5.9%, far below the September's 9.2% national average." That's a 44% difference. The Washington area unemployment rate, according to the Post, "has consistently remained roughly three percentage points below the national average throughout the downturn in the economy."

Income

According to Forbes, the Washington DC area was "the place with the highest median family income" in 2009. Residents there realized a 0.7% increase, on average, in household income in 2009, despite the fact that "median family incomes across the country decreased dramatically from 2008 to 2009."

According to another Forbes ranking, three of the top five, six of the top ten, and 11 of the top 25 "richest" counties in U.S. are in the Washington DC area. The top three counties on the list -- Loudoun, Fairfax, and Howard -- are all in the DC area. The rankings are based on 2008 median household income data from the Census Bureau.

The Cato Institute analyzed data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and concluded that "in 2009, the average wage for 1.95 million federal civilian workers was $81,258, which compared to an average $50,462 for the nation's 101 million private sector workers (measured in full-time equivalents)." The disparity is even greater when benefits are considered. According to Cato, "federal worker compensation averaged a whopping $123,049, which was more than double the private sector average of $61,051" in 2009.

Until the beast that is the federal government is starved or at least put on a crash diet, the swine will continue to dine finely at our expense.

The Moral of the Story

2011-01-03T11:40:00.005-05:00

The following funny piece appeared on the Education Intelligence Agency Blog. Be sure to visit the EIA to view the links associated with the post.

"When school children start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of school children." - Albert Shanker, Former President of the American Federation of Teachers

Cathy

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

The Ancient History of Education Labor
Rick Hess is excerpting items from his new book on his blog, and includes these interesting historical notes on differentiated pay for teachers:

In the Greek city-state of Teos, for example, elementary teachers were paid 600 drachmas for the first grade, 550 for the second, and 500 for the third. Equally noteworthy is that the Greeks also paid instructors differentially depending on the subject taught. Teosian archery and javelin teachers were the lowest-paid teachers, at 250 drachmas per year; literature teachers earned 500 to 600 drachmas; and music teachers were the highest-paid teachers, at 700 drachmas.

…Eventually, the Roman Emperor Gratian established a salary schedule throughout the empire in the fourth century CE, with pay routinely differentiated based on judgments regarding the import of various instructional roles.

These examples provide valuable insights on the history of paying teachers, but the ultimate outcomes were not so encouraging. Teos was destroyed by an earthquake and Gratian was assassinated by a rival pretending to be a supporter.

The lesson here is: If you mess with teacher pay, build your house on a solid foundation and keep your armor on.

Who is Karl Marx? Founding Father? Some Students Think So!

2011-01-02T11:15:00.003-05:00

The following piece appeared on the Education Week BLOG. Be sure to visit the Education Week Blog to see the links associated with this story. People actually wonder why I call them "Taxpayer Funded Socialist Indoctrination Centers."

"Wherever is found what is called a paternal government, there is found state education. It has been discovered that the best way to insure implicit obedience is to commence tyranny in the nursery." - Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister (1874)

Cathy

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

Karl Marx, Founding Father? Survey Shows Knowledge Gaps

By Erik Robelen on December 16, 2010 9:48 AM

It's not exactly news that many Americans are a bit weak in their knowledge of civics and history, but new survey results help put the situation in sharp relief.

The most striking finding was that nearly half of U.S. adults identified a phrase popularized by Karl Marx—"from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"—as coming from one of America's founding documents.

Of the 42 percent of respondents who incorrectly identified the phrase, the most common response was that it could be found in the Bill of Rights. That's from a December survey commissioned by the nonprofit Bill of Rights Institute.

"It is imperative that Americans understand how vital the Bill of Rights is to the future of our country," Jason Ross, a vice president at the Bill of Rights Institute, said in a press release unveiling the new survey data. "With a better understanding of our founding documents, Americans can see how much our experiment in self-government depends on the ideas of the Founders and why America has been an example of freedom up to this point."

In other results from the survey, 55 percent of Americans did not recognize that "education" is not a First Amendment right and only one in five correctly identified the 10th Amendment as the one that reserves powers to the states and the people.

The survey comes as the Bill of Rights Institute this week launched a new initiative to educate Americans about the freedoms embodied in the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. As part of the undertaking, the organization has developed a new website focused on the text of the first 10 amendments, landmark Supreme Court cases and decisions based on those amendments, and various games and resources for students and educators.

The new survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of the Bill of Rights Institute from Dec. 1-3, 2010, among 2,159 adults ages 18 and older.

For those who may need a refresher course, here's a copy of the Bill of Rights.

Who is Karl Marx? Founding Father? Some Students Think So!

2011-01-02T11:15:00.001-05:00

If you are a Homeschooler and Love Freedom.....

2011-01-01T08:11:00.002-05:00

If you are a Homeschooler and Love Freedom.....Don't move to New Hampshire.

Republicans made big gains in both the House and the Senate in New Hampshire in November 2010, but that does not mean homeschoolers will finally see homeschooling freedom in New Hampshire. We have to remember homeschoolers did not have homeschooling freedom when republicans were in control. There is no one to blame but homeschoolers themselves. Homeschoolers have allowed the HEC to exist; their very existence is detrimentally to homeschooling freedom.

The other foes of homeschooling freedom are the members of HEC, Chris Hamilton and Abby Lawrence. These two fought against the bill that would have abolished the HEC. The other foe to homeschoolers in New Hampshire is the Home School Legal Defense Association; they have yet to put a true homeschooling freedom bill on the table. In fact why is HSDLA an out of State organization even involved with any homeschooling bill, if it is not a freedom bill? The more restrictive the homeschool Bill the more homeschoolers need the HSLDA. To me it appears they are drumming up business for themselves.

Twenty-four states in the United States of America have homeschooling freedom. There is no reason why New Hampshire homeschoolers should not have freedom as well. We need to stop those who have a vested interest in strict homeschool laws from interfering with those of us who would like to educate our children without the interferences of a failing State education system.

"A general State education is a mere contrivance for moulding people to be exactly like one another; and as the mould in which it casts them is that which pleases the dominant power in the government, whether this be a monarch, an aristocracy, or a majority of the existing generation; in proportion as it is efficient and successful, it establishes a despotism over the mind, leading by a natural tendency to one over the body." - John Stuart Mill

Cathy

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

The Michael Letters - Heaven's Answer to Screwtape

2010-07-30T11:25:00.003-05:00

Fans of Glenn Beck and The Screwtape Letters will love The Michael Letters.

Available on Amazon and Create Space.

Jim Peschke's Book Now Available for Purchase

2010-07-10T10:23:00.003-05:00

The above photo is the back cover without the ISBN.

Jim's book now available for sale on Create Space.

Cathy

The Michael Letters - Heaven's Answer to Screwtape

2010-06-25T22:26:00.002-05:00

Jim has finally finished his book and should be available to purchase very soon.

Trailblazers Must Go

2010-06-22T05:19:00.002-05:00

NECAP testing recently exposed serious deficiencies in both Croydon's and Newport's mathematics programs. I'm pleased to report that the Croydon School Board has been looking into the source of these problems. While none can definitively cite a single cause, I believe the evidence overwhelmingly supports a case for replacing the "Trailblazer's" mathematics program used in both districts.

To address these concerns, the administration arranged a "Math Night" hosted by Newport's K-12 mathematics coach Christine Downing. As the night was poorly attended, Christine was kind enough to discuss the mathematics program further at the Croydon School Board meeting.

To their credit, all administrators promptly acknowledged the problem and accepted the need to take corrective action. The alternative explanations offered for the poor math skills may have merit, but they do not exonerate the Trailblazer's program. Consider the following points:

- Trailblazer's is almost universally panned as an inferior program

- Both Croydon and Newport exhibit comparably poor mathematics performance. Two different schools and sets of teachers have one thing in common: Trailblazer's.

- NECAP results for language skills are markedly higher than for mathematics. This makes it difficult to attribute the math problems to social causes or a lack of teaching skills.

- Several parents, including my colleagues, have indicated that the structure of the Trailblazer's program makes it difficult for parents to help with homework. A common orthodoxy of the education establishment is that parental involvement is vital to a successful education. I share this belief and consider this shortcoming a show-stopper.

- The sample questions from the NECAP tests are embarrassingly simple. My exhausted, up-past-10pm five year old daughter answered roughly 50% of the questions correctly.

- Trailblazer's has been used in Croydon and Newport for several years; test scores show no significant change.

The most damning evidence against Trailblazer's comes from their own website. As a board member, I was provided access to some of the informational material available on the Trailblazer's website. What I saw was convoluted, needlessly complicated, lazy mathematics. Its no wonder those of us educated in classical mathematics struggle through Trailblazer's nonsensical pedagogy.

It would be nice if we could afford experiments to determine whether Trailblazer's is a blessing or a curse. Few of us are willing to sacrifice more students to the Altar of Mediocrity. We cannot wait for iron-clad proof; we must act on the preponderance of evidence and dump this dubious educational fad.

Jim Peschke

For a comparison of several math programs click here.

You Gotta Love Unions - Union Scandals

2010-06-21T06:19:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I had to listening to the ramblings of an old man talk (with age does not always come wisdom) about how good unions were for workers. I wonder how the union workers who paid dues feel about their union dollars being used in this matter. Was this the hope and change voters hoped for when electing a Union loving President?

The following piece appeared on the Examiner.com.
Be sure to visit the Examiner.com to read the links associated with the below story.

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

Top ten most outrageous union scandals
June 20, Conservative ExaminerRobert Moon

Under President "Change," out-of-control union abuses and corruption have exploded onto the scene across the country. Below are the top ten most egregious cases, as documented by the New York Post, the National Legal and Policy Center and the New York Daily News.

Only one was from before our bought-and-paid-for union puppet-in-chief took office and began immediately dumping truckloads of endless borrowed tax dollars into union coffers (as I noted here).

10. Feb. 11, 2010: Anthony Rumore, ex-president of Scarsdale's Teamsters Local 812, pleaded guilty in federal court to making false statements related to extorting free labor out of his membership.

9. Aug. 5, 2009: Michael Forde, ex-head of the city's District Council of Carpenters, was hit with a 29-count indictment for taking bribes from members -- in exchange for allowing them to avoid mandatory contributions to their pension funds. Forde beat similar charges several years before.

8. Jan., 2008: Salvatore Battaglia, President of the Amalgamated Transit Workers Union Local 1181, pleaded guilty to taking payoffs and said several school bus company owners have made regular payments to his union for decades.

7. April 21, 2010: Wayne Mitchell, ex-president of Communications Workers of America Local 14170 (representing mail room workers), pleaded guilty in a Manhattan federal court to embezzling $200,000.

6. April 23, 2010: Mitchell's immediate successor, Larry DeAngelis, pleaded guilty to stealing $60,000 from the union.

5. May 11, 2010: Peter Thomassen, assistant supervisor of the above-mentioned carpenters union, resigned after a report showed huge amounts of spending on lavish parties, junkets and steak dinners. An indictment is expected.

4. Last May, ex-Central Labor Council boss and former Queens Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin was sentenced to 10 years for embezzlement -- including from the electricians union he once ran.

3. Feb. 16, 2010: Thomas Pokrywczynski, former secretary-treasurer of Buffalo-area Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1342, pleaded guilty in federal court to theft of $254,000 in union funds.

2. June, 2010: Daniel Hughes, former head of the Field Supervisor Association representing Port Authority workers, pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court to looting $300,000 in members' dues over five years.

1. Feb. 17, 2010: Melissa King, former benefits administrator of the "Sandhogs" tunnel-digging union, was indicted for embezzling some $40 million from three benefit funds she oversaw.

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Pension Tsunami is Starting to Hit

2010-06-20T06:05:00.003-05:00

Jim and I have been saying for years that pensions are bankrupting the States, you know the problem must be completely out of hand if the New York Times is reporting the crisis. These pensions were unsustainable from the getgo and should have never been negoiated in the first place. One way to solve both the public pension problem and the social security problem at once is to transfer all public pensions funds to social security and have everyone recieve social security. Be sure to visit the New York Times for links associated with the story.

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

PAYBACK TIME
In Budget Crisis, States Take Aim at Pension Costs
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
Published: June 19, 2010

Many states are acknowledging this year that they have promised pensions they cannot afford and are cutting once-sacrosanct benefits, to appease taxpayers and attack budget deficits.
Enlarge This Image

Seth Perlman/Associated Press
Gov. Pat Quinn said an overhaul would save Illinois’s pension system $300 million in its first year. But the fund is weakened.
Payback Time

Untouchable Benefits

Articles in this series are examining the consequences of, and efforts to deal with, growing public and private debts.
Previous Articles in the Series »
Illinois raised its retirement age to 67, the highest of any state, and capped public pensions at $106,800 a year. Arizona, New York, Missouri and Mississippi will make people work more years to earn pensions. Virginia is requiring employees to pay into the state pension fund for the first time. New Jersey will not give anyone pension credit unless they work at least 32 hours a week.

“We can’t afford to deny reality or delay action any longer,” said Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois, adding that his state’s pension cuts, enacted in March, will save some $300 million in the first year alone.

But there is a catch: Nearly all of the cuts so far apply only to workers not yet hired. Though heralded as breakthrough reforms by state officials, the cuts phase in so slowly they are unlikely to save the weakest funds and keep them from running out of money. Some new rules may even hasten the demise of the funds they were meant to protect.

Lawmakers wanted to avoid legal battles or fights with unions, whose members can be influential voters. So they are allowing most public workers across the country to keep building up their pensions at the same rate as ever. The tens of thousands of workers now on Illinois’s payrolls, for instance, will still get to retire at 60 — and some will as young as 55.

One striking exception is Colorado, which has imposed cuts on its current workers, not just future hires, and even on people who have already retired. The retirees have sued to block the reduction.

Other states with shrinking funds and deep fiscal distress may be pushed in this direction and tempted to follow Colorado’s example in the coming years. Though most state officials believe they are legally bound to shield current workers from pension cuts, a Colorado victory could embolden them to be more aggressive.

Colorado pruned a 3.5 percent annual pension increase to 2 percent, concluding that was the fastest way to revive its pension fund, which was projected to run out of money by 2029. The cut may sound small, but it produces big results because it goes into effect immediately. State plans vary widely, but many have other costly features, like subsidized early-retirement benefits, which could likewise be trimmed for existing workers.

Despite its pension reform, Illinois is still in deep trouble. That vaunted $300 million in immediate savings? The state produced it by giving itself credit now for the much smaller checks it will send retirees many years in the future — people who must first be hired and then, for full benefits, work until age 67.

By recognizing those far-off savings right away, Illinois is letting itself put less money into its pension fund now, starting with $300 million this year.

That saves the state money, but it also weakens the pension fund, actually a family of funds, raising the risk of a collapse long before the real savings start to materialize.

“We’re within a few years of having some of the pension funds run out of money,” said R. Eden Martin, president of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a business group that has been warning of a “financial implosion” for several years. “Funding for the schools is going to be cut radically. Funding for Medicaid. As these things all mount up, there’s going to be a lot of outrage.”

Joshua D. Rauh, an associate professor of finance at Northwestern University who studies public pension funds, predicts that at the current rate, Illinois’s pension system could run out of money by 2018. He believes the funds of other troubled states — including New Jersey, Indiana and Connecticut — are also on track to run out of money in less than a decade, unless they make meaningful changes.

If a state pension fund ran out of money, the state would be legally bound to make good on retirees’ benefits. But paying public pensions straight out of general revenue would be ruinous. In Illinois’s case, it would consume about half the state’s cash every year, bringing other vital state services to a standstill.

Mr. Rauh said he thinks any state caught in that trap would have little choice but to seek a federal bailout. Bigger pension contributions and higher taxes can go only so far.

Many state officials, hoping for a huge recovery in the markets, say that such projections are too pessimistic, and that cutting benefits for future workers must suffice, given laws and provisions in state constitutions that make membership in a state pension fund a contractual relationship that cannot be breached.

Lawyers, though, are raising the possibility that those laws are being misinterpreted.

“It makes no sense to suggest that an employee who works for the state for a single day has acquired a right to have future pension benefits calculated for the next 20 to 40 years under whatever method was in effect on that single first day of service,” states a legal memorandum prepared for the Commercial Club of Chicago, which is concerned that a public pension collapse would badly damage the city’s business climate.

The club’s members include senior executives of big companies, like Boeing, Aon, Kraft, Motorola and I.B.M., that have frozen pensions or slowed the rates at which their workers build up benefits.

Some of those cuts set off titanic battles. The most famous was at I.B.M., which changed its pension plan just when many of its older workers were about to earn sharply higher retirement benefits. Aggrieved workers sued, but after a long battle, a federal appellate court found that the cuts were legal.

“An employer is free to move from one legal plan to another legal plan, provided that it does not diminish vested interests,” or the benefits workers have already earned, wrote Chief Judge Frank H. Easterbrook of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. He did not distinguish between corporate employers and states.

Colorado is basing its legal defense, in part, on a 1961 state supreme court ruling that said pension cuts for current workers were allowed if “actuarially necessary,” and will argue that it applies to retirees as well. Other states may not have such legal tools.

In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has gone a different route, bargaining with the 12 unions that represent public employees. Last week four of them agreed to let the state cut its own contributions by requiring current workers to pay sharply more for the same pensions. The workers will contribute 10 percent of their pay, in some cases double the previous rate, to the state pension fund. Some other states are raising employee contributions as well, though less sharply.

In New Jersey, the administration of Gov. Christopher J. Christie recently imposed pension cuts on future hires, but has been quietly looking into whether it could also reduce the benefits that current employees expect to accumulate in the coming years.

“Can they change the benefit formula going forward? Sure. It’s not etched in stone,” said Edward Thomson III, an actuary and trustee of the New Jersey pension system who was asked to offer an opinion on whether New Jersey could adopt the federal pension law — the one that covers companies — as its governing statute.

A state assemblyman, Declan J. O’Scanlon Jr., recently introduced a bill to ratchet back a 9 percent pension increase that the state gave most workers in 2001.

“I think this will pass constitutional muster,” Mr. O’Scanlon said. “Otherwise, I fear the whole system will fall apart. Nine years — we’re out of money.”

Amy Schoenfeld contributed reporting.

Reason Number 478 why Public Schools are bad for America

2010-06-19T12:22:00.005-05:00

The following is a phone conversation between Dr. Savage and Jo.
When you fail to educate generations of students you will end up with people like Jo.

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

Reason Number 368 why Public Schools are bad for America

2010-06-18T12:31:00.001-05:00

We would be out of this economic mess if the government did not intervene, but because we fail to educate the populous on both history and economics we are not out of this economic mess. The following piece appears on the Washington Examiner.

Quote of the Day - “An economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough revenue to balance our budget, just as it will never produce enough jobs or enough profits.” JFK

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

Thomas Sowell: The myth of how the Great Depression was resolved
By: THOMAS SOWELL
Examiner Columnist
June 18, 2010

Sometimes you can read a book that will change your mind on some fundamental issue. Rarely, however, is there just one page that can undermine or destroy a widely-held belief. But there is such a page-- page 77 of the book "Out of Work" by Richard Vedder and Lowell Gallaway.

The widespread belief is that government intervention is the key to getting the country out of a serious economic downturn. The example often cited is President Franklin D. Roosevelt's intervention, after the stock market crash of 1929 was followed by the Great Depression of the 1930s, with its massive and long-lasting unemployment.

This is more than just a question about history. Right here and right now there is a widespread belief that the unregulated market is what got us into our present economic predicament, and that the government must "do something" to get the economy moving again. FDR's intervention in the 1930s has often been cited by those who think this way.

What is on that one page in "Out of Work" that could change people's minds? Just a simple table, giving unemployment rates for every month during the entire decade of the 1930s.

Those who think that the stock market crash in October 1929 is what caused the huge unemployment rates of the 1930s will have a hard time reconciling that belief with the data in that table.

Although the big stock market crash occurred in October 1929, unemployment never reached double digits in any of the next 12 months after that crash. Unemployment peaked at 9 percent, two months after the stock market crashed-- and then began drifting generally downward over the next six months, falling to 6.3 percent by June 1930.

This was what happened in the market, before the federal government decided to "do something."

What the government decided to do in June 1930-- against the advice of literally a thousand economists, who took out newspaper ads warning against it-- was impose higher tariffs, in order to save American jobs by reducing imported goods.

This was the first massive federal intervention to rescue the economy, under President Herbert Hoover, who took pride in being the first President of the United States to intervene to try to get the economy out of an economic downturn.

Within six months after this government intervention, unemployment shot up into double digits-- and stayed in double digits in every month throughout the entire remainder of the decade of the 1930s, as the Roosevelt administration expanded federal intervention far beyond what Hoover had started.

If more government regulation of business is the magic answer that so many seem to think it is, the whole history of the 1930s would have been different. An economic study in 2004 concluded that New Deal policies prolonged the Great Depression. But the same story can be found on one page in "Out of Work."

While the market produced a peak unemployment rate of 9 percent-- briefly-- after the stock market crash of 1929, unemployment shot up after massive federal interventions in the economy. It rose above 20 percent in 1932 and stayed above 20 percent for 23 consecutive months, beginning in the Hoover administration and continuing during the Roosevelt administration.

As Casey Stengel used to say, "You could look it up." It is all there on that one page.

Those who are convinced that the government has to "do something" when the economy has a problem almost never bother to find out what actually happens when the government intervenes.

The very fact that we still remember the stock market crash of 1929 is remarkable, since there was a similar stock market crash in 1987 that most people have long since forgotten.

What was the difference between these two stock market crashes? The 1929 stock market crash was followed by the most catastrophic depression in American history, with as many as one-fourth of all American workers being unemployed. The 1987 stock market crash was followed by two decades of economic growth with low unemployment.

But that was only one difference. The other big difference was that the Reagan administration did not intervene in the economy after the 1987 stock market crash-- despite many outcries in the media that the government should "do something."

Examiner Columnist Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and is nationally syndicated by Creators Syndicate.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/The-myth-of-how-the-Great-Depression-was-resolved-96592879.html#ixzz0rJz9i8BW

Reason Number 325 Why I don't like Public Schools

2010-06-17T12:39:00.002-05:00

The following sets of videos are by Milton Friedman one of America's greatest economists and appear on YouTube.
We fail to educate the truth about free markets, free markets perform harmony and world peace. We fail to teach economics including the benefits of capitalism and the failures of communism.

Quote of the Day - "If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand”
~Milton Friedman

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

Taxpayer Funded Socialist Indoctrination Centers

2010-06-16T13:00:00.002-05:00

Do you want your child chanting, "I am an Obama scholar?"

This video speaks for itself.

“We live at the level of our language. Whatever we can articulate we can imagine or explore. All you have to do to educate a child is leave him alone and teach him to read. The rest is brainwashing.” `Ellen Gilcrist

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

Reason Number 311 Why I don't like Public Schools

2010-06-16T12:50:00.001-05:00

Condoms for elementary students? Yes. You can't indoctrinate the populous with out breaking down the relationship between parent and child. Yet another reason for school choice.

The following piece appears on Todd Starnes.com.

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

School to Provide Condoms for 11-Year-Olds

A New England school district has approved a measure that will provide free condoms to elementary school students and direct teachers not to comply with parental wishes to the contrary.

The policy, unanimously approved by the Provincetown School Committee does not include an age limit — meaning children of any age ask for — and receive — free condoms.

The committee also directed school leaders not to honor requests from any parent who might object to their child receiving condoms. In other words mommy and daddy — you don’t have a right to prevent your 7-year-old from getting a contraceptive device.

The policy does stipulate that kids must consult with a nurse or trained counselor before getting their sexual protection – and that upset some of the committee members, according to the Provincetown Banner.

“I can see some kids opting out because of the conversation. I’m not against [the policy]. I’m just trying to put myself in that teenager’s spot,” said committee member Carrie Notaro.

“I don’t like that students can’t be discreet about this,” committee member Shannon Patrick told the newspaper. “They have to go and ask for it. I’d rather them not have the conservation [with counselors] and have the condom than not have the condom.”

School superintendent Beth Singer supported the instruction aspect of the rule – explaining that younger boys and girls might not be experienced in such adult matters.

“We’re talking about younger kids,” she told the newspaper. “They have questions they need answered on how to use them, when to use them.”

Reaction has been mixed on newspaper websites. One reader opposed to t he measure wrote, “A condom distribution policy at the elementary school? Twelve-year-old kids need condoms? When I was 12, I thought a peck on the lips was something.”

Another reader wrote, “Stupidity exists everywhere. Why not just give the kids free needles while we’re at it?”

However, a supporter of the measure praised committee members.

“If the kids really are sexually active that young these days, then they absolutely should have access to condoms. Sure, it’s demoralizing to think of 11 and 12-year-olds starting at that age, but if they are, they’re not going to stop.”

Todd Starnes is a FOX News Radio reporter and author. For more information on his books, click here.

Husband Asked Me to Pick Up Something from the Store

2010-06-15T13:15:00.000-05:00

What was it?

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

Seven Years before you can be a Senator in New Hampshire!

2010-06-09T07:29:00.003-05:00

It is time for the law to change.

Why is it that Alan Keyes can move to Illinois and run for Senator in the same month, Hillary Clinton can move to New York and within months run for Senator but I have to live for seven years in New Hampshire before I can run for State Senator? The law is draconian and needs to be changed.

The Republican Party's little move with Jack Ryan and Alan Keyes was insanity and the initial event that resulted in getting Obama elected. I believe if they had supported Jack Ryan and not replaced him with Alan Keyes, Obama would have never been elected.

Cathy Peschke

There is Always More to the Story

2010-06-08T07:03:00.002-05:00

Surprise, surprise a union suing, this time over class size. Research has shown time and time again that class size has little affect on student performance. I bet if you took a look at the teachers' contract these teachers do not teach a full day especially those who are nearing retirement. If they actually taught the full day minus their lunch hour they could probably reduce class size as well.

Hey teachers stop whining, stop suing, stop giving excuses and get off your butts and do your job. Be grateful that you have job with excellent pay and benefits because many Americans do not have what you have at this time.

The following piece appears on NBC Chicago.com.

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

Teacher's Union Sues CPS

Increased class sizes would violate municipal code, inhibit education, union says.
By ANDREW GREINER

The Chicago Teacher’s Union took legal action against the city for trying to increase Chicago Public School classroom sizes to 35 students.

In an unprecedented move that hinges on a decades old municipal code, the Teacher's Union filed a lawsuit against the school system citing overcrowding.

A code passed in 1958 -- after the Our Lady of Angels School fire that killed 92 students -- requires that all classrooms have at least 20 square feet of space per body.

That means classrooms of 35 students and one teacher require at least 720 square feet of space.

The Union suit will include affidavits from teachers who have measured their rooms.
School officials say 90 percent of the classrooms in the CPS system are at least 700 square feet, and the typical classroom is 720
square feet.

"On top of the educational problems it would create, such huge class sizes would violate the city's health and safety codes in thousands of our classrooms," said Union President Marilyn Stewart in a statement. "So whether you look at it from an educational standpoint or a health and safety standpoint, what CEO Ron Huberman and his Board of Education are trying to do is unconscionable."

CPS estimates it can shave about $125 million off its budget by increasing class sizes from the maximum of 32 students to 35.

The Problem with Newport is Greed

2010-06-04T05:48:00.002-05:00

This past week there was an Area Agreement Meeting in Croydon. As usual Newport showed their true colors, they were doing everything possible to derail the process and gave excuses left and right for their failures. Just stop the games Newport. Most parents will end up sending their children to Newport in the end. But please show us that Newport is capable of being compassionate and let those parents who want to send their children elsewhere if they so choose. Be a good neighbor, show us you are not greedy, let the area agreement just end. Will Newport continue to be a selfish greedy neighbor or will they let Croydon parents decide what is best for their own children?

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

Funny the Quote of the Day could be applied to Newport as well - "And I use the word ‘trapped' and I use it directly. They are trapped by an educational bureaucracy, they are trapped by a selfish, self-interested, greedy school union that cares more about putting money in their own pocket, and the pockets of members, than they care about educating our most vulnerable and needy children." - Governor Christie

The following piece appears on American Thinker. There are great links associated with this story please go to the American Thinker to view the links.

Governor Christie slams public teacher unions
Greg Halvorson
He's done it again. Governor Christie of blue-turning-red-because-of-him New Jersey, made every American who loves leadership misty-eyed. Speaking to the Federation For Children in Washington D.C., the good governor tore into public teachers unions with customary resolve. For your pleasure:

"Parents and children who are being failed by a public schoolsystem whose costs are exorbitant and whose results are insulting deserve a choice. We don't have to look far around the country to know that vouchers and experiments in school choice are working, that they're producing results.

In D.C., those in that program are now reading 19 months ahead of their peers outside of the program. This isn't a coincidence, we know it's not a coincidence. We know that there's over five-million children trapped in over ten-thousand failing public schools around America.

And I use the word ‘trapped' and I use it directly. They are trapped by an educational bureaucracy, they are trapped by a selfish, self-interested, greedy school union that cares more about putting money in their own pocket, and the pockets of members, than they care about educating our most vulnerable and needy children."

He went on to say that in America's largest cities half of all students don't graduate high school. Citing an example, he pointed out that New Jersey tax-payers spend $24,000 per/student, per/year in Newark on what he said is an "absolutely disgraceful public education system."

"Our children deserve the best education they can get, no matter who is giving it to them," he said, "and it should not be restricted to public school teachers from a public school union that cares more about what they're paying for their health insurance than they care about whether the kids in our cities are graduating. That's disgraceful."

What isn't disgraceful is this marvelous leader. Governor Christie knows the way out.

Got this Croydon!

2010-06-04T05:13:00.001-05:00

“Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government." --James Madison

Parents in Croydon must stop shucking their parental duty.

Cathy

Why I tell it like I see things.

2010-06-03T05:25:00.002-05:00

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind....Dr. Seuss (1904 - 1991)

Cathy

When you put out a Fire!

2010-06-02T18:40:00.000-05:00

"No matter how disastrously some policy has turned out, anyone who criticizes it can expect to hear 'But what would you replace it with?' When you put out a fire, what do you replace it with?" -- Thomas Sowell.

New Hampshire: Classified as Highly Regulated Due to Hostile Legislative Climate

2010-05-30T00:00:00.005-05:00

Big thank you to Chris Hamilton, Mary Faiella and others who worked so hard to stop HB 1580 and worked so diligently to ensure they remain in their little power positions. Some of you pretended to be on the side of homeschoolers and worked with Legislators to kill HB 1580 shame on you. Chris great job I see what 18 years of being a homeschooling advocate has done for homeschooling freedom. The DOE and NEA would be so proud of you. I do hope one day you all will put your own egos aside and actually fight for the rights of the parents and families instead of your own interests and interests of the State.

I must say thank you to HSDLA for changing its tune and becoming a better supporting of homeschooling freedom in New Hampshire. This has changed in the past year and I seriously appreciate their change of tone.

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

======================================================================
From the HSLDA E-lert Service...
======================================================================

New Hampshire: Classified as Highly
Regulated Due to Hostile Legislative Climate

Dear HSLDA Members and Friends:

HSLDA classifies states based on their regulatory requirements and other factors on our state laws page at
http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=8403 . Because of what we consider a "hostile regulatory environment," we are now classifying New Hampshire as a "red state."

New Hampshire homeschoolers have fought intense legislative battles to defend their freedom from excessive government regulation over the past several years. In general, New Hampshire's homeschool law is not overly burdensome and is administered equitably. However, in the past four years there have been significant and numerous attempts by a
determined group of pro-regulation legislators in New Hampshire to impose significant new regulations on homeschoolers. The Department of Education in New Hampshire has also demonstrated its antipathy to the current status of homeschooling regulation in the state by its actions. Recently the Department attempted to circumvent the Home Education Advisory Council and impose new and burdensome restrictions, some contrary to the law. To the great credit of New Hampshire State
Board of Education, however, the rulemaking process was conducted so as to make only minimal changes to the rules.

HSLDA is pleased to serve the freedom-loving homeschoolers in New Hampshire and is grateful for the support of our over 500 member families in the Granite State. Because of your vigilance and support, together we have stood against changes that had the potential to make New Hampshire's homeschool law among the most burdensome in the nation. We encourage you to take the opportunity to get involved in this year's political process in order to insure that homeschool-friendly candidates are sent to the legislature.

Thank you for your continued efforts to defend homeschool freedom in New Hampshire! If you are not a member of HSLDA, I invite you to join with us as we stand together against these threats to our freedom!

Standing with you!

Michael P. Donnelly, Esq.
HSLDA Staff Attorney

Disappointed in Homeschoolers and the Live, Free or Die State

2010-05-29T19:24:00.004-05:00

I have been so disappointed in homeschoolers across New Hampshire. We moved to New Hampshire because we thought it was a State that lived by it's motto Live, Free or Die. The tax burden is the second lowest in the nation. But in November 2006 the Progressives and Democrats took control of the House, Senate and Governorship for the first time in almost 100 years.

With the change of power, already restrictive homeschooing laws were guaranteed to become worse. The assault began with SB 337, so called advocates made backdoor deals to a bill that surely would have been killed if left unchanged. They thought they were doing homeschoolers a favor. "Advocates" bargained with the enemies of homeschoolers, and some homeschoolers blindly followed these so called advocates. Then came HB 367 and 368, in 2009 over 1000 homeschoolers showed up in Concord to fight these restrictive Bills. There are over 5000 homeschoolers more of us should have showed up to fight HB 367 and 368. This year when Comrade Rous continued to try to ram this same legislation down homeschoolers throats even fewer of you showed up.

In 2010 finally after almost 20 years of repressive homeschooling laws which have been kept in place in part by so called homeschooling advocates such as Mary Faiella and Chris Hamilton, along comes HB 1580 with the help of a true homeschooling advocate Doris Hohensee.

The homeschooling crowd for HB 1580 was almost non-existent this Spring. I just don't know if it is that homeschoolers have given up the fight or if the so blindly follow so called homeschooling advocates such as Chris Hamiliton and Mary Faiella they believe these people know what is best for them.

Protecting homeschooling freedom is not a spectator sport. Even if you do not want freedom you should not be blocking freedom against those who want freedom, unless your end game is power over homeschoolers. You will always have the option of having the State or local School District help you if need be.

One last gripe before I get off my soapbox. The New Hampshire Liberty Alliance and the people of the Free State Project need to help in the fight for education reform and homeschooling freedom. This is not to say that the NHLA does not do great things because they have kept very restrictive laws from coming into place. Public Schools aka Taxpayer Funded Socialist Indoctrination Centers work against the Freedoms for which these groups fight. We will never get the liberties we desire until we deal with the indoctrination in Government Schools.

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

"I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave." — H. L. Mencken

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." -Benjamin Franklin

"But neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man." Samuel Adams

New Hampshire Families for Education

2010-05-27T00:18:00.001-05:00

New Hampshire Families for Education will be at the CheNH Convention this weekend.

If you are looking for a good cause to donate to consider New Hampshire Families for Education. Homeschoolers don't have a PAC and teachers unions, administrators and school employees do have PAC's and Lobbyists. Unless homeschoolers wake up and become more active at restoring their right to homeschool without government intervention we may not be able to homeschool anymore.

We would appreciate non homeschoolers supporting this cause as well. Homeschoolers save taxpayers billions of dollars each year by assuming the responsibility of educating their own children.

We have all seen personal liberty dissipate this past year. People like Comrades Rous and Casey would love to put an end to homeschooling don't let them win. Protecting homeschooling freedom is not a spectator sport.

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

Free Speech Alert

2010-05-26T06:41:00.003-05:00

The following was sent to me by CNHT please see their website for further details.

Quote of the Day - “Without Freedom of thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such thing as public Liberty, without Freedom of speech” Benjamin Franklin

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

Free Speech Alert!
By CNHT | May 26, 2010

Senator Hassan introduces amendment forcing non-profits and other corporations to disclose donors for any kind of political/issue advocacy, requires certification from secretary of state’s office for such activity, and requires determination of max. expenditures…

More… amendment language drafted by former head of NH Democratic Party and current legal counsel, Kathy Sullivan…

In what can only be described as one of the most outrageous attacks on political free speech, Senator Maggie Hassan has introduced an amendment to HB1459 which is designed specifically to target groups such as Cornerstone and its national partners, by not only making them disclose their donors, but further, making them take a vote of their Board or trustees to do such advocacy, getting the vote certified by the Secretary of State’s Office, disclosing to the Secretary of State that they plan to such advocacy, and makes the organization disclose a maximum amount they plan to spend!!

Again, this not only includes political activity, but ALSO includes issue advocacy such as the recent ads done on Governor Lynch’s record. The fact of the matter is that mandating the disclosure of donors by non-profit organizations which do issue advocacy is blatantly UNCONSTITUTIONAL!

It appears that Governor Lynch did not like the fact that the tables were being turned on him when he was criticized his record — and now he and the legislative leadership are attempting to change the rules because it no longer works for them!

ALL NON-PROFITS, CORPORATIONS, LLC’S AND PARTNERSHIPS WILL BE BOUND BY THESE NEW RULES UNDER THIS AMENDMENT… (see the amendment HERE – pertinent language starts at section 49, a little more than half way down)

An email yesterday sent from the NH Democratic Party’s legal counsel, Kathy Sullivan, to about 25 various organizations, outlining her revisions to the amendment to address some of the concerns raised by those receiving the email. Among one of her suggestions is raising the disclosure amount to an aggregate contribution of $10,000 — still unconstitutional. Remember: Kathy Sullivan also just recently filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office in an effort to get TV ads against Lynch pulled.

YOU NEED TO ACT IMMEDIATELY!!

This amendment has already passed the Senate (14-10) and is currently in a conference committee of House and Senate members. The committee will meet TODAY at 9am (LOB Room 302).

Call the Governor’s Office, the Speaker’s Office and the Senate President’s Office, calling on them to put an end to this unconstitutional power grab at once! Please be respectful, but let them know in no uncertain terms should free political speech be stifled in New Hampshire!!

Governor Lynch: 271-2121
Speaker’s Office: 271-3661
Senate President’s Office: 271-2111

Unsustainable Debt - Today's Soapbox Rant.

2010-05-25T07:18:00.002-05:00

Brace yourself folks it is going to be a bumpy ride "AMERICA'S NATIONAL DEBTTOPS $13,000,000,000,000; DEBT PER TAXPAYER - $117,975;US DEBT TO GDP RATIO - 90.3%" Cloward and Piven and all the other communist pigs must be jumping for joy. Those of you on public pensions look out and taxpayers too. In the end only one will win and it is going to be messy until this is resolved.

Jim and I have been saying for over 7 years these pensions were going to bankrupt the States and boy did they just call us names and liars. Sadly Jim and I were right. It's a spending problem not a funding problem. If these people were not so damned greedy and they were fiscally responsible this whole mess would have never happened. This was all done without character and integrity, it was a bunch of foxes running the hen house. Ignorance just does not cut it in my book.

Quote of the Day - "I place economy among the first and important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our choice between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we can prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy." T. Jefferson

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

Blaming the Unions does not Cut it Anymore

2010-05-24T07:24:00.005-05:00

You can not blame the unions without blaming the teachers. Year after year they supported the union and approved unsustainable contracts. If you are a teacher who can't see that the system is unsustainable you do not have the capability of actually educating children and clearly that can be seeing by the output and results in public schools.

The following piece appeared in the Daily Herald. Be sure to visit the Daily Herald website to view the comments.

Quote of the Day - " 'I believe what is wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way. "This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the charts crazy." Steve Jobs

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

Teachers, public grow farther apart

If all the hardworking teachers were to speak out against the damage their unions and those who abuse their tenured positions have done to the integrity of the teaching profession, there would be more support from the public.

However, taking a paid day off to go to Springfield and demand that our property taxes be raised to supply more money while claiming "it's for the children" is doing nothing to encourage this support.

These dealings drive a wedge between the public and educators even deeper and it doesn't seem like anyone but the taxpayers care. It's unfortunate that the actions of some are creating this negative perception that includes nearly everyone in education.

The teachers, their union and the D211 school board know this and are doing absolutely nothing to change it. In fact, the D211 school board views the property tax payers as "complainers".

Until this "what's for me" ideology changes, teachers, unions and school boards will be viewed by the public as greedy, selfish entities. In addition, teachers, unions and school boards are seen as being counterproductive to their cause by utilizing these self-serving tactics. They are behaving as though their profession is nothing short of saintly.

The teachers union's funding of a board member's campaign is an irresponsible act on the part of that board member. The reasoning behind this statement is obvious.

Let's all try to work together to bring this situation back in balance. Right now the school board's methods of negotiating labor costs with the union have gotten out of control and do not reflect economic reality.

John Parker

Schaumburg

Woo Hoo Teachers Who Get It

2010-05-23T07:27:00.009-05:00

I like that these teachers are finally getting but if you okayed any prior contracts or chose to be part of the Union you have only yourselves to blame.

Quote of the Day - "I say this not to the teachers, but to their unions: If education were a war, you would be losing it. If it were a business, you would be driving it into bankruptcy. If it were a patient, it would be dying. To the teachers unions I say: When I am president, I will disregard your political power for the sake of the children, the schools and the nation. I plan to enrich your vocabulary with those words you fear -- school choice, competition and opportunity scholarships -- so that you will join the rest of us in accountability, while others compete with you for the commendable privilege of giving our children a real education." Bob Dole

To bad Bob Dole did not win.

The following piece appeared in the Northwest Herald.

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

Guest column: Not all D-26 teachers want to keep contract closed

The Cary Education Association has spoken. Of those voting, 74 percent voted not to open the contract and make concessions to help the district; 26 percent voted to open the contract and talk to the school board about saving programs for students and jobs for colleagues.

The undersigned are part of that 26 percent, and following is a history of how this vote came to be:

In January 2010, an entire month after receiving a letter from the school board about opening up talks, the CEA Board presented the letter in a meeting of the total membership. Their approach was to tell the membership that opening the contract could result in a “last best offer,” decided by the school board, which we would be forced to accept, an offer that could take away “everything.”

This, membership was informed, was information given to the CEA Board by the Illinois Education Association attorneys. Although many of the undersigned knew this could not happen under the circumstances and voted to open the contract, the majority voted not to open. At a later meeting, a group of Prairie Hill teachers questioned the IEA representatives about this “advice,” but the IEA would not affirm or deny what they had told the CEA Board.

The planned monthly union meetings of the entire membership were then canceled through April.

A second letter sent by the school board to open talks was returned with a negative response from the CEA Board; no information about this letter was given to the membership until after the negative response was returned to the school board.

With inaccurate information swirling through the community, the school board placed three possible options in public at a school board meeting. Having been given no information from our own union representatives, many of us were happy to hear something; still no vote for the membership.

Recently the membership was told of new options presented by the school board. Members were told about these options in separate meetings at individual schools, hindering the ability for members across the district to discuss concerns.

Throughout this process, we believe we were given only one message that never has changed: if the contract is opened, you could lose everything. Surrounding districts that are making successful concessions were never mentioned.

After the result of the vote was announced, a union co-president read a letter from several years ago touting the contract as being a good one. Before the economy took a nosedive, that might have been so, but the economy has suffered a blow in the past two years and many people are making sacrifices for the common good and being part of the solution, if they still have jobs.

The CEA press release after the last vote states, “However, the CEA will continue to work with the BOE and administration to find ways to further minimize the cuts that have been made and therefore provide cost-saving options in an effort to reinstate and maintain high-quality programs and educators...”. The CEA had the opportunity to do these things over the past four months but said no to efforts to reinstate programs and educators. Many cost-saving options were suggested by teachers: 2-step retirement, furlough days. Nothing came of these or any other suggestions made by those outside the bargaining committee.

We would like the public to know that many of our voices were suppressed over the past four months, and our questions remain unanswered, despite our efforts. Our reputations and integrity are important to us.

The undersigned represent staff who have been laid off and staff who have retained their jobs. We have been, and still are, willing to open our contract and make concessions for the benefit of the students, our colleagues, and the community. We remain dedicated to quality education for the students of District 26.

– Judy Arvidson. Mary Forni, Barbara Glowacki, Kathy Lazzerini, Kelly Low, Kristi Newman, Rita Patterson, Jameson Pearce, Pauline Walker

Taxpayers Should not be Paying for Computers for Students

2010-05-22T00:16:00.001-05:00

Taxpayers should not be paying for computers for students in the first place. Laptops are not essentially for education. This article points out just one of the many problems of children having laptops. No computer should have the capability for a school to spy on students.

The following piece appeared on Wired.com.

Quote of the Day - “Putting a computer in front of a child and expecting it to teach him is like putting a book under his pillow, only more expensive” Anonymous

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

School Spy Program Used on Students Contains Hacker-Friendly Security Hole
By Kim Zetter May 20, 2010

A controversial remote administration program that a Pennsylvania school district installed on student-issued laptops contains a security hole that put the students at risk of being spied on by people outside the school, according to a security firm that examined the software.

The LANrev program contains a vulnerability that would allow someone using the same network as one of the students to install malware on the laptop that could remotely control the computer. An intruder would be able to steal data from the computer or control the laptop webcam to snap surreptitious pictures.

The vulnerability was discovered by researchers at Leviathan Security Group, who provided Threat Level with a video (see below) demonstrating an exploit they developed.

They began examining the program after customers who saw media coverage of the Pennsylvania case expressed concern that the program might be exposing their employee computers to intrusion from outsiders. The same software is used by many businesses to monitor and maintain their employee laptops.

The Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvania is embroiled in a lawsuit and FBI criminal investigation over use of the LANrev software. The cases involve allegations that administrators spied on students through the software installed on 2,300 school-issued Macbooks.

LANrev is a suite of remote-management software. The primary issue in the Lower Merion case is the optional Theft Track feature in the software designed to let administrators covertly snap images through the computers’ webcams. The school district insisted that the cameras were rarely activated and only when a laptop was reported stolen or missing.

But a class-action lawsuit against the school district alleges that the program surreptitiously snapped tens of thousands of pictures of the pupils at home, school and elsewhere, through school-issued laptops that were not lost or stolen. Lawyers for the plaintiffs allege that some of the pupils were even photographed nude and partially undressed.

The district discontinued the LANrev webcam-tracking program in February after the spying allegations came to light and says it’s now addressing security issues in the LANrev software.

“The District is taking aggressive and immediate steps to ensure that issues related to security and technology are effectively resolved,” said school district spokesman Douglas Young in an e-mail.

The vulnerability in the LANrev system lies in the symmetric-key encryption it uses for authentication between the client and the server, and isn’t related to the optional Theft Track feature. Therefore, even computers that are not using the theft feature are potentially vulnerable.

The authentication key is stored in the client-side and server software and is fairly easy to decipher, says Frank Heidt, president and CEO of Leviathan. It took Leviathan just a few hours to determine that it’s a stanza from a German poem. The key is the same for every computer using LANrev.

The LANrev client software on a computer is configured to contact a server every minute or so to check in and see if the server has any commands for it. Knowing what the key is would let an attacker who has installed a sniffer on the network intercept that ping and masquerade as the server in communication back to the laptop. It requires the attacker to be on the same network as the target machine — for example, on a wireless network at the school or anywhere else that offers free Wi-Fi the student might use.

“If we give you this stanza of poetry, it’s over and the fat lady sings,” Heidt says. “There would be [hackers] turning on webcams.”

Absolute Software, which acquired LANrev last December, said it identified the vulnerability at the time it was purchasing the software and is fixing it in a more robust version to be released in July, which will use Open SSL for encryption.

“Is it theoretically possible [to exploit this]? Of course it is,” said Tim Parker, vice president of research and development for Absolute. “[But] we are not aware of any customer who ever had an issue with this. If any customer did express concern, we would immediately supply them with a patch.”

The attack only uses the LANrev software as an entry point to install malware. Because a LANrev administrator can remotely install and execute other programs on the client machines, once an attacker is on a machine, he can then install malware to take over the machine.

In the hack demonstrated in the video below, Leviathan researcher Joel Voss is seen intercepting communication between a LANrev computer and its server, and then impersonating the server to install a remote control program that gives him complete and surreptitious control over the machine. He can operate its web camera to capture imagery of the person sitting in front of the machine.

Jim is Finished with his Book

2010-05-21T05:27:00.004-05:00

Jim is putting the finishing touches on his book, it will be sent out for publication by the end of the month. We will let you all know where you can purchase the book once it hits the book stores and cyber book stores.

Quote of the Day - “A book is a gift you can open again and again.” Garrison Keillor

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

Are Students Learning About The Corruption Of Climate Science? Of course not!

2010-05-20T05:58:00.002-05:00

Are Students Learning About The Corruption Of Climate Science? Of course not!

The following piece appeared in the Canadian Free Press.

Quote of the Day -Global warming is indeed a scam, perpetrated by scientists with vested interests, but in need of crash courses in geology, logic and the philosophy of science. MARTIN KEELEY, BBC News, Dec. 6, 2004

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

Are Students Learning About The Corruption Of Climate Science?

By Dr. Tim Ball Thursday, May 20, 2010
The mainstream media actively promoted global warming, then effectively ignored evidence of corrupt climate science and essentially ignored the whitewash investigations of the activities of members of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) and members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). They promoted Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth” yet ignored the evidence of major scientific errors. They quickly condemned Martin Durkin’s documentary “The Great Global Warming Swindle” because of one small error on a graph. Durkin withheld the DVD until the error was corrected. Al Gore’s movie is still shown uncorrected in most schools, although a UK court ordered the government to have teachers advise students of the bias and errors.

It appears little has changed in the schools. Some teachers are giving both sides of the story, but they appear to be the exception. But why would a teacher change or be willing to present both sides? Governments continue to push the arguments based on the IPCC research. They were complicit in the whitewash investigations, and need the tax and control Cap and Trade provides. Most of the change in the schools comes from students who do some investigation often triggered by YouTube videos. In the UK court case the student complained to his father about having to watch Gore’s movie more than once.

Their Questions Tell a Tale
Each week I receive three or four requests from students doing projects on global warming. Some come from other countries, but most are from the US. Usually they seek answers to written questions. I give answers, but also attach a list of other sources so they can dig deeper.

Most of the time they are researching the skeptics view and I am the chosen spokesperson. Interestingly, very few requests are from university or science students. Most are in social studies but a surprising number are doing English essays. One or two tell me their research supports the skeptics’ view, but most clearly accept the government global warming position and appear to be trying to understand why I could have it so wrong. Most have seen Al Gore’s movie, but none appear aware of the errors.

An Example
The following is just one example of the type of questions asked with my answers. The questions are generally typical, however, number three is particularly interesting. It isn’t clear if the student is aware of the complexity of the associated ideas. My answers are in italics and cursory, but provide my view. I expect the student to pursue these ideas with the web sites provided.

Do you believe that global warming is caused by mankind?

No. The claim is that human produced CO2 is the cause of warming. The problem is we produce such a minuscule amount relative to natural production that it is impossible to detect it within the crude measures of these sources. For example, the amount we produce is less than the error of the estimate for three natural sources including the oceans, soils and rotting vegetation. More important, it is assumed that an increase in CO2 results in an increase in temperature. Every record shows that exactly the opposite happens. The temperature increases before CO2.

Would a modest increase in the temperature of the planet necessarily be bad?

The world has been warmer many times in the past and survived. Whenever change occurs there are winners and losers. Overall history shows warming creates better conditions for life on earth that is the flora and fauna, which includes humans. For example, more plants animals and people die of cold than warm.

Can global warming create an ice age?

Ice ages are marked by growth of ice sheets. The idea that warming can produce them recognizes that somehow you must have more snow survive the summer melt. This argument is based on the idea that glaciations are either produced by cooler temperatures with less winter snow but less summer melt or by warmer temperatures that results in more evaporation more snowfall and even though more melts in the summer the net survival amount is an increase.

Are global warming and climate change the same thing?

Yes and no. Global warming is one type of climate change. When temperatures began to decline in 2001 and CO2 continued to increase they stopped talking about warming and began talking about climate change. This then allowed them to point at any change and claim it was caused by human activity.

What role do natural forces play in the current global warming trend?

All the warming over time and now is caused by natural forces, primarily the sun. Even the IPCC admit that warming up to about 1950 was over 50% due to the sun. Since then they say with 90% certainty that human CO2 is the cause. They base this claim on the output of computer models that ignore most changes in solar mechanisms and many other factors such as variation in water vapor, by far the most important greenhouse gas.

Any additional information you feel is important for people to know about global warming, please feel free to include!

Here are a few web sites that provide many of my views to expand on the above.

The first is for a group I helped organize and contribute articles to occasionally. It is strictly devoted to the science.
Friends of Science

The second is a more political/ science mix and here is a list of all the articles I have done over the last few years.
Dr. Tim Ball’s archives on Canada Free Press

A couple of other sites I recommend;
wattsupwiththat.com
co2science.org
Junkscience.com

A Range of Questions
A few questions follow that give an idea of how some students approach the topic. Generally they accept global warming is due to humans and their concern is with the impact.

Grade 10;

How will global warming effect (sic) the wildlife?
Will a changing climate create more problems?
What advice would you offer high schoolers (sic) to help them slow down the progress of global warming?
Grade 7;

What is global warming doing to the earth?
What are some steps that can be taken to prevent global warming in our own homes and communities?
Grade 11;

Is climate change real or is the earth going through cycles?
In your opinion what are the biggest contributes (sic) to climate change?
How does cutting the rainforest effect (sic) global warming?
Do you think global warming will ever stop? When? Why?
Biased Information Continues
I wrote about biases in the classroom here;

So far the evidence is not much has changed. Henry Canby said that, “Arrogance, pedantry, and dogmatism are the occupational diseases of those who spend their lives directing the intellect of the young.” Add political bias and lack of understanding of the subject and there is little chance students will ask the right questions or understand the answers.

School Board Association or Just Another Puppet Group of the NEA/AFT?

2010-05-18T20:00:00.004-05:00

As a board member, I view organizations claiming to represent school boards with deep suspicion. How is it possible to advocate for "school boards" on the state, nevermind the national level? The purpose of a school board is to promote the interests of their electorate. How can we expect the wishes of Croydon to align with say, Plymouth or Nashua? In the dog-eat-dog world of state redistribution of education dollars, one cannot expect harmony of values among New Hampshire's many communities.

A watered-down organizational position could allow such a group to encompass the diverse makeup of our state. Regrettably, this is not the case. The New Hampshire School Board Association's Policy Manual (http://www.nhsba.org/documents/pdfs/Policy_Res_Manual_2009.pdf) encapsulates the key values of this particular group. Among these:

- Section I: Total opposition to school choice, including vouchers, tax credits or any form of support to non-government school systems. (As their first policy statement, this is quite telling.)

- Section II: Support for the "adequate education" mandate embodied in the Claremont and Londonderry rulings. Opposition of any efforts to reverse these decisions. Section E is code for an education income tax.

- Section IV: Increased regulation of charter schools.

- Section V: Relaxed restrictions on expenditures by local school districts.

- Section VII: Weakening of AYP standards.

- Section VIII: Mandatory kindergarten. Increased mandatory attendance from 16 to 18 years old.

These values read as if cribbed from the NEA/AFT wish list. This is either an astonishing coincidence, or good old-fashioned Astroturf. I suspect the latter.

In any case, New Hampshire's 1.3 million citizens have substantive differences of opinion on these issues. All should have equal representation from their school boards. If these policies represent the will of a majority of New Hampshire school boards, then these school boards are neglecting their responsibility to the public.

In particular, no school district should be using tax dollars to support these organizations. I do not yet know whether Croydon or Newport does, but it is worth finding out.

So what brought this up? I received an email from the National School Board Association soliciting interest in a "Technology and Learning" conference in Phoenix. (ie. Computers and Internet, as if jet engines, microwave ovens, and vaccines are not "technology") More effort on results instead of expensive tools would be appreciated.

The end of the email really made me want to puke. It had a paragraph-long virtual apology for holding the convention in Phoenix, Arizona.

Jim Peschke

Seriously they Rehired the Fired Teachers?

2010-05-17T05:50:00.003-05:00

Seriously they Rehired the Fired Teachers? "just 7 percent of 11th-graders passed state math tests -- 7 percent." " More than 700 people had already applied for the positions." Why on earth would you rehire the teachers when clearly they could have improved the quality of teachers working at the school and reduced operational costs at the same time. Once again another Taxpayer Funded Socialist Indoctrination Center reveals that it is nothing more than an entitlement program for failed educators with little interest in providing the best possible education for the children it is suppose to serve.

The following piece appeared on Foxnews.com. Be sure to visit the Fox News website to visit the links associated with the story.

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

R.I. School District Agrees to Rehire Fired Teachers
Updated May 17, 2010
Associated Press
The school was under a mandate from the state to make improvements, and it opted for the mass firings after a breakdown in talks with teachers about other reforms that would have required more work.

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. -- A school district that gained the support of President Barack Obama for promoting accountability after it fired all its teachers from a struggling school announced on Sunday it had reached an agreement with the union to return the current staffers to their jobs.

The two sides said a transformation plan for Central Falls High School for the coming school year would allow the roughly 87 teachers, guidance counselors, librarians and other staffers who were to lose their jobs at the end of this year to return without having to reapply. More than 700 people had already applied for the positions.

The agreement calls for a longer school day, more after-school tutoring and other changes.

"What this means is that they have come to an agreement about a reform effort and that will change the quality" of the education program at Central Falls, said Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah Gist, who applauded both sides for working together.

The board of trustees overseeing the school system in Central Falls, one of the poorest communities in the state, voted in February to fire the staff of one of the state's worst-performing schools. The school was under a mandate from the state to make improvements, and it opted for the mass firings after a breakdown in talks with teachers about other reforms that would have required more work, some without extra pay.

Obama, during a national address on education in March, said the firings were an example of the need for accountability over student performance.

"So if a school is struggling, we have to work with the principal and the teachers to find a solution," Obama said. "We've got to give them a chance to make meaningful improvements. But if a school continues to fail its students year after year after year, if it doesn't show any sign of improvement, then there's got to be a sense of accountability."

He continued: "And that's what happened in Rhode Island last week at a chronically troubled school, when just 7 percent of 11th-graders passed state math tests -- 7 percent."

Details of the agreement were to be released following a ratification vote by Central Falls teachers at a meeting Monday. The union and district had been working with a mediator since March.

"Both the school district and the union agree that while this has been a difficult process for everyone involved, the negotiations resulted in a newfound appreciation for shared responsibility, and a solid commitment to bring lasting solutions that will improve teaching and learning at Central Falls High School," said a joint statement from the union and the district.

Under the deal, teachers will need to recommit to their jobs and interview with the new principal. Other changes aimed at increasing student achievement include: a new evaluation system designed to inform teaching and learning, and targeted and embedded professional development.

Central Falls Superintendent Fran Gallo said she was pleased to be welcoming the staff back. She said that among the changes would be the reassignment of the high school principal and assistant principal to the middle school.

Central Falls Teachers Union President Jane Sessums said there had always been agreement that the sides wanted what was best for the students and that significant changes were needed.

"Working together, we and the district have arrived at a solid, forward-looking agreement that provides supports for our students and the tools our teachers need to help them succeed," Sessums said.

Senior Valerie Florez, who is set to graduate next month, said rehiring the teachers was a good idea.

"It's not the teachers' fault that students don't want to learn," she said.

Florez said she used to be one of those students who didn't want to learn, skipping class and failing to do assignments, but her teachers helped her turn around.

Jonathan Beltran, a 19-year-old freshman at Roger Williams University who graduated Central Falls High School last year, had helped organize rallies and protests in support of the teachers. Beltran, who hopes one day to return to Central Falls as a math teacher, said he was happy about the agreement.

"I love the teachers at Central Falls," he said. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. I want to work side by side with them."

Antony Restrepo, who has two stepdaughters at the school, said he wanted to see improvements if all the teachers are to be rehired. But he said he wasn't sure that the problems were entirely the staff's fault.

"They just want to be in the streets," he said of some students.

Great Can I hear 40,000

2010-05-15T05:55:00.001-05:00

The teachers' unions lead the charge in destroying the public education system, aka government schools aka Taxpayer Funded Socialist Indoctrination Centers. It is time to for the public to take back public schools from the unions who have claimed it as their own little entitlement program. The following piece appearson the Education Intelligence Agency website.

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

Confirmed: NEA Active Membership Down 20,000
When NEA has good news to report, you never have a problem getting hold of it. I recall at one NEA convention I was handed membership figures that were about a week old. They showed substantial growth in all categories.

This year it hasn’t been so easy. NEA’s official numbers for 2009 seemed to contradict the internal reports delivered to the union’s board of directors. And while the latest numbers are much more realistic, they still leave some unanswered questions.

According to NEA sources, the union lost almost 25,000 active certificated members compared to last year at this time, but picked up an additional 4,000 education support employees as members. NEA also reported gains in students, retirees and higher education faculty. Unfortunately for NEA, the gains in those lower dues categories don’t offset the full dues paid by the teachers and other professionals.

My historical records are not comprehensive, but I don’t believe NEA has had membership losses like this since becoming a union and instituting unified dues in the mid-70s (a period when entire state affiliates in Missouri and Texas left NEA).

Nevertheless, the California Teachers Association alone reported membership losses of 16,000, which means something is still not right. Either NEA is fudging its membership numbers or there haven’t been quite as many actual teacher layoffs as we were led to believe.

Be sure to visit the EIA website to see the links associated with the story.

SAU meeting Next Wednesday

2010-05-14T05:36:00.003-05:00

"It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from his government." - Thomas Paine

It is the duty of every Croydon resident to make sure that Newport is not wasting our tax dollars and using Croydon as it's own little cash cow. There is also an area agreement meeting on June 2nd. On so many levels Newport has been using us for so many years.

Cathy Peschke