What Were Croydon Voters Thinking?

An opportunity of a life time is gone.   Ann at the AG's office,   NH NEA,   NH AFT,  NEA, AFT, and all the other busy bodies that meddled in Croydon's business will make sure this never happens again.  What were you thinking Croydon voters?  If you like your failing and underperforming schools and high taxes you can keep your failing and underperforming schools and high taxes. 

The sad thing is many who will suffer the most under high food and gas prices could have really used that $1000-$3000 savings in their property taxes if the $800,000 budget remained.  

Will you follow people blindly you only hurt yourselves. 

Cathy Peschke 

The Five Lies that had to be Accepted to vote Yes for the 1.7 million Dollar Budget

 List of Lies 

1.  Little Red would be closed.  The school board repeatedly said Little Red would not be closed.  Instead the rumor continued to be spread by the We Stand for Croydon Students crowd.  It was fear mongering plain and simple.  Sheep won't ask questions, they will follow the crowd. 

2.  Deficit spending will cause taxes to go up next year.  Actually, no it would not have, but hey lies will get people to vote against their own interests.  It is like the tree voting for the axe.  

3. Prenda would not provide as good of an education as the current model.   Newport School is 84th out of 89th in New Hampshire and Little Red is Croydon Village School is ranked #252-267 out of 425 elementary schools.   Our schools are failing to educate our children.  10-14% of students are achieving proficiency in math at Newport, it is no wonder that the We Stand For Croydon Students Children crowd was so easily able to manipulate people into voting for the higher budget.     $10,000 per student is generous, $22,000 per student is not only greedy but illogical when students perform so poorly.  

4. The 1.7 million budget was only going to cost an extra $100-$300 dollars a year.  That was a lie that amount is on top of what taxpayers already pay annually towards the schools.  I suppose if someone was not the one writing the checks for their property taxes or taxes are taking out in escrow someone could easily fall for the lie.    It is surprising how easy it is to get the chickens to vote for Colonel Sanders. 

5. School choice would go away.  The Stand Up For Croydon Students kept shouting that but that was a lie.  $800,000 budget allowed for even more choices than before.    The crowd did not want to hear anything about that. With the help of outside organizations who wanted to protect a broken system they made sure people did not get that message. 

The NEA and AFT and their members had a big influence with time and money to fight for the $1.7 budget.  They were the biggest winners.  It certainly was not the taxpayers of Croydon or the children. The children are still locked into a failing school system with no plans for improvement other than keeping the status quo. 

Someone said they were proud of the vote and people coming out to support the 1.7 million budget.  I would not be proud of it if I was part of that group.  I would not be proud of pushing such high property taxes on my neighbors or pushing to keep such poorly performing schools to continue to operate in their current manor.  

The ones who actually cared about education were the ones who said it is time to try something new instead of keeping the same broken system. 

Cathy Peschke 

The World is in Need of more Ian Underwoods

Another outstanding article by the brilliant Ian Underwood.    The following article appears in full at Granite Grok. 

"At Wednesday’s school board meeting in Croydon, a former school board member and current math teacher — the latter detail turns out to be important — stood up to say that he is ‘happy to help pay to educate other people’s children.’

Now, this guy pays at most a few thousand dollars each year in school taxes.  At the same time, the town pays at least fifty thousand dollars each year towards schooling his three kids.

Put a few thousand in, take fifty thousand out.  In what sense is he helping to pay for anything?

To put that a different way, ask yourself:  If you put $3 in the poor box, then reach in and take out $50, in what sense are you helping the poor?

Of course, maybe he means he’ll be happy to keep paying even after he’s paid back what he’s taken from the town.  When would that start?

Well, $50 thousand a year times thirteen years (K-12) is $650 thousand.  If he’s paying $2500 a year in school taxes, he should be able to get around to actually helping in about 250 years.

As Richard Mitchell might say, the really interesting question here is whether this guy understands what he’s saying, or doesn’t understand it. In either case, you can at least be happy that he’s probably not teaching math to your children."

To read more of Ian's brilliant writing visit Granite Grok. 

Correcting Inaccuracies

My name is Aaron, vice-chair of the Croydon School Board, writing in response to the recent article regarding the Croydon School budget decision currently making waves. There were several inaccuracies in this article, which some parents have been spreading both locally and in various news outlets.

The school board is proposing major changes to our educational model in order to meet a highly reduced budget forced through by local taxpayers, but lower cost does not necessarily mean lower quality. In fact, it might prove to be better.

In K-4, we would not be laying off all teachers. We currently have 2 teachers and 2 assistants. Under the new model, we would retain 1 teacher and bring in 3 instructors hired by Prenda, whom the NH Department of Education currently has a contract with. They use a mastery approach that is self-paced but also incorporates group activities and project-based learning that better emulates the real-world.

In grades 5-12, choice is not being eliminated, but expanded. Instead of choosing between a handful of failing public schools, parents would be able to choose between 40+ different types of curricula to find the one that best matches their child's learning style. Instruction would be provided by certified teachers at fully accredited schools. Although these schools would be online, the actual learning would happen in a physical location along with other children and facilitated by an in-person coach. The in-person experience (used in addition to the online curriculum) would be provided by Kai Learning, who recently signed a contract with the NH Department of Education.

Local private schools such as Newport Montessori and Mount Royal would still be fully covered by the $9,000 tuition cap.

Regarding Newport High School, it's worth mentioning they are one of the worst rated schools in the entire state (see NH Dept of Education data and US News and World Report). We reached out to the Newport Superintendent about negotiating better rates, to which he expressed complete unwillingness to negotiate. Other local schools are not much better on performance, with the exception of Sunapee, which is very selective with which of our students they accept.

Regarding welding and other trade programs, this would still be available to children and could be provided under the $9,000 tuition cap. This is offered by the Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center, not Newport High.

Finally, since online tools are being employed in this model, it's worth noting that screen time would be limited to 30 minutes for K-2, 90 minutes for grades 3-4, and 2-3 hours for grades 5-12. This is not "COVID-style" remote learning with 6+ hours of screen time every day.

The school board has not "magically found a way" to do what we've been doing, but for half the price, as suggested by some of our local parents. We have spent countless hours researching options, meeting with various educational providers, and poring through financial models. We have not found a way to do what we've been doing because what we've been doing provides a poor education to our children at a price that is unacceptable to taxpayers.

The model we have come up with is well-researched, already being successfully used elsewhere, and would allow all our children to have 100% custom-tailored educational experiences, while still maintaining socialization and enrichment. Paying $23,000 per child for a poor education is unacceptable, and more money is not always the solution. It's time we make use of current innovations in education and deliver what our children truly deserve.

It's a Spending Problem

 

Good Luck on May 7th - Enjoy the nice weather at home

Good luck to all sides on the 7th. 

The total number of BALLOTS must reach 283 for the vote to be legal. 

Those in favor of the 1.7 million budget need your ‘no’ vote to make their ‘yes’ votes count. 

So the ONLY way to vote against the $900,000 increase is to NOT cast a vote on May 7th. 

Please don't let intimidation be a factor in voting on Saturday, it will only encourage more of it in the future. It is your money, it is not greedy to want to keep your own money and expect the school district to be more fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars. 

Cathy Peschke 

“• As society rapidly changes, individuals will have to be able to function comfortably in a world that is always in flux. Knowledge will continue to increase at a dizzying rate. This means that a content-based curriculum, with a set body of information to be imparted to students, is entirely inappropriate as a means of preparing children for their adult roles.” 
― John Taylor Gatto, Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

Do Over Dictators - Democracy schmocracy!

The We Stand For Croydon Students thinks they are entitled to your money and screw the democratic process.  

The following excerpts are from Granite Grok. 

Cathy Peschke 

"It’s rare to read a story about the recent Croydon budget adjustment that doesn’t mention how small the number of voters was, as if it was some kind of anomaly.

The final vote was 20-14.  For comparison, here are the tallies for votes in recent years, at the town and district meetings, where votes were reported in the minutes:  16-8, 38-5, 20-17, 18-15, 20-12, 22-19.

I say ‘ironically’, because requiring even this watered-down version of consent would make it clear that the people calling for the special meeting do not, in fact, object to small turnouts. What they want is a turnout that is just small enough that they can use majority rule to confiscate property, where consent — approximated by the ‘super-duper majority’ contemplated here — would prohibit that.  Which is to say, they don’t have a problem with small turnouts, just with what they see as the wrong turnouts."

To read this entire brilliant story by Ian Underwood, click here.

If you want lower taxes and education reform we suggest you stay home May 7. 

Schools are Not Free

"The more subsidized it is, the less free it is. What is known as "free education" is the least free of all, for it is a state-owned institution; it is socialized education - just like socialized medicine or the socialized post office - and cannot possibly be separated from political control." - Frank Chodorov, "Why Free Schools Are Not Free"

Schools have become an entitlement and those that use them have become very greedy and ungrateful.  $10,000 per student is generous anything above that is just greedy.  We have poor families subsidizing wealthy families.  Do your part for more responsible spending in government schools stay home May 7. 

Cathy Peschke 

Advocates of New Taxes are Neither Compassionate nor Benevolent

 Advocates of new taxes are neither compassionate nor benevolent.

"Proponents of tax increases frequently state that they have no problem paying 

more in taxes so, of course, they support the increase. They adorn the cloak 

of compassion and benevolence because they want to pay more. They are so sweet!

No, they are not.  This misses the point entirely. It is a ruse. It is fraud.

These proponents can pay more now. They can write a check to the State or to a 

charity or to their neighbor. They don't need a tax increase to do so.

They need the tax increase to make OTHERS pay more.

The desire to make others pay more is neither compassionate nor benevolent." 

D.K. Williams

Character

 

Using Children As Political Pawns Appeal to Emotion instead of Facts

The following piece appeared on Granite Grok.   Click the title to head to their website.    

Choose to stay home May 7th, if you want to keep the school budget at $800,000.

Cathy Peschke

A School Hijacking, Amanda Leslie of Croydon? Hardly, and Stop Making Kids Your Political Pawns

by Skip / 8 April 2022

A headline in the UL yesterday read, “Amanda Leslie: Undo the hijacking of Croydon’s schools.” My retort is that the “hijacking” was done, not by those who showed up, but by those that didn’t bother to show up.

Her first paragraph is the summary of the continuing saga of lazy no-show voters in Croydon although that’s the opposite of what she wrote. No, that’s not what it says explicitly, but frames it as some kind of evil cabal that hates kids (emphasis mine):

THE EDUCATION BUDGET in Croydon was dramatically slashed at this year’s annual school district meeting, which I attended on March 12. I was one of the 14 voters who objected to the irresponsible cut, which ultimately passed, leaving our community unable to meet our obligation to offer a fully funded, adequate education to our children. The unethical decision made by only 20 Croydon residents has threatened some of our most precious and vulnerable citizens. I reached out to some of those students recently to gather their thoughts about education and what they stand to lose.

Not sorry – the only unethical thing about that “20 Croydon residents” is that you are calling them unethical.  THEY showed up. They voted. While you did as well, folks like you effectively sat on their hands and did nothing.  While you choose to exercise your right to vote, those as like-minded as you decided to stay home and not take care of the business that interested, involved, and informed citizens do – participate in self-government.

Ya screwed up by not getting those folks to show up (regardless of anything else including bad weather). It happens in my town as well – all kinds of reasons why “my side” takes a vacation on a day from that responsibility on the single day when they shouldn’t. But you, and others, keep missing the point so let me reiterate what so blinkers you:

Those 20 people aren’t the evil ones – your friends are for not doing THEIR civic duty. Your like-minded friends screwed up royally but you can’t find it within yourself to blame THEM! They are the ones responsible for any such hijacking.

What ticks me off, if you haven’t figured it out by now, is the utterly misguided fact that ANY of Croydon’s voters could have chosen to attend. They didn’t. ANY of Croydon’s voters could have plotted / conspired / gathered together and agreed to pass the school budget. They didn’t. ANY of Croydon’s voters could have recognized that Town Meeting IS a big deal and shown up. They didn’t.

And the biggest thing, in my mind, is that when you don’t vote, you don’t get to complain that others did.

Well, we all know that isn’t true – of COURSE you get to complain. But the chagrin in this case is that I didn’t hear much as much “we didn’t do what we were supposed to do” except in passing. Instead, it’s all about those that DID show up, DID think about the motion about spending other peoples’ money, DID decided that perhaps that needs to be taken into account, and DID vote to take less money from others.

Certainly a far different spin, eh? And Amanda et al think THEY are the bad ones, the evil ones, the unethical ones?

Again, the angry ones like Amanda are trying to put aside where the real blame lays – on them in that they failed to do their civic duty. And those 20 other voters are responsible for that?

Informed and involved citizens would instantly realize that THEIR decisions have consequences, especially decisions to do nothing. And would also realize, immediately, that blame first should be on themselves. That they aren’t is the worst of all consequences and just furtherance of a too oft version of “The Blame Game”.

---

Amanda Leslie: Undo the hijacking of Croydon’s schools

THE EDUCATION BUDGET in Croydon was dramatically slashed at this year’s annual school district meeting, which I attended on March 12. I was one of the 14 voters who objected to the irresponsible cut, which ultimately passed, leaving our community unable to meet our obligation to offer a fully funded, adequate education to our children. The unethical decision made by only 20 Croydon residents has threatened some of our most precious and vulnerable citizens. I reached out to some of those students recently to gather their thoughts about education and what they stand to lose.

Taylor Fellows is a freshman at Newport Middle High School, but she attended Croydon Village School kindergarten through fourth grade. There, she appreciated “Miss Wendy…an assistant teacher and bus driver,” noting she “was always there for me with whatever I needed…Croydon Village School was a huge part in teaching me how to be social and…interact with the kids around you.”

Taylor worries that if the budget cut isn’t reversed at the special meeting scheduled for May 7, “I would be separated from my friends, teachers, and coaches that I now have strong bonds with.”

Taylor objects to the school board’s suggested “micro-schools” alternative. “No kid wants to spend their time doing online schooling for the rest of their high school career and miss out on all the opportunities that a high school student would normally receive.”
Taylor’s twin brother, Aaron, is also a freshman at NMHS. He fondly recalls learning social studies at Croydon Village School, noting “Mr. Henderson taught us a lot.” Like his sister, Aaron worries about what the budget cut could mean for him. “We wouldn’t have opportunities to do tech classes…I hope we can get those votes,” he said.
My daughter, Chloe Leslie, is an eighth-grader at Sunapee Middle High School where, she says, “all of the students are really close and willing to help each other readily at basically any time.”

“Teachers at Sunapee really care about their students and go beyond expectations to make sure that students are really learning and comprehending the topics…If I were not able to go to Sunapee next year I would miss all my friends…and also the way that Sunapee teaches, fun, but also engaging,” she said.
Addy Pifer attends SMHS as well. She is in tenth grade but reflected on Croydon Village School. “At CVS I always enjoyed knowing that I was cared for and that my opinion mattered.” She added that CVS “helped shape me to be the person I am today. CVS was not only a school, it was like a second home where you were taught simple life lessons.”

Of her school, Addy shared, “my biology teacher has helped me in so many ways. She always wants what is best for me, answers any questions I have related to the class work… and she makes sure that every student knows that she is going to do whatever is needed to get to where we want to be in life.”

Colin Spiker, a fifth-grader in Newport, also weighed in. Reflecting on CVS, he shared, “my teachers were cool…and made learning fun. Richards School [in Newport] is bigger…having a gym for health class and phys ed is better… It’s cool that we got to change to the bigger school to learn new things after starting out small.”

Croydon residents have the opportunity to revisit and reverse this drastic cut, restoring the originally proposed budget and fully funding education for Croydon students. There will be a special budget meeting held at Camp Coniston on Saturday, May 7, at 9 a.m. Residents must attend in person to cast their ballots. Those outside of Croydon who are concerned by this move and the larger attack on education it represents must also stay vigilant and involved: attend meetings, run for open seats, research current issues and proposals, and reach out to those in power, both locally and at the state level.

Voter and or Public Servant Intimidation

If you as a voter are being intimidated, stand up to them.   Simply state how I vote or don't vote is none of your business.  Ask them to stop bullying you, walk away, or close the door.  

Cathy Peschke 

Citizens for Reasonable and Fair Taxes. 

TITLE LXII

CRIMINAL CODE

CHAPTER 640

CORRUPT PRACTICES

Section 640:3

640:3 Improper Influence. – 

I. A person is guilty of a class B felony if he: 

(a) Threatens any harm to a public servant, party official or voter with the purpose of influencing his action, decision, opinion, recommendation, nomination, vote or other exercise of discretion; or 

(b) Privately addresses to any public servant who has or will have an official discretion in a judicial or administrative proceeding any representation, argument or other communication with the purpose of influencing that discretion on the basis of considerations other than those authorized by law; or 

(c) Being a public servant or party official, fails to report to a law enforcement officer conduct designed to influence him in violation of subparagraph (a) or (b) hereof. 

II. "Harm" means any disadvantage or injury, to person or property or pecuniary interest, including disadvantage or injury to any other person or entity in whose welfare the public servant, party official, or voter is interested, provided that harm shall not be construed to include the exercise of any conduct protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or any provision of the federal or state constitutions.

Source. 1971, 518:1. 2006, 43:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2007.

What Happens if the $800,000 Budget Stands on May 7th?

The sky will not fall, your taxes will not go up twice as much next year.  I believe that to be a scare tactic.   It could be the School Board will be successful at getting close to the $800,000.  Best not to guess, but see what actually happens with time.  If the school board is not able to get down to $800,000, they do have the option of going to Superior Court and asking for more money for the school system via a special meeting.  Don't believe rumors, your property tax bill will not double if quorum is not reached on May 7th and I believe it will not be reached.  

With regard to the "We Stand Up For Croydon Students" crowd.   There are people who have children in Croydon who do not support the ~ 1.7 million budget.    Don't feel badly about the logical fallacy  "it is for the children," that is appeal to emotion.  Stick to the facts, not fear, not emotions. 

Cathy Peschke

    197:3 Raising Money at Special Meeting. – 
I. (a) No school district at any special meeting shall raise or appropriate money nor reduce or rescind any appropriation made at a previous meeting, unless the vote thereon is by ballot, nor unless the ballots cast at such meeting shall be equal in number to at least 1/2 of the number of voters of such district entitled to vote at the regular meeting next preceding such special meeting; and, if a checklist was used at the last preceding regular meeting, the same shall be used to ascertain the number of legal voters in said district; and such checklist, corrected according to law, may be used at such special meeting upon request of 10 legal voters of the district. In case an emergency arises requiring an immediate expenditure of money, the school board may petition the superior court for permission to hold a special district meeting, which, if granted, shall give said district meeting the same authority as an annual district meeting. 

Live Within Your Means

The following letter to the editor appeared in the Union Leader on March 21st. 

‘Live within your means’ is message that Croydon sent

To the Editor: Ransom or budget? This was the question posed at the annual Croydon school board meeting. Would we pay the $1.7-plus million demanded by the school district, or would we give the district a budget and instruct them to work with it?

On March 12th, Croydon voters presented a true “live within your means” budget to the school. The 2022 Croydon School budget allocates $10,000 per student, or $800,000 total. Adjusted for inflation, this number exceeds per-pupil spending across the state for most of our history.

Meeting this budget may be challenging, but it represents an incredible opportunity.

Cutting waste on this scale cannot be accomplished through minor changes. Our district can and must reinvent itself to deliver quality education at a sensible cost. Today, countless private and charter schools are meeting this cost target. Not long ago, public schools did the same.

To longtime Croydon residents, shrieks of “impossible”, “can’t be done” and “people don’t want it” are nothing more than unimaginative déjà vu. We started down the path of school choice back in 2006 to this defeatist chorus, sung by many of the same actors.

Today, Croydon school choice is a reality. It is used by many residents, some of whom actively opposed this same choice program only a few years earlier. Croydon forever changed education for the better. We can do it again today.

JIM PESCHKE

Croydon

Why do Some in Croydon Hate Freedom?

April 14th will be the 250th Anniversary of the Pine Tree Riot, wherein earlier settlers protested the fines and licenses from King George III. 

The Motto of New Hampshire is Live Free or Die. 

Yet some how in the small town of Croydon, we have have a small fraction of the town who have no qualms about squeezing as much money as possible out of their neighbors.   

Many of these same people have a hatred towards Free Staters much like the south had to a certain community of people in the 50s and 60s.    What is it about freedom and Free Staters they don't like? 

I know many Free Staters, I would gladly break bread with them.  Many in Croydon like Free Staters as they have the same conservative values that many who have lived in Croydon for decades also have.  

Again why do some people in Croydon have so much hatred to towards people who believe in Freedom and Liberty?

Cathy Peschke 

Free State Mission:

The Mission:

Liberty in Your Lifetime!

The Free State Project is a mass migration of more than 20,000 people who have pledged to move to New Hampshire for liberty. By concentrating our numbers in a single state, we are maximizing our impact as activists, entrepreneurs, community builders, and thought leaders.

Free Staters are neighborly, productive folks from all walks of life, of all ages, creeds, and colors, who are on a mission to prove that more liberty leads to more prosperity for everyone. Those in New Hampshire are reaping the movement's benefits, both in our freedoms and in our quality of life, but our ultimate goal is to set an example for the rest of the world.

Destination New Hampshire

There’s no better place for liberty.

The Granite State is our chosen home for many reasons, including:

• high rankings for quality of life
• a culture of individual responsibility, independence, and self-reliance
• a low state and local tax burden
• a dynamic economy with plenty of jobs and opportunities for growth
• low crime levels
• great opportunities for activism and political involvement, including a large citizen legislature paid $100 annually

It is not Cold Hearted to Want to Keep Your own Money

It is not cold hearted or greedy to want to keep your own money for your own children but it is propaganda to use children to increase taxes on others.  

The opposition forces are trying to use children to melt cold hearts and wallets.   How about not using children for propaganda purposes.  If the increased funds are worthy of  283 people showing up on May 7th you don't need to use children as propaganda to pilfer money from your neighbors.

$10,000 per student is generous.  

$22,000 per student is greedy.  

Protect your assets for future needs, consider staying home May 7th.  

Photo via NPR.org.

                                                    Glory to Stalin, Great Friend of Children!

                                                    USSR, 1952 artwork by N.Vatolina

                                                    Propaganda Poster. 

School Board Meeting Next Wednesday

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.

Trailblazers Must Go

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.

The Problem with Newport is Greed

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.

SAU meeting Next Wednesday

"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