DOES YOUR VOTE MATTER?

Normally this blog is about the schools and the progressive power that is destroying them but the news of the day is so terrible that today this blog will be about how the progressive power has and is destroying not only our schools but our country and everything it was ever meant to stand for.

If you are a liberal and you are reading this blog let's start with your most treasured bias, you think the rich are getting richer under capitalism and the poor are getting poorer. Well, our capitalism has been compromised, what we really have now more than anything is corporatism. And who is getting richer? Do you know that Bill Clinton was being paid $50,000 a month by MF Global(quick math $600,000 a year)  - the corporation Jon Corzine (another liberal) was compromising (taking money out of clients accounts to cover losses apparently).So- our first "black" president as he calls himself is out enriching himself by influence peddling. Our presidents used to go home after they were president. They didn't set up foundations and influence peddle to get rich. You see, they had a little thing called integrity. They served their country and went home like George Washington did. Oh, I guess that is all just so Passe' isn't it. We are all just so foolish to think that people who say they are for the poor shouldn't use the poor to make themselves rich and part of the jet set like the Obama's are doing.

Jon was hoping Bill could get the Federal Reserve to buy him out of trouble. As it turns out our elected officials have no control over the Federal Reserve. They can call in Fed Chairman Bernanke and ask him a few questions but then he goes on his merry way printing paper that represents American dollars and sending it to Europe and Japan. This is the same as printing dollars- more dollars means dollars are worth less and it will definitely mean  inflation at home. If you are a liberal and reading this you may wonder how inflation is going to help the poor and the middle class- it isn't. No one is going to be able to support their life style, or in many cases even pay for their necessities. So do you still think you're liberal friends are helping you out?

The debt and inflation that this government is now engaged in is going to crash this economy. When it crashes just remember that it was liberals that wanted every one of these programs. Liberals that grew this  government and it's budget out of control. Republicans voted for this stuff to get reelected under liberal pressure and propaganda. Reagan stopped the cold war only because he compromised with a Democrat House and Senate.

So does your vote count? Not if this influence peddling, corruption, and big government bureaucracy and control through regulations rather than laws continues. As mentioned on this blog earlier our legislature here in Montana comes in every two years and is handed budgets already made by state agencies, and as in the case of the Office Of Public Instruction, is told they must give an inflationary increase that they decide on. Seems like all the laws have already been made and the legislature must just go along or be sued. What about the peoples voice? The people need to demand that their voices be heard and that their voice counts. This country can no longer stand under business as usual. We did what the liberals wanted for the last fifty years and look where it has gotten us. HELP!!! WE'RE DROWNING!

WHO FEEDS THE CHILDREN?

I was just noticing this holiday season how everyone shares about their children (including me!). Christmas cards and Christmas parties are all about what the kids are up to. People love their children and they are so proud of them. How much propaganda does it take to convince the American people that "people just won't feed their children." That's what you're told when you bring up the obvious, that with food share and SNAP (food stamps) poor people have access to food, so why do they have to depend on the school for breakfast and lunch?

Gee, if " People just won't feed their children- I mean you do of course but those 'others' just won't do it.", how do children ever make it to kindergarten in the first place? Wouldn't they die of starvation with no food for 5 years?

You know, in my view it gets down to this, simply put, people do feed their children. They also love their children. America is built of wonderful strong families and individuals that certainly CAN take care of themselves. So why are there people in our society that want to convince us otherwise? Do they have a SELF INTEREST here? If everyone could take care of themselves they'd be out of business! If everyone could care for themselves the centralizing of power and money would be stopped! This country might do what no country has ever done before- remain free instead of allowing the power to become more and more centralized until freedom is lost. This usually takes about 200 years- we're at 235 and we're at a tipping point.

For some people it's just easier to take kids to school and let them get breakfast and lunch there. Many people fall into that trap because they don't realize the harm they are doing to their children and this country by teaching dependency rather than independence.

Our freedom depends on this independence from government programs. It depends on children learning when they are young that their parents can care for them without the government. I taught school for 30 years in Helena, 8 of them at Bryant School- I never once had a child come in crying after the weekend because they were hungry. No child ever passed out from hunger. Not all families are completely functional all the time and that's what social services are for- but these dysfunctional families are an overwhelming minority.

It takes a lot of propaganda to convince a people that they are helpless- especially Americans whose heritage is freedom and belief in themselves. If you've traveled to socialist countries, as I have, you realize what a lot of propaganda it must take to convince a people that this system is better than the American system. Socialism, Communism, Marxism, depends on centralized big government. It strangles economies, lives and freedom. As someone said once, you have only to look at their teeth and you know the difference between their system and ours.

It's up to the American people to decide they'd rather work and teach hard work and freedom to their children than to gradually give up their constitution and let the government control their families and their  lives. The people's interest is disparate- it's not cohesive like unions or other special interests. The people have to stand up against these special interests that have convinced themselves "they're doing it for the good of the people". NO- they're doing it for their own self interest and the money they are getting paid and spending comes from everyday average Joes who are trying to figure their own life out.

This Christmas season let freedom ring out. Vow to stand up for our way of life in America, for capitalism, freedom and our constitution. Turn back the propaganda that "the middle class is shrinking"-(this society has a very strong middle class- greater than any in any society at any time in history and capitalism did this for us) or, our "children are starving"(have you seen any on the street lately), or "Parents just won't feed their children."(who exactly is that and why haven't they been turned in to social services?) or, my all time favorite,"how can you look into the eyes of the homeless?"(REALLY- how many jobs has this guy lost or quit? How much alcohol or drugs has he taken? What has HE given back? Maybe he should have a hard time looking into the eyes of those of us who are disciplined, paying taxes , and working hard.)

 Nothing in life is easy but this country went through massive immigration (my grandparents were part of that- sometimes they lived on soup and bread- but they bought a home, raised a family and very proudly joined the middle class), wars, depressions, and much more before the present day liberals were on the scene. We can and should continue without their programs and yes- FEED OUR OWN CHILDREN!!!

WERE WE AT THE SAME MEETING?

Have you ever been at one of those meetings where you can't believe what you're hearing? When one person speaks and no one seems to have heard what they said? That was the school board meeting last night.

The first item on the agenda was recognition for the Capital High state football championship(GO BRUINS!). But, the team didn't show up. What?!!- they didn't show up. 3 kids were there and the coach- and these kids did not include the quarterback. I remember when my daughter's soccer team won State- they were so proud-they were all there at the board meeting to be recognized. What's going on? Then the coach said- this sounds unbelievable- that he "chest bumped" the principal! He laughed but I certainly did not get a funny picture in my mind.

Well, on we go. Then they asked for public comment on consent items-but they didn't say what these were so they passed unanimously with no comments. The boy scouts were there to see "democracy in action", some democracy! I looked through my materials and I think the consent action items may have been the 403(b) HEART amendment which had to do with benefits for employees absent because of military service and a plan termination which was eliminating all the extra benefits for our wonderful superintendent who has fortunately moved on to Boulder.Wow, it took some looking to find these, they were stapled to the back of the agenda behind minutes from 6 previous meetings. What if this had been something seriously objectionable. Too bad, moment has passed, on we go. Democracy?

The next item was the transportation bid update. The man presenting explained very carefully why we don't need seat belts on these huge busses 1) the weight of the bus 2) the shape of the bus and the seats are specifically designed for incredible safety 3) the information from ADVOCATES OF SEAT BELTS points out that they saved 2 lives (maybe) out of TWENTY SIX MILLION STUDENTS TRANSPORTED TWICE A DAY NATION WIDE. Students were safer in the bus than outside of it. He went on to explain many things. There is no Montana law but if we put in seat belts than ALL THE FEDERAL REGULATIONS kick in.  In other words, EVERY CHILD UNDER 60 POUNDS WILL NEED A CAR SEAT! That is approximately every child until at least 3rd grade! He went on about the cost and that these will have to be shoulder harnesses. Our school board immediately began to discuss- and of course they just love the idea of seat belts- what liberal would ever turn away from a chance to control and regulate? Regulations are always a good thing aren't they? So- without a vote they directed this man to look for a bid WITH SEAT BELTS. He explained to them that you can't just ask for it and then restart the whole bidding process when you realize how expensive and cumbersome this is going to be. Can't you just see our bus drivers out there with a scale to make sure he's in compliance with the car seats? Of course he'll have to make sure they're all buckled in (Liability). What will the time frame be on this? Another half hour of instruction time lost because bus riders will be late? I guess breakfast at Bryant will have to be delayed until the bus riders get there. Will there be ANY TIME to teach before first recess? Well, why worry about such a pesky thing as instruction time. On we go. I wonder why we're below state average in math at every grade level?

The next item on the agenda was COMMON CORE STANDARDS. You see, everyone in the WORLD- I'm not just making this up- is going to learn the same things!! And in case your wondering-according to the presenter- this is NOT a national thing!! It's a state thing! REALLY?? How can that be if they're all going to be the same? IS THERE SOME MIND READING GOING ON HERE? Well apparently thirty six states are already on this bandwagon and of course Denise Juneau(our state superintendent) just couldn't wait to sign Montana up. Why do people vote for Democrats? Let's vote for a Republican next time and get some INDEPENDENT THINKING. So according to the curriculum director- there will be no need for  teachers to be on curriculum committees anymore because the curriculum will be done for them. Just think of that, nameless bureaucrats in Washington and at the U.N. deciding what we will teach in Helena, Montana! She gave the example of Finland- if our students go there they will know everything because everyone will be teaching the same thing! But wait a minute, don't they speak Finnish in Finland? Won't they learn to read and spell and do grammar in Finnish? Will they really be interested in learning Montana History? Won't they be learning English as a second language? They don't use feet, inches, or pounds so will they be learning that anyway? Will they be learning all about our buffalo and elk on the plains or will they be learning more about their natural habitat by the sea? They could put all of this into every curriculum but we're having some real trouble teaching what we have now! Twenty five percent of our kids aren't even making it to graduation.

CORE STANDARDS, of course, will be heavy in across grade level collaboration and critical thinking. Let's talk about critical thinking first. To be flip about it- if our little kids could critically think they wouldn't believe in Santa Clause! But seriously, little children are not just miniature adults. Besides, they need to learn their letter sounds first so they can blend them into words and then maybe be able to read something so they have some information to think critically with. Otherwise, guess what?- They'll critically think what the teacher wants them to think- they'll be propagandized. The across grade level collaboration is just another way to take the control of the classroom and curriculum out of the teachers hands.  He/She is responsible for kids performance on tests but has no control over the teaching. Good teachers get to use their own teaching style and creativity. Under these new programs our teachers' independence and passion is being buried!

If this was just one of those boring office meetings with the jokers we could laugh it off. But this is our kids and the future of this nation. Core Standards has effectively inserted an I.V. (to use medical terminology) into the veins of our school system and can now pump in any garbage and propaganda they want to fill our kids' heads with. It's really time for all of us to vote for board members that "get to the meeting" i.e. think and use their common sense and independent thought.

THE GRAVY TRAIN

We were told at the last board meeting that our old superintendent is now making TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS in Boulder Colorado. I'm sure that doesn't include his retirement, vacations and health insurance either. WOW!!! That's more than most doctors, lawyers, dentists and other professionals. What makes a superintendent that valuable? After all, getting a doctorate in education is not comparable to the work that goes into science and math degrees- I know, I have two children that have achieved these. Could it be the magic they are achieving for our students- the wonderful successes they artfully create? Maybe not- when our former superintendent left we had  25% of our high school students not making it to graduation and our district had math scores that were below state average at every grade level.  And just think- this is his jumping off salary- what will he get paid NEXT YEAR?!! Speaking of vacations- our present superintendent that is getting a pile of money just got back from the Dominican Republic where he was building houses for Habitat for Humanity(I guess). Did he get his salary docked or were the people of Helena paying his salary while he wasn't even here? If this position is so valuable how can he just leave for extended periods?

Well, who else is getting this money and job security in this world of annuities? Who are the pretenders to the throne? Well we already know we'll be forced to pay ONE HUNDRED THIRTY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS (at the minimum) to start our new superintendent- and we don't know what the benefit package will be but you can count on retirement, healthcare and vacations even if they don't give him the annuity, car and cell phone. Do you think there are other people (not the actual teachers that are actually needed because they actually teach) that are on this gravy train? Maybe there are thousands of programs, grants, and teacher training groups who get money too? Who else gets it and wants more? Food people? Day care people? Mental health people? Planned  Parenthood ? WOW!! THIS COULD GET EXPENSIVE!!

I was at the planning meeting Tuesday night. All the cast of characters were represented from Florence Crittendon to Archie Bray, Myrna Loy, Exploration Works,UM of Helena, the County Health Department and the Helena Education Foundation. They had about thirty special interest groups sign in  under their names.What if all of these people want a part of the pie? What if every non profit is trying to get on the school district payroll? What if they actually want space in the schools and to be on the payroll? Do you think they would do this? WELL.....Youth Connections already has space in our schools (these are the non psychiatrists that do mental health screening of all our high school kids). They told us at a board meeting that their grant is running out in 2013 and they hope to be on the payroll by then!! Gee, why should all these important groups have to worry about fundraising and getting Federal grants when they can just get space in the schools and get right on the bandwagon or GRAVY TRAIN?!!

After all, PLANNED PARENTHOOD now is so involved in education they have a director of education. I guess they know where the money is! I'm just so mean- all these people just care about kids and here I am talking about money!

Well taxpayers are people too, and parents. They agreed to pay for education, not teacher job training and every imaginable non profit and social program. As with the home visiting program talked about on this blog earlier, our schools aren't addressing problems, they're looking for them- kind of like every kid getting free breakfast, lunch and snacks at Bryant, IRREGARDLESS OF THEIR PARENTS INCOME!!! There must be something seriously wrong with our teacher preparation programs in college if teachers immediately need professional training when they start working.

Do taxpayers have the right to expect their needs to be addressed too? They're trying to raise a family or save for retirement or live on a retirement income but the schools just want more money all the time. Property taxes keep going up and the schools put huge pressure on the legislature (even sue them!) to get more money- they wouldn't mind if state income taxes went up- they need the money. Do taxpayers pay Federal Income Tax? You mean those Federal grants aren't free? Well they don't actually have matching fund requirements do they? You mean we have to pay for them? Do they go away after a couple of years and leave the school district with new employees and programs to pay for out of our school budget? I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I do believe that is exactly what happens.

Maybe people should be allowed to raise their own kids and school should be about education. Maybe all these groups should get off the gravy train and go find WORK in the private sector or raise their own money instead of raping the taxpayers. I know they all just do it FOR THE CHILDREN.

YEAH FOR GLENDIVE!

Another school board meeting another show.... . Glendive decided not to join the Montana Quality Education Coalition because MQEC gets all its money from the taxpayers and is suing the legislature with it. They didn't think the taxpayers should have to sue themselves- YEAH FOR GLENDIVE! Finally someone in the school establishment that cares about democracy and fairness for taxpayers!

A large part of the meeting was a discussion of what to pay the new superintendent. The school board member who talks constantly about poverty- seems to want to send us all there. He wanted us to pay our new superintendent at least ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!! Where does he think this money comes from? SEVENTY PERCENT of our property taxes go to the SCHOOLS!

Billings, a much bigger district than ours, paid a base of $160,000.00 for their new superintendent whom they just had to get rid of. I'll bet Billings paid for a firm for their big mistake too.We used to not hire firms to hire our superintendent.We looked locally and paid modestly and our schools did well- we weren't last in the state in math. The final figure they came up with after much discussion was a range of $135,000- $155,000. In my view this is WAY TOO MUCH  for our little school district- especially considering that housing prices are going down everywhere and this will eventually effect tax receipts(i.e. the school district should be planning on having less MONEY). As was pointed out by one board member, and reaffirmed by the business manager, the superintendent's salary effects all the administrative salaries that surround the superintendent. One of the excuses for this huge amount of money was that our former superintendent got a $144,000.00 package. This was after 15 years of raises as another board member pointed out. So the new guy gets to START where the former superintendent left off. We could get a superintendent that we know for far less and he/she would do a great job- if we hired right.

The principal from Warren School gave a very nice presentation. He had DATA to back up his math and reading scores. They emphasize phonics and computation skills at their school. One teacher told me that he protects them from all the constant demands of the non profits that operate in our schools these days. He protects ACADEMICS. He apparently has worked in high school administration as well as elementary. Why do we have to go out of district and pay $155,000 (plus benefits) to someone we don't know when we have good people that could do the job for less right here?

Frankly the idea of going to the public for input on hiring our superintendent is a ridiculous farce. We are a representative democracy- we vote for representatives to do the hiring. This is not a board that listens to the public anyway as we all witnessed in the sex ed debate. This board is looking for a "professional" educator and by this they mean someone who is on the Federal grant bandwagon. Someone who goes to all the right professional meetings in Denver and has worked for a district where he got all the grants and programs. They don't look for a problem to solve they just look for constant change. Part of their advertisement for the new superintendent is that he will implement change. If their former superintendent really was so wonderful why is their priority after 20 years still "implementing change". Why are our math scores so low and our drop out rates so high?

Could I suggest that we get rid of the non profits and go back to teaching? One new nonprofit is Parent/teacher Home Visit non-profit organization. It comes to us from Sacramento California where they had problems with all the non english speaking families. I mentioned to a board member that we don't have that problem here, he said it helped to have home visits in poor areas. Even if this were true, the Helena School District is not just doing home visits in poor areas, they're doing them everywhere. They don't wait to see if a student is going to be an attendance problem they go there anyway.

Another new program is the academies. It was interesting to hear the Warren principal point out that part of our drop out problem is that kids are bored. I have heard this from so many parents I can't count them. So how are academies that put all grade levels together going to challenge the advanced learners? As the principal pointed out also, individualizing is just not a real possibility- and he is right. The academy experiment is going to dumb down education in our high schools and cause more kids to be bored and drop out.

So we'll have a new very expensive superintendent to keep the experiments going and keep ruining the structure of education in Helena. They talk about outcomes based education but we never see any good outcomes. Education is more than notorious for experimenting and then walking away from programs that never work. The school board trustees move on and the students and taxpayers get left with the problems. Things are going to change significantly in this country real soon, the money is running out. We're all, including school boards, going to have to be more responsible with our money- yeah for Glendive!

WHY HAVE COMPETITION?

I was at the football game this weekend and the mission statement of the MHSA(Montana High School Association) was broadcast over the speakers. Part of their mission statement says "We believe competition is important". Why do they believe that? We used to all believe that. Competition makes a person work harder, try more, learn self discipline and hard work for a purpose. But our schools are doing away with competition. Why are they doing that? If competition builds self esteem through discipline and hard work in a person, if it builds character, why don't the schools want competition? I don't really know the answer to that (well, maybe I do, kind of) but I'll show you how they are assiduously doing away with competition in our educational system.

Let's start with testing. We used to have norm referenced tests. This meant the students were judged against a statistical norm. Students would come home with CTBS (California Test of Basic Skills) reports, or later ITBS(Iowa Test of Basic Skills) reports and you could see how your student performed against the rest of the nation. You would get a percentile rank. If your child was in the 90th percentile rank they were doing well. If they were in the 30th percentile they had some work to do. Well now that we have government tests there are no more national norms. Students are just Not Proficient, Proficient, or Advanced. These are called criterion referenced tests. In other words, either your child knows the given information or they don't, no comparing. Do you think the incentive is the same and the reporting information is as clear when you are just proficient? Do you think taxpayers have the right to know how Montana students compare to other states percentage wise? I  do.

Well, that's just testing. Competition is being taken out of the classrooms in very serious ways that I believe will have disastrous consequences for our students learning. The academies are being introduced into the high schools. At Helena High this year, as I was told by a school administrator, all freshman students are in academies. This means that a group of students take their 4 core classes together. There is no more "A" English or "C" English. Students of all academic levels are put in the same class. How do you accommodate all of these different ability levels? Do you dumb down the curriculum so everyone will succeed? I'm sure the school administrators (who don't teach) would deny this vehemently. You could individualize assignments. Kind of like trying to teach A English and C English at the same time. Maybe they'll go back to reading groups like we have at the elementary schools so that they can hold appropriate literary discussions with all ability levels, read literature that is advanced for advanced students,and offer remedial help for the C English levels. When you look at the reading lists (which are on line) you see that all the students are getting the same books, so they aren't varying literary content to meet the needs of advanced students. It was suggested at a board meeting that I went to at Helena High that they would like to go to project learning(the old cooperative learning from the 80's is back). We all know the problems with project learning, the top students do the work , the slow students learn very little, and everyone gets the same grade. What about math? How are they going to fit calculous students with students who haven't mastered algebra?

So the question remains. Why are they doing this? Is it just a way to bring low achievers up? Maybe, but it sure isn't going to get them an education (maybe a grade!). Our schools, for a long time now, have been about making a new society, not about delivering the best education. The MHSA knows that competition works. If you look at world markets, you know the only reason there is a market is because of capitalism and the incentives it provides. So, competition works but the people who are running our schools now (think BIll Ayers), don't want different levels of achievement. It seems like they're aiming for the classless society in school instead of the best education for everyone.Maybe they think if we all just learn to collaborate everyone will help each other and all of societies problems will go away. Maybe they don't like the idea that when we compete we consider ourselves as achievers INDIVIDUALLY.

Is this the kind of America you want where we are all the same? Are people ever the same? Do you like the football model where students discipline themselves, put up with hardships and overcome hardships? A model where the best get to play and others have to improve or move on to something else? Or do you like the model where we try to make everyone the same and pull out the victim card when things get tough?

Perhaps if we were all weak and dependent we would need a super centralized government that met everyone's every need.  Kind of like the schools wanting to provide education from the age of two through job training (the planning has begun). But has this model ever worked anywhere at any time in history? Have you looked at the debt clock on line lately? Are you aware of the Solyndra scandal where all the political bundlers got in on the green energy money coming from Washington, or some of the other scandals like insider trading by legislators (they use confidential information to help them make stock picks). Why do all our presidents become millionaires now? Does big centralized government that tries to be a "nanny state" breed corruption? Thomas Jefferson had the best advice "If people were angels we would not need government, but people are not angels, so we need a limited government".

I agree with MHSA, let competition and freedom ring!

PICKING THE PUBLIC'S POCKET

At Home Town Helena last Thursday our school district superintendent was in an interesting quandary. He was there to talk about a new plan which is going to cost the property owners of Helena a lot of money, (if he or the next superintendent can get the bond passed). He first had to explain why the number of elementary students in Helena is GOING DOWN. It's not real great to ask for support for going after more money when you actually have less students. His explanation as to why he has less students is that THE ECONOMY IS BAD in Helena and that people are having to leave town to find work. My, My, there is less money out there so we are just going to belly up to the bar and take the money we want right out of the back pockets of those poor suckers who are still able to make their house payments in Helena. Does this make sense to you? Does it feel like the people running the school district i.e. THE SCHOOL BOARD, really give a darn about the property tax payers? Did you know that business people who have businesses in Helena but live out of the school district don't even get to vote on these bonds- even though they have to pay for them? Does this sound fair to you?

See if this sounds fair to you. At the school board meeting Tuesday night there was a presentation from MQEC (Montana Quality Education Coalition). These are the folks who started a law suit against the legislature years ago to equalize funding for schools so that small school districts would have the same funding as large districts.They have sixty districts paying them dues and sent this gentleman out to get more. It came out at the meeting that there are 250 districts- so he has a ways to go. But yes, Helena is a member, of course. So, once again, the tax payers are being forced to pay to sue themselves! He lamented that they really only have enough money from the dues to pay his salary - not to fund the new lawsuit so he didn't say it surprisingly- but he expects money from the school district to pay legal expenses. I was wondering-why didn't he just ask for the money? Can they do this in a back room deal? I know they use the building reserve for all kinds of things like paying for a planning firm- can they just take money out of the budget? Maybe you're wondering what the new law suit is. Well, it's just an attachment to the old law suit as one of the board members explained to us. Here's how it goes. The legislature only gave the schools a 1% increase in their funding for the 1st year of the biennium and a 1.16% increase in the second year. According to MQEC this doesn't meet inflation needs which are specified in the annotated code (law).  The law says that the legislature MUST give them more money every legislative session. Are you wondering who determines what this rate of inflation for the schools is? Well you probably guessed right- The MONTANA OFFICE OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION! Is this kind of like the fox in charge of the hen house?  Can we expect the Office of Public Instruction to be an impartial judge when it comes to school funding?

I sat there at this meeting, the peon in front of the gods, and wondered what it must be like to be elected to the legislature. I thought about all these poor people getting out to vote for Republican legislators because they want a change, they want less government and less taxes. Does it seem to you that the legislators just have their hands tied? Carl Graham from Montana Policy Institute has been fighting for a long time for zero based budgeting. This would give the legislators a chance to look at real school budgets built for each year and to decide what we should fund instead of just being given a figure from last year with OPI's rate of inflation increase figured in. Let's get behind Carl . Let's make our vote really stand for something. With the "Whole Child " concept that our school district operates under our schools are the center for all social services- most of them duplicative. Our legislators are not just funding schools in the school budgets, they're funding non profits and social services. Our new bond plan is going to include all kinds of social programs, not just buildings.

So where is the public voice in all this spending? Our board chair is making phone calls, he's offering invites for the STEERING COMMITTEE and the CITIZENS' COMMITTEE which will be the public input on this new planning for the bond. In the newspaper it will look like everyone got a voice but - not so much. He's not publicizing the search (he says it has been mentioned in a newspaper article)- even a board member called foul on this -  but they passed her right by like a post on the freeway. If you get on the committee you know already what the outcome will be - every program they've got going in the district, every federal grant and every nonprofit wish list. I really hope there's some one or two of you out there that will get on those committees. The board chair says to just call the district. You may not be able to make a change this time but you can stand for the property owners and families and get the word out. This board needs a balance!

SMALL VICTORIES

Well break out the champaign we've had a victory for decency in our culture. They took down the "NO SNOOPING WHEN SOMEONE'S POOPING "  and the "NO SEEING WHEN SOMEONE'S PEEING" signs. I do thank them for this from the bottom of my heart. The schools really are the future of America and I certainly don't want to live in a world where our public discourse is brought down to rude and vulgar levels. It did take letters to the school board before this happened. Letters to the principal and the superintendent alone didn't do the job.

As I mentioned the schools really are the future of America. Those of us over the age of 50 remember making American flags for Washington's birthday and stove pipe hats for Lincoln's birthday. In fact, we had these days off school. We learned to love our country and to love our American heros and what they stood for. What did they stand for? Integrity, respect, hard work, tenacity, personal discipline, fairness, and righteousness were some of the character traits they stood for. They dressed with dignity and they acted with dignity.  No one hated America in those days. We recognized America as a place where the problems we had were solved. We fought and died for freedom in the Revolutionary War, and justice for the oppressed in the Civil War and World War II. What are children being taught in school today? They are being taught special interests for the purposes of those with special interests.

I watched the movie "PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS" last night. In this movie Will Smith had a young son and no money. He was trying to make it in the world as a stock broker. He was pursuing his happiness, his American dream. At one point he was so poor  that he had to go with his son to a shelter. Why? Because the last $500.00 he had in the world was taken out of his account by the government to pay back taxes. My favorite part of the movie was how he never gave up, how he believed that he could make his own opportunity and he did. I'm guessing the liberals favorite part of this movie would be the long line at the shelter. What they see is that we need more shelters, what I see is that we need to build more characters like Will Smith.

The Helena School District superintendent presented the new plan for the new BOND at Hometown Helena Thursday morning. His plan includes early childhood education to work training. It includes "Community involvement" and healthy lifestyles. He's planning to the year 2074! They will feed children, daycare children and provide mental health assessment. I can see that this BOND, or school borrowing, will not be only for buildings as it has been in the past. We will now be borrowing to support nonprofits in the school district. They are already saying "Youth Connections of the Helena Public Schools". Youth Connections is already housed at the public schools and has a school district  email. As I have mentioned on this blog before, Intermountain and Head Start are also housed in our schools. The Myrna Loy uses our schools as a fundraiser every year through the arts program, Big Brother's and Big Sister's takes kids out of class at both the high school and the elementary schools, Planned Parenthood has clubs at both our high schools and is so heavily into education now that they have an education administrator.  Food Share now shows up on Fridays and sends home food for the weekend at at least 2 elementary schools and they are of course planning more ( I thought we were giving free food to all income levels at Bryant so they wouldn't feel singled out and embarrassed (which they never were), so isn't it embarrassing to go down to the office and get a sack to lug home?).  The schools now of course do food drives as well, Exploration Works has the kids farming and Youth Connections has appointed themselves mental health experts ( they screened all 9-12th graders this year for "mental health"). This is just a list of a few of the participants, I'm sure I must be missing many, but the point is , WHAT ARE WE TEACHING OUR CHILDREN?

Well, if I was in those schools I would be learning that absolutely no one can make it on their own. I would be learning that I couldn't even make it through the day without my water bottle by my side and snacks. I would be learning that the government provides food and all other needs and that the government determines what correct attitudes and values are. I might think if I didn't get on board that I would be singled out by Youth Connections as being mentally or emotionally deficient. Youth Connections is sponsoring a "World Renowned" author for a presentation at Helena Middle School ( Which I'm pretty sure kids throughout the district will be taken out of class to attend) on the Bully, the Bullied and the BYSTANDER. Get it- you can't just ignore this you have to be on their wave length or you're the problem. Remember, the bully program was lobbied for at the legislature by Gay Pride, Human Rights Network, and the ACLU among others. This isn't just about bullying.

So freedom today is a politically correct freedom. It is also a freedom without responsibility. What are we doing to our Will Smith's (Chris Gardner in the movie) of tomorrow? Will they have the examples and heros that teach them to survive? If they grow up thinking they can pull the victim card and the government will provide they just ought to talk to a few of the homeless today- anywhere. Life doesn't work that way.There's not enough money in the world to make a person successful who doesn't understand that he has to provide for himself and find his own happiness.

I'm really happy that they took the signs down at Hawthorne School, it's a step in the right direction away from vulgarity, but we have a long way to go in teaching our children the values of personal fortitude that will give them a successful tomorrow. Families teach these things in spite of the schools, but those students that don't get it from the family may end up in a world of hurt as they try to climb the ladder of success, especially if they're poor like Chris Gardner. These kids have spent a great deal of their school time not learning to read too.

THE CUTTING EDGE

I was at the school board meeting yesterday. It was a "Work Session" which they have every month. Hawthorne school was giving their school improvement report. They've been doing this for about 20 years- you'd think they would be improved by now- but what would happen to all the workshop providers, non profits and consultants if they actually accomplished school reform? They'd be out of work. Does this mean that we will be in school reform mode at the public schools indefinitely? It appears that way.

Well the school board always praises the school improvement reports- this is a way of praising themselves. They are just so cutting edge- probably just so cutting edge that the rest of us just can't understand it-or better yet- can't accept their genius (which comes to them from Federal Grants that generally get their push from somewhere else- like special interest groups and the U.N.). In any case- see if you think I'm just not forward thinking to not accept this one. In the bathrooms at Hawthorne School they are teaching respect by putting up signs that say "NO SEEING WHEN SOMEONE IS PEEING" and "NO SNOOPING WHEN SOMEONE IS POOPING". Hippies always did love vulgar language.

I couldn't believe I had to get up this morning and take the time to write the principal at Hawthorne School (c.c. ing in the Superintendent who was at the meeting) to explain to them that saying pooping and peeing to the little children was inappropriate- the kind of thing we generally hope to teach our children not to say- at least in polite company, at school, and in public. She wrote me back and thanked me for my "OPINION". I'm probably just flailing out there all alone with this OPINION, right?

They are just so "Cutting edge" that they don't know that controlling our language is one way of showing respect to one another. They don't know that we teach our children appropriate behaviors and language by modeling it for them.

The "cutting edge" planning committee was there to give their first report after being hired. They skyped  a lady who spoke all of about 3 sentences. The presenter could have told us himself that Brain Spaces is a firm that specializes in planning spaces for education- but that would be just so yesterday. I guess we're all just too stupid to arrange classrooms for kids, we need a $250,000.00 firm to do this. So the school district will pick who will be on the planning committee. Don't bother applying- they only want smart people- that means people who agree with them. You only can see the future and are smart and with it if you go along with the program here. OF COURSE the business community and other powers that be will be on this committee, if they can get them. Getting the "right" people on the committee will help pass the BOND.

Before we leave the "cutting edge" here we should talk about the DIGITAL ACADEMY ( even we stupid people know this is online learning). Apparently the "Cutting edge" is collaboration all the way- or maybe it's online learning by yourself at home. As the curriculum specialist from the digital academy  gave his presentation I was on the edge of my seat waiting for someone to ask the obvious question. There was a time for questions from the board but no one ever did ask that obvious question. There is just such a lack of curiosity. So I followed the gentleman out into the hall and asked him myself. I said when I taught school for 30 years there was always the concern of children not doing their own work- looking on other students papers for test answers for example. Here's the question HOW DO YOU KNOW THESE STUDENTS ARE DOING ANY OF THE WORK AT ALL- ESPECIALLY TAKING THE TESTS? I always did wonder about these online courses. Well- if the students work changes a lot for the better they call him/her up and ask questions. If they're not satisfied with the answers they make them do the work again. Tests are taken at school with a proctor (teacher aide to make sure they don't cheat)- oh so yesterday. Only one more thought and I hate to be the one to bring it up-but of course I will- why in the world would you offer classes in the Irish language? I'm Irish - but I don't speak Irish. Has anyone noticed that it's a dead language of no use at all unless you're an ancient historian and want to read original documents? I doubt our high school kids fit into this category.

Even if you vote Democrat you can't make more money. Choices are going to have to be made and that's one thing we know for sure. Will they choose teaching Irish and $250,000.00 firms over food share?

250,000 DOLLARS

What could you buy for $250,000 dollars? A new house? Maybe every family on your street could get a new car. What could a school district do with 250,000 dollars? They could hire 5 new teachers for a year. They could have a new textbook adoption. OR----they could hire a firm!

Well, you guessed it they are hiring a firm. What makes this firm so valuable? I don't know and I really don't think anyone at that meeting knew- really even the contractor asking for the contract. These people were architects (apparently). But they don't plan on doing any architectural plans- one of the board members asked about this and it was explained to him that if any building was going to be done they would absolutely have to hire architects to make that plan. No these architects are going to set up meetings with staff to discuss where the district is and where they want to go - pie in the sky kind of stuff.

Even some of the board members discussed the risk that they would hire this firm and nothing would come of it. The newspaper today discussed a  15 year projection for the planning but the real number bandied about by the consultants as well as the board was 50 years! Who in this world really knows what the world will be like in 50 years?!! Well, the school business manager of all people, thinks she knows what the world will be like in the future. She even knows what education will be like (REALLY??). As far as I know she's a great business manager but maybe she should just stay in her area of expertise. The business manager made a big speech recommending the hiring of the firm because the future in the world, and I guess according to her, in education, will all be collaborative. We'll need new spaces to accommodate all this collaboration. Shouldn't the school board have recognized that their business manager is not an educator and would know nothing about the future in the delivery of educational services?

Back in the 60's they thought everything was going to be collaborative too, or  they hoped. Remember Rossiter School? The school in the round where they had to put up all the walls when they found out things couldn't work so open and collaborative? Ray Bjork and Broadwater had to put up partitions too after the abysmal failure of this experiment. Even their own new age education , the digital academy, is less collaborative and requires working on your own at home on a computer.

The truth is that none of us really know the future. What we do know is that this country, and states and cities across the nation are broke. We need to spend our money judiciously. What this firm is about really is getting a new bond issue, read YOUR PROPERTY TAXES ARE GOING UP! One of the firm members did mention the figure $200,000,000 but he said that was too high- they couldn't go that high with a bond. Well, how high can they go? Another presenter from the firm mentioned that other firms (Not theirs thank goodness) have had an 80% success rate in getting their bond passed. So this firm will get $26,000.00 just for getting the staff together and finding out where we are (we need to know how many soccer fans we have for example), and then $62,000 ostensibly for every phase after that. These
other phases will include getting the stake holders together (this may be you) and putting together and presenting a plan with, I guess, a price tag. In other words, they will be doing a lot of ground work and public relations work for this big bond.

I am not against bonds and I am not against good schools for kids, but in my view we already pay a great deal for our schools ( 75% of the huge property taxes you pay go to the schools). Is it O.k. to think about good old mom and dad struggling to raise a family and grandma and grandpa who are living on a fixed income just a little bit? I wonder if this board would have hired this firm if it was their own money they were spending. It's time to stop experimenting with our children's education and do common sense things   in realistic ways that will really improve our schools and help our children. Let's start with the overcrowding in the valley. Apparently, the 10.8 MILLION DOLLARS we already spent over 7 years went to replace a boiler and I guess hire this firm.This bond was passed in 2007. We used to do upkeep of buildings out of the general fund and not have to go to the tax payers again. We used to hire our own superintendents without spending $15,000.00 from the tax payers to hire a firm. ARE WE ALL GOING TO BE TAXED OUT OF OUR HOUSES?

IN THE WEEDS

Do you remember a vote for a bond for buildings in the school district in 2007? If you live in the valley you may remember voting for it because you are overcrowded out there and thought the school district might build a new school or at least add some classrooms. Well, not so much. The school district, as I mentioned earlier on this blog, is hiring a planning firm. This is not an architectural firm or an engineering firm, sorry to disappoint, but a firm to help the district plan for "school improvement strategies".  I would like to note that they have been working on school improvement strategies since 1992, with I would say, little or more probably no success when you look at social and achievement data.

I had the pleasure yesterday to attend one of these planning meetings. The meeting went for SIX HOURS! After 3 hours of wandering around in the weeds I left, they had nowhere to go with all this because they didn't even know what their role as a school board should be. Before getting into the specifics of all the wandering I WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT that they were spending LOTS OF MONEY. We don't yet know the exact amounts but we will continue to try to find out how much of the 10.8 MILLION DOLLARS is being spent on planning. For this meeting they hired a consultant to give them advice via skype and a mediator, had a large meal prepared and brought in, and must have hired "guest teachers" (substitutes) because teachers and other paid staff were present.

Well do you think they talked about which buildings they were going to build? NO that's not it. They talked for 3 hours and as far as I could tell from the agenda, intended (after dinner), to talk for another one and a half hours about assessment. Let me see- should it be broad assessment?(assessment of the whole district) or narrow assessment (3rd grade for example), or then again it could be pinpointed at particular classrooms! On they went. The consultant likes performance assessment, inquiry based. Lets think outside the box and not worry about all those pesky facts. The scary thing is they may get away with this. According to Denise Juneau, Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction, (who has not returned my call for further inquiry),speaking at Hometown Helena, our schools are doing away with Iowa Basics achievement testing and going to a  FEDERAL TEST AT EVERY GRADE LEVEL(NAEP, National Assessment of Student Progress). So what we now teach, ( even the people at the meeting acceded that the test determines what we teach), will be determined by the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. If you haven't traveled in a totalitarian state you may not realize just how scary that is.

Maybe you remember Competency Based Standards for graduation that I talked about on this blog earlier? Well they talked about students collaborative skills being assessed and social measures. Sounds subjective to me. Are we now going to try to form  our children into someones version of the perfect person rather than just expect them to learn academics at school?

The terminology has reached crisis proportions, they are producing new words by the nano second. But the intent is clear, they don't understand their role as a school board, the role of teachers in the classroom, the role of schools in students lives, and what teaching is all about anyway. Finally one of the board members pointed out that when you teach Biology there are certain things like Mitosis which you just must teach.

Let me try to clarify this for the school board, first, school boards are not there to assess or teach, they are purely administrative, they make sure the trains run on time so to speak. Secondly, the teachers are there to teach. They should not be responsible to write curriculum and be researchers! Twenty five students to teach 7 subjects to in 4 hours (when you're not on constant drills of every kind i.e. fire,earthquake, national disaster, lockdown etc.) and giving your classroom over to special programs, is a monumental feat these days! If you want any results at all please let the teachers teach at least once in a while. Assessment, as pointed out even by someone at the meeting, takes away teaching time. Many firms are selling assessment- some international! So there is pressure to jump on this bandwagon. The consultant even suggested using our children as guinea pigs for firms doing research ( they'd just love it if we signed up).

Our school district is not doing well as pointed out by almost everyone at the meeting including the consultant. Our kids are losing ground in math by third grade. The one school that is doing better than others is recovering from ("unfortunate leadership disarray") as pointed out by at least one board member. In other words they're getting back up to speed. Can I ask why if our former superintendent was so wonderful he let this "disarray" go on for 18 years? Why are our math scores so low and why can't our students perform on achievement testing?

The one board member had it right ( and he's a former teacher), there are certain things that need to be taught. Give our teachers the time to teach and it will happen. Your train is going way off track when you let administrators micromanage teachers, as one said shockingly,"the school has to decide on a strategy and through collaboration the other teachers should be sure everyone is doing it". News flash for her,our teachers each have their own teaching style and will do a bang up job on the whole if you just leave them alone!

Proof of this is that our scores were better before school reform happened to us. Why do we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on textbooks if we don't trust them? They have the structure, (they actually talked about how things should be taught in a sequence (you think?!!) at this meeting), well, the textbook has the sequence. They are written by professionals that do nothing but this. Guess what? They even have the ASSESSMENT after each part that you talked about (those are called chapters). Get out of the weeds and let our teachers teach!!

THE AFTER SHOW SCHOOL BOARD MEETING SEPTEMBER 13,2011

Another board meeting, another show. Where to begin? At the beginning I guess. Did you hear today that scores on the SAT (college entrance exam) for students in the U.S. reached their lowest in math and reading ever recorded? Just think of that - after 20 years of school reform and 35 years of a national department of education our scores are the lowest ever.

At the board meeting they discussed more planning and more firms. Then Youth Connections gave their annual update - being sure to note that their grant expires in 2013 and they hope to be fully integrated into the public schools by that time. Did our public sign up for this? I think when most people vote for school funding they think they are voting to educate the children not analyze them and behaviorally engineer them.

I read all of the Youth Connections material. Did you know that Youth Connections did mental health screening (according to their literature) in 2010 fall and spring, of all 9-12 graders? Did you as a parent see this screening and sign off for it to be done? All K-1 classes get social skills programing aimed at reducing impulsive and aggressive behavior and increasing social competence ( Is their a behavior guru who knows the perfect behavior for all of us?). Four "Project Success" counselors have been hired at the middle schools and high schools to identify students who could benefit from mental health services.

Tracy Moseman , project director, went on to say that they are basically assessing teachers and parents too because everyone must feel safe. Apparently they are doing all of this in large part to prevent substance abuse ( I thought the DARE program and the RESOURCE OFFICER program did that- how many programs do they need to do the same thing that doesn't work? ) Tracy went on to say that, according to her statistics teen underage drinking is down, but maybe this is because, as reported by her, 25% of our teens are doing MARIJUANA!!

The principal from Broadwater School was there to tout her attendance initiative under MBI's (Montana Behavior Initiative's Best Practices- every state has one so if you were in New York you'd have the New York Behavior Initiative and if you were in New Jersey you'd have the New Jersey Behavior Initiative, you get the idea- the Federal Government through their grants are social engineering America). So what is she doing to increase attendance? A graph in the hall that shows tardies and attendance for every class. I taught for 30 years, 9 of those at Bryant school where some families are really struggling. Should the weight of peer pressure be put on little kids to get to school and on time? This is an adult thing and I just feel for those little guys stressing like that.  So when has school been so important to these people? This year they are using FOUR DAYS of instruction(no school for kids) for all their teacher pressuring and behavior controlling workshops mandated by the Federal Government. Class time is used almost constantly for MBI programs and performance assemblies, as well as screening and then the RESOURCE OFFICER in the classroom and DARE and children whisked away for Big Sisters Big Brothers and buddy programs and community service training and contests for collecting food and then the PEAK program which takes them out 1 day a week (1/5th of their education). Aidan Myhre was praising all these programs and then lamenting that it is REALLY SO IMPORTANT that kids get to school. To school for what, BEHAVIOR TRAINING? Do you get the feeling that these folks are more interested in social engineering behaviors than academic teaching? I do.

The after show was really great though. There were actually 2 other people who spoke up besides myself ( I spoke about building reserve money being spent to hire a firm that will not just handle buildings but will handle curriculums and programs etc., and about the yelling out of names of private genitalia at CRA) these people were wonderful- smart, informed and with really important messages.

One lady spoke about the RESOURCE OFFICER program which is criminalizing children at early ages. She noted that school behaviors are apparently at times turned over to the RESOURCE OFFICER (police). With the new POWER SCHOOL program children's behavior is monitored and data is collected on every student. If your child has a fight on the playground he can have a record before he turns 7!

Another mother spoke about the PEAK program which apparently selects out kids, 90% of which are highly motivated high achievers, based on a not very scientific IQ like test in 2ND GRADE. Before you turn 9 our district has labeled you as not one of the smartest ones. Apparently at Hawthorne School last year some of the PEAK kids were going around telling other kids they were always right because they were smarter. And what do they do to teach these children when they miss a whole day of school? Apparently rafting trips and even trips to FRANCE!

You can contact Tracy Moseman director of Youth Connections at tmose@helena.k12.mt.us (a school district email) if you have any advice for her on what everyone's behavior should be and how to identify insecure parents and teachers. Personally I think this whole behavior control thing has gotten out of hand. The schools are trying to create the perfect world while our children are NOT GETTING AN EDUCATION! Reading and math are the most important things they need for self esteem and success in this world and for their futures. Trying to be all things to all children at all times (the whole child concept ) is destroying our schools. It would be like serving dinner at the barber shop- neither job would get done well.

A BEAUTIFUL NIGHT FOR FOOTBALL

I went to the Capital High football game tonight and I was struck by all the wonderful kids and their families. Mom's were taking their babies up to high five the bear and students were coming up to their parents for comfort if they were upset or for approval of their outfit if they just needed a little encouragement. Parents were taking pictures of their darlings everywhere. Many parents were there just to see their daughter dance at half time or to see their son sit on the bench. They cared and they were there.

Maybe a lot of these people don't know about the agenda being driven in their schools- or maybe they do. Either way it is these families that will ultimately reclaim America and stop the march to Socialism.

One can tell the social justice crowd has not completely taken over because they still are using cover. It was announced at the game that they have a new Montana Behavior Initiative grant.The grant is supposedly for "Responsibility, Respect, and Graduate". Who could argue with those values? But then- think a little deeper- why would you need a federal grant to teach the things we've always stood for? Is there possibly more to this grant? Probably. Are the people driving the grants careful to couch everything in terms these families will accept- you bet.

So we don't cheer for "Take that ball and fight" or "All the way in one play" or even " We are the Bruins the mighty mighty Bruins" We cheer for "Parents to stand up" . I sometimes wondered if these girls were paying any attention to the field at all- or were even taught about the game. Maybe I've just been watching this attempt to social engineer for so long that I'm too suspicious, but it sure seems like the  cheers have been changed from good old football fighting to win, to spirit building only.

In spite of all this I just loved seeing all these healthy kids and healthy families- the very people in the end that I believe will reject revolutionary socialism and renew America to its moral and constitutional roots.

SEX IN THE SCHOOLS

I just heard today from a neighbor that on the last day of school at CR Anderson middle school here in Helena, in the sixth grade, in sex education class (other wise known as health), students were asked to yell out names they knew for the male genitalia and then to yell out names they knew for female genitalia. You get the idea, cock, cunt, pussy and so on.

Why would they do this? I'm just betting that this idea came from some workshop. Can the health department really call this activity necessary for the children's health?

Unwed pregnancies are soaring as this culture of open sexuality is forced on innocent children- apparently in school! You have to ask why they feel it is necessary to take away all modesty and inhibitions that might protect young children from such encounters.

What really amazes me is that no parents are out there raising holy hell about this! Have they become desensitized to think they just have to put up with this? It's time to get our heads on straight. If you voted for Cherche Prezneau and Aiden Myhre in the last school board election you voted for people who endorse this behavior. They voted for the curriculum and didn't even ask what classes would be shortened or replaced.

Is this what the people of Helena really want? Do they really want their children in High Schools with sex clubs and middle schools where 11 year olds have to yell out cock and cunt in class? Maybe it's time for people to quit listening to propaganda and stereotyping and pay attention to what is really happening to their children in school!

PARENTS AND CITIZENS FOR A FREE AMERICA BEWARE

     Perhaps you thought, as I once did, that the cold war was over and that Marxism had been sent to the dust bin of history as a totally failed idea. Well, not really. The Marxists are alive and well in America and are working in our schools to undermine our culture and way of life and replace capitalism with Marxism.

Personally I became shockingly aware of this after the Clinton's were elected in the early nineties and Goals 2000 was introduced into our schools by way of the "STRATEGIC PLAN". It's strategic alright. I was teaching at the time and what I saw was very frightening. I read about the gardens and the buddy programs and the community service. I saw how we weren't even allowed to say the word Christmas or sing Christmas carols. How patriotism was considered passe' at best and militaristic at worst. Everything was collectivism and social justice. I realized their goal was one world socialism but I have recently found out that at least some of the players want "International revolutionary COMMUNISM". Is there a difference?

The recent American Spectator magazine, September 2011 issue has an article on the "Ayers Gang". That would be Ayers as in Bill Ayers member of the Students For A Democratic Society(SDS) who bombed and killed people in the 1960's . After he and his wife, also a terrorist SDS member looking for violent over throw of the American Government, came out of hiding, Richard Daley, Cook County state's attorney let Ayers off with a slap on the wrist. The evidence against him was  unconstitutional because of illegal wiretaps (boy they sure like that old constitution when they get in a pickle, I can tell you the communist countries I visited in the 70's did not worry about illegal wiretaps!).But Bill still likes communism best, he's an unrepentant communist revolutionary- but he has a new angle.

In 1987 Bill found a job at the University of Illinois at Chicago teaching education. According to a report in the CITY JOURNAL he dreamed of bringing the revolution from the streets to the schools. " HE MADE NO BONES ABOUT THE FACT THAT SCHOOL REFORM WAS JUST A VEHICLE FOR TEACHING THE KIDS REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNISM". Ayers was elected Vice President for Curriculum Studies at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) where he would have considerable say as to what went into teacher-training manuals for colleges and  public schools.

Ayers, as you may know, has considerable association with Barack Obama going back to the late 80's when he reappeared in Chicago. In fact, in 1995 Bill Ayers and his wife\accomplice hosted a party for Barrack when he announced his candidacy for the Illinois state senate.

It's always just so much easier to put our heads in the sand and hope things get better. In my view no one who has any sense can put their head in the sand at this point . I saw this happening along time ago and I'm hoping others who do not want Capitalism in America replaced with Marxism will join with me to stop it.

Helena had a chance to replace at least a few school board members in the last election. It's time to get this done while we still have the right to speak and write about it . We still have the vote. We still can stop this train wreck that is propagandizing our children, taking away our freedoms and bankrupting this nation.

FOOD STORIES

I just can't stop thinking about the man who is so excited to find more students to give free food to- WHETHER THEY NEED IT OR NOT-at school. He was at the last School Board meeting as I reported on this blog.

When did we become a nation that looks for poverty and celebrates it instead of trying to end it as in Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty"? Where would this poor man's business for free food in the schools be if suddenly people could provide their own food ? Have we become a society that thrives on dependency instead of the hard working independent and FREE rugged individual? Are we teaching our children in school to thrive on dependency and to be proud of it? What ARE we teaching our children? What future do we have in mind for them?

Since the "War on Poverty" our nation has become a nation of addictions- drugs, alcohol, gambling, hoarding, prescription drugs. We had addictions before, but not like this- as far as I know, Meth wasn't even invented then. As we know, addicted people become dependent people more often then not. Unwed pregnancies have soared in this new era where waiting for marriage to have sex is almost unheard of. As we know, unwed pregnancies often lead to dependency. Is our new vision of freedom, which we are now teaching our children anarchy, Moral relativism that lacks dignity, integrity, modesty, and respect? While THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT minutely tries to regulate every thought and family value are they encouraging anarchy in this regulated society so that all the morals of yore are gone and the government is the answer for everything?

Having good schools and good moral upbringing is not really hard. Children and teachers are given the essential tools and students are taught discipline and respect by example, word and deed. Kind of like the old days when we had good scores and Montana was at the top in national academic testing.

There is so much to be excited about in the coming generations if we truly want America to succeed. Brain research is amazing, there's a lot more to learn but just think how are schools could be. Instead of spending time on social engineering for every special interest group like the gays and the socialists we could just spend our time teaching well. Then those students who had learning disabilities could have classes with real specialists that worked with them to overcome or adapt and unleash their real potentials, which are very great.

Instead of looking to the convoluted federal government we could simplify and do what works. We could teach achievement and independence. We could believe in ourselves, in America , in the future that we can make for ourselves instead of wallowing in every deficiency and allowing the deficiencies to control us and rob us of our destiny- our future. Instead of free everything (which is going away anyway as this nation and the world grapple with debt they can't pay) the rich the poor and everyone in between could find the pride and joy they once had of caring for themselves, of not believing because they are poor they can't find their own way, trumpeting America's greatness instead of her mistakes,the same mistakes that every society in the world has made.This vision can come true rather easily. It's up to us to stand up and give the federal government their PINK SLIP!

A DIFFERENT VISION

I was at the School Board meeting tonight, August 9th, and I felt like I lived in a foreign country, one with no common sense, no understanding of fiscal realities, and no vision.

Programs and grants just seem to piggy back on one another and the net is seamless at the same time taking in every organization in town they can subdue. The new teachers will have their barbecue at Exploration Works and then take the tour train all over town stopping at all the places they connect with like Grand Street Theater, The Historical Society, the Capital Building and so on. The train ride will be paid for by the Chamber of Commerce. So don't try to criticize the schools, they've got everything in town professionally locked up. I wonder if they figured out this public relations maneuvering themselves? Or do you think they got professional advice from the Federal Government? I'll bet every town in America is the same- so you figure it out.

We got the food report tonight. The man presenting his business was so excited! He's increased breakfasts by 58,000 now that Bryant has breakfast during class. Everything is just so much more convenient that way- who would even consider time lost to instruction? Now that everyone at Bryant gets lunch irregardless of income he's increased lunches by 106,000! And now they get money for free snacks too! Business is booming! Who cares if the country is going broke! They feed 200 kids a day at the park in the summer too. Whoever knew we had so many starving children? You'd think we'd just see them passing out on the street. You don't think free things just sort of draw a crowd do you? And who cares if your teaching kids that food comes from the government and they grow up without initiative to care for themselves? Who cares if the government is going broke and these kids are going to be sorely disappointed when they grow up and find out this fairy tale isn't true?

On to more firms. Apparently they not only have firms to make sure you get every federal initiative planned at your schools, but they  also have hiring firms. It turns out this School Board can't do anything at all by themselves.They are hiring a firm to help them hire a new superintendent! The budget was presented and line itemed out so neatly- even had postage and internet and phone costs- but oops- no amount for hiring of firms. That just comes out of the building contingency fund and the boards spending money, as I was told when I asked. Turns out we may never know the costs of all these things.

And so on it goes. Parents look to have your 5th graders coming home knowing what anal, oral and vaginal sex are this year. It's in the new health curriculum on page 61 if you want to check it out on the school district web site. These caring people who pretend to have a vision for the future, think that schools used to be the hub of the society. Their vision for the future is of a past that never was. I believe the family is the hub of society, but then they can't control families and no one would get paid!

THE GAY AGENDA IN SCHOOL

How many people know that the Bully program in school was lobbied for in the legislature by the Human Rights Commission, Gay Pride and other gay rights groups? The answer is anyone who paid any attention at all.

They poll tested the word bullying nationally and found it to be a word people would support. After all who wants their child to be bullied? But is this program really about bullying or is it about attitudes? I have been told recently by teachers that "bullying" has gotten worse since the inception of this program. It sounds like the bullying is reversed now. The scenario,according to the teacher, goes like this. One kid gets hit over the head by another and the kid who did the hitting becomes the victim. It seems that now the kid who gets hit is seen to have caused the other child to hit him. This is because the bullying program is about subjective feelings and attitudes.

When I was teaching some of the things that we were supposed to punish children for under the "bullying" program were "making someone feel inferior" or "not making eye contact" or "excluding someone." As far as I know in the constitution of the United States of America, american citizens have the right of association . This means they can associate with whomever they darn please. Shouldn't our school children have the same rights?

I think America is being bullied. This is not unlike the former Soviet satellite states where your opinions were determined by the government and spies would lurk around to report you if you did not have the right opinions and attitudes. I saw and experienced this, this is not second hand information. As Andy Rooney recently pointed out, disagreeing with the Gay agenda is not a phobia, it is an opinion.

Yesterday in the news it was reported that in California the governor, Jerry Brown, has just signed into law a piece of legislation requiring schools to teach Gay history, the history of homosexuals, in their public schools. The people of the great state of California are of course trying to fight this with a referendum. The question is, how far are the people of America going to let special interest groups like the Gays go in using the schools to further their agenda?

When are the American people going to see this for what it is, an affront on the civil liberties of all of us? Where does this all end? Will schools just become propaganda machines for special interests and will values, opinions and attitudes be determined by the government rather than the individual?

Maybe it will take getting the truth out. During my campaign for the school board here in Helena my opponents swore up and down, and stated publicly, that all the offensive material in the Health Enhancement Curriculum had been taken out. You can find the final draft of that document on the Helena School District web site. Among many other things you will find on page 61 that ten year olds (fifth graders) will be taught "anyone can get STI's by exchanging bodily fluids orally,vaginally, or anally". I do not see how you can teach this without the children understanding what oral, anal and vaginal sex are.

And why do they want to teach about sex to fifth graders? Because they believe attitudes are developed early and if children don't know what sex is , and what homosexual sex is, how can they teach them that it is o.k. or normal? My opponents in the school board race won running on that they were for character, clearly indicating to parents that they were for moral standards. To many teaching small children about sex may seem moral but to many others it does not. The point is, my opponents did not tell parents what their concept of character was . They did not run on page 61 of the Health Enhancement Curriculum which will be implemented this fall, in fact they lied about it.

THE FUTURE IS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT

I went to the  Helena School Board planning meeting where they were ostensibly gearing up to plan for the next 10 or maybe even 20 years! The room always gets so quiet when they begin talking about the future. After all, they must be pretty smart to know what the future is!

The question is, do they really know what the future is or have they just been to a bunch of workshops and come back with a bunch of new made up education words to mess around with our schools and continue to degrade the academic environment and lower scores as they have since 2001? In The statistics we could get from the Office of Public Instruction- as reported on this blog earlier, Helena High has fewer students in the 11th grade who are proficient or advanced in every single academic area tested in 2010 as compared to 2001. Capital High had fewer proficient and advanced 11th graders in Reading, Math and Social Studies.

I've been around the schools for a long time and I remember when the Montessori students were going to be so smart that when they entered the middle school they would be way above everyone else and all the parents would decide to put their students in Montessori. That just never materialized . I remember when open classrooms were the answer and then they had to quickly put up temporary walls at Rossiter, 4 Georgians, Broadwater and Ray Bjork. Other experiments go on but they produce bad results such as combined classes and project learning(formerly called cooperative learning).

Anyone who has had their children in project learning knows that time is wasted, capable students are responsible for those not as capable and overall learning becomes narrowly focused and not complete if there is any at all. At the planning meeting the bad guy in the room was apparently "the industrial model",in  other words, the teaching that built the country is the bad guy. Teachers teaching and kids respecting teachers, doing their work and learning is- believe it or not the bad guy!

Here's some of the new ideas, the "good guy". Competency graduation rather than Carnegie Standards (that's math,english, science etc.). What are competency standards? Well if you are aware of yourself and relate to other students, participate in class and generally get along with others you should  be able to graduate. Oh- it would be nice if you joined some clubs or activities too. Notice I didn't say show up or get there on time- this is apparently an old industrial idea too-an idea made up by greedy capitalists who just wanted workers to show up to work on time. They are now wiser however and will be understanding if their employee just can't do those sorts of things.

If you think I'm joking I'm not- I certainly wish I was. So in my view we've got some pretty misdirected people here who think going to a workshop and regurgitating all the nonsense they dish out makes them an education expert and a soothsayer about the future. If it wasn't so damaging to our children(especially those at risk)and to our country it wouldn't be such a tragedy. But it really is. I only hope parents will wake up, or the board will.

The saddest thing about the whole day was this though- everyone talked about federal direction but not one single person noticed that education is a states right in our constitution. NO ONE. They live and breathe any direction and all grants from the federal government(except of course No Child Left Behind which requires accountability). DO THEY EVEN KNOW THAT OUR TENTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION GIVES AUTHORITY OVER SCHOOLS TO THE STATES? DO THEY CARE?

As they talked I could see the future creeping up behind them unnoticed. Our country is almost 15 trillion dollars in debt. These grants will go away and schools will not be filling peoples tanks with gas or giving free private lessons of all sorts to anyone. The rugged individual will stand up and take back America as they talk.

PLANNING

Planning what? The schools.Whose going to do this planning? A firm. Why? Because the school board can't do planning on their own. Why not? They need direction according to the school board chairman. In fact, they've already sent an administrator to a workshop so she can direct them to get information ready for the firm. They will in fact be choosing between two firms. So apparently we have a new career here, belonging to a firm which directs school districts.

But I thought schools were short on cash? No not at all. Not only did they send the administrator to a workshop (undoubtedly out of state) they are hiring a facilitator for their planning sessions before they meet with the firm whom it was mentioned by a board member at the school board meeting, have gotten up to $50,000.00 in the past.

My,My, we do have tax payer money to throw around. It was asked eloquently by a board member why the HELENA SCHOOL DISTRICT couldn't just do their own planning. After all, we have facilities people who know all about our plant, financial people who know all about our finances and educators who certainly know about our curriculum. NO NO says the board chair- we need direction for global governance. I wonder if that's governance as in ONE WORLD GOVERNANCE.

The administrator who went to the workshop mentioned SOCIAL CHANGE over and over again. In fact she said we need to educate not just for the 3 R's but for the 4 C's. That would be critical thinking, collaboration , communication and creativity. I guess Helena can't teach kids to think critically, speak and write, work together and be creative without these out of state planners. I WONDER WHERE THESE FIRMS GET THEIR DIRECTION?

Our board chair mentioned they must plan for our communities priorities HMMMMM-  I guess we need people from out of state to tell us what our priorities are- I certainly haven't seen community involvement or direction in any of these meetings.

Recently liberals who plan to change our society using our schools and our children have mentioned the old LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE  where all the children were together in one room. Even they admit that those children learned more. That aside- how would the people in Dodge have responded to a school board that wanted to spend tens of thousands of dollars for planning?!! I suspect they would have smelled a rat and ran them out on a rail.

How this all should work is that teachers plan, students learn and school boards administrate ( this includes deciding when to spend money for facilities improvement.) We don't need help from out of state firms to tell us what our communities values are. These people are charlatans and if the people of Helena were awake to all this I'm sure they surely would smell a rat!

NOW ISN'T THAT PRECIOUS

I just heard from an anonymous source that those people in the Helena School District that are in favor of the new "HEALTH ENHANCEMENT STANDARDS" don't mind parental involvement they just don't want values forced on them.

Now let me get this straight. Stopping them from imposing values on peoples children is forcing values on them. If they just have to teach their controversial values at home someone is forcing values on them. Isn't that precious?

NO DICE! School is for reading,writing,math, spelling , social studies, science and maybe some extra curricular like music, P.E., library and electives in the upper grades. If you've got an agenda it doesn't belong in our schools. Teach your controversial values AT HOME!
                                          

IN HONOR

This blog is about our schools and I will depart just a little today for a very special reason- but I won't depart much. This blog is written today in honor of the greatest document ever written- THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Recently TIME MAGAZINE  wrote an article claiming that times have changed and our CONSTITUTION is maybe not so relevant anymore. Some may think that America is in decline and our best years are behind us- but not so fast- I prefer to believe that America is in a period of renewal. Perhaps this is the time when we all must make the ultimate sacrifice- speak out even if it means your reputation .

Our CONSTITUTION has never been more relevant, and I for one will fight for it to my last dying breath.This is what Calvin Coolidge had to say-
        

          It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have new
          thoughts and new experiences which have given  us a great advance over the people of that
          day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern.
          But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal,that is final.
          If they are endowed with inalienable rights that is final. If governments derive their just powers
          from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond
          these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction
          in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there
          was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed
          in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more
          modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.

                                                                                               Calvin Coolidge
                                                                                                July 5,1926


In our schools children are sent to visit one another within the school and without in various BUDDY
PROGRAMS. They are put in pods or at tables so that they never have a moment in independent space. All of these things are done to do away with that "old idea" of the rugged individual. That would be the individual who thought for himself, the individual with inalienable rights that come from God not the government.
          
Perhaps to some this seems an extreme view, but is undeniably true that "school reform" is about social change. This social change is collectivist, whatever name you want to put on that. OUR CONSTITUTION needs to be taught to every generation if we are to survive as FREE individuals who run the government not the other way around. Parents look around you and put yourself on the line to protect our freedoms from those who would do away with our CONSTITUTION and replace it with a collectivist state. Learn your history. Travel. I have seen collectivist states up close and personal. If we lose our freedom we may never be able to get it back.

PARENT ALERT

I recently did some research regarding a question by one of our Helena School Board Trustees. He wanted to know why we had over crowded classes in our valley schools and were hiring paras rather than teachers because we had no space. I knew that at Rossiter School in our valley we housed Head Start so I went there to investigate the situation.  What I found out was that Rossiter School not only houses Head Start they also house a class for the Intermountain Children's home- all while their classes are over crowded. I was curious about how many other Head Start classes were held in our public schools so I called Head Start.

The young lady I talked to was very cheerful and gave me all the information I needed to know in less than 2 minutes. We have, in addition to the Head Start class at Rossiter, 2 Head Starts at Lincoln School which is closed to our elementary school students here, and 2 Head Start classes at Ray Bjork school which is also closed to our public school students here. East Helena also has 2 Head Start classes at East Gate public School and there are Head Starts in the public schools in Townsend. Clearly if I was interested in statewide or nationwide Head Starts she could have told me that there are public schools across the nation housing them. Why is this? What has happened to the K-12 mission of our public schools?

Then it occurred to me. If school reform is about improving academics it has been a dismal failure here and nationwide, but if it is about advancing socialist principals and ideas it has been a bang up success. In Helena and across the nation due to Federal Grants some schools are giving free food all day long to students , in class, irregardless of how much their parents make. Every school here in Helena now has a daycare program. Children can be taken care of at school from 8 o'clock in the morning until 6 o'lock at night.We house preschool and now in our high schools are getting into vocational training like colleges and vocational education facilities.

Our children in elementary school here are being taught global warming and conservation theories in their new "Health Enhancement" curriculum as if they were facts. They are virtually to be turned into little psychoanalysts as they learn to identify bipolar personalities, schizophrenia and other psychosis in this same program. Clearly in an attempt to structure attitudes they are being taught Indian Education in every subject (including math) and sex education such as knowing barriers to anal and oral sex in 5th grade. The behavior programs are many (Buddy, Bully, Dare etc.) and they are oppressive, striving to take away individuality from students and teachers.

Some of you may agree with using school to change society. You may believe that our schools should be social service centers. Maybe you think you're a citizen of the world too. I don't. I'm a very proud citizen of the United States where we believe in the individuals right to determine their own destiny. This includes determining values at home, raising your own children and the right to your private property which you will use to pursue your own happiness. This is not selfishness, this is FREEDOM.

If you believe in America and the freedoms it offers, if you want to raise your own children, it is time to get involved or get your kids out of public schools. The "Whole Child" concept has a whole other agenda, and it is depriving your child of a good academic education- at the very least!

60's GENERATION AND FREE LOVE

I was raised in the fifties and early sixties when delaying sex until marriage was definitely the expected norm. Some people surely did not stick to the norm but many people did and the STD problem was not what it is today. Our media was more discreet and sex wasn't shown graphically in the media. As I recall it the hippies did not like this situation. They demanded open sexuality and were very rude and vocal about it.

I remember riding home from school with my sister who had become a hippie in 1965. She had a wonderful new acquaintance in the car (he was later arrested for spray painting the whole school with graffiti and ended up in jail). He was a very angry young man and thought he was real smart (weren't all hippies real smart?) all knowing, kind of like the "progressives" of today. Well as it turns out, he did know something I didn't.

I was 15 years old, and he was discussing masturbation in our car. I didn't know what that was and he jumped on me about how I needed to get educated etc. etc. I was mortified. Now I'm 61 and I know who  the smart one was. It certainly wasn't him!

So the hippies introduced all the college students to living together as they slept with whomever in public parks and at raucous concerts. My, weren't they smart?Abortions and STDs went through the roof.

Fast forward to today. Now they are so concerned about this STD problem that they caused that they have come up with a solution. Teach more open sexuality in school without parents approval. Do you think they really are trying to reduce STDs or are they still on the same path for more open sexuality and acceptance of the gay life style as normal- maybe even recruitment?

It's astounding how they argue in the national media that they have the right to do this. I'll bet if you stopped a parent in the parking lot when they dropped their child off for school and asked them why they brought their child to school the answer would not be to learn about sex.

I'll bet the parent would expect the school to teach reading, writing and math. Who do these people think they are? Do they think they are some kind of gods that know more than parents and can use the schools for any purpose they want? The only answer to this is for parents to realize how bad this is for their children and to put a stop to it NOW.

SCHOOL IS NOT ABOUT POLITICS

At the school board meeting tonight I noticed a retired teacher like myself. She got up and talked with passion about funds being redirected from students most immediate needs to new programs. I agreed with her and she and I probably agree on very little of a political nature.

Then again, maybe it's often the ideological lines that separate us and not really very much of our true beliefs. As we talked afterward it seemed that we agreed on many things- like the needs of struggling students and the need for textbooks even in the computer world.

I commend her passion. If this whole community could quit listening to special interests and just find a consensus on what we want in Helena for our schools we could make real changes in our Helena Schools. School truly should not be about politics-it should be about helping every child to read, write and do math.

Speaking of politics. Did you know that our school district spends $30,000.00 dollars on dues to associations that lobby at the legislature ? The School Boards Association and the Montana Quality Education Coalition are two lobbying groups that survive on taxpayer dollars. Their job is to fight for increases in school funding irregardless of the amount of money the state has to spend. Is it fair to force taxpayers to fund organizations that lobby and support candidates they don't support?