PLEASE RELEASE US LET US GO!!

I watched the Republican convention tonight and it was inspiring- all about all the freedom we needed in our economy and in our lives. How AMERICAN PEOPLE build businesses and follow their dreams. But when it gets to education they just don't get it. I could see myself standing outside with a group of my compatriots in these education wars singing "ALL WE ARE SAYING IS GIVE FREEDOM A CHANCE!!" I found myself yelling at the television as Jeb Bush gave his speech- so obviously his job application for Secretary of Education. Here's the thing Jeb- THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS NO BUSINESS HAVING A SECRETARY OF EDUCATION- OR A DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION- AT ALL!!!

PLEASE RELEASE US LET US GO!! This is OUR country. These are OUR children! We are not a bunch of incompetent fools that need to be MANAGED by the Federal government. Our children are not YOUR children to be shaped for your global economy. They don't live to work for you.FREEDOM works in schools, look at the KIPP academy and so many others-why won't they let us go!! BREAK THESE CHAINS GOVERNOR ROMNEY!!! School choice is no school choice at all when you have a Common Core Curriculum and federally funded tests!!!

There is no freedom at all when David Coleman, the architect of Common Core, is appointed president of the Scholastic Achievement Test board,so that he can make the tests for college entrance compatible to his Common Core that he developed behind closed doors!

This country is screaming for its' freedom and the schools are being left out of the equation! We don't want you to do anything about schools Mr. Romney, it's not your business or your job. Like in the economy- get out of the way and let freedom work. Give the states back their money to use for vouchers and CLOSE THE ILLEGAL FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION!!

I envision a world where schools are thriving in a world of competition and freedom. A world where all schools are free to be successful like the KIPP academy. Schools of all kinds and stripes from Montessori to e-learning and everything in between. Those that thrive will continue and lead, those that do not will close because they won't have enough students- just as in the business world. Colleges will compete for education students by providing training for the competitive school systems that demand only the best. Curriculum companies will respond to the needs of these schools and their parents and teachers.

WHY CAN'T YOU GET THIS MR.ROMNEY?? SCHOOLS NEED FREEDOM TO WORK AND THRIVE JUST LIKE BUSINESSES DO. PLEASE DISAPPOINT MR JEB BUSH WHO KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT EDUCATION AND ELIMINATE THE JOB HE IS APPLYING FOR. LET OUR SCHOOLS GO!!!

CAREER PATHWAYS

Career Pathways is the old "School to Work". I guess they must have poll tested Career Pathways and found it to be more palatable to the public than "school to work". In Europe students are sent on "Career Pathways" at age 14 based on how well they test. Essentially the government decides whether you're college material or not, if not you're sent on a vocational track to become a mechanic or a hairdresser or something. Actually, from what my husband and I have experienced at the post offices in Scotland ( that's where they get their welfare checks), many young ladies deemed not to be "college track material" seem to choose the single motherhood track at an early age which sends them right out of school and on to welfare!


So, the globalists want our wonderful country to model our education system after Europe and "Near East Asia" (think China). I remember when the radicals did a little "study", that they drummed up, and decided America was a "Nation At Risk". I was in college at the time studying Early Childhood Education and I was engulfed with all the propaganda about how our schools were failing, a terrible disaster, HELP!! We needed the Federal Government to create a Department of Education and save us!! So in 1979 congress established the Department of Education. Has it saved us? Hardly. It's destroyed education in America.


I went back to the high school I graduated from in California a few years ago and I was stunned. The students had chopped down the huge Oak Tree we had on our quad. They had kicked in lockers and graffitied the school. There was a nursery for students' babies on campus! I'm not alone in this experience. I've talked to others who have gone back to their high schools and found them turned into slums. So now, to clean up the mess they have made with public education, the Federal Government, which has no business in education in the first place, has decided our education system will model itself after Europe and China !!


I don't know about you but I am thoroughly sick of talking about the Federal Government. I took some classes at Hillsdale College in Michigan a few years ago (every minute was stunningly brilliant), they told us that when you are talking about the government all the time it's TOO BIG!! Yes indeed, IT'S TOO BIG. They talked about the government in Romania all the time, HOW TO ESCAPE FROM THEIR COUNTRY!! We're still free to leave, but where would we go? When freedom is gone in America there will be no freedom. But back to euro/chinese American schools. The Savannah Morning Post reports that students entering high school must "Select a Career Pathway". In other words, at age 15 they must choose what they will do for the rest of their lives!! What if they choose vocational and then decide on college later? Will they have taken the courses necessary to gain college admittance? I think not. In Georgia the kids can choose everything from sports medicine to administration/
information support (secretary), but should children in high school be wasting their time taking career courses? What if they take administration/ information support and then decide after graduation that they really wanted to do sports medicine? This is crazy. Ann Romney was just on the television and , at least from what the commentator reported, she doesn't get it. She wants to make equine therapy available to everybody. Is she paying for this herself or does she think she can use her husbands presidency to make all of us pay for this? Where is Equine therapy in the constitution? Why doesn't the Federal Government just BUTT OUT!! Everything can sound good, but get this, the Federal Government is SIXTEEN TRILLION DOLLARS IN DEBT AND BORROWING FORTY CENTS OF EVERY DOLLAR THEY SPEND!! STOP!! Perhaps Ann will just get PRIVATE CHARITY to support equine therapy- one can only hope.


The American public has become so used to the Federal Government doing everything that presidential candidates seem to think they need an education plan. This is ridiculous. They need to GET OUT!! If you want to improve education in America get the Federal Government and the Globalists out!! Free markets will work with schools the same way they work with economies. Let the schools compete and the parents will choose the best schools for their children. Give the power back to the parents- they are not all incompetent neglectful fools. Parents are competent and they love their children. In a free country the power is given to the people.


Under Common Core, as under Goals 2000, the proponents claim they are making a "paradigm shift". Yes, once again these "experts" from the federal government have a corner on the what the future will be and are corralling all of us fools into a paradigm shift to create amazing things in our schools!!All they have to do is give our teachers some workshops and suddenly these teachers will be in the new world of the paradigm shift. This is more than highly unlikely. Teachers need to be prepared well in college. Colleges will provide good programs when schools demand it. We do need to improve rigor in school and you can start by getting rid of all the programs and letting the teachers teach. Get rid of the "whole child" concept, the parents will take care of that. Schools need to teach,not to cook, babysit, health care and mental health care, community service , clothe and collect school supplies. Send all these interlopers home and leave the teacher, the students, and the curriculum ( basic academics), to get the job done. Give the parents the choice to leave schools that don't work and the schools the choice to discipline students and send students home that won't cooperate with school rules. School research science should be a continuous effort in colleges and private curriculum companies as it is in the private economy. How many times can I say,THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CAN NOT RUN SCHOOLS ANY BETTER THAN THEY CAN RUN ECONOMIES. FREEDOM WORKS!!

THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD

I started my long and winding road in Berkeley, California. Yes, the home of the hippies and where the destruction of America, for all intensive purposes, began. I had graduated from High School in 1967, not far from Berkeley, and the hippies were in the streets singing "give peace a chance". Our parents told us the Communists were behind all this, and they were, but we didn't believe it at the time. Unbelievably, later, when the communist radicals got ahold of the democratic party, our parents failed to see this and voted with them!

I had gone to California colleges and I was the first in my family to graduate from college, a story you hear often. So, I was educated, I thought. I thought those socialist profs were real smart, certainly smarter than my parents. They taught me that the church was a palliative for the masses and I believed that, until one day I realized that allowing the hippies to be God wasn't working out that well. My real education began when my husband and I drove our little rental car over the border, behind the iron curtain, into Yugoslavia (it was a country then), and through Bulgaria and into Romania. The first thing I noticed was the stark change to somberness and grey, next I noticed the police with machine guns on the corners. These people meant business. I was frightened. It occurred to me that the American State Department would send a letter on my behalf if I disappeared but I doubted they would send an army. I COULD JUST DISAPPEAR- THESE GOVERNMENTS WERE THAT POWERFUL.

In Berkeley we had heard some of these stories, but we did not believe it. We wanted to see for ourselves. We did. We drove for a very long time over roads that had pot holes you could bury a horse in. We had to change the rims on this new car's tires many times. When we finally reached my cousin's apartment she began to tell us all the sad stories- quietly, if anyone heard they could report you and the government just might make you disappear. The sadness wasn't that they were poor, though they WERE poor, my cousin who was a language professor at the college, and her husband who was an engineer, lived in a tiny apartment and had rationed food as everyone else did- about a pound of pork a month, no beef. The rich people, as in America today, were the government officials, although at least in America this is not exclusive yet. But why do government officials like Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama become millionaires while in public office? You got what the government said you could have. No, the sadness was not that you were poor, or even that my cousin's brother had died because the free health care was essentially no health care, the sadness was because the only thing free, as she told me, was the little flower she had growing on her windowsill. Try to imagine what it would be like not to matter. You are no one. The only thing that mattered there was the "good of all". The ALL POWERFUL government decided what that was. There would be this wonderful panacea somewhere in the future. She told me that when she bought clothes they asked her size and gave her the first item on the rack. You were treated rudely, remember, you didn't matter at all, no one had to please you. She so much wanted to learn and to travel but this was impossible. Even to travel in Soviet States took layers of bureaucracy. You could take very little money with you and you had to be strip searched. One day my cousin did disappear. The police picked her up and didn't even notify anyone. They picked her up because she had a friend that got engaged to an American. They thought it was her fault. Eventually they let her go. Would you like to live like that? Would you like that to be the future for your children and grandchildren? Once the government gets that much control you can not change it. You WILL live the way the government tells you.


Ho, ho, ho,- but that could never happen here!! YES IT COULD. The only thing that makes America special is that wonderful constitution that will protect our rights if we respect it. But tragically, our government is moving away from our constitution at a warp speed pace now, and our supreme court will not even protect us. The government can now make you buy anything they want, "it's a tax". Just think of that. Another way that we used to be free in America was in our schools and cities and counties and states. But do you think our cities, counties, schools and states are free now from federal control? Have you been to any of those meetings where nothing makes any sense and the people stand up in mass protest? What happens? Nothing happens, the school board or city commission or county commission, just do what they were going to do anyway. They do exactly what the Federal Government wants them to do. Do you think it was the city of Helena that thought up "Urban Foresters" or "Complete Streets"(bicycle paths) , or disability parking and new annoyingly red curbs everywhere, or a "non-discrimination ordinance", or history signs in front of houses? No indeed- this is all from the policy wonks in Washington. These all powerful people run your life whether you like it or
 not. How about the smoking ordinance- was that because the people of Helena wanted it? NO! What about our little city recreation programs that have now all been taken over by the Rocky Mountain Development Council, it's all Federal grants. All Federal now.

What about the schools, they're still free aren't they? NO INDEED!! They haven't been locally controlled for a long time. Even before the new National Curriculum called Common Core they were taken over by the Federal Government. Do you think the Helena School Board came up with the Comprehensive Health Plan that teaches little children about anal sex? Not any more than they came up with the Bully program, the Buddy program, the Dare program, the Artists in Residency program, the Community Garden program, Head Start, Youth Connections, Intermountain in the schools, how the disabled will be taught or Common Core, to name a few.

I just learned this fact, and it's a stunner- 66% of the funding for the Office of Public Instruction comes from - guess who?- yes, you're right- once again- THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT! And who accredits our schools? The Office of Public Instruction! The Communists are wrong and they are dangerous- but they are clever. By controlling the office of public instruction they control education in the state! Who goes to the legislature with Federal Programs? The Office of Public Instruction. Who goes to the Montana State School Board for mandates to the schools? The Office of Public Instruction.The Federal government provides only 7% of the funding for our schools but controls them almost completely.

Behind the iron curtain you could not get good information- everything was propaganda- the government controlled the press. But the government doesn't control the press in America does it? Yes, it does a lot, especially in Helena. Did you know that the Helena School District is proposing to close FOUR schools in the city? Yes, that's the proposed long range plan and the Independent record never even reported it to the people!! Now, why is that? Do you suppose the superintendent and school board members asked them to soft soap the story to manipulate the public? Is this propaganda? Yes, it is. The Helena School District plans to build 2 schools in the valley- an enlarged Jim Darcy and a new middle school and they propose to close Hawthorne, Bryant, Central and Broadwater. They want the elementary students to be in huge schools of from 450-500 students. If you think this is a local plan you are wrong. Once again, everything from the plan to how they control the public, is being managed nationally. If you don't believe this you better wake up. Amy Yurko from Chicago doesn't get her ideas from Helena. Why do they want huge elementary schools and small middle schools ( 500 for elementary and only 700 for middle schools), my guess is that too many small schools have too much freedom. Big schools will enforce compliance with collaboration- this will be the new "academic freedom".

It's a long and winding road and those of us that are not complete idiots or self serving anti-patriots learn things along the way. Every path is different,but I am hoping that there are enough of you, my fellow Americans, to get in the fight and save what that flag of stars and stripes really stands for, OUR FREEDOM. If you think you're selling your freedom for some security- think again. What are you paying and what are you getting? What is the Federal Government doing for you that your local governments and schools couldn't do better on their own? I hope you'll think again, because there will come a time, if we continue down the road we're on, that your opinion will matter less than it does today, and then it will be too late. When the government gets the kind of power and control they had in Romania, you don't change that.

BUDDY CAN YOU SPARE ME A DIME?

This question "Buddy can you spare me a dime" is most often associated with our Great Depression here in America, a depression that was exacerbated by our brethren on the left, just as the Great Recession that we live in today was both created and is exacerbated by these individuals ( excuse me, these collectivist community members- they would disdain the idea of being an INDIVIDUAL, all alone by themselves). In any event, yes, the big spenders. People who blithely spend, NOT THEIR OWN MONEY, but the public money, as if they themselves were benefactors of goodness. They take $2,000.00 a year from my family for the schools, if I only count property tax. Just look at your property tax bill and take 67% of that amount and voila! you will know what the schools are taking from your family. This amount has gone up over the years as the schools have built their kingdom.

I was at the school board meeting last night, feeling very small and insignificant, as these mighty people spent money just like it didn't matter- they're rich on your money!! They decided with very little discussion that they needed a NEW ADMINISTRATOR, yes, that would be about $90,000.00 a year! WOW- WHEN I STARTED TEACHING, TEACHERS GOT NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR! Things have certainly progressed in the schools. When questioned our new Superintendent admitted that he will be hiring another tech position too- that would be replacing one retiree, and adding  one new tech position (about $50,000.00) and one new ADMINISTRATOR. Dr. Kultgen hasn't learned to lie yet- he put it right out there. The new ADMINISTRATOR will be paid to supervise a grand total of six in this newly created technology department. I went up to the individual who was supposedly the head of technology, and asked her what her title was, since Dr. Kultgen had referred to her handling New Teacher Orientation. She giggled and said it was in flux- she kind of did technology, and libraries and professional development. So- no one leaves and more positions are added. Remember that this district is in DEFICIT. This district is CHARGING STUDENTS TO PLAY SPORTS AND INCREASED THE FEE to cover DEFICITS. Well, if you run out of money there's always fees and one time maintenance funds allocated by the state to use. And what will happen next year when that ONE TIME money is gone?

Not to worry, our district has a good Bond Rating because we have self insured our staff for health insurance and we put that money in a fund- we have eleven million dollars in that HEALTH INSURANCE FUND- so that makes our district fiscally sound. Michael O'neil, trustee, informed us that this is one of the advantages of being self insured! So- the bond raters count money, which should be there as health insurance, as spendable money by the district!! But don't worry, they assured me THEY WOULD NEVER SPEND THAT MONEY FOR OTHER THINGS!! Do you believe that? I don't. In fact, the business manager said they could go right on blithely spending, even though there is THREE MILLION DOLLARS in tax money that is being held in protest from communications companies ( AT&T, Verizon, Alltel, Bresnan etc.), because the school district has the money in the HEALTH INSURANCE FUND!! The business manager explicitly told the board they would probably NEVER SEE all that tax money, because protested taxes rarely are paid in full.

The cost of the new bus contract came out- and yes it is significantly more than last year- why? Remember the seat belts? Yes indeed, we took the most expensive route- well we've got the money right? Even if the district is in deficit and there really never was a danger on our buses and no child was ever hurt-- 12.8% increase in elementary and 6.82% for high school- $82.44 per hour operational fee for regular buses and $104.75 for special buses. Where does all this money come from when we are in deficit? The mighty titans aren't worried- in fact they just contracted for cameras in the high schools and middle schools with an initial contract of $500,000 to $550,000. And what will service fees cost for that? Operational costs are 5 to 10 percent of that PER YEAR- add $25,000 to $50,000 to the budget EVERY YEAR. WOW. You sure do make friends with all these contracts, but where does all the money come from? Just from somewhere- maybe the health insurance fund- which has no controls like those evil insurance companies have. The school district can just take what they want and spend what they want I guess. The school district health plan is hundreds of dollars more expensive per month than a comparable private company. Why is that?

Just as I was about to write this blog I got a notice of a school board meeting to be held at the Montana School Boards Association Building-  "Montana School Boards Association will facilitate discussion with the Board of Trustees regarding Governance,Trustee/Superintendent Relationships, and Flow of Communication." Now, you don't think they gave the MTSBA this contract just to give them money do you? Well, I do. I can't imagine when the MTSBA, a lobbying group paid by school districts from our hard earned tax money, became "Communication experts" and "Governance experts". This is just wasted money. If you don't know how to govern you shouldn't have run for the school board, and if you can't "communicate" with your new superintendent, why did you hire him?

All of this is just a microcosm of a world wide problem with socialists. We're all going broke and things are just getting worse as they CONTINUE TO ADD NEW COSTS AND NEVER STOP- Buddy can you spare me a dime? I spent all my money on taxes for new programs!

THE CAT AND THE MOUSE!!

I've just been doing some of my summer reading- yes, whiling away my time reading the MONTANA COMMON CORE STANDARDS. I do get so tired of being lied to. Do they really think we're all that stupid? Maybe they just hope enough of us are so they can keep getting by with this. As I listened to Michael Chapman, an education research specialist at the Heritage Foundation, explaining about how education reform has always been about Agenda 21, preparing children to be "citizens of the global village", I frankly knew he was right. I've known this for a long time, and the more I research the more I find out that my gut instinct was correct.

It can make you feel a bit overwhelmed ( well O.K.- VERY overwhelmed) to learn about George Soros's Out Society and the Tides Foundation and the Apollo Institute all supporting "People for the American Way" (Isn't that name a misnomer- since when has America been about Socialism?)and billionaires like Bill Gates buying out the AFT ($1,000,000) the P.T.A.($3,000,000) and the "conservative" think tank, the Fordham Institute ($3,000,000) to support Common Core (the national curriculum), but here's the thing- it's like the CAT and the MOUSE. The CAT (the globalists that lie to you and are on a mission to control your country) has been planning and working for a long time. He has plans for the MOUSE (that's every American who wants to stay FREE), he has strategies and he must be very, very, quiet and very,very patient. Since this CAT can talk he has to lie and manipulate to get where he wants to go without the MOUSE knowing about it! But WAIT A MINUTE- all the MOUSE has to do is look up! When he sees the CAT he can run away and be FREE!! The MOUSE has to get educated and get involved and Vote. The MOUSE is the majority and can stop all of this. Until he's caught,the MOUSE can still survive.

The CAT is very, very clever. He gets conservatives to go along with him. Let's look at Common Core. Common Core advocates are saying that this curriculum is aligned with E.D. Hirsch. Conservatives love the E.D. Hirsch curriculum. I've never taught E.D. Hirsch but SERIOUSLY-has E.D. Hirsch EVER had children researching to back up their opinions in Kindergarten and on up? I'm just betting that E.D. Hirsch thinks children SHOULD KNOW SOMETHING before they are encouraged to research their OPINIONS! With the new Common Core Curriculum children won't need their parents for advice or guidance- they know how to look everything up and they have their own opinions!! REALLY- children are not cognitively prepared to know all these things- they listen to ADULTS and model their opinions on ADULTS- it's just a question of which adults isn't it? The new Common Core Standards have children researching and answering "open ended" questions starting from day 1. I remember when I went to college and all the Socialist profs were peddling their clap trap- I was 18-22 years old and I bought it!! I didn't know better at the time. It has taken years of education, research and thought to understand what this is all about. Research is worthless without some underlying information- like understanding HISTORY and being able to READ!!

Common Core can all sound so de rigueur , so nouveau posh, so 21st century- but in point of fact it's a bunch of hogwash! Ninety-nine percent of what you learn is fact- especially when you are a child. There are exactly 50 states in the United States of America, Our Northern border is Canada, the Pacific ocean is on our West coast and the Atlantic Ocean is on our east coast. Two plus two is four and always will be, you spell people p-e-o-p-l-e. So, those fill in the bubble tests are not so bad- do you know what you need to know or not? You can extrapolate on your opinions as you get older and actually know enough to have some understandings. Of course, the example they give for Kindergarteners is telling about their favorite book- not offensive is it? How COULD you claim there was any devious intent here? Well there is devious intent- the MOUSE is no longer OBLIVIOUS AND SOLD OUT by the CAT. School is not about children developing OPINIONS. It's about them respecting adults who know more than they do, and accepting their help in building the foundational knowledge they will need to be an educated person.

More of the Montana Common Core lies are that this is a "states" initiative. Give me a break- this is really tired Denise(State Superintendent)- we know who funded grants to school districts who would join Common Core (Obama) and who gave waivers from No Child Left Behind based on joining Common Core (Obama) and that Arne Duncan our Federal Department of Education Secretary has been out all over the place supporting and trumpeting Common Core. We know that a National Curriculum has been a dream of the Socialist Left for a hundred years and that the TESTS for Common Core were funded by the CRC( Congressional Research Council). Since when is the States Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers  responsible for "charging" what the states want Denise? Did you forget something here? STATES ARE GOVERNED BY THEIR LEGISLATURES NOT ASSOCIATIONS AND COUNCILS!!! Let's at least just drop the facade - WE KNOW DENISE. We also know that you WILL be telling teacher's what to teach and how to teach, though you protest that Common Core will not do this.IN THE FIRST PLACE, IF COMMON CORE IS COMMON, AND STUDENTS WILL BE LEARNING THE SAME THINGS AT THE SAME TIME EVERYWHERE, OBVIOUSLY---- YOU WILL BE TELLING THE TEACHERS WHAT TO TEACH!!! Not to belabor the point- school districts across the nation are workshopping the teachers to death with their "new" teaching strategies and you will be doing it too Denise- unless our legislature looks up, sees the CAT, and defunds this nonsense. Teachers will be evaluated by committees that tell teachers how to teach, and may possibly be evaluated based on how their students do on all this online testing (some states are planning to do this).

The MOUSE has seen the CAT. Get going MOUSE!!!