Here I am in California and people I talk to are in shock and awe about what is going on in the schools in Helena "But how could all this be happening in such a nice little town like Helena?" You've got me- I guess we were just a nice little target. I had to ask "You mean you don't have sex clubs on your high school campuses here?" Laughter- and then" No we certainly do not!". "You don't teach barriers to anal and oral sex to your 5th graders?"" Are you people in Helena CRAZY?!!" Well I was just asking. It appears that here they are concentrating on improving their Star test scores and are doing a bang up job of it too.
Why is our school board so crazy and why did the people that voted in the Front Street Learning Center polls reelect them? I guess the people in the valley better start taking this seriously and get their friends and neighbors out to vote next time. Wouldn't it be nice if our new superintendent was from Montana and wasn't there to build a resume but to make our Helena schools the best?
Friday, 13 May 2011
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
SCHOOL BOARD UPDATE
The school Board meeting tonight tonight was rather uplifting. They actually had a discussion! The superintendent even got mad when a board member suggested that some teachers may not want to teach the new "Health Enhancement Curriculum"- he asked the board member menacingly who the teacher was. Thank goodness the board member refused to give up the name. Two other board members were concerned that the "Health Enhancement" curriculum would replace art. Interesting. No concern at all for what the effects of this graphic material will have on young minds, just that they will miss art! Well, Obama did a study apparently and guess what? It's art that will keep at risk youngsters in school!
So I guess we have the answer to our drop out problem - just do lots of art. There was an update on doing away with four days of instruction. Apparently (according to the superintendent) the parents just love the idea because now all their children will get out at 3:15 and they won't have to wait that pesky ten minutes. Does no one care about teaching and learning anymore? They never discuss how best to improve our low math scores or how to get more time for teaching so we won't be ranked at the bottom in our middle and high schools. There's never a discussion about failing programs (like DARE} that take away from class time while not performing their intended mission. In fact- they only praise programs never evaluate them.
I wonder what their process is for evaluating programs so they can eliminate those that don't reach their stated goal? Where is the scale? Is their any ending time for these programs or do they just go on indefinitely? When they add a new program do they get rid of others? The only program I can ever remember seeing an end to is the recent coaches program (math not sports) because the stimulus money went away.
So I guess we have the answer to our drop out problem - just do lots of art. There was an update on doing away with four days of instruction. Apparently (according to the superintendent) the parents just love the idea because now all their children will get out at 3:15 and they won't have to wait that pesky ten minutes. Does no one care about teaching and learning anymore? They never discuss how best to improve our low math scores or how to get more time for teaching so we won't be ranked at the bottom in our middle and high schools. There's never a discussion about failing programs (like DARE} that take away from class time while not performing their intended mission. In fact- they only praise programs never evaluate them.
I wonder what their process is for evaluating programs so they can eliminate those that don't reach their stated goal? Where is the scale? Is their any ending time for these programs or do they just go on indefinitely? When they add a new program do they get rid of others? The only program I can ever remember seeing an end to is the recent coaches program (math not sports) because the stimulus money went away.
Friday, 6 May 2011
ON VALUES,
For our liberal friends. Since so many of you seem to be interested in my blog I'd like to say something just to you. As you must know by now I am an ardent advocate for kids in public school. I'm involved because I love Helena and I want so much to love our schools. I want our schools to have excellent ratings and be the best for all students and parents. Teaching is a good government job but it's not going to last if you people continue down this road of forcing values into school that only you agree on.
In Indiana governor Mitch Daniels signed a bill for 7,500 publicly financed scholarships, this number rises to 15,000 next year and has an unlimited cap after that. In Wisconsin Scott Walker has broken the union and even in Massachusetts bargaining rights have been taken away. In Washington state, on the street where my niece lives, there isn't one single family that will put their children in public school. In our own district here in Helena, as of last year's data ,we're losing 4 million dollars in ANB funding because of kids that have been taken out of our public schools. I'll keep you updated.
Why not just stop it while we still have public schools in Montana? You have the right to organize, recruit, have clubs and do anything you want to promote your values but , in America, you don't have the right to force those values on other peoples children in school. Our country is about evenly divided conservative versus liberal and is likely to stay that way for a long time. Even though I was raised in a very conservative time many of my classmates became hippies in the 60's. Your attempts to create a new society will not work. Societies don't work that way, there's too many variables. I was in Romania for two weeks in 1975. Children went to school with numbers on their sweaters and the parents had nothing to say about what they were taught. Eventually they machine gunned their dictator in the gutter. I'm not saying anything that violent would ever happen here but I am saying that your attempts to control values will not work.
America is a free country thank goodness and so it will remain. Values are taught at home in this country. What you really are accomplishing is destroying our public schools, from test scores to public confidence.
In Indiana governor Mitch Daniels signed a bill for 7,500 publicly financed scholarships, this number rises to 15,000 next year and has an unlimited cap after that. In Wisconsin Scott Walker has broken the union and even in Massachusetts bargaining rights have been taken away. In Washington state, on the street where my niece lives, there isn't one single family that will put their children in public school. In our own district here in Helena, as of last year's data ,we're losing 4 million dollars in ANB funding because of kids that have been taken out of our public schools. I'll keep you updated.
Why not just stop it while we still have public schools in Montana? You have the right to organize, recruit, have clubs and do anything you want to promote your values but , in America, you don't have the right to force those values on other peoples children in school. Our country is about evenly divided conservative versus liberal and is likely to stay that way for a long time. Even though I was raised in a very conservative time many of my classmates became hippies in the 60's. Your attempts to create a new society will not work. Societies don't work that way, there's too many variables. I was in Romania for two weeks in 1975. Children went to school with numbers on their sweaters and the parents had nothing to say about what they were taught. Eventually they machine gunned their dictator in the gutter. I'm not saying anything that violent would ever happen here but I am saying that your attempts to control values will not work.
America is a free country thank goodness and so it will remain. Values are taught at home in this country. What you really are accomplishing is destroying our public schools, from test scores to public confidence.
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
ALL IS NEVER LOST
So while outspending us 30 to one they did eek out a victory of about 1,000 votes about 1/8 of the total votes and no one even got 50%. So what does this mean? Do we give up?Of course not. Does anyone ever give up on family and country? Maybe there is someone but not true Americans. As one of our famous forefathers said "We have just begun to fight". Goliath beat David last night but he will not win out eventually.
It's interesting to note that to win this victory they ran as conservatives- all about character not the "Health Enhancement " curriculum or teaching 10 year olds anal sex and 5 year olds to "recognize mental illness". So our job is to continue to educate the public.
Special interests from Planned Parenthood to Youth Connections and the unions won this election. It's about business- grants that bring jobs and benefits and schools that bring them the headcount for their businesses. Will you sacrifice your family values and the strength of character that comes from these beliefs that built this nation for their jobs ?
At Bryant school the students eat free food all day during time that they used to learn something. So they are learning something only it isn't math which you used to teach while they are now eating their breakfast and doing their exercises. They're learning a socialist mind set which will do them in as surely as the comprehensive sex teaching which will sexualize them early and throw them into moral relativity.
America will wake up but unfortunately for Helena we are in the depths of despair for now.
It's interesting to note that to win this victory they ran as conservatives- all about character not the "Health Enhancement " curriculum or teaching 10 year olds anal sex and 5 year olds to "recognize mental illness". So our job is to continue to educate the public.
Special interests from Planned Parenthood to Youth Connections and the unions won this election. It's about business- grants that bring jobs and benefits and schools that bring them the headcount for their businesses. Will you sacrifice your family values and the strength of character that comes from these beliefs that built this nation for their jobs ?
At Bryant school the students eat free food all day during time that they used to learn something. So they are learning something only it isn't math which you used to teach while they are now eating their breakfast and doing their exercises. They're learning a socialist mind set which will do them in as surely as the comprehensive sex teaching which will sexualize them early and throw them into moral relativity.
America will wake up but unfortunately for Helena we are in the depths of despair for now.
Thursday, 28 April 2011
EASY COME EASY GO
With all the talk from the school district about the levy you would think that $417,000 is really important to them. Well, it should be that's a lot of money. But I just have to wonder why the millions they have been losing since they started school reform in the early nineties is never considered a problem. For every elementary student they lose they lose $4,900.00 a year, for every middle school or high school student they lose they lose $6,200.00 a year. Just do the math.
St. Andrew's now has about 80 middle and high school students and 90 elementary- that alone is almost a million dollars. Helena Christian Academy has 136 students a loss of more than $700,000.00. The five other private schools have a total of about 200 more students losing the district more than a million dollars. Home schooling has gone from 30 in 1988 to 248 today- and that's only the people reporting. That's another more than a million dollars lost to the district. So the district is losing around 4 million dollars because people are taking their children out of public school.
Prior to the "strategic plan" in the early nineties we had only 30 home schooled children and one very small private school. In those days almost everyone trusted the public schools. What has happened to our district? How many more people would withdraw their children if they could afford it? Is it fair that some people have to leave their children in schools they really don't trust? Is it fair that people are having to pay their taxes and then pay again for private schooling or to give up their job and home school?
What has the "strategic plan" done for our schools? Our drop out rates are high our scores are low and we have lost many students. Maybe we should go back to teaching good academics and get the politics and behavior shaping out of our schools.
St. Andrew's now has about 80 middle and high school students and 90 elementary- that alone is almost a million dollars. Helena Christian Academy has 136 students a loss of more than $700,000.00. The five other private schools have a total of about 200 more students losing the district more than a million dollars. Home schooling has gone from 30 in 1988 to 248 today- and that's only the people reporting. That's another more than a million dollars lost to the district. So the district is losing around 4 million dollars because people are taking their children out of public school.
Prior to the "strategic plan" in the early nineties we had only 30 home schooled children and one very small private school. In those days almost everyone trusted the public schools. What has happened to our district? How many more people would withdraw their children if they could afford it? Is it fair that some people have to leave their children in schools they really don't trust? Is it fair that people are having to pay their taxes and then pay again for private schooling or to give up their job and home school?
What has the "strategic plan" done for our schools? Our drop out rates are high our scores are low and we have lost many students. Maybe we should go back to teaching good academics and get the politics and behavior shaping out of our schools.
Monday, 25 April 2011
WHO NEEDS SCHOOL ANYWAY?
Sometimes it seems like our Helena school superintendent is saying just that, "Who needs school anyway?"Students are out of class all the time. Eighth graders go over to elementary schools and elementary students go over to the high school and then receive them back, meanwhile upper grade elementary students go to see the younger elementary students every week. Then there's community service and teacher workshops along with early release days and the assemblies and artists in residency for at least a week at a time. Who's worried about teaching?
The new program, consistent release time, will have children staying an extra 5 minutes or 15 minutes a day depending on the grade. Sounds good - more teaching time - but no- as a result of the extra minutes students will have FOUR DAYS off of school. A district where more than two thirds of the Helena Schools failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress benchmarks and which is below the state average in math at every grade level is now taking four additional days off school so teachers can attend workshops! Does this make sense?!! Maybe only if academics is not the most important thing you are doing.
The new program, consistent release time, will have children staying an extra 5 minutes or 15 minutes a day depending on the grade. Sounds good - more teaching time - but no- as a result of the extra minutes students will have FOUR DAYS off of school. A district where more than two thirds of the Helena Schools failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress benchmarks and which is below the state average in math at every grade level is now taking four additional days off school so teachers can attend workshops! Does this make sense?!! Maybe only if academics is not the most important thing you are doing.
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
RUMORS
In America we have the right to free speech. With every right comes a responsibility. One of the responsibilities of free speech is that if you speak disparagingly of someone you be able to back that up with facts.
One of the individuals that commented on the Independent Record blog yesterday said that all people who support certain school board candidates support the savage killing of innocent young men.That person can not back up that statement with facts. That is irresponsible and hurtful speech that does not move us forward in trying to get better schools for our children.
I hope as we go forward with this campaign that everyone will take the responsibility of free speech very seriously. Research the candidates and make your own thoughtful decision based on the facts. If you are reading this undoubtedly you are one of those fair and thoughtful people that do that research.
"Just The Facts Ma'am"
One of the individuals that commented on the Independent Record blog yesterday said that all people who support certain school board candidates support the savage killing of innocent young men.That person can not back up that statement with facts. That is irresponsible and hurtful speech that does not move us forward in trying to get better schools for our children.
I hope as we go forward with this campaign that everyone will take the responsibility of free speech very seriously. Research the candidates and make your own thoughtful decision based on the facts. If you are reading this undoubtedly you are one of those fair and thoughtful people that do that research.
"Just The Facts Ma'am"
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