One Moms Blog

Obama's "Safe Schools Czar", Kevin Jennings, Promotes Sexual Deviancy and Pornography to Children Fistgate (Saturday, December 5, 2009)

2010-07-16T21:48:00.001-05:00

President Obama's "Safe Schools Czar", Kevin Jennings founded GLSEN (Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network) in 1990. GLSEN participated in a March 2000 event, Fistgate, that can only be described as child abuse. Jim Hoft of BigGovernment.com reports that:

GLSEN sponsored a youth conference at Tuft’s University in March 2000. This conference was fully supported by the Massachusetts Department of Education, the Safe Schools Program, the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, and some of the presenters even received federal money. An undercover journalist with Mass Resistance was at the conference and recorded a couple of the workshops. During one of the conference workshops an activist asks 14 year-old students, “Spit or swallow?… Is it rude?”

That’s not all. The conference also included a workshop where GLSEN activists promoted “fisting” to 14 year olds.

The sexually deviant material that was shared with students is so disgusting that I will not post links on this site. However, I encourage parents to read these BigGovernment.com articles, Fistgate & Fistgate II, which have links to all the relevant material.

Not surprisingly, GLSEN also promotes reading material to children which can only be described as pornographic. Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit also reports on a GLSEN reading list which has nothing to do with tolerance but everything to do with promoting sexual deviancy among children, the ultimate goal being to normalize homosexual behavior.

Again, I will not post links or excerpts from this pornographic material on this site, but I encourage parents to read the Gateway Pundit article which has explicit excerpts from the books in question.

By promoting such vile material to children, Kevin Jennings makes a mockery of the word "Safe" in his title. Demand the firing of Kevin Jennings. Contact Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at:

US Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue SW
Washington, DC 20202
1-202-401-2000 phone
1-800-872-5327 toll free
1-202-260-7867 fax
Email: arne.duncan@ed.gov

Movies in School at the Expense of Academic Instruction (Wednesday, May 28, 2008)

2010-07-16T21:17:00.000-05:00

During a casual conversation with my oldest son when he was in 3rd grade, he recounted a movie he had watched in school. I inquired further and found out that he had watched quite a few movies in school that had nothing to do with academic instruction. This list is just what my son could recount, there were probably more:

The Wizard of Oz
Night At the Museum
Over the Hedge
Curious George the Movie
The Muppets
Snowbunnies
The Magic Schoolbus
The Shape of Me and Other Stuff
Dr. Seuss Green Eggs and Ham and The Sneetches
A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
A Charlie Brown Halloween
A Charlie Brown Easter..

I believe the Charlie Brown series is shown every year around the holidays, as my son also watched these in 2nd grade.

I have no objection to videos as long as they are directly related to academic instruction. My son also watched academically focused videos about the solar system, friction, the rain forest, pollution and penguins.

After inquiring about entertainment films being shown during academic instructional time, I was informed by my son's teacher and principal, that teachers are allowed to show movies on a "limited" basis for "behavior and/or academic reward". To me, this is clearly excessive and unwarranted on its face.

I noted that rewarding students in this way can have the opposite effect, as students expect to be entertained in school during instructional time, thereby diminishing the time allotted to academic instruction. I suggested other rewards such as academically based games or extra trips to the library, reinforcing academic skills.

One academically based game that I used at home with my son is called Timez Attack. It's a video game in which the player "attacks" monsters by solving multiplication problems. There are many games like this which can entertain while reinforcing academic skills.

Picture Day is Upon Us - Again (Wednesday, March 24, 2010)

2010-07-14T22:31:00.000-05:00

Spring picture day will be Tuesday March 30th at Woodview Elementary.

Even though students already took pictures in the fall, and cameras are as ubiquitous as wallets, my son's school, and probably all the other schools in VVSD, will disrupt academic instruction to force students to take pictures.

At my request, my son will not be herded to the photographer to take a picture that I don't want.

Why is this being done? Money, of course. This is a fundraiser for the school. How does this impact student learning? It doesn't. Again, why is this being done?

3/22/10 Board Meeting - Bureaucracy is Not An Excuse

2010-07-14T22:24:00.000-05:00

The district presented a board workshop on measurable goals. Targets were presented for:

ISAT scores
PSAE scores
English Language proficiency indicators
Implementation of guided reading in elementary classrooms

Goals were also set for:

Future goal setting and sharing that with the community
Addressing the large state funding decrease
Improving communication on district finances
Reducing worker's compensation costs
Recruiting and maintaining quality guest (substitute) teachers

There was a tremendous amount of discussion tonight which included comments from at least 10 audience members. Comments came from parents, teachers, a principal and community members.

Discussion centered on numerous topics such as:

Relocating the Phoenix Experience
District expectations of low income and minority students
Special education aide proposed cuts and strategic planning
Curriculum and teaching methods
District finances
District volunteer opportunities

Guided Reading is Inferior Whole-Language Reading Instruction

Aside from the fact that guided reading is a blatantly inferior whole language methodology of teaching reading, the district has a fall 2010 goal to have guided reading fully implemented in at least 80% of elementary classrooms.

I asked Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education, Faith Dahlquist, what was taking place in the other classrooms that were not fully implementing guided reading. I frankly can't tell you what the answer was. And this is part of the problem. No one can really tell me what is happening in the elementary classroom, K-3, to teach a child to read.

I understand that different teachers may alter their teaching methods depending on the needs of a child. But that isn't good enough. If the district is requiring teachers to use guided reading and some teachers are partially implementing it, how can it's effectiveness be determined? Is it harming a child to mix guided reading with other teaching methods? How am I as a parent to determine if my child's needs are being met? If guided reading is never fully implemented, the district will always have the excuse that it was never fully implemented, so how am I to hold the district/teacher accountable?

Supt. Dahlquist said that implementing guided reading is "very difficult" to do and teachers have been given training. So, if guided reading is so difficult to implement, evidenced by the district's goal of 80% full implementation after 3 years, how many students have been ill-served as a result of this experiment? I know it didn't work for my son who developed reading problems.

And I know why.

Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education, Mike Perrott, made a comment during another discussion that "if students can read then they can learn". I couldn't agree more.

But if the district can't get reading right, then nothing else matters. And it's obvious the district is promoting a teaching method, guided reading, which is not grounded in scientifically based reading research.

I challenge the district to:

Defend in writing the defective guided reading program they have sanctioned for use by teachers
Produce citations of the experimental research on which the unsound guided reading program is based

The Party is Over - Structural Deficit Chickens Have Come Home to Roost

Board President Quigley remarked, as he has done in previous meetings, that the union members in the audience needed to contact their state legislators and tell them to fund education (raise taxes). He said it would be tough, given this is an election year, and that legislators want to keep their jobs. I noted that unlike the US congressional legislators who voted for the health care reform bill against the will of the American people, Illinois lawmakers who vote against a tax increase will be voting the will of Illinois taxpayers.

Illinois private sector taxpayers are taking pay freezes, pay cuts, and losing their jobs. It is not too much to ask for teachers to take a pay freeze.

I told President Quigley that the real question audience members need to ask their state legislators is where did the money go that was supposed to fund education? If necessary, some people in Springfield need to go to jail for the outright theft of pension contributions and education funding in exchange for political patronage.

Teachers and taxpayers have been lied to again and again by Illinois lawmakers who make promises they can't keep and neglect their Constitutionally mandated obligation to properly fund education. The taxpayer alone should not have to suffer for this financial mismanagement.

Unfortunately, everyone in Illinois is going to have to suffer, including teachers and administrators. Most importantly, legislators who dug us into this financial abyss, need to be voted out of office.

Do You Believe Low-Income and Minority Students Can Learn?

This question was posed by a parent. She also said she was appalled at the low goals set for ISAT and PSAE proficiency targets. I agree.

Bureaucracy is Not An Excuse - This is an Emergency

This statement was made by a parent. She also said that she demands the best from her children's teachers and that other parents need to do the same. Her husband made the remark that these challenges need to be addressed as a unit district, grades K-12. I agree.

Special Education - Where's the Strategy?

Board Member Gougis asked this question regarding the action report to dismiss the special education aides. Member Evans remarked that the board had been in the loop during the process of reallocating special education aides. There was some agreement that the special education long-term planning does need to be better.

Supt. Dahlquist said a committee had been formed to examine the overall strategy. Executive Director of Student Services, David Hehl, said more information would be reported between the end of March and mid April.

The Phoenix Experience is Relocating Not Closing

This was the board's response to a parent who inquired about the timing and necessity of relocating the Phoenix Experience. The parent was assured that she could be included in the transition team. The details of the transition are a work in progress.

Special Education Aides Reduced While Bilingual Teachers Increased

Director of Bilingual Education, Ricardo Sanchez, explained that due to elevated requirements to exit the bilingual education program, 12 additional bilingual teachers will be hired. Bilingual students now need a score of 4.8 instead of 4.0 to transition to the general education population.

The Stimulus Jobs "Created or Saved" Shell Game (Thursday, March 18, 2010)

2010-07-14T22:20:00.000-05:00

As a result of a Freedom of Information Act request, I obtained information from VVSD confirming that a previous report of 130 jobs "created" on Recovery Illinois was just pretend.

Because Illinois is flat broke, the state decided to use American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, "ARRA", a.k.a. stimulus funds to replace state aid to schools. The state of Illinois' reporting methodology for jobs created under the heading Job Creation Figures is:

The data collected from the January recipient reports represents job activity directly funded or reimbursed with ARRA dollars. Recipients objectively reported the number of jobs (FTEs) paid for, or are going to be reimbursed with, Recovery Act dollars. This is different from the October reporting period when recipients were asked to report employment activity that would not have occurred without the enactment of the Recovery Act.

Note that even though the requirements are different for the October and January reporting periods, the result is the same - the illusion of job creation. In reality, the state of Illinois just reclassified state aid it was already obligated to pay local school districts as stimulus funds, and magically jobs were "created".

VVSD's original guesstimate in the October reporting period was a "hypothetical number of 65 total jobs saved or created" total in the 2009 and 2010 reporting periods. The state of Illinois took liberties with this number, and originally reported 130 total jobs created for the 2009 and 2010 reporting periods, counting the 65 jobs twice.

Recovery Illinois now reports as of Q4, 2009 that VVSD has created 30 jobs as a result of Special Education Grants and 0.03 jobs created as a result of Special Education Preschool Grants. But I have no confidence in the state of Illinois' job "creation" numbers, knowing the numbers are based on guesstimates and especially since I know that VVSD is actually going to lay off administrators, teachers and special education aides.

This job "creation" chicanery is happening all across the country. Favored Democratic constituencies, which includes public education unions, have been pumped full of borrowed money to create the illusion of job creation. However, the unemployment rate, which will hover around 10% for the foreseeable future, does not lie.

Transparency Project Update - What Information Should School Districts Disclose on Their Websites? (Wednesday, March 17, 2010)

2010-07-14T22:11:00.000-05:00

A few years ago, I tried to access information on VVSD's website. However, much of the information on the old website was not current, relevant, or actionable. The old website contained broken links, outdated and incorrect information.

Through my own research, I found recommendations for information that should be included on a school district's website at Sunshine Review and Illinois Loop. As a result of the recommendations, and my own information needs, this past summer I requested that additional information be made available on VVSD's website.

According to Sunshine Review, access to this information allows school district residents, parents, teachers, students or taxpayers to determine if your school district is:

Effective.
Competent.
Frugal with tax revenues.
Honest.
In compliance with all expectations and relevant laws about public records and open meetings.

Since then, VVSD has updated its website and incorporated many of the recommendations. The following list includes information areas that I requested be added or updated on the district's website. Some of this information was already available on the district's website, and is so noted.
The following list is not meant to be exhaustive. The district includes much more information on its website than what is listed here.

Budget

An incomplete amount of financial information was available on the old website and some of the links were broken. This information has been updated and is found here.

Additional recommendations from Sunshine Review:

Include graphics to enable people to make sense of trends over time. (According to the district, Tech Services is in the process of creating it and will post it.)
Include narrative feature explaining trends. (According to the district, this is also in the process of being done.)

Board Policies

Board Policies were not available on the old website. These policies are now found here.

Abbreviated version of board policies are distributed at the beginning of each school year in the form of the student handbook. Board policies are also available at the Administration Center and the public libraries.
However, board policies are continually being updated and brought before the board for approval. Updated board policies accessible on-line are more timely, relevant and actionable.

School District Meetings/Agendas

School board meetings, agendas and minutes were already available on the old website and are found here.

Board members and their associated liaison committees were not updated on the old website. The updated information is found here.

Who Are the Members of the School Board?

School board member bios were not previously included on the old website. Members and their bios are found here.

Who Are the District Administrators?

District administrators were already available on the old website and are found here.

Lobbying, Advocacy and Consulting Contracts

According to the district, the district does not belong to any taxpayer-funded lobbying associations and does not have any educational consulting contracts.

Access to Government Records and Public Documents

The procedure to access public documents was not available on the old website. The procedure is now found here.

Contracts with Teachers and Support Staff

Employee contracts were not available on the old website. The contracts are now found here.

Contracts with Vendors

Vendor contracts between $10,000 and $25,000 were not available on the old website. The contracts are now found here.

Tax Burden

Tax levy presentation(s) were available on the old website and are found here.

Criminal Background Check Procedure

According to the district, this information is listed in the board policies.

Teacher Workshops and In-Service Programs

According to the district, posting this information would take up too much server space and slow down the district's website speed.

Academic Performance

State report cards were available on the old website and are found here.

2/22/10 Board Meeting - What Are We Teaching?

2010-07-14T22:06:00.000-05:00

Rumors Put to Rest by the Board

People packed tonight's meeting because of a rumor that some special education students would be moved from RHS to BHS. The board clarified that nothing of the sort was under consideration or was even known to the board.
Also, there was a rumor that the Phoenix Experience would be closed in 2 weeks. The board clarified that closing the Phoenix Experience has been considered as a budget reduction, but it would not be closed in 2 weeks.

Academic Achievement Presentation

Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education, Faith Dahlquist, and Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education, Mike Perrott, presented the district's academic achievement data. Data was segregated by grade, subject, race, economic status, IEP (special education), and english proficiency as mandated by No Child Left Behind, ("NCLB").

The data shows an overall upward trend in reading and math proficiency since 2004. Reading proficiency increases from grade 5 to grade 8, but drops off dramatically in grade 11. To note, eleventh graders do not take the ISAT, instead they take the PSAE. Math proficiency decreases from grade 5 to grade 8, and again decreases in grade 11.

Whites outperform Blacks, Hispanics, Low Income, Limited English Proficiency, and IEP subgroups in all grades, 5th, 8th, and 11th, and both subjects, reading and math. The achievement gaps between Blacks/Whites and Hispanics/Whites is smaller in the district as compared to the state.

Compared to other unit districts with 50% or more minority students, the district ranges from having the highest grade 11 reading proficiency in the state to the 7th highest grade 8 math in the state.

Board Member Gougis noted that comparing VVSD to other unit districts with 50% or more minority students obscures the fact that VVSD students will compete against all students, not just those who went to unit districts with 50% or more minority students. He named several of these other districts, among them East St. Louis and Chicago. He stated that we should be testing above these districts. I agree.

It's The Curriculum, Stupid

Member Gougis commented that some of the data pointed to the quality of the curriculum being an issue. I agree. I have been researching curriculum issues and asking questions for years.

When looking at the data segregated by the 6 subgroups, Limited English Proficiency and IEP lag significantly behind, as I would expect them to. Obviously, any student who can't speak English proficiently who must take a test in English will not do as well as a student who speaks English proficiently.

Likewise, it's unrealistic to expect students with IEP's to test at the same levels of proficiency as students without IEP's. As the mother of a child with an IEP, progress, no matter how small, is my objective. I do not believe that students with IEP's should be included in any district's proficiency scores, though IEP students should be tested in such a way as to allow their parents and school to determine if they are progressing academically.

However, I think students with Limited English Proficiency should be tested as an incentive to learn English in the shortest amount of time possible. Otherwise, standardized tests like the ISAT would have to be prepared in dozens of different languages, and hundreds if not thousands of people would have to be hired to read and score these tests in all these different languages.

Limited English Proficiency and IEP students aside, Low Income and minority students are often used as an excuse for weak curriculum and instruction. Yet, low income and minority students all over the country and around the world routinely excel in charter schools and private schools when presented with rigorous curriculum.

When given the choice, parents choose schools because they want their children exposed to the best curriculum and instruction. This is seen routinely when low income parents in inner cities like DC and Chicago have the ability to choose charter schools and private schools using vouchers or some other method of parental school choice.

What Are We Teaching?

Member Evans asked the queston, "What are we teaching?" in response to the academic achievement presentation. He remarked that we implement programs without clear goals and expectations, thereby leaving no way to measure success.

Programs without clear goals and expectations are all too characteristic of the education bureaucracy. After decades of a public education monopoly, public education "experts" still don't know how to teach the basics.
Private schools and charter schools get the job done, or else parents walk with their feet and most importantly - their money. Homeschoolers routinely kick butt. But for some strange reason, public education "experts" don't dare look at proven examples in private, charter, and homeschools. Instead, they constantly reinvent the wheel - because they know most public school parents can't walk with their feet - or their money.

This link to the Schlechty Center details conferences, one of which that was supposed to be attended by board members, until they cancelled it at tonight's meeting in the name of financial prudence. The cancellation took place after a long, and bitter exchange between Board Secretary Campbell and Board President Quigley.

The Working on the Work conference actually states that one of the things conference attendees will learn is "The role of teacher will be redefined as leader, designer, and guide to instruction, based on Phil Schlechty's newest thinking." I guess when Phil Schlechty gets a new thought and wants to redesign the redesign which I'm sure he's already redesigned repeatedly, he'll create a new conference for that too. The Schlechty Center website is so chocked full of edubabble, it deserves a long intensive post all by itself, which will be done at a later date.

How Does VVSD Teach Reading?

I addressed the board about reading curriculum and instruction. I asked my son's principal 2 years ago how reading was being taught, and in essence was told that it's a little bit of this and a little bit of that. There was no clear, goal oriented explanation of how my child would progress from point A to point B. To call this a big problem would be an understatement.

To contrast, at the private school my children attend(ed) through Kindergarten, they were taught to read by learning letter sounds, and receiving direct, systematic phonics instruction. They read phonics readers, among them the Primary Phonics Series, until they had mastered all the letter sound combinations. I had clear expectations and goals against which I could hold the school accountable. This clarity empowered me as a parent, because I could work at home to positively support what was being done in school.

After researching what was actually taking place in my son's classroom at VVSD, I found that VVSD uses a hodgepodge of whole language teaching methods, which are the cause of most reading problems. My son was taught to memorize words, skip words, guess words and substitute words when he should have been sounding out words. At home, I was working against the un-reading my son was being taught in school.

The district's Literacy for Learning initiative doesn't solve the basic problem of teaching reading right the first time. If an inferior reading series is used along with poor teaching methods thrown together with debilitating whole language instruction, many students will unnecessarily develop reading problems. The only cure for this problem is direct, systematic phonics instruction, which is what many for profit tutoring services do with students that have been ill-served by public schools.

I encourage any parent with a public school student who has a reading problem, especially in the elementary grades, to seek help immediately from an outside tutoring service with a proven track record. Do not wait for the school to "fix" what they have broken.

Supt. Perrott spoke about the district's Content Area Reading Program that has trained coaches to teach teachers how to teach reading in their content areas. He said that reading social science is different than reading literature, and math, and science, etc. So instead of focusing on reading at the foundational level, K-3, teachers at the junior high and high school level will be required to teach reading to students, in addition to teaching their specialized content. These students may or may not need this reading "instruction" which will be "taught" in an unproven manner. What will be the measure of success for this experiment?

Math Backward Design Model = Reinventing the Wheel

I addressed the board about math curriculum and instruction. At the beginning of my son's 4th grade year, I asked his teacher when she would get going with the 4th grade curriculum, after my son brought home a week's worth of what looked to me to be Kindergarten or 1st grade math work.

I was told that she was assessing where the students were mathematically. As a result, my son was not being challenged with atleast 4th grade work for much of the first quarter. I had to give him more appropriate math work at home. And I found that just like 3rd, 2nd, and 1st grade, he was presented with the exact same material (5th grade has been the same), and never presented with it long enough to master it.

Through my own research, I learned that this method of instruction is called spiraling. One of the reasons the material is not presented long enough for mastery is because there is just too much material presented relative to other curriculums that focus on mastery. Teaching for mastery involves presenting fewer topics for longer periods of time, thus allowing students to develop a deeper understanding of math concepts, which builds a firmer foundation for further math study.

Supt. Perrott said the district would be undertaking a backward design model where they would look at college and work readiness math standards to revamp the district's math curriculum. He said the district will seek to reduce redundancy in math instruction. He said this process would take a "long time" and involve a lot of "negotiating".

How long is a long time? A few months, years, a decade? Negotiating what? What works is not what the district has been doing, and there is an overwhelming amount of information on math curriculums and methods already in existence. In the meantime, many students in the district will continue to struggle because the curriculum and teaching methods do not meet their needs.

Journaling = Learning How NOT to Write

I addressed writing at the elementary level, specifically the journaling. At the end of my son's 3rd grade school year, when he brought all of his work home, I found his journal.

The journal was full of writing prompts and my son's attempts at writing. His work was full of misspelled words, incomplete sentences, grammatically incorrect sentences, and downright incoherent sentences. I noticed that none of this was corrected.

At the beginning of his 4th grade year, I asked about the journal and was in essence told it was to encourage creative writing. Yet, if your writing is incomplete, grammatically incorrect, incoherent and full of misspelled words, can that really be considered writing at all? Perhaps it could be the start of writing, a first draft, but certainly not a finished product.

I had my son bring his journal home for a portion of the year to correct his mistakes and make him understand that if he is to write and be taken seriously, he must master writing fundamentals. I drove home the fact that no matter what he writes about, if people can't understand it, it's worthless.

I introduced him to the concept of the first draft, and took him step by step through the writing process. Since then, we've worked on book reports and other school assignments. If students are to be encouraged to write creatively, why not write one creative assignment per week focusing on the writing process from start to finish. By the end of the week, the students will have a finished product that is both creative and fundamentally sound.

It is completely unacceptable for a 3rd grader and beyond to "write" in the manner my son is allowed to write in his journal. If writing badly is learned in school, and encouraged, this is one more bad habit students must overcome. We all know how hard it is to break bad habits, so why not teach the students how to write right the first time?

When I refer to writing badly, I am not referring to style. I don't expect every 3rd grader to be Shakespeare. But I do expect a fundamental knowledge and application of the written English language.

Supt. Dahlquist said the district would be strengthening the writing program. She made no mention of goals, expectations or time frames. Let's hope it won't take a long time and involve a lot of negotiating.

VVSD Advances Man-Made Global Warming Hoax Under the Guise of Conservation (Thursday, February 18, 2010)

2010-07-14T22:03:00.000-05:00

In spite of he fact that the man-made global warming hoax has been exposed, VVSD is advancing the man-made global warming agenda under the guise of conservation.

This Bolingbrook Sun article makes this breathtaking erroneous claim:

Our scientific community is in agreement that the effects of global warming have already produced climatic changes worldwide,...

This is a lie. There is no agreement in the scientific community about the effects of global warming, a.k.a. man-made global warming. Even Phil Jones, one of the scientists implicated in the ClimateGate email scandal, admitted that the science is not settled.

Just this past week, Phil Jones admitted that:

He "lost" the temperature data supporting the man-made global warming theory
There has been no global warming since 1995
There have been warming periods before not attributable to man-made causes

At this board meeting, I specifically asked Building Operations Director, Mike Lopez, about the district's Comprehensive Energy and Environmental Management Initiative, ("CEEMI"), Strategic Directive #7. Educational Integration. He said that he was working with one teacher of a 6th grade environmental class on a potential project, implying that this was not a district wide objective.

However, this Bolingbrook Sun article makes it clear that the district's CEEMI has less to do with conservation, and more to do with advancing the man-made global warming hoax using public schools.

The first of three listed purposes of the CEEMI- To manage limited resources and budgets - is rather neutral and should be a goal of any large organization. However, the second and third purposes - To act socially responsible and to teach environmental stewardship to our community - reek of political correctness and indoctrination.

The CEEMI presentation boldly states on page 4 that "Energy and Environmental Conservation is CRITICAL to Our Fiscal Responsibility and Bottom Line!" Yet the run-away debt service and salary and benefits spending, which comprises over 75% of the budget, is the real driver of the district's financial instability.

The Bolingbrook Sun article sites the United Nations Climate Summit - the same United Nations that has been exposed as fraudulently advancing the man-made global warming hoax.

There are myriad news agencies reporting on the man-made global warming hoax. I have many listed on this site and here are a few of the most recent:

Man-Made Global Warming is Built on Lies
IPCC Hurricane Data is Questioned
Scientists Say World May Not Be Warming

1/25/10 Board Meeting - Budget Cutting Around the Edges

2010-07-14T22:01:00.000-05:00

Anticipating proposed budget cuts, people packed this evening's workshop style board meeting. Of course most of them were administrators and teachers. Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services, Gary Grizaffi, proposed $9 Million in budget cuts. Mike Francis of PMA Advisors presented a five year analysis of projected year-end balances using what he termed optimistic assumptions. The board will make a final determination in February.

Debt Service: One of Many Elephants in the Room

I asked what the analysis would look like if debt service were taken into account (The analysis did not take debt service into account). Mike Francis told me that debt service does not affect operations because it is funded by the tax levy.

Everything is funded by the tax levy to one degree or other, or by some combination of local, state and federal tax money. Mike's answer makes it obvious that VVSD treats debt just like our state and federal government treat debt - like an "off balance sheet" expenditure, an expenditure that is not open for review or discussion and is taken for granted.

VVSD Debt service is on an upward trajectory. VVSD's debt service is budgeted at $20 Million for 2011 and trends upward reaching $26 Million in 2014. This is a real expenditure and it crowds out other expenditures.

Just like our federal and state governments, VVSD has no debt reduction plan. They merely "restructure" their debt by going into even more debt at taxpayer expense. Then they have the audacity to say that debt service doesn't matter.

State and federal governments do this with entitlement spending like Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and debt service. Federal spending is so out of control, Senate Democrats have just proposed raising the national debt ceiling by another $1.9 Trillion. This increase would allow the national debt to reach $14.3 Trillion. It's estimated that within a decade, interest on the national debt will be $800 Billion per year. That's a real expense that leaves less money for other services and programs.

According to Comptroller Dan Hynes, "Illinois will be confronting the most dangerous fiscal conditions in modern history." Illinois has $8.75 Billion in unpaid bills.

The Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago estimates Illinois' liabilities and unfunded commitments to be between $116 - $132 Billion:

Illinois general obligation and revenue bond debt outstanding increased from less than $8 billion in 2000 to around $23 billion in 2006 (this growth was largely due to the State’s issuance of $10 billion in pension obligation bonds in 2003).

As the State’s debt has increased, so has the percentage of General Fund revenues required to service this debt – leaving less revenue for other State programs. Illinois’ general obligation and revenue bond debt service in 2000 was less than four percent of the State’s general revenue funds; by 2006 it had risen to over seven percent. If actuarially-required contributions for pensions and retiree health care10 were added to general obligation and revenue bond debt, the State’s total debt service in 2006 would have amounted to around thirty percent of the State's general revenue funds.

The State’s fiscal problems have affected its credit ratings and its cost of borrowing.

Fitch assigned Illinois a “negative outlook” as of November 2008 and S&P put Illinois on “credit watch” as of December 2008.

It is sometimes said that a state cannot go bankrupt. Unless things change quickly in Illinois, we may be about to test that proposition.

Illinois has continued to finance reckless spending with more and more debt. No amount of tax increases can fix this problem, as the tax base would be further eroded. Illinois has no choice but to reign in spending. This debt game can't be played forever.

Foundation Level Funding Pipe Dream

Board President, Steve Quigley, lamented at length about the state's promise to fund K-12 education at $6,000/child, a.k.a. the Foundation Level. The state funds VVSD at $1,500/child.

I have as much faith that the state of Illinois will fund K-12 education at the foundation level as I have that the federal government will pay its bills without issuing debt and printing money. Illinois couldn't fund K-12 education at the foundation level even if it wanted to because there's no money.

The state of Illinois is such a fiscal basketcase as to cause me to wonder if Illinois will eventually go the way of California and issue IOU's in place of checks.

Supported Ed Aide Cuts to Offset Federal Government Stimulus Mandate

Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education, Faith Dahlquist, reported that the district's ratio of Supported Ed parapros is so far beyond other districts our size that the district has suddenly decided to cut dozens of them.

This comes at a time when the district accepted and has to spend an additional $3.1 Million in stimulus funds with the stipulation that the funds are for new expenditures.

I asked if the aide cuts were an offset to the stimulus fund mandate. Supt. Grizaffi confirmed that the stimulus dollars are funding supported ed aides.

So which is it? Does the district need the aides, or not? That depends on when you ask the question. Before the stimulus dollars the aides were needed. After the stimulus dollars the aides aren't needed. But I thought the stimulus dollars were supposed to create jobs?

This is a clear example of how the stimulus money destroys jobs. In an effort to balance a budget deficit, the district had to cut these jobs because the federal government attached an idiotic mandate for new expenditures that weren't needed: additional supported ed aides.

I hope students who genuinely need aides will not be hurt by these unfortunate cuts.

The district's explanation about bringing it's aide to student ratio in line with other similar district's is an obvious attempt to justify the cuts brought on by stimulus fund mandates.

Special Ed. Overidentification Used to Justify Supported Ed Aide Cuts
As another justification for cutting supported ed aides, Supt. Dahlquist said that students were being overidentified for special education. She said that some of these students had aides because they only spoke Spanish. She said some of these students could be better served with one aide if they had similar learning needs.

I asked how many aides had been hired because a student only spoke Spanish. Supt. Dahlquist said no students had an aide strictly because they only spoke Spanish, which contradicted her earlier statement that some special education students had aides because they spoke only Spanish.

The fact is, some special education students with similar learning needs as other special education students won't be able to have those needs met in a group setting with one aide because they only speak Spanish.

Class Size is Not a Determinant Factor in Student Achievement

Superintendent Schoffstall said that research shows class size is not a determinant factor in student learning. He made this statement after Member Gougis raised concerns about proposed cuts of 4 elementary, 4 middle school and 4 highschool full time teachers.

Member Gougis asked how these cuts would affect class size. After much discussion, Member Gougis said that the district can not use the excuse that they don't have the proper class size as it pertains to student achievement. Member Gougis is right.

Joel Turtel, author of Public Schools Public Menace, writes:

It seems to go against common sense that student academic achievement could drop with smaller class sizes. One reason this happens in public schools is that when class sizes drop, schools have to create more classes to cover all the students in the school. Schools then have to hire more teachers for the increased number of classes. However, public schools across the country are already having trouble finding qualified teachers to fill their classrooms. As a result, when reduced class sizes increase the need for more teachers, schools then often have to hire less-qualified teachers.

As we might expect, teacher quality is far more important than class size in determining how children do in school. William Sanders at the University of Tennessee studied this issue. He found that teacher quality is almost twenty times more important than class size in determining students' academic achievement in class. As a result, reducing class sizes can lead to the contrary effect of hurting students' education, rather than helping.

Reducing class sizes can't solve the core problems with public schools. No matter how small classes become, nothing will help if the teachers are ill-trained or their teaching methods are useless, destructive, or idiotic. For example, if English teachers use the whole-language or "balanced" reading instruction method, they can cripple students' ability to read no matter how small the classes are. If math teachers use "fuzzy" or "integrated" math, they can turn kids into math cripples. Even if classrooms had one teacher for every student, that child's ability to read or do math could still be wrecked if the teacher used these destructive reading or math-instruction methods.

Class size is just an excuse to request more money to fund the additional teachers needed for the additional classes resulting from class size mandates. I'm glad Member Gougis is waking up to the "facts" touted by many in the education bureaucracy.

Can't Have Your Cake and Eat It Too

President Quigley said that serious consideration about the proposed cuts was in the best interest of the taxpayer. Member Gougis contrasted saving $300 on his tax bill with his home value going down by $20,000, implying that if the district cuts teachers education will suffer.

Yet, if we don't begin cutting spending on the local, state, and federal level, it's inevitable that we'll all suffer. There simply is no money to pay for the out of control spending at all levels of government. With a lingering recession, 10% unemployment, rising debt, $Trillion plus federal deficits, Illinois unable to pay its bills on the brink of insolvency, VVSD has no choice but to cut spending.

1/11/10 Board Meeting - Universal School Mental Health Intervention: One More Step Toward Utopia

2010-07-14T21:47:00.000-05:00

I addressed the board and raised my concerns about the December 14, 2009 Action Report 1209-3950 - intent to apply for the Building Systems of Care Grant.
 The Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation's (“ILCHF”) Children's Mental Health Initiative funds the Building Systems of Care, Community by Community Grant. The 9/30/09 Teleconference Text states ILCHF's vision as:

The Foundation’s vision of a system of care for children’s mental health can simply be described as an integrated/collaborate/effective delivery system in a community that serves all the children in a community (birth to 18). The system must be coordinated across educational systems, health systems, child welfare systems, juvenile justice systems, mental health service systems, families and other who play an active role in the life of a child.  Key concepts to point out: System must serve all the children in a given community – birth to 18. System must incorporate community-based networks of services using evidenced-based structures, programs and services. In the end – The Foundation’s vision for a system of care is that a community has the systems in place that every child receives the care they need to either prevent, identify or treat that child’s developmental, mental health and psychiatric issues.  A common question that has been asked is “Are there any “best practice” models that have been identified by the Foundation that the Foundation is using as background for this Initiative? The answer is No. The Foundation has no model in mind for a given Community – it is the intent of this initiative to allow each Community Team to determine what is best for their community. That being said, a simple GOOGLE search will provide you with background information.

According to their own words the ILCHF has nothing on which to model their grand experiment. After reading this and much more information contained on their website including related research papers, I am concerned that the students in this district are going to be used as guinea pigs in yet another unproven social experiment.

My concerns were confirmed by the National PBIS Leadership Forum which was held in Rosemont, IL October 8-9, 2009. The presentation titled, Integrating School-Based Mental Health and School-Wide PBS Part 1 includes an Interconnected Systems Framework for School Mental Health which uses the Positive Behavioral Interventions System (“PBIS”) framework.

The PBIS framework is a system of behavior modifications which applies intensive interventions for a few, early interventions for some, and universal prevention for all. The purpose of universal PBIS interventions is to "create positive school environments for all students."

I found out in 2008 that PBIS uses rewards like showing entertainment films during instructional time as a means of "creating a positive school environment for all students." So instead of teaching students academics, which is why their parents send them to school, students spent an obscene amount of time vegging out on entertainment films.

I know this practice is still taking place because in December 2009, my son's class (and I presume many other classes) watched the film Air Bud as a reward for taking the 2009 spring ISAT test. I opted my son out of the movie and requested he engage in academic instruction which he did on the computer.

Let me repeat: I had to request that my son receive academic instruction instead of watch an entertainment film - in school!

As a result of PBIS, which also includes other rewards like candy, and cheap toys ("bought" from the Ruby case [Rubies are earned for good behavior]), my son thinks he should get "rewards" for merely doing what he's already supposed to do. I can only suspect that PBIS has had this similar effect on other students. PBIS creates expectations of entitlement simply for showing up and doing what students are expected to do - obey school rules.

Knowing that every school already has social workers, psychologists, and various other professionals who can refer targeted students to the appropriate service providers, why is there a need to further apply universal mental health prevention for all using the PBIS framework, and what exactly is universal mental health prevention for all?

Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education, Faith Dahlquist, said that no mental health interventions would be applied outside of what is already applied based on the Illinois State Standards. She said the Building Systems of Care grant is merely to bring in additional community service providers to coordinate services for students in need.

If this is the case, why is there a need for this grant which clearly goes light years beyond merely coordinating additional community service providers? The Teleconference Text states:

The first phase of the Initiative is to select between 3-5 communities throughout Illinois to be a part of an intensive 13 month planning phase. As stated in the RFP, this planning phase will begin June 1, 2010...The implementation phase is a three year process to implement the plan that is developed during the planning phase.

The planning and implementation of this initiative seem rather extensive for merely coordinating some community service providers. It's very obvious that this grant is just the beginning, but the beginning of what?

What the initiative is – is an opportunity for 3-5 Communities to be given financial and technical resources needed to build a strong children’s mental health system for all children and to, as a team of learning communities, provide solutions to the barriers that are encountered along the way.

This initiative is just the beginning of yet another massive public school system change, a laboratory for social engineering using public school students.

ILCHF directs people to research papers and tools at the University of South Florida Research and Training Center for Children's Mental Health. One research paper on this site, School Based Mental Health states:

During the last 20 years, positive behavior support (PBS) has emerged from applied behavior analysis (ABA) as “a newly fashioned approach to problems of behavior adaptation” (Dunlap, 2006, p. 58). ABA developed in the 1960s as a science in which instrumental learning principles such as positive reinforcement and stimulus control were used to bring about changes in behavior that were socially important.

In the 1980s and 1990s PBS advanced to offer a broad array of interventions that used the concepts and principles of ABA along with those of other disciplines. PBS originally developed as an alternative to aversive control of extremely serious and often dangerous behaviors of people who were developmentally disabled. In recent years, however, the application of PBS has expanded to include students with and without disabilities in a variety of settings such as school, home, and community. Today, PBS addresses a broad range of academic and social/behavioral challenges and has transformed from a singular focus on individual case planning to systems level implementation especially involving school-wide issues (Sugai & Horner, 2002).

Similar to how PBIS began with its focus solely on students with developmental disabilities, I have no doubt this so-called coordination of community service providers will engulf the general student population all in the name of prevention. School Based Mental Health again confirms my suspicions with their definition of school based mental health which wasn't a definition at all but a call to clarify the term's conceptual framework:

...As concepts evolve from rhetoric to actual implementation, definitions and clarity of the parameters of the concept become more important.
PBIS and School Based Mental Health are continuously referred to as mutually exclusive systems with the intent to integrate in School Based Mental Health:

The increased attention to PBS as an effective tool in managing a variety of academic, social, and emotional/behavioral problems validates its potential as an important model of SBMH. It is also noteworthy that some of the leaders in the PBS field have expressed interest in integrating PBS with the children’s mental health system, a further indication of the need for decision-makers to keep abreast of the developments in the PBS field (School Mental Health Alliance, 2005).

As I suspected, school based mental health is not a settled concept but a work in progress, a system tweak, nudging the public school system ever closer to utopia as seen through the eyes of the public school bureaucracy, a bureaucracy always taking cover in the wasted time a money spent on open-ended, grand, altruistic initiatives like this. School Based Mental Health states:

...As achievement-focused school reform began to subject teachers and administrators to increasing accountability for student performance, the prominence of psychosocial barriers to learning, and the gap between need and service delivery gained increased attention from the education system
School Based Mental Health acknowledges that 80% of children do not have serious problems necessitating selective or intensive PBIS interventions which corresponds with children's mental health findings that 80% of children will never have a diagnosable disorder. Yet these 80% of students who do not have serious problems and will never be diagnosed with a disorder are subjected to universal PBIS and mental health interventions.

School Based Mental Health lists universal interventions which include:
...drug and alcohol education as part of the K-12 curriculum, they encourage parent involvement, and there are school-wide character education programs...

Like laboratory animals, the vast majority of public school children have been subjected to these universal behavior modification "educational" programs at the expense of their academic education. Why is such a vast amount of human resources, and valuable academic instructional time, even being contemplated for further use in this manner?

School Based Mental Health goes on:

The SOC [System of Care] is envisioned as an integrated and collaborative continuum of services provided by the various childserving agencies aimed at children with the most intensive needs and their families.
Again, why the need for the PBIS framework which applies universal interventions if this initiative is "aimed at children with the most intensive needs"?

Essential to wraparound is the notion that the child and the family are central, services are individually tailored to the strengths and needs of the family, and are “wrapped around” them rather than placing a child into a particular program because of his/her diagnosis or pattern of behavior...Policy makers and administrators need to understand that the SOC and wraparound are more of a philosophy of support for children and families than a specific intervention.

Wraparound operates at the individual level, while systems of care operates at the system level. The continuum of school based mental health is progressing from targeting individuals in need of mental health services to the entire system of children whether or not they are in need of mental health services. A "philosophy of support" "aimed at children with the most intensive needs" will be unleashed on children who have no serious problems or diagnosable disorders.

Schools now find themselves in the role of preventing emotional and behavioral challenges and identifying risk factors considered potential barriers to academic success.

Instead of utilizing limited time and monetary resources on students actually in need of mental health services, public schools are on a continuum of expansion to "prevent emotional and behavioral challenges and identify risk factors considered potential barriers to academic success" in the general student population.

American public school students fall short when matched against their international and private school counterparts not because they lack potential, but because the public school bureaucracy has its priorities misplaced. American public school students can jump up and down like trained dogs when it comes to reciting anti-drug slogans, pillars of character, and the latest mantra to promote their self esteem. But they can't adequately read, write or do basic math.

The explosion of interest in and implementation of a smorgasbord of school-based mental health programs (SBMH) emerges from this context, however decision makers have not, to date, had clear guidance from the field regarding selection criteria or effective application. Application of SBMH, as it exists today, is not guided by a single conceptual model.

Public school bureaucracy "experts" are throwing everything including the kitchen sink at public school students to see if anything sticks.

Currently, the school-based mental health field offers several different and sometimes conflicting perspectives that drive equally incongruent programs and policies.

Public school students are already being ill-served by current "incongruent programs and policies."

I asked the board to reject any universal aspects of this initiative which would take valuable instructional and development time away from teachers, administrators and students, and instead target students who are actually in need of mental health services.

Obama's "Safe Schools Czar", Kevin Jennings, Promotes Sexual Deviancy and Pornography to Children (Saturday, December 5, 2009)

2010-07-14T20:54:00.000-05:00

Teacher's Unions & Democrats Continue to Obstruct Educational Opportunities For Poor Black Children (Thursday, December 3, 2009)

2010-07-14T20:52:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Republican lawmakers, since 2003, the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program has allowed poor inner city DC school children to attend schools of their parents' choice using vouchers at half ($7,500) the cost ($14,400) of a DC public school education. But no sooner than Barack Obama got settled into the White House, he along with Democrat lawmakers killed the funding for the program falsely claiming it had not produced positive outcomes.

Take a good look at the faces of black parents, their children and their supporters protesting for school choice. Notice, they aren't protesting for a government handout, "culturally competent" teachers, or any other Marxist social engineering. They simply wish to choose safe, competent schools for their children.

DC School Choice has proven to be so popular that Attorney General Eric Holder told former DC city councilman, Kevin Chavous, to pull a television ad in support of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. To the chagrin of Democratic lawmakers, black DC residents are waking up to the fact that teacher's unions and the Democrat Party obstruct their access to a quality education of their choice.

Thanks to the activism of DC parents and supporters, funding was reluctantly reinstated for all but 216 of the students with the stipulation that no new enrollees would be allowed into the program. So in spite of the evidence showing the efficacy of the program and the overwhelming demand, President Obama and Democrat lawmakers once again fall in line with their money masters at the teacher's unions.

Larry Sand reports in We're All Right-Wing Bastards Now:

Here’s what NEA president Dennis Van Roekel wrote to Democratic congressmen in March:

The National Education Association strongly opposes any extension of the District of Columbia private school voucher . . . program. We expect that Members of Congress who support public education, and whom we have supported, will stand firm against any proposal to extend the pilot program. Actions associated with these issues WILL be included in the NEA Legislative Report Card for the 111th Congress.Vouchers are not real education reform. . . .

Opposition to vouchers is a top priority for NEA.

Three months later, Congress dutifully voted to kill the program.

Democrats have labored for decades to maintain their incestuous relationship with the teacher's unions for one reason: power. Let the school children be damned. President Obama, Senator Richard Durbin (Illinois has nearly 13,000 students on the charter school wait list), Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and many other Democratic lawmakers continue to echo the lie that vouchers don't work. The Washington Times Reports in School Vouchers at Risk:

"The president doesn't believe that vouchers are a long-term answer to our educational problems and the challenges that face our public school system, where the vast majority of students are educated in this country," White Housespokesman Robert Gibbs said in March.

Yet vouchers are routinely used in government as well as the private sector:

Governments dole out vouchers for vaccinations, housing and other services. In the debate about climate change, there is talk about the federal government handing out vouchers to companies to put a cap on pollution. Even casinos give away vouchers for meals and gambling, and there remains considerable talk in Washington about what role vouchers could play in health care reform. Finally, if you're in the military, you can receive free tickets to the BB&T Classic at the Verizon Center on Sunday by obtaining a voucher.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said:

"We need to be more ambitious. We need to fix all of our schools."

The education bureaucracy has had in excess of 40 years to "fix" public schools, but has failed miserably. How many more poor black children must be sacrificed on the teacher's unions and Democratic lawmaker's self-serving alter before parents are restored with their God-given right to make educational choices for their own children?

Vouchers are one aspect of fixing the public schools, by providing much needed competition as public schools must compete for students and the related dollars. Without competition, public schools have no incentive to make education reform a reality.

Bolingbrook High School Community Forum (Wednesday, December 2, 2009)

2010-07-14T20:49:00.000-05:00

Last night, I attended a community forum sponsored by BHS Principal Jim Mitchem at Woodview Elementary. I was among a handful of parents and one former BHS student in attendance. Representatives from the Police department and Park district as well as teachers and administrators were also present. Principal Mitchem's next forum will be Dec. 15 at the BRAC, 200 Lindsey Lane.  

Topics of discussion included safety, violence, curriculum, college preparedness, and community involvement.  I have many issues with the district and the philosophy behind the changes that have taken place at BHS over the past few years. But one area of agreement I have with Principal Mitchem is that this community will only get schools as good as they demand. If members of this community are unwilling to engage this district whether it be at community forums, school board meetings, or through some other process, then the district will continue to fail the most at-risk students.  

But here is where I part ways with the district. Part of BHS's restructuring entailed going to a 90/10 grading system in which 90% of grades are based on assessments, leaving 10% for values instilled by doing homework, participating in class, showing up on time, completing assignments, etc. I agree that students need to master the material and their grades should reflect that mastery, however, if the other values based requirements are no longer important, as noted by a mere 10% grade weight, then what is the purpose of going to school?  The 90/10 grading system is the perfect argument for school choice via vouchers or other means.

Many current public school students would be better served by education alternatives, alternatives like taking classes on-line, correspondence classes, doing apprenticeships, working in the family business, or going to college or trade school during the time they would spend in public school. Needing only to complete an assessment to test their mastery of content, these students could be receiving education beyond that which can be offered in a high school. Every student will not be college material, necessitating other educational opportunities to learn a trade or skill. Vouchers could provide the necessary funds for these students.

  Though well intentioned, public schools can't be all things to all students. Some students need an extended school day, some need multiple classes in the same subject, some need a more hands on approach, some need to learn visually, some need more rigor, some need more electives, etc.  

If the current public school bureaucracy had real competition, competing schools would emerge which could serve the specific needs of a large student population. The fact that public high schools like BHS are scrambling to essentially implement differentiated instruction to every student proves that many of these students shouldn't be there in the first place.

Global Warming Hoax Exposed (Wednesday, November 25, 2009)

2010-07-14T20:47:00.000-05:00

I previously addressed the board regarding political motives behind the global warming hysteria promoted in the schools.

Within the last week, thousands of emails have been revealed, proving that global warming "scientists" have been lying, faking data, suppressing alternative data, and attacking global warming skeptics.

Given the education bureaucracies' vested interest in pushing leftist political agendas, I doubt students will be given this new information and textbooks swiftly altered with these revelations.

Therefore it's up to those interested in real science to teach the truth about the global warming hoax.

11/09/09 Board Meeting - Scholastic Book Fair Capitulates to Gay Activists

2010-07-14T20:45:00.000-05:00

I shared my views with the board regarding Scholastic Book's decision to include the homosexuality affirming book, Luv Ya Bunches, in its middle school book fair.

Scholastic Book Fair originally excluded the book, Luv Ya Bunches, as they should have, because it morally equates homosexuality with heterosexuality. However, at the insistence of gay activists, the Scholastic Book Fair reversed its decision and now includes this book in its elementary catalog and middle school book fair.

Laurie Higgins of the IFI Division of School Advocacy reports in Boycott Scholastic Books:

Change.org describes Scholastic Books as "one of the largest education publishers in the world with broad influence over the reading materials of children everywhere. . . .These are the same book fairs that have reach [sic] to millions of schoolchildren nationwide." Clearly, homosexual activists recognize the potential Scholastic Books has to transform the views of impressionable children.

Public school is not the place to promote the gay agenda, a self serving agenda of a handful of gay activists, taking advantage of the innocence of millions of children and their parents. Click here to contact Scholastic Books.

When Schools Fail They Change The Rules (Sunday, November 8, 2009)

2010-07-14T20:44:00.000-05:00

In Case of the Missing Juniors, Rich East High School accounts for its "stunning" 37% increase in 11th grade test scores because 40% of last year's juniors did not take the PSAE state test.

Rich East High School excluded the lowest achieving junior students from taking the PSAE by increasing the junior credit level requirements. Though these students were third year high-school students, their lack of credit hours classified them as sophomores. How convenient.

"Officials with the Illinois State Board of Education have known for years that schools were reclassifying juniors. But the practice became so pervasive last year, state officials said they launched an investigation. They will not provide any details of what they uncovered, saying they will present their findings to the state testing review committee this month."

Once again, "educators" attempt to escape accountability by obfuscating instead of accurately representing student achievement.

10-26-09 Board Meeting - Racist Theories of Summit for Courageous Conversation

2010-07-14T20:40:00.000-05:00

I shared my views with the board regarding the Summit for Courageous Conversation. I became aware of the Summit for Courageous Conversation because VVSD Board Secretary Liz Campbell attended the Summit. Secretary Campbell planned to distribute materials from one of the sessions to the other board members titled "Reaching Out to Parents of Color Requires Investigation of Individual and Systemic Practices Rooted in Cultural Pathologies and Other Harmful Educational Ideologies".  

At his Summit for Courageous Conversation, "diversity" consultant, Glenn Singleton, claims that the "ubiquity of white privilege and racism" is at the heart of the academic achievement gap. He also promotes racial stereotypes such as "white talk" is "verbal, impersonal, intellectual" and "task-oriented," while "color commentary" is "nonverbal, personal, emotional" and "process-oriented."  

The Summit Program Guide details one session after another devoted to addressing "white racism", "white privilege", "institutional racism", "anti-racist leadership", "white culture", "social justice", "equity work", "racial identity", "racial literacy", "systemic racism", "culturally relevant instruction", "race-based teaching strategies", "transformational change", and "race consciousness".

 I encouraged VVSD board members to reject Glenn Singleton's "diversity" training which:

accuses all whites of being racists
reinforces racial stereotypes,
subjects teachers to ridicule and humiliation,
robs students of instructional materials and time
and cheats taxpayers out of their hard earned money.

Any expenditures on this "diversity" training would be a gross misuse of the district's limited financial resources, financial resources that should be used to actually aid in teaching students.  For example, Laurie Higgins, the Illinois Family Institute's Director of the Division of School Advocacy, reports that District 113 Deerfield and Highland Park High Schools foolishly hired Singleton to address the academic achievement gap among their Hispanic students. Higgins states:

"After spending two years and thousands of dollars on Glenn Singleton's doctrinaire and racist theories, George Fornero, perhaps unintentionally, acknowledged precisely what District 113 got for their time and money in a recent letter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
 Dear Honorable Duncan, . . . As was the case in the spring of 2008, our non-English speaking students were once again asked to demonstrate their academic abilities by taking the ACT and the WorkKey assessments in English. And once again, despite taking the test seriously and despite working for hours longer than other students to complete it, when these students receive their results next fall, they will all fail"

Higgins sites an Educational Testing Service (ETS) study which:
"contradicts the theories of Singleton (and other "social justice" theorists), which he has so successfully exploited to extract boatloads of money from public coffers all over the country. This new study shows that lack of family support, mobility, and poverty are, indeed, contributing factors to the racial learning gap. Nowhere in this new study does "institutional racism" even appear.

Instead it finds that "curriculum rigor, teacher preparation, teacher experience, teacher absence and turnover, class size, availability of instructional technology, fear and safety at school (e.g. street gangs and fights at school), lack of parent participation, frequent changing of schools, low birth weight, environmental damage, hunger and nutrition, talking and reading to babies and young children, excessive television watching, parent-pupil ratio (i.e. minority students were less likely to live with two parents),and summer achievement gain/loss (i.e. minority students grow less academically over the summer)" are the causes of the racial learning gap...

To read more from other school districts that have been taken for a financial ride by Glenn Singleton read here or here."

Aside from the baseless claim that all whites are racists, and stereotyping all non-white students based on racial groupings, an equally offensive aspect of this indoctrination is the Maoist brainwashing technique it uses disguised as "training". Historian and professor, David T. Beito, recounts that:

"Forty years ago, state-supported bullies in China publicly humiliated dissenters by having them wear signs around their necks expressing shame for their "incorrect thoughts." Although China remained Communist, the government eventually apologized to the victims. Unfortunately, methods of this type, now rejected as barbaric in China, have become standard practice in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools of North Carolina:  In an exercise called "The Color Line," they [teachers] answer 26 questions on a 0 to 5 scale, such as:  "When I am told about our national heritage or 'civilization,' I am shown that people of my race made it what it is."  Or "I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of race."  Teachers who feel situations are "often true" put down fives. Threes are for "sometimes true" and zeroes are for "seldom true."  After tallying their scores, teachers write the number down, wear them around their necks and line up from highest to lowest.  The man responsible for this exercise is Glenn Singleton of the Pacific Educational Group...

This is all extremely depressing for those who value education and academic freedom. The worst part of it, however, is the groveling readiness of so many faculty to subject themselves to public degradation under the abusive eyes of Singleton's associates. Meanwhile, the same government schools and colleges that are wasting funds and time on this nonsense continue to dumb down standards and preside over the tyranny of low expectations for all students, black and white."

10-13-09 Board Meeting - AYP & Non-English Speakers

2010-07-14T20:38:00.000-05:00

Asst. Superintendent of Elementary Education, Faith Dahlquist, explained that the subgroup of Limited English Proficient (non-english speaking) students did not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) at B.J. Ward, Beverly Skoff, and J.R. Tibbott. Consequently, the schools did not make AYP overall. Similarly, K.L. Hermansen did not make AYP because of its special education students, those with an Individual Education Plan (IEP).

Supt. Dahlquist explained [paraphrased, none of Supt. Dahlquist's explanations are to be taken as direct quotes] that these schools had to prepare School Improvement Plans (SIP) more frequently because of not making AYP [Information Report #1009-2641-School Improvement Plans]. A discussion ensued due to the fact that students with limited English proficiency are required to take the state tests in English.

I asked when students are required to first take the ISAT. Supt. Dahlquist explained that students are required to take the ISAT beginning in 3rd grade. She remarked that it takes roughly 3 years of being in the bilingual program, where students are taught in their native language while learning English, before students are ready for a transition to the general education classroom. However, she said that it usually takes about 3-4 years of a student having been out of the bilingual program before a student is proficient enough to take a state exam like the ISAT in English. So even if a student had entered the district in Kindergarten and transitioned to general education in 2nd grade, that student would most likely not be proficient enough to take the ISAT in English.

Supt. Dahlquist also noted that the state of Illinois is actually going to extend the amount of time non-English speakers remain in the bilingual program by requiring higher scores on the exit exam. In my opinion, this will be a disincentive for non-English speakers to learn English.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is far from perfect, but it provides an incentive for schools to teach English to non-English speakers with a sense of urgency. Not only do students in the USA need to know academic content, they need to know English, for the simple fact that we need to be able to communicate effectively as a cohesive nation.

It's no surprise that the three schools in question have large Spanish speaking populations. This is no doubt the result of our nation's lax immigration law enforcement, Illinois' status as a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants, and the need for public schools to justify tax increases to fund continually growing budgets.

Kevin Jennings, Safe School Czar, Needs to Be Fired (Tuesday, October 6, 2009)

2010-07-14T20:36:00.000-05:00

Kevin Jennings' appointment as the Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools at the US Department of Education is a direct assault on the innocence and dignity of public school children. Regular Folks United chronicled Kevin Jennings' disturbing record:  

Jennings founded and ran the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN), an organization where instructors had explicitly described to middle school youngsters how to perform homosexual sexual acts, known as "Fistgate".  

As a teacher, Jennings was told by a boy of 15 that he had been sexually abused by an older man, but did not tell authorities or his parents or do anything to protect the youngster from the abuser.  

Jennings publicly stated that he was inspired by Harry Hay. Harry Hay was the number one proponent and promoter of pedophilia in the country through his support of The North American Man Boy Love Association (NAMBLA).  

Jennings wrote the forward to a book called Queering Elementary Education. Jennings has publicly, in writing and in speeches, ridiculed and demeaned people of faith. Jennings has publicly, and in writing, encouraged young people to defy their parents and religious leaders.  

Kevin Jennings criticized schools for "promoting heterosexuality" at a GLSEN event in 2000.

Call Education Secretary Arne Duncan and demand Kevin Jennings be fired at 1-800-USA-LEARN.  Email Illinois Superintendent of Education, Christopher Koch and voice your concern about the Kevin Jennings appointment at cgroves@isbe.net.

9/14/09 Board Meeting - Questions Regarding President's Speech

2010-07-14T20:33:00.000-05:00

A Bolingbrook Sun news story, Despite initial controversy, Obama speech goes on without furor at Bolingbrook schools (9/11/09), reported that the "district received 200 calls from parents who didn't want their children watching the speech and 46 calls from people who did." Curiously, this news story has been removed from the Bolingbrook Sun website.

Despite calls 4 to 1 against showing the speech, the district reversed its decision. I raised this with the board and also pointed out that the district originally sited "that instructional time in our schools is precious and has therefore asked each of our schools to continue with their normal classroom routine..."

I posed 4 questions to the board:

What's going to happen the next time President Obama wants to give a speech that has nothing to do with academic instruction?
Do you work for President Obama and the Dept. of Education or the taxpayers in this district?
Who specifically reversed the board's original decision? Was the board lobbied by outside groups?
How many overtime hours were charged to the district for the logistical setup?

Fundamentally, parents have the right to guide their children's education; not President Obama or the Department of Education. Tax dollars are to be used for academic instruction, not presidential speeches about staying in school. However, VVSD unconstitutionally went against the taxpayers in this district.

10 Reasons Why I Objected to President Obama's Speech to School Children (Monday, September 14, 2009)

2010-07-14T20:28:00.000-05:00

1. Speeches not pertaining to academic instruction should be made outside of instructional time. Instructional time is already limited by numerous distractions in the classroom, whether they be justified or unjustified. Between safety drills, assemblies, fund raising, holidays, teacher institutes, parties, picture day, pep rallies, testing, and just kids being kids, instructional time is at a premium. Knowing how precious little time there is to impart knowledge to students, any parent who wants their child to view the speech could do so on their own time. I don't care about President Obama's or any president's political affiliation. The fact is, using instructional time in this manner is inappropriate for any president. Regrettably, this concept is lost on many in the public school bureaucracy, and once again students are cheated out of academic instruction and taxpayers are cheated out of their hard earned tax dollars.  

2. Education is a local matter and the federal government is prohibited from dictating educational curriculum to the states. Parents reserve the right to guide their children's education; not President Obama, or the Dept. of Education. No president, regardless of political party, has the right to co opt academic instructional time to tell students to stay in school. The only students President Obama had the right to give that speech to during instructional time are his daughters. Any parent who wished their children to view it could have easily done so on their own time via the internet. The suggested lesson plans accompanying the speech are all about promoting President Obama. Suggested activities originally included students writing letters to themselves about how they could help the president which was quickly changed to students writing letters to themselves about how they could achieve their educational goals. The mere fact that there are suggested lesson plans is unconstitutional. It's bad enough that public schools already bombard students with anti-American, anti-family, anti-God, pro-homosexual, and environmental alarmist agendas at the expense of academic instruction.  

3. No student should be encouraged to weigh so heavily on a speech from someone so far removed from their lives. Inspiration is the job of parents and other adults who are closest to children, not the president. The only two students the president is responsible for inspiring with stay in school messages are his daughters. My husband and I, like millions of parents across the country, are the primary inspiration to our children through our words and most importantly our actions. President Obama's job is to uphold and defend the Constitution as the chief law enforcement officer of our nation. Unfortunately, his intrusion into the public school classroom shows that he has no respect for the Constitution or the Americans he serves.  

4. A presidential pep talk is not civics education. Civics education is about the rights and responsibilities of citizens as it pertains to their government, not speeches about staying in school. If a presidential pep talk passes for civics education in public school, it's no wonder so many people have no understanding about our system of government, the founding documents, their rights, their responsibilities, and how to actively engage in their government.  

5. Real education reform is about policies, not speeches. If President Obama was truly concerned about decreasing dropout rates he would support school choice policies which empower parents and allow students to escape failing schools. The DC Opportunity Scholarship Program did just that by providing vouchers to poor inner city students in Washington DC, but President Obama terminated the program because he's more interested in campaign contributions from the teacher's unions than he is in helping students trapped in failing public schools. At-risk students need school choice, not speeches. If all it took were speeches to motivate at-risk students, they would already be motivated because President Obama has made numerous speeches since taking office starting with his inaugural address. His speeches are widely accessible on the internet for anyone to see.  

6. It's counterproductive to encourage students to feel good about someone else's superficiality. The great irony of this event is that while many American educators are caught up in the aura of President Obama, our global counterparts are busy teaching their students at a level that many of our college students can't even handle. Whether it's swooning over President Obama for being African-American, or being "cool", feeling good about these superficialies is no replacement for the hard work and discipline necessary for students to achieve academically. When the students come down off their President Obama high, then what?  

7. Students who don't view the speech live will still have access to it outside of school. The speech is available on-line for anyone who wishes to view it or read it.  

8. The controversy surrounding this speech is a symptom of President Obama's non-stop attempts to pit one group of Americans against another. In spite of his claims of being a uniter, President Obama is the most polarizing president in modern times. In the short time since he's been in office, he has demonized CEO's, insurance companies, oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, police officers, doctors, white people, tea partiers, Republicans, talk radio, Fox News, and anyone who opposes him in general. President Obama and his surrogates refer to those opposing his policies as “stupid”, "silly", “greedy”, "liars", removing limbs and other body parts for money, “mobsters”, “Nazis”, “terrorists”, "teabaggers", “astroturf”, and “racists”. Is it any wonder that some parents don't want their children subjected to a speech from him during instructional time? There is hardly anyone left in America for President Obama to alienate.  

9. More and more people are listening to President Obama and watching his actions, and they are not pleased with what they hear and see. Though President Obama campaigned as a moderate, his actions and policies in the few months he's been in office show that he is a hard left Marxist, surrounding himself with some of the most radical, anti-American advisors, a.k.a. Czars. Hence, many Independents, and even some Democrats are abandoning President Obama and his policies.  

10. President Obama is a liar. To a politician like President Obama, schooled in the Saul Alinsky Rules for Radicals style of community organizing, words are tools used to further an end. His administration is systematically tearing down the foundations of liberty at the heart of our country, using his speech and suggested lesson plans as just one more step in the direction of statism. President Obama was most recently called out on a lie by Rep. Joe Wilson during his health care speech to a joint session of Congress. Within days, Senate Democrats were rushing to insert citizenship requirements into the health care bill, because Rep. Joe Wilson was correct.

Sidwell Friends Pleads 5th on President's Speech (Tuesday, September 8, 2009)

2010-07-14T20:26:00.000-05:00

Sidwell Friends, the elite private school where President Obama sends his daughters, would not respond to inquiries this morning when I called and inquired as to whether or not they would be showing President Obama's speech.

Not surprising, calls were being directed to voice mail. I left two messages with Principal Ellis Turner, however, I never got a call back.

Interesting.

Presidential Speech to Inspire or Indoctrinate? (Thursday, September 3, 2009)

2010-07-14T20:24:00.000-05:00

In an unprecedented move, President Obama will give a speech to K-6 public school children on September 8th. While this may seem harmless, the accompanying materials given to teachers suggest that there are deeper motives behind this intrusion. Wisely, Valley View 365U initially opted out of the broadcast and directed those who wish to view it to the appropriate websites. However, the district reversed this decision and subsequently decided to broadcast the speech.

In a letter from Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan to school administrators, he invites students, teachers, and administrators to participate in "this historic moment" where the "president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning." But in an accompanying menu of classroom activities to teachers, students could be instructed to write letters to themselves about how they could help the president. Not surprisingly, because of the blatant brainwashing affect of "helping the president", this activity was changed to writing letters to themselves about how they can achieve their goals.

None the less, education is supposed to be a local matter. The Department of Education has no authority to dictate curriculum to the states. This is more than just an address about the value of education, this is sophisticated marketing, a.k.a. indoctrination, courtesy of David Axelrod to promote allegiance to President Obama in the minds of the young.

Whitehouse spokesman Tommy Vietor said the "speech is about the value of education and the importance of staying in school as part of his effort to dramatically cut the dropout rate." But if President Obama really wanted to cut the dropout rate, he would promote school choice which includes vouchers in places with high dropout rates, like in DC. But instead he and Democrats chose to terminate the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program which provided vouchers to inner city kids so they could escape the DC public schools for a decent education. Real education reformers know that it takes more than speeches to reform education and that's why this propaganda stunt has produced so much criticism.

Transparency Empowers Stakeholders - Join Me (Saturday, August 8, 2009)

2010-07-14T20:20:00.000-05:00

As a taxpayer, resident of Bolingbrook, and public education consumer I am supporting an initiative to bring more transparency to Illinois government. Good government begins with informed citizens, citizens who have timely access to relevant information, information used to make important decisions affecting their community. As part of this initiative I presented Transparency Pledges to the elected Valley View School Board Members. I will be writing an evaluation of Valley View 365U's website transparency at Sunshine Review. If you would like to assist me with this project, please email me.

Valley View currently includes budgets and a comprehensive financial statement on its website. However, a simple graphic showing the trend of budget and actual expenditures year over year would make this financial information more accessible to education stakeholders. Likewise, a brief executive summary describing change in the budget/comprehensive financial statement year over year would help education stakeholders track spending trends.

Valley View currently includes its bill listing in board packets. However, if this PDF file was search able, it would greatly increase the file's usefulness by making searching quicker. With the ability to search bill listings using key words, education stakeholders could track spending trends.

Valley View includes vendor contracts on-line detailing payments over $25,000 in accordance with state mandated reporting on minority, female, disabled or local contractors. However, vendor and supplier bids and contracts in the range of $10,000 up to $25,000 are not included. Other contracts such as collective bargaining agreements with teachers and support staff unions are not included. Personal service contracts with individual district employees are not included. The superintendent’s contract is not included. Contracts with assistant superintendents, curriculum directors, and school principals are not included. Lobbying contracts, educational consultant contracts, and any grants to non-profit organizations are also not included. Also, if the district belongs to any taxpayer-funded lobbying associations, these contracts should be included on-line as well. These additional contracts have a substantial financial impact on the district and should also be included on-line for review.

Valley View annually issues a parent handbook which is an abbreviated version of board policies. However, education stakeholders should have access to the updated comprehensive board policies on-line. These policies should be in a searchable PDF format, allowing education stakeholders the ability to quickly search for relevant policies.
Valley View’s website should detail its policies about conducting staff criminal background checks. In light of the conviction of sex offender Laura J. Obzera, Valley View should also include information about how often criminal background checks are done and procedures the district follows when it learns of staff past or present criminal conduct.
Valley View lists elected school board members and their contact information. However, a short biographical statement about each elected member, as well as financial disclosures, conflict-of interest statements, and any vendor campaign contributions should also be posted. This would give education stakeholders additional useful information about their elected officials.
Valley View lists board member committee assignments. However, there is no notice, agendas, or minutes of committee meetings. This information as well as names and contact information of all committee participants should be included on-line. The website should note if these are open meetings and if public comment is allowed along with any rules about public input. This would allow education stakeholders to be involved in committee decision making before issues come before the full board for a vote.
Valley View should include full disclosure of teacher workshops and in-service programs. This would include dates and times, any materials distributed, budget information, and any related video or audio tape. This information would allow education stakeholders to gain insight into how teachers are being trained to educate students.

This basic public information should be easily accessible without filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. However, in the event a FOIA request is needed, Valley View should include information on its website about how education stakeholders can obtain access to the district's public records. The district should clearly note on its website which employee handles open records requests and how to contact that employee.

This increased transparency would allow education stakeholders to be more involved in public education, accessing timely information, tracking spending trends, keeping up with current education issues, being more informed about elected officials, and having more of a voice in a process that affects the lives of everyone in the community.

6/9/09 Board Meeting - Transparency and Non Residency Cases

2010-07-14T18:38:00.000-05:00

No Child Left Behind has the laudable goal of increasing accountability to improve educational outcomes. One of the measures used to assess educational outcomes is to segregate student data by race. As a result, parents self segregate by race under the guidance of school district diversity consultants in [Parent group aims to bridge ‘achievement gap’].

In reality there are only two kinds of students: students who are meeting or exceeding standards, and students who are not. To segregate students by race assumes that children of the same race have the same strengths, weaknesses, learning styles, and cultural backgrounds. Ironically, this is the same viewpoint held by racists of the past who insisted upon racial school segregation.
History showed that separating students by race proved to be unequal. Yet diversity consultants and public schools advocate turning back the clock to educate students based on race.

The only fair way to tailor educational plans is to do so based on the individual student, similar to a Special Education individual educational plan. An IEP takes into account the strengths and weaknesses of individual students, regardless of race. Schools do this for General Education students to varying degrees by using differentiated instruction and various interventions.

Absent the racial aspect of the parent group, “racial bias in standardized testing” would not be a discussion topic, a topic demonstrating the self serving nature of a race-based parent group.
By appeasing racial groups, schools can pat themselves on the back, when in fact individual students may still be struggling academically. This racial focus allows schools to tiptoe around the cultural indicators that cut across all races, and the negative outcomes produced by the school’s choice of curriculum, teaching methods and amount of time spent on academic instruction.

Factors such as income level, time spent studying, and value placed on education are not as easy to attribute to “standardized test racial bias.” John Ogbu, the late researcher at UC Berkeley, produced a study, Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement, in which he detailed an upscale Cleveland suburb who’s black students fell behind their white counterparts because of their negative attitudes about learning and the lack of time put into their studies.

Predictably, the school wants to create a group for Hispanic parents. Will Asian, Native American, White, and other racial groups get educational consultants dedicated to their racial identity too?

Overall, the public schools are not doing enough to address the academic achievement gap, precisely because they are not designed to do so. Public schools use consultants, endless committees, and public relations specialists to ensure the school looks good whether or not students are learning.

Until parents and taxpayers act like they own education, this deception will continue. One of the aspects of owning education entails demanding that students be treated as individuals, not as members of a racial group.