If you've been watching the news lately you've seen the FBI investigating parents for being too vocal at school board meetings. You've seen the National School Board Association claim that parents who get too loud are terrorists. After huge pushback across the nation they apologized (https://noahwebstereducationalfoundation.org/nsba-apologizes-for-calling-parents-domestic-terrorists/). That doesn't mean anything has changed. Parents who disagree with school board and district actions have every right to be heard. Today's article comes from Townhall and Landon Mion. Give it a read at their site or scan through it below. In any case if you have had local situations where your rights have … [Read more...]
LANDMARK RESOLUTION TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM UNSUITABLE CONTENT — PASSED BY REPUB. NAT. COMM.
I don't care whether you are liberal/progressive; moderate or conservative. I don't care if you are Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green or Socialist. When it comes to children we MUST be on the same page. We MUST protect our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren from educational content that is unsuitable. What's unsuitable? There we can have a discussion and agree or disagree. Parents are in control. Parents have the choice. Parents are responsible. Education uses an "Opt-Out" model. Educators put content into place and then it's up to parents to find out about it and then take action to have their child/ren excluded if they don't like the content. Instead we should be … [Read more...]
Reykdal vs. Jones: Point and Counterpoint
On October 26th the Chris Reykdal for Superintendent Campaign sent out an email in which they showed a table comparing his qualifications vs. Erin Jones. We sent the email to Erin Jones and asked her if she wanted to respond. She did. So, following is the email and chart from the Chris Reykdal campaign and Erin Jones response. Hopefully this helps you determine which candidate to vote for: Ballots are out and they are trickling in every day. However, 65% of voters are still undecided in this OSPI race! Attached is a side-by-side comparison of qualifications between my opponent and I. This may help folks to understand some of the key differences in our education, background, … [Read more...]
What is your position on School Choice and establishing Vocational Training? Is this Important to you?
A local resident emailed Erin Jones and Chris Reykdal (candidates for Washington State Superintendent of Schools in 2016) and asked several questions. Following is the original email and, to date, the response from both candidates in the order he received them. They said their responses could be shared. Original Email to the Candidates My wife and I are Washington State voters. We were reading the Voter's Pamphlet and did not see where you stand on school choice or providing vocational training for students.We believe that parents and taxpayers, especially for those in inner cities or where there are under-performing schools, the ability of the government to provide school … [Read more...]
Washington State Superintendent Candidate Finances – A Comparison
It's about six (6) weeks until the general election. We thought it a good time to take a look at the contributions being made to both of the Washington State Superintendent candidates. This was stimulated by an email we received this morning from the campaign of Chris Reykdal: Good morning! I'm sick of Donald Trump! I’m sick of the bigger symbolism of his campaign. I'm done with excessively wealthy individuals trying to buy elections without a remote understanding of how to effectively serve the interests of the public. Guess what? It's happening even in my OSPI race! The millionaire corporate-style reformers are writing $2,000 (maximum) checks to my opponent. I respect … [Read more...]
Washington State OSPI: Bullying, “The Trump Effect” and Nazi Germany
Once upon a time (in June 2016 to be more exact) the person in charge of anti-bullying for the Office of the Washington State Superintendent of Instruction (OSPI) decided that one of the presidential candidates (Trump) was using words that scared some children. Apparently this person believes that talking about illegal immigration, deportation and similar things were the equivalent of bullying. So, this State employee (in charge of anti-bullying) sent an email to all 295 school districts in the State of Washington serving ~1,051,694 students, suggesting that they (the school district) be aware of the impact of “words” and “topics” on some children and consider setting up a “safe room” … [Read more...]
Feds Choosing Each Student’s Vocation?
From Educationviews.org - author is Donna Garner On last night’s podcast of Women on the Wall, Alice Linahan and guests discussed two new Congressional bills that if passed would allow the federal government to control completely the vocational choices and the career/tech training of all students in America – public, private, charter, homeschools. Students would be “forced” into certain vocations chosen by the federal government – not based upon the student’s own talents and desires and not based upon parental guidance. Students’ vocations would be decided based upon the economy and the commerce in each regional area. Federally controlled certifications and federal … [Read more...]
Will Public Education Survive the Next Administration?
From an article at Save Maine Schools - author is Emily Talmage Donald Trump has called Common Core a “disaster.” The leaked DNC emails refer to the standards as a “political third rail.” At this point, however, the controversial standards may be more of a red herring than anything else. While the public remains largely in the dark, a massive upheaval of our public school system is well underway, and recent proposals from both major political parties indicate that the transformation will move full speed ahead regardless of who is elected president this fall. The new system is designed to expand the education market by allowing out-of-district providers – including online … [Read more...]
GOP Wants Constitutional Amendment to Give Parents Control Over Kids’ Education
From an article at Reason.com - author is Alex Thomas Editors note: While we try to keep politics away from education we can't deny there are differences between the various political parties. In this article we see that the Republican Platform adopted for the 2016 election contains something we, at SWWEducation.org, believe is critical - returning control of education to the local level. Please read on.... It will come as no surprise that Republicans favor giving parents more control over their children's education. But this year, the party took things to a new level by calling for a constitutional amendment to make sure they get their way. The proposal comes from … [Read more...]
Have Education Politics Gotten Out of Control?
From a story at Education Week - Author is Charles Taylor Kerchner Editors Note: Although this article is about California schools ask yourself if it really sounds like your state This spring, I had a delightful lunch with Michael Kirst, the Stanford University professor emeritus, who as president of the State School board has been profiled as leading a radical revolution in California education. He and I have known each other as academics for decades, and we spent a little time at lunch figuring out how to best fit our conversation into the roles we now occupy: Kirst as a public official, and me as a journalist. We decided that we could speculate about ideas, but not about … [Read more...]