Reporting on key Nebraska K-12 education issues on a daily basis from Susan Darst Williams, a writer who lives at the base of Mount Laundry, Nebraska. To subscribe to this blog's mailing list, and see a variety of other education features and information, visit the main education website, www.GoBigEd.com
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Thursday, November 30, 2006
Posted
10:16 AM
by Susan Darst Williams
ARIZONA HAS A BIGTIME PROGRAM
Footnote to Wednesday's GoBigEd story pleading for tax credits to expand private K-12 scholarships for needy children in Nebraska:
Come to find out, more than 22,000 children have been assisted by a similar tax credit in Arizona since it was put in place in 1997.
Donors to the Children's Scholarship Fund of Omaha are supporting1,860 children in K-8 classrooms across the state this year. To contact the group: (402) 554-8493, or csfomaha@archomaha.org
(0) comments
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Posted
10:11 AM
by Susan Darst Williams
BEING TESTED IN METRO OMAHA, WESTERN NEBRASKA
Go to www.randmcnallyclassroom.com and sign up for a free, two-week trial of a neat new multimedia geography curriculum that was launched last month.
At $299 per building, it would be pricey for homeschoolers and small private schools, but oh, so worth it in the countless hours of unique and motivational learning it can provide. A corporate spokeswoman said it is being tested right now in a large district in metropolitan Omaha, and there have been pricing inquiries from western Nebraska as well.
Idea: get a company that does business globally, and isn't that most of them these days, to pay for it, for your school or homeschooling co-op. Most corporations are glad to give a little special help for a sound academic purpose such as improving kids' grasp of geography, history, science, economics, languages, etc. etc.
Here's my feature on this new product, published today on www.GoBigEd.com:
Multimedia Geography
Q. I always thought looking at maps was one of the most boring things in school. Surely they have improved the way they teach geography these days. How in the world (!) do they teach it now?
Geography is one curricular area that has really gained from computer technology. Sound, movement, color and lots of ways to present the facts come alive with computers and make geography instruction exciting and fulfilling.
One new product that deserves a mention is the Rand McNally Classroom, an online service that offers interactive games and activities for students along with traditional reference information, and lesson plans and ready-made assessments for teachers. It’s available on a per-building basis for school districts, private schools and home schools.
On top of the company’s famous atlases, globes, wall maps and books, the multimedia curriculum adds technological wizardry to social studies, geography and history lessons for grades K-12. Besides the maps, there’s information on earth science, populations, economies, languages, holidays and much more.
Pricing is $299 per building, which is expensive for a homeschooler but doable for a homeschooling co-op or organization.
The benefit of per-building pricing is that all of the students and teachers in one high school, for example, can access the curriculum. The curriculum is multidisciplinary. So science teachers could add maps, photos and artists’ renderings to their curriculum, the business teacher could utilize world economics charts, the German teacher could zero in on place names in Germany, and on and on.
Each week, there’s a feature that connects a given map with something that’s going on in the world. Games include place-the-state puzzle, build-your-own-map, continent quizzes, and animated features on various topics, including how maps are put together, and geography terms. Grade-level activities range from a travelogue for a teddy bear for the early primary years, to college-level material suitable for Advanced Placement classrooms.
Teachers can use it to project maps onto a classroom whiteboard using an LCD projector, or students can have the same maps on their individual computer screens. Each map is printable as a PDF file. Students will be able to access the curriculum from home.
For a two-week free trial, go to www.randmcnallyclassroom.com
(0) comments
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Posted
4:21 PM
by Susan Darst Williams
WHEN GOVERNMENT SEEKS THINGS FROM GOVERNMENT
Does it bother you that there are hardly ever any plain old citizens testifying before elected school boards and Legislative committees about school matters? Usually, it’s an attorney, a lobbyist, or both, getting paid handsomely by the hour by us to “represent” -- not us, the taxpayer -- but our paid employees in the government schools.
Does it bother you that we have to pay the legal costs of school lawsuits in which our representatives are basically suing us, the taxpayers, at our expense? That’s what’s going on with a number of these “equity” lawsuits and other legal arm-wrestling over turf and revenues right now.
The recent legal and political messes over the attempted takeover of metro-area schools by the Omaha Public Schools district, and Cat-in-the-Hat style messy legal and political consequences that have ensued, are sure to result in eye-popping legal bills.
The numbers from the 2005-06 school year aren’t yet on file with the state, and this doesn’t even count the legal bills and other expenses of related governmental entities, such as the Legislature.
But to set the scene, here’s what selected big districts in Nebraska spent in the 2004-05 school year on legal services alone*:
Omaha Public Schools $2,489,026
Lincoln Public Schools $478,834
Millard Public Schools $248,567
Westside Community Schools $103,712
Elkhorn Public Schools $45,637
* Source: http://ess.nde.state.ne.us district annual financial reports
2004-05, category #01-2-02310-317
The OPS legal bill was more than five times as big as that of the No. 2 district in the state, the Lincoln schools.
Note, too, that OPS spent $56.52 per pupil that year, vs. $12.52 for Elkhorn.
Gee! Does that mean students in OPS have five times as many rights that need to be upheld as students in any other district?
Or . . . is OPS management THAT bad, that it gets hauled into court so much more, or is the OPS management THAT much more litigious, that it hauls OTHERS into court that much more?
Or . . . is OPS just using to using the courts to get what the elected policymakers won’t give them?
It’s worth a thought.
Along these lines, a colleague did some checking with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission on school spending for lobbying services, and passed along the findings. These numbers aren’t very big, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens in the coming year:
SCHOOL LOBBYISTS & COSTS *
SCHOOL
2005 $ SPENT
# Pupils
COST/PUPIL 2005
2006 $ SPENT
Bellevue
$15,200.00
9,129
$1.67
$15,150.74
Elkhorn
$8,300.00
3,691
$2.25
$8,000.00
Fremont
$20,527.31
4,498
$4.56
$12,773.11
Grand Island
$15,262.63
8,070
$1.89
$7,539.29
Lincoln
$104,932.07
32,270
$3.25
$43,415.94
Millard
$71,737.69
20,371
$3.52
$23,536.76
Omaha
$53,277.59
46,549
$1.14
$33,611.01
Papillion-La Vista
$1,500.00
8,464
$.18
$14,200.00
Ralston
$8,600.00
3,112
$2.76
$18,512.10
Westside
$30,000.00
5,887
$5.10
$20,132.23
* Source: Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission website, http://nadc.nol.org
(0) comments
Monday, November 13, 2006
Posted
9:17 AM
by Susan Darst Williams
THE LOW-COST WAY TO FIX
LOW-INCOME SCHOOLS
They're applying principles from that best-seller management book, "Good to Great," to figure out how to improve educational delivery and reduce dropout rates for low-income, high-language deficient schools in Arizona.
Doesn't take a boatload of cash. Doesn't take consolidation. Doesn't take an army of educrats. Takes everyday principles of results-oriented good management -- the very thing that's missing from this whole gall-bladder operation over the Omaha Public Schools. Imagine that!
Read what's working in OPS counterparts in Arizona on:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1113latino1113.html
The study itself is posted on:
www.arizonafuture.org
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Saturday, November 11, 2006
Posted
1:33 PM
by Susan Darst Williams
GREAT ACCOUNTABILITY IDEA
GETTING MEDIA PLAY
My esteemed colleague Peyton Wolcott of Texas is interviewed on this webcast on her idea to ask school districts to publish their checkbooks online, for accountability and "transparency" in how they're spending our money. Wouldn't have to be fawn-cy; a simple listing of date, who to, what for and the amount would do. Then we'd have a shot at finding out stuff like sending four school psychologists to the same convention in Boca Raton (!!!) at a cost of $2,000, instead of sending just one who could report back to the others.
See the Oct. 19 interview, split into sections of a few minutes each:
http://www.education-consumers.net/briefs/mar2004.shtm
Posted
1:04 PM
by Susan Darst Williams
REQUESTS RATIONALE
FOR OPPOSING EARLY-ED PROGRAMS
Am I a meanie for opposing early-childhood education programs as part of the mission of our public schools?
I don't think so, but a Go Big Ed reader has suggested so, in anonymous comments posted on this blog on my stories revealing the pointlessness of Head Start, the model for Amendment 5, the government preschool addition to the Nebraska constitution that voters unfortunately put in place on Tuesday.
Here's a good briefing on the politics of Head Start, which swept through Nebraska like a hot knife through butter, and got Amendment 5 in place "for the kids":
http://www.education-consumers.net/briefs/mar2004.shtm
Posted
1:01 PM
by Susan Darst Williams
TO CALL FOR RETIRED MILITARY
IN OUR CLASSROOMS
Happy Veterans Day!
If you're really interested in giving more than lip service to honoring our veterans, consider how they could help out in another war that's going on: the war to improve our schools.
One of the greatest innovations we could make in our schools would be to allow for the alternative certification of those who would like to teach, but have spent their careers thus far in the military. If you've put 20 years or more into that lifestyle, you are more than equipped to handle today's classrooms. And, especially at the secondary level, people with subject knowledge and discipline -- like retired military -- would be a tremendous asset. They'd be great in administrative posts, too, but so far are blocked by outdated and pointless regulations requiring a teaching certificate for most school jobs.
Let's keep policymakers informed about this exciting prospect, and hope to see some enabling legislation one of these days in Nebraska.
(0) comments
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Posted
10:08 PM
by Susan Darst Williams
COMING SOON TO NEBRASKA CLASSROOMS?
from www.MassResistance.org
The following article was published in Wednesday's Newton Tab, by columnist Tom Mountain, regarding an incident in the Franklin Elementary School in Newton, Massachusetts. In the hours since the article appeared, enormous outrage has been generated throughout the area. Lexington parent David Parker, who was arrested over the teaching of homosexuality to his kindergartner and is now suing the school system, issued a powerful statement (below the article).
How soon will this be happening in YOUR school? How long will good people continue to be afraid to speak out publicly, and leave the activism to others? You must get involved now!
Nightmare at Franklin
By Tom Mountain
The Newton Tab
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
http://www.townonline.com/newton/opinion/view.bg?articleid=610359
Emer O'Shea knew something was wrong the minute she picked up her daughter from Franklin Elementary School. The third-grader was normally very perky upon seeing her mother and new baby sister, but this time she glanced at her mother without indicating what was wrong, except to say that the school's social worker had visited the class. But Emer soon heard from another parent about what had happened in her daughter's class that day, and she was both stunned and mortified. The next day her young daughter finally opened up with a question that would baffle most parents of an 8-year-old child, "Mommy, is it possible for a man to have an operation to become a woman?"
Transgenders and transvestites. These were the topics that a staff member at Franklin School in West Newton chose to teach to a class of third-grade children. The school's social worker described to the children that some men like to dress up as women, and yes, some men even have operations to change into women.
The opportunity for this "teachable moment" - the kind that Superintendent Jeff Young likes to portray as merely responding to some child's "random questioning"- occurred when the social worker was describing various families outside of the traditional mommy-and-daddy norm and showed the class a picture of a woman with two children, asking what they saw in the picture. A child then raised his hand to tell her (are you sitting sit down for this?) that he thought the picture was of a man who had a sex change operation and was now a woman. Apparently, the child's own father was undergoing such an operation (which he/she has since completed).
The social worker then elaborated on this "teachable moment." But this wasn't just any social worker employed by the Newton Public Schools. This was Laura Perkins, former board member of GLSEN, the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network; or rather, "Laura Perkins, MSW, Franklin School and the Newton Early Childhood Program," according to the GLSEN Boston Conference, where she hosted a seminar in which the "Rationale for integrating GLBT (Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender) issues in the early elementary years will be presented" and "classroom lessons demonstrated."
As a result of this particular "classroom lesson," Emer's daughter was petrified. For an 8-year-old accustomed to a child's world of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, the little girl had nightmares, and explained to her mother she was scared that her baby sister could turn into a boy.
So Emer did what any normal responsible parent would do - she demanded an explanation from the principal, Cynthia Marchand. She and several other parents from this class met with the principal who, according to Emer, responded defensively and fully backed her staff member.
Emer then went to Superintendent's Young's office with her concerns. She handed Mr. Young a written description of what happened, whereupon the superintendent promised to respond to her soon. He didn't. So after three weeks, she called to make an appointment.
As Emer described it, Mr. Young remarked that the Parental Consent Law didn't apply to this situation because, he claimed, the topic of discussion was not planned for. He concluded that it was really just "a teachable moment."
When I asked the superintendent via e-mail if it is the policy of the Newton schools to teach 8-year-old children about sex change operations, he responded "No").
"Arrogant" is how Emer described the superintendent's demeanor towards her. He declined to shake her hand at the meeting's end, and didn't even bother to acknowledge the baby she was holding.
The superintendent wants us to believe that just because the class was taught by a GLSEN activist who has specialized in "integrating GLBT issues in the elementary years" and even though the principal, social worker and probably half the school knew that there was a child in that very class who just happened to have a father who was undergoing a sex change operation, there is no evidence that this was planned, or rather, set up. So, in Mr. Young's convoluted logic, the state law which mandates that parents must be informed whenever anything of a sexual nature occurs in the classroom did not apply here.
It just happened, you see. A mere coincidence. Just like a few years before when a Burr School first-grade teacher chose to out himself to his first-grade class. This was a hide-from-the-media moment for the superintendent, since it was later revealed in Bay Windows, the Boston gay weekly, that the teacher had discussed this probable scenario with his principal well in advance of his proclamation to his class of 6-year-olds.
Predictably, Emer got nowhere with the school administration. She went through the typical phases that any parent who raises these issues is forced to endure. The stalling, ignoring, belittling. The attempts to isolate her, put her on the defensive, make her feel like the aggressor - the intolerant, unsympathetic, backward parent: common tactics to make parents like Emer go away. After all, Mr. Young and his cohorts now have years of experience dealing with such parents.
But Emer would not go away.
Fed up at the lack of response from the school, she raised the issue in front of a large audience of staff and parents at Franklin's curriculum night. "Can we see the social worker's curriculum for this year, as last year there was inappropriate information given to the elementary-age children?" she publicly asked Cynthia Marchand. In other words, could the principal guarantee that staff members would not teach the young children about men having sex change operations? To which the principal responded that she would speak to Emer in private about it (a preferred tactic by Newton administrators). Emer would not back down; after 10 months of being ignored she demanded an answer right then and there. But the principal wouldn't budge.
As Emer described it, afterwards Mrs. Marchand coaxed her into her office, whereupon she loudly chastised Emer for "her inappropriate behavior." She berated Emer because (you'd better sit down again for this) the Franklin School father who had a sex change operation and was now a "woman" had been sitting in the audience with his wife (they're still married) when Emer broached this highly sensitive topic. "Cindy, stop shouting at me!" Emer responded to her child's principal. (My calls to the principal and social worker for comment were not returned, but Mr. Young did respond by e-mail: "No," the social worker and principal would not be suspended or reprimanded, he wrote. He ducked my question as to whether or not he intended to apologize to Mrs. O'Shea, stating that he and other staff had already "spoken with the parent already.")
Emer had enough. She decided to pull her daughter out of the Newton Public Schools and, at great expense, send her to a private school. (Mr. Young again responded "No" when I asked if the school department would be paying for the child's private school tuition).
A few days later, she walked into the Franklin office once again, this time with her now fourth-grade daughter and infant baby to inform the principal and secretary that her child would no longer be attending Franklin School.
"Good," Mrs. Marchand allegedly responded, in the presence of Emer, the secretary, a teacher and Emer's daughter. The principal then turned and walked away.
Think of that. Think real hard.
Tom Mountain can be reached at tmount117@hotmail.com.
Newton school system general website:http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/
Franklin Elementary School website:http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/schools/elementary_schools/franklin.html
Posted
11:20 AM
by Susan Darst Williams
TURNING A SMALL 'l' INTO A BIG 'W'
Good thing our daughter’s a good softball player. It gives us the perspective that a relatively low batting average is still pretty good, against some tough pitching. The way the big anti-quality, anti-local control outfits like the Nebraska State Education Association threw their money against fiscally conservative candidates in education-related races Tuesday, campaign strikeouts were to be expected.
I’m especially sad about the four good fiscal conservatives who all almost – but not quite – unseated union party-line incumbents on the State Board of Education. I have some ideas about next time. Woulda! Coulda! Shoulda! I hope those good people will take heart by how many votes they got for how few dollars they had available to spend. I hope they’ll run again, with my promise that we’ll get more organized to get them more cannon fodder for their media machines next time.
But the game’s not over. Actually, things are looking up. We’ve got a new offense in place – Nebraska policymakers who are open to the solutions provided by school choice, in everything from better quality curriculum to more meaningful local control and property-tax relief.
Enough good people were elected Tuesday who will support progress, change, innovation and quality – translation: school choice – that I have high hopes for the next four years.
Congressmen Lee Terry and Adrian Smith both have said they could go for some form of school choice, perhaps tuition tax credits or vouchers for disadvantaged kids. Eight of the 13 candidates for the Legislature that GoBigEd picked because they indicated they could support school choice in some form won on Tuesday. That’s critical mass, added to those already on board. They’ll need data, but it’s out there, so I’m excited.
We know Gov. Heineman has said he wants to lead the charge to salvage the Class I country schools. That was strikingly seconded by the voters Tuesday in repealing the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad LB 126 that forced small schools to consolidate with big ones. That vote went a long way toward discrediting State Sen. Ron Raikes, chairman of the Legislature’s Education Committee, who is committed to big-government, centralized-power solutions to education’s problems. I hope he takes Tuesday’s vote as a wake-up call that he needs to do some more talking and learning about the future of education and what people want, or get out of the way and step aside as Ed Committee chair. Another hopeful sign is that Heineman did try to help with the OPS mess instead of caving in to OPS’ demands for “one city, one school district,” and has said he wants to keep trying.
Here’s another reason things are looking up:
Since the voters Tuesday decided to make early childhood education part of the mission of the K-12 schools, in the utter absence of any evidence that those sorts of programs actually benefit kids in the long run, the voters showed that they want to help kids, no matter what. They really do want to help, even though they know it’s costing them, big time. So since private schools are cheaper than public schools, and do a better job for disadvantaged kids in particular and all kids in general, that vote is a public mandate to go forward with a school-choice system that could help all us, but especially those disadvantaged by living in the inner cities or in the rural hinterlands. In stark contrast to early-childhood ed, school choice has been proven effective with increased test scores, higher graduation rates and lower costs. So it’ll be a no-brainer now.
Combine that with the fact that the people voted down the constitutional spending lid of Initiative 423 – indication that the electorate wants flexibility for its public servants even though it’s costing them, bigtime – and things are looking good for school choice. Not that school choice costs more – it doesn’t; it costs less – but because it’s something new, and will require everyone to keep an open mind and stay flexible.
We’re not talking about a school choice system that will decimate our public schools. We’re talking about a school choice system that will help maybe 5% to 10% of the student body – poor kids, and rural kids. When people see how great it works, a few years down the road, there’ll be critical mass to get school choice for the middle class, too, and that’ll be a good thing.
What’s ironic is that the sitting State Gourd of Education (whoops – Freudian slip) and state education poohbahs all appear to be so fossilized into union protectionism and bureaucratic empire-building that they will be left out in the cold, politically and procedurally, in all of this. They will be left gasping for breath as others NOT charged with the state’s educational system wind up making the much-needed changes while they sit to the side sucking the thumbs they’ve been sitting on for 25 years as other states have moved into the school choice arena.
It won’t be pretty, for them. But for the rest of us, TOUCHDOWN! School choice is the educational equivalent of the West Coast Offense. It can give the poor kids an honest chance at educational quality and opportunity, and the country kids can get their schools back.
We can . . . Restore the Order! So let’s bring it!
(5) comments
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Posted
11:04 AM
by Susan Darst Williams
'YOU AREN'T THE BOSS OF ME!'
Ooh, I like the spirit of this scholarly and to-the-point report from the Maryland Public Policy Institute. They note that the teachers' unions are out there this campaign season telling voters what to do, but nobody ever, EVER asks them WHY they do what THEY do. :>)
Here's a cool report I'd like to customize for Nebraska: "Fifteen Questions Maryland Teachers Should Ask Their Union."
www.mdpolicy.org/docLib/20061106.PolicyReport20068.pdf
Posted
10:47 AM
by Susan Darst Williams
GOV. ROMNEY KNOWS UNIVERSAL PRESCHOOL'S A CROCK,
BUT NEBRASKA ED LEADERS ARE TAKING US THERE, ANYWAY
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2006/08/05/romney_vetoes_universal_prekindergarten_in_state/
Posted
10:00 AM
by Susan Darst Williams
AND COMIC RELIEF: ELECTION GRAB BAG
Congratulations to all candidates and voters! We made it to Election Day, and the end is in sight. Special thanks to all those who worked so hard in state and local school-board races, and for state senators who will make improving education a high priority. Three cheers for the wonderful army of Nebraskans who waged what looks to be a successful campaign to restore our state’s elementary-only country schools by urging “repeal” on Referendum 422.
Looks like Amendment 5, which will put K-12 school bureaucracies in charge of early-childhood education, is going to pass. What a shame. It takes probably one week to equip a child with kindergarten readiness, but now Nebraska taxpayers are going to have to pay for babysitting, basically, from birth to age 5. Oh, well, though, eh? We’re driving another nail in the coffin of the dream of an equal, constructive, all-encompassing public education system in Nebraska. Middle- and upper-class parents are going to choose private day care and preschools to avoid all the governmentese of the government early-childhood programs. Their kids won’t mix with diverse kinds of kids, and income-based segregation will widen. From private preschools, parents with means will enroll their kids in private K-12 schools. Again, the melting pot will separate into layers instead of mixing. This change will increase the already-huge gap between rich and poor in this state. But it is what it is, and here’s hoping we can make the best of it.
It doesn’t appear that Initiative 423 has a chance of winning, which is too bad. But in the aftermath of the discussion it raised, especially Nebraska’s tax problems, here’s hoping that voters will toss out the incumbents on the State Board of Education. Why? They put in place all the policies and mandates that have CAUSED Nebraska’s spending on K-12 education to increase by 43.6% in the last eight years. Academically, they’ve brought us mediocre results, and economically, they’re putting many of our job-producing, wealth-producing taxpayers in precarious positions.
According to http://ess.nde.state.ne.us, average cost per pupil in Nebraska has increased from $5,589 per year in the 1997-98 school year, to $8,013 in 2004-05, the latest figures available from the Nebraska Department of Education’s website.
Voters apparently aren’t thinking the way to control that is to put a modest spending cap in the state constitution with Initiative 423. So be it. But we could do just as much good with a fiscally-conservative, common-sense State Board of Education – one which would deep-six Nebraska’s enormously expensive and totally farcical assessment system, allow a modest amount of school choice since our private schools are doing better than our public schools both in academic quality and cost-wise, get some innovations going to zero in on meeting the needs of needy urban and isolated rural students and teachers, allow (finally!) alternative teacher certification to break the propaganda chokehold of the teachers’ colleges and unions, and most of all, get our teachers trained in systematic, intensive, explicit phonics instruction so that our kids can become first in the world in reading – which they would if they were taught to read correctly in the first place.
I’m not sure the following candidates would go for all those things. But I am sure of one thing: they’d be much more likely to innovate, achieve, and cut out the fluff than the rubber-stamp, union-kissing incumbents on the State Board.
Please, please, please vote for, and urge your friends to vote for:
District 5: Alan Jacobsen
District 6: Marilyn Carpenter
District 7: Paula Pfister
District 8: Dick Galusha
COMIC RELIEF: ELECTION GRAB BAG
Quote of the Day:
Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.
-- George Jean Nathan (1887-1958),
drama critic and editor
Useless Trivia of the Day:
Ancient Greece had one of the earliest forms of democracy, since at least 508 B.C. Each year, the Greeks had a negative election. Voters were asked to cast a vote for the politician they most wanted to exile for 10 years. Votes were written on broken pots, ostraka in Greek, and from this name comes our present word to ostracize.
If any politician received more than 6,000 votes, then the one with the largest number was exiled. If no politician received 6,000 votes, then all remained. If there was a fairly even spread of votes, nobody would get over 6,000 and no one would get exiled -- hence only very unpopular politicians were ostracized and exiled.
Corny Joke of the Day:
Five surgeons are discussing the types of people they like to operate on.
The first surgeon says, "I like to see accountants on my operating table, because when you open them up, everything inside is numbered."
The second responds, "Yeah, but you should try electricians! Everything inside them is color coded."
The third surgeon says, "No, I really think librarians are the best; everything inside them is in alphabetical order."
The fourth chimes in: "You know, I like construction workers. Those guys always understand when you have a few parts left over."
But the fifth surgeon shut them all up when he observed: "You're all wrong. Politicians are the easiest to operate on. There are no guts, no heart, no brains, no spine, and the head and the hind end are interchangeable."
Agenda, 2008 Democratic National Convention:
7:00 P.M. Opening flag burning.
7:15 P.M. Pledge of allegiance to U.N.
7:30 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
7:30 till 8:00 P.M. Nonreligious prayer and worship; Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton.
8:00 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
8:05 P.M. Ceremonial tree hugging.
8:15 - 8:30 P.M. Gay Wedding; Barney Frank Presiding.
8:30 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
8:35 P.M. Free Saddam Rally; Cindy Sheehan, Susan Sarandon.
9:00 P.M. Keynote speech: The proper etiquette for surrender; French President Jacques Chirac.
9:15 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
9:20 P.M. Collection to benefit Osama Bin Laden kidney transplant fund.
9:30 P.M. Unveiling of plan to free freedom fighters from Guantanamo Bay, by Sean Penn.
9:40 P.M. Why I Hate the Military, A short talk by William Jefferson Clinton.
9:45 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
9:50 P.M. Dan Rather presented the Truth in Broadcasting award, presented by Michael Moore.
9:55 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
10:00 P.M. How George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld brought down the World Trade Center Towers, by Howard Dean.
10:30 P.M. Nomination of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Mahmud Ahnadinejad.
11:00 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
11:05 P.M. Al Gore reinvents the Internet again.
11:15 P.M. Our Troops are War Criminals, by John Kerry.
11:30 P.M. Coronation of Mrs. Rodham Clinton.
12:00 A.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
12:05 A.M. Bill asks Ted to drive Hillary home. . . .
(0) comments
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Posted
10:53 AM
by Susan Darst Williams
REPORT REVEALS GROWTH OF
NONTEACHING PERSONNEL IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Whoa. I didn't know this. I knew teachers were becoming the minority among school staffs in public schools because of union machinations and administrative empire-building, but I didn't realize it had gotten this bad.
Wonder if this ratio holds up between Nebraska public and private schools, too.
Here goes:
In Arizona, 72% of private school staff are teachers . . . but only 49% of public school staff are.
Doesn't that just show the impact of The Blob? The more people we throw at K-12 education, the worse the product becomes. We know this, since private schools almost always have higher test scores and are judged to be doing better than public schools. But we keep increasing the nonteaching staff and all the related costs, anyway.
See: http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/article.php?/1152.html
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