Then who will they blame?
----------------------------------------------------
October 12, 2015
Comments on Superintendent Ann Clark could lead to CMS board confrontation
I’ve been reporting on the tension over talk that some board members and community leaders would like to extend Superintendent Ann Clark’s contract past this summer. Colette Forrest, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools parent who is African American, has sent several mass emails urging people to oppose that push, saying it’s led by “White Male Republicans” in a manner that shuts out the black community. She detailed a list of concerns with Clark, including Clark’s lack of a doctoral degree, her long tenure with CMS and Forrrest’s contention that Clark was “the architect in closing 10 African-American schools” five years ago.
Paul Bailey – a south suburban school board member who is, yes, white, male and Republican – sent Forrest this response: “The citizens of Mecklenburg County deserve better than this type of garbage you are sending out. I know the Board deserves better considerations. You evidently have some type of vendetta to resolve internally and I would appreciate it if you would resolve your personal issues first then come to the board with true and accurate statements along with realistic solutions.”
Forrest forwarded that message to her email group, and it’s safe to say that didn’t help matters.
State Rep. Kelly Alexander, a Mecklenburg Democrat who is black, forwarded Forrest’s message under his letterhead last week, urging constituents to “stand up for your babies, grandbabies, nieces and nephews enrolled in CMS public schools.”
Peter Wherry, pastor of Mayfield Memorial Missionary Baptist Church and leader of the United Missionary Baptist Association of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, which represents about 40,000 people, rebuked Bailey in an email copied to board members and reporters: “I write to decry the intemperance and unprofessional, unusual, personal disrespect of your very terse response to this citizen, parent, voter and human being. Your tone and comments failed completely to address the issues she put forward (which I would have respected) and opted instead to attack her personally.”
Wherry said he agrees with Forrest’s points, plans to bring speakers to Tuesday’s meeting and believes that “unless we improve CMS soon, impacts will be dire on the growth trajectory in our great city.”
Here’s the catch: School board rules don’t allow speakers to talk about individuals.
Board Chairperson Mary McCray opens every comment period with a warning that “we ask that individual CMS employees or their families not be addressed in your comments” and that “the board reserves the right to cut off any speaker who violates these rules.” During the September comment time, she twice interrupted a speaker who started to veer into the personal.
When I asked last week about people who want to talk about Clark, McCray said she’ll enforce the rules: “They can’t disparage any employee of CMS,” and if they do, “the chair will cut them off.”
If this doesn’t seem thorny enough already, consider that McCray is running for re-election. Forrest is a supporter who has sent two emails on behalf of McCray’s campaign, though she says that she is not paid by the campaign and is not speaking for McCray on the Clark matter.
About half a dozen people had signed up to speak about the superintendent search Friday, a number that could grow by the time the meeting starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Paul Bailey – a south suburban school board member who is, yes, white, male and Republican – sent Forrest this response: “The citizens of Mecklenburg County deserve better than this type of garbage you are sending out. I know the Board deserves better considerations. You evidently have some type of vendetta to resolve internally and I would appreciate it if you would resolve your personal issues first then come to the board with true and accurate statements along with realistic solutions.”
Forrest forwarded that message to her email group, and it’s safe to say that didn’t help matters.
State Rep. Kelly Alexander, a Mecklenburg Democrat who is black, forwarded Forrest’s message under his letterhead last week, urging constituents to “stand up for your babies, grandbabies, nieces and nephews enrolled in CMS public schools.”
Peter Wherry, pastor of Mayfield Memorial Missionary Baptist Church and leader of the United Missionary Baptist Association of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, which represents about 40,000 people, rebuked Bailey in an email copied to board members and reporters: “I write to decry the intemperance and unprofessional, unusual, personal disrespect of your very terse response to this citizen, parent, voter and human being. Your tone and comments failed completely to address the issues she put forward (which I would have respected) and opted instead to attack her personally.”
Wherry said he agrees with Forrest’s points, plans to bring speakers to Tuesday’s meeting and believes that “unless we improve CMS soon, impacts will be dire on the growth trajectory in our great city.”
Board Chairperson Mary McCray opens every comment period with a warning that “we ask that individual CMS employees or their families not be addressed in your comments” and that “the board reserves the right to cut off any speaker who violates these rules.” During the September comment time, she twice interrupted a speaker who started to veer into the personal.
If this doesn’t seem thorny enough already, consider that McCray is running for re-election. Forrest is a supporter who has sent two emails on behalf of McCray’s campaign, though she says that she is not paid by the campaign and is not speaking for McCray on the Clark matter.
About half a dozen people had signed up to speak about the superintendent search Friday, a number that could grow by the time the meeting starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Many blacks won't be happy until one of their "community organizers" is appointed the superintendent of CMS.
ReplyDeleteOf course, that would be the final nail in the coffin for CMS (and quite possibly CharMeckCo depending on how long such a beast ruled), but they are also too stupid to see this.
The only real solution is to break CMS up into more manageable pieces.
And, yes, that means that much of CMS will be an unsalvageable urban ghetto.
But it might mean that the healthy parts can continue to do well.
Otherwise, it's lights out for them all.
Except, perhaps, for a few small enclaves, depending on how successful the "community organizer" is at squeezing blood from those turnips.
Where can we get copies of these email missives?
ReplyDeleteI think the public should see them and the kinds of shenanigans going on behind the scenes.
Somehow I've missed them.
Larry Bumgarner was nice enough to post links to the emails on the CO.
DeleteSomething I don't think the CO has bothered to do...
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/your-schools-blog/article38682600.html
Larry's link:
http://www.tuesdayforumcharlotte.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/151006Forrest.pdf
Well, now that the "liberal media" charges for content and even though their stock is selling for pennies, who IS reading these rags?
ReplyDeleteMcClatchy closed at $1.39. I guess they see that as a silver lining in that two months ago it was 81 cents.
Hey, I read them without paying. Just use chrome "incognito". And if that doesn't work, try Tor. Or just log into another account on your computer.
DeleteI don't seem to have a problem reading once those little popup try to stop me.
Tonight's BOA meeting:
ReplyDeleteDon't get me going on the magnet morons who suggested adding a performing arts magnet in south Charlotte vs. getting the ACADEMIC standards at Northwest School of the Arts up from a state letter grade of a "B" to an "A".
This makes me furious. This community does not need another arts magnet school. Children with a passion for the arts deserve ONE full magnet school that is exceptional. NWSA is a good school but not exceptional. Why? When this school could be?
....and how many more STEM schools do we need?
DeleteCMS continues to add to their ongoing epic failures....
And the language arts school (Chantilli?) that has 24 trailers. CMS is going to
ReplyDeleteADD magnets when a successful school like this is trying to operate under conditions that parents and students claim is forcing good families to leave?
And on top of this we have the colossal failure of the Gormanator squad who swooped in and shut down 10 African-American schools accomplishing academic squat while causing further contention and untrust between the races just so Charlotte can hire another "Rock Star" superintendent (at God knows what cost) who will quit the minute they realize what they've really gotten themselves into.
ReplyDeleteI had to turn the BOE meeting off after the poor mother from a West Charlotte school
that isn't part of ProjectLIFT got up to complain about her daughter not having a licensed let alone "highly qualified" teacher all year. We have a school system that requires a parent to haul themselves all the way down to town hall to request a basic classroom teacher while the West Charlotte school up the street is handing out free laptops and free pizza during free Zumba classes. What's wrong with this picture? The thing is, you can't blame CMS for this. You can blame the state of NC for its refusal to create better working conditions for teachers which includes better pay. NC wants to compete with Massachussets? Fine. Then Patriot-up to Massachusetts teacher licensing standards that ALSO includes Massachusetts working condition and pay standards. It's a two way street, folks.
Last night's BOE meeting... I couldn't take it anymore. Honestly, I had to turn it off.
Those were not "African American" schools. They are/were schools owned by taxpayers and I agreed with shuttering them. Shutting them down made no difference in learning.
DeleteIt also helped with better utilization of space in other schools.
Remember, graduation rates skyrocketed after all those changes.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWhy isn't CMS adding an IB magnet at Audrey Kell or Providence? You know, like the one they have at Myers Park that only those who live in the Myers Park attendance zone can attend due to "overcrowding"? If it works at Myers Park, why not Adrey Kell or Providence? Or, what about a STEM magnet at Community House MS?
ReplyDeleteBut no. CMS is going to add a performing arts magnet in south Charlotte that kids in north, west and east Charlotte will flock too bypassing an arts school that is centrally located. Sure.
Unless CMS is talking about an arts magnet elementary school which is unbelievably stupid in south Charlotte where 3/4 of kids take private ballet, piano and drama lessons. The Harris YMCA has a high quality dance program that CMS can't compete against no matter how much it would like to in terms of facilities, staff, staging, funding and everything else. Not even close before we get to other private and well established studios in the area. So why, as a south Charlotte parent, would I send my child to a CMS elementary arts magnet schools located in south Charlotte? It's ridiculous. Clueless really.
It isn't about what south Charlotte families want or need in terms of magnet schools in this area of town. It's about someone else's pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking agenda. There's no way CMS consulted with "stake holders" in south Charlotte regarding placing an arts magnet here. No way.
That magnet school would not be there for the kids from that area.
DeleteIt will be to draw the "other" kids into that area.
In hopes that some will move closer or perhaps DEMAND more "affordable" housing be built nearby for their convenience.
Magnet schools are put there to "mix" people, not necessarily to educate the folks nearby.
Just like they keep wanting to push "affordable housing" into Ballantyne.
We have property near Blakeney in Ballantyne. I swear that place is sometimes like a blast from the past.
There is a shopping area nearby which holds outdoor music during the summer at the Park at Blakeney and is a VERY PLEASANT family gathering place year round as well.
There are no "urban" gangbangers or thugs hanging out at all.
(Well, as of two years ago when we were around, that is...)
I'm sure some people who see this tranquil picture of mostly white and Asian families out having a good time would simply love to spoil it by adding some more "local flava" from the urban crowd.
They just have to show people where it is for the place to start falling apart.
Just like the crowds at the regional malls start going bad once word gets out.
Ok. I'm going to let it go after this.
ReplyDeleteIt's like setting up a CMS BBQ magnet next to the best BBQ joint in Charlotte and expecting it to succeed.
McDonald's experimented with selling lobster rolls up in Maine this past summer. They couldn't give them away. The thing is, McDonald's can afford a few marketing mistakes. Can CMS afford the same kind of failure?
A respectable North Carolinian doesn't order Easten NC BBQ with sweet tea in Vermont.
Any BBQ that is good, is good BBQ, whether in Socialist Vermont or in the land of fruits and nuts California.
DeleteCooking 12 racks of Duroc ribs, two Duroc butts, 40 chickens and 4 17 pound Wagyu Beef Briskets this weekend.
THAT will be the best BBQ anywhere around here at that time!!!!!!!!
Gawd, A BBQ Magnet?
DeleteNot sure what to think of that.
On the one hand, it probably would prepare kids for a good career.
Hey, Wiley, just had my first Wagyu beef burger last weekend.
We decided to "go American" and visited a Ruby Tuesdays in one of the local shopping areas.
And their specialty was Wagyu Beef burgers.
I don't think they do those in the US.
I ordered 4 Wagyu Gold Label briskets to cook for our Board meeting, 50 people and they cost me $725.00... Best beef you'll get in the states...
DeleteBurnt-ends will be succulent!
Sorry guys. I still don't trust anyone in Vermont in the area of BBQ. I choose to commune with the loons sticking with ice cream - Cherry Garcia.
DeleteVermont BBQ?
DeleteMaple? Might be interesting. But I'm no expert.
Used to sample a LOT of BBQ when I lived in Texas. Hard to find pork, they're mostly beef. Had all kinds of stuff, but I liked a place called Goode Company in Houston.
Mainly because I lived near one and liked their sauce.
The Harris YMCA - which provides need based financial assistance - holds its recitals and a full-fledged production of the Nutcracker every year at the Belk Theater, Knight Theater, and Queens University Theater. I taught my OBGYN's daughter at the Harris Y not to mention hundreds of other kids from highly educated families. A former student of mine received the NC Governor's School award in dance before heading off to UNC - Chapel Hill.
ReplyDeleteSo, CMS thinks that it can compete against an entity like the YMCA before it even considers all the other arts options available in this area of Charlotte?
I'd love to be a fly on the wall and listen to some of the thought processes of those who work in the magnet office because anyone who knows anything about children's arts offerings in Charlotte knows that last thing south Charlotte needs is an arts magnet school. South Charlotte would benefit from a host of other magnet themes before this one.
Channeling Vilma; "Is anybody listening? Does anybody care"?
Again, it won't compete because it isn't meant to compete.
DeleteJust as McDonalds is no real competition for real burgers.
They are just for mass consumption.
Same as that magnet school will be.
It might fool people into thinking they are getting something special, though. Most likely people who really don't know the difference.
But, compared to what they would be exposed to otherwise,
it's probably a step up.
STEM at Mt. Island and STEM at Coulwood. Schools are .8 tenths of a mile apart. MI has no sports facilities, will have to add upwards of 25 mobiles and will use Coulwood's facilities.
ReplyDeleteThat is the poster child for CMS stupidity.
I don't think a single poster is adequate for CMS stupidity.
DeletePerhaps a collage or an entire gallery?
Of course, we also have Waddell which now houses an elementary magnet school complete with a state of the art high school football field, track, stage, science lab, gymnasium, locker rooms, tennis courts, media center, band room, dance studio, and every other high school amenity known to man in addition to an elementary school playground.
ReplyDeleteShutting down Waddell High School sure solved a lot of problems. Yes sir-ee. Although Waddell's loss was certainly Smith Language Academy's gain.
Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if the plan
ReplyDeleteis to add an elementary arts magnet at Waddell (sort of southish Charlotte) which already has the facilities and I would guess, the room. From this standpoint, putting an elementary arts magnet school here makes some sense. The problem is the school still won't attract the population of south Charlotte families CMS desires. The language academy is different because they offer something the average south Charlotte parent can't buy. And if CMS actually considered the STEM definition of "magnet", they'd acknowledge that the entire point of magnet schools is to "attract". A magnet school isn't a magnet school when it doesn't attract a cross section of people.
It's beyond my comprehension as to why CMS is expanding magnet offerings in lieu of making the best magnet schools they have better. Like starting with Chantilli Language Academy which made a strong case for itself at Tuesday's BOE meeting.
I believe you mean Collinswood Language Academy. I think Chantilly is a Montessori Magnet. Both of them had supporters at the meeting and they both have strong programs.
DeleteI stand corrected on the name confusion. Thanks.
DeleteChantilli actually looked like a magnet school should. Imagine this? I know families from the Y who send their children here. The Harris Y children's program is an interesting case study on where educated and middle-higher income families will and won't send their children to school. You've got every private school represented here but most families still have their children in CMS. CMS could learn a few things here if it would like to keep this segment of families in the system.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great place to do a "survey", if they really cared about that segment of the population.
DeleteWhich, in all honesty, I really kinda doubt.
After all, why educate the calves when you can still milk the mommas for all they're worth?
DeleteI spent 20 years asking hundreds of students at the Harris Y where they went to school. Any attendance/demographic shifts always played themselves out here. I can tell you with certainty that Charlotte private schools lost a fair number of students during the initial implementation of the now defunct Choice Plan. I know exactly which magnet schools attract Harris Y families and which don't. An elementary arts magnet in south Charlotte isn't going to attract anyone in the area. And I don't think even CMS is stupid enough to add an arts middle school or high school magnet in south Charlotte because it would negatively impact Northwest School of the Arts which earned two "B's" from the state.
ReplyDelete"An elementary arts magnet in south Charlotte isn't going to attract anyone in the area."
DeleteWell, why SHOULD it?
I seriously doubt that CMS cares about those families anymore.
As long as they keep paying their bills (which they will) CMS really benefits by NOT educating them or keeping them.
Because, as everyone knows, many of those families DO have options.
They are becoming the neglected middle.
I attended an arts magnet high school in CT. I hold a B.A. and M.A. in dance. I wrote my master's thesis on the topic of art magnet schools. I served as an education outreach committee member with the Charlotte ballet. When I'm lobbying against an arts magnet school in south Charlotte, something is terribly wrong. A STEM magnet school makes far more sense here.
ReplyDeleteDo you see the same pattern as I do, that there are so many magnets (with more coming) and other specialized schools that pretty soon, every school will be special.
DeleteHow is that supposed to solve the problem of kids not learning to read or do math, yet the graduation rate keeps climbing?
And to think that my poor wife actually expects that we will return to this mess to send our kids to high school.
DeleteMan, I wish I could get her to sell our places and settle back in somewhere else.
But, I guess things will have to really fall apart before she sees it.
Oh, well, all we can do is keep monitoring the situation and see how things look in a few years.
One kid's already in fifth grade, the other a first grader.
We're zoned for Ardrey Kell and Hawk Ridge.
And onto today's front page $55,000,000.00 Project LIFT story...
ReplyDelete(Disastrous pre-recorded and timed cutting techno-marvel "LIFT WAY!" interview aside).
I almost don't have the heart to comment on what we all knew was going to be the outcome here. What a shocker that Charlotte's MBA's and CEO's can't fix it either.
In the meantime, some courageous mother has to haul herself all the way down to town hall to make a request to the BOE to provide her elementary school aged daughter with a licensed classroom teacher - more than 2 months into the school year.
Yep. I had to turn Tuesday's BOE meeting off. I couldn't take it anymore. The word vomit comes to mind.
So now we're back to manipulating student assignment like a cheap prostitute again. Can't wait to see how CMS will twist and turn its latest diversity trick. And we all know what's coming after today's stunning news. Magnet schools? 100 more won't fix the problem either but let's just go for it anyway instead of fixing, expanding, and improving the few magnet schools that actually are working. Why have a limited number of exceptional magnet schools when we can have hundreds of failing to mediocre magnet schools that don't attract anyone beyond the gates of urban hell.
And round and round we go... until our school system looks like every other urban school system in the country - in the name of "equity".
And while we're at it, let's add 1,000 more cheap charter schools that aren't performing any better than their traditional apple-to-apple counterparts and line up the usual suspects - teachers, principals and school superintendents - and send them to the firing squad before appointing another Secretary of Education who supports more standardized testing for the financial benefit of Pearson.
ReplyDeleteYep. That's my "highly qualified" plan.
alicia DurandOctober 18, 2015 at 7:31 AM
ReplyDeleteNaval Academy grad Eric Davis wants to "stay the course".
With an unlimited private donation budget the size of the military, why not? Why not continue to move deck chairs on the Titanic?
Here's a thought. How about shutting all the overcrowded predominately white schools down and dispersing these kids to the underutilized black schools that were shut down? And then (fill in the blank) ... And then "stay the course".
Gotta' love the CO editorial department who now have all the answers. Yep. Let's see;
1. Conduct another expensive superintendent search.
2. Add more magnet schools.
3. Jerk families around with student assignment again.
It's hopeless, Charlie Brown.
ReplyDelete
Did anyone at CMS actually READ the magnet school report that was recently released?
ReplyDeleteI'm dumbfounded as to why CMS would decide to ADD additional magnet schools after reading the findings and recommendations outlined in this in-depth report - that CMS commissioned outside consultants to conduct. Dumbfounded. But what else is new?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCMS' slap hazard approach at assembling magnet schools is mind blowing. With few exceptions (Montessori, IB, foreign language), principals and teachers are not specifically trained or specifically targeted during the hiring process to teach magnet school themes. On top of this, most CMS magnet schools are NOT achieving desired diversity levels in terms of race, socio-economic status, or students with disabilities.
ReplyDeleteWhat's happening is a farce. CMS is not adding magnet schools for the purpose of achieving the "pillars of magnet school" outcomes. CMS is simply diverting more money and resources to schools it already knows have no hope of attracting a cross section of people. This is what's really going down unless someone can prove otherwise which I see little to no evidence of based on CMS' own magnet school report.
Magnet Schools of America
ReplyDeleteThe 5 Pillars of Magnet Schools:
1. Diversity
CMS: In most magnet schools, not so much.
2. Innovative Curriculum and Professional Development.
CMS: What professional development? (with the exception of Montessori and IB programs)
3. Academic Excellence
CMS: In most cases, not so much.
4. High Quality Instructional Systems
CMS: Not sure?
5. Family and Community Partnetships
CMS: Spotty at best.
And now onto Kay McSpadden...
ReplyDeleteOk, so "according to research", my white children's academic achievement won't be negatively impacted by sending them to "high density" schools.
Fine. So is it possible for Kay to explain how this is true in a system like CMS that can't recruit enough licensed teachers to fill the system's "high impact" schools? Unless having a licensed teacher in a classroom makes no difference in terms of student achievement. Somebody? Anybody?
Help me here.
Again, you can't blame CMS for this injustice when the blame lies clearly with the state.
No, I won't send my children to a "high density"/"high impact" school without a fully loaded staff of fully licensed teachers. And I'm sorry, a staff of 22-year-old TFA recruits doesn't count. Shoot me.
Well, I just had to spray my scent all over that editorial piece, too...
DeleteHeh. What a crock.
Liberal guilt trip maximus.
So stupid. No where else in the world.
What Kay McSpadden fails to account for is the social aspect of all these fabulous white kids being integrated into low poverty black schools. I say fabulous very sarcastically because I am tired of feeling this guilt for being white and everyone thinking my kids will be the savior to all things bad socially. They won't but the amount of social pressure from folks like her are starting to weight too heavily on my shoulders. I am getting drained and tired of feeling guilty, worried my children will have to hold on to some burden when they get older that they should not have to deal with because they feel guilty for being labeled "white and entitled". When I will be darn sure that they never behave like that. But I can control one thing: who they hang out with until they are 18.
DeleteAnd so Ms McSpadden, here is why I am so darn choosy about what damn school my kids will go to:
1. I will make sure that they only hang out with kids whose parents are involved in their lives as much as I am
2. I will make sure that they only hang out with kids whose parents put reading and school on the front burner.
3. I will make sure that they only hang out with kids whose parents have the same values as our family which include: college before marriage, job before marriage, savings in the bank before kids, marriage with a healthy, non-abusive person.
4. I will make sure that my kids only hang out with kids whose parents don't do drugs, do not know drug dealers, whose parents have never committed a felony, do not think it is normal to commit crimes against other human beings.
My social list could go on and on. I also know this world is a wicked, crazy place, but I will make sure to the best of my ability that all the above criteria for my children social is as above. So where do I find these so called friends my children will have Ms McSpadden? In the West Charlotte school zone? Where so far this year there has been a murder every other week within a 2 mile radius of the school?
This has nothing to do with race or poverty it has to do with my children and the above criteria that I have for their socialization through their 18th birthday.
"CMS is simply diverting more money and resources to schools it already knows have no hope of attracting a cross section of people."
ReplyDeleteWhy would anyone think this could possibly be about anything else?
We all know by now that the main purpose of public schools is social engineering, not education.
And, unfortunately, today, that means catering to the lowest common denominator. But only for the struggling middle classes.
For the sake of "diversity" of course.
The real rulers of our country (including many of the media elite) know better than to send their kids to public schools merely to mingle with the riff-raff and hired staff.
But "studies show" that diversity is good for "everyone", they say.
Everyone else, that is...
Not sure how places like Japan or Finland ever get ANYTHING done "right" without all that "diversity".
I guess the Hahvahd liberal crowd doesn't get paid much to "think" about that.
In all honesty, most people do not need to interact with more than a small subset of the population anyway.
And, unless they're doing "charity" work, the rich and otherwise successful people rarely need to have much to do with anyone else unless they are having some "service" or the other done for which they are paying.
And it's pretty much that way all around the world, too.
The whole "benefit of diversity" argument is totally bogus.
At least, not the kind of "diversity" our social engineers are pushing.
Sure, diversities of thought may matter, but NOT diversity of skin color and bank accounts.
And you can find plenty of diverse thoughts among rich and/or educated white people, too.
Or Chinese, or Japanese, or Europeans.
Or maybe in a group of rich, educated people from all over the world.
Shamash,
ReplyDeleteI was beginning to think my CMS soliloquy was heading the way of Shakespearean madness which, oddly enough, would be quite fitting.
Good to have you back.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHey, always glad to be the in the "Amen" chorus.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, we're just preaching to the choir, aren't we?
Heh.
Of course, my alter-ego, Cao Nima, is occasionally seen on the CO site if you ever care to read that rag...
Wiley,
ReplyDeleteFunny thing while I was trying to connect to this blog...
I use google to get the link and saw ANOTHER reference to wile e. coyote and education...
NEA “Cognitive Linguistic Analysis” Conducted by Wile E. Coyote
http://jaypgreene.com/2015/02/09/nea-cognitive-linguistic-analysis-conducted-by-wile-e-coyote/
It's funny because it talks about how the NEA has been trying to change minds by changing language. And how they try to "influence" people using code words like "zip code" instead of "rich and poor".
Hilarious stuff if not so serious...
"ALELR draws our attention to Conor Williams’ reporting on a rich, rich vein of hilarious tomfoolery at NEA. Williams has a leaked memo in which the NEA uses “cognitive linguistic analysis” to change reality by using magic words."
The article contains a few links, including this one which is a good read...
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/02/union-to-teachers-say-right-zip-code-not-rich.html
Union to Teachers: Say ‘Right ZIP Code,’ Not ‘Rich’
"In an internal document, the National Education Association advises the use of cheery euphemisms to avoid talking about inequality."
-----------
Gee, they think the public is just so stupid, don't they?
So now we can tell who has been brainwashed by the educrats into using "their" language.
Crap, man, I think I could write Kay McSpadden's or Pam what's her name's next editorial from reading that last link to the Daily Beast article...
ReplyDelete----
The NEA document has an answer. Should we use “research driven practices” and “measure what matters” using “meaningful, rigorous evaluations?” No—apparently we should “get serious about what works,” because “love of learning can’t be measured,” and “testing takes time from learning.” Should pre-K—12 schools be “effective learning environments” that prepare students to be “college and career ready?” No, says the NEA. Schools are “where childhood happens,” and students leave “equipped to succeed.”
-------------------
Wow, this is pretty much a pick-list of catch phrases we see in most of those libtard opinion pieces on education.
Everything from the hatred of testing to using research and scientific methods to find out what works best.
Sheesh, we are doomed.
Oh well, George Orwell was just so right. It's all about the language we use. At least to the big teachers unions.
And the best way to control thought is to control language.
And we let these people decide how to teach our children?
Jeezus...
ReplyDeleteIt REALLY DOES HAVE A PICK LIST of "words to avoid" and "words to embrace".
(I'll bet they had to have a committee meeting to decide that "embrace" was the right word, too.)
This is really good to know.
I hate these kinds of catch phrases.
It's to the point that I literally cringe when I hear someone say:
"Let me share this with you..."
Because I KNOW it's NEVER anything I really WANT (like pizza!).
It's always some "message" I really couldn't give a crap about, but
which they think is just so "special" that they HAVE to "share" it.
Like Moonies or Hare Krishna cult members...
I am truly evil...
ReplyDeleteI am thinking I should write the most sincere sounding (but insincere) letter to the editor to the CO using as many of these NEA "code" phrases as I can and see if it gets printed.
It's like an exercise in NewSpeak.
Of course, Ann Doss Helms might read this blog (not for ideas, of course...) and tell the dweebs to expect it.
But it would be hilarious to see such BS get into print knowing that it was a prank.
See today's column by Ann Doss Helms and editorial piece by Peter St. Onge. They are big into code words and guess who they think are using them. Going after school board candidate Jeremy Stephenson big time.
ReplyDeleteHere's my post under Cao Nima on the CO Ann Doss Helms "busing" article...
ReplyDelete-------------------------
Speaking of buzzwords. Found this interesting article on the NEA's version of Newspeak to try to influence the public. They actually did a STUDY on this! Jeez...
Here's the article.
In it is a scan of the actual NEA memo with the recommended phrases to "embrace".
And oddly, many of them sound like they are directly out of the CO editorial section...
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/02/union-to-teachers-say-right-zip-code-not-rich.html
Just a few examples...
Words to avoid: Words to embrace:
Inequality Living in the right ZIP code
Measure what matters Love of learning cannot be measured
Meaningful, rigorous evaluations Testing takes time from learning
College and career ready Equipped to succeed.
See, folks, the public is being "programmed" by these gooberheads.
And to think that some people expect these same people to "educate" our kids...
Should have been like this (without all the collapsed spaces...)
ReplyDeleteWords to avoid: --> Words to embrace:
Inequality :--> Living in the right ZIP code
Measure what matters :--> Love of learning cannot be measured
Meaningful, rigorous evaluations :-->Testing takes time from learning
College and career ready :--> Equipped to succeed.
Well, well, well...
ReplyDeleteThe CO editorial staff is holding a 'meet and greet' to hear what "the public" has to say about encouraging more diversity at struggling schools. Time and place: Monday at 11:00 AM, Trade and Tryon - because families in the suburbs apparently don't work and all those uptown bankers with kids in private schools apparently have all the answers related to CMS. Just like Taylor Batten.
Again, it's all about white, Asian and Indian suburban families doing something about the problem without any real input from them. It's about manipulating families out of the suburbs and into schools no one wants to attend - and won't attend no matter how many magnet "themes" (that administrators and staff aren't specifically trained in according to CMS' own magnet report) are added.
The irony is that had the blockheads on previous schools boards built a sufficient number of schools in the suburbs to accommodate explosive growth in the areas that now house most of CMS' "best" schools we wouldnt be having a one sided conversation about making the WORST schools more diverse but making the BEST schools more diverse.
I'm sick and tired of it all. Most families who survived previous attempts at student assignment "fixes" honestly don't give a rats behind anymore. They're just happy their kids got through and to finally be out of the system.
Protests to the Observer editors over time and place of this "meet and greet" have been met with something close to derision. The board is probably patting themselves on the back for presenting this opportunity to the community. Suggestions that they at least do the same in far south and far north Mecklenburg County were scornfully dismissed. Peter St. Onge has been the editorial board point man for this so far and he is very prickly. Perhaps it's getting hot in the kitchen. Incidentally, OneMeck is pushing this meeting on their webpage (run by Pam's good friend Carol Sawyer), so we know one group that will be turning out.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally another big event this week, featuring a Berkeley race specialist coming here to tell us about the harmful effects of re-segregation. I imagine the same old crowd will be in attendance, all fondly remembering their busing days.
Yeah, I've been commenting on that "race expert" in the CO.
ReplyDeleteJust the same old crap being rehashed. I guess that's where the money is today in education "research", so we'll just keep getting more of it instead of anything more useful.
That being said, NO ONE will touch the REAL REASON people "re-segregate".
And that's behavior.
Nothing illustrates it better than this recent incident in Houston's HISD school district:
http://abc13.com/news/fight-outside-school-ends-with-teen-being-run-over/1073590/
This is not "poverty" at work. This is pure dysfunction.
No amount of money spent on these kids will change their attitudes.
No amount of money will help "educate" their parents so that they become good parents.
No amount of money will change the subculture in which thugs, gangs, and fighting are celebrated.
Unless, of course, the people want to change.
And that could be done for no money at all.
But, you just need to listen to McCray's interview and how she lights up when she talks about how to spend all that bond money to see what really motivates the education system today.
All this is about milking more money out of the "guilty".
What I honestly don't understand is why there has not been one article or CMS review of the most diverse area of Charlotte which is the Highland Creek, Mallard Creek, west University area (west of 85). This is a highly mixed area of 50% white, 50% black (give or take some percentages for Asian and Hispanic). The charters have exploded in this area because the white parents are so fed up with the decline of the local schools. It took about a good 10 years for this to occur, but David Cox is a prime example. White parents whose kids are going to kindergarten next fall are in a panic. Trying to get into Bradford Prep, Corvian, Community School of Davidson, Thunderbird, Pioneer Springs (though many are questioning this schools quality), willing to drive downtown to Charlotte Lab. All because affordable housing was built, crime has increased significantly; it is the prime example of white flight. School board member Rhonda Lennon is well aware and I have heard her talk candidly about it at board meetings. I am so confused on what CMS is going to do with this possible new boundary assignment because it has already happened in this area. But while the schools continue the downward trend, the area is such an awesome, progressive area (new Fresh Market, Tesla decided to put in their charging stations, awesome new restaurants, everything you need for your kids in terms of tutors, dance classes, boyscouts, sports, swimming ect). Even Highland Creek which used to be a gold standard elementary school, has parents who can't get out fast enough. What are they going to do? Make our white kids, who are already assigned to crappy schools go to an even crappier school. These are upper middle class neighborhoods, I am honestly confused on what their plan is for this area? Hey, maybe we will be assigned to better schools, maybe up in Huntersville! Are they going to force the charters to increase their black enrollment? To bring all the white kids back? But they don't see that before parents send their kids to a CMS magnet these parents rather drive to Davidson or Charlotte Lab. CMS just does not get it! They have completely lost the trust of this area from the parents who form the PTA's , get businesses involved in the school, pay for field trips, have reading parties, what ever energy the parents have to make a school great is all going to the charters and CMS will never get that back in this area.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that is my 2 cents about the possible new assignment
Also, if you look at Johnson's TED talk on the effects of de-segregation, he concludes that it's the "resources" not the "peers" which made the difference in black achievement.
ReplyDeleteSo, putting a white kid next to a black didn't matter as much as spending more money and putting black kids in smaller classes.
So, based on this, Project Lift should have been a resounding success, eh?
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ReplyDelete"These are upper middle class neighborhoods, I am honestly confused on what their plan is for this area?"
ReplyDeleteI think the plan is pretty clear. Destroy the "enclaves".
Affordable housing is usually the camel's nose under the tent. Either that or resetting those school boundaries.
After that, it's usually all downhill.
I'm keeping an eye on that, myself, for our Ballantyne property which is in the Ardrey Kell, Community House, Elon Park school zone.
The moment I see a hint of decline, we're selling.
I'm more than happy to contribute my property to the "affordable housing" bucket, AFTER we've left.
I've seen this so many times before in my life, I don't stick around anymore.
I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama.
There's PLENTY of "affordable" housing there now.
If you're brave enough to live in the neighborhoods.
I used to live in Houston, too.
ReplyDeleteAnd there is no way in hell I'd put my kids in HISD.
There used to be SOME good schools, but now?
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ReplyDeleteWell, still more crap in Missouri. Saw where the President and Chancellor of The University of Missouri resigned over a "racism" strike by football players.
ReplyDeleteI guess we know who runs that school.
It's a sad day for higher education and education as a whole in the US when this kind of thing can happen.
Our system of higher education was once the envy of the world, now I'm not so sure about that for our future.
Of course, I can't blame the guy for going elsewhere.
Who needs THAT kind of crap in their lives?
It was his first gig in "public education". I'm sure he'll survive.
But, still, caving in to those with thug/anarchist mentalities is not a good thing.
Just think if EVERY university president who was protested against in the 1960's had resigned?
I'm still waiting to see who EXACTLY is behind all these so-called "racial" incidents at these schools.
If we EVER learn the truth.
The anarchists among us are not above "false flag" incidents to promote their cause and now "the system" seems primed to protect them from exposure (as in that Berkeley High situation where they will not even reveal the "race" of the "racist" who stirred THEIR pot).
Still, when the media harps on and on about something like all those "racist" church fires in St. Louis (which turned out to have been set by a black man), I have to wonder if a lot of this isn't by clever design.
People KNOW how to manipulate our system.
Some people have made careers out of doing it.
Thankfully, I'm living in an "enclave" of sorts now here in Hong Kong.
Thanks to our generous IRS rules regarding foreign tax credits and such, I don't even have to pay US taxes.
Which is at least a personal relief.