To Protect Oklahoma Kids Statute Of Limitation Laws Must Be Changed - V1SUT Vantage; ROPE Report Live

During our regular third Wednesday podcast with our friend and V1SUT Vantage blogger, 'Mary', we talked about how Oklahoma can't protect its students until we change the Statute of Limitations on sex crimes. Watch the short video to see how and why these need to be changed to protect Oklahoma kids.

How Many Predators In OK Public Schools? Sherrie Conley - ROPE Report Short

Oklahoma House Rep Sherrie Conley talks about her bill (HB3958), which makes it a punishable offense for school employees to communicate with students one-on-one through any phone or computer apps without express parental permission. 

While doing research for the bill, Sherrie found an indication of the number of people in Oklahoma who have lost their teaching licenses due to confirmed allegations of child predation. 

Truly, when one thinks about the number of children each predator averages before they are caught by a system, this is simply a tragic circumstance for our children in public schools. This has to stop. 

Please support HB3958 and help prevent as many cases of child predation as possible.

Parents Have To Parent - It's A Tough Job To Be Sure - But No One Can Do It But You

 

This morning I read a horrible news story about a 12yo girl who was beaten and tortured by 2 other 12yo girls at what was supposed to be a 'sleep over. That is a horrible situation and the girls must be punished - but let's talk honestly here.

Oklahoma Medical Association Sues Parents By Suing The State Over Mask Mandate

Yesterday (8/12/21), the Oklahoma State Medical Association (OSMA) filed a lawsuit in Oklahoma County District Court naming the State of Oklahoma and Governor Stitt as their plaintiffs in an attempt to overturn SB658 - the bill prohibiting mask mandates - passed last session.

We Don't Need Your Corporatist Or Progressive Education - The MIDDLE'S Here To Play!

Joy Pullmann at the Federalist wrote a GREAT piece today on why Michelle Rhee should NOT be named as theSecretary of Education. I loved it so much, I'm doubling down on it. 

No, neither Rhee nor anyone else of her 'ilk' should be appointed as head of DOE. 

In case you don't know - or are somehow new to education policy (or heck - just governance in the United States) - there is no middle ground. NONE. Yes, there is supposed to be a gradient of governance that tends to rest somewhere near the middle of the ideological spectrum (ideally) in EVERY area over our lives the government has usurped, yet - particularly in education - what you really have is this: 

Parents: Stop Conforming!

Last year I wrote a blog about why I choose to homeschool. It was picked up by a national homeschool group and has now been seen by thousands of people across the country. Why? Because of my outstanding ability to create readable prose? No, not particularly. The theme struck a cord. 

Parents who are plugged into the lives of their kids are getting fed up. They're fed up of dropping their kids off at school in the morning and picking them up in the evening only to find they're not being taught what they should, they way they should, or as much as they should. 

Like most parents, once our oldest son came home from the hospital, I bought into the whole routine; public preK through 12th grade, then off to college. We bought a house in the best neighborhood we could so as to get the best public school we could (of course, we also bought into the notion that better neighborhoods had better performing schools), I'd drop the kids off at school at 8:30 am, pick them up at 3:00 pm and go about arranging my day during the hours they were there. 

Honestly, I spent hours and hours on the computer writing about the problems with public education for ROPE during the time my kids were in public school. In fact, I'm not sure how long it would have been - if ever - before I brought my kids home for school if my oldest son hadn't asked me in no uncertain terms to homeschool him!

In the end, it wasn't just my son's query that ended our time in state run education. My frustrations over a number of situations mounted and included

• a very unsuccessful attempt to get our principal to adopt Saxon math over Common Core math, 
• interacting with other parents through PTA and finding their concerns were not necessarily for the education of their children, but endless fundraising efforts for a gymnasium and more computers that made it appear they were getting a better education, and 
• a horrible, unproductive and frustrating first grade Common Core Math year with my youngest son, 

I realized public education and I didn't have the same notion about what was educationally best for my kids and I pulled the last two out to school at home with their brother. 

My grandfather was born on the family farm at the turn of the last century in a clapboard house without electricity or running water. He died at 98, having witnessed a technology arc that spanned from the oil lamp to the internet. Once, Americans were people of great autonomy whose hard work generated accomplishments the kind of which my grandfather could never have dreamed. Such vast accomplishments were they in fact, that they themselves created a double-edged societal sword. From the turn of the last century forward, little by little, technology made life easier, healthier and safer. Little by little, Americans embraced that ease. The easier life became, the harder - and more unpopular - autonomy became, because it was hard work. Little by little, Americans gave more and more of their autonomy - their authority - to their government to accomplish certain functions on their behalf so they didn't have to spend the personal energy to do it for themselves. Little by little, the government took on more and more authority until it began, like Skynet, to create its own functions. 

Enter the federal government and the Department of Education. 

Please understand, I woke up to the abuses of my government before I ever began to scrutinize public schools, and once I did, I realized I'd been completely blind to what the Constitution said and how our Republican form of government should work. Consequently, I'm going to stop and explain these facts as simply as I can with bullet points in order to have a base upon which to finish the discussion:

• the Founders of this country prized the concept of INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY among any other
• they created our government to be a Constitutional Republic (NOT a Democracy) - Constitutional relating to the supreme law of the country, the Constitution, and Republic (as in Rome) because the full power of the country was vested in the PEOPLE who chose (voted for) fellow citizens to represent them in government in order to PROTECT INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY. 
• the American Republic is a 3 branch system where citizen legislators craft law to PROTECT THE INDIVIDUAL LIBERTIES of the citizens they represent (legislative branch), the executive branch (president) ENFORCES these laws and the judicial branch (Supreme and lower courts) determine the Constitutionality of the laws made by the legislative branch.
• the central government was to be very small and only be responsible for the enumerated powers - states were responsible for the rest - consequently, in the Constitutional Republic, the STATES had EVERY OTHER POWER unto themselves.

So, who has the power? THE INDIVIDUAL. Outside of that where does the power reside? THE STATE. Beyond that, where is the power for only those functions given it by the Constitution? THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 

The federal Department of Education is a non-Constitutional entity created by Jimmy Carter in 1979. Until that date, states - as they should have been - solely controlled the education of their citizens (though federal education mandates existed prior, there were very few). Today, the IRS takes money from the pockets of state citizens and sends it to Washington, D.C. where a chunk is used to fund the DOE. Once the DOE has the money of citizens in its income column, it then sends money (funding) back out to the states IF the states agree to do certain things to get it. 

Where did the money go? THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. Who gets the money back (with strings)? THE STATE. To whom is the supposed benefit of this circuit? THE INDIVIDUAL. Is this not completely backward to the way the process should work in actuality?

For years now, ROPE has received emails such as the one below:

Dear Jenni,I'm writing to ask you a question about opting out my son from EOI this year. He is a freshman & should be taking Algebra I & Biology EOI. I know by opting him out he won't get a diploma from the school but wanted to ask you if after his 4yrs we can get his transcript for college. I'm waiting for a call from his High School about this but wanted to see if you had more insight on the matter.Thank you very much,

Why? Because more parents than ever are waking up to find that, while a portion of their income goes to pay for their children to be educated in public schools, these same schools have usurped their parental authority in favor of bureaucratic regulations that benefit the schools more than the individual student and they want it stopped. 

Yes, the state has the power to enact laws applying to public school through the legislature, however much of today's state laws are written to further federal law written to provide an unconstitutional DOE more power, further diminishing the autonomy of the parent. This is what Common Core was all about. I've written about this for years.

Today I posted on the ROPE Facebook page about the awful CDC questionnaire handed out to students in middle and high school without consent of parents that no child should be taking without specific parental consent. In addition, I wrote a blog last year about other issues surrounding the privacy of children in public schools that included this survey as well as information on a number of websites and programs being used in public schools about which parents should be aware. Yes, it can be hard to find out exactly what is happening in the classrom, but that is your charge as a parent in order to best guide your child. YOU - and by extension YOUR CHILD - are THE individual/s for whom the government works - including government education - works.

Fortunately, there are parents awaking to this situation who are also taking steps to reclaim the education of their children. As an example, there are vast testing 'opt out' movements all across the nation as parents become aware of how their children will be forevermore educationally pigeonholed by test results and how the tests themselves can accumulate personal data about students that is not secure. Home schooling is also on the rise in Oklahoma and across the country because of federally mandated testing and data collection to which schools, districts and the state continue to bow over their responsibilities to the individual.

Please, take the time necessary to be as informed and aware as possible about everything happening at your child's school. Don't be afraid to question and do so when you feel you need. Government was intended to be "of the people, by the people, for the people", not "of the state, by the state, for the state". Every Oklahoman who owns property pays for the education of Oklahoma children in state schools and every parent with a child in a state run school has the obligation and right to not only use the system, but question it as well.

----------------------------------
Caveats #1: I realize that not every parent can or desires to stay home. I also know there are parents who feel there is no choice but for both parents to work. Yes, sometimes this is necessity, but sometimes just lifestyle downsizing can create enough 'income' for one parent to stay home if that goal is desired. I urge parents to review their work situation and be creative about finding ways to be home with your kids if at all possible.

Caveat #2: There are MANY GREAT teachers out there. Teachers are getting the screws put to them as badly as parents. Please do not hear me say that teachers are creating the problems found in public schools today. Yes, there are some bad teachers, but there are many, many great ones too! We just need teachers like Nikki Jones of Tulsa Public Schools, willing to stand for the needs of her students OVER the desires of the education establishment.

School Officials Want To Start Eliminating Their ESA Competition?

I know everyone has an ideology. I know everyone is able to express their opinions about their ideology thanks to the 1st Amendment. This is fine, but I want to set the record straight about some information published in a recent blog about Tuesday's legislative session.

HB2003 was Jason Nelson's ESA legislation. It did not pass the House Education Committee on a 9 to 9 vote - all Democrats and 5 Republicans (Coody, Casey, Nollan, Henke, Thomsen) voted against the bill. Senator Jolley's bill establishing ESA's (SB609) passed out of the Senate with 6 yea and 3 nay (1 a Republican, Sharp). Incidentally, Republicans do have a plank in their platform supporting school choice.

Within this last week, I have seen two separate instances of emails supporting Education Savings Accounts copied and pasted into Facebook pages or blogs by opponents of the plan in order to incite opposing action. One was ours - which is fair game since we provide a forward button - but another was a private email circulated among a number of members of a coalition for school choice. Assuming no confidentiality laws were broken, I guess that's certainly an option, however, the hypocrisy here is stunning. 

The email was published in a blog to make people aware of the "Powerful Forces in play inside and OUTSIDE of our state who are lobbying our legislators".

Odd, but the "powerful forces" listed in the email are mostly small organizations without tons of money (Public School Options.org? Really?). The only one that could even be considered "corporatist" (a label further down in the blog) would be the Walton Foundation. 

But then, what are CCOSA, OSSBA, Stand For Children, etc. if not POWERFUL 'forces in play inside' our state? In fact, so POWERFUL are these entities, they were able to FORM A COALITION and take out 2 FULL PAGE ads in the Daily Oklahoman and Tulsa World last year against the repeal of Common Core. Kind of hard for a handful of parents and taxpayers to have THAT kind of power, but I guess power is okay if it's in the 'right' hands.

We're also told that many of these groups aren't even in our state! How can anyone outside the state weigh in on an instate issue?

Really? The National Chamber of Commerce readily applied pressure INSIDE the state during the Common Core fight, as did Mike Huckabee, and the Fordham Foundation. I didn't hear Common Core supporters running them out of town on a rail then. Recently, CCOSA brought in a representative from ACT to sell legislators (LOBBY) on ACT. ACT is a 'non-profit', but it's an ENORMOUS out of state non-profit dedicated to selling a product, but that's okay, right?

These kinds of emails go on throughout the legislative session within 'coalitions' and among private individuals all across Oklahoma. In fact, I've been forwarded school administrator association emails castigating supporters of ESA's that are NO LESS ideologically-based than those penned by ESA supporters. Odd that emails about then-candidate Hofmeister and some educators in Jenks over the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship (LNHS) last year weren't mentioned. Weren't these emails among school officials talking about their attempt to lawsuit the Scholarship - already a law - to death? Yes. 

In fact, why publish this particular email then? School administrators already have legislators wound so tightly around their fingers they have them present in committee meetings as though they were on legislative staff. I've never seen parents/taxpayers be able to do that.

Several blogs have given reason after reason as to why legislators should stop Education Savings Accounts. My favorite one stated that children don't just belong to parents, they belong to the collective. EVERYONE that touches a 'human being' (they're not even called children) has a buy-in in their education. Wow. Apparently school officials believe parents are simply acting SELFISHLY if they desire to have control over their own children and how best to educate them. 

It is fascinating to note that this same blogger sang an entirely different tune about parental rights last year during election season. In fact, so fired up was he (like ROPE and others) to get Dr. Barresi to change the 4th grade retention process, he penned the words

Do parents only have rights to make educational decisions about their child if it's okay with you [Barresi]? REALLY!?!

Ah, but this doesn't apply to ESA's - or these school officials. It only applies to parents wanting to be on a 'committee' of school officials to determine if their child can pass to 4th grade. After all, an ESA would result in educational CHOICES for the PARENT outside the walls of the public school and parents can only have choice WITHIN the PUBLIC SCHOOL box. 

I reiterate - we all have the right to our worldview and our opinions - but when talk includes the need to 'eliminate' the opposition, while calling them wolves, methinks thou doth protest too much (can you imagine what would happen if I said something like that? Holy COW!). HB2003 proponents reported that school officials frequently called students 'funding units'. While I'm sure there are many school officials who care about the children in their charge, it is easy from this rhetoric to see how some don't - how education is more an ideology based on a physical model. Yet, the act of educating a child is not about the institution of PUBLIC SCHOOLS -  it's about parents and what's best for children and families. Period. Maybe if we were to keep this mission in focus, we'd sustain a long-term education vision. Though it seems impossible now, I certainly hope we can get there.

Thoughts on Grading Schools

This is a guest post by Michael Lewis - Science Teacher

Thoughts on Grading Schools A to F

Michael Lewis BA, MA

Science Teacher

As both a parent and a public school teacher, here are some obervations I have.  

What the “Gov.” says:

1. All students have to attend school basically between ages 5 & 16.

2. All students will take a test each year and the grades on that test will determine how good the school is.

3. Based on items 1 and 2 all schools will be graded A - F, and receive funding based on their grade.

 

Some potential problem(s):

 

All children are created equal, but, not all children grow or learn equally.

All children have potential, but, not the same potential in the same areas.

Some kids have great and giving parents.

Some kids have self-centered parents.

Some kids eat healthy.

Some kids are lucky to eat once a day.

Some kids have internet at home.

Some kids don’t even have books at home.

Some kids are “parents” to their little brothers and sisters.

Some kids are “parents” to their parents.

Some kids are motivated intrinsically.

Some kids are motivated Extrinsically.

Some kids have parents who encourage them.

Some kids have parents who don’t particularly care about them.

Some kids are smarter than others.

Some kids wear glasses.

Some kids need glasses but can’t afford them.

Some kids have all the pencils and paper and notebooks they will need.

Some kids can’t afford school supplies because they live in poverty.  I regularly have students tell me they can't afford a new notebook, so, I grab one out of my file cabinet and give it to them.  As do many Teachers.

Some school Administrators spend money on shiny, trendy crap and NOT on current textbooks and class materials.

Some school Administrators hire Teachers that have SERIOUS personal issues BUT the state Dept. of Education “SAYS” they are qualified, and there is a shortage of Teachers.

Some kids wear nice, trendy clothes.

Some kids haven’t had a bath in a week or two.

Some kids are comfortable.

Some kids are cold because they do not have a coat.

Some kids can read and write well.

Some kids can’t even speak English.

Some kids sleep well at night.

Some kids can’t sleep very well because they hear screaming and gunshots throughout the night.

Some kids have parents and family that spend time with them and encourage them and will hold them accountable.

Some kids are left alone because the parents are too busy working trying to make ends meet, but, would much rather spend time with their kids.

 

At first, it might sound like a great idea: Kids get grades, why not give schools a grade. But, then the question comes up, "Based on what?"

Kids are not machinery. You can't replace them when they break down, or get suspended, or are gone from being sick, or vacation, and miss a weeks worth of notes.  Machines are designed by engineers who know that steel and circuitry can withstand tremendous stress and strain and still function with invariant precision. I have students that get upset because their papers are crooked when they staple them together.

If I have a student on a specific learning plan, I test and grade him differently. HOWEVER, the state dept. of Education uses a STANDARDIZED test for all students in a specific grade. This does not make sense to me. Even the IRS uses different forms for different people in different circumstances.

But, it is those standardized tests that determine the grade they give the school.

 

Many classroom gradings are: 90 - 100 = A 80 - 89 = B etc.

 

If a teacher gives a test of, let's say, 20 questions worth 5pts. each and little Billy Bob gets 18 of them correct, his grade would be: 90pts. Which is an "A". But, two days later the Teacher decides to change letter grades to 93 - 100 = A. parents and students would be a little torqued off.

 

Does anyone like it when politicians pass a law to raise taxes RETROACTIVELY? Nope. Similarly, Teachers and Parents do not like it when the Dept. of Education change the rules and numbers AFTER the tests or evaluations have been graded.

 

Yes, there IS a better system, but, NO it is not the school grade value of A - F.

 

So, go ahead and slap that A, B, C, D, or F on the school building because we all know “THAT” will solve the problem.

Schools As Microcosms of the Socialist State

I read a post on our Facebook page today that really just made me shudder - and that happens rarely anymore with all I've learned about the Common Core and specifically the data collection aspect of the initiative. 

Here is the post by DeShawna Marie Smyth:

"What is sad is our school is spending less and less time on actually educating our students and more time sending the students home, calling the parents, or ticketing the parents because the child is wearing a zipper on their sweater, or a hood on their jacket, or the wrong color of tights! Our uniform rules have gotten out of control here! Not only are parents getting tickets, but children are worrying too much about what they need to be wearing at school and less about what they are learning!"

And now my return post:

OH WELL SAID!!!! I knew that 'uniform codes' were so much more insidious than everyone thought and I think this is one of the things they are supposed to do (in order to change society)! Along with putting the child in a box (the school makes them feel inseparable from their counterparts). After all, you can't have a society of little automatons who are willing to do the state's bidding if you don't first decide to take away their sense of 'self' - their sense of who they are. See, everything is done for the sake of 'safety' these days. Schools tell you, "We're installing this retinal scanner to make sure your kids are safe" and "We're making all kids wear a uniform because we don't want kids to be sad if they don't have enough money for the clothes the other kids have" - which, incidentally is socialism! What happens when you buy all the items (school supplies) the school wants at the start of school. The school takes them and puts them into a single pile so no one has the items they bought and brought with them, doling them out instead to the kids 'according to their need. 

DeShawna replies to my comment:  

This is exactly how I feel!!! They add more and more restrictions and call it "Safety" when it's really "conformity".

Apparently this struck a cord because here are a couple of other posts:

Tina Dobbs: Don't forget, not wearing a belt is a huge offense as well!!

Paula Ray: Or can't take purse with ya because of personal reasons on a field trip because not allowed to bring bags, electronics, or jackets.

Until I pulled them from school, ALL my kids were in a public elementary school that forced a dress code.  The worst part about the whole thing was not the conformity, but the LACK of conformity.  Basically, I was one of the only parents in the entire school that followed the dress code!  My kids would put something on in the morning that was out of dress code and I'd tell them to go change, after which I'd get a 5 minute diatribe about how I was so mean and "no one else in the school followed the dress code".

I would show up at school on numerous occasions and I could tell the dress code wasn't being enforced - or at worst, it was being enforced SELECTIVELY.  

What did this teach the kids?  That not only were rules not important, but if you were important enough, rules didn't apply to you.  Gosh, I get this feeling about our President everyday!  Is this why the word 'president' and the word 'precedent' are so similar? 

I can't help but come back to the frog in the boiling water scenario.  Parents are that frog.  Schools have turned up the heat on us so gradually by implementing 'tools' to help them 'teach' our children better or keep them 'safer' and we've been either so dumbed down or trusting - or a combination of both - that we've gone right along with it to the point that now, many schools are simply little socialist states.

I'm telling you, I think parents are starting to wake up - at least I hope so, because the lives of our children and this country are at stake.  

Here are my thoughts:  When you find your school not allowing your child to use the school supplies you bought - BE CIVILLY DISOBEDIENT!  Say, "I do not want these items used for other children - I bought them for mine", and then have your child play tattle-tale!  

If your school has a dress code, get some parents together to ABOLISH it and if that's not possible - BE CIVILLY DISOBEDIENT and say, "I'm sorry but my child will not wear a uniform to a public school.  I have the right AS HIS/HER PARENT to allow him/her to dress any way I find fit that doesn't offend others."  (Sadly, today you'd have to add that, as many parents seem to be uncertain of what is appropriate clothing and need to be educated on the topic - notice I say EDUCATED and not HAVE THEIR PARENTAL RIGHTS USURPED!)

If your school is giving Common Core tests and you don't want your child to take them but the school won't provide an opt-out - BE CIVILLY DISOBEDIENT and say, "My taxes help pay for this public institution and I don't agree with the tests and standards this school is using, therefore, my child will not be taking the tests."

There is no reason to be ugly and certainly not violent, just kind, but firm!  Stand parents - it's time!