What’s A Win Worth If We Learn Nothing From It?

Thursday, June 5^th, Governor Fallin signed HB3399 – the strongest anti-Common Core law in the nation currently – into law.  Oddly, though fighting the fight against Common Core since 2010, the win was a bit anti-climactic.  It might have been because there was no time for celebration – exhausted, I had two boys to get to two different baseball games that night after having been out of town at an anti-Common Core rally in Ohio for two days – but I also think it’s because I know the process isn’t finished.

The week before Governor Fallin signed the bill, CCOSA (Cooperative Council Oklahoma School Administration), OSSBA (Oklahoma State School Board Administration), PTA, Stand For Children, The Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce, The Tulsa Chamber of Commerce and an organization called, “The Collaborative For Student Success” (funded in part by the VERY politically liberal New Venture Fund), released two full page ads full of scare tactics, in both the Tulsa World and the Daily Oklahoman.  After finding a rate card for both publications, it didn’t take long to decipher the group had spent over 30,000 dollars for these ads.

Wait.  So your school board member is against you if you want to get rid of Common Core?  What about your Superintendent and/or Principal?  So they are against you if you don’t want your child to be educated using the Common Core State Standards?  Yes.  They are against you to the tune of 30K.  Do you parents have that kind of money?  I know we don’t, and we’re an organization who could probably beat the bushes and still only find a tenth of that for a newspaper ad AGAINST Common Core.

Over the years, I’ve written about the various organizations named here, such as the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce (here’s another good one!). I think many of us know the national Chamber of Commerce is not a friend to the Conservative.  With their lobbying for the healthcare law, immigration ‘reform’ (I put ALL reform’s in ‘air quotes’ because I see the word ‘reform’ as a euphemism for ‘more government necessary to give you something only we want’) and other anti-Constitution/big government ‘solutions’ in search of a problem.  In fact, most likely the only real trustworthy chamber is the Chamber in your individual town who cares more for the growth of the township than the State/National Chamber’s big government favoring big business agenda.

One wouldn't necessarily think that true of school administrators, but alas, they have turned against parents as well.  I wrote a blog recently where I enumerated the pro-Common Core organizations that ‘sponsor’ CCOSA.  Of course CCOSA wouldn’t support Common Core because they are financially backed to do so, right? (snark)

Interestingly enough, I have had numerous teachers report to me that their superintendents are saying they will follow Common Core no matter what.  One woman who posted on the Oklahoma Parents and Educators for Public Education Facebook page said, “The district’s stance was that if the state could change their mind, then the district could just do what they wanted.”  Sadly, it wasn’t “the state” it was THOUSANDS of parents and teachers that wanted the ruling reversed – it was thousands upon thousands of parents and teachers who wrote the Governor letters and made phone calls pleading with her to sign HB3399 and stop Common Core. 

Apparently, as an OPEPE administrator told me moments ago, when a group of parents consulted this same school district for help on the third grade reading assessments, they were told that the district couldn’t break the RSA law.  I guess in administrator land, it’s all just whatever they want to do whenever they want to do it – parents be damned.  This would be simply fall on the ground hysterical if it weren’t for the fact that parents pay property taxes for those services and the administration are there to SERVE parents, not demand the parents serve them on their terms.

What about NASBE (National Association of State Boards of Education)?  Well, NASBE wants to sue the state over HB3399 saying it was against the Oklahoma Constitution to allow the legislature to sign off on the new standards rather than the state school board.  Can you imagine the veritable gall of these people?  Coming into another state and threatening a law suit over a state law proposed and enacted by the people of the state?  Seriously, solid silver guts here.

Why would NASBE act this way?  Simple, because they are Bill Gates shills like most of the rest of the pro Common Core factions.  This fight has always been the big money corporate elitists against parents.  Sad the OSSBA (Oklahoma State School Board Association) has had to get into the fray as well, signing on along with these other groups to keep Common Core.  This organization is made up of your local school board members.  You ELECT your local school board members to represent YOU.  Why would they counter parents?

Two separate school board members in the state have told me they never received a survey from OSSBA asking them if they wanted Common Core or not; the OSSBA leadership apparently decided that for themselves.  Well, as the OSSBA website says, “The OSSBA is a player on the national scene as a member of the powerful National School Boards Association”, and we all know where they get their money!  Oklahoma law stipulates that ALL Oklahoma school board members – though elected by the citizens of their district – must succumb to school board training.  Several school board members have told me this training ends up being accomplished through NASBE.  Recap: parents vote for school board members who then go to training with NASBE who then come back to the board with Bill Gates inspired ideas that move the school further and further away from parental control.

(NOTE 6/10: Shawn Hime of the OSSBA corrected me here.  NASBE isn't the NSBA - National School Boards Association.  OSSBA is affiliated with NSBA NOT NASBE.  NSBA has received money from Bill Gates, but not in any way to the extent of NASBE. That needs to be kept straight)

Then there’s the PTA. If you didn’t know, the PTA is really an offshoot of the National Education Association (NEA).  Consequently, though the name include the word “PARENT”, this organization left that idea behind in 1968 when leadership voted to support teachers in the event of a strike, leaving parents behind for their unholy league with the NEA.

Two other groups identified on the newspaper ad, are Expect More and Stand On – oops, I mean – For Children. 

Stand, has a tainted reputation here in Oklahoma.  First we find they are bankrolled primarily by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and therefore have no voice of their own, other than a parrot of Gates.  Second, we find they sent in a petition to our state’s legislature including 7000 signatures – just like a petition in Colorado – which was misrepresented to the press and contained  a large number of false names.

Expect More is simply a hodgepodge of organizations – mainly the Tulsa and Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce’ - who have come together “in support of higher standards” for education. Not only have they spent large sums on advertising FOR the Common Core, they recently paid for a very slick video to be shot declaring the wonders of the standards.  So, again, this is a re-brand of Bill Gate’s money and that’s about it – period.

Here’s the takeaway.  We need to pay attention to the organizations and groups we support.  While parents may support them – they don’t support parents.  The fact that the OSSBA doesn’t support the parents that elect them to their positions should cause people to stand up in arms.

School board elections are in February.  Here is all the necessary information to run as a school board member.  Parents from across Oklahoma should plan NOW to sign up to run for school board against the NASBE-trained members currently working against them in their district.  The ONLY way you’ll take your school district back, is through the board – the board that in turn hires the ADMINISTRATION of the school! 

If you don’t like the research I’ve provided you on these organizations, STOP SUPPORTING THEM.

Instead of PTA, have your school move to the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO).  PTO’s don’t take parent money and then lobby the legislature against parents.  PTO’s are individual associations within districts that have only an informational website for educational materials.

Look, public schools were instituted alongside the parent for the education of their children.  Somewhere along the line, however, parents deemed it more of a babysitter, than a give-and- take relationship where the two parties worked TOGETHER for the education of that child.  If this last year has taught us anything, I hope it has taught every parent to become an engaged fighter for the education of their children.

As Edmond dad, Matt Wilson, so eloquently opined on the ROPE Facebook page after the passage of HB3399, “…I know our work is not done and thank you for encouraging me to take a more active role in my children’s education and lives.”

Matt’s words mean more to me personally than I could possibly express.  No matter what we set out to accomplish with Common Core, Matt hit the heart of the matter – the one thing we truly wanted after all was said and done.  I hope EVERY parent can – and will – echo his sentiments and work to truly put themselves back in the driver’s seat of their child’s education in as many ways as humanly possible.

PTA - Friend or Foe?

For years, the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) has placed themselves as the ultimate source for coordination between parents and teachers, ostensibly providing numerous ways in which to help engage parents in their child's education.  Most parents don't think twice about joining the PTA - after all, it's all about the kids.  Or is it?

Initially started as the National Congress of Mothers in 1897 in order to unite parents and educators in efforts that would promote the well being of children, the name was changed to the PTA in 1908.  In 1927, PTA began working with the International Bureau of Education and in 1946 they began membership on the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO. Though hitting a high of 12.1 million members in 1963, PTA's national membership has declined steadily since, falling to under 5 million.

Most parents join PTA to help their child's school, yet what most parents don't seem to be aware of, is PTA's association with the National Education Association.  This goes back to the 1920's when the PTA was actually headquartered in the NEA building in Chicago, Illinois.  Not merely a tenant, PTA actually had its own department within the NEA.  Though originally a professional organization run by school administrators, NEA became a union for teachers in 1960, shortly after PTA moved out and into a building of their own.

Charlene K. Haar, author of the book, "The Politics of the PTA" explains:

...in 1968, the PTA Board of Directors--not the membership--set a policy declaring that, in teacher strikes, the PTA would not oppose the teachers and the teachers’ union.  This eliminated parental support for the administration....Parents still are interested in these other issues, but local PTAs can no longer provide any support to parents who wish to challenge union positions. In fact, a few years ago at the NEA convention, NEA President Keith Geiger reminded the PTA that its locals were bound by PTA policy not to challenge the teacher union positions in collective bargaining.

PTA began collecting dues in 1901 at a rate of $.05 per person.  Today, national dues are $25.00 and per person dues to each school PTA chapter are approximately $6.00.  Schools collect a small portion of those dues.  The larger portion is sent on to state and national PTA where dues are used mainly for 'advocacy' programs - lobbying.  In addition to dues, PTA collects funds via a number of advertisers, contributors and partners.

The money that pours into the national PTA has allowed it to evolve into a political animal and arm of NEA policy rather than a parent-driven, classroom-oriented, organic, association.  Even the Oklahoma PTA website has a direct link to our NEA affiliate, the Oklahoma Education Association (OEA), indicating these two organizations are never more than a mouse click away.

This should be particularly upsetting to Christians.  Over the years, the NEA has embraced an increasingly social liberal agenda that includes such things as the NEA Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Transgender Caucus which sponsored:

The NEA-Drag Queen Caucus (NEA-DQ) a national LGBT scholarship caucus fundraiser held in New Orleans summer 2010 for the NEA-RA...

In addition, the national PTA advocates against homeschooling and

...opposes mandatory or organized prayer or religious worship at official public school functions, whether led by a school official or student.

The National PTA also supports the Obama Administration view of education reform, including:

* Improve state longitudinal data systems and sharing of student data.
* Reject any proposal to divert public funding from public schools.

It's no surprise then to find that the National PTA (as well as the Oklahoma PTA) advocate for the Common Core State Standards to the point of advocating AGAINST those bills in the House to repeal the Standards.

Maybe the advocacy against Common Core (other than aligning with the desire of the Obama Administration to create national standards, testing and data bases) on the part of the PTA has to do with the very large grant given them by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to advocate FOR the Common Core.

In closing, it's easy to see that the national (top down) Parent Teacher Association has become like so many other iconic American starters - progressively liberal - too liberal for conservatives, and too anti-Christian world view to be palatable to Christians.

Parent Teacher Organizations are a far better choice by which to create communication and teamwork among parents and teachers.  PTO's are local associations run by parents and teachers inside individual schools (from the bottom up).  They keep the money they raise for their school and their autonomy over projects and fund raising.  Unfortunately, for Bill Gates, these are much harder to be bought off.

Deception, NOT Excellence in Oklahoma Education

Or…Short Memories Allow Business As Usual in Public School ‘Reform’

How would you feel if I told you that taxpayers are paying the salary for a man at the Department of Education who committed voter fraud in a school board election? 

Many conservatives were astounded when our new REPUBLICAN State Superintendent of Education, Janet Barresi hired the lobbyist for the OklahomaEducation Association (OEA – Oklahoma’s branch of national NEA) as her chief of staff.  In fact, while I have written many a blog detailing ROPE’s disagreements and frustrations with Dr. Barresi’spolicies from a Conservative perspective, even we Conservatives understand public education MUST be a particularly bi-partisan issue. The move to hire Mr. Robison, however, simply didn’t pass the smell test. 

What I found recently, is simply MIND BOGGLING, and explains why.

April 12^th, 1988 framed a particularly divisive school board election in Oklahoma City Public Schools.  Arthur Stellar, then-OKC Public Schools (OKCPS) Superintendent, had recently been given a $6,200 annual pay and benefits increase by existing school board members.

This did not sit well with the OCFT (Oklahoma City Federation of Teachers – local arm of the American Federation of Teachers) who vowed to defeat the three incumbent board members up for reelection that year.  In addition, the OKCPS teachers would be deciding their union of representation May 18. The OCFT had held bargaining rights for teachers since 1977, surviving four previous challenges from rival union OEA-OKC, and teachers would once again be deciding their fate in mere weeks.

Betty Hill, sitting President of the Board (general manager of Jim Hill Heating and Cooling Co. at the time), was the only one of the three who chose to run under these conditions. Her opponent was OCFT-endorsed, Jesse Isbell, a Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. Employee. 

Isbell received 437 district votes. Hill’s total was 305. This forced a runoff election which was to be held on May 3, 1988.

Elections for districts 4 and 5 resulted in elections for OCFT-endorsed candidates, indicating little more than a planned union takeover of the board.

BUT WAIT! Ted Metscher, president of the OCFT and Joel Robison, president of the state AFT (and a physical education teacher within the system) were BOTH found to have voted in the April election while LIVING OUTSIDE THE OKC public school district! Both men were listed on the polling record for Mark Twain Elementary School. Both men listed the business office of the OKFT as their addresses, though Metscher lived in Norman and Robison in Bethany. 

Oklahoma law requires that voters list their home addresses, and the Oklahoma County prosecutor at the time (), publically stated that using a business address to register a vote was a violation of both misdemeanor and felony laws.

Both men actually admitted to voting ILLEGALLY, citing their voter fraud as simple “mistake”.

Metscher was quoted as saying, “My statement is it is a mistake and it’s been corrected. I’m reregistered and I’m sorry.”

Robison said, “I’m not going to say I didn’t realize. It was just a mistake.”

Union members ALSO committing voter fraud in the election were Joel Robison’s wife, Donna (a special education teacher at Classen Fifth-Grade Center), and Georgia Ianello, the former head of the OCFT (who lived in the Putnam City School district).

Though the OCFT placed information in teachers’ school mailboxes BEFORE the election including individual district maps, 35 people who lived outside the boundary lines for District 3 voted in that election, including 8 Oklahoma City schoolteachers, and one principal.

As one commentary in the Oklahoman stated (April 28, 1988), “…it is incredible that people involved in educating children should demonstrate ignorance of, or perhaps disdain for, such a fundamental principle of the democratic process as the sanctity of the vote. With that caliber of union leadership, it is not hard to imagine the kind of school board Oklahoma City would have if it should come totally under union control.”

By April 30^th, Both Metscher and Robison had resigned their AFT posts and lost their union salaries as the OSBI began to investigate “voter registration fraud”. 

Betty Hill won re-election to her post in District 3, May 3 with 53% of the vote. 

May 18^th, OKCPS teachers elected OEA-OKC to represent them as their bargaining agent.

In early June, a more than 230-page OSBI report focused on the actions of Robison and his wife, Donna, Metscher and Ianello was delivered to the district attorney’s office allowing OK County DA Robert Macy to file criminal charges. Though all four were found to have fraudulently cast their votes in the April 12^th election, all were accused only of the misdemeanor charge of “willfully and knowingly” voting illegally in an OKCPS election. The maximum punishment was to be 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Arthur Stellar, OKCPS then-Superintendent explained that OKCPS actions “could run the gamut from an oral reprimand to termination,” but also indicated that no action would be taken against the teachers until the outcome of the case had been determined.

Macy’s decision frustrated many, including Hill and then-OKCPS board President Kay Floyd who said, “I worry about the message that sends to kids, the public, everybody…I have a problem with them being in the classroom.”

The second week of July, Robison, his wife Donna, and Ianello faced their first court appearances on their misdemeanor charges.

In August, both Joel and Donna Robison had resigned their teaching positions and moved to Wichita, Kansas.

By October 18, 1988, the Robisons were given each a 30-day suspended sentence and fined $1,000 (the maximum fine allowed) after reaching an agreement with prosecutors. Each wrote in a court affidavit: “I voted in a school election in a district or precinct in which I did not reside.”

Today, after serving many years as the Chief Lobbyist for OEA, Joel Robison, a man convicted of voter fraud in a school board election tainted by overt union dealings, is the Chief of Staff for the Oklahoma State Superintendent.

Yes, all of us have made/will make mistakes in our lives. Yes, certainly as a Christian one should extend grace and forgiveness. Yes, those who make mistakes must go on to lead their lives in a fruitful, meaningful way and we must allow them to do so.

Mr. Robison could have continued anywhere as a physical education teacher, yet he came back to Oklahoma, switched union allegiance, continued on in union employ and was then put in a position to lobby on behalf of ALL Oklahoma taxpayers for issues affecting our children in public school. Mr. Robison broke the public trust and is now helping to oversee the agency charged with KEEPING the public trust.

We think THAT is stepping over the line.

Resources available from the NewsOk archives under the following titles:

Teachers’ Union Officials Crash School Election, Chris Brawley, April 27, 1988

Records Show 35 Crossed School Election Boundaries, Chris Brawley, Chip Minty, April 27, 1988

Bad Omen for School Board, Editorial, April 28, 1988

OSBI Opens City School Vote Probe, Chris Brawley, April 28, 1988

Oklahoma School Board Candidate Undaunted by Suspect Votes, Chris Casteel, April 29, 1988

More Ineligible School Voters Named, Chris Brawley, April 30, 1988

Runoff Vote to End Hot School Contest, Chris Brawley, May 2, 1988

Union Blameless, Leader Claims, Chris Brawley, May3, 1988

School Board President Re-Elected, Chris Brawley, May 4, 1988

State Official Urges Revision of School Election Laws, Chris Brawley, May 9, 1988

Unions Seeking Backers in City’s School System Teachers, Support Personnel to Choose, Chris Brawley, May 15, 1988

Teacher Union Presidents Quit After Probe Starts, Chris Brawley, April 30, 1988

OSBI Files Report on Possible Fraud, Chris Brawley, June 12, 1988

Criminal Charges Planned in School Election Fraud Probe, Nolan Clay, July 6, 1988

Illegal Voting Charge Filed on Teachers, Chris Brawley, Nolan Clay, July 8, 1988

3 Teachers in Court on Election Charges, Editorial, July 12, 1988

Vote Fraud Suspect Unaware of Restrictions, Attorney Says, July 16, 1988

Board Member Concerned Over Teachers’ Jobs, Chris Brawley, September 1, 1988

Jury to Hear Case Against City Teachers, Nolan Clay, September 23, 1988

Teachers Enter Pleas of Guilty in Voting Case, Nolan Clay, October 18, 1988

Ex-Teachers Fined for Illegal Voting, Nolan Clay, October 14, 1988

Teachers Should Accept Blame, Editorial, October 21, 1988

Teachers Disciplined Confidentially, Chris Brawley, November 1, 1988

Superintendent Barresi Hires OEA Lobbyist For Chief of Staff

Oh yes. It would seem there isn't a Santa Claus Virginia - at least not for Oklahoma Republicans this year!

With apparently such little fanfare that the office couldn't be bothered to comment on the hire, State Superintendent Janet Barresi has hired Joel Robison, the head lobbyist for the largest Oklahoma teacher's union, the OEA, to replace her embattled Chief of Staff, Jennifer Carter.

Now, Mr. Robison may be an outstanding person, however, as my mom reminded me (sometimes relentlessly) as I was growing up, it's those with whom you associate by which your actions are known.

So, for those that might not know, the OEA is the National Education Assocation's little Oklahoma brother. Yes, that NEA.

• The one that hosted the Drag Queen Caucus at last year's national convention.
• The same NEA that also "spent much of the last 12 months fighting for comprehensive health reform".
  
• The same NEA that prefers revisionist history in textbooks, particularly if Christianity is involved.
  
• The same NEA that suggests Rules For Radicals by America/Christ-hating Saul Alinksy on it's The Activists Library Page.
  
• The same NEA that is front and center on our growing agenda of Class Warfare.
  
• The same NEA that is supporting Barrack Obama's re-election bid.
  
• The same NEA that has aligned itself with the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Oh, and let's not forget who sweetened the pot on the effort to pass State Question 744 by 1.5 MILLION DOLLAR's worth (the effort which Janet Barresi said she would NOT support as she campaigned) - yup, the OEA!

Okay, I could go on, but I am becoming exhausted and depressed.

I have discussed my concerns in this blog about the fact that our Republican State Superintendent - who, coincidentally surfed into office on the tidal wave of Republican'ism' backlash created by our current President and his unquestionable desire to recreate America as a bastion of Marxism over Federalism - isn't really a Republican at all, but simply a Democrat in a Republican suit. (I refuse to call these people RHINO's (Republican in Name Only), as I have no intention of slurring the good name of rhinoceri everywhere.)

Sadly, and at this point in her career as Superintendent, I think the State Board of Education should consider gravely a vote of No Confidence. Dr. Barresi, may, be a wonderful lady and an outstanding oral surgeon, but her associations leave little to be desired.