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Automated polling outfit GMI is polling the June Orange County Board of Education election for conservatives.
The automated survey is short. Respondents are asked affiliation, likelihood to vote, which candidates they support, and one more question:
Which of these six issues was most important:
- Support Charter Schools
- Stop the Common Core
- Reduce Government Waste
- Improve the Quality of Education
- More Government Transparency
- Lower taxes
Given that five of the six choices are standard right-wing tropes, one can make some assumptions about who is paying for the survey.
The three board members (of five) that are up for re-election in June all lean right. Indeed, they staged a Hugh Hewitt inspired 2014 attack on the Common Core.
Bob Hammond District 1. Serves Fountain Valley, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Tustin, and the Tea Party
Ken Williams District 3 Serves Brea, Foothill Ranch, Irvine, Orange, Villa Park, Portola Hills, Yorba Linda, Anaheim, Lake Forest, Tustin, and Christian Education.
John Bedell. District 4. Serves Buena Park, Fullerton, La Habra, Placentia, Anaheim, and Old-School Republicans.
Wouldn’t it be great if Irvine could have a representative who supports public education?
Pretty obscure office to be working on. Charter schools are baaad. Mmmkaay.
Not so fast, Paul. The OC board has been overriding local districts and granting charters to groups such as the Gulen Turkish-based schools. Check em out, they are a very bad bunch. Private and “non-profit” groups are also in on the trough. Non-certificated teachers, religious agendas, failure to provide services to all students- this is a time bomb. Expect these races to heat up.
All hail the magnificent Gulen!
Hey you stole that!
I surely did. Shamelessly, too.
May your beard fall out and your nether regions boil like green fig pudding.
The powers of the Great Gulen protect me from the devastation of your terrible curses.
not good. Im opposed to charter schools like that
“The OC board has been overriding local districts and granting charters to groups such as the Gulen Turkish-based schools.”
Please help out with some specific examples.
It’s sad that wanting to destroy public education is now thought of as a “conservative” value.
How far we’ve fallen from Ben Franklin and Tom Jefferson.
It’s not.
Pandering in Education? That’s definitely not us.
Correction: Jack Bedell hardly qualifies as “right-wing.” This guy has been (or was) some sort of administrator at CSUF forever.He ran for Fullerton City Council in 1992 on the Chamber of Commerce/Country Club Republican slate (and came in sixth).
His opponent is Chris Norby, a real conservative who is much more like to promote pro-choice positions.
I am not sure if Urizen is correct about the ability of this board to override local districts on charter schools.
Urizen is right about that, and if a proposed charter school is turned down by the OC Board of Education (which never happens with the new board) after being turned down by the local districts, they can appeal to the state board which is also stacked with all-charters-are-good zealots appointed by Schwarzenegger and Brown.
Bottom line no local control over this. This should be concerning to more of us.
Did you say Norby is running for this board? I gotta talk to him…
You are absolutely correct. On the tiny chance the the OCDE doesn’t approve, the state will approve it anyway. The state board is not elected, they are appointed and Governor Brown has been a big proponent of charters since his wife essentially owned one.
I agree that Bedell doesn’t count as a new-fangled Tea-Partyin’ Burn-it-all-down-to-the-ground conservative.
But he was part the Hugh Hewitt Posse attacking the Common Core, is a former Member of the Orange County Republican Central Committee, and is Lutheran in good standing, so yeah, “Old-School Republican” seems about right.
Once upon a time, we Republicans cared deeply about what should be taught in public schools. Several of the newcomers seem intent on using public funding for an alternative school system…
Bedell is part of the faction that has been skeptical about charters, which includes David Boyd and included Liz Parker (until 2014) and Long Pham and someone else whom I forget.
The third candidate is Zonya or Zorya or something, and she’s a traditional right-wing charter-loving conservative.
Where Norby stands on charters, I do not know — but that (and honesty) are what my vote would be based upon.
Zonya. She’s President of the Fullerton CRA.
Goals Academy is a Charter Elementary School in Anaheim. The founders fought like hell to get the school’s charter approved and met every requirement thrown at it by the Anaheim City School District.
The founders quickly realized their greatest nemeses were the local public school employees’ unions. The unions’ claims of “Putting Children First” proved to be nothing more than lip service. Their actions spoke their true message, “F— the kids. F— telling the truth. We must maintain power by any means possible!”
As if I needed further proof, poster Urizen bravely steps forward and spouts three lies in an effort to support the unions’ true ‘Maintain Power at Any Cost’ strategy.
GOALS Academy maintains a 15 to 1 student/instructor student ratio (1 teacher and teacher-aide per class), free after-school programs and a high quality teaching staff.
Unfortunately for Urizen, the claim that charter school teachers are non-certified is a union spread myth. Here’s a quote from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. “Since January 1, 1999, all teachers in charter schools are required to hold either a teaching credential or other document equivalent to that which a teacher in other public schools would be required to hold issued by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. The statute also provides that it is the intent of the Legislature that charter schools be given flexibility with regard to noncore, noncollege preparatory courses. Teachers in core or college preparatory courses must hold a valid credential equivalent to that which would be required of a teacher in a non-charter public school. The statute does not affect the qualifications for any service personnel (administrators, counselors, librarians or others) employed by the charter school.” http://www.ctc.ca.gov/employers/charter-schools.html
Contrary to Urizen’s lie about not providing services to all students, GOALS pays the Anaheim Elementary School district for Special Education Services support. Charter schools, like all public schools, must provide these services as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
As for the absurdity of charter schools promoting religious agendas, GOALS has a non-sectarian curriculum as required by California State Law. — California Education Code Section 47605(d). Additionally, I’d like to warn Urizen to be careful with the ‘promoting religious agendas’ statement. The unions in Anaheim seem to be very happy to incite bigotry against Muslims, when they find the Muslim community is looking towards public school alternatives because the local schools are performing so poorly.
GOALS Academy’s students are predominantly Hispanic and from the local, working class neighborhoods that make up Anaheim. The kids love attending the school, the parents are happy and the teachers and staff are amazing. These claims are proven by the fact that there were over 100 students on the waiting list hoping to get accepted for enrollment in the upcoming year.
To squash another myth, a new student is awarded the opportunity to enroll in GOALS Academy through either already having a sibling enrolled or a lottery. Outside of the sibling rule, the only advantage offered towards individual students to get selected for enrollment is that those residing within the Anaheim City Schools District boundaries get their name added twice into the hat for the lottery selection. There is no “cherry picking” of students.
I’m not posting to start a Republican vs. Democrat fight. I’m not posting to start some shouting match between different races. I’m posting as an advocate for my children and the other children of GOALS Academy. That school and many charter schools like it are stepping forward to provide the children of working class families a high-quality education. That was the one duty that public schools districts and the unions should have been doing, but have completely shirked.
GOALS – that’s the charter that Jose Moreno and Tom Tait supported, right? Making a lot of union people mad. One of the good ones. Many others being greenlit by OCBOE fit Urizen’s description.
Mr. Nelson –
You are correct that Dr. Moreno and Tom Tait supported the charter and angered a lot of union people.
I consider those union people that were angered and fought against the founding of GOALS Academy to be abhorrent.
Supposedly, the unions are there to look after the working class. That doesn’t seem to be the case when it comes to public education in Anaheim.
My desire is for this nation to consider it a civil right for parents (regardless of race, religion, creed or economic status) to be able choose to enroll their children in the public school (charter or not) that provides them with the best opportunity to receive a high quality education. In Anaheim, the unions fought to keep the status quo of forcing disadvantaged children to remain enrolled in lackluster schools. Fortunately, they lost the fight with GOALS.
Mr. Nelson, you say that “many others being greenlit by OCBOE fit Urizen’s description.” I indicated the falsehoods in Urizen’s statements. The laws that apply to GOALS apply to all California Charter Schools.
If you know of any schools that do meet Urizen’s description, please list them.
There are many good schools and good operators.
Recent agitation in Anaheim calling for a total ban on new charters, irrespective of the operator is anti-intellectual, anti-student, and anti-parent. Why so many people are bandwagoning onto such a flat out bad call to action is beyond me.
It looks to me like there’s a reasonable middle ground between Ryan’s agitators and the OCBOE.
I’ll get back to you, Bartash, on some examples, unless someone else wants to first.
^^^ agreed.
Well said David Bartash. As a grandparent of 2 students currently enrolled at Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana, I can state that it is indeed a very good school.
Magnolia, a Gulen company, runs a charter high in Costa Mesa and has one opening in SA next year. For profit charters are the problem, not the genuine community based ones. I don’t believe in either case the teachers are req’d to have credentials or college degrees for that matter.
Oops, the state apparently over rode the OCDE on the Gulen in SA… I sense this chain of influence goes all the way to the top. I will google Hillary and Gulen…
Slander not the Mighty and Munificent Gulen, may his beard grow forever and his progeny multiply like rabbits and tread the face of the Earth like princes.
ALL HAIL THE MAGNIFICENT GULEN!
While there may be some type of law regarding credentialing for charter teachers, there is so much legalized secrecy and lack of transparency in those schools that no one would ever know if the teachers were credentialed or not.
I personally know of many charter teachers without credentials, some without even a Bachelor’s Degree. There is no auditing process so what no one knows has never really hurt a charter school. Their salaries are secret, their school boards are generally unelected or “elected” in some mysterious manner. They receive public funds but absolutely no accountability for those public funds.
The entire charter school law needs to be revisited because the scandals not just in CA but all over the country are quite prevalent. This is public money being used as though these are private schools.
State of California Dept. of Education – Oversight and Monitoring of Charter Schools
http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cs/as/authguidance2.asp
Worse than just for profit, are religions being promoted with our tax dollars? Shivs, I’d like to quote you. ” The unions in Anaheim seem to be very happy to incite bigotry against Muslims, when they find the Muslim community is looking towards public school alternatives because the local schools are performing so poorly.”
I don’t know of any anti-Muslim sentiment. It is separation of church and state. I’d oppose the Pastafarians.
Finally, it is not difficult to conceal uncertificated teachers. Shivs, there are people who are in this for the money. Admins at these schools are often without any educational experience.
There are plenty of exposes of the Imam… The Atlantic,2014, -“It reads like something out of a John Le Carre novel: The charismatic Sunni imam Fethullah Gülen, leader of a politically powerful Turkish religious movement likened by The Guardian to an “Islamic Opus Dei,” occasionally webcasts sermons from self-imposed exile in the Poconos while his organization quickly grows to head the largest chain of charter schools in America. It might sound quite foreboding—and it should, but not for the reasons you might think.” The article actually downplays the wackiness of the group, glossing over its importing of teachers and ideology.
I trust readers of this site will adjust their search parameters to their beliefs and thereby achieve agreeable results.
Urizen, Shivas didn’t write that quote. I did. I stand by it, as well. I saw the trailer from killinged.com. I read the paragraph descriptions from that website. Your above two posts further prove my point. You and those that want to push that Killing Ed documentary are playing on anti-Islamic sentiment to support your cases. It’s unacceptable when the political right pulls that crap. It’s just as unacceptable when those on the left do it.
Too continue with the jokes from Mr. Zenger and Mr. Cantor…. “Boogity Boogity… The bad Imam is going to get a hold of your children and indoctrinate them in the Muslim Ideology.”
Seriously, I’ve pointed you to the California law the specifically states that a charter school’s curriculum must be non-sectarian. If Magnolia or any other charter school was pushing a sectarian curriculum in California, then I fully support their closure. So far, I have found no such case in my research efforts.
Even if one charter school was shut down for breaking California law and teaching a sectarian curriculum, it is still not reason to shut down or deny the foundation of all charter schools. If we followed that logic, then there wouldn’t be any California public schools open because of the handful of teachers that raped their students.
You also wrote that it is not difficult to conceal uncertificated teachers. Do you have any actually documented cases of this? Urizen, every anecdotal claim you’ve made in this thread has proven to be false. You’ve lost credibility with me. I’m done debating with you until you can provide factual support to your claims.
Tmare, to address some of your responses. There is a Board of Governance at GOALS Academy. It meets on a monthly basis and those meetings are open to the parents. Based on my experience, which includes attending those meetings, the school is very open about from where the money is coming and where it is going.
I beg to differ on your claim about there being no audit process for charter schools. Shivas Irons kindly posted a State Department of California link on auditing. My interactions with the GOALS Academy staff further prove that intensive auditing does exist. They keep meticulous records for when, as they say, “The auditors show up”.
It was an auditing process that identified financial accounting mismanagement at two of Magnolia’s schools. Those schools were almost shut down and had to settle with the LAUSD. The settlement resulted in accounting practice changes for those two Magnolia schools.
I fully support intensive financial and educational standards auditing for charter schools. After all, embezzlement and failure to meet standards aren’t just skills practiced by some government employees.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, fiscal mismanagement was the only problem that was identified through the LAUSD’s Inspector General’s investigation of both of those Magnolia schools. “Neither Los Angeles Unified nor the Santa Clara County Board of Education has had any issues with Magnolia’s academic performance, which they acknowledged is very good.” http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_29421464/fremont-unified-considers-allowing-magnolia-science-academy-open
Regarding Uncertificated Teachers… I posted the link to the California’s Commission of Teacher Credentialing regarding the fact that it is California State law that core subjects must be taught by credentialed teachers. You state that you personally know of many charter school teachers that lack credentials. Well then, do the right thing for Californian children and report those teachers and their schools to the local school district, the County and the State.
What are core subjects?
Let me help
In California, ESEA core academic subjects are defined as:
Mathematics (including math intervention and California High School Exit Exam [CAHSEE] math classes);
Biological sciences, chemistry, geosciences, and physics;
Social science (history, government, economics, geography);
Foreign languages (specific);
Drama/theater, visual arts (including dance), and music; and
English/language arts and reading (including reading intervention and CAHSEE – English classes).
http://www.cde.ca.gov/nclb/sr/tq/
I had concerns when my daughter decided to enroll her children in MSA. I had read about the Gulen stuff and I was very vocal in my disagreement with her decision.
In the past 4 years I have come to realize that MSA is an excellent school – both of our grandchildren like the school, they are doing well and there is ZERO religious “indoctrination” – or any reference to religion for that matter.
How about this? Government gets out of the business of determining if religion is being taught in schools and confine itself to funding childrens secular education and subsequently letting parents decide if they want their children to be taught in a school with a religious component – it’s called vouchers. The funding follows the child not the CTA.
How about no.
Shivas Irons – I’m all for vouchers as long as the vouchers are applied only towards public schools (charter or traditional) or regionally accredited, non-profit, non-sectarian private schools.
While we don’t want to restrict the freedom of worship or the right of a parent to raise a child in a belief system, we must be very careful about tax revenues being used to subsidize religious organizations.
I believe the tuition for religious private schools can be considered a source of revenue to the supporting organization. (Someone please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong). With that in mind, I wouldn’t want my property tax money supporting some organizations that I believe to be cults simply because they are skilled at creating a network of religious based private schools.
How do you address the religion of Secular Humanism in schools David?
Secular Humanism – Excluding God from Schools & Society
Secular Humanism is an attempt to function as a civilized society with the exclusion of God and His moral principles. During the last several decades, Humanists have been very successful in propagating their beliefs. Their primary approach is to target the youth through the public school system. Humanist Charles F. Potter writes, “Education is thus a most powerful ally of humanism, and every American school is a school of humanism. What can a theistic Sunday school’s meeting for an hour once a week and teaching only a fraction of the children do to stem the tide of the five-day program of humanistic teaching?” (Charles F. Potter, “Humanism: A New Religion,” 1930)
Yeah! Funny stuff. “I know you [eschew pushing religion] but WHAT AM I?”
Shivas Irons – I don’t intend to be rude, but I’m not going to get into a debate about whether Secular Humanism is defined as a religion or if it is being pushed on our children through public school systems..
I’m fighting for the right of parents to be able to choose to enroll their children into the public school (charter or not) that provides them with the best opportunity to receive a high-quality education.
Once that right is guaranteed to all parents and if I find that the public school systems are pushing Secular Humanism as superior to other belief systems, then perhaps I’ll pick up that fight.
Shivas, remember that teachers led the way in the early Chartist years. Once the Pearson, Gates, Eli Broad, Imam Gulen et al jumped the gravy train, charters have become lucrative. My limited research has revealed that CTA is actively unionizing the Charter movement and is clearly not opposed to all charter schools.
Generally- I am always amazed at the anger directed at teachers unions. I think only the nurses may have a higher percentage of women- teacher’s were 76% female in 2011. Is it anger at that mean Missus Something from the third grade? Is it resentment that collective bargaining works? I puzzle.
“Is it resentment that collective bargaining works? I puzzle.”
I’m sure you do puzzle. It may be resentment that the teacher unions elect pliable stooges to their school boards almost without exception.
I don’t resent teachers – except the incompetent ones nobody can get rid of because…oh, right the unions!
All Hail the Great Gulen! May his bountiful beard ever increase in length and splendor!
Urizen – You’re now resorting to ad hominem?
Must I remind you that you were the one that came to this debate without knowing the definition of a “Core Subject”.
If only you realized how you were pushed through school without learning the skills or reasoning and critical thinking, then perhaps you too would be angry at the teachers’ unions that you blindly support.
If you want to continue to push an agenda that limits the educational opportunities for my children and the children of other working class families in Anaheim, then you better have sound reasoning and factual support.
Save the below par attempts at trash talking for topics that pose no harm to others, might I suggest tractor pulls or professional wrestling.
Not sure of the ad hominem I committed, Bart. It seems you know and can comment on my educational background. I never attended a public school in the USA. Do you really believe that teachers unions are a threat to learning? Besides the terror wrought by school boards. I find this entire OC thing so interesting, bit o’Disney in all of ’em.
Urizen: “Is it resentment that collective bargaining works?”
Collective bargaining in the private sector, with some exceptions, works fairly well.
Collective bargaining in the public sector is nothing less than employees bribing and/or blackmailing their “employer.”
Urizen – Your quote… “Generally- I am always amazed at the anger directed at teachers unions. I think only the nurses may have a higher percentage of women- teacher’s were 76% female in 2011. Is it anger at that mean Missus Something from the third grade?”
You were implying that those arguing against the teachers’ unions are sexist, hold anger towards their spouses or keep some sort of resentment from early child hood. That’s ad hominem.
Put yourself in the shoes of an Anaheim working class parent. You want the best educational experience for your child. You pay almost $5000 annually in property taxes. A good amount of your income goes off to the state for taxes, as well.
Even though the teachers are paid about 10% over the Southern California public school market rate for their positions, the performance and standards are atrocious at your neighborhood school.
You look for other options to ensure your child gets the best opportunity to receive an excellent education. You find out that your choices are either to pay for private schooling or try to get an intra-district transfer to a better performing school district.
The private schooling option can run you about $8,000 a year (sometimes a lot more) per child. In many cases, tuition rates increase each year.
If you try for the intra-district transfer, you won’t find out whether your child is accepted until almost the beginning of the upcoming year. If your child isn’t accepted, it’s too late to apply to transfer to a different district. So, your choices are reduced to private schooling or being stuck at the under performing public school
If your child is accepted for the intra-district transfer, you are in great shape for the upcoming school year. However, you will need to reapply for each additional year.
Your child is only accepted on a space available basis. You won’t find out that your child has been denied enrollment for a new year until it is again to late to do anything else but enroll in private schooling or return your child to the under performing neighborhood school.
Along comes an attempt to start a charter school in your neighborhood. The teachers’ union balks and pulls every political string to shut down the effort. They pressure the school board. They send anti-charter school propaganda home with the school assignments for their students. They host viewings of an anti-charter propaganda film at the neighborhood schools.
That’s when you realize that for you and your fellow Anaheim working class families, the local teachers’ union is a threat towards your children’s efforts at learning.
The teacher’s unions “balk” because they can see the writing on the wall, charter schools will destroy your local public school system. In the short term, charter schools seem to be a good solution but in the long run I believe they will end public education as we know it.
Everyone wants the “best” for their little darlings and those who can afford it have always been able to choose private schools, but now parents can get “private” school type educations on the public’s nickel.
It’s hard to resist all the “perks” charter schools can offer, like I said above, everyone wants the best for THEIR kid. But what happens to the local school left behind? After the charter schools siphon off the parents who used to hold the school boards and administrations accountable, the parents who ran the PTA’s and fundraisers, what happens then?
Generally the schools are left to parents who lack the know how, the language skills and the time to make their schools better. Parents, especially active parents have always been a very important factor in local schools and as that participation falters so does the quality of the school system.
The worse the public schools get the easier it will be to get rid of them entirely.
It’s not easy to leave your kids in the local public school, there’s always something better out there, but maybe what’s best for your kid is making things better for other kids too.
Best bumper sticker I ever saw: My heart is in Santa Ana Schools and my kids are too.
It changed my mind and I’m not sorry.
anonster: “I believe they (charters) will end public education as we know it.”
You say that as if it would be a “bad” thing anonster ……
Yeah Shivas, it’s easy to make jokes and even easier to forget how public schools have made and continue to make a huge difference in people’s lives.
One friend of my kids really stands out in that regard. Her family was poor, her parents immigrants, her mother was deaf and didn’t even know sign language, yet through her public school education she managed to get a full scholarship to Princeton.
Her missing that life changing opportunity would indeed have been a “bad” thing.
Anonster – The example you related is exactly what I expect from public schools. I applaud the efforts of the student, family and school staff.
The options quickly disappear when a legacy public school fails to live up to its standards. That’s why we need another option.
Sorry, I meant to say…
“The life changing opportunities quickly disappear when a public school fails to live up to its standards. That’s why we need another option.”
You do know that Santa Ana public schools have a reputation as being less than. Most affluent Santa Ana parents do not put their children in the public schools.
anonster: “It’s not easy to leave your kids in the local public school, there’s always something better out there, but maybe what’s best for your kid is making things better for other kids too.”
Said like a good comrade anonster.
Anonster –
1) ‘Everyone wants the “best” for their little darlings…, but now parents can get “private” school type educations on the public’s nickel.’
Yes, I’ve contributed a painfully large amount of money to that public nickel. I want my kids to receive the best education for the money I’ve invested.
Charter schools are public schools. They are governed by the same State Laws that govern all public schools. Those state laws have harsher penalties for Charter Schools than the legacy public schools. If a Charter School fails to maintain those laws, it’s charter is terminated and the school goes bye bye. That doesn’t happen at a legacy public school.
Heck, LAUSD’s Miramonte Elementary school is still open even after Mark Berndt was caught force feeding his students semen. For years, the principle and other staff turned a blind eye to his sexual crimes. I think the State would shut down any charter school that allowed that crime to occur.
2. ‘But what happens to the local school left behind? After the charter schools siphon off the parents who used to hold the school boards and administrations accountable, the parents who ran the PTA’s and fundraisers, what happens then?’
It seems you are taking for granted the parents that volunteer for the schools. Our tax dollars pay for the teachers, administrators, school facilities and everything else in a legacy public school. We expect high quality educational services in return. We volunteer to further improve our children’s educational experience.
When the legacy public school fails to uphold its part of the deal, there is no incentive for the parents to provide the extra support through volunteerism. The responsibility is with the legacy public school to prove to the parents that it is beneficial to keep their children enrolled in the school and motivate the parents to volunteer. It is disappointing when legacy public school leadership (unions included) won’t make improvement efforts and resorts to guilting parents into keeping their children enrolled and staying involved.
3. ‘It’s not easy to leave your kids in the local public school, there’s always something better out there, but maybe what’s best for your kid is making things better for other kids too.’
That’s exactly what I’m fighting to do. Let’s bring in more charter schools to Anaheim so that we can get as many children of working class families as possible the opportunity to receive a high quality education. If there are some bad apples charter schools out there, it’s much easier for them to be shut down than the poor performing legacy public schools.
Finally, it’s my duty as a parent to help my children prepare themselves for the best possible career opportunities that will exist in the future. No public school representative will come to me and apologize or provide support if my child graduates college and can’t find a career. No teacher union rep will come to me and apologize if my child graduates high school with a 3.0 GPA, but must still take remedial courses in college.
I want a bumper sticker that says, “I’ll put my heart in the school that first puts its heart in my kids.” Funny thing, that is exactly what is happening at GOALS Academy.
I think most public schools and public school teachers do put their “hearts” into their students.
There has been a lemming like flight away from local public schools. I think it’s a little bit like the chicken or the egg question, did the “leader” parents and families leave the schools first or did the school’s quality drop first.
In addition to making known their presidential preferences, Orange County voters on June 7 also will make critical decisions impacting the continued on a path of supporting greater parental choice in public education and jump-starting education reforms in local schools.
Orange County Board of Education Trustees Kenneth Williams and Robert Hammond are seeking re-election. The board has become a model for championing choice and opportunity for students and taxpayers alike. Williams and Hammond served as the minority on the five-member board until the previous election cycle, when they were joined by Linda Lindholm, forming a refreshingly candid and courageous new majority.
Not beholden to county teachers unions or other special interests, they saw to it that petitions were no longer summarily denied to grant rights to independent charter schools seeking to start schools in Orange County. This switch came much to the chagrin of teachers unions, and even some school board members, because it meant an end to a default geographically based monopoly for school enrollment.
To oppose Hammond and Williams, local teachers unions picked Tustin Councilwoman Rebecca Gomez and Irvine school board trustee Michael Parham to advance their position that approving charter schools “undermines local control.” Hopefully, voters will understand that the “local control” they seek to protect is control by those who used to control the OCBE until voters threw out their cronies and elected independent candidates, like Hammond, Williams and Lindholm, who aren’t afraid to support local parents and students.
Miles Durfee of California Charter Schools Association Advocates hailed the Orange County Education Board members’ support for quality educational choices, highlighting that “in an environment, where a school district board and superintendent is calling for an illegal moratorium on charter school options, the county board members have played a vital leadership role [by]… focusing on kids rather than adults.”
Gloria Romero – http://www.ocregister.com/articles/teachers-713662-local-school.html
“Today, thousands of charter school supporters, parents and kids will rally at the state Capitol in Sacramento to celebrate National Charter Schools Week. The rally follows the recently announced goal of the California Charter Schools Association to expand charter school student enrollment to 1 million students by 2022, accommodating thousands on waiting lists seeking spaces.”
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/charter-714485-school-schools.html
Union flouts law with endorsement letter
When SAUSD board member Cecilia Iglesias learned of the transgression, she immediately brought it to the attention of both SAUSD Superintendent Rick Miller and district lawyers. Initially, she told me, they seemed to ignore her, only taking her seriously when she pointed out that the state Supreme Court had ruled on the San Leandro case. Then, unlike the San Leandro District, which responded within three days, SAUSD waited almost a month before sending a letter to Mercer telling her she violated the law but seeking no remedy or restitution.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/district-716116-union-mercer.html
I just saw that article in the OC Register. It is amazing how a union and the district lackeys they purchased can act in such an unscrupulous manner.
If they were truly putting the education and welfare of the children first, then they wouldn’t resort to unethical and illegal acts.
Our nation has always improved when it has expanded the civil rights of the citizenry. In several instances, the fight to expand those civil rights was opposed by people that were unjustly enriching themselves at the expense of the oppressed.
This is happening now.
The fat cat union leadership and politicians that turned the state’s public education system into a political machine are walking away with fistfuls of cash. At the same time, many of our children (especially in working and poor neighborhoods) are failing to be prepared for the America of tomorrow.
It is time for this nation to give all parents the civil right to choose to enroll their children in the public school (charter or not) that provides them with the best opportunity to receive a high quality education.
A high quality education is the most effective abatement to bigotry, racism and poverty.