Officials at Wamsutta Middle School in Massachusetts suspended
Morgan LaPlaume for one day after they caught her with
a butter
knife. The girl was only using the knife to cut a pear, but
officials say the school has a zero tolerance policy on knives.
Massachusetts suspended Morgan LaPlaume for one day after they
caught her with a
butter knife. The girl was only using the knife to cut a pear,
but officials say the school has a zero tolerance policy on
knives.
George Will has a terrific column indicting the diversity
propaganda complex in government elementary and secondary schools,
but the most
disheartening part of his column is his recitation of these
facts:
Today, the school systems in 20 states employ more non-teachers
than teachers. The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice
reports that between 1950 and 2009, while the number of K-12
students increased 96 percent, full-time-equivalent school
employees increased 386 percent. The number of teachers increased
252 percent, but the number of bureaucrats — including
consciousness-raising sensitivity enforcers and other non-teachers
— increased 702 percent. The report says states could have saved
more than $24 billion annually if non-teaching staff had grown only
as fast as student enrollment. And Americans wonder why their
generous K-12 financing (higher per pupil than all but three of the
34 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations)
has done so little to improve reading, math and science scores.
Consider also the fact that per pupil
spending has increased (in real dollars) from $4,600 in 1972 to
$10,700 in 2009. On the other hand, SAT scores have not budged:
And it's not just poor American kids whose academic performance
lags. A new report released earlier this week compares U.S.
middle class student achievement with that of other developed
countries. The news is not good:
America Achieves today released new data showing that America's
middle class schools have a long way to go to be best in the world.
The report is based on new analyses of math and science data
disaggregated by economic and social advantage from the 2009
Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). U.S.
students in the second to top quarter of socio-economic advantage
lag behind their international peers—significantly outperformed by
24 countries and regions in math and 15 in science.
Previously published results show that U.S. students in the second
quarter of economic advantage lag significantly behind 10 other
countries in reading.
Although those countries also run government school monopolies,
they are not yet strangled by the sort of bureaucratic overgrowth
cited by Will.
Transparency International defines
corruption as...
Generally speaking as “the abuse of entrusted power for private
gain”. Corruption can be classified as grand, petty and political,
depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector where it
occurs....Political corruption is a manipulation of policies, institutions
and rules of procedure in the allocation of resources and financing
by political decision makers, who abuse their position to sustain
their power, status and wealth.
Not only are students and parents being betrayed by the
politicians who maintain the system of government monopoly schools,
but so too are the hard-working teachers who are coerced into
conforming to the corrupt norms of that system. For the Kids -
break up the government school monopoly.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has posted mug shots of 35 educators booked for allegedly colluding to raise standardized test scores.
A 73-year-old principal, a middle school secretary, elementary school teachers, and other school workers are accused of being behind the nation's biggest cheating scandal.
Prosecutors are going after them under a racketeering law originally enacted to target the mafia, and they face prison time for allegedly changing students' test scores. Many of the teachers had bonds of $1 million or more that they had to argue to get lowered to six or five figures.
The scathing indictment of mostly black teachers has sparked allegations of racism from the Concerned Black Clergy and a prominent former mayor, The New York Times has reported. Rev. Timothy McDonald, a spokesman for Concerned Black Clergy, called the indictment "overkill" at best.
“Look at the pictures of those 35,” he told the Times. “Show me a white face. Let’s just be for real. You can call it racist, you can call it whatever you want, but this is overkill. We have seen people with much deeper crimes with much less bond set.”
It's clear prosecutors meant to send a strong message by arresting so many teachers after a sting operation that enlisted at least one third-grade teacher to wear a wire.
Teachers and principals are being accused of systematically and brazenly changing students' standardized test scores for possibly as long as a decade. These scores spiked when ex-superintendent Beverly Hall ran the school between 1999 and 2010, causing state regulators to become suspicious and start investigating the mostly minority district.
Hall, whose name appears at the top of the indictment, could go to prison for 45 years. She previously had a stellar reputation, and her lawyer Richard Deane told The New York Times that "not a single person" has alleged she helped them cheat.
The indictment says Hall placed "unreasonable emphasis" on meeting test targets and ignored signs of rampant cheating while handing out bonuses to staff at schools with high scores. A potential 45-year prison term for Hall certainly seems harsh over such allegations.
Throwing a lot of educators into jail with pretty big bail seems harsh too, especially since the bonuses they allegedly colluded to get reportedly ranged from just $750 to $1,000.
Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Jackson, like the Concerned Black Clergy, has rushed to the teachers' defense and accused the media of unfairly skewering them.
"Yes cheating is awful," she writes on her blog. "And so is conviction before a fair trial. I believe every accused person deserves a fair trial under a set of laws that promises to be just and balanced. I don’t support public hangings. It is barbaric."
Jackson added, "Prosecutors, judges and jurors make mistakes and overreach."
SEE ALSO: 'Former Superintendent Of The Year' Could Go To Prison For 45 Years
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Anthony Catanach Jr., an associate professor at the Villanova University School of Business, is a longtime critic of Groupon, and he just renewed his attacks on the daily deal giant.
In August 2011, he predicted on his blog, Grumpy Old Accountants, that the SEC would probe Groupon's numbers — and it came to pass, seven months later.
This time around, Catanach calls into question a grab-bag of accounting items in Groupon's annual report. He says:
In his post, Catanach says, "Heads up SEC…you too E&Y!"
(We emailed Groupon for comment and we'll update this post if we hear back.)
The backdrop here is that Groupon is struggling to reorient its business away from a dependence on daily email deals toward selling goods directly, and by generally providing a marketing infrastructure for local businesses.
It also recently fired its CEO, Andrew Mason.
Here are a couple of highlights from Catanach's deep-dive into Groupon's numbers:
Remember how the grumpies complained last August about Groupon’s “unusual” gain on an e-commerce transaction that created second quarter profitability (see Groupon: Still Accounting Challenged)? This was a gain driven solely by the Company’s own estimates of fair value, the reasonableness of which we questioned at the time. Well, guess what? We were right again! In the fourth quarter (literally at the eleventh hour), the Company revised its value estimate of its F-tuan investment downward by almost 40 percent resulting in a write-down of $50.6 million (2012 10-K, page 84). This turnabout almost completely reverses the pre-tax $56 million gain that Groupon reported in the second quarter of 2012.
... In fact, cracks are beginning to appear in the goodwill numbers. International segment revenue actually declined 15.9 percent in the final quarter of 2012 (2012 10-K, page 38) raising questions about reported international goodwill amounts.
... despite the declines in gross profit percentage, income from operations has turned positive for the first time primarily due to reduced marketing expenses. The dramatic reversals in marketing and selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses may reflect the Company’s changing business model, but given Groupon’s past reporting issues, one wonders if some of this expense volatility is due to the aforementioned decision to reclassify financial statement items. Just a thought.
SEE ALSO: Eric Lefkofsky, Groupon's New Interim Co-CEO, Has Some Cozy Deals With His Own Vendors
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A high school science teacher in Idaho is under investigation by the state’s professional standards commission because he reportedly used the word “vagina” during a biology lesson.
Tim McDaniel, who teaches 10th grade science at Dietrich School, told theTwin Falls Times-News that four parents were upset when they learned that his lesson included the word “vagina” and information about the biology behind female orgasm.
“I teach straight out of the textbook, I don’t include anything that the textbook doesn’t mention,” McDaniel remarked. “But I give every student the option not attend this class when I teach on the reproductive system if they don’t feel comfortable with the material.”
McDaniel said that he had never before received a complaint in the 18 years that he had taught science class at Dietrich School.
According to students who have set up a Facebook page to “SAVE THE SCIENCE TEACHER!!” certain parents may have had a political agenda in going after McDaniel. Sixty-six percent of church goers in Lincoln County, where Dietrich is located, are affiliated with the Mormon LDS Church, according to 2002 Glenmary Research Center data.
“[T]here are a couple people in the community that are trying to get Mr. McDaniel fired for teaching the reproductive system, climate change, and several other science subjects,” students wrote. “All these subjects were taught from the book and in good taste. He cares for each of his students and goes the extra mile to help them all. Now is the time for us to help by supporting him!”
McDaniel acknowledged that he may have angered some parents by showing the film “An Inconvenient Truth” during a lesson about climate change.
He explained to the Times-News that students were asked to write a paper on their thoughts about climate change after seeing the film.
“I’m not looking for one answer, I just want them to be able to explain what they believe,” McDaniel said.
“This sort of thing makes you worry about what you teach,” he added. “That’s not right.”
Dietrich Superintendent Neil Hollingshead speculated that McDaniel would not be fired as a result of the investigation.
“It is highly unlikely it would end with his dismissal,” the superintendent mused. “Maybe a letter of reprimand from the school board.”
But McDaniel pointed out that even a letter of reprimand would be unfair.
“I’ve done nothing wrong,” he insisted. “I told them I won’t sign it.”
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Regulars don't need a menu at Peter Luger, the Michelin-starred chophouse in Brooklyn, where not much has changed since 1887--except the newly hip neighborhood.
While the constancy of that dry-aged porterhouse and old-school vibe is comforting, the past decade has ushered in an equally worthy breed of steakhouses that are more stylish in the dining room and more inventive in the kitchen.
