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Friday, June 27, 2014

PROPAGANDA SOVIET STYLE AT LEBANON HIGH SCHOOL





Here it is in plain English right from the Communist philosophy.   This should sound very familiar.    This is what our president and his colleagues have been preaching.   This is exactly what Hillary Clinton preached in her book "It Takes a Village."   Think of the radical Bill Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dohrn, the radicals that now write curriculum.   This is not the beliefs of our Founders.   This is not the freedom that we were taught was our birthright - our inalienable right.    Our children do not belong to the state.  ****Note that free people are denoted as "bourgeois."   


"In bourgeois society, the child is regarded as the property of its parents - if not wholly, at least to a major degree. When parents say, 'My daughter', 'My son', the words do not simply imply the existence of a parental relationship, they also give expression to the parents' view that they have a right to educate their own children. From the socialist outlook, no such right exists. The individual human being does not belong to himself, but to society, to the human race. The individual can only live and thrive owing to the existence of society. The child, therefore, belongs to the society in which it lives, and thanks to which it came into being - and this society is something wider than the 'society' of its own parents. To society, likewise, belongs the primary and basic right of educating children. From this point of view, the parents' claim to bring up their own children and thereby to impress upon the children's psychology their own limitations, must not merely be rejected, but must be absolutely laughed out of court. Society may entrust the education of children to the parents; but it may refuse to do anything of the kind; and there is all the more reason why society should refuse to entrust education to the parents, seeing that the faculty of educating children is far more rarely encountered than the faculty of begetting them. Of one hundred mothers, we shall perhaps find one or two who are competent educators. make it possible for socialist society to train the coming generation.  The future belongs to social education. Social education will t successfully, at lowest cost, and with the least expenditure of energy.
The social education of children, therefore, must be realized for other reasons besides those of pedagogy.  It has enormous economic advantages. Hundreds of thousands, millions of mothers will thereby be freed for productive work and for selfculture. They will be freed from the soul-destroying routine of housework, and from the endless round of petty duties which are involved in the education of children in their own homes.

That is why the Soviet Power is striving to create a number of institutions for the improvement of social education, which are intended by degrees to universalize it. To this class of institutions belong the kindergartens, to which manual workers, clerks, etc., can send their children, thus entrusting them to experts who will prepare the children for school life. To this category, too, belong the homes or residential kindergartens. There are also children's colonies, where the children either live permanently, or for a considerable period, away from their parents. There are in addition the crèches, institutions for the reception of children under four years of age; in these the little ones are cared for while their parents are at work.

The Communist Party, therefore, must, on the one hand, ensure, through the working of soviet institutions, that there shall be a more rapid development of the places where children are prepared for school life, and it must ensure that there shall be a steady improvement in the training given at such places. On the other hand, by intensified propaganda among parents, the party must overcome bourgeois and petty-bourgeois prejudices concerning the necessity and superiority of home education. Here theoretical propaganda must be reinforced by the example of the best conducted educational institutions of the Soviet Power. Only too often, the unsatisfactory condition of the homes; crèches, kindergartens, etc., deters parents from entrusting their children to these. It must be the task of the Communist Party, and especially of the women's sections, to induce parents to strive for the improvement of social education, not by holding aloof from it, but by sending their children to the appropriate institutions, and by exercising the widest possible control over them through parents' organizations."

BELOW IS AN ASSIGNMENT FROM LEBANON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT


Keep the Revolution Alive!!
Get the message out about LHS rules


Objective: Create a series of propaganda techniques to promote some of the school’s rules.



Top Secret Propaganda Assignment:

You have just been hired to head the “super secret” propaganda department at Lebanon High School. The administration is concerned that enemies of the glorious “Improved Learning for Everyone” Revolution are among us. There is word that a group of students are potentially subversive and are thereby not willfully following the rules, a problem that threatens the “Improved Learning for Everyone” Revolution. As a result, the administration wants to find an effective way to re-enforce the school’s rules and encourage all students to follow them. In the name of keeping the school’s “Improved Learning for Everyone” Revolution alive, the administration has asked your group to:
ü      Select three school policies and/or rules.
ü      Develop different types of information programs that incorporate different propaganda techniques studied in our unit. This could be techniques from your web search as well as those used in Animal Farm.
ü      Create three different visual aids to complement the propaganda you develop. (It could include posters to put up, slogans to disseminate, pamphlets to distribute around school, a series of mass e-mails, a videotaped ad, or any idea you have.)

Audience
Your work is aimed at the students in Lebanon High School, but designed to be propaganda with the purpose of promoting the views and position of the administration.



Process
Create three different propaganda campaigns with some kind of catchy visual aid – this could include posters to put up, slogans to disseminate, pamphlets to distribute around school, a series of mass e-mails, a videotaped ad, or any idea you have. Refer back to the examples from propaganda website. Each of your propaganda pieces should incorporate a different propaganda technique as seen in Animal Farm or from the propaganda internet assignment. Explain each campaign in a paragraph that identifies 1) the type of propaganda used, 2)a description of how it will work in Lebanon High School, and 3) the intended hidden message.


Due date _______________ 

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

PROPAGANDA USED BY SPRINGBORO SCHOOLS

JUST ONE INSTANCE OF HOW THE GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS OPERATE



Did anyone ever wonder why a school district needs a Director of Community Relations and other consultants to help the "professionals" communicate with the community, taxpayers and parents?   We have been told over and over again that the superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals and teachers are THE professionals.   We need to "trust" them.    They know what is best for the students and for the community in general. I have had that "trust" speech directed at me so many times.

Springboro Community City Schools officials really want to "hear from the residents."   (Does that sound like a broken record?)    These, so called professionals,  have a "brilliant" idea on how to do that.   They call the program "Many Voices Process"  or MVP for cuteness.  This is going to be a "yearlong"  effort to "create guiding statements and a vision for the schools."   They are going to "outreach" and believe this or not - it is not for a levy or building program.

Superintendent Todd Petrey (formerly of Lakota) says, "This is not a sales pitch."   Yeah right!    This is propaganda pure and simple.   It is aimed to focus the communities every thought and interest on how important the school district is to the community.   This MVP program is going to cost the taxpayers plenty.   

MVP is being guided (let's just say it - facilitated by more than 30 community volunteers.  I would bet all of them have been  selected for their loyalty to the union and administration.   In fact, probably half are teachers and many others from the PTA loyalists.    We wouldn't want anyone that might cause a little dissension by asking questions that were a little too in depth.     For example, Why are you spending all this money and all this time on a project asking questions.   Questions that professionals should have known the answers to years and years ago.   Maybe at the time of Socrates or even later at the time of the one room schools.

Get this, Karen DeRosa, the district's community relations consultant, superintendent Petrey and Jeffrey Stec from Citizens for Civic Renewal will be taking time to facilitate the meetings in three phases.    Sounds really important doesn't it?    I am sure that the district knows full well that all the people want is for the children to get a fine education and not to be indoctrinated by teachers in red shirts with an agenda.      

I believe that the union provoked so many people with their sea of red shirts and wearing them all week in the classroom didn't go over so well with the students or the parents.   In fact the bullying techniques used by the district's employees did make a permanent negative impression on everyone, including many teachers that don't appreciate those tactics.

They say the first phase will identify "values and beliefs."   The second phase is a "long range" plan for the school system.  The final phase will be to write a mission statement.   How about this idea?   The Springboro schools were built and paid for by the taxpayers so that our children have the skills to live their lives able to read, write, compute, have a sense of world and U.S. history and geography.     They do not have to have the daily indoctrination by facilitators on a mission to change the values, beliefs and attitudes that were taught by their parents and their church.   Let their parents handle that part of their upbringing.

The school districts like to call this charade "strategic planning."    Do they really need to spend money over and over again to reinvent the wheel?    Don't they test score the students over and over to get the results they need to meet the state and federal criteria.   This is so much wasted time and energy.   The tests have been "dumbed down" so many times that they are really pretty meaningless.    

One of the Lebanon school board meetings that I attended the superintendent bragged that "we do teach to the test."    So what good is the educational process if the students are not able to critically think and use deductive reasoning.   What if many districts don't have time to teach cursive handwriting.   Learning cursive does develop another area of the brain that is essential to the educational and thinking process.   Of course, Common Core doesn't require cursive so the educational establishment prefers to drop that skill.

Ms. LaRosa might just be the person that directed Lebanon School District's "Implication Wheel" survey.   Fifty people were selected for that fiasco.   Most of them were teachers and principals.    The whole thing was rigged to give the district the answers that they had preordained.    They divided the people into tables and rigged each table with teachers, teacher's relatives and administrators.    I got into a little trouble because one very rude teacher commiserated that "she had had several courses in "conflict resolution" and she just couldn't understand why she couldn't convince me to vote against the ROTC.     At that time the administration was hell bent on getting rid of the ROTC.   Imagine that?

The Springboro plan is a plan that is used in almost all school districts.   It is nothing new and has been going on for years and years.    It is pure propaganda that is used to get the participants to declare a program that was preordained from the beginning.

This is propaganda at it finest.     It is meant to convince the community to do whatever the educational establishment wants.    Just imagine if all of these millions and billions of dollars were actually spent on giving our students the best education possible.    Not the indoctrination that reduces all students to the lowest common denominator.    

Thursday, June 19, 2014

PROPAGANDA AT THE SCHOOL BOARD MEETING

This week I attended the Kings School District board meeting.   The room was packed and many people were standing in the hall.   The front two thirds of the seating area was filled with teachers wearing red shirts.   I would guess that these rows arrived very early so that they were visible to the board and Michael Clark of the Enquirer.     I am sure it was staged as an intimidation move toward the board.

The union currently does not have control of the Kings School Board.   The voters elected three members that are not indebted to the union.   At least one retired Kings teacher is on the board and she does not wield the power that she has had for many years.   She is now on the minority.  Her voice is still heard and her opinions voiced.   

Kings Board Member, Kim Grant

One of the new board members is Kim Grant.   She has been following the district for ten years.    People do trust her with information that has been kept from the district's citizens for years.    Before she was elected she requested documents pertaining to a special education teacher that was seriously abusing her students.   The only reason she found out about this travesty was because of a "whistleblower" that could not get the administration to correct the situation.    I have written about this in another essay.   In order to obtain the information, she had to obtain the services of an attorney.   This step should not be required.

Kim is a mother and has had children in the district.  She says in an Enquirer op-ed that "she has attended board meetings, delved into the budget, has kept apprised of issues in the district."   In other words, she has been a good citizen.   Like me, she believes that "one person can make a difference."   In her case she made a huge difference to the children in Ms. Kitcho's class.   


Ms. Kitcho

The administration prefered to give the abuser a letter of recommendation and sweep the whole issue under the rug.   Sadly, the superintendent, assistant superintendent, principal and school board knew the facts of the case and did not bother to advise the parents.   It would have been better if the administration had attended the situation and perhaps seen to it that the teacher receive help.    After all, I would assume that she went into special ed because she cared about the children.  Instead the district is facing a federal lawsuit. 

A comment made at the meeting on Tuesday, June 17, 2014,  just blew my mind.  "We don't want to air our dirty laundry."    I have heard that comment many times.   When I was on a school board I was advised not to look into any of the scandals that were reported to me by parents.     One example is that the district had a huge drug problem that was never addressed.   They denied that there were any illegal drugs at any of the schools.    A parent called me and reported that her daughter was selling LSD at the high school and that no one would do anything about it.   Yes, she called the principal and he denied that it could happen. As part of the "propaganda" stand each and every district portrays themselves as "the best." Everything is perfect, all schools are "Lake Wobegon."

Instead of bothering to address problems, the union and administration prefer to always white-wash any problems.   Therefore, the problems fester and get worse.   

At the time that I served on a school board we were recruiting a new superintendent the rest of the board wanted to allow the superintendent to pick his replacement.   Of course he would pick one that would not expose the failures and financial mistakes of his predecessor.   He wanted to bring in someone that he could trust to keep his secrets.  This is the case most of the time because there is a "superintendent pool" that moves from district to district just ahead of the revelations of their mistakes and connections.    There rarely seems to be an investigation of the money that is missing or misspent.   

The Kings School Board tried to hire an interim superintendent.   A man who had been a superintendent at Kings, a man who has had national recognition and awards, a man that just retired from the superintendency at the Warren County ESC,  John Lazares.  Having Mr. Lazares there would give the board time to evaluate resumes for the permanent position.  By the way, Mr. Lazares agreed to work for exactly $1.00.    

Well,  the union went berserk, they would have no decisions being made without their approval.   They filed legal action against Mrs. Grant, they filled the board meetings with protests.   The circulated a petition to have Mrs. Grant recalled from her recently elected post.    The union wants the power and they will not accept board members that are not endorsed and selected by the union.    

Tuesday night was a perfect example of a rogue union.   A union that thinks they can do and act however they please.     The leader and speaker for the union stood up to the microphone,   as he started to speak all of the red shirts stood up with a loud noise.   The floor made a cracking sound and the red shirts stood at attention the entire time their leader spoke.    The whole "ceremony" was extremely intimidating.   After the union leader spoke many other teachers repeated similar ideas.   How dare the board make a decision without letting the union know what was going on?   They even had a lawyer there giving his threats of prosecution and recall.   I would describe the entire evening a "bullying session."  

This is how the union operates and this is an example of how the true character of the event is never reported by the press.      Propaganda at it's finest.

This is the crowd on May 21, 2014
Visualize a sea of red on June 17, 2014
They were organized.



Tuesday, June 17, 2014

PROPAGANDA AND THE LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD



The Union Members are First!
Students First is Just a Logo!


The local school board is supposed to represent the people of the district.   Unfortunately, that has not been the case for many, many years.   One of the most important consequences of teacher unionization is the erosion of school board authority.   This transfer of power is the result of union control and administrative control.   Administrators are chosen from the teacher pool.  Thus they are former union members and sympathetic to union demands.

Originally,  the elected school board determined the meeting agenda, the priorities of the district, terms and conditions of employment and so on.   When the union entered the picture "collective bargaining" determined everything.   The union decides everything from the number of students in a class, school day times, benefits, tenure, step raises, additional annual raises holiday calendar and everything that happens in the schools.

Today, the union actually chooses the school board.   Most school boards consist of teachers from other districts, retired teachers from the district, spouses of teachers and administrators, PTA leaders, and former administrators.   The public has been fed constant propaganda that the union's choice is the best choice.   Anyone that runs for school board that asks questions is attacked by the union and their leaders.   An independent person has a slight chance of getting elected.   The candidates without the union's help and endorsement simply have only a slight chance of winning.   Campaigns for any office require money and manpower.   The union has both.   

Often the superintendent and other union members will demonize people who question anything they do.   They resent any questions regarding curriculum, funding and spending. At the same time they claim transparency.   They don't want taxpayers to know how they spend their money.   The union requires control to get what they want.  The negotiation process is a farce.

When a contract is to be renewed,   the school board hires a professional "negotiator" to meet with the union leaders and the state NEA negotiator.    Usually there is a legal team sitting in on the negotiations.  To my dismay, as a former board member, I was told that I was not welcome to sit in on the negotiations.   If I chose to ignore that advice, I was "told" that I could not say a word and only listen to the "professionals."    The negotiators are given supreme authority.  

Of course, the whole charade is just for propaganda purposes.   The superintendent wants the district to get a big raise.   He knows his raise will be even bigger.   The treasurer sits there like a rock because the union knows to the penny just how much the district has on the books.    Their intent is to "bargain" for every cent and more.    Almost all of the general fund goes for salaries and benefits.   

Of course they will give press releases that say that the board does not care about the district, that they don't want the teachers to be professionals who only care about "the children."  The press is more than cooperative with the teacher's union.    Of course the superintendent gives a statement saying how he is trying to be fair for one and all.  He just hates to have to ask for another levy, but that is what has to happen.

This exact scenario is duplicated in every district.   They compare the salaries at other districts that are higher than those in your district.    They publish information that says something to the effect that another close district's teachers make 5% more than our district. We are so economical with the taxpayers money.  What they don't say is that district recently negotiated a new contract.   They had settled with the union's demands.  Of course your salaries and benefits are less.  You haven't finalized the new contract.  Then the same group of union officials and lawyers moves on to another district with the same spiel.

The local union follows the state and federal NEA/AFT policies and demands.   All levels of the union barrages the public with constant reminders of just how indispensable the union members are to the "children."  They get the students, parents, teachers and local business owners involved.   Usually the local bankers, architects, contractors and other businesses get involved.   If any business decides to not support the demands or the option of passing a levy to meet the unions demands, then they are threatened with a boycott.   This happens quite often.   I have seen a local restaurant go out of business because of the boycott threat and action.   Parents and citizens alike are afraid of the union.   They know children are at the mercy of these people.

If they don't get what they want then they threaten a "strike."  A strike threat gives them visibility.   They have professionally designed signs and matching shirts.   They wear large propaganda buttons on their shirts.   They have "Thank a Teacher" bumper stickers made up for parents, teachers and anyone that is willing to put one on their car.  THEY ARE ORGANIZED.

THE SCHOOL BOARD IS NOW AN ARM OF THE UNION.


80% of NYC grads cannot read properly,
but the mayor is worried about salt.
NYC schools have the strongest teacher's union
in the country.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

HOW PROPAGANDA WORKS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

Parents and taxpayers have been inundated with propaganda on a daily basis from their local school districts.  This has been going on for many years.  They do organize campaigns against anyone that gets elected to the school board that wants to honestly make improvements to the educational process.   The union's way is the only way.   

They will circulate petitions to remove an elected board member. The union leaders will cause an uproar in the community to discredit the new board member as a person that will "destroy the district."   They will always get a few community members to do their "dirty work" for them.   These parents are usually people that will receive special favors for their children.  Test scores can be boosted, leading member of a sports team, raise grades, recommend the student for various and many scholarships or even jobs.   Believe me, these things do happen and probably in all districts.   

Below a local school district used these tactics against a great board member.   No fabrication was too evil for their agenda. They wanted her off the board and the SEA president described their success in the OEA (state wide) journal.  I am posting his article in it's entirety.


This photo is Springboro, Ohio
This gang is not from Chicago



"In January 2010, the Springboro community elected a resident to the school board whose campaign included many buzz words and phrases -work within budgetary means, fiscal conservative, and taxpayer control. She garnered enough votes to get a seat on the board and immediately announced that her goal was to "break the teachers'” union, first in Springboro and then across the state."

That statement was a wakeup call for the Springboro Education Association (SEA) who quickly realized the need to begin organizing - both internally and externally. By March 2013, the SEA's focus included three distinct, but related, groups: the SEA membership, community groups and parents.

Internally, the SEA began organizing its membership in a fairly typical fashion. Building representatives were trained and mobilized to disburse information via regularly scheduled newsletters, encouraging members to attend board meetings, and establishing a home-to-home e-mail system. Because Senate Bill 5 was solely sponsored by a senator who resided in Springboro, the SEA membership was also visible during the campaign to reverse SB5. SEA sponsored petition circulator training and encouraged members to collect signatures and participate in the campaign. SEA created its own private Facebook group page and began communicating and discussing both Springboro issues and statewide issues impacting education.

But by the November 2011 school board election in which two (2) additional "fiscally conservative" candidates won seats, SEA knew it was time to step it up, especially since negotiations were to commence in March 2013. The school board was freely stating its plans to move to a merit pay system, bring health insurance in line with the private sector and have teachers work in the same rigorous manner as others in the community.

In September 2012, a Bargaining Support Team was established with multiple representatives from each building. This team met on a regular basis and developed activities for the members in an effort to build and show unity. Sessions with small focus groups were held where contract issues were discussed and explored. Teachers organized to wear red on Wednesdays, encouraging and reminding peers via 10-minute meetings and phone trees that 100% participation was the goal. By the Spring, only red was worn by Springboro teachers. The "SEA News" bi-weekly newsletter was sent out to members on distinctive orange paper that contained multiple topics ranging from "rumor control" and "know your rights", to "bargaining news" and a "that's what solidarity looks like" section.

Because the Board placed its initial proposal and SEA's proposal on the district website (claiming that the documents were public record), a power point presentation was taken by SEA officers and the LRC to each building, explaining exactly what the Board's proposal would mean to their working conditions and career. This allowed the SEA leadership to control rumors and focus members on the facts. It was at this early point in negotiations that it was suggested the members begin to consider what to do with their personal belongings in their classrooms.

At the conclusion of the third negotiation session, the SEA members along with support staff, parents and other OEA members, gathered outside the Board office to demonstrate support. This garnered media attention and raised community awareness. At the last negotiation session prior to the end of the school year, the SEA membership gathered again and a sea of red walked across campus to attend a general membership meeting. Another power point was presented to provide an update on negotiations, but the informed and mobilized membership quickly turned the meeting to action. A motion was passed to provide the SEA negotiations team with the authority to issue a strike notice.

Even though dates for negotiations were scheduled, the SEA members went above and beyond, and literally emptied their classrooms of their personal belongings. The district demanded their keys as full, teacher-rented, u-hauls pulled out of the parking lots.

While the members were gaining strength, the SEA leadership was developing relationships with community groups and organizations. This began with SB5 as SEA partnered with the local firefighters, police officers, and other unions. The SEA was an active supporter of a community fire levy on the ballot in May 2013. SEA members wore "yes on fire levy" shirts, while firefighters attended SEA bargaining rallies. Community alliances were formed and public union leaders continue to communicate and support one another.

The final group, which was a major integral part in SEA's organizing efforts, was the parents. In the past, there have been several groups that have organized themselves in an effort to have a positive impact with the school board and the administration. Many of these groups centered around one of the many levy efforts and quickly lost steam, as levy after levy failed. However, in January a small group of parents met out of their growing concern for what appeared to be a political agenda of the current board. Efforts to begin a charter school in the district, arm teachers with concealed weapons, add creationism to the curriculum and teach the constitution from a religious perspective bothered the parents. Not to mention the fact that the board had been speaking about a strike by its teachers at least 12 months prior to the start of negotiations.

The parents call themselves SURE, Springboro United for Responsible Education...and quickly jumped into action. A Facebook page and website was activated with the promise to disseminate facts. SEA was helpful in providing SURE with necessary research information (such as how to access the Ohio Revised Code), comparable data, and a contact person to provide assistance. SURE attended Board meetings and challenged the Board members.

SURE was also visible in supporting its teachers. They held several "show red for Ed" days and draped the community with red ribbons on mailboxes, poles, car antennas, etc. Magnets were made saying "I support Springboro teachers and staff" and displayed on cars throughout the community. Breakfast and lunches were provided to the SEA negotiations team by the parents. And their ongoing effort is to unseat this Board in November with a slate of pro-education candidates.

The end result is that, despite the Board's best efforts to force a strike, the SEA was able to obtain a settlement with a two-year agreement. A 2% salary increase is provided in each year of the contract and all rights/working conditions were fully protected. During the course of all this, sixty-two (62) teachers elected to retire or resign (out of 330) leaving a gaping hole in the membership. However, SEA ended the 2012-13 school year with 100% membership and, with the new year membership drive just concluded, will continue with 100% membership as new members are welcomed. SEA was never broken and remains strong and united, because that's what solidarity looks like!"

Submitted by: Scott Maney, Springboro Education Association President, and Marla Bell, OEA/LRC

Notice the tactics are straight out of the Communist play book.   Organize, organize and organize some more.   Get people excited and fearful that the district would diminish in quality if one non-union controlled board member was allowed to sit on the board.   Accusations of a "political agenda" and other outright lies were told about the single board member.   

They went on a letter writing campaign in the local newspapers and vehemently threatened her family and even her husband's job. Two particular parents were enticed to be especially vocal with their accusations. One of them was appointed to the board and the husband of another had a cushy non-teaching job with the district.  

Unfortunately, most people do not do their "homework."  They do not verify the information that has been fed to them.   When the propaganda machine gets in full swing, there is little the parents, taxpayers and especially the person being attacked can do.  The union has their militant and well trained "facilitators" that are willing to do anything to maintain the control the union has over the district.   Even the local paper takes sides with the union.   This is going on in all districts.   

I urge people to attend school board meetings.   See who and what happens at school board meetings.   Watch the pressure that is put on the school board by the union and their demands.    It is "never, never" about the children.

Yes, this is exactly what "solidarity" looks like.

Monday, June 9, 2014

UNION PROPAGANDA DELIBERATELY DIVIDES SCHOOL DISTRICTS

THIS IS A UNION RALLY

The teacher's union has been gaining more and more power through the years.   In reality we have allowed them to control many aspects of our communities.   They have even gained control in our churches.  They control many public offices and make every effort to control all school boards.  They have the power to get their people elected and they use the schools to do it.

School district administrators have made sure they have up to date computerized information on all students and parents.   They are able to send out messages in a short amount of time.   They can alert parent in short order that school has been called off due to the weather.    They can also remind parents to register, to vote, to work on the levy campaign etc.   They are able to hire consultants to run the campaign.   Few are wise to the tactics that are being used against them.   

When a local member of the community runs for school board they will do everything possible to make sure that person is targeted negatively and constantly.   I have served as a school board member.  I was targeted at every board meeting and by the media.   Every time I would ask a question the administration and their union hit squad would boo and hiss and make fun of me.   I usually requested a forensic audit to be made of the district's finances.   It had become apparent to me that funds were being wasted and worse.  The administration did not feel that they were accountable to the board.  They did as they pleased and no questions were allowed.   I can't count how many times I was given the "trust speech."    In other words just sit there and let us spend as we please.   

I ran for the school board because I wanted to have the opportunity to have a voice in some of the decisions being made by the district.   One of the things I hope to get implemented was a true gifted program.  The board is supposed to represent their community.   I had volunteered for years for the district and for the community.    To the administration I had the major flaw of actually wanting to perform my duties as a board member.   In the school business that is a no no.  You must be a rubber stamp.

Luckily there were a few honest people in the system.   They were willing to show me examples of outright theft and mismanagement.   For example, when the stadium lights didn't work (new stadium) and had to be left on all day during practice sessions in the middle of summer, I was told that "their friend" would redo the system and be paid the full amount for doing the job again.   Same with the roofs, plumbing, equipment, buses etc.   The superintendent once told me that his secretary's husband did all of the electrical work.  In every school district you will find these incestuous type of  relationships where friends and family are in on the scam.  Each one of them getting their share of the pie.

When the next election came around a trio of candidates that were supported by the administration and the union ran for the school board.   Teachers went door to door campaigning for their "team."   They ridiculed my efforts as "sticking my nose where it didn't belong" and not supporting the "children."   This was, of course, not true.   I had three children in the system.   I had been president of the band organization - a full time job of raising money for new uniforms.   I was told by students that their teachers had told them that sports and band would be eliminated if I got elected.   These were students that I knew and trusted.   The"team"  even wrote a horrible letter criticizing one of their candidates.  They put it in the paper and said that I had written the letter.   This was just another dirty union trick put out at the last minute and difficult to refute. 

This is a common scenario of how the school districts operate.   The levies are never "for the children." They are always for higher salaries and benefits.    An extremely small percentage of the General Fund is used for other things.   They have to keep asking for more money because every union contract guarantees a "step raise" every year.   If the money runs out they go on strike to enlarge the district's budget so that there is even more of our tax dollars to pay for better benefits and raises in addition to their regular "step raises."

Locally we have two huge examples of how this works and how they control a community.  In Springboro a lady was elected to the board.   She was and is an extremely qualified person with a doctorate degree.  She was determined to serve the community with honesty and integrity.   In fact she had four children in the system.and it was important to her that all children in the district received an excellent academic education. As soon as this lady sat on the board the union went after her.  They spent her entire four year term making her life miserable.  They went on a letter writing attack in the newspapers and on a local blog site.  They sent out fliers to the community, they harassed her at board meetings.   They went into a planned chaos mode and orchestrated a power play in the community.   

The lady was trying to make sure that the district received a better bang for the bucks they were spending. The OEA helped with the plan of attack against her and her ideas.    A  few of the parents were convinced to join the union in the attack.  (Interesting to note that at least one of the worst of them was given a job and another was given a seat on the board.)  They even went after her children and her husband's job.   These are some evil people in charge of  your children all day.  Remember it is all about the money and power.   We all know that "absolute power does corrupt."

During this entire period and longer the district had a man that headed up the school sports association.  He managed to embezzle close to a half million dollars from the fund.   This thief did not receive anywhere near the hate that the decent board member has received. 

The district had a superintendent that had basically been run out of another district.   As soon as he arrived he decided to go on a major building spree.   (Many/most superintendents do this.)     The union got busy and worked to get a bond issue passed and unnecessary buildings went up.   (They even used a perfectly fine school for storage because they had overbuilt.)   He had built a large medical building with the hope of using space for doctor's offices. (WHY?)  One "trainer" worked in that huge building.   He got so lonely in that empty building that he managed to spend most of his time in the main high school building.   Soon the superintendent left town just ahead of an investigation.   (They always leave when the people start asking questions.)  I would bet he is doing similar damage to another district.   

The next illustration is the Kings School District.   This district has had one scandal after another.  They are currently fighting a lawsuit where a special ed teacher was abusing her helpless students.   The board and administration covered this up and did nothing for some time.  They knew this teacher was unfit for the classroom and yet she stayed.    Soon an aide reported the acts to someone that did bring this to the attention of the parents.   The administration's solution was to give the teacher a letter of recommendation, a buy out and allow her to resign.   The last I heard she was in a parochial school.   

There have been cases of administrators having affairs with other employees, mold growing in the duct work (that they denied) until people were getting sick, waste and constant levies.   The board consisted of the same kind of "yes" people (including a former King's teacher labeled the Queen of Kings by Michael Clark.    
At the last board election a new person was elected to the board.  Now they are going after her.   She has only had six months as a board member, but that is far too long for the union.   They have decided that she has to go.   (In the meantime the superintendent left before anything else was exposed.   She is now in another district getting even more money.)  

A former school board member is passing a petition to remove the new board member from office.  He has started up a committee called Concerned Citizens of the Kings Local School District.   I'm sure they will use all the same tactics used on me, the Springboro board member and others.  These people can say anything they want and the media will print it.   I know this lady to be a person of the highest integrity.  She only wants what is best for the students.   She has no agenda other than to be a part of making Kings a truly great district academically.   

Please note that superintendents move around a lot.   They go on spending/building sprees, put levy after levy on the ballot and them move on to another district ahead of any investigation.   The Little Miami superintendent did this.  Now he is at the Greenon school district trying to get a levy for new buildings there. They all use the same methods because the union and the Ohio School Boards Association have tons of money to pay for consultants that use their tricks of propaganda and manipulation to intimidate and convince the public that "in order for the children to obtain a better education you must pay high salaries and have new buildings."  You can see the same tactics all over the country.

The barrage of  union propaganda constantly demanding more money so that the government schools can provide a better education is a fabrication made up to get the taxpayers to vote for a levy.   Tons of statistics, including a Harvard study, has proven, that the billions and billions of additional dollars spent by the government schools hasn't made a difference.    If you think about it, no matter how many raises you give a teacher, it is the same person that did a lousy job the previous semester.   I urge you to sit outside of the schools and observe the teachers leaving the building.   Tell me if you think they look professional. 








Friday, June 6, 2014

ALL PROPAGANDA MANIPULATES THE PEOPLE

Edward Bernays's "Propaganda" was published in 1928.   His uncle Sigmund Freud helped with adaptation of inserting psychological methods into the manipulation of the masses.   Today propaganda is being used in almost every aspect of our lives.   

Mass media has determined what we wear, what we eat, who we vote for, what movies we watch, what music we listen to and who is the most popular new star.   Consumerism has become a psychological disorder.

Public opinion has been determined to be a force that must be managed.  It is now managed by clever experts that know how to manipulate "the masses." Most school districts have a "public relations" expert trained to advance the public's view of the importance of the "district."   The districts have determined that they are entitled to everything they want and ask for.

The father of modern education, John Dewey, envisioned many ways that propaganda could be used to advance the power of the government school system.   He worked with Edward Bernays to "manufacture consent."  The educators figured out how to obfuscate and evade the facts in order to make their point of view appear to be the right view.  They always claim it is "for the children."  How many times have you been told that teachers are underpaid?   Have you examined just what they are paid?

Often outright lies, exaggerations and half truths are used to promote the wants of the school district, politician, government and product.  Even wars are fought with the support of "the people" using these tactics.  It is often called psychological warfare.   Far too often this warfare is perpetrated by people we trust.  Today support is called "consensus."  (Buzz word!)

Walter Lippmann and others believed that a modern society was incapable of lucid thought or clear perception and that people were driven by herd instincts and prejudice.  He stated that "the masses were not equipped to make decisions or engage in rational discourse."   In other words "propaganda could be used to make all decisions for the masses.   The people would believe that they had made the decision on their own.   They would not realize that psychological stimuli had been used by well paid Public Relations experts.

Most school districts do pay large sums to an on staff specialist.   They also belong to various groups (OSBA, NEA, OEA etc) and legal teams that make available (at a cost) experts to help them plan the attack.  You can notice the coordinated similar attack that is used in all districts.   That is because they are all on the same team.   

The taxpayers are not on their team.   They just fund their plots and plans for "more money."    The people have been convinced over the years that new buildings and plenty of money will create a great education.   The propaganda has been working.  The fact is that more money does not provide a better education.   

I will give you a simple example of how facts and figures are manipulated by the well trained experts of propaganda.   We often receive an expensive 5.5" X 11.5" postcard in the mail.   The return address is listed as a "Message from:  Mark North, Superintendent and Lebanon City School District.  (That means that the taxpayers are paying again for this "propaganda".) The card implies that Lebanon is in the top high school rankings.  It does not list how this was calculated or what criteria was used for this ranking. 


U. S. News and World Report lists schools in every state.  Many of the school districts are too small, have too high of a rate of poverty, minorities or other reasons why they are not counted in this list.  There are only 115 districts scored and the others are listed without scores.

The college readiness statistic is based on a score of 100%.   That means 100% of the senior students in a school took the test and 100% passed the test. Every student had to take and pass at least one AP class.  Few schools reach the 100% mark. The math and reading scores are based on the number of seniors that took and the number that passed the Ohio State Exit exam.  Listed below are some examples of the scores.

WALNUT HILLS - Rank: Ohio 1  National 77  College Readiness Score 81.3
College Readiness:  92% tested   78% passed   
Math - 100% proficient  0% not proficient   scored at 4.8
Reading - 100% proficient 0% not proficient scored at 4.4

WYOMING - Rank:    Ohio 2   National 110  College Readiness Score 74.4
College Readiness:  83% tested   71% passed
Math - 98% proficient 2% not proficient   scored at 4.6
Reading - 97% proficient 3% not proficient  scored at 4.4  

SYCAMORE H. S. - Rank: Ohio 23 National 514   College Readiness 46.6
College Readiness:  51% tested  45% passed
Math - 96% proficient 4% not proficient  scored at 4.5
Reading - 97% proficient  3% not proficient  scored at 4.3

KINGS - Rank:   Ohio 31   National 666   College Readiness  42.2
College Readiness:   52% tested   39% passed
Math - 94% proficient  6% not proficient  scored at 4.2
Reading - 94% proficient 6% not proficient scored at 3.9

MILFORD - Rank:   Ohio 32   National 707  College Readiness 41.4
College Readiness:   54% tested 37% passed
Math - 91% proficient  9% not proficient   scored at 4.2
Reading - 94% proficient 6% not proficient   scored at 3.9

MASON H. S. - Rank:  Ohio 34    National 720  College Readiness 40.9
College Readiness:   44% tested   40% passed
Math - 96% proficient    4% not proficient   scored at 4.6
Reading -  97% proficient  3% not proficient   scored at 4.2

LAKOTA EAST  -  Rank:  Ohio 36   National 750  College Readiness 40.4
College Readiness:  44% tested  39% passed 
Math - 96% proficient  4% not proficient   scored at 4.4
Reading - 97% proficient 3% not proficient  scored at 4.1

LOVELAND  -  Rank:  Ohio 43  National 955  College Readiness 35.7
College Readiness:  42% tested  34% passed
Math - 94% proficient  6% not proficient scored at 4.3
Reading - 96% proficient  4% not proficient scored at 4.1

LEBANON - Rank:   Ohio 51  National 1119  College Readiness 32.6
College Readiness:  41% tested  30% passed  (approximately 60 students)
Math - 92% proficient  8% not proficient   scored at 4.1
Reading - 94% proficient 6% not proficient scored at 3.9 (near OH Average)

LAKOTA WEST -  Rank:  Ohio 53  National 1178  College Readiness 31.3
College Readiness:   34% tested 31% passed
Math - 96% proficient  4% not proficient  scored at 4.4
Reading - 95% proficient 5% not proficient  Scored at 4.1 (above OH average)

CENTERVILLE -  Rank:   Ohio 70   National 1436  College Readiness 27.0
College Readiness:   32% tested  25% passed
Math - 94% proficient  6% not proficient   scored at 4.4 (above OH average)
Reading - 96% proficient  4% not proficient  scored at 4.2 (above OH average)

SPRINGBORO - Rank:   Ohio 84   National 1629 College Readiness 23.5
College Readiness:   29% tested 22% passed 
Math - 97% proficient  3% not proficient scored at 4.5 (above OH average)
Reading - 98% proficient  2% not proficient  scored at 4.1 (above OH average)

MONROE - Rank:  Ohio 93  National 1698  College Readiness 22.5
College Readiness:   38% tested 17% passed
Math - 89% proficient  11% not proficient scored at 4.0 (near OH average)
Reading - 96% proficient  4% not proficient scored at 3.8 (above OH average)

VALLEY H. S.(297 students)  Not ranked  College Readiness 18.3
College Readiness:   30% tested 14% passed
Math - 92% proficient  8% not proficient scored at 4.2 (above OH average)
Reading - 90% proficient 10% not proficient scored at 3.7 (near OH average)

The reason I am going to all this effort to post these scores is so that a valid comparison can be made.   Note that Walnut Hills has a college readiness score of 81.3 and that 92% of their senior class took the test.  Compare that to Lebanon where only 41% were tested and 30% of those passed the test. If you calculate that out you will find that only 60 AP students passed the test. That is 60 out of approximately 500 students.   I just can't see anything to rave about with that score.   Propaganda works.   I bet most of you were impressed with that post card because you didn't have all of the facts.

Also note that after Walnut Hills and Wyoming there is a huge drop in the percentage of students that even take the test.   It drops over 30% at Sycamore and more after that.   The reading and math scores are comparable and leads me to question the validity of the state test.   Even Valley H.S. which is not ranked had high scores in math and reading scoring above or near the Ohio AVERAGE.

I noticed that many schools are using this report for bragging rights if they think it will be effective propaganda  just as Mr. North surmised.   

*I tried to copy these facts accurately.   I hope you will compare your district to the others.   I was surprised by the low Springboro scores.  They have been pouring money into that district and with new schools.