Author Archives: Admin

Marc Tucker Tomorrow January 14th in NH

According to WikiPedia, Marc Tucker is

“the president and CEO of the National Center on Education and the Economy. He is an internationally recognized expert on education reform and a leader in benchmarking the policies and practices of the countries with the best education systems in the world.”

But make no mistake. Before Tucker was appointed as an education guru by his friend Hillary Clinton, he was employed as a lighting technician by a television station. He is totally unqualified to preside over any academic “standards” even as we know these mandates and programs are ILLEGAL with regard to their creation or funding by the federal government.

Socialist Tucker is most known for his famous “Letter to Hillary” which can be read here. In it he describes his dream of a top-down centrally managed system that would prepare students for service to the state.

If your Republican Representative is complicit in bringing Tucker to NH for this second “seminar”, he or she needs to hear from you.

Look up your Rep here: http://gencourt.state.nh.us/house/members/wml.aspx

Remember, Tucker is a totally unqualified third party, working for the totally illegal involvement of the fed, the same fed that has destroyed education with fad programs that encourage bad practices such as we teachers have seen with OBE, Common Core, discovery learning, constructivism and whole host of other educational fads that are proven failures.

A televised seminar entitled Professional Environments in Top Performing Systems will be held tomorrow, Thursday, January 14th in Room 206 in the Legislative Offices Building(LOB), beginning at 9:00 AM. The seminar, to be moderated by Dr. Mark Tucker (who was the Key Speaker in November), will feature educator leaders from Shanghai, Singapore, Australia as well as California, Kentucky, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

The event which will actually be held tomorrow in Washington DC., begins at 9:00 AM and concludes at 1:00 PM. And via the wonders of technology, anyone interested can also see it in Room 206 of the LOB.

More on Tucker… HERE and HERE (note: The NHTPC didn’t make those accusations, they were listen in Wiki!)

BOMBSHELL: What We Always Knew About These Programs

Common Core is no different.

These federal programs (illegal we might add) are nothing but fads crafted to make money for admins and other consultants while teachers have to suffer using bogus methods while taking the heat for their failures.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt posted a $576 million net sales number for the third quarter of 2015, up 4 per cent from the previous year.

The company’s latest earnings statement says it expects its 2016 sales will be between $1.53 billion and $1.58 billion.

Read more…

School Reproductive Services Met With Disdain or Disbelief

School-based clinics are now offering to implant IUDs into girls as young as 11.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2015/07/03/seattle-schools-to-6th-graders-no-soda-for-you-but-heres-an-iud-n2021052

It is truly amazing that some folks still refuse to believe that a SCHOOL would do anything like that.

When we told one former teacher who is now 93 about the way some schools have been presenting sex education to kids as young as fifth grade, his reaction was, “That can’t have happened, or they’d have been arrested”.

Another parent refused to believe that IUD information and opportunities were not originating from schools, claiming the story came from unreliable sources.

Consider that NH law says that minors, which could mean girls as young as 11, can have an abortion without parental knowledge or consent. Planned Parenthood’s website states that NH law requires the minors to inform parents 48 hours before the procedure, but that the parents still do not have the power to stop it. (So what good is the notification?)

So, then what’s the big deal about an IUD? Sure a doctor has to be the one to do the procedure, so it isn’t done in the ‘school’ itself, but have you ever heard of ‘school-based clinics’? They are the ‘one stop health and human services’ delivery establishments that the Clintons and Robert Reich dreamed of.

When it comes to teaching sex ed inappropriately to children who are too young, offering IUDs to girls who have barely reached puberty, or worse yet abortions, this behavior is what some might think would warrant arrest, and has been going on a long time. With the advent of school-based clinics and the push for schools to do more in the way of social services for students rather than just deliver academics, it bears keeping an eye on their activities and the law.

Just consider what happened to these 11-year olds in Stroudsberg PA in 1996.

From the Pocono Record:

Girls say school forced physical exams
By JOE McDONALD,Pocono Record Writer

Posted Jul. 14, 1999 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 6, 2011 at 6:29 PM

SCRANTON — Two teen-age girls testified Tuesday they were forced to undergo gynecological examinations at the J.T. Lambert Intermediate School in East Stroudsburg three years ago as part of a state-mandated physical.

In tearful testimony in federal court in Scranton, one of the girls said she tried to tell the nurse the school was making a mistake, that her family doctor had given her a physical examination the previous summer for a Christian camp, and that she had returned the paperwork to the school proving it.

The girl said a school nurse told her she could not find the paperwork, and then instructed her to remove her pants and get up on a table.

The girl, now 15, was 11 at the time the exam was given on March 19, 1996, by Dr. Ramlah Vahanvaty, one of the doctors hired by the school district to give physical examinations to students entering kindergarten and sixth grade.

Physical examinations are mandated by Pennsylvania school health law for all students entering kindergarten and sixth grade.

In a pre-trial ruling, the judge in the case stated, “Nothing in the statute provides how the physical exam is to be conducted.”

“I felt her finger go in my vagina,” the girl said, crying. “I hurt,” she said. “It was horrible.”

She said it hurt physically, but even more mentally.

The parents of eight girls are suing the doctor, two school nurses, and the school district, claiming they violated their childrens’ constitutional rights to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, as well as their privacy rights and parental liberty rights.

The lawyer for the school district, Rea Thomas of East Rockhill, said the district had an “absolute legal obligation” to perform the physical exams, and asserted the nurses and the doctor behaved professionally.

Thomas referred to a state police investigation that followed the incident, which touched off a firestorm of controversy and emotion at school board meetings, and said no wrongdoing was found.

The lawyer for Vahanvaty, George M. Nace of Allentown, denied in opening statements that the girls were given an internal exam, saying the physical “in no way constituted a gynecological examination.” He said four expert witnesses, including Dr. Bradley J. Bradford, president of the Pennsylvania Chapter of American Pediatricians, will take the stand in support of Vahanvaty, who he said will also testify and “go through this in detail” about what happened that day at the school. Nace said the doctor simply gave the girls a comprehensive examination.

Under direct examination by attorney Brian Thomas, the girl called into question just how comprehensive the exam was.

The girl said the doctor “never asked for my health history or if I was sexually active.”

She said she told the nurse that “my parents won’t like this” and asked to use the telephone, but the request was denied.

The girl said she was told she had to be checked for sexually transmitted diseases, and “to see if we were developing right.”

The girl’s father, Paul Tucker, said when her daughter arrived home that day from school the first words out of her mouth were: “Dad you have to kill someone for me.”

Tucker, an electrician by trade, said the experience “crushed” his daughter. He said he was upset by the experience and angered by the fact he never received an explanation from the school district on how they lost the paperwork from the family doctor and why the school’s doctor touched his daughter’s genitals.

Thomas, in opening statements, said the school document governing school physicals refers only to genital exams for boys.

He called the exams the girls received “aberrant.”

The school district sent home notices to parents while their children were in fifth grade, notifying them that their children were required to have a physical in sixth grade. The notices said the parents had three options: have a family doctor perform the physical; request that a parent be present for the school physical; or let the school doctor give the physical without a parent present.

Tucker said the school district never informed his family that his daughter was not “in compliance” with state-mandated physicals before his daughter was given her exam at the school.

Under cross-examination by Nace, Tucker admitted he has not been shy about letting people know what allegedly happened to his daughter. Tucker said he went on 38 radio interviews and discussed the matter with the Christian Coalition as well as the 700 Club and appeared on AM Philadelphia, a television newsmagazine.

The jury of five men and three women also listened to testimony from Jean Baumgartner, a mother of another girl who claims Dr. Vahanvaty touched her daughter’s genitals during the examination.

Baumgartner, a practical nurse, said she checked the box on the form the school sent her, instructing the school that she wanted to be present for the examination.

Baumgartner said she asked the school several times when the exam was going to be given but never received an answer.

The girl testified her efforts to stop the exam because her mother was not present were useless.

The mother said that when she found out what had happened to her daughter at school that day, ” … I couldn’t believe it.”

“I was home all day long and no one called to say she was having a physical,” Baumgartner said. “I filled out the form saying I wanted to be present.”

Baumgartner added, “I would never have allowed this type of examination at this age.”

Later when she tried to get answers from the school district, she said she felt they were “trying to shift the blame” onto the parents.

Both girls testified they sought therapy to get over the emotional stress.

Testimony resumes this morning before U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo.

Pocono Record

Patriot Ledger Censors Account of Book Banning by Crane Library

We’ve seen the unfortunate hysteria over the Confederate Flag. Behold what seems to be a disturbing similar trend regarding books. One of our readers became involved in a controversy over the fact that a branch of the Thomas Crane Public Library in Quincy, Mass refused to stock a book by the late Dr. Samuel L. Blumenfeld.

The controversy arose when it was discovered that after the book donor’s gift to the library was rejected, the donor discovered that the library had taken part in a “Banned Book Week” event where “freedom to read” was celebrated. A 2014 article about the event was printed in the Quincy Patriot Ledger, as reported by Lane Lambert.

crimes_educators

Here is how it went when a supporter of the book wrote to the library, the newspaper reporter, and also attempted to send a letter to the editor to point this out, and the response from both the library and the newspaper.

It started off with a letter to the reporter about the 2014 article, which was copied to the librarians and the library trustees.


Dear Reporter Lane Lambert, and Deirdre Sullivan, Acquisitions Librarian, main branch Thomas Crane Public Library in Quincy, Mass.

We read with interest Lambert’s 2014 article about “Banned Books Week” at the Crane Library in Quincy.

http://www.patriotledger.com/article/20140919/NEWS/140915767

“It’s not the library’s place to ban books,” Milton teen librarian Amy Rosa said.

We are wondering if Crane will observe “Banned Books Week” again this September 2015? We are sure if they do, you will want to write about how the Crane Library has been in reality, banning books. 

The reason we ask is, they have recently banned, by virtue of rejection, a donated book from the estate of a very well-known and well-respected education author who just passed away. His name is Samuel L. Blumenfeld.

There is no pornography, racism, or otherwise untoward material in Blumenfeld’s book; only the framework for a strong public educational system.

As a teacher of 35 years we and others in our educational community find it highly hypocritical that the Crane library, specifically Deirdre Sullivan their Acquisitions Librarian,  sees it important to keep books such as those complained about by parents, but not an informational text such as Blumenfeld’s, which Sullivan claims “did not meet their criteria”. (Apparently, “Heather Has Two Mommies” is deemed more appropriate).

We could not find contact information for Ms Sullivan, but have copied Ms. Sullivan’s fellow librarians in the hopes they will forward this email to her to let her know that if she is going to ban Sam’s very excellent and informative book, the Crane Library will be exposed as biased as to what books they will keep and not keep. In addition, banning this book means the Crane Library is  misleading the public about their concern for “banned books” especially during “Banned Books Week”.

Next, a letter to the editor of the Patriot Ledger was sent…

To the Editor,

Many of us in the education community were truly astounded when we learned that Deirdre Sullivan, Acquisitions Librarian for the Thomas Crane Public Library in Quincy, recently rejected a book that was being donated from the estate of the late Dr. Samuel L. Blumenfeld (1927-2015).

Considering that Crane joined the national observance with special displays and invitations to celebrate “the freedom to read”  during “Banned Books Week”  in September of 2014, many of us cannot find an explanation for this act of censorship on the part of Ms. Sullivan.

(See “South Shore libraries to observe Banned Books Week” by Lane Lambert, September 19 2014: http://www.patriotledger.com/article/20140919/NEWS/140915767)

Dr. Blumenfeld is an internationally recognized educational  author (10 books) and educator, who has also created beneficial programs for students. His books are instructional as they help teachers to be better teachers. There is nothing controversial in the book that was donated, and then unceremoniously rejected by Ms. Sullivan.

It is hoped that the Ledger will investigate this issue, considering that “Banned Books Week” will be coming up in September of 2015. We will be interested to see if the Crane library still participates, and is truly dedicated to protecting all literature and the “freedom to read”, as they have claimed in the past.

The Editor, Amy MacKinnon, responded…

Thank you for your letter to the editor. I appreciate your input.

What gives you reason to think this was an act of censorship as opposed to a space/needs issue? Did someone at the library specifically say that the work of Samuel L. Blumenfeld is banned at the Crane?

I look forward to your response.

Regards,
Amy MacKinnon

To which the letter writer responded…

Thanks for your quick response.

This was apparently not about a space issue. The letter of rejection, reprinted verbatum below, specifically stated it did not ‘meet’ their ‘selection criteria’. If some of the books mentioned in the 2014 article DO pass, and yet this one does not, I question the library’s standards. If they are not banning books as they claim, and believe in the ‘freedom to read’ there should be no ‘selection criteria’ for a non-fiction book from such a revered author. Blumenfeld’s book is instructional and is helpful to the betterment of education. Is Crane against that too? You would think they would be pleased to accept a book from such a recognized author as he.

Thank you for thinking of the library for your book donation. I am sorry to say that it does not meet our selection criteria. It will be at the circulation desk for you to pick up at your convenience. Thank you.

Deirdre Sullivan
Acquisitions Librarian
Thomas Crane Public Library
40 Washington Street
Quincy, MA 02169

MacKinnon wrote back…

That’s not evidence of a ban or censorship, but is simply a general declination of material. Without such confirmation, I must decline to publish your letter.

Thanks again for being in touch.

Regards,
Amy MacKinnon


And the reply to this?

Wow interesting spin you have there which seems like you are covering for these folks.

How could any library reject a book from an author of such stature?

Are they going to remove “Gone With the Wind” as well?

It makes no sense at all.

And declining to publish my letter is also blatant censorship. Why not let the public know the facts, and then decide if this is hypocrisy or not? Are not LTEs supposed to be opinion pieces? What do you have against my opinion being heard?

You can’t chance that I suppose, because let’s face it, this *is* further censorship, and believe me, most would see it that way.

Not only is the book being banned, but you also do not want anyone to know about it.

Shameful.

That was the end of THAT conversation. Later a response from one of the librarians who had been copied on the letter to the reporter, was received…

 
Thank you for email regarding the recent donation of the book “Crimes of the Educators” by Samuel Blumenfeld and Alex Newman.
 
All gifts of books and other materials for the library’s collection are subject to the same criteria used for purchased materials. For non-fiction works, some of the relevant criteria are accuracy, authoritativeness, literary quality and readability, relative importance in comparison to other works on the subject, and availability of the material at nearby libraries.
 
Based on an examination of the book and the lack of any authoritative critical reviews, our collection development librarian has determined that “Crimes of the Educators” doesn’t meet our selection criteria and will not be added to the collection.
 
We do strive to develop a balanced and objective collection of materials that provides a diversity of perspectives. On the topic of public education, the following recently published titles are available at the Crane library:
 
- The Teacher Wars by Dana Goldstein
- One Nation Under Taught: Solving America’s Science, Technology, Engineering & Math Crisis by Dr. Vince M. Bertram
- The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education by Diane Ravitch
 
Although “Crimes of the Educators” will not be added to our collection, it is available from at least two other Old Colony Library Network libraries, including the Thayer Library in Braintree. Whenever we do not select an item for our local collection, we are always happy to help patrons get what they want either at a nearby library or via interlibrary loan borrowing.
 
Sincerely,
Megan Allen
 

Megan Allen, Director
Thomas Crane Public Library | Quincy MA
mallen@ocln.org | 617-376-1331 | thomascranelibrary.org

Interesting to note that if the book was available at two other branch libraries, why would it be refused at Crane?

A final missive was sent to the reporter, to let him know that the LTE would not be printed…

Dear Reporter Lambert,

Sad to say that your newspaper, the Patriot Ledger, has not only made excuses for the Crane Library’s rejection of the Blumenfeld book, but also refuses to publish the following letter, not allowing the public to decide for themselves whether the library is practicing censorship…

And this leaves us wondering, how anyone could think that “Heather Has Two Mommies” was in any way “accurate, authoritative, possessed literary quality or readability, or had relative importance in comparison to other works on the subject”?

Is THIS what passes for 'good, authoritative literature' these days?

Is THIS what passes for ‘good authoritative literature’ these days?

Addendum: Here is a copy of the library’s ‘bill of rights’.

Thomas Crane Public Library ALA Library Bill of Rights

Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.

Libraries should provide materials and information representing all current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

Libraries should challenge censorship in fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.

Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.

A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background or views.

Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve and should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.

Adopted by Vote of the Library Board of Trustees, 11/13/89

Tribute to Sam Blumenfeld

Millions of people who can read today owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Samuel L. Blumenfeld (shown), America’s foremost apostle of phonics over the past half century, who died on June 1, one day after his 89th birthday. I was privileged to know him, as a friend and colleague, for more than 30 years.

sam.jpg

I first became acquainted with Sam Blumenfeld’s writings in the early 1970s. I was a college student at the time and had switched my course of study from pre-veterinary medicine to psychology and education. The “reading controversy” that had been launched in 1955 with the publication of Dr. Rudolph Flesch’s best-seller, Why Johnny Can’t Read and What You Can Do About It, was back in full swing, following a period of relative quiescence. Sam’s book The New Illiterates (1973) rekindled the debate, exposing the ludicrous basis of the destructive look-say methodology that was mentally crippling millions of children, and forcefully putting forward the case for restoring intensive phonics in the reading programs of our nation’s schools. Having, myself, been taught to read by the phonics method, and being well aware of the devastating (and growing) illiteracy plague, Blumenfeld’s New Illiterates seemed to me to be spot-on. This led me to his other early books, How to Start Your Own Private School (1972) and How to Tutor (1973). These and his many other books, articles (for this magazine and others), audio tapes and CDs, videotapes and DVDs, online videos, radio and television appearances, and global speaking tours have rightfully earned Sam Blumenfeld the respectful sobriquets “godfather of the phonics movement,” “godfather of the homeschool movement,” and “godfather of the private school movement.”

Read more… “R.I.P. Samuel Blumenfeld: Author, Master Educator, Champion of Freedom”
http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/education/item/21006-samuel-blumenfeld-author-master-educator-champion-of-freedom

Sam Blumenfeld

The education research community has lost a great friend and patriot.

Dr. Sam Blumenfeld passed this morning, June 1, 2015 at age 89 in Waltham, Mass. He will be sorely missed.

Sam is pictured here with the many books he authored.

blumenfeld

Agenda 21 In Your Schools

We are posting these links without comment except to say that Agenda 21 critics have been accused of creating a ‘conspiracy theory’. The UN has a vice-grip on your federal government and it greatly influences the educational mandates which come from there.


AGENDA 21 NOW PROJECT OF UNESCO

http://www.agenda21now.org/

WHAT IS AGENDA 21 NOW
http://www.agenda21now.org/index.php?section=project1

AGENDA 21 NOW, NOTES TO EDUCATORS
http://www.agenda21now.org/index.php?section=educators

AGENDA 21 NOW, ASSOCIATED SCHOOLS PROJECT BY UNESCO
http://www.agenda21now.org/index.php?section=agenda21

Inter-Agency Committee (IAC) of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD 2005-2014)
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001880/188061E.pdf

[Cross-posted at Granite State Futures website]

Have the CFR and Federal Reserve Infiltrated Your Schools?

Your child has the right to an education without federal government interference. It’s the law.

We’ve seen how unelected regional boards are partnering with global NGOs to impose their agenda upon our towns and cities.

The same thing has been going on with education for a very long time… teachers are micro-managed and told what and how they can teach, regularly. Academic freedom NO LONGER EXISTS.

In the past we’ve seen how agents of the World Bank have blatantly promoted the UN’s IB program. Here is the propaganda piece that triggered that rebuttal, printed under the Union Leader’s “Local Voices” section. Local? Hardly.

freedom

We have seen social studies training workshops that seek to make teachers into “agents of change for social justice” instead of agents who enable learning.

In addition to the World Bank and the United Nations, are billionaire players like George Soros and Bill Gates who seek political or monetary gains from their involvement in education. Other troublesome groups such as the Council on Foreign Relations and the Federal Reserve have now been allowed to contribute their input as well.

And we know this because after we were first alerted to the activities of the Federal Reserve in this 2012 article from Zero Hedge, in addition to their presence at teacher workshops, we see that the Fed has set up a whole website dedicated to the spreading of propaganda regarding their legality and constitutionality.

The Council on Foreign Relations, also presenting to teachers at recent social studies workshops, announced a summer camp for students in 2012. (What does that remind you of?)

When will parents wake up to the rude fact that globalists and corporate interests, both of these groups as political opportunists, are using all of our children as political mules to spread a philosophical agenda that is antithetical to our constitutional republic?