TFA Not Even Hiding Their Social Justice Warrior Agenda Anymore

Posted on December 1, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

The article embedded in the tweet is titled, Teacher: A student told me I ‘couldn’t understand because I was a white lady.’ Here’s what I did then.

It’s exactly what you think it’s about, but here is a short snippet:

Most of their school life they will be told what to do and how to do it by someone who is white, and most likely female. Except for a few themed weeks, America’s children of color will read books, watch videos, analyze documents and study historical figures who are also not in their image.

I’ve been guilty of that charge. But things changed for me the day when, during a classroom discussion, one of my kids bluntly told me I “couldn’t understand because I was a white lady.” I had to agree with him. I sat there and tried to speak openly about how I could never fully understand and went home and cried, because my children knew about white privilege before I did. The closest I could ever come was empathy.

My curriculum from then on shifted. We still did all of the wonderful things that I had already implemented in the classroom, except now the literature, the documents, the videos, the discussions, the images embodied the issues that my children wanted to explore. We studied the works of Sandra Cisneros, Pam Munoz Ryan and Gary Soto, with the intertwined Spanish language and Latino culture — so fluent and deep in the memories of my kids that I saw light in their eyes I had never seen before. We analyzed Langston Hughes’s “Let America be America Again” from the lens of both historical and current events and realized that the United States is still the land that has never been. The land that my kids, after reading an excerpt from Ta-Nehisi Coates’s letter to his son that connected so deeply to their personal experiences, decided they still wanted to believe in. The land they decided to still hope for. The land that one of my kids quietly said would be changed by her generation. A generation of empathy.

Can you hear her pearl clutching, tear filled voice? Come on, close your eyes and be there with her — DO YOU FEEL HER WHITE PRIVILEGE PAIN?!  Whiteness must be interrupted.

Did you catch the subtext? Not only is she white, she’s a…. SHE. There are too many ‘white she’s’ in schools. Something must be done… or rather undone. Male teachers were systematically pushed out of teaching starting decades ago.

TFA capitol memeReminder: Ferguson and Ferguson supporting protest in other state were organized and led by Teach for America employees.

READ: Teach for America’s Professional Agitators

Former Education Aide to Governor McCrory, Eick Guckian, is a TFA alum and left his post with the McCory administration earlier this year.  Guckian is now heading up TFA’s political arm – Leadership for Educational Equity or LEE, for short.

His wife, Lisa, is also a TFA alum and headed up a TFA branch in North Carolina, is no stranger to social justice and is a big fan of “restorative justice“:

At the rally, Lisa Guckian, a Teach for America alum and public school parent, elaborated on what these alternatives could look like: “Restorative Justice provides an entirely different way of thinking about student misconduct. It’s a supportive approach to students. It assumes those most affected by misconduct actually have a hand in solving the problem. … It could look like peer mediation; it could look like circles for talking through conflicts and processing feelings; it could look like a mentorship program. It could also look like reintegrating students after they’ve been suspended through positive and productive ways.”

Teachers in Los Angeles Unified School District are not a fan of “restorative justice” or how they are being forced to implement it.

This is TFA and NC tax dollars are subsidizing this to the tune of $5.1 million dollars.

Related Reads:

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, Protests, Racial Justice, Social Justice | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

#DM7 Article: Giving Thanks For Two Years At Da Tech Guy Blog

Posted on November 29, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

This is a repost of my final Magnificent 7 article at Da Tech Guy: Giving Thanks For Two Years At Da Tech Guy Blog

By A.P. Dillon

It’s been just over two years since I joined Da Tech Guy’s Magnificent 7 team and I can barely believe how fast the time went. I’ve written an article a week on topic ranging from exposing far left networks to Obamacare and Common Core to key political races.

The time has flown, indeed.

Looking back at my previous Thanksgiving articles from 2013 and 2014, both are just as relevant this year as they were when I wrote them. Perhaps even more so as we watch the Special Snowflake Olympics unfolding in campuses across the nation and an agency within our federal government has gotten into the business of dictating where students can and cannot go pee.

Back in the day and over the course of history in many places, people often sought refuge from the woes of everyday life by going to the movies.  However, even that refuge has been taken away to an increasing degree with celebrities on political soap boxes and films weaving in various politically correct themes instead of actual plot lines.

Social media is littered with half-baked narratives, political leaders trash each other and the public, television has become a modern outlet for newspeak and even our schools are substituting social justice over actual academics at an alarming rate.

Where does one turn to for refuge these days?

The home. That’s where you find it. The home is the first and original refuge.

The home is more than just a refuge, though — it’s where lives are created, fostered and nurtured. The home should be defended, honored and respected. The home is the family. The home and the family are what we all should be giving Thanks for every single year.

The home and family extend beyond our own more often than not. Most of us probably don’t realize that or see it in that light.

Well, I do.

I give thanks for my own home and family, but also for the one I found here at Da Tech Guy. I give thanks to Peter Ingemi for taking a chance on me two years ago and for the collection of people he brought together as his Magnificent 7.  I will always be your Bernardo – wanted for crimes against Liberalism, Peter.

It has been a privilege to be a part of this refuge and I humbly thank everyone who has read or inspired my columns here at Da Tech Guy over the years.

God Bless and be Thankful.

DM7 small LL1885A.P. Dillon resides in the Triangle area of North Carolina and is the founder of LadyLiberty1885.com.
Her current and past writing can also be found at IJ Review, Civitas Institute, StopCommonCoreNC.org, Heartland.org and Watchdog Wire NC.
Catch her on Twitter: @LadyLiberty1885

 

 

 

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885) | Tagged | Comments Off on #DM7 Article: Giving Thanks For Two Years At Da Tech Guy Blog

Yet ANOTHER Clueless Common Core Op-Ed From The Editorial Board – #NCed #StopCommonCore

Posted on November 28, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

The Editorial Board of News and Observer’s sister paper, Charlotte Observer,  has apparently never heard of stopping digging when you’re already in a hole.

Another completely clueless ‘Common Core’ Editorial from the editorial board.

Their latest: The Bittersweet Legacy of The Common Core

Bittersweet?

Faceplam StupidDear lord, stop it. The entire thing has tasted like the wrong end of a skunk from day one.

Seriously — Please, stop. You are all seriously embarrassing yourselves at this point.

Just the story ‘highlights’ are mock-worthy.

“Massachusetts joins more than 15 states that have left the effort”
No. They still have Common Core. They just dropped the PARCC test and replaced it with a rebranded version.

“N.C. should at least rebrand it with equal vigor”
Yes, let’s just rebrand this steaming pile of junk. That will make it alright.

This one had me laughing until I cried:

“The trouble began, of course, when Republicans fooled people into thinking the Common Core was Obamacare for education, when in fact the concept was conceived and developed by state educators.”

Do some research, will ya? Are you all THAT lazy that you can’t use Google?

Exactly ONE educator who had relevant math K-12 classroom experience was in the two groups that were involved with writing the standards.

So far as anyone can tell, there were no teachers with relevant K-12 experience in the ELA group. There was also no one with an early childhood development background. The rest were higher ed policy wonks, testing outfit employees and publishing company people.

Required reading for the N&O and Charlotte Observer boards:

The Common Core Sales Job – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

It IS the Obamacare of Education in that it’s one size fits all as dictated by a single set of standards that were never tested and rolled out in a half-baked fashion to make sure states took the Race To The Top bait.

*This article has been updated

Related Reading:

News and Observer Is Obsessed with Common Core – #ncpol #mediabias

Those 24 Common Core 2009 Work Group Members

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, Media Bias | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

What They’re Saying About Education In NC – 11/27/15 – #NCED

Posted on November 27, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

NCED IconEducation news from around the state of North Carolina and Beyond.

ACTION ITEM: @SpeakerRyan, Two Days To Vet 391 Pages Impacting Millions of Kids?
Related: Call Your Reps: ESEA Reauthorization Needs To Be Seen By Public, Vote Delayed

Highlights: School crime/violence continues in CMS, WCPSS areas, School choice surging, Governor McCrory steps up & joins Amicus Brief and an update on Special Snowflakes on College Campuses.

Reminder: The final  Academic Standards Review Commission meeting is Friday, December 18th.

The commission’s report with recommendations on replacing and changing Common Core is due by midnight, December 31st.

Most Recent meeting: NC Common Core Commission Meeting Highlights – 11/13/15
Related: News and Observer Is Obsessed with Common Core
More: As NC Common Core Commission Wraps Up, DPI Starts 5 YR Annual Review
Also: HUGE: State Of Missouri Loses On Appeal Of Common Core SBAC Assessment Judgement

#1 – ​McCrory Steps Up To Protect North Carolina Schools, Joins Amicus Brief Sans AG Cooper
Related:That Was Fast: @RoyCooperNC will NOT defend NC Children

#2 – Test scores mask disturbing achievement gap
More: Elephant In The Room: Does Common Core Hurt Minority Kids?
Related: Fed Lawsuit: Yes, ACT and College Board Can Sell Your Child’s Data

#3 – New WCPSS Enrollment Numbers: Parents Want Choice
Related: Poll Shows School Choice Increasing In Popularity
Key  Poll Question/ Take-Away:

Please tell me if you agree or disagree with the following statement, “Parents have the right to choose a school for their child that will best meet their child’s educational needs and supports their values.”

87% Total Agree
9% Total Disagree
64% Strongly Agree
23% Somewhat Agree
5% Somewhat Disagree
4% Strongly Disagree
3% Undecided/Don’t Know
1% Refused

#4 – #WCPSS’s Kushner at it again shaming the public.
Cites ridiculously unscientific Wallethub… How embarrassing.
Related: Christine Kushner’s term ending as Wake County school board chair

#5 – ​​Poll examines diversity attitudes in CMS, Wake and 3 other districts 
They could have just asked a Realtor and saved the tax payer nearly half a million:

Mickelson and two other professors – Toby Parcel of N.C. State University and Stephen Smith of Winthrop University – created the poll with a $482,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, a government agency that supports scientific research. The study is designed to help districts formulate “policy that will better support socioeconomic mixing of students, which enhances diversity by promoting educational attainment and upward mobility in society, especially for at-risk students,” the abstract says.

#6 – Charlotte schools refused to provide numbers, details on crime reported on campus
More Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools Violence:

#7 – Teens charged with threatening Chapel Hill High School

#8 – Police investigating video of alleged East Chapel Hill High sex assault on student with special needs

#9 – Wake County installing cameras inside all school buses

#10 – Legislators take aim at teachers’ association leader

#11 – Parents, Do You Know What Goes On In Your Kid’s School?

#12 – Supplement pay blamed, yet had 15th highest in state at $3,785 for 2014-15, Teacher turnover spikes in Johnston

#13 – Money Can’t Buy Teachers’ Love

#14 – GEE, this article isn’t creepy at all.
Especially this part:

The most effective way to address these challenges is throughout a child’s early life, when 85 percent of brain development occurs. As Nobel Laureate Professor James J. Heckman says, “Human capital begins at birth. The foundation for school, career and life success is largely determined through the development of cognitive and character skills beginning in children’s earliest years.”

#15 – We Track Teacher Turnover, Perhaps We Should Track DPI Turnover Too. 

Special Snowflakes Updates

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), NC Ed Updates, Pat McCrory | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on What They’re Saying About Education In NC – 11/27/15 – #NCED

“The Demands” To Liberal, Elite, Expensive Duke University – #Snowflakes

Posted on November 27, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

What does a full year, including room, board and books cost at Duke?

According to their website, it’s $67, 654:

2015-2016 Estimated Cost of Attendance (Student Budget)
Tuition & Fees
$49,498
Room
$8,006
Board
$6,684
Books, Supplies, & Personal Expenses**
$3,466
Transportation
dependent upon home address
Estimated Cost of Attendance*
$67,654
Fifty-five percent of students at Duke do not pay the full cost. To find out more about what your cost to attend Duke might be, click the green button on the right.

Note the text at the bottom there. Only 45% pay full cost. In 2014, there were 6,471 undergraduate students at Duke.

I was curious, so I checked out their ‘price calculator‘. Even entering the site as a guest, the calculator wanted an inordinate amount of personally identifiable data from you such as your birth year, zip code, parents birth year, how much they made last year, are your parents married and more.

No surprise to some, the calculator is appear to be administered and/or created by  The College Board. The same College Board that can sell your kid’s data to third parties.

Snowflake so specialSo, why am I asking about how much it costs to go to Duke? Because, just like on other campuses, Snowflakes are falling at Duke too.

Via the website,”TheDemands.org“, the Duke University Demands are listed at the end of this article.

Fun fact: TheDemands.org is privately registered, yet epic dunderhead and tax payer subsidized agitator Deray McKesson announced the launch of it on Twitter and linked it’s formation to Ferguson.

Here’s McKesson’s tweet:

Just going by the ridiculous laundry list of demands alone, these protests tantrums are little more than a resurgence of Occupy. There will be no further commentary from me on these demands other than to say how ironic it is that a liberal, elite and expensive campus like Duke is such a hotbed of racism.

Now, read the list of “demands” being made to Duke and tolerate their intolerance.

By Black Voices:

1.      Bias Report Policy and University Standard

A.   Make the reporting of discriminatory events easier by mandating that the Task Force on Bias and Hate Issues revise the Bias Report Policy.

1.      The Bias Report Policy will apply to all individuals regardless of race, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, class, and other protected  identities.

B.   Establish mandatory learning on institutional racism and anti-oppression practices for both students and faculty.

i.   Implement DSG’s suggestions on incorporating mandatory bias, institutional racism, and anti-oppression topics into the first year curriculum. The content of the classes should not only include ideals of diversity and cultural competency, but the historical and current implications of institutional racism.

C.    All members of the lnterfraternity Council and Panhellenic Council on Duke’s campus must engage in additional bias and diversity training as a part of university policy.

D.    All professors, Student Affairs faculty, and DUPD must participate in cultural competency and implicit bias training overseen by the Task Force on Bias and Hate  Issues.

E.     Members of the university that are reported to have worn culturally insensitive costumes or attend/host culturally insensitive parties will report to student conduct for bias/harassment infractions.

2.     Protocol for Hate Speech and Racial Incidents

A.  Establish a clear university policy responding to students perpetuating discriminatory hate speech and racial harassment toward students of color.

i. “Hate speech is speech that offends, threatens, or insults groups, based on race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, gender expression, disability, or other traits.”

B.  Steps taken during the investigations of students accused of hate speech or actions will be conducted in the most transparent manner legally possible. Repercussions will be explicitly outlined in the Duke Community Standards handbook.

C.  Professors, staff members, and non-academic employees will be in danger of losing their jobs, and non-tenure track faculty will lose tenure status if they perpetuate hate speech that threatens the safety of students of color. They will also be liable if the discriminatory attitudes behind the speech could potentially harm the academic achievements of students of color.

D.   Establish a detailed and comprehensive annual report of hate speech incidents on campus.

3.      Increased Diversity in High-Ranking Faculty and Administration

A.   Increase the amount of women, Black, Asian, Latino/a, Native American and Queer people of color serving as faculty.

B.   Attain representation of women and professors of color in regular ranked and tenured faculty positions equal to their representation in the student population by 2020.

 4.      Cultural Climate Consultations

A.  Hire a third party consultant to run a climate assessment of Duke University every year for the next I O years.

B.  A consultant must be contracted from an external company and the findings of the climate assessment must be published and made accessible to the general public.

5.     Increased Socioeconomic Diversity

A.   Federal, state, and university loans will be eliminated from financial aid packages and must be replaced with grants.

B.   Students of families who earn under $75,000 will not have to pay for tuition, room, or board.

C.   Reporting SAT/ACT scores on admissions applications must be optional.

D.   By meeting these demands, the Duke community will benefit from allowing more students of color and more students from lower and middle socioeconomic backgrounds to access this university. The campus climate would be more inviting to students of color if the student body was not made up of a majority of students who come from upper-class, homogenous communities

6.     Greater Emphasis on Mental Health

A.   CAPS mental health professionals will be representative of cultural and racial diversity on campus.

B.   STINF forms will include mental health trauma and debilitating conditions in the list of “incapacitations ” allowing excused absence from class, especially those arising from racial incidents on campus.

7.     Representation of Distinguished Black Individuals on Buildings and Monuments on Campus

A.  Name the new West Union “Abele Union” after West Campus architect Julian Abele.

B.  Erect a statue in honor of Julian Abele

8.     An administrative position with the sole purpose of addressing institutional inequities and working with students of color to improve their experiences on campus

A.    Oversee the inclusion of Black, Latino/a, Asian and Native American students in the formation and leadership of the Task Force on Bias and Hate Issues.

B.    Avoid shortcomings of the President’s Council on Black Affairs (PCOBA) by holding administration responsible for addressing student demands.

9.     Living Wages and Rights for Staff and Adjunct Faculty

A.  Commit in writing to an immediate end to the union busting activities meant to intimidate non­ tenure-track faculty organizing a union, including but not limited to captive audience meetings, the maintenance of the “One-to-One” website, and emails meant to misinform and discourage organizing faculty.

B.  Mandate or create a new policy that allows faculty and staff to freely criticize Duke’s institution without fear of losing their jobs.

C.  Duke University will cease to engage in business with companies and contractors who do not meet North Carolina Department of Labor standards. Based on the known grievances of construction workers working illegally long hours without adequate breaks, conduct a thorough investigation of Duke’s contracted companies.

10.  Further Communication in Regard to These Demands

A.  By5:00 PM on Tuesday, November 24th, 2015 an email will be released to faculty and students. Attached to the email will be the statement provided by the authors of these demands, signed by President Richard Brodhead, Provost Sally Kornbluth, and Dean Valerie Ashby.

B.  By Sunday, December 6th, Dean Valerie Ashby, Dean Stephen Nowicki, Vice President of Student Affairs Laurence Moneta, and the co­ chairs of the Task Force on Bias and Hate Issues will meet with representatives from the group of authors in order to hear them explain the intentions and research by which the demands are supported, discuss how the demands will be implemented , and negotiate a timeline by which the demands will be met.

C.  Starting in January of Spring 2016, send monthly emails to the student body and faculty outlining progress on fulfilling these demands in order to increase transparency between those who make decisions within Duke University and those who are affected by the decisions made.

Posted in Higher Ed | 1 Comment

We Track Teacher Turnover, Perhaps We Should Track DPI Turnover Too. – #NCed

Posted on November 24, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Administrative bloat in K-12 systems across the nation has been incredible.  Federal grants have created positions within K-12 systems that have often resulted in staff being shifted or absorbed by various departments of public education in the states.

This staffing bloat then becomes a burden on state education budgets. Such is the case with North Carolina.

Case in point, the Race To The Top grant.

The Race To The Top grant was due to expire this past September.  North Carolina was granted an expansion in order to complete the work and finish using the funds.

DPI hired 144 people to work on Race To The Top items.

Question: Where are they now?

Answer: DPI has absorbed them or wants to.

Tracking down all 144 is a big task, but one of them was easy to find:

Last Name LEVINSON
First Name ADAM FREDERIC
Agency PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
Age 45
Salary $128,512
Last salary change $1,000
Job Title DPI CHIEF PERFORMANCE OFFICER
Last Salary Change Date 7/1/2014
Last Salary Change Reason LEGISLATIVE INCREASE
Last Action TRANSFER-LATERAL
Last action date 8/15/2015
State Govt. start date 4/30/2007
Agency hire date 4/30/2007
Status FT PERMANENT

Levinson was/is the Director of the Race To The Top grant program for North Carolina. Recently, Levinson was named DPI’s interim director of the state’s charter school office.

From what I gathered talking to a few of my sources, Levinson’s predecessor, Joel Medley, was making around $90k for the position.

From what I’ve heard, they already placed an advertisement for the position and received resumes, but no one has looked at them yet. I also hear that there will be a re-advertisement for the position. What’s the hold up?

With Race To The Top coming to a close, Levinson needed a place to land and thus we now have someone making $128k in that same role. Yet DPI is facing a departmental budget cut. Do the math, folks.

Fun fact: There are currently 1,143 employees under DPI. Of that total number of employees, 534 make $60k and up. Of that 534 making $60k and up there are 41 making over $100k.

You can look this up yourself or email me (TheLL1885@gmail.com) for a copy of the state salary database with DPI broken out.

We track turnover for teachers. Perhaps the legislature should also be tracking turnover, or rather, lack thereof, within DPI.

Useful Links:

NC State Employees Salary Database

 

 

Posted in EDUCATION, NC DPI | Tagged , | 2 Comments