The First Rule About WCPSS Fight Club Is….

Posted on October 17, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Video showing a male student knocking out another on Apex High School’s campus is taking off on Twitter, less than 24 hours after the fight happened.

The video posted to Twitter lasts only 20 seconds. In it, a large crowd of students can be seen circled around the two young men who are throwing punches at each other on the sidewalk, outside a modular unit. The video ends with one of the students knocked out, face down on the sidewalk. Other students can be seen stepping in to help him up. – ABC 11

Just what fresh Hell is this?? It’s like we’ve got a version of Fight Club going on right here in Wake County Public Schools.

What’s the first rule of Fight Club? YOU DON’T TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB.

Check out the shoulder shrugging version of not talking about Fight Club from officials:

Wake County school administrators were nonplussed by a video circulating on Facebook of two students involved in a fight at Apex High School earlier this week.

School district spokeswoman Lisa Luten said that fights at school and bystanders recording them on their mobile phones are not uncommon, and that a fight doesn’t necessarily lead to suspension or expulsion for the students involved.

“Removing that child from the classroom is not the answer to the problem,” she said. – WRAL

Zero Tolerance CatThis has to be said:  Where is your Zero Tolerance God now, WCPSS??

Uh, yes, removing the kid  is exactly the answer. I notice that Ms. Luten’s quote didn’t give what the answer actually is.

I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt that WRAL didn’t publish her full comment there, because that just can’t be WCPSS policy to let them just stay in the class after brawling.

Apex High sophomore Taylor Griffin said fights happen about once a month. Since the beginning of the school year Raleigh Police have responded to 209 fight calls at the city’s eight high schools.

“It was a little scary, but it’s almost become a normal thing,” she said. – WRAL

209 fight calls to Raleigh police in the first few months of school?? Folks, for perspective, we’re roughly 13 weeks into the traditional calendar school year.

Question for the media: How many more calls went to the Wake Sheriff or surrounding suburb sheriffs?

It’s almost become a “normal thing”.  Gooooood night!!

So, who runs barter town, WCPSS?

UPDATE: The account, “@30SecFights” has not removed the tweet with the fight video from Apex High. Scrolling through the replies to the tweet is rather depressing, if not disgusting.  When this update was posted, 5,747 people had retweeted the tweet and 5,545 had favorited it.

Posted in EDUCATION, Wake County School Board | Tagged | 5 Comments

What They’re Saying About Education In NC – (10/16/15) #NCED

Posted on October 16, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

NCED IconSome quick hits in education news from around the state of North Carolina… and Beyond.

#1 – June Atkinson Will Run For Re-Election
Atkinson is running again to maintain her reign as the longest-serving state educrat in the country.

What’s that phrase about politicians and diapers? They stink for the same reason and should be changed often?  Yeah.

From the WNCN article:

“When I was first elected state superintendent, the graduation rate in our state was just 68 percent, but it has increased to an all-time high of 86 percent over the past 10 years,” said Atkinson. “I’m proud of the tremendous progress that we’ve made, but there is still work to do.

Really? No mention of how the graduation requirements have been watered down under her tenure?
No questioning of this graduation rate in relation to the UNC Paper Class scandal? A scandal where students were found to be reading around a 5th grade level and that happened under her looooong tenure?

Nope. No such questions from our lazy drive-by media.

I say: Bring it.

The moms fed up with Common Core are ready.
Here’s a taste of what’s to come:

#2 – NC Enters Year 4 of Common Core and Reading Retention for 3rd Graders Increases Statewide

#3 – More Teacher Turnover Report Drama using Common Core math?
Related:

#4 – Common Core Aligned: “The Battle Over Gun Control”
Related: ‘Interrupting Whiteness’: National Education Conference to Blame White Teachers and Students for School Woes

#5 – Comments on Superintendent Ann Clark could lead to CMS board confrontation 
Related: Earlier story from September on CMS/Clark pushback; includes Colette Forest.
#6 – Best schools in NC
Of note from the article, 18 from NC rated Gold, Just over a 1/4 of which are charters.

#7 – National Groups Unite In Letter Opposing ESEA Reauthorization

#8 – REPORTS: FORMER BUSH ED. SEC. SPELLINGS IS NO. 1 UNC PRESIDENT CANDIDATE (via Carolina Plotthound)

NOT A HOMESCHOOL UDPATES 
(Courtesy of Carolina Plotthound)

 

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, June Atkinson, NC Ed Updates, Video | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Heartland Article: ‘Regressive’ Cigarette Tax Hike Proposed by California Lawmakers

Posted on October 15, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

This article first appeared at Heartland.org on October 13th.

‘Regressive’ Cigarette Tax Hike Proposed by California Lawmakers

Lawmakers in California are proposing increasing the sin tax on cigarettes by $2 per pack to fund proposed increases in entitlement spending.

The proposed tax hike would also affect sales of e-cigarettes. Lawmakers project the tax hike will bring in $1.5 billion in additional revenue.

Michael LaFaive, director of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, says the tax hike may reduce cigarette sales in the state, but not for the reasons lawmakers think.

‘Evasion and Avoidance’

“There is no question in my mind that legal sales will drop,” LaFaive said. “So the question is, by what degree will it drop as a result of people quitting, which is a positive, and [by] what percent will it drop because of illicit activities: the evasion and avoidance?

“From what we’ve seen earlier, … up to 85 percent of the change in legal paid sales after an excise tax increase [is] the result of tax avoidance and not of quitting,” LaFaive said.

All Downside

William Shughart II, a research director at the Independent Institute, says the tax hike is bad news for California taxpayers.

“The type of revenue that is raised will be raised on the backs of the lowest-income households in California,” Shughart said. “It’s worth emphasizing that in this particular case the typical taxpayer is going to be from a low-income household.”

Politics, Not Public Health

Shughart says sin tax revenues are often used for purposes other than promoting public health.

“[People] might think, falsely, that money is going to be used for a good purpose,” Shughart said. “But it turns out that all these taxes and kinds of excise taxes on cigarettes and lots of earmarked tax revenues, just like the highway trust fund, … public politicians raid them all the time. Because they won’t want to spend the money on something else, so they pull the money out of trust funds, put in a bond or take a federal bond, and then transfer the money to something that buys them more votes than the original purpose for which the tax was created.”

Andrea Dillon (thell1885@gmail.com) writes from Holly Springs, North Carolina.

Internet Info:

Jerry G. Thursby and Marie C. Thursby,  “Interstate Cigarette Bootlegging: Extent, Revenue Losses, and Effects of Government Intervention,” National Bureau of Economic Research:https://www.heartland.org/policy-documents/interstate-cigarette-bootlegging-extent-revenue-losses-and-effects-government-inter/

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885) | Comments Off on Heartland Article: ‘Regressive’ Cigarette Tax Hike Proposed by California Lawmakers

Teacher Turnover For the Math Challenged

Posted on October 15, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Folks seem to be doing a lot of Common Core math on Twitter lately. Even when one corrects that math, the fact remains that teachers leaving the state are a fraction of the turnover report and an even smaller fraction of the teaching population overall.

For example:

2013-14’s report listed 96,010 total teachers.  
734 left the state, which works out to 0.76% of that 96,010.  
Of the 13,557 teacher applicable to the turnover report, that 734 equates to 5.41% of the report’s total, which was 14.12%.

Turnover can vary widely, but some North Carolina districts and LEA’s seem to have sustained levels over long periods of time.  Turnover is also cyclical, not just in North Carolina but in all states.  Retirement requirements/age and economy factors often play a large role.

The DPI Turnover report does not include incoming teachers for comparison.

The data in the chart below does and covers 2009-2015.

The comparisons are between the number of teachers self-reporting that they left the state to teach elsewhere versus the number of licenses issued to out of state teachers. Data for 2014-15 was not available but I am attempting to procure it.

For the math challenged, the chart shows how many teachers left NC and how many came to NC.

What you see in the last column is the difference between the two. Every year on that list, North Carolina imported more than we exported. Period.

Year Left for Diff State Licenses Issued /Out of State Teachers Actual Teacher Gain/Loss
2014-15 1028 TBD TBD
2013-14 734 1,985 1,251
2012-13 455 2,177 1,722
2011-12 341 1,783 1,442
2010-11 312 1,375 1,063
2009-10 352 1,180 828

Now, since flashing pretty charts seems to mean that one ‘knows what one is talking about’ on Twitter, here are some of my own:

 

I have all the statistical figures from the DPI Turnover reports going back 17 years.
Anyone who wants to look at them, feel free to email me: TheLL1885@gmail.com

Related Reading:

Posted in EDUCATION, NC DPI | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Progress NC Comms Director Takes NC Education False Narratives To HuffPo

Posted on October 14, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

One has to laugh at the lengths at which Progress NC will go to in order promulgate their false education narratives.

Latest example, Logan Smith’s first article at Huffington Post.  Smith is the Communications Director for Progress NC…among other things, none of which is having an iota of experience or knowledge in the realm of education.

There are so many holes in his poorly researched and sourced article, it’s hard to know where to start, but I’ll try.

One might ask after reading it, ‘Did I stumble into VOX by accident?‘.

The title itself is wrong. There is no ‘mass exodus’. In fact, North Carolina is importing more teachers than exporting and Dr. Terry Stoops has the numbers to prove that:

Between 2010 and 2014, 8,500 out-of-state teachers received North Carolina teaching licenses (via interstate reciprocity agreements) and were employed as classroom teachers the following school year. During the same period, around 2,200 teachers abandoned North Carolina to teach in other states. It is not known how many teachers eventually made their way back to the state, but the phenomenon is not unheard of.

Moreover, despite a slight dip in 2014, the number of licenses granted to out-of-state teachers has been on the rise in recent years. Overall, there was a 68 percent increase in the number of out-of-state licenses granted between 2010 and 2014.

The turnover rate Smith cites includes teachers who stayed in the state to teach at another school or retired with full benefits. Adjusting for 28 possible factors, the true turnover was 6.8% — well below the national average.

NC’s figures also show that only 1,028 left the state to teach elsewhere, out of the 14,255 in the turnover report. Some perspective: there are over 95,000 teachers in the state.

WalletHub’s numbers are not accurate and their methodology, to be kind, is vague.  They won’t publish their formulas and based on what data they did send me, their math doesn’t add up. At all.

In case you missed it, the Lt. Governor of North Carolina put out a video that tells the true story. The key take-aways from the video are:

  • The true turnover rate is not 14.8%, but 6.8%.
  • Of that media reported 14.8%, 4.7% “left” to teach in another North Carolina school.
  • 2.3% retired with full benefits, meaning they were of age or had enough time in the system to do so.
  • 1% did not have contracts renewed.
  • Only 1,028 teachers actually left to teach in other states. That’s out of over 96,000 teachers, or around 1%.
  • The video cites the NEA’s own statistics, which says that North Carolina is far below the average national teacher turnover rate.
  • The Lt. Governor also addresses the narrative that teachers are leaving for Texas. Teachers in the state of Texas are leaving at a rate of 19%.

Narrative keanuBut none of this matters to Progress NC. They concern themselves more with hyperbolic and politically driven narratives than with facts.

Next time you see one of their mouthpieces like Mr. Smith, ask yourself — what solutions have they offered? Expect crickets.

Related Reading:

 

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), BlueprintNC, EDUCATION | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Walter Jones Runs With The Rumors – #ncpol

Posted on October 13, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

The media has been having a lot of fun with an old, unproven rumor that Rep. Renee Ellmers and Rep. Kevin McCarthy have been carrying on an extra-marital affair.

What’s unfortunate to see is another North Carolina Republican jumping on the rumor bandwagon.

Rep. Walter B. Jones acknowledged to CQ Roll Call Friday that he wrote a letter asking leaders to attest they had not committed any embarrassing misdeeds in part because he had seen rumors published of an affair between fellow North Carolina Rep. Renee Ellmers and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California.

On Thursday, McCarthy denied Jones’ letter had an impact on his decision to abruptly quit the race for speaker, and Ellmers released a statement Friday addressing what she called “completely false accusations and innuendo” and praying for those who bear false witness.

Jones said he hopes his letter didn’t effect McCarthy’s decision.

“I hope it didn’t, I really do,” he said.

But while he has mostly been cagey about what exactly prompted him to write it, when asked by CQ Roll Call, he said Friday that the rumors played a role.

“Yep — and what I have seen in the past. That was part of it. … It was a combination of different things that have happened over the years and this was one of them. … I had a sense that the conference should ask each one running for majority leader, for whip and speaker, ‘Is there anything that you’ve got in your closet that could be embarrassing.’” Source: Roll Call

The Opie-esque shoulder shrug from Jones about hoping his letter didn’t affect McCarthy’s decision was icing on what I surmise to be little more than a rather nasty speakership ground game tactic.

Roll Call doesn’t follow-up by asking  there anything in Jones’ 20 year-long political closet that might be embarrassing? Like being a Democrat when he served on the state legislature? Or maybe something else?

Jones has been known to have a  target on his back, courtesy of John Boehner. Local New Media, The Daily Haymaker, has extensive reporting on Jones. Take a moment to browse.

Heritage Action gave Jones a decently high Conservative rating score, but I’d like to highlight a contradictory area of Jones’ actions that people might not be aware of: The Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act (LARA) of 2015.

What LARA does, in short, is place monetary sanctions on lawyers who file frivolous lawsuits. Cutting down the number of ambulance chaser and nuisance suits? Sounds like a no-brainer ‘yes’ vote, right?

Wrong. Jones voted against  LARA. There were only 4 other Republicans who did so, but 180 Democrats joined Jones in voting against. The House passed it anyway.

A big opponent of the bill was the American Association for Justice. Other legal outfits like the American Bar Association, joined in.

According to the FEC as of this past September, guess where around 9% (over 65k)  of Jones’s donations came from?  Individual donors and PACS from the legal community.

Lawyers/Law Firms are the 3rd largest group contributor so far in the 2015-16 cycle.

2016: Jones received $2,000 from  American Association For Justice

2014: Jones received $15,000 from American Association For Justice and 45,000 from Legal PACS. The Ward & Smith PA Political Action Committee was the biggest donor, with  $25,000.

Top Recipients of American Association For Justice cash in 2014 were:
Senate Majority PAC
House Majority PAC
The AFL-CIO
American Bridge 21st Century
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

Related Reading:

 

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), ELECTIONS, Media Bias, POLITICS NC | Tagged | 1 Comment