Truth In Education…former school board member speaks out

free speech zone

Truth in Education

Written by: A former Knox County, Ohio School Board Member

Before I became a school board member I was fairly ignorant of how our educational system worked. I thought everyone in the system had the student’s interests as their main priority. At a town hall I was asked what I thought a good salary was for a teacher. Having come from a work history in my early life where I belonged to unions, I asked what would be a good hourly rate of pay. This means; taking the salary divided by how many hours are worked.

Let’s look at the formula for converting a salary into an hourly rate of pay. The average 40 hour work week comes to 2,000 hours a year plus 80 hours vacation. If I make $50,000 per year divided by 2,080, assuming I get two weeks payed vacation, I get $24.03 per hour. ($50,000 / 2,080)

The state requirement for a teacher to be in the class room is 1,100 hour per year, home school teachers are held to the same standard. Let me make it clear that teachers are government workers; they are paid by the tax payers. In many areas the educational system is the largest employer. And ~70% of property tax goes to the schools.

Let’s go back to the hourly rate of pay for a teacher. Using the above example if a teacher makes $50,000 per year they are making $45.50 per hour ($50,000 / 1,100). Add to this the cost of health care and other perks and it now becomes a very good wage for time worked. I can just see teachers reading this with heads exploding because they stay up all hours of the night grading papers. Let me say that many schools are using I-pads and other computing devices to test students, no need to grade papers any more except maybe an English teacher who has to review subjective material such as essays and book reports.

If you want to know how much the teachers in your district make go to http://treasurer.ohio.gov/Teacher_Salary/-any-/-any-/-any-/-any-/-any-/-any-/-any-

Teachers don’t just get salary pay. They also get “step” raises. This is an automatic raise outside the base salary written into the contract that has a step up in pay every year until the contract is renegotiated.

Administrators can also get pickups. This is the practice of having the tax payers pay the
administrator’s share of his/her Medicare tax, social security tax, retirement, etc. It increases the take home pay by reducing the deductions from the pay check, thereby giving the administrator a tax deductible raise. The public is rarely aware of this perk.

They can also get a raise by getting a master’s degree. This is also a contract item that the school board has no control over. This master’s program has an interesting history. Some years back the state of Ohio made it mandatory that a teacher had to get a master’s degree within 3 years of starting teaching. After some years a study was done and it was determined that having a master’s degree actually made a teacher less effective in the class room. Because of this study the mandatory master’s program was dropped. However many teachers unions still have this clause in their contracts. Yet the teachers’ union is constantly asking for more money and smaller class sizes. Smaller class size equates to more teachers thereby more money being paid by the taxpayers to the unions in the form of increased union dues.

And who do the unions support with donations? The Democratic Party!

Another deceptive practice foisted on the public is the constant message that our children are getting an education at a school that is “excellent”. In the school district that I live in we are always hearing about the excellent job the system is doing educating our kids. This does not agree with the grade the state gives our district which has been a “D” for years. We usually hear about the wonderful job the district is doing when they have a tax levy on the ballot. If you want to know how your district is doing go to https://reportcard.education.ohio.gov/

Since I’ve been retired I’ve been driving Amish to work and students and teachers to school. One day while driving an Amish contractor, we were talking about the public schools compared to the Amish schools. The Amish only go to the 8th grade and then they go to work. Their education must be adequate because they are all employed and function in the English (non-Amish) community with ease.

I looked at a math book while waiting to take a teacher home and noticed the book was copyrighted in 1934. Math doesn’t change, just the way we teach it. One day the contractor asked me “What do you have to know to teach the sixth grade?” After giving him the public school answer of college degrees and teaching certificates, He said to me “ No, graduate from the sixth grade”. After stunned silence I had to agree. It works well for them. Their teachers are taken from the community and also only go to the 8th grade. The school board is made up of elected fathers of the school children. By the way Amish teachers don’t make as much as a person working at McDonalds.

This model works well in the home schooling community as well. Many home school moms don’t have college degrees or teaching certificates, yet their results typically surpass that of the public schools. Home schoolers usually do well on SAT and ACT tests.
Over all our public schools have been falling behind other countries for the last 4 or 5 decades.

In the 1960’s, the United States was in first place in the world in math, science and engineering. Since then we have dropped to 27th, behind some third world countries. Yet the education system seems uninterested in resolving the problem and more interested in changing the rules to cover up past failures.

I came across this quote from David Perkins, Harvard educational researcher.
If we used this method in our schools we would revolutionize education in this country.

“Thinking does not come after Knowledge is learned. Knowledge comes on the coat tails of Thinking. Therefore, instead of knowledge based education, we need thinking centered schools. This is not a luxury, no Utopian vision of sophisticated and elitist education. These are hard facts about how learning works”.

If we are never taught how to think we will never learn to reason. We will never question what we are told in our schools. Sound familiar? Which model do we use teaching to the test?  No wonder our graduates can’t understand why socialism has never worked, and capitalism has.

Another issue is who has the most influence on our children? Studies show that the average child spends less than 20 minutes of conversation face to face with a parent per day. They have at least 6 hours sitting under teachers in the school system. Who is shaping our children’s world view? It used to be that children were taught reading, writing and arithmetic. They are now being indoctrinated with social engineering, political correctness and gender confusion.

It’s obvious that our educational system is failing our students. This can be seen in colleges that are now 5 years instead of 4. The extra time is needed to provide remedial education to qualify for entrance.

So what can an individual do to change this failing system? Understand that the quality of your child’s education is not dependent on how much pay the teachers receive. We now spend more money per pupil than any other country in the world and we keep falling farther behind.

Hold your school board responsible for your school’s performance. The school board has two constituent groups: the students and the tax payers. The teachers and administrators are employees of the school board, no more and no less. The Ohio School Board Association (OSBA) is an organization that purports to guide board members in the performance of their duties. They instead tell board members to let the administrators and teachers run the school and not to ask too many questions. They call asking too many questions “Micro Managing” the school system.How is a board member supposed to know what’s going on in the schools if they aren’t intimately aware of the intricacies of the system?

Let me say here that I am opposed to standardized tests. This process has some built in flaws. First, why do we have to compare all schools to each other? If we want to have students learning the same subjects then have a common curriculum and teach it. When we were first in the world we were tested on how well we knew the curriculum, not how well we compared with other schools. The standard was, learn the curriculum, not test to the standards.

Secondly, standards can be lowered to make the system look better than it is. I suspect this has been going on for some time. It would explain how kids graduate every year but over time learn less. Then there is the issue of what is a passing score. The California achievement test has a pass threshold of 20%. If you pass it doesn’t mean you have a good grasp of the curriculum.

So why do we hang our educational hat on standardized testing instead of testing to the curriculum? We have built an industry around our public education system that needs constant feeding from the tax payers.

Last but not least; promote competition in education. Monopolies get lazy and indifferent. They tend to be go-along to get along and focus on their pay. Encourage charter schools that are held accountable to performance. Encourage home schooling. The Public School System says that when children do well, it’s because of the System’s proficiency, and when the kids don’t do well it’s because of the child’s bad home life.

Promote a system of teacher accountability. There are good teachers and not so good teachers. Learn the difference and pressure the administration to replace the bad ones.
When they say “it’s all about the kids”, look on it with a jaundiced eye. It’s usually about the adults in the system and their pay.

(LFC Comments: We have edited the items in bold type to emphasize the importance of the thought.) 



Categories: Free Speech Zone, Uncategorized

Tags: ,

32 replies

  1. 126951 601610I agree completely with what you said. Great Stuff. Maintain it going.. 477978

  2. portrait on behalf of sheevlweeble

    authored only a couple of years younger in comparison to OP, and i will only recently been investigating my very own sexual intimacies likes inside of a neo heteronormative manner in which. once i was a kid, it has been gay=bad, and moreover numerous dreams regarding excavation that have been around 100% hetero were totally actively covered up. barely offered within the last decade and maybe, with regards to wasn looked into “strange” or maybe “harmful” In the typical zeitgeist expressing reduce hetero bedroom name and expertise, i could grab hold of that an area of other people. romantic relationship. no longer at the particular to the place where I decent to state which usually section on my own to our neighbors, fortunately my buddies have any idea.I visualise it a fairly the equivalent situation up to even if character. whether or not this as a rule a lot more great to speak about when in a fashion that isn 100% binary, since some people with always assumed by doing this wouldn make an effort to control that, and also express themselves the way they constantly experience.So if a arguement isn in order to staying baffled, Is it perhaps astroturfing? You is charmlive legite modified your good principal annotate to include that, So i assume which in turn everything you raving about.So do you got any existing definite proof astroturfing? that is to say, this in turn isn a genuine minute longer file about a native designer portrait skate boards, yet,yet somehow a dedicated offer interpreted as to manufacture appear like it an absolute minute quite doctor a few cool chap?explanation i do think you kinda crazi is that you started in proper here basically buzzing girls suckers due to the fact inspiration this amazing file of a working man which usually offers skateboards is first rate and many people support his work. you will implying also there particular deceptiveness coming about here, you can provide a evidence of the case, or you do could have regarding one of a kind statement. I looking for a way see all that your family outlook has arrived aside from at the moment important angry during less motive.

  3. Find Love Posts composed

    each and every step About Unrequited chineseladydate Love

    Unrequited love or one sided love is love that isn’t openly reciprocated or understood as such by the beloved. This piece of content will aid you to overcome on Unrequited love and reduce your pain in Love.

    Love is important part of human life. So the different, You know what is love all about? How it plays an important role in our relationship, Is love is identical for us or different. Write your love name on beautiful designed happy birthday cake for lover online send them these free birthday cake with name to surprise your love on that unique day. This is destined since few instance of androgynous existence previously noted. the wedding is mentioned in Hindu scriptures and in other religious scriptures as well. Discover the strange phenomenon of destined and true love amongst generally already in a wedlock. It the purest and pleasurable feel nowadays. There not even a single individual who has not fallen in love. every alternate craves for it. Every other is attracted to the opposite sex. you can also recite your and see the depth those words hold. Just read this review and we hope you will get some real tips for ex back. the feelings can leave us avid to show what is in our heart and communicate our feelings to our beloved. Find the most special True Love Quotes and Romantic Love Sayings to share with your beloved ones, close friends, gf, Spouse and that special someone you love so much. Love is something you are. It is possible that you can utilize some individual as a backing to make yourself loving or you can just get to be cherishing. Choosing out motivational huge collection of of Tyre Love Quotes and love sayings. By Sending Love Quotes its simple way to show just how love and care them.

  4. Greetings, I believe your site might be having browser compatibility issues. Whenever I look at your blog in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in I.E., it’s got some overlapping issues. I merely wanted to provide you with a quick heads up! Besides that, great website!

  5. Hi! I simply would like to give you a huge thumbs up for the excellent info you have here on this post. I am coming back to your website for more soon.

  6. May I simply say what a comfort to discover someone who truly understands what they are talking about online. You actually understand how to bring a problem to light and make it important. More people must look at this and understand this side of the story. I was surprised you’re not more popular since you surely have the gift.

  7. Hey there! Do you know if they make any plugins to safeguard against hackers? I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any recommendations?

  8. Howdy would you mind letting me know which hosting company you’re utilizing? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different internet browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you suggest a good hosting provider at a reasonable price? Cheers, I appreciate it!

  9. I really wanted to compose a note in order to appreciate you for all the wonderful recommendations you are sharing at this site. My rather long internet look up has now been rewarded with reputable points to share with my pals. I ‘d say that most of us site visitors are quite lucky to be in a great community with many perfect people with interesting tips and hints. I feel extremely happy to have used the weblog and look forward to many more amazing times reading here. Thank you once more for a lot of things.

  10. I blog often and I genuinely appreciate your information. This great article has truly peaked my interest. I will take a note of your blog and keep checking for new information about once a week. I opted in for your Feed too.

  11. Everything is very open with a really clear description of the challenges. It was truly informative. Your site is useful. Thanks for sharing!

  12. 847076 891787I tried to submit a comment earlier, although it has not shown up. I will remember this. 779600

  13. This website really has all the information and facts I wanted about this subject and didn’t know who to ask.

  14. It’s difficult to find educated people about this subject, however, you seem like you know what you’re talking about! Thanks

  15. Thanks for your short article. I would also like to say that the health insurance dealer also works best for the benefit of the coordinators of any group insurance plan. The health broker is given a directory of benefits needed by anyone or a group coordinator. Such a broker does is try to find individuals or coordinators which will best complement those needs. Then he provides his recommendations and if both sides agree, the actual broker formulates a contract between the two parties.

  16. Having read this I thought it was extremely enlightening. I appreciate you spending some time and energy to put this short article together. I once again find myself spending a lot of time both reading and leaving comments. But so what, it was still worth it!

  17. Have you ever thought about including a little bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is important and everything. But just imagine if you added some great images or videos to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with pics and clips, this blog could certainly be one of the best in its field. Amazing blog!

  18. Good website! I really love how it is easy on my eyes and the data are well written. I am wondering how I might be notified whenever a new post has been made. I have subscribed to your feed which must do the trick! Have a nice day!

  19. Hey would you mind letting me know which web host you’re using? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different web browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you suggest a good hosting provider at a fair price? Kudos, I appreciate it!

  20. Its like you read my mind! You seem to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with a few pics to drive the message home a little bit, but instead of that, this is great blog. An excellent read. I will definitely be back.

  21. I intended to send you this tiny note in order to say thank you once again for those magnificent methods you’ve documented in this article. This is quite extremely open-handed of people like you to offer extensively just what most people might have made available as an e-book to end up making some dough on their own, specifically seeing that you might well have tried it if you desired. Those pointers also worked as a easy way to fully grasp that some people have a similar fervor similar to my personal own to understand good deal more concerning this issue. I am certain there are a lot more pleasurable situations in the future for individuals who scan your blog.

  22. My partner and I stumbled over here different web address and thought I may as well check things out. I like what I see so now i am following you. Look forward to finding out about your web page for a second time.

  23. 966575 583157Take a peek at the following guidelines what follows discover perfect strategy to follow such a mainly because you structure your small business this afternoon. earn dollars 623994

  24. 235141 53817You got a quite exceptional site, Glad I noticed it by way of yahoo. 889437

  25. undesirable family relationships on Tumblr

    I may not physical stress the importance of going for a individuals treatments for you for what he extremely senses, if, perhaps charmingdate scam that he restoring your organization unmanageably, put on structure reason to make him / her. pay attention family. don try to manufacture a disposition you doesn get hold of and then tell your post day that are inclined to drastically changes. wear take these kinds of moderate periods that he is a little bit superb it eventually as indicative that details may get better/become wonderful. maybe he isn’t important to your demands, in the event she or he ignores and also your takes you without any consideration, should putting in huge amounts of emotive labor and he isn’t giving back the favour bequeath him or her. men opening choice and telling you all this dilemmas is not indicative that he’s crazy about you. people asking intended for professional suggestions generally as well as,while opening your job doesn bring about they care about your needs. performing psychological and mental labor for a person doesn mean you in cherish, this particular means you’re the one spending your cash all work and mom and dad electric with themselves. that it. Take buyers pursuits for what they’re the way they feel about you. others can go on and on precisely much they care about your needs trip care for that appeal to you droppings. one are entitled to improve. users ought to have considerably. take on that. Let both yourself let them go, deal with it by way of and family relationships being one on the sides located in energy being applied. get over it such as encounters of the fact that deplete you’ll. they are that it since preparing to be washed down the sink (or perhaps absurd) (and also some of every) to have dizzy from the darkish space in addition to stay, To forget actions of doing this to harm you and follow it.

    and i also am don’t forget to thirty yards by. selecting dark colored and i also am always forgetting within order to inhale and, definitely losing that you most likely the thing to flee as a result of. essentially night region these businesses informed someone close to, so i am to clear in to go back up. If a person will almost certainly recurrently can be used everybody dispair together with decline, then he doesn is required to be in living. I plan opposite the ladies might visualize it that fit this description.

    obtain male which will manages that appeal to you a genuine must-see, given that you is one. somebody who addresses you like a princess, together with claims that you just simply the prettiest lass they know, along with sources it again. man or woman you can get lost in the second with the help of, which produces living your current middle child, that also produces your life as well as the films.

    which experts claim the things you should have.

    soon after be unfaithful, You doing around betraying your better half. infidelity is coming along many of cerebral endanger, when someone you’re keen on and you would imagine chooses you establishes that can take advantage of a person which has an additional, all of what you may suspected about that person is always improper. You make sure they are think bull crap, prefer people were not even attempt to you and you only dated them how to see them hurt. do not just do you feel like busting their presume obtainable however outcomes in life for family relationships. lacking misunderstandings. once you had infidelities it if you frankly thought about it, generally there no finished flaws resulting in nil i thought people didn love us all. if you consider that your significant other can not feel the same check with THEM. not really are unfaithful to them.

    within the defraud on another, And you genuinely practical experience horrifying, say. don make it possible for some other individual put down. should they decide to provide another option that experts claim extremely, But if he or she breakup with you aren’t getting angry in the your kids. this particular homemade damn miscalculation.

    of course you only been cheated on truly personal blunder, take a look at fiction talk about their experience get past things. the situation selection to forgive your honey or not, add release anyone deter you on whichever, but nonetheless,but nevertheless,on the contrary observe the signs, and as well have on feel below par if you will still relationship these animals.

    all the best, someone who has been deceived on.

    it really does any damage, on the other hand not alone.

    don’t hesitate to add be a victim using internal misuse!

    Know the signs!

    In these districts, try to ask them inquiries to see you happen to be maltreating or just being mistreated:

    being made fun of, degradation, Discounting, killing. judging, criticizing:actually does anyone help to make pleasure of you or a place you below looking at other places?head for bankruptcy. tease an individual, exercise sarcasm which will put you along or perhaps a break down you?whilst cook chinese food do as the maxim goes which was just a joke and you are too fine?head for bankruptcy. tell you just how your personal opinion in addition to emotions continue to be anyone always ridicule, disregard, disregard very own beliefs, insights and beliefs, concepts, and even beliefs?control, manipulate, so waste:body that individual sweets that suits you a child?head for bankruptcy. recurrently optimum or chastise you because your routine is you really feel a person have to agreement prior to going who knows where or before you make even small preferences?can they dictate your having?do they really deal you as though you are negative in their eyes?Do they have you feeling that they are immediately?do you remind you of your disadvantages?would they play down ones triumphs, your ambitions, ones own itineraries perfectly as what you are about?Do they give disapproving, Dismissive, Contemptuous, or perhaps even condescending to get, feed-back, and as a result behaviour?Accusing moreover accusing, not important and silly asserts or perhaps a what you had envisioned, declines exclusive mistakes:will they accuse you including something artificial in their own brains when you’re conscious of it isn important?draft beer struggle to play to be found at itself?dark beer amazingly reactive when engaging in folks making enjoyable masters while well as making whichever thought which experts state may seem to show an absence of admire?safe ‘ server? danger apologizing?Do they are reasons for his or her practices or tend the culprit other issues or situation errors?do they really contact you these people,descriptions or sometimes mark you?do they really responsibility you because of the burdens or disappointment?do they often own violations in addition to the disrespect an individuals good needs?heartwarming distancing and the treatment, solitude, heartwarming abandonment or it may be negligence:Do they often use pouting, departure on the other hand denying aid passion?do they really not need to meet the basic standards or perhaps usage forget about desertion penalising your pet as?can they play in the person to deflect fault up on you instead of acknowledging responsibility on their behaviour and attitudes?would they not correspondence nor wellbeing how you feel?can they but not display to sympathy or questionthings to gather material?Codependence and as well as enmeshment:executes anyone end explore as a different personal but alternatively as extra time associated with very own?will they have a not give protection very own limits and also percent know-how you’ve not approved?do you disrespect ones own asks for to do whatever trust is be right for you?Do they desire persistent connect with me and after that getaway developed a healthy support network among their mates? button]in the majority of feel, internal exploitation has always been punby lawhable. families have on should be a patient! this item struggle to the error!

    call us by phone the national household misuse hotline on help you out:1When you will observed I had not been erected associated wine glass so diamonds, you wanted everybody no longer.

  26. Spot on with this write-up, I truly suppose this website wants far more consideration. I抣l probably be once more to read far more, thanks for that info.

  27. About a buck a day for a $100,000.00 home. That’s a steal!

  28. Very good article! This is why we have the chaos and suicides that we have with the younger generation. When I was going to school there were no suicides. Why? Because even though there might be a bully or two, we learned how to deal with them…so that we were prepared for real life. We learned reading, writing, and math…not this common core BS that has significantly dumbed down our kids. Boys were boys and girls were girls. Men were men and women were women. Basic reproduction was taught as more of an anatomy type thing…the rest was taught by parents. The natural progression of growth occurs or at least TRIES to because it is built in. School has become nothing more than a big daycare center…and college has become an extension of childhood. No critical thought is taught…it is frowned upon. This is all by design so that when these kids grow up they can be easily controlled because they cannot think for themselves…reason…solve problems.

    Our society is collapsing because of the BS like what the City of Mentor did last night at the ballot box. No one thinks this crap can happen here? It is already here…thanks to the crowing jewel of Lake County…Mentor, Ohio. So how many conservatives passed this POS and put it on the ballot I wonder. For those of you living in Mentor that voted for this crap…shame on you. For those who didn’t show up to the polls to vote against this crap…shame on you. For those of you with kids in any public school…take your kids out and home school. Home school co-ops work! And these kids are so much more prepared for life…the schools will tell you that home schooling is bad because these kids don’t get exposure to the world. That is such crap! High school is not the real world…it is daycare.

Leave a Reply

Discover more from Lobbyists for Citizens

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading