Flush 'em Friday 3 4 11 Edition

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Happy Flush 'em Friday everybody! It's time to call out the people and things who need to be flush right out! So, here is the list as I see it for Friday, March 4, 2011.


The half page fold over ad things on my daily newspaper they I have to move to see what I really want to read.

Idiots who wear Che Guevara t-shirts. Che Guevara was a thug and would shoot your mother in the head before shooting you if you disagreed with him. 

Charlie Sheen for being his age and acting 20 stupid something. As usual, the idiot is apparently unaware that everyone else knows he is an idiot. 

LAUSD and all other school districts for attempting to hold on to more teacher than are needed and now having to cut many more than needed loose. 

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for falling off his bike and then becoming a bike riders advocate. 

Unions for not knowing when enough is way more than enough. 

Now it is your turn. Please leave me your Flush 'em Friday addition.

Yep, that's LA Disunified...I mean LAUSD

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You know, sometimes you know in the back of your head that something is true, but, you just kind of ignore it because it seems too ridiculous. Well, the state of California and LAUSD have shown that truth is sometimes more insane that fiction. 

In the LA Times an article ran...

L.A. Unified set to renew charter contract despite evidence of cheating
The director of Crescendo charters, which operates six campuses south of downtown L.A., directed principals and teachers to let students study the actual exam questions on important standardized tests. 

( http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-crescendo-20110228,0,2723836,full.story  )

I "knew it" but to have the reality confirmed is stunning. What is stunning is not that some fool "executive director" had principals (who should know better) tell their teachers to cheat. Having worked for "the district" I, sadly, am not at all surprised by this since I have experienced the process by which they select their leaders.  What is even more appalling is that the state and LAUSD are willing to renew the charter on a slap of the hand and ethics training!

John Allen the ethically challenged "executive director" who order the principals to order their teachers to cheat is still making over $160,000.00 a year! The principals were suspended for 10 days. What about the brainless surgeons who run the state and LAUSD? Shouldn't they be punished for allowing these clowns to continue? 

Take Back Your Schools LA!

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I am just wondering how the "honorable" Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa can look look himself in the mirror? I has been said that the worst deception is self-deception.

My local fish-wrap tells me, that

"Joined by civil rights lawyers and Los Angeles Unified officials, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged the local teachers union Thursday to support reform layoff procedures or get left behind."

Here's the deal: all the teachers that are at the Mayors' school are hand picked. Why didn't the mayors' team pick teachers with more experience? I took part in those race-based exercises. What a farce! Now, the group is offering teachers $10,000 bonuses to come teach in their schools. Of course, it doesn't hurt if you look like the mayor. Just go to any of the schools sites and check out the "diversity" of the staff. Pfff! Back to the hand picked teachers chosen by "PartnershipLA." Again, THEY recruited, THEY chose, THEY should be developing their choices. Now, Villaraigosa wants to infect all LA schools with a problem he chose to have.

This problem of inexperienced teachers going to under-preforming schools has always existed. There was money given to schools with staffs that had teachers with less than the average tenure. I guess the Democratically controlled state legislature let that end.  

Antonio is not trying to help all schools, he's just trying to save his partnership.

Take back your schools LA!

It's the Parents Who Teach the Most

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I am a parent. I have four children whom I love. I want the best for them. As a parent, I hope and pray each year that my children will have good teachers. I have had two older children pass through our areas schools and have two still in them. The schools in our area will succeed because the parents of the students will do what they need to do to make sure their children learn. 

In my local fishwrap they are a bit mystified why, even as class sizes increase, test scores are still rising. The educational researchers do not even no what to ask. Ask about parent involvement.  

I am also a teacher for another (much larger) district. I have, more often than not, done the real teaching for my children while Torrance teachers handed my children worksheets. My second son told me once his Calculus teaching was pretty bad but if HE (my son) read the book he could figure it out. My point, the scores go up in the district I live in because the parents care. Now, I have seen a few good teachers, but, they can only do what my wife's and my parenting will allow. 

As parents we are the primary caretaker, teacher and advocate for our children. It is our responsibility to make sure that our children learn.

All that said, school districts are usually classic examples of poorly run bureaucracies. More money doesn't necessarily mean more help for students who need help. Teachers are professionals not missionaries. Only police officers may be asked to take more grief with out reprisal.