Dr. Jesse Register and members of this Senior Team met with the Council Education Committee and Council members to discuss the changes in the Administration Office and throughout the schools, including a discussion concerning core curriculum, alternative learning, community achieve, project based learning, charter schools, the proposed budget and more.
For an explanation of Common Core see 34:00-40:27 in the video. Forty-five states have adopted common core at this point.
In a 68-to-31 vote yesterday 16 Senate Republicans sided with Democrats and voted for cloture ending the filibuster led by Senators Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Mike Lee of a bipartisan background-check compromise bill sponsored by Harry Reid.
The compromise bill would close the gun show loophole on background checks and the Internet loophole but would exempt all "personal" transfers of weapons between individuals. It also does not contain bans on either assault weapons or high-capacity magazines which gun control advocates had hoped for. Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.)who has a perfect A+ rating from the NRA led the Republican effort to reach the compromise.
Pro gun rights advocates got some of what they wanted in the bill. The bill permits gun permit holders in one state to carry their gun in another state which is currently not permitted. The NRA initially did not oppose the compromise saying it was better than the universal background check proposed by President Obama, but then later came out with a denunciation of it.
Tennessee Senators Alexander and Corker were among those voting to cut off debate. Below is the full list of Republicans who voted for the cloture motion.
The April 16th Metro Council agenda is now available. If you will wait I will read if for you and tell you if there is anything important on the agenda and tell you what I think about it. If you can't wait, you can find it at this link: April 16th Council Agenda.
The Tennessee Freedom Coalition is a conservative organization headquartered here in Nashville. Recently, a Fort Campbell Army colonel advised his
subordinates to be on the lookout for soldiers who might be members of
“domestic hate groups.” "When we see behaviors that are inconsistent with Army Values," he wrote, " – don’t
just walk by – do the right thing and address the concern before it
becomes a problem." On his list of "domestic hate groups" was the Tennessee Freedom Coalition. (link)
Who is TFC? On their website they respond to the question, "who are we?" like this:
The Tennessee Freedom Coalition is a 501(c)4 non-profit organization designed to educate Tennesseans on policy matters relating to equitable tax structures, education reform, vibrant economic paradigms, immigration issues, limited government, health care, Islamic radicalization, job creation, and our proper constitutional relationship to the federal government.There Chairman and Executive Director is Andrew Miller. Andy Miller is well known to local conservative political activist. He is a wealthy individual and a major Republican fundraiser and well-connected in Republican circles. Second in command and also holding the title of "Executive Director" is Lou Ann Zelenik. Zelenik has ran in a Republican primary twice against Diane Black in very continuous, hotly contested races. She was also a leader in opposition to the establishment of the Muslim Mosque in Murfreesboro.
Will the city's newly appointed election commissioners do a better ...
Nashville Scene
The outgoing Republican commissioners, Dickerson says, were "all very
good people, all good public servants." Asked directly why the GOP
delegation decided to replace the trio, Dickerson says that as a result
of a number of factors in and out of the commission's control, a
"contentious situation" had developed. In light of that, he says, the
delegation felt "a fresh start was the way to go." (link)
Metro Nashville Public Schools plans to announce that First Lady Michelle Obama will be the commencement speaker at Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet School's graduation. Full Story
This school board meeting is only 48 minutes long, which is kind of short for a Metro School Board meeting. The meeting ends abruptly mid-sentence instead of continuing to adjournment, so I don't know if more occurred than is what on this video or not, but I assume nothing else important took place. It looks like they were about through the agenda. The school board produces good agendas with all of the attachments. To follow along with the agenda follow this link.
One thing I like about School Board meetings is the effort to involve students and recognize outstanding student achievement and the opportunity for public involvement. School Board meetings really have a much more community town hall feel than do Metro Council meetings. If you have never watched one, please do. Anyone may address the board during the pubic comment period, so if you have a complaint or suggestion to the school board, you can to be heard. School board meeting are not simply about school policy and passing resolutions. One can really get a feel for what is going on in the schools from watching a school board meeting.
It is announced that two school board members will be attending the National School Board Members Associations in San Diego. I do not have a problem with members of our school board attending a national conference. I tend to think it is a good thing that members of our school board are networking with school board members from across the nation. National conferences, however, can be occasions for a vacation at taxpayers' expense and I hope there is adequate accountability to insure that this is a justifiable use of public funds. While in general I think it is a good thing that members of the Council and the School Board attend national conferences, I think there should be a report of how much this is costing the taxpayers.
At 34:35 in the video the Board begins the discussion of the proposed annual school budget and presents a slide presentation on the budget. The proposal is for an increase in funding of approximately $43.7 million or a 6.1% increase over the current budget. To see more detail of the draft budget see the agenda starting at page 67 at this link.
Rep. Frank Nicely posted this recent comment on a Facebook post:
We need LESS federal involvement in education, not more. My fear is that any federal voucher program would be used as Trojan Horse for more federal mandates, not just on public education, but private schools as well. $1,300 dollars per child will do little to make better private schools more accessible, but will let the federal bureaucracy in yet again to steer the course for our children's academic curriculum.He also posted a link to to an article from the Cato Institute. Below is an excerpt from the article and the link:
GOP Senators Playing With Federal Education FireI have generally been in favor of school voucher programs. The most widely used education voucher program was the GI Bill. Hundreds of thousands of adult students attended the college or trade school of their choice using the GI bill. It served us well.
It’s easy to understand why several prominent GOP Senators, including Sens. Lamar Alexander, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio, are sponsoring federal school voucher legislation. State-level voucher programs have raised student achievement, increased high school graduation rates, and boosted college matriculation. School choice programs are also market-based initiatives that aid and appeal to low-income voters. As Senator Paul argued:....
It is very likely that a federal voucher program will lead to increased federal regulation of private schools over time. While there’s no law of the cosmos that states that federal dollars must come with strings attached, they most often do. And while the GOP legislators proposing the vouchers will likely keep regulations light at the outset, when the political pendulum swings—as it inevitably will—opponents of vouchers might find that it’s politically easier to add regulations to the program than to kill it outright. Once private schools become dependent on the federal money that their students bring with them, the vast majority will accept the new regulations rather than forgo the funding.
The Chattanoogan.com, April 09, 2013- State Rep. Joe Carr announced Tuesday that his Exploratory Committee for Congress raised over $200,000 in his effort to become Tennessee’s next Congressman from the 4th District.(read more)
Margaret Thatcher died of a stroke yesterday at the age of 86, becoming the last of the great leaders of the 20th century to have passed away. She will be remembered for turning Britain away from their slide into mediocrity, poverty, and insignificance, for privatizing many of the socialist enterprises of England, and for standing shoulder to shoulder with Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul in declaring Communism to be an evil in the world and helping to bring about the end of the Communist era. The world is a much better place because of Margaret Thatcher.
For tributes and comments see below:
Heritage Remembers Margaret Thatcher (VIDEO)
At a time when the Soviet Empire was still a powerful force, oppressing millions of people, Lady Thatcher tackled communism head on as prime minister of Great Britain.
She believed in the crucial need for America to exert international
leadership in the cause of freedom and partnered with conservative
American leaders like Ronald Reagan and The Heritage Foundation to
ensure individual liberty.
Her commitment to the principles of free enterprise, limited government, and individual freedom lace the eternal friendship between The Heritage Foundation and Lady Thatcher.
by Ken Jakes
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| Ken Jakes |
The wholesalers were the revenue producing stream for the Market. They operated large numbers of sheds year-round. With the wholesalers gone and a short growing season for Tennessee, the taxpayers are left with the burden of carrying and paying the way for the market. Again, I wonder how much Nashville paid some consulting firm to create this total mess.
When I got up this morning it was such a beautiful day that I almost decided to skip the Youth Safety Summit sponsored by the Metropolitan Nashville Board of Education and instead work in the yard. March was so dreary and cold and wet that today seemed like spring burst forth all at once. I wanted to plant some seeds and play in the dirt. Instead, I am glad that I went. Unfortunately, most people who otherwise would have attended must have decided to stay home and enjoy the spring day.
In light of the tragedy of Newtown, I thought that a summit on school safety would be packed. I do not have school age children myself so I was interested simply as a concerned citizen but I thought that there were enough school teachers and guidance counselors and parents of school age children more vested in this issue than I, that this conference would be packed. Unfortunately, the auditorium at MaGavock High School, which can probably seat 2000, was mostly empty with barely a hundred people in attendance.
I was not sure what to expect. What I experienced was an emotional and inspirational and thought-provoking program that offered a message of hope. The general session was a presentation by Darrell Scott on a program called "Rachel's Challenge." Rachel Joy Scott was a charming young girl who was a high school senior and the first person killed during the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999. Darrell Scott is her brother. "Rachel's Challenge" is program started by her parents in her memory to impact the lives of school children in the hope that future tragedies such as Columbine can be prevented. The program provided a recap of event on that tragic day and profiled both Rachel Scott and her murderers.
Despite the overwhelmingly depressing topic, occasional humor and levity lightened the mood. The theme of the program is that we need moral education and a focus on character development. Darrell Scott made the point that for two hundred years America led the world in education and now we are rapidly sinking, but for two hundred years we did not focus on academic achievement alone but focused on developing character. There used to be an emphasis on "heart, head and hand," he said. There was a realization that developing the whole child was important and that developing character was an important part of education. He said that we need to teach people to speak with kindness and teach kids that words can heal or hurt. We need to cultivate a culture of compassion and kindness and caring.
The message of this meeting parallels some other things I have been thinking about. I am reading a great book called, "Quest for Community" written by John Nesbitt. This book was written in the 50's which may seem like an idyllic time now, but Nesbitt saw the seeds of what was to come. As economic growth and raw individualism combines with centralization of power and bureaucratization of societal functions we experience a demise of those institutions that keep us grounded and we see an anatomization of the society. The autonomous individual loses a sense of accountability and expectation of norms of behavior and there is a price to pay for this. The glue that holds us together is no longer there.
After the meeting I engaged in conversation with a teacher for maybe an hour. He shared his insight of twenty-five years of teaching and the changes he has seen in children over that time. He told me some things I already knew but with his personal experience and insight he made it more real. With many children raised by single moms or two working parents and with a decline in church attendance and the absence of the extended families and with advances in technology that mean children may spend hours in their own world on the internet or playing video games, many children never have any moral education. They do not eat meals with their parents and they do not even experience the same TV programs. Family no longer fills the roll that it once did. And, with diversity and secularization that does not allow mention of God in school there is a lack of moral education. Many children never learn basic manners and may never think about issues of right and wrong.
I don't know what the answer to school violence is but I think the problem of school violence is a symptom of a bigger problem. We must find a way to strengthen family and community and church and those institutions that make us a part of something bigger than ourselves. We must find a way to instill a sense of morality and accountability in people. For a Democracy to function, people must be self-governed; they must have a sense of right and wrong. There must be a moral compass. Values must be instilled and passed down. Maybe, programs like Rachel's Challenge can be part of the answer.
For more on Rachel's Challenge, see this link and this link.
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