GeoBear School Board Update, September 2, 1999


Lots of School News
Transparent Propaganda
Seattle Times' Unbelievable Endorsements
Teaches Union Blues
Young Republicans
John Stanford International School-A Conspiracy?




Lots of School News
Articles in today's Seattle Times include "Seattle schools' new standards about to hit classroom" and a piece about a new gay and lesbian PTSA. I think it said it might be the first in the nation.




Transparent Propaganda
Today's Times' also carries a propaganda gem entitled "Seattle trustees weigh goals for reading that exceed state's." Hey, if they want to play that game, then I'll DOUBLE the standards!


Here's another interesting item: "Declaring that Seattle had successfully 'sent a message' to state lawmakers and education officials about a lack of funding to implement reading standards, board member Nancy Waldman moved that the board endorse the state goals."


Gee, what a coincidence! Nancy Waldman spent the last year challenging Jan Kumasaka for the do-nothing-but-sit-on-your-butt award, then suddenly makes a motion (possibly her first ever) during her bid for reelection, PLUS, she lets the world know that she wants to accept the state goals AFTER her critics raked her over the coals on that issue. Does sound like a school board that's falling all over itself to serve kids or one that's just falling all over itself???


Does anyone know if this statement is true?: "The School Board voted 4-3 in December against adopting the state reading goals because the majority felt the goals were too low and that the state was not providing enough funding for the effort."


I know they were, are, and always will be moaning about being underfunded, but is it true that they also felt the goals were too low, when Seattle Schools students are hardly burning up the academic racetrack?


And here's an interesting statement about the man who's following on the heels of the Stanford Era: "Superintendent Joseph Olchefske said that despite funding challenges, 'We can make a major go at this goal.'"


Translation: "Despite all the money we embezzle and throw away, we can still force the teachers we haven't yet driven out of the district to perform an academic miracle. And if we don't, we can always frighten them into fudging the test scores."


Finally, "The School Board may vote on the Waldman motion and the Barnhart amendment Sept. 15."


Just after the election? Hmmm...do you suppose that might them a chance to make a statement on the primary vote?
 


Seattle Times' Unbelievable Endorsements
I was flabbergasted when the Seattle Times endorsed Mary Jean Ryan over me! With all the good press they've been given me the last sixteen months, I kind of thought I had it in the bag. Oh well.


Now here's a curious train of thought: "While the School Board and the Seattle City Council desire a good relationship, they occasionally suffer from a poor understanding of each other's mission and duties. The zoning debacle over a vacant post office is one obvious example."


How does the post office debacle suggest a poor understanding of two scatter-brained missions? The post office debacle became a debacle because 1) Seven boobs spent half-a-million dollars on a feasibility study that 2) apparently didn't cover city ordinances, and 3) said boobs did it all behind the public's back. (If I understood it correctly, I've heard that Seattle Schools is also paying $100,000 a month to reserve the post office?)


Then there's this: "Ryan would not be a go-along, get-along member of the board. . . . Her pursuit of the big picture could be frustrating to board members who want easy answers."


I can't count the times the establishment media have praised the seven school board boobs for their uniformitarian, non-quarreling, don't-rock-the-boat approach to whatever the hell it is they do. Now they suddenly want a school board director who doesn't get along with her peers??? And they're suggesting that the boobs they've virtually described as geniuses only want easy answers?


"A craving for easy answers is the first sign of a weak board." And a disdain for any answers is the first sign of another article from the clueless Seattle Times.




Teachers Union Blues
"Judge rewards WEA, punishes voters." This "Special to the [Seattle] Times" is written by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation's Lynn Harsh. I'd venture to guess that everything Lynn reports is true. But she can scream it until the year 3000 and it won't accomplish a thing because 1) Teachers and parents are too clueless to understand what it's all about, 2) The few teachers who do understand won't attack their Uncle Tom union because it's all that stands between them and an abusive administration, and 3) The Evergreen Freedom Foundation is a conservative think tank, and conservatives are the one species teachers fear more than administrators.


If Lynn and her friends in this "think tank" would get their mashed-potato brains together, they'd go after rotten public schools administrators, diminishing the need for a union that spends most of its time in bed with administrators. They might even get a few thank you cards from teachers.


The other smart thing the Evergreen Freedom foundation could do is support my bid for a seat on the Seattle School Board. That might provoke the WEA into attacking me, and I've got a lot of ammunition to use against those bums. And I love to fight.




Young Republicans
Speaking of conservatives, I spoke at a Young Republicans meeting in Bellevue this evening. I didn't really feel that together and wasn't sure if the audience really had a lot of interest in the school board.




The John Stanford International School-A Conspiracy?
Sorry, I can't claim credit for this conspiracy theory. I'm merely reporting it.


First, some background. Latona Elementary is a really neat school in the Latona neighborhood, not too far from Gasworks Park. I suspected the principal was a jerk when I saw her on TV crying over a mercifully ill John Stanford.


Well, today I met a teacher who confirmed my suspicions: The teachers at Latona hated Mary Jane Fraser, who was indeed a friend of Stanford's.


Here's the really interesting part: Stanford visited Latona one day to film one of the innumerable propaganda films the district spent God-knows-how-much money on. They wanted the teachers to knock off work for about 1 1/2 hours so they could appear in the video. The teachers rebelled, complaining that they had kids to teach.


Before you read any further, stop and think about this. Seattle's criminally inept (not to mention just plain criminal) administration has spent a not inconsiderable amount of tax dollars, time, and energy on propaganda designed to convey the message that teachers are failing kids, not to mention an enormous investment in resources designed to make teachers work ever harder and longer. Then the incredibly stupid and self-serving idiots tell the teachers to bag it and come stand around in the background of a video???


Anyway, Stanford was furious at the teachers who snubbed him. I understand that Latona paid a penalty for its lack of patriotism. I wasn't given any details, but I suspect they may have received less funding or administrative support than other schools. (Please don't tell anyone I told you that Seattle Schools administrators might punish kids for teachers' crimes; you aren't supposed to know.)


Here's where the conspiracy really blossoms: Guess which school was chosen to be redesignated the John Stanford International School? That's right, Latona. In the fall of 2000, they'll be scattered to the winds as Latona Elementary School officially ceases to exist. And some of these foolish teachers are wondering if John Stanford International is John Stanford's petty way of getting back at them. Believe me, stranger things have happened in Seattle Schools.


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