Once A Kansas Teacher, Always A Kansas Teacher

There is a push to start fingerprinting teachers in Kansas while performing criminal background checks, in an ongoing effort to curb the renewals of licenses of those teachers who have committed serious crimes both before and after starting their careers. But what good will that do? As has already been noted, in addition to criminal background checks for new hires, Kansas already has a law mandating that law enforcement and county prosecutors report any known criminal activity on the part of an educator to the Kansas Department Of Education, yet, during the past two years, only fourteen of the one hundred and five county prosecutors in Kansas reported such incidents as directed by law!

The problem does not lie in identification of these cases, it lies in proper documentation and reporting of same. In a more heavily populated or multi-lingual area, communication could present a possible problem in reporting and documentation, but here in Kansas, the problem with renewal of teaching licenses for criminals is much more likely to be cover-up and protection of cronies. Since this is probably not going to change without the help of citizens who care about the quality of the education received by our children, the most logical step a parent can take, after making sure that appropriate police reports are made, is to report any legally defined child endangerment incidents directly to the Kansas Department Of Education. This would relieve the political burden on the shoulders of the elected, and thereby recallable, county prosecutors. The telephone number one would call is 785-291-3678.

 

Second Reason To Consolidate Kansas Schools

Not too long ago, I discussed, on this site, what I consider to be the first reason to consolidate Kansas public schools, rather than leave them under the control of unified districts and unprofessional local school boards consisting of uneducated folks with no teaching experience. This allows the unified districts too much leeway to violate federal and state laws, since none of them answer to federal or state authority in any way. One of those laws that Kansas school boards attempt to sidestep has to do with student safety and weapons; specifically firearms.

Before she graduated last year, my daughter shared with me the fact that she did not always feel safe at school because some of her classmates took guns to school. I was shocked to hear this, and asked her why this was happening. She told me that during hunting season, boys in her class went hunting before school started, and instead of taking the guns home and putting them away, they would leave them in their lockers, or in the back seats of their cars! This particular school, in Frankfort Kansas, has all grades from kindergarten to grade twelve, and no one besides my daughter had ever considered the possibility that a small child could open a car door, find an unattended weapon, and create a tragedy. Also, at least one of the children cited by my daughter as taking weapons to school is a confirmed bully, and allowing such a child to take weapons to school is crazy, but this is school in Frankfort, Kansas.

I went to the local sheriff's office to complain about this, and was told by the undersheriff, Tim Ackerman, that because of the Republican leanings of most Kansans, and because many of them go to fundamentalist Christian churches, Frankfort School does not have to worry about tragedies such as the ones in Columbine, Colorado and Newton, Connecticut. Later, I called the Kansas Department of Education, and was told that Kansas schools do not have to really obey the law. It is only a "recommendation" in Kansas, not a requirement. The best alternative my family was able to find for the protection of everyone in our home was to find another school that is not affiliated with Kansas public schools or USD 380.

The only way to change this, and make Kansas schools safe is to either put the entire mess (and I DO mean mess) of public schools in Kansas in receivership, or simply consolidate Kansas public schools and make them answerable to state and federal authorities. Most Kansans hate that idea, but if Kansas were truly able to understand the law and govern themselves, public schools in Kansas would all be in compliance with the law.

Tim Ackerman, the cop who thinks voting Republican and going to church are great ways ensure that kids can safely attend school with guns in tow during hunting season.

Bachman Does Not Want A Department Of Education

I thought Michelle Bachman was just another looney religious fanatic and right wing nut. I was wrong......she's not only looney, she's VERY looney. She wants to dismiss the Department of Education.  She feels that educating a child should be the responsibility of a child's parents and community. What about children who do not have parents, or do not have parents who can teach them? What about communities where education is not, or cannot be a priority? How would we hold each school in the nation to the same standards? If a child in fifth grade moves from one part of the country to another, fifth grade may not be the same thing in his new home, if schools are not held to the same standards, nationwide. This would eventually result in too many corners getting cut, and many, many high school graduates being completely unprepared for college. It would also create more obstacles for anyone who isn't rich enough to send his children to private school, or too busy to home school. I really can't think of a worse place to cut the budget.

I don't even want to think about what this would mean in the case of a disabled child. Or a child whose intelligence is in the profoundly gifted range, but whose parents are not wealthy. What's her next plan, after taking office? Is she planning to abolish child labor laws? I really don't want this woman near the White House.

Michelle Bachman, doing what she does best.