Frankfort Kansas And Public School Textbook Rentals

While your faithful blogger is digging up posts from the past, concerning public schools, here is another oldie but goodie. This one is about textbook rentals.

Textbook Rentals. That's what someone from the superintendent's office at Vermillion, USD 380, in Kansas told yours truly about the unlawful tuition that Dean Dalinghaus, the principal of Frankfort School, in Frankfort, Kansas, charges the parents of the unlucky children who attend his institution. According to federal law, there is no such thing as a "textbook rental" in a public school for a required course. If a student loses or destroys a textbook, it is, of course, another matter; but Frankfort has no legal business charging any parent 50.00 for its moth eaten, outdated, information-challenged tomes that are seldom even read by students.

Prior to paying for a "textbook rental", each parent should inspect the property for which the unlawful tuition is purported to pay. Is the textbook torn up or missing pages? Was it published in 1953? Was it written and compiled by authors whose contributions to the subject matter have been superseded by better authorities? If so, the school should not charge, in the name of state and federal government, for the use of the published material.

The savvy parent should also call the publishing company used by the school and inquire about the actual prices paid by the school for these textbooks. Have the books already been paid off, many times over, by parents who have paid "textbook rentals"? If so, it is very inappropriate and legally questionable, even in cases wherein such a fee is legal, to force a parent to pay for such a thing. How much would the publishing company charge a parent for a new or used textbook? Shouldn't the parent have this information, up front, before paying rental fees? One would not rent a car, or a home, without knowing the actual cost of purchase, so why not find out how much a used book would cost?

USD 380 and Dean Dalinghaus should stop charging tuition for public school. If Dalinghaus wishes to charge parents more money than the actual value of his product, he should attempt to pimp his product in the private market for childhood education, and find out, there, the actual value of his services and textbooks.

Two Very Ugly Americans

This happened over a week ago, so it is probably "old news" by now, but it still deserves to be noted and discussed by Americans. Donald Trump is opposed to "chain migration", the process by which legal immigrants to America invite their family members who are not citizens in America to also immigrate. Anyone who is from a Latin American country or an African country is discouraged, by the Trump administration, from doing this. The Trump administration has denied any discrimination and claims that it treats all immigrants equally.

If chain migration is not a good thing for America, why have the parents of Melania Trump, the third concubine of "the donald", been permitted to immigrate to this country, under the questionable sponsorship of Melania? Viktor and Amalija Knavs were never starving in a war torn country, so they needed no asylum; neither of them are working or pursuing further education; and neither of them have anything special in the way of skill to add to our American community. There are many, many people who are more deserving and productive, yet denied citizenship, here in America. There are many better candidates who have been waiting much longer than Melania's parents for green cards and citizenship. Melania's parents are probably the ugliest Americans we have, right now. Hopefully, there is a process by which the next President can revoke their citizenship and send them back to their country.

A Reminder About Enrollment Fees In Frankfort, Kansas

Here are some words that appeared on this site a couple of years ago, and as it is almost time for public schools in Kansas to open their seldom locked, unsecured doors again, this message is appropriate for parents who do not wish to pay more than they already pay, via their property taxes and mill levies, for a substandard product. If your childrens' school is charging these unlawful enrollment fees, you do not have to pay. Refuse to be intimidated.

Some of the public schools in Kansas have taken to the unlawful practice of charging "enrollment fees". This is against federal law, and every time a case concerning enrollment fees has gone to court, brought by either the school or parents, the parents have won because the practice of charging for public education is unlawful. The American Civil Liberties Union has gotten involved in a few cases involving this issue, as well.

It appears that the (ahem) school, and I use the word "school" very loosely here, in Frankfort, Kansas is up to their usual unlawful stunts again in regard to extorting money from parents. The "tuition" charged this year for each student is $50.00. This does not include activity fees. There is no information revealing the purpose of the fee, or what is actually covered by it. Frankfort does, after all, garner state and federal dollars, in order to pay staff to yak on their cell phones most of the day, or surf the internet. Why is it all-encompassing to charge money that is legally not allowed to be charged?

In the past, when yours truly sent children to school in Frankfort, she refused to pay the "enrollment fees", stating emphatically that her "fees" were already covered by the mill levy and property taxes she pays each year. This would naturally bring on threats from the principal, promising everything from refusal to admit students to crying to a collection agency. The principal discovered that he cannot refuse to enroll any student in his district, regardless of fees; and that legitimate collection agencies are loth to intervene in matters wherein the so-called obligor owes nothing.

First Day Of School In Frankfort, Kansas

 

It's that time of year again in Frankfort, Kansas, and this story will appear once again on this site, because the school here in Frankfort has not seen fit to come into compliance with safety standards observed by schools in other parts of Kansas, and has not come into compliance with federal law concerning the presence of weapons on school property, bullying, or student safety. The only change made is that credit shall be granted where it is due: the name of the errant and uncorrected guidance counselor who has been granted carte blanche to endanger children is Tom Schroeder.

Anyone who's listening, I will tell you a story. It's a true story, and it happened in October of 2009. Thankfully, it had a happy ending.

My oldest daughter used to be quite the avid cross country buff when she was thirteen years old. She was good at it, too. But one day, while she was at practice, and I was at home, just assuming that all was well, her coach drove past my house, stopping to talk to my eight year old son. Mr. Coach wanted to know if Mr. Eight Year Old had seen his older sister. Mr. Eight Year Old had not. No one had seen my daughter in over two hours. She was lost. Why was she lost? Because her coach had dropped her off by the side of a highway, four miles south of the town we live in, by herself, and just left her. It was part of cross country practice. No supervision. If she had been stung by a bee, had tripped and hurt herself, or had some other medical emergency, no one would have been there to help her. (at this juncture, you should know that I offered to volunteer to help with cross country, but since I do not attend a Christian church, my offer was rejected. The school staff thought it better to take chances with a child's safety in the way I just described) When my daughter realized that she did not know her way back, she started to wander on a side road, hoping it would bring her to a house, or another person. This area has a lot of commercial farms, and there were no houses or places my daughter could go to for help.
Back to my eight year old son.......Twenty minutes went by. While he did not realize the significance of his conversation with Mr. Cross County Coach, (also Mr. Guidance Counselor) he did realize that no one knew where his sister was, and it was getting later and later, and no one was looking for her. So he told me about it. I looked all over town, called all her friends, searched the school (why was the school left unlocked after everyone had gone home?) and finally started home to call the police, when a couple of senior boys drove up with my crying daughter in their car. It was still within a few minutes of when I found out she was missing, but this cross country coach had known all afternoon, and had not called the police, or spoken to me. Why? I guess whatever he cared about, it WASN'T my daughter. Well.........I actually DO care about my daughter. Nowhere else have I met a teacher that did NOT care, at least a little, about the children he teaches, but I think that is what the problem is with Mr. Cross Country Coach/ Guidance Counselor.

Suppose it was not young men from her school who found her, but a dangerous person? I have been told time and time again by the people who live in this small Kansas town that "those things don't happen here", and "there ARE no dangerous people here", but there was a sex offender whose address was within half a mile of where my daughter was abandoned. The police were quick to point that out, but the principal only argued his harmlessness as a sex offender with them and the school board is not worried about the incident.

My children no longer participate in cross country at their school. It isn't safe.

Abbie Hoffman Moment

Jeff Sessions Won't Respond To Jerry Moran About Immigrant Children

There has been a lot of talk about the separation of families at America's southern border, lately. Those who support Trump and hate anyone who isn't of western European descent seem to want to believe and argue that there is nothing wrong with taking the child of someone who lawfully seeks asylum (not a crime) or someone who unlawfully crosses the border (a misdemeanor) and sending the child to an unknown location, and in some cases, never giving the child back. Yours truly wrote to her representative in Congress, Jerry Moran, (R) for an answers. Jerry Moran's aide made some statements to the effect that Mr. Moran thought "faith based organizations" in Kansas should help, but was unable to supply an answer outlining any help that "faith based organizations" could give that would reunite children and parents. While "faith based organizations" are more than capable of assisting in efforts to traffic children illegally, yours truly has never seen a faith based organization in Kansas offer to assist in finding attorneys for such children. "Faith based organizations" are usually much better at providing horny priests than they are at providing actual assistance. Reuniting families is simply not the goal, here. Neither is granting any of these children legal representation.

Jerry Moran wrote a letter to Jeff Sessions in early July about the all of these children, including the nine known immigrant children who were placed in Kansas. Some of Mr. Moran's constituents also wanted to know what would happen to the children whose parents had been deported, leaving them behind. Jeff Sessions ignored Mr. Moran, and all of his Kansas constituents, and never bothered to answer the letter.