People In Kansas Boo Governor Brownback

Surprise, surprise. The republicans who thought Brownback was nifty when he led some silly-assed public prayers (some people will fall for anything) are now disenchanted with his Republican approach to the educational needs of children. The only reason the grownups here can be blamed is because they were all warned that the education budget would take a big hit if Brownback were re-elected; the real victims are the children.

A solution that has been resisted, so far, by Northeast Kansas is consolidation of all the public schools in Kansas. Instead of a bunch of small, largely disenfranchised and independent school districts run by uneducated morons with more interest in downloading porn than in educating children, school districts could be divided by counties; the way other states manage schools. All counties would answer to the state for all matters, from curriculum to finances. Academic requirements would be the same at all schools, rules would be the same for everyone, and there would be no push to keep tiny, under-performing schools open for nostalgic reasons, despite their inefficiency. Requirements for teachers would also be the same at every Kansas school; no more hopping from one "independent school district" to another when a license or qualifications to teach are lacking in one district, but not another. We could also eliminate any unnecessary positions held by untalented former teachers, such as "curriculum adviser". (What the hell is a curriculum adviser, USD 380? Just fire the dumb bitch!) because every school would teach the same subjects. Think of all the money that could be saved if every county just had one school board, instead of three or four! Marshall County Kansas has two and a half school districts and school boards! Half of USD 380 is in Marshall County, the other half in Nemaha County, for a county with less than ten thousand people! Just cut off the dead wood and employ one school board.

Rather than booing Brownback after voting for him, maybe Kansas should look long and hard at the way other schools in the nation are run. Stepping out of the comfort zone of doing things that don't work and amount to nothing, such as public prayer and multiple school districts in each county, will probably help a lot more than blaming a politician who's been bought and sold by the Koch Brothers, for the problems in Kansas public schools. Maybe someone will start picketing Kansas Department of Education to stop answering to politics and make some of these changes for our children.

Teachers Surprised When Parents Speak Up

This is a complete outrage. A Michigan teacher bullies and jeers at an autistic student trapped in a chair, rather than helping him. She also encourages the rest of the class to do the same. Then the principal chimes in to announce that freeing him is not a matter of high priority. He wisely resigned, after the boy's parents shared the video the teacher played several times more the class, ridiculing the child.

Frankfort Kansas has a coach who "lost" a student during cross country practice, one day. Actually, since she was the only girl in attendance for cross country practice that day, she was dropped off by herself on a road where she had never been. When she got lost, and did not come back, Tom Schroeder, the cross country coach guidance counselor, not unlike the Michigan principal above, did not think it was a priority to find her. If he did, he certainly would have notified the teen's parents and law enforcement. But it wasn't a priority at Frankfort High School. Should he still be employed? Those of us who care about children all think not. Yet someone creepy little soul had this to say to yours truly for writing about it:

"Let's be clear here, if anyone is in a position to be sued, it is you. For slander. Most of this post is a lie. Your daughter wasn't running alone. The cross country kids have always been dropped off in a group. She at least started with the other kids. She wasn't on some desolate road. Tom has always dropped the kids off in the same area, and there are TONS of houses along the way."

The person who wrote this comment, or threat, to be more accurate; to me is nothing but a piece of filth. First of all, my daughter was running alone that day. To say anything else is a complete lie. Unfortunately, the intimation that the coach has always dumped the children on various stretches of back road and highway is true; with the twist that it has been in different places. A week earlier, the coach was using Centralia, and the road where he abandoned my daughter is not in Centralia. As for tons of houses in Marshall County Kansas, especially on Route 9, Utah Road, or any of the other side roads in that area, this sender of this comment is either very ignorant or very dishonest. Something that is quite clear on the sender's part is a desire to shut me up so that children in Frankfort may continue to be vulnerable to abuse from strangers or anyone known to them who may drive past, wherever Tom Schroeder has left them. I, like the parents who shocked the school in Michigan by sharing their footage of their son's abusive teacher, will never stop my public discussion of this incident until Frankfort School and USD 380 has publicly denounced this abuse of children, complete with actual, public sanctions against the abuser, and either consolidated with an actual, state run school system and become an actual school, or shut it's doors forever.

What were you really trying to do to my daughter, that day, Tom? Since you did not send me to go find her or pick her up? You also never once called her father, who didn't live in Kansas, and therefore would have done something counterproductive to the way Frankfort High School operates....specifically; he would have called the FBI or the KBI, who would have helped me find my daughter! But what were you really trying to accomplish by leaving her by herself, then keeping her status as lost and missing a complete secret from the police and from me? From the perspective of a person who spent most of her life among real people with real lives, your actions here do not look good. It's why I hate you so much.