The destruction of America's public education system

[SydneyCarton 48,213]

1 hour ago, pyrohornIII said:

Something interesting in Possum Piss is the decline of the denominational churches (Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian) and the rise of Cowboy churches.  The Pentecostals (at least in east Texas) are one of the very few denominations growing.    How many of you have seen Branded for Jesus Church north of Huntsville on 45?   No real theory here, just an observation.  

I think it makes perfect sense, and is in no way surprising. Similarly to the way the Southern Baptist convention makes it damn near impossible to imprint any kind of requirements or guidelines about individual churches, moving away from an actual spiritual church/organization/denomination means you have freedom to say whatever the fuck you want is in the name of Jesus. Sort of like what the Moms of Liberty plan on doing with their charter "school." Except instead of education, it's "Faith." 

You know all those quotes of people saying the teaching of Jesus are liberal bullshit so their church should stop teaching them? This is the next step. 

[DigglerontheHoof 21,261]

1 hour ago, pyrohornIII said:

Something interesting in Possum Piss is the decline of the denominational churches (Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian) and the rise of Cowboy churches.  The Pentecostals (at least in east Texas) are one of the very few denominations growing.    How many of you have seen Branded for Jesus Church north of Huntsville on 45?   No real theory here, just an observation.  

Agree.  These abortions are everywhere now.  They're nothing more than KKK meetings sans the burning cross. 

[SydneyCarton 48,213]

Yeah. It's almost like we should stop draining the ocean, and fund public education at a higher rate than now, and ensure the money will attract people who actually felt a calling to be a teacher, or which there are many and a huge chunk have left the profression. 

[Brisketexan 105,452]

33 minutes ago, BeardIP said:

At the end of the day, as a society we must have good public schools that are appropriate and acceptable to the standards of people who would want to choose their local public schools. As they continue to deteriorate, it's like the inverse of the rising tide lifting all boats. 

The draining ocean drowns all fish.

This.  And that drowning (purposefully making public schools worse) is done for two purposes in mind:

1) those who can afford to get out of the shithole schools end up in private schools that are generally more likely than not to indoctrinate students into the Christofascist beliefs of the current Ruling Party, and 

2) those who can't afford it can get fucked, and be the low-income wage slaves that the Ruling Party wants them to be.

White Christian from a middle class and above family?  Step right up and enroll at Freedom Eagle Gun Jesus Academy!  Get some basic education of decent quality, and all the indoctrination you can stand and more!

From a poor family, especially a minority family?  Get fucked, mud people.  You exist to mow our lawns and bus tables, so you don't need any book learning anyhow.  Get to work! (See also the fact that the same folks pushing school choice are pushing for relaxed child labor laws).  Brown kids belong at the chicken processing plant, not at school.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,362]

yep, if vouchers pass it just becomes a level the GOP will use to scare/attract votes.  Vote for me, we'll raise your voucher by thousands next year. Look how great vouchers work - see this top school that uses vouchers (omit school tuition is $60k a year, $8k of voucher).  Don't vote for me, they'll take your vouchers away.

[pyrohornIII 4,823]

17 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

I think it makes perfect sense, and is in no way surprising.  Similarly to the way the Southern Baptist convention makes it damn near impossible to imprint any kind of requirements or guidelines about individual churches, moving away from an actual spiritual church/organization/denomination means you have freedom to say whatever the fuck you want is in the name of Jesus. Sort of like what the Moms of Liberty plan on doing with their charter "school." Except instead of education, it's "Faith." 

You know all those quotes of people saying the teaching of Jesus are liberal bullshit so their church should stop teaching them? This is the next step. 

I agree that's a big part of it, my brother is a member of one of these type churches.  But I think part of it is the rural churches feeling less important than their urban and suburban counterparts.  Lots of little churches in Possum Piss have reverted back to circuit riders of the past, partly because they can't afford a pastor dedicated to solely their church anymore.   

It's all tied together with the deterioration of the rural communities. 

The Pentecostals are just a magnet for the MAGA/Misogynistic crowd.  Big into patriarchy and keeping the women barefoot in the kitchen.  Probably also strong white supremacy stuff taught there too.  

 

[pyrohornIII 4,823]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

This.  And that drowning (purposefully making public schools worse) is done for two purposes in mind:

1) those who can afford to get out of the shithole schools end up in private schools that are generally more likely than not to indoctrinate students into the Christofascist beliefs of the current Ruling Party, and 

2) those who can't afford it can get fucked, and be the low-income wage slaves that the Ruling Party wants them to be.

White Christian from a middle class and above family?  Step right up and enroll at Freedom Eagle Gun Jesus Academy!  Get some basic education of decent quality, and all the indoctrination you can stand and more!

From a poor family, especially a minority family?  Get fucked, mud people.  You exist to mow our lawns and bus tables, so you don't need any book learning anyhow.  Get to work! (See also the fact that the same folks pushing school choice are pushing for relaxed child labor laws).  Brown kids belong at the chicken processing plant, not at school.

No first those brown students are needed to help the athletics teams get to district or beyond, then they can disappear into the woodwork once their eligibility runs out.

[pyrohornIII 4,823]

You can't get more rural than this without getting into west Texas. 

Something along these lines is coming.  There are distance learning companies already with the curriculum.  They just need a network of "proctors" throughout Texas to make these pods work.  

 

 

 

[NWBuck 8,588]

Effing pod people...

[TexasEd 8,077]

14 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

Curious if abbott and yass just figure out it’s easier to buy those voucher votes or, people get a nice sized check for ‘home schooling’ their kids 

texas gop has already ran off small town hospitals, public schools are next 

Oh, that's what the 6 million is for.  Carrot and stick.  Fund people who support vouchers and negative campaign those that don't.  Abbott doesn't need it for his campaign

[Mrs Whiggins 13,050]

13 hours ago, pyrohornIII said:

You can't get more rural than this without getting into west Texas. 

Something along these lines is coming.  There are distance learning companies already with the curriculum.  They just need a network of "proctors" throughout Texas to make these pods work. 

 

 

Ohhhhhh. It is all beginning to make sense with this "pod" reveal...

How it's started:

How it ends:

 

"Proctors" coming soon to a neighborhood near you!

 

/s

[Catdaddyhorn 3,448]

20 hours ago, Nivek said:

It is very obvious how broken the public school system is, how underfunded the SPED programs are, and how the TEA is purposely fucking over HISD, the teachers, students, and anyone who sees education as something beyond a daycare.   The quality of some my my son's middle school teachers is appalling.   That they hire people with no education background is harmful to the students.  

My son has an Art class where most of the kids play computer games and watch youtube.  The teacher claims the access to computers in Art is for their benefit.  If they can just watch youtube to learn now to draw then why the fuck does she have a job?  Just sluff this off on a PE teacher?  

 

I just did a tour of Frank Black Middle school last November for my 5th grader and I must have gotten a complete snow job if what you say is true. The art teacher showed us some of the projects the kids were working on to present at the rodeo and they were extremely impressive. He even mentioned one of the kids in the previous year sold his art work for 10s of thousands of dollars there.  Prior to this year I heard so many great things about Frank Black that it was a no brainer to send my kids there, but after all of the horror stories about uninterested teachers and fighting, I've decided to sit down and fill out the magnet application today. I guess Hogg, Lanier, and/or TH Rogers will move Frank Black down the list. 

[SydneyCarton 48,213]

25 minutes ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

I just did a tour of Frank Black Middle school last November for my 5th grader and I must have gotten a complete snow job if what you say is true. The art teacher showed us some of the projects the kids were working on to present at the rodeo and they were extremely impressive. He even mentioned one of the kids in the previous year sold his art work for 10s of thousands of dollars there.  Prior to this year I heard so many great things about Frank Black that it was a no brainer to send my kids there, but after all of the horror stories about uninterested teachers and fighting, I've decided to sit down and fill out the magnet application today. I guess Hogg, Lanier, and/or TH Rogers will move Frank Black down the list. 

We moved into Timbergrove for Sinclair, before my wife got a job at a private school, and figured we'd re-assess on Black when he got closer to middle school age. We heard it wasn't "there yet" as a decent middle school, but there's a chance it would continue to improve like Waltrip with the money, investment, and continued gentrification of the area. That was 6 years ago, it's still "not there" per what we here, and with the new HISD leadership I have zero assumption it's ever going to get to where you'd want it to be for your kid. 

[Captainant 27,849]

15 hours ago, pyrohornIII said:

You can't get more rural than this without getting into west Texas. 

Something along these lines is coming.  There are distance learning companies already with the curriculum.  They just need a network of "proctors" throughout Texas to make these pods work.  

Fucking insane that we require public educators to have YEARS of schooling and certification to teach, but we let any parent who's got an IQ higher than their number of teeth be a """proctor""" or claim their children are getting educated. I mean, I get it, they don't want children smarter than they are.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,528]

It's inevitable that companies will offer the exact curriculum that our politicians demand, and then they will offer it up online. Pay a local $12/hr to act as a proctor or babysitter. The one teacher will get paid well to teach 1000s of students but the "school" will rake in profits.

[tx 3 putt 77,560]

Teacher raises and improving their retirement would be a great start. Cut back on over head through retirement offers and eliminating those positions / rolling those roles into student facing roles should be step 2 

[miguelito 11,318]

You know at the beginning of NFL games where they have the starting lineups say their name and where they went to college?  And sometimes the player will name his high school instead.

I can't wait for some player to give his name and then say, "Leon County Homeschool Pod."

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,528]

30 minutes ago, BeardIP said:

During Covid-19 lockdown, when public school kids were falling by the wayside (not my opinion, statistically been posted many times), these pods and homeschool neighborhood groups were a godsend for keeping kids engaged and progressing through their education.

I think a lot of parents had the forced experience of homeschooling or private schooling (a lot of kids came to our school because they liked we were open and in person) and never went back to the public schools.

I don't think there is anything inherently wrong or unethical if you choose to homeschool or join a pod like the picture above shows. Especially in the rural areas (presumed above), it harkens back to the old one-room school house of rural lore. I know someone who is raising kids out in the country and they said when their kids reach high school age, the one high school that serves the area is like a 40 minute drive, for example.

Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't these homeschools or pods unchecked in their teaching methods or results? I don't personally care if parents teach their kids correctly or not. There is no law in being a bad parent.

However if these schools ultimately receive my tax dollars, then they should be held to standards regardless if my kid is there or not. If you want state money, then you should be required to meet standards.

[Captainant 27,849]

29 minutes ago, BeardIP said:

harkens back to the old one-room school house of rural lore

Ah yes, back when women couldn't vote and black people were property. It's a reflexive reach by parents for more control in a world and life they feel they have less and less.

31 minutes ago, BeardIP said:

I know someone who is raising kids out in the country and they said when their kids reach high school age, the one high school that serves the area is like a 40 minute drive, for example.

And I'm sure these sorts of cases exist, but they are far and away the exception for these homeschool cult-in-training groups. Almost always it's because the parents are """uncomfortable""" with teaching critical thinking and the scientific method, and don't want their perfect children interacting with those other kids

[Brisketexan 105,452]

Just now, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't these homeschools or pods unchecked in their teaching methods or results? I don't personally care if parents teach their kids correctly or not. There is no law in being a bad parent.

However if these schools ultimately receive my tax dollars, then they should be held to standards regardless if my kid is there or not. If you want state money, then you should be required to meet standards.

[uproarious laughing in Republican]

[Nivek 16,992]

4 hours ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

I just did a tour of Frank Black Middle school last November for my 5th grader and I must have gotten a complete snow job if what you say is true. The art teacher showed us some of the projects the kids were working on to present at the rodeo and they were extremely impressive. He even mentioned one of the kids in the previous year sold his art work for 10s of thousands of dollars there.  Prior to this year I heard so many great things about Frank Black that it was a no brainer to send my kids there, but after all of the horror stories about uninterested teachers and fighting, I've decided to sit down and fill out the magnet application today. I guess Hogg, Lanier, and/or TH Rogers will move Frank Black down the list. 

They also gave us a nice showing when we did the tour.  I talked with their Admin staff and SPED program coordinators while my kid was a 5th grader at OFE.   We had an ARD meeting before the boy set foot on campus and my wife was really confident we were good to go.  They put him in 2 AP classes and not the Vanguard program.  For 2 weeks we didn't know this until one of his teachers informed us.  Then its onto a schedule change.  It turns out that something like 2/3rds of the OFE kids go into the Vanguard program which helps to separate them somewhat from other students.    

Yesterday they had testing, we asked our son about it.  They put an 8th grade teacher in charge of it.  Great.  So his accomodations weren't provided and they had no idea.   We have to fucking ask the people whose job it is to do their job for today's testing.   

 

 

[Nivek 16,992]

21 hours ago, BeardIP said:

I think it's less complicated (and probably more sinister) than what you've hypothesized. 

I think the voucher/desire for private schooling is couched in not wanting to a part of the "others". Feeling hopeless and out of control with the "others" that have a not insignificant population and influence on the culture of the hallways and the experience of the school, the parents of the white Christian middle class and above family (as you described it) aspire to have their kids away from those "others". In other words, it's more of a "let them have the public school that they've ruined and let's go over here". They probably see themselves as righteous, virtuous pilgrims in that way. 

I think I also fall into this a bit.  I prefer my kids to socialize and be around children of like minded parents who give a damn and do not treat schools like daycares, but that comes with the access to time/healthcare and more importantly, money.   Heck, one of the administrators talked with my wife and I, and basically said in code for us to keep our kid in the Vanguard program and do not let him take gen ed classes with the majority.  

 

 

 

 

[MadTrapper 153]

Crossing posting from winter thread. Fuck Miles. 

Re: no heat at Love. It was similar at Harvard Elementary. No heat yesterday and today. A lot of the older campuses have so many bandaids it's ridiculous. Requests to replace the HVAC system have been made but it keeps getting rejected...big surprise.

I get that it's not cheap to update old schools with modern equipment, but can the people bitching about books, bathrooms, vouchers, etc please just sit down and let the adults fix actual issues such as these? We are sapping resources when we need them most. And the Miles comes out and says he regrets closing schools on Tuesday? GTFO with that BS.

[Catdaddyhorn 3,448]

42 minutes ago, Nivek said:

I think I also fall into this a bit.  I prefer my kids to socialize and be around children of like minded parents who give a damn and do not treat schools like daycares, but that comes with the access to time/healthcare and more importantly, money.   Heck, one of the administrators talked with my wife and I, and basically said in code for us to keep our kid in the Vanguard program and do not let him take gen ed classes with the majority.  

 

 

 

 

As far as I'm concerned,  that's pretty much modus operandi for any public school regardless of the quality of the district .  When we started looking into the schools around the area I immediately started looking into GT testing and prepping my oldest (4 yrs old at the time) for it. I figured it would be easier to test into GT the earlier he did it and I was correct in my assumption. My son got in which wasn't surprising for him but that early exposure to testing (especially with the abstract nature of GT tests at younger ages) was definitely critical for my daughter who also qualified for GT when she was 4. I believe HISD recently changed their protocol for GT testing and don't allow for it in preK anymore, but I could be wrong. 

Edited January 18 by Catdaddyhorn

[Dahobbs 17,701]

37 minutes ago, MadTrapper said:

 

 

Re: no heat at Love. It was similar at Harvard Elementary. No heat yesterday and today. A lot of the older campuses have so many bandaids it's ridiculous. Requests to replace the HVAC system have been made but it keeps getting rejected...big surprise.

I get that it's not cheap to update old schools with modern equipment, but can the people bitching about books, bathrooms, vouchers, etc please just sit down and let the adults fix actual issues such as these? We are sapping resources when we need them most. And the Miles comes out and says he regrets closing schools on Tuesday? GTFO with that BS.

 

Fucking ridiculous, the whole fucking thing. Making kids take tests in conditions like that proves what exactly?

https://abc13.com/hisd-heater-issues-pershing-middle-school-harvard-elementary-houston-freeze/14332781/

Quote

 

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- As we continue dealing with freezing temperatures, multiple Houston ISD schools are coping with heater problems on Wednesday, according to the district.

Students and parents said classrooms in at least 20 HISD schools didn't have heat on Wednesday.

This comes as students return to class after HISD and other Houston-area districts closed Tuesday due to the Arctic blast and the icy road conditions it brought.

HISD acknowledged that some schools experienced heating issues but declined to provide a number. It came during a districtwide testing day.

"Technicians are working to address problems with the heaters at Harvard Elementary School and Pershing Middle School. Our operations team is sending portable heaters to those schools now while crews work to fix the problems," HISD said in a statement early Wednesday.

In addition to those schools, Henry Middle School reportedly had a boiler and electrical system go out, along with a burst pipe. The school had an early dismissal Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. as a result.

Port Houston and Love Elementary schools are also dealing with heating issues. Students at both were dismissed early at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Love Elementary School in the Heights reportedly had one classroom as cold as 43 degrees.

Pablo Lumbea said when he dropped off his child, he asked administrators what the district planned to do about the lack of heat.

"I asked if there had been any follow-up from HISD, and the only follow-up they were getting was to ask how the testing proceeding is. No questions about heating," Lumbea said.

He ended up bringing space heaters back to the school for his child's classroom and messaged other parents, asking them to chip in, too.

"I went over there expecting it to be some small heating issue in part of the building, but as soon as I walked in, I saw every kid walking by in their coat and winter hat. It was freezing in there," Lumbea said.

He's hoping the district has a better plan for Thursday.

"It's beyond frustrating and really unbelievable this is elementary school - these are 6-year-olds," Lumbea said.

Students at Henry Middle, Port Houston, and Love Elementary schools were dismissed early as classrooms faced heating problems, some enduring indoor temperatures as low as 43 degrees.

Eyewitness News also learned the heat was out at DeBakey High School, which didn't release students early.

"You can't focus on the questions. You can't focus on anything except how cold your face, hands, and feet are," Valerie Morales, a sophomore at DeBakey, said.

Despite the cold temperatures, testing continued at most of the affected schools, including Pershing Middle School.

"We just got a whole bunch of jackets, and we put them on, and we just shared some," Kaeden Gilmore, a Pershing student, said.

"I feel like nobody should come to school because it's too cold for that," another Pershing student, Dikayla Morgan, said.

During a Tuesday night meeting, HISD Superintendent Mike Miles said he regretted closing schools during this week's icy weather, vowing that he's "not going to make the same mistake again."

Miles defended his decision to keep schools open Wednesday, even without working heat.

"If, on the whole, it's below 60 degrees and it stays that way for three hours or so, that's probably too cold. And some people would say that's not cold enough," Miles said.

Miles reportedly compared teachers to first responders, considering them essential workers.

A teacher, Daniel Santos, was present at the meeting and confirmed the comments.

He is a member of the Houston Federation of Teachers and said he disagrees with Miles' comments -- reiterating the safety of students and staff should come first.

Miles' decision is drawing the ire of several parents Eyewitness News spoke with.

"It's easy to make the decision when you're home, when you're at home when you have heat, you know, if you're in an office building that has heat," Morales' mother, Nancy Torres, said.

Port Houston School parent Jackie Garcia said they only got about 10 minutes heads up of the early dismissal and had to rush to make it on time.

"We were at an appointment with my mom and had to drop everything to pick up the kids out of nowhere," Garcia said.

HISD released the following statement:

"As of (Wednesday night), the heating systems in most HISD schools are working well. Superintendent Mike Miles just finished another meeting this evening with the Division Superintendents, members of the operations team, and other senior leaders. At this time, we have no plans to cancel classes at any of our schools tomorrow. (HISD's) dedicated plant operators and maintenance teams are working alongside outside contractors at a relatively small number of campuses to fix problems with boilers or broken pipes. Crews will continue to work through the night. We will keep families informed of any changes that could impact them."

 

 

[Nivek 16,992]

/republican platform summed up.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,362]

In a time where Abbott and crew mandates elementary schools would have armed security guards on campus... without fully funding their hiring... and districts cutting librarians to save money, I'd thought I'd update that in my district, Fort Bend ISD, there have already been 2 security guards "removed from campuses" from leaving their firearms unattended. One left it in a bathroom - a teachers bathroom luckily. The other left it in an at the time empty classroom.

“When students entered the class, they and their teachers saw the duty belt,” according to a statement send to families. “The security guard realized within a couple minutes that the duty belt was in the classroom and returned to retrieve it. Administration was made aware of the incident and the security officer was reprimanded.” (later was fired - the guard, not the gun)

Kids and parents feeling safer already.

[Brisketexan 105,452]

3 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

In a time where Abbott and crew mandates elementary schools would have armed security guards on campus... without fully funding their hiring... and districts cutting librarians to save money, I'd thought I'd update that in my district, Fort Bend ISD, there have already been 2 security guards "removed from campuses" from leaving their firearms unattended. One left it in a bathroom - a teachers bathroom luckily. The other left it in an at the time empty classroom.

“When students entered the class, they and their teachers saw the duty belt,” according to a statement send to families. “The security guard realized within a couple minutes that the duty belt was in the classroom and returned to retrieve it. Administration was made aware of the incident and the security officer was reprimanded.” (later was fired - the guard, not the gun)

Kids and parents feeling safer already.

I wouldn't worry about that.  Soon enough, the story of the "chaplain" (who your kid's school put in place instead of a licensed counselor) molesting a kid will totally take y'all's mind off the incompetent "armed guards."

Just send your thank you note to the GQP, and be done with it.

[Hookah Horns 3,083]

19 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

I wouldn't worry about that.  Soon enough, the story of the "chaplain" (who your kid's school put in place instead of a licensed counselor) molesting a kid will totally take y'all's mind off the incompetent "armed guards."

Just send your thank you note to the GQP, and be done with it.

Today's Rs are basically the Taliban with cross iconography. 

[bluto 4,943]

One of my fav parts of our broke ass property tax system is that school funding pays the price if the local appraisal district is incompetent. 

https://easttexasnews.com/san-jacinto-county-news-breakout/6004-district-begins-process-to-address-funding-shortfall

[tx 3 putt 77,560]

29 minutes ago, Hookah Horns said:

Today's Rs are basically the Taliban with cross iconography. 

Evangelical Taliban 

[Nivek 16,992]

A family we know just pulled their kid out of FBMS.  The kid had similar LDs as my kid but he wasn't in the Vanguard program.  A week or 2 ago,  the kid was leaving school, some kid jumped out of the bushes and attacked him.  A friend of his came out and pulled the attacker off and then the attacker attacks again.  A bigger kid who is his friend comes over and pulls off the attacker and then the attacker runs away.  Immediately the staff show up and the principal starts grilling the boys and threatening to call the DA on them.  Including the Autistic kid who was the victim and beaten up.   They then tried to make a racial element of it, because the autistic kid is half Mexican, the first kid who helped is Mexican and the 3rd kid who helped is white, and the attacker was black (I think this was to distract from the fact that they lost the attacker).   Rumor has it the attacker is one of those kids whose family life is too fucked up to be an afterschool special and is also suspected of having major issues that are untreated.   Anyway, the parents were not contacted.  It was just that the Dad wondered why his kid wasn't home and then he called the school to find out he was being interrogated.    This is the leadership at FBMS.  

We found this out because my wife had coffee with the kid's mom.  Apparently, they do get in-class support (something they lied to us about) and our kids have much of the same concerns/challenges.  So when they act like it is fucking new and they are trying everything well, we know it is all grade a bullshit.   We hired a new advocate and she has the cander of a rabid pitbull.   So we shall see how this works.  She said Waltrip was a "no go."   My wife also decided to start considering other schools.   My goal is to switch schools and get HISD to pay for it.   According to our new advocate they already owe us back services since I was fucking teaching my kid.   We are also recording everything.   

One thing we have to deal with is school refusal, and it is rooted in anxiety.  The dumbfucks of FBMS contacted me about his attendance and how they need him to make up time.  I say great, we are good to go, just answer me a few things first.  Well they start to get real cagey and cite district policy as if I work there or give a flying fuck.   What I can figure out is they just want him to be there in detention with malcontents and do nothing so they can push his seat time up to 90%.   Naturally, I cite the Federal Law and then in our next ARD meeting I start to hear that well the time I spent working with the kid outside of school can count for seat time.   Suddenly this major concern evaporated and the letters ceased.    Amazing they care so much about his seat time but not about the trimodal distribution of his grades.  Yes, there are 3 distribution curves.  0's.  60's  and 100s.  When he does homework or when I teach him material his grades are nearly perfect.   This is what is expected from a Vanguard kid.  When he receives class instruction only it seems like his grades hover around the 60s.   Or he does fuck all in class and gets 0s.   If they can't engage the kid then their classes are too fucking big and/or their teachers are not performing.

The rot at FBMS is systemic and starts at the top.     I noticed recently that I turned on the Xbox and my son's game was still loaded.  I see that his friend is online.  I wonder about that, I guess the kid is sick.   Nope.  Turns out, that is his account for when he is at school playing Fortnite.    

-----------------------------------

A few other nice things I learned about recently.  The national average for LDs is about 15%.  In Texas we say the number is ~11%, but Rick Perry appointed an asshole who decided we needed to drive that down to 8.5% in order to save money.   So this is the root cause of some of the fuckery.  It started there at the TEA.   As the districts were working hard to get to that number our politicians celebrated their success and claimed it was because we were just so good at educating people here that is why we didn't need more funding.  There is no education program in existence that replaces the need to dyslexia intervention or other related issues.   Furthermore at the school level they can siphon up to 55% of the funding from SPED kids back to Gen Ed.   THIS IS BY DESIGN to FUCK OVER PEOPLE.  

At one HS in Houston they had 67 students working with a speech pathologist to help them,  Miles killed that.   While he promises that everyone will get the service they need, he is fucking outright lying.  Those kids have had 0 support all year.     There is also rumor that Miles is looking to outsource ALL services for SPED to a private company, we all know this grift is going to happen.  

 

Sorry for the length (It's on the tee, have at it).

[safe sex 11,796]

I'm really sorry that you're having to go through all that bullshit

[SydneyCarton 48,213]

12 minutes ago, Nivek said:

A family we know just pulled their kid out of FBMS.  The kid had similar LDs as my kid but he wasn't in the Vanguard program.  A week or 2 ago,  the kid was leaving school, some kid jumped out of the bushes and attacked him.  A friend of his came out and pulled the attacker off and then the attacker attacks again.  A bigger kid who is his friend comes over and pulls off the attacker and then the attacker runs away.  Immediately the staff show up and the principal starts grilling the boys and threatening to call the DA on them.  Including the Autistic kid who was the victim and beaten up.   They then tried to make a racial element of it, because the autistic kid is half Mexican, the first kid who helped is Mexican and the 3rd kid who helped is white, and the attacker was black (I think this was to distract from the fact that they lost the attacker).   Rumor has it the attacker is one of those kids whose family life is too fucked up to be an afterschool special and is also suspected of having major issues that are untreated.   Anyway, the parents were not contacted.  It was just that the Dad wondered why his kid wasn't home and then he called the school to find out he was being interrogated.    This is the leadership at FBMS.  

We found this out because my wife had coffee with the kid's mom.  Apparently, they do get in-class support (something they lied to us about) and our kids have much of the same concerns/challenges.  So when they act like it is fucking new and they are trying everything well, we know it is all grade a bullshit.   We hired a new advocate and she has the cander of a rabid pitbull.   So we shall see how this works.  She said Waltrip was a "no go."   My wife also decided to start considering other schools.   My goal is to switch schools and get HISD to pay for it.   According to our new advocate they already owe us back services since I was fucking teaching my kid.   We are also recording everything.   

One thing we have to deal with is school refusal, and it is rooted in anxiety.  The dumbfucks of FBMS contacted me about his attendance and how they need him to make up time.  I say great, we are good to go, just answer me a few things first.  Well they start to get real cagey and cite district policy as if I work there or give a flying fuck.   What I can figure out is they just want him to be there in detention with malcontents and do nothing so they can push his seat time up to 90%.   Naturally, I cite the Federal Law and then in our next ARD meeting I start to hear that well the time I spent working with the kid outside of school can count for seat time.   Suddenly this major concern evaporated and the letters ceased.    Amazing they care so much about his seat time but not about the trimodal distribution of his grades.  Yes, there are 3 distribution curves.  0's.  60's  and 100s.  When he does homework or when I teach him material his grades are nearly perfect.   This is what is expected from a Vanguard kid.  When he receives class instruction only it seems like his grades hover around the 60s.   Or he does fuck all in class and gets 0s.   If they can't engage the kid then their classes are too fucking big and/or their teachers are not performing.

The rot at FBMS is systemic and starts at the top.     I noticed recently that I turned on the Xbox and my son's game was still loaded.  I see that his friend is online.  I wonder about that, I guess the kid is sick.   Nope.  Turns out, that is his account for when he is at school playing Fortnite.    

-----------------------------------

A few other nice things I learned about recently.  The national average for LDs is about 15%.  In Texas we say the number is ~11%, but Rick Perry appointed an asshole who decided we needed to drive that down to 8.5% in order to save money.   So this is the root cause of some of the fuckery.  It started there at the TEA.   As the districts were working hard to get to that number our politicians celebrated their success and claimed it was because we were just so good at educating people here that is why we didn't need more funding.  There is no education program in existence that replaces the need to dyslexia intervention or other related issues.   Furthermore at the school level they can siphon up to 55% of the funding from SPED kids back to Gen Ed.   THIS IS BY DESIGN to FUCK OVER PEOPLE.  

At one HS in Houston they had 67 students working with a speech pathologist to help them,  Miles killed that.   While he promises that everyone will get the service they need, he is fucking outright lying.  Those kids have had 0 support all year.     There is also rumor that Miles is looking to outsource ALL services for SPED to a private company, we all know this grift is going to happen.  

 

Sorry for the length (It's on the tee, have at it).

Sorry man. This sucks. And sadly everything in HISD will get worse, way worse. 

[hookemATL 11,931]

Infuriating. 

[Nivek 16,992]

1 hour ago, SydneyCarton said:

Sorry man. This sucks. And sadly everything in HISD will get worse, way worse. 

Thanks.  Agree.

1 hour ago, safe sex said:

I'm really sorry that you're having to go through all that bullshit

Thanks.  But in a way I am not sorry.  I have some advantages that others simply do not have in terms of resources and some familiarity with the laws now governing SPED and I know a little bit how to be a royal pain in the ass.   I wanted to employ my tactic of demanding ARD meetings weekly until shit goes right but my wife was really trying to reign in my temper.   I generally do not want to be hostile but when I get around these people I feel like they are fucking us over and the kids who do not have resources or knowledgeable parents are harmed to even greater extent.   

I am mostly just sad for my other kids though.  We spend so much fucking time on this B.S. I feel like I am ignoring the other kids.    I completely understand why several families I know gave up and went private.   Non-religious people just dumping a kid into a religious school because at the root, those people were actually decent there and seem to give a shit about their fellow humans that is how low the bar is.   I guess that is the major appeal as far as where I am concerned, someone who gives a shit about education.   I cannot believe we are well under 20% when it comes to my kids teachers.  Fuck he only has 7 classes.   

And while I am an ass to some of the teachers,  I can feel for their predicament, but they are part of the system.  The SPED coordinator should have approximately 130 students (10% of 1300 total student at FBMS) and how can they manage and implement that many IEPs.    It is intentional fuckery.  Drive away the parents of SPED, push them private and then declare how we have only 8.5% of the population in SPED relative to the national average.  We are Texans.  We are exceptional(ly stupid and corrupt)!

Rant off. 

Edited February 29 by Nivek
minimal clarity improvement

[SydneyCarton 48,213]

17 minutes ago, Nivek said:

Thanks.  Agree.

Thanks.  But in a way I am not sorry.  I have some advantages that others simply do not have in terms of resources and some familiarity with the laws now governing SPED and I know a little bit how to be a royal pain in the ass.   I wanted to employ my tactic of demanding ARD meetings weekly until shit goes right but my wife was really trying to reign in my temper.   I generally do not want to be hostile but when I get around these people I feel like they are fucking us over and the kids who do not have resources or knowledgeable parents are harmed to even greater extent.   

I am mostly just sad for my other kids though.  We spend so much fucking time on this B.S. I feel like I am ignoring the other kids.    I completely understand why several families I know gave up and went private.   Non-religious people just dumping a kid into a religious school because at the root, those people were actually decent there and seem to give a shit about their fellow humans that is how low the bar is.   I guess that is the major appeal as far as where I am concerned, someone who gives a shit about education.   I cannot believe we are well under 20% when it comes to my kids teachers.  Fuck he only has 7 classes.   

And while I am an ass to some of the teachers,  I can feel for their predicament, but they are part of the system.  The SPED coordinator should have approximately 130 students (10% of 1300 total student at FBMS) and how they only have 1 coordinator to manage that many kids.    It is intentional fuckery.  Drive away the parents of SPED, push them private and then declare how we have only 8.5% of the population in SPED relative to the national average.  We are Texans.  We are exceptional(ly stupid and corrupt)!

Rant off. 

[Brisketexan 105,452]

Reading y'all's stories above makes me ragey.

It would be bad enough of this shittacularness was simply due to our resources being limited and thus spread too thin.  But it's not that.  It's not even just generic incompetence (although as with any institution, it surely plays a part).  No, it's the fact that this outcome/scenario is 100% intentional.  That pisses me off.

Because as always.....the cruelty is the point.  Cruelty.  To literally the most vulnerable members of our society.  There is no bottom to our shittiness.

[safe sex 11,796]

13 minutes ago, BeardIP said:

Which is not great on the other side as well, which is why, as the parent of religious private schoolers, I'm 100% against the voucher crap.

What the fuck does that even mean?

[SydneyCarton 48,213]

6 minutes ago, safe sex said:

What the fuck does that even mean?

He's saying that he hates the idea of kids from non-religious families hobnobbing as peers with his children being raised to worship god and ask no questions. Basically, NIMBY, but for religious schools. He doesn't want those filthy philistines flooding his christian school and potentially exposing his children to outside ideas. 

Edited February 29 by SydneyCarton

[F250 28,826]

6 minutes ago, safe sex said:

What the fuck does that even mean?

He prefers his kids not mingle with heathens at their private school.

[WhatTheBuck 28,811]

4 hours ago, Hookah Horns said:

Today's Rs are basically the Taliban with cross iconography. 

Talibaptists. 

[safe sex 11,796]

Well yeah, but I wanted him to try and say it

[SydneyCarton 48,213]

Just now, safe sex said:

Well yeah, but I wanted him to try and say it

He won't say it. 

[atomheartbevo 89,844]

1 hour ago, Nivek said:

The SPED coordinator should have approximately 130 students (10% of 1300 total student at FBMS) and how can they manage and implement that many IEPs.    It is intentional fuckery.  Drive away the parents of SPED, push them private and then declare how we have only 8.5% of the population in SPED relative to the national average.  We are Texans.  We are exceptional(ly stupid and corrupt)!

We are friends with a couple of SPED teachers, and they are somewhat convinced that the state on some level is trying its best to drive SPED students and parents away from public schools.  They feel like it’s gotten worse after COVID.  It’s not any one thing, but more like death by a thousand cuts.  They just feel like the system is working against them and the kids and the parents. 

Edited February 29 by atomheartbevo

[atomheartbevo 89,844]

14 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

He's saying that he hates the idea of kids from non-religious families hobnobbing as peers with his children being raised to worship god and ask no questions. Basically, NIMBY, but for religious schools. He doesn't want those filthy philistines flooding his christian school and potentially exposing his children to outside ideas. 

He doesn’t want those non-religious kids banging his religious kids.

13 minutes ago, F250 said:

He prefers his kids not mingle with heathens at their private school.

I read that as “He prefers his kids not mingle with Heathers at their private school.”

[LCHorn 2,632]

6 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

We are friends with a couple of SPED teachers, and they are somewhat convinced that the state on some level is trying its best to drive SPED students and parents away from public schools.

I think someone among the GOP elites has decided “you know what, we should do school like Louisiana.  Those Cajuns got it figured out!”

[4th&Five 41,603]

Nobody tell him that the longer he suppresses his kids the more they’ll rebel later. 

[atomheartbevo 89,844]

5 hours ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

In a time where Abbott and crew mandates elementary schools would have armed security guards on campus... without fully funding their hiring... and districts cutting librarians to save money, I'd thought I'd update that in my district, Fort Bend ISD, there have already been 2 security guards "removed from campuses" from leaving their firearms unattended.

Back in the late 80s and in the early 90s, there were a group of students who left rifles and other hunting gear in their cars in the Dulles student parking lot because they’d go hunting out at one of the kid’s family ranch and would leave straight from school over a long weekend so this kind of hits home.  Or so I was told.  

One of my wife’s friends is a teacher at Clements and her kids go there, and she was shocked when I mentioned it one time, and I was not surprised by her reaction because of course somebody from Clements would be shocked by something like that.  

[Brian Fantana 6,692]

16 minutes ago, BeardIP said:

Proverbs 22:6, my friend.

But yes, the world is littered with good men and women who have wayward children and there wasn't much they could do about it. Tragedy abounds this side of Eden.

Your life revolves around a fairy tale you moron.