Nation’s Schools Should Follow Rhode Island Superintendent Gallo’s Example

The Education Action Group Foundation will support Central Falls, Rhode Island school Superintendent Frances Gallo with a billboard dedicated to this public school patriot, smack dab in the middle of downtown Central Falls.

Gallo’s recent decision to push past teachers union obstruction and do what’s best for the district’s struggling high school students is a prime example of the bold actions needed to turn around the nation’s failing schools.

Gallo recommended firing all 74 Central Falls High School teachers after the local teachers union refused to sign off on long overdue reforms needed to save the chronically failing school, which has been on the state’s list of underperforming schools for seven years. Less than half of Central Falls High School’s students graduate and only seven percent are proficient in math, state data shows.

Gallo offered to pay teachers $30 an hour for some of the additional duties, and expected them to kick in a bit of their own time to improve instruction.

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Tags: American Federation of Teachers, Central Falls Rhode Island, Education Action Group, failing schools, Frances Gallo
Posted Feb 23rd 2010 at 4:01 pm in Big Labor, Education, News, Politics, State Politics | 79338155 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2010/02/23/nations-schools-should-follow-rhode-island-superintendent-gallos-example/Nation%E2%80%99s+Schools+Should+Follow+Rhode+Island+Superintendent+Gallo%E2%80%99s+Example2010-02-24+00%3A01%3A35Kyle+Olson

Teachers’ Unions Are Washington’s Fat Cats

We know how liberals, particularly those in the education establishment, like to say that Corporate America dictates public policy through campaign contributions.

A new report, prepared by the Center for Responsive Politics and the National Institute on Money in State Politics, does a good job of dispelling that myth.

As it turns out, the National Education Association was by far the nation’s biggest political contributor during the 2008 election cycle. The NEA dropped a cool $56.3 million on its list of favored liberal candidates at various levels of government, which was about $12 million more than the runner-up contributor spent.

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Tags: American Federation of Teachers, campaign donations, Education Intelligence Agency, education reform, fat cat contributors
Posted Dec 18th 2009 at 12:41 pm in Big Labor, Education, Politics, State Politics | 4887460 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2009/12/18/teachers-unions-are-washingtons-fat-cats/Teachers%27+Unions+Are+Washington%27s+Fat+Cats2009-12-18+20%3A41%3A33Kyle+Olson

Mmm mmm mmm…Indoctrination of Our Youth (Sing It With Me Now)

Some public school teachers have been seizing the opportunity to hail Barack Obama as the virtual second coming, something we haven’t seen for any president in recent memory, if ever.

ABCnews.com, among others, reported on the snappy, stubbornly catchy tune, “Mmm mmm mmm…Barack Hussein Obama,” filmed last school year in New Jersey.

BigHollywood.com has posted 11 new videos of young children singing the praises of Obama.  In one video, the 5^th and 6^th graders call Obama, “a modern Martin Luther.”  “He’s known around the world – come on, let’s celebrate.”  Yippee.

In another, 5^th graders sing, “You know we gotta get Barack and all of his crew/ In the White House so they can prove that.”  “Change that we can believe in” is what they’re referring to.  No advocacy or indoctrination there…

Another, of kids ranging from pre-school to 3^rd grade: “Barack Obama there is none higher/ Other politicians should call me sire … We’re the baddest of the bad/ The cool of the cool/ I’m Barack/ I rock and rule.”

To me, it’s not disturbing that it’s for a Democrat.  It’s disturbing that it’s the elevation of an elected official to a kind of mythical, god-like status – a place where no sitting president belongs.

The American left would have been outraged if such a thing had been happening in America’s schools to honor George W. Bush, and rightly so.  And I would have been right there with them, demanding it be stopped.

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Tags: American Federation of Teachers, Barack Obama, National Education Association, Obama school videos
Posted Nov 6th 2009 at 9:03 am in Culture, Obama, Politics | 2595859 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2009/11/06/mmm-mmm-mmm-indoctrination-of-our-youth-sing-it-with-me-now/Mmm+mmm+mmm...Indoctrination+of+Our+Youth+%28Sing+It+With+Me+Now%292009-11-06+16%3A03%3A12Kyle+Olson

Teachers’ Unions Block Reform For Their Own Benefit

Earlier this year Robert Chanin, the recently retired general counsel for the National Education Association, discussed the effectiveness of teachers unions at a gathering in San Diego:

Despite what some of us would like to believe, it is not because of our creative ideas. It is not because of the merit of our positions. It is not because we care about children. And it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child.

NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power.

You can see that portion of his 20 minute speech here:

Chanin’s honesty was, in a way, refreshing. For too long the NEA, as well as the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), have been hiding their intentions behind the guise of student advocacy, using children as human shields to block criticism.

But the truth is that the NEA and AFT are huge national labor unions with political agendas and have a great deal of influence with state and national lawmakers.  NEAexposed.com and AFTexposed.com are designed to bring attention to those facts.

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Tags: AFT, American Federation of Teachers, Arne Duncan, Barack Obama, charter schools
Posted Oct 3rd 2009 at 12:05 pm in Big Labor, Politics, State Politics | 1182678 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2009/10/03/teachers-unions-block-reform-for-their-own-benefit/Teachers%27+Unions+Block+Reform+For+Their+Own+Benefit2009-10-03+19%3A05%3A36Kyle+Olson

ACORN ‘Advisory’ Committee Has Huge Stake in Success of Group

As ACORN’s faux independent review gets under way, ACORN’s advisory committee, made of up key liberal allies, is watching it closely, as seen in a fresh media advisory issued by David Redlener of The Advance Group and obtained by ACORNcracked.com.  That’s because ACORN is a critical component to the Left’s agenda for America.

Remember during the bank bailouts the justification was because they were “too big to fail.”  Well, to the liberal Left, ACORN is too big to fail.  It has its hands in too many things and runs an effective ground operation through registering voters, turning them out on Election Day, as well as managing ballot initiative campaigns as a tool to boost Democratic turn-out.

Consider Professor Peter Dreier’s analysis of ACORN’s use of ballot initiatives, from a 2005 article he wrote:

ACORN’s strategy to inject this issue into state ballot measures is another important step. In early 2004, ACORN initiated a statewide ballot initiative in Florida to raise the state minimum wage, registered thousands of residents, mostly in low-income, minority neighborhoods in cities, to increase turnout on election day, and won a decisive victory the following November. On its own, this is an impressive accomplishment. Since its victory in Florida, ACORN and its labor allies have begun talking about grassroots minimum-wage initiatives in other states in 2006, particularly where Democrats have a chance to expand, or hold on to, key offices. Campaigns are already underway in Ohio, Michigan, and Arizona, and ACORN is exploring possibilities in six other states and several cities. The strategy is designed to increase voter turnout and to provide candidates with a clear economic-justice issue.

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, Andy Stern, ballot initiatives, Barack Obama
Posted Oct 1st 2009 at 11:20 am in ACORN, Big Labor, News, Politics, State Politics | 1099042 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2009/10/01/acorn-advisory-committee-has-huge-stake-in-success-of-group/ACORN+%27Advisory%27+Committee+Has+Huge+Stake+in+Success+of+Group2009-10-01+18%3A20%3A17Kyle+Olson

Obama Administration Moves to Shutdown Disclosure of Big Labor-ACORN Connections

Even before U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis was sworn in, Big Labor insiders like AFL-CIO lawyer and Obama appointee Deborah Greenfield were busily dismantling useful union financial disclosures produced by former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.  It’s another Big Government – Big Labor partnership aimed at keeping individual workers, whom they claim to represent, in the dark.

Why the hurry? Perhaps Union Bosses wanted to prevent the Virginia GOP and inquisitive people like Patrick Semmens from visiting DOL’s UnionReports.gov website that clearly reveals the Big Labor-ACORN collusion.  Semmens discovered that teachers’ union bosses gave about $500,000 to the same Brooklyn ACORN office exposed on BigGovernment.com.  Both the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) awarded ACORN service contracts.

That’s right; union bosses gave teachers’ forced union dues to the same ACORN that appeared to have no problem facilitating child prostitution.  No wonder Solis’ Big Labor friends want to shutdown financial disclosure!

In fact, UnionReports.gov provides detailed union financial reports and is a primary source for many union members, reporters, columnists, bloggers, and researchers.  But, the days of disclosure are numbered.  Big Labor has commanded Labor Secretary Solis to shut it all down. 

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Tags: ACORN, AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers, Big Labor, Deborah Greenfield
Posted Sep 24th 2009 at 5:05 am in ACORN, Big Labor, Congress, Featured Story, Obama | 7686115 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dloos/2009/09/24/solis-moves-to-shutdown-disclosure-of-big-labor-acorn-connections/Obama+Administration+Moves+to+Shutdown+Disclosure+of+Big+Labor-ACORN+Connections2009-09-24+12%3A05%3A06Don+Loos