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How a high school band triumphed over a bureaucracy and union that tried to kill it
Backwoods Home Magazine ^ | May 2013 | Dave Duffy

Posted on 05/25/2013 2:51:31 PM PDT by TexasBarak

There are few victories sweeter in life than that of young teenagers triumphing over organized mean-spirited adults in positions of seemingly absolute power. This is a story that comes out of my own home town of Gold Beach, Oregon. It pits the high school band, consisting of 15 teenagers ranging in age from 15 to 18, against the powerful local teacher's union that tried to shut the band down because their unpaid volunteer band director, who everybody agreed was doing a good job, did not possess an Oregon teaching credential.

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/duffy141.html

(Excerpt) Read more at backwoodshome.com ...


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Education
KEYWORDS: band; democrats; oregon; publiceducation; publicschools; teachers; union; unioncorruption
Went to the Backwoods Home magazine website to check out Massad Ayoob's latest article, and came across this article by the publisher, Dave Duffy.
1 posted on 05/25/2013 2:51:31 PM PDT by TexasBarak
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To: TexasBarak

Excellent article. I’m a teacher and the credentialism bothers me tremendously. Good for the kids in accomplishing what they wanted to do in the first place!


2 posted on 05/25/2013 3:04:55 PM PDT by JCBreckenridge (Texas is a state of mind - Steinbeck)
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To: TexasBarak
good on BWH... SCREW the teachers unions!!!
3 posted on 05/25/2013 3:09:03 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: TexasBarak
Great article, thanks for posting.

It's heartening to see a few people come together and defeat the entrenched union educators. Also great that Dave Duffy wrote the whole story about the better teachers being laid off in the cutback of funding and the slugs being retained because of the union.

Thanks also to Lenie Duffy and the 15 band members, they all did good.

4 posted on 05/25/2013 3:21:31 PM PDT by jazusamo ("Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent." -- Adam Smith)
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To: TexasBarak

Back when I was in school, there was an interest in powerlifting. One of the local guys had gained some prominence in the sport and many of the young guys were interested in a school club. The school wanted nothing to do with it.

So the guy took it upon himself to rennovare his basement (big basement), filled it with weight gear and had 20 or so high school kids there most days working out. They traveled to various events across the state and did well.

No school or school Board BS needed....And trust me, the school tried everything possible to shut him down. Tried keeping his guys off school sport teams, called inspectors in...you name it.

End result, the school had poor sports teams.


5 posted on 05/25/2013 3:21:56 PM PDT by Norm Lenhart
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To: TexasBarak

After what the Lefties did to the Boy Scouts, it wouldn’t surprise me if all the band members were soon required to bugger each other or be imprisoned for discrimination.

Nothing good in the country is safe from attacks by the Left anymore.


6 posted on 05/25/2013 3:24:45 PM PDT by Jack Hammer (American)
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To: JCBreckenridge

Yes, good article. I worked with a union in CA that represented other school workers. Some of the janitors, cafeteria workers and yard people had to be laid off and parents wanted to volunteer in their kid’s schools to help keep them at a decent level. The union sued and won, kicking the parents off their kid’s school property if they so much as picked up a piece of trash. If I had been a parent I would have been all over that.


7 posted on 05/25/2013 3:25:19 PM PDT by Rusty0604
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To: TexasBarak

Thanks for posting! While I was there, I read Massad Ayoob’s latest article, Gun Control for Dummies.


8 posted on 05/25/2013 3:31:24 PM PDT by Cyber Liberty (I am a dissident. Will you join me? My name is John....)
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To: TexasBarak

A teaching credential is worthless. it does not guarantee that the holder knows anything about the subject he/she is teaching. That’s the problem with public education in this country - teachers have credentials but no knowledge of their subject.


9 posted on 05/25/2013 3:37:45 PM PDT by beethovenfan (If Islam is the solution, the "problem" must be freedom.)
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To: TexasBarak

Fantastic story! Someone should buy the movie rights. Find a good conservative producer...Clint Eastwood comes to mind and give the elite in Hollywood something to cry about.


10 posted on 05/25/2013 3:38:31 PM PDT by oxcart (Journalism [Sic])
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To: TexasBarak

I think all that extracurricular kind of stuff—music, theater, art, sports, math and chess clubs, etc.,—ought to be done as private club-level organizations. It would do a heck of a lot to bring back community organizations and volunteerism and help to get our kids out from under the the thumb of the teachers unions.


11 posted on 05/25/2013 3:40:10 PM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: Rusty0604

It’s really not any different from Obastard’s reasoning on Sequester budget cuts. Make it hurt people.


12 posted on 05/25/2013 3:44:54 PM PDT by Cyber Liberty (I am a dissident. Will you join me? My name is John....)
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To: TexasBarak

Interesting!
A great lesson for those children!


13 posted on 05/25/2013 3:45:06 PM PDT by sarasmom (The obvious takes longer to discover for the obtuse.)
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14 posted on 05/25/2013 3:45:56 PM PDT by RedMDer (You are Free Republic. There are no outside influences. Just us, all of us. Please donate today!)
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To: beethovenfan

teachers have credentials but no knowledge of their subject.”

IMO, at least on the high school level most classes could and should be taught by people who are degreed and have had actual job experience in the field of study and forget the teaching certificate. Just think how much more kids would learn if they were taught by accountants, engineers, scientists, mathematicians, etc.


15 posted on 05/25/2013 4:01:29 PM PDT by Grams A (The Sun will rise in the East in the morning and God is still on his throne.)
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To: Grams A

Exactly. I’m a retired engineer and have been teaching calculus at a local private high school for the last ten years.


16 posted on 05/25/2013 5:49:08 PM PDT by beethovenfan (If Islam is the solution, the "problem" must be freedom.)
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To: TexasBarak

Poll to Freep

Should Indiana go forward with implementation of the Common Core Standards?

Yes - No.

Scroll down right side of page.

http://www.nwitimes.com/


17 posted on 05/26/2013 6:27:37 AM PDT by KeyLargo
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