Posted on 06/17/2003 6:29:40 AM PDT by agenda_express
Action Alert
Tell Bureaucrats to Stop Harassing Parents! Help Save Parental Choice in MA!
ISSUE: Our friend Chuck Muth (ChuckMuth.com) has just alerted us of an INSANE situation up in Waltham, Massachusetts. This one's so ridiculous, it makes our blood boil just to think of it. Take a look at his message:
Kim and George Bryant have been home-schooling their two kids, George (15) and Nyssa (13), much to the chagrin of the Waltham Public School (WPS) system. The Bryants thus far have refused to force their children to take a government-mandated standardized test to assess their education level.
The WPS empire struck back last year, obtaining a court order giving custody of the kids to the Department of Social Services (DSS), which ever since has been threatening to take the kids away from their parents.
As the MetroWest Daily News reported on Friday, "Both sides agree that the children are in no way abused mentally, physically, sexually or emotionally, but legal custody of the children was taken from Kim and George Bryant in December 2001." They were ruled to be "unfit" for not filing educational plans with the government.
Unfit. For not filing paperwork. With the government school system. Over the education of their OWN children.
In fact, George Bryant was actually ARRESTED six years ago for failing to comply with the government's dictates over the home-schooled education of HIS children.
Arrested. Thrown in jail. Like a criminal. For taking personal responsibility for the education of HIS kids.
This six-year legal battle exploded on Thursday as bureaucrats from the DSS showed up at the Bryants' home with police escorts at 7:45 a.m. and attempted to remove the children from their home and force them to take the mandated tests.
Once again, the Bryants told the government agents to pound dirt, resulting in a seven-hour standoff. "This has been a six-year battle between the Waltham Public Schools and our family over who is in control of the education of our children," said Bryant.
How DARE these parents stand up to the government and defend their right to raise their children as they see fit? Who do they think they are?
At least, that's the attitude of one outrageous government bureaucrat involved in this brouhaha.
"We have the legal custody of the children and we will do with them as we see fit," DSS trooper Susan Etscovitz told the Bryants Thursday morning. "They are minors and they do what we tell them to do."
It is near impossible to describe the rage I feel inside every time I read those chilling words.
WE will do with them as WE see fit. They do what WE tell them to do.
The sheer audacity of a bureaucrat to make such a statement about someone else's children who are in no way abused in any shape, form or fashion is beyond comprehension to me.
Comrade Etscovitz maintained on Thursday that, "No one wants these children to be put in foster homes. The best course of action would be for (the Bryants) to instruct the children to take the test."
One can just imagine her words being delivered with a thick East German accent: "Oon now, all vee need ees dee kidz!"
This isn't about education. It's about control. It's about an imperial government trying to crush a movement in its infancy which could one day spell the end of the public school monopoly over our kids' educations.
Home-schooling means children might start learning again. REAL learning. Not "whole language" and "self-esteem." Learning about radical notions such as freedom, liberty and personal responsibility. Notions such as limited government and the Constitution and the vision of our Founding Fathers.
Yeah, we can't have THAT!
ACTION ITEM: As it appears that DSS is getting its marching orders from the Waltham Public Schools, it seems the best place to start is with the School Superintendent there. Her name is Dr. Susan Parrella. She can be reached via email at parrellas@k12.waltham.ma.us or by phone at (781) 314-5400 or fax at (781) 314-5411.
Emails are great... but nothing quite ruins a bureaucrat's day like dealing with a flood of phone calls. I know. I just called. The woman who answered the phone hung up on me when she found out what I was calling about. They do NOT want to answer any questions about this.
Oh, and by the way. I reached Ms. Etscovitz this morning. She was not a happy camper once she found out what I was calling about. Refused to comment on her "we will do with them as we see fit" statement, saying only, "I'm terminating this conversation now," before slamming the phone down.
I think it would really bug her if a lot of people called (781) 641-8500, so please, please don't rattle her cage, OK? That number not to call again to reach Susan Etscovitz is (781) 641-8500. That's (781) 641-8500. (You could also fax her at 781-648-6909.)
-- Chuck Muth
We normally set up a website with a pre-written letter to Congress, etc. However, we thought it would be much more effective for our members to make contact as described above, in their own words. If you get a response you'd like to share, be sure to drop us a note. :-)
NOTE: The situation in Waltham has gotten WAY out of hand. Outraged Americans across the country need to contact these bureaucrats NOW to express their outrage and demand they do the RIGHT thing. Be sure to forward this Alert to everyone you know who wants to help preserve the integrity of this bastion of real American values. Thank you!
I am all for homeschoolers that do a good job, but I am against those who screw things up for a few years and then expect the district to take over and be responsible for their kid who can't read in 9th grade.
Now that is naive.
This isn't the answer either. My middle child is a 7th grader. He just took the SAT's and he tests higher than 77% of the graduating seniors and has had no special tutoring. He could easily spend the next 5 years watching TV and never learn another thing and still test more than sufficiently on standard tests.
If you think that the Liberal government schools are above that, then you are the naive one. The Liberal mentality is to win at any cost, by any means necessary.
why don't we force testing all children raised in day care or the parents who put them there, or test all people on welfare ? What is that they have rights? Oh, testing them would be against their civil rights, their right to privacy. Oh yeah... I thought so.
I say NO to standardized testing of homeschoolers. These tests are to make sure the teachers we pay are instilling knowledge in kids who are in their care all day. Homeschoolers do not apply.
Children raised in daycare are tested when they go to school. Many jobs in our society require testing. Drivers licenses require testing. Formal educations require testing. MOST universities require a certain score on a standardized entrance exam. In fact... I'd be interested to see a list of accredited universities that don't. Certainly not everyone is required to go to a university And I support you and your kids rights to do whatever you choose to earn a living.
I don't have a problem with people who homeschool at all. I do see a difference between homeschool and noschool. Often I think that many people such as the key figures in this article are from the noschool philosophy, which is why they aren't willing to devulge the information they are teaching their kids, nor allow their kids to be tested. But that's also just my opinion.
Testing is a necessary evil in today's modern age. I don't want a doctor who has never passed a test in his life working on me. I don't want to drive on roads with people who have never passed a test in thier life. I don't want a drug reasercher/developer developing drugs for me that has never passed a test in his life. I don't want a cpa doing my taxes who has never passed a test in his life. A society that allowed anyone to open any sort of business he chose to, without being tested for the proper skills would be a dangerous place. Insurance would be out of sight, and the courts would be full of people suing others because of bad business practices...... oh yeah.. that's what we have now:) But it would be about a gazillion times worse. :)
Waltham Assistant City Solicitor Howard Rock agrees that no law requires the couple to submit a lesson plan, but he said the School Committee has the right to create legal requirements by its own authority.
Another bureaucracy of the anointed has run amok and it is the judge we should be freeping, because her court order is in error and is a flagramt abuse of power.
I agree with most of what you say,however I need to make a point here, unschooling is not the same as not having education instruction. I am not sure if you would be interested in a thread on unschooling, or not.
I will raise my children to follow the laws , but that doesn't mean if we disagree with the law we can't try and fight it. Of course murder , theft,and rape are completly out of the question. Driving regulations are necesary for the saftey of everyone , including my family. SO we don't mess around with just any law.
For me this is about the civil rights of everyone. This article yells out zero tolerance for parents ,to me. If we know the children are getting educational instrucion and they are healthy , what are we arguing about? What is the beef with the DDS? It is just that they won't take the standardized test? That is it? Then this is about who has the power and right over the children. The DDS need to prove they have the power to keep alive.
Therefore ,this isn't about educational instruction ,or school ,or standardized testing. My point is that we don't test the IQ of kids who go through day care and compare them to kids raised at home. We don't test the IQ of people who want to be parents and compare them to people who have been parents, or people who want to get married to those who have been married. Not yet anyway.
Where do we draw the line on allowing the State to test, and judge our IQ levels? If I say I am responsible for my son and his education , isn't it up to me to teach him what he needs to know and test him as I see fit? When he is old enough he can figure it out for himself. Isn't that our business?
Those tests are not designed with homeschoolers in mind, they are designed to see if the kids in public school are getting any info, and if the taxpayers are getting their money's worth.
In this case the standardized test is used a weapon to force the compliance of children to learn what the state deems worthy, thereby wasting the time of the homeschool students who may wish to study something else.
It is about educational freedom.
It is about educational choice.
If the system and it's testing methods were so great, why would parents be avoiding it by the droves? If it were effective why are there people who can not function in this society? I dare say those kids getting pregnant, living on welfare, doing drugs and commiting crimes are not in large numbers homeschooled kids. I beleive those kids have gotten their "education" everywhere else but.
BTW, I do have dreams that one day my sons will follow in their relative's footsteps and attend Cornell, Princeton, or University of Sothern California.
I agree. This seems awfully hysterical.
Personally, I don't see the big deal. (the "Freedom" argument doesn't cut it with me, sorry.) I grew up in an area that had me doing calculus by age 14 - it was the state requirement. By 16 every student was sitting down at the same time for the same series of closed book tests that ran for several weeks. This process was repeated again at age 18. The Exams? -- the School Certificate and the Higher School Certificate. The State- it was New South Wales. The Country? Australia. Best education in the world, was a state education there because we were tested and tested often and expected to perform to a very high standard. These 2 major tests your performance was compared to everyone else in the state. (CIA stats on Australia rank it as #1 in the world as far as literacy goes.) If you failed your exams you were held back.
The US doesn't know what testing is.
With all due respect, I don't care what they do in South Whales.
With the track we are on my son will be doing calculus by the time he is nine or ten. Big deal. Literacy does not equal IQ ,or creative IQ. It is very important, but just because your area is #1 literacy does not mean you are creative thinkers or problem solvers, which BTW ,I think is more important to the individual and society as a whole.
Besides, just because you were forced to memorize a bunch of data and forced to spit it out on demand , does not mean you had a better education than anyone, now or then.
If the Aussies in South Wahles are so smart, why haven't they( you) created any of the major technological advances of our decade? What has been going on over there. The world is booming with potential right now, and the people in South Whales are leaders in what area? People from South Whales prduce what? People from South Whales are head and shoulders above other countries in what feild?
You may indeed have some fine people there and you may have limited cutting edge medial research in Australia, but if I were you I would not rush to judgement on what American children do or do not need ,based upon what you had in South Whales a number of years ago.
Let the kids take a standardized test and let their life get back to normal.
With all due respect, I don't care what they do in South Whales
The state is New South Wales.
If the Aussies in South Wahles are so smart, why haven't they( you) created any of the major technological advances of our decade?
Oh, but they have. You don't care about New South Wales, remember? Otherwise I'd list them for you.
I were you I would not rush to judgement on what American children do or do not need ,based upon what you had in South Whales a number of years ago.
Fox and Friends talked this morning about 41,000 12th grade students in Florida who couldn't even answer tests at 10th grade level. The reason is the extremely poor education system. Touchy-feely education doesn't teach anything.
Year after year is showing American kids are being left behind. Hi-Tech jobs are going to places like India- for many reasons - because its cheaper and also because the employer doesn't have to spend his $$ having his employees taught basic math.
Had an Hispanic girl work for me at NASA -- she was admitted to UCLA and got her degree as a EE (Electrical Engineering). She didn't even know the basics -- like Ohm's law. She only got her degree because she was a female minority in a male dominated department.
I could go on. But you get the drift. There's nothing wrong with taking a test. That is of course, if the parents are actually teaching their kids.
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