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!
Exactly my point about the American Public school students getting left behind. They are tested and tested by our socialist education system to no avail. I hope for something better for my children than to have their education dictated to them by some liberal agenda.
I choose to homeschool because my husband and I can do a better job than the public schools ,and all of their tests. We will decide what our children need to be tested on. We will decide what they need to learn and when they learn it.
I have no problem having my children tested, but I believe it should be for our purposes. If they are not up to par, than we pay the consequences.
I am talking about standardized test for homeschoolers.
This is the population that needs to LOWER our standards in order pass the public school standardized tests. There are a hundred good reasons my children will never attend a public school. Their low standards are just one reason.
For example, my five year old loves learning about the theory of flight, inventions, fractions, computer technology and science. I am not going to hold him back ,by forcing him to STOP learning these things, so I can spend his time addressing the state and federal standards for pre-schoolers.
In America I have that right ,and I choose to use it. Since we are talking about the welfare of my child, I take it seriously enough to make sure he knows whatever he needs to know to be sucessful in the market when he is older.I have already begun my research on what college entrance may look like in 10-13 years, and what skills may be needed THEN ,for success. The people who make up, and force ,the standardized tests are not as interested in my child's welfare as I am , believe me.
I have no intention on forming my child's education on any standardized test, ever.
You may think it is bogus, but my sister in law over there at NASA agrees with me about homeschooling, if you are in the San Fan area you could look her up and ask her if she know about OHM's law. I bet she does and my husband , who will be teaching my five year old science and math , understands it and knows how to apply it. I estimate we will be learning about that in a year or two. My son has already asked some basic questions about electricty..... Perhaps we should not bother since that won't be on the standardized tests for kindergarden, will it?
Personally, I don't think they are being tested enough. If they were, it would be easy enough to determine that thousands of students have been promoted to the next grade level still lacking the basic skills. Something then would have been done sooner.
I also think that the only real hope for the deplorable school system is homeschooling. If little Johnnie really loves Chemistry, he might be lucky to get 2/hrs a week lab time in school, at home, he could pretty much take what he wanted.
The stats also show that homeschooling turns out a far more superior student in so many ways.
So whats the problem with a little test? The home school kids would ace it. I just don't buy into the "I won't submit to standardized testing, because it infringes my freedom" argument simply because unless you plan to totally drop out of society altogether, testing is a part of society. That's simply the way it works.
We take a standarized eye test to apply for a driver's license -- tests for health insurance -- tests for higher learning. I can't see a future lawyer wanting to be presented before the court even though he hasn't yet taken the bar exam because he doesn't believe in standarized testing. That will simply not fly. If you or your kids ever want to work at a place like Microsoft, expect to be tested, because that's what they do.
The parents say they have been teaching their kids, yet refuse to submit to a standard test to demonstrate it. How do we really know that they are teaching the kids? Because they say so? Suppose the parents have been subjecting the kids to porno movies every day. How do we know that the kids are really getting an education?
Like I said, if the kids are really getting an honest education, then given the state of the school system today, a homeschool kid should take any test given to him/her and ace it.
Then the next step, is for the homeschool parents to demand that the school teachers sit for the same tests. Those teachers that can't pass, get tossed out. Make 'em live by their own rules. Turn it into an opportunity ("my kid can do calculus at 14, why the state school kids do the same?") Demand higher standards. That's the only way to break the back of the teacher's union.
ok - my point was is there a law regarding basic competency? - Competency that say... the standardized test is used to assess?
It's a complicated issue. In this part of the country, we have a lot of non-English speaking parents --often single mothers who didn't go to school themselves and don't care at all if their children go to school. Without testing you wouldn't know if the children are playing in the streets all day or sitting with their welfare moms watching television all day.
But if a family is self-reliant, uses no food stamps, medicaid or is living on any taxpayer program I think it's a different matter ---obviously such a family knows how to provide a living for itself, they would do the right thing for their kids ---I could see the government leaving alone those who aren't dependent on government programs but interfering more with those who are dependents of it.
This gets into the grey area of social legislation that ends up making no one happy. Because a family is not dependent on a government program, how do you know that they are teaching their kids? Because they say so?
If they are teaching their kids, the kids should have no problem with any tests. How about this-- we know that the standard tests appeal to a pretty low standard -- homeschoolers take the same test as their public school counterparts and actually get a reprive from testing for a while. I can imagine a scenario whereby homeschooled little Johnnie has demonstrated 10th grade math at the 8th grade level. So the state leaves little Johnnie alone for 2 years. Meanwhile, the homeschool parents demand that the state teachers take the same tests. Those teachers that can't pass, lose their position.
I don't know of any way to show that the parents are actually teaching their kids other than by a testing method.
Well I do. We homeschool and had our daughter tested using a standard test. This test was not mandated, we did it on our own. On the math portion, the majority of the test was on 'estimating'. Now I undertand that estimating can be a quick, effective tool in certain circumstances, but we were teaching addition and subtraction, not estimating. Needless to say, she did not do as well on that portion of the exam. Could this have been used against us? Quite possibly.
Many state education departments disagree with you. Testing is not mandated in many states, but instead use a portfolio of student work. If asked, the parent will submit this work along with records of attendance for review. Most states find that this works better and is actually cheaper than standardized testing, which has its own problems. It's usually very obvious if a child has not been in a learning environment. Standardized testing as a tool is over rated. Just look at how many public schools spend the weeks prior to tesing teaching directly to the test.
I disagree. I've gone through a public school system, where all students in the entire state sat for a series of closed book examinations that lasted over a 2 week period. The students are then judged by how they did amongst their peers in the entire state. They were no multiple choice questions. You either knew the subject matter or not. The higher school certificate examination (also used as the university entrance exam) took 2 years to prepare. This is not a case of quick rapid memorization to take a test to forget it an hour later. You had to demonstrate that you knew your stuff. But then, so did everybody else.
Standard tests should be that - a marker to see how everyone does. I'm convinced that the homeschoolers will out do the state school kids every time.
This is not a unique case. Lots of homeschoolers are quality people who give quality education to their kids. And lots aren't. You guys going around generalizing about how wonderful homeschoolers are and how lousy public school teachers are are not being fair. There are lots of good and lots of bad on both sides of the issue.
Most people who homeschool do it for a period of time because they are mad at the school district. Mad because their kid wouldn't turn in work and is flunking. Mad because he is a discipline problem and they are convinced that everyone in the whole world is picking on their little angle. Mad because he doesn't qualify for sports. Mad for whatever reason... but those who homeschool for "moral" reasons are not in the majority.
When you guys think of homeschooling... you think of a mom or dad sitting at the table with their kids doing math and reading etc. And these wonderful Norman Rockwell pictures enter your mind. And in lots of cases (probably yours for sure) this is true. But OFTEN it is the kid out playing basketball in the driveway all day while mom watches Days Of Our Lives... and when the kid is in middle school .. they ship him off to school with about 2nd grade knowledge. That is the reality OFTEN.
ummm.. that should be a YOUNG man
The reason they are in ninth grade and can't read after attending a public school for 8 years is simple. Because their parents have never made them do work and turn it in. Because their parents have signed wavers saying that the child cannot be retained. So I dont' think shipping them home for homeschooling is going to help a darn thing.
Go spend a few years as a public school teacher and deal with every kind of parent out there.....then come back and talk about teachers and what really goes on in public schools.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.