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| The nation's 1st & only daily conservative public education commentary - Solutions, not Fear |
| P E Y T O N W O L C O T T |
How we take back our children's education: one person, one question, one school at a time. |
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| Copyright 1999-2009 Peyton Wolcott |
"Walk softly and carry a big stick." -- Teddy Roosevelt "Trust but verify." -- Ronald Reagan |
| Just because you can doesn't mean you should. |
| H o w w e t a k e b a c k o u r c h i l d r e n ' s e d u c a t i o n: o n e p e r s o n , o n e q u e s t i o n , o n e s c h o o l a t a t i m e. |
| First They Came First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a communist; Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a socialist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out --because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak out for me. -- Pastor Martin ``Niemoeller |
| "Gloria from Luling" on sidewalk outside Walsh Anderson party at Austin's Iron Cactus with unnamed man who was shy about revealing his name (TASA Mid Winter, 2007 ) |
| The American Superintendent (Leonard Merrell) as Allan Ramsay's King George III (Mixed-media collage by Peyton Wolcott, Copyright 2008) |
Wolcott
Peyton
| 6 SIMPLE SUGGESTIONS FOR SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS 1. End discretionary spending. Set an example for your staff; let them know you mean business about running a tighter ship: No trips, no conferences, no meals, no credit cards. If you want to learn more about something, use Google. Do a webinar. Read a newsletter. No golf games with vendors, ever. No chauffeurs, no rental cars. Stay home, do your work and keep your nose clean. 2. Reduce administrative costs. Go through your administrative staff roster and cut every other job, starting with getting rid of all PR and marketing. No advisors, no consultants. Learn how to really read a budget. Put your check register and all wire transfers online. 3. Ethics. No nepotism. Let your wife and kids earn a living in a field other than education. No board members' spouses working in the district. Conduct all discussions with vendors and potential vendors in the open; invite your public to watch and ask questions. Throw away your contract and work year by year. Move your chair off the dais at board meetings. You're not a team member with your elected trustees. You're not equal to them. They're your boss. 4. No construction. If you're the rare district truly experiencing sufficient growth to justify building new schools, splinter off that population and let them start their own new school district or charter school. They might be able to take over an abandoned church or office building for much less than the Taj Mahal you had in mind. 5. Back-to-basics curriculum. Math table (1st grade: add, 2nd grade: subtract, 3rd grade multiply, 4th grade divide) daily drill. You made sure your own kids learned the basics at home or with tutors; why shouldn't all children have that same opportunity? Ditto for phonics. Classical literature. History, not social studies. No more block scheduling. Daily P.E. for all. Emphasize individual effort and accomplishment. 6. Attitude. You're a public servant, not a Third World dictator. Practice humility and gratitude. Remember when your employees laugh at your jokes or tell you you're cool or vendors marvel at your every utterance that they're all sucking up to you. Remember why you got into education to begin with. Sell your house in the gated community and buy one in the middle of a real subdivision like your average parents and taxpayers can afford. Let yourself be driven not by the latest platitude you picked up at the latest education conference but by the same wonderful noble desire to educate kids that got you into this field. |
| Arne Duncan (L) and Rod "Even My Hair's For Sale" Blagojevich (R) (GRAPHIC IMAGE--Peyton Wolcott) |
| Orange County Weekly: Capistrano USD supe Woody Carter at edu-conference spa |
| REAL WORLD MATH PROBLEM #44: President Obama's brother Malik in Kenya has come down with cholera. |
| "Michelle & Andres have a talk" by Peyton Wolcott |
| Dallas mayor Tom Leppert (L) with Dallas ISD supe Mike Hinojosa (R) (IMAGE--Peyton Wolcott) |
| GOOD QUESTION: Will the U.S. Senate call Jeff Deskovic and firefighter Frank Ricci -- both wronged by Sonia Sotomayor -- as witnesses? |
Grateful as we are for our historical strengths and freedoms, just as glorious oaks do not guarantee green shoots, so also our
glorious past does not carry automatic guarantees, and our nation's headlong nosedive into socialism flies in the face of the liberties many of us in
the center-right majority still hold dear.
glorious past does not carry automatic guarantees, and our nation's headlong nosedive into socialism flies in the face of the liberties many of us in
the center-right majority still hold dear.
July 3 - July 5, 2009
| Does Putin care if the Cold War is "outdated"? |
Friends, as we gather with our loved ones to celebrate the 233rd birthday of the founding of our great republic --
our declaration of independence and constitution so unique that they have resulted in the longest-enduring single
government based on freedom in our modern world -- this July 4th, once again we as a people are taking stock.
our declaration of independence and constitution so unique that they have resulted in the longest-enduring single
government based on freedom in our modern world -- this July 4th, once again we as a people are taking stock.
'Look What I've Got'
Glad as we are to celebrate a nation so committed to equality that we have for the
first time a black male president living in our White House -- a man whose own
race turns out to be not so colorblind as they wanted the rest of us to be, with 97%
of all blacks having voted not for principle but along racial lines -- his goodies-for-all
rhetoric and that of his Congressional leadership appears to have turned into
getting as many goodies as possible for themselves.
Glad as we are to celebrate a nation so committed to equality that we have for the
first time a black male president living in our White House -- a man whose own
race turns out to be not so colorblind as they wanted the rest of us to be, with 97%
of all blacks having voted not for principle but along racial lines -- his goodies-for-all
rhetoric and that of his Congressional leadership appears to have turned into
getting as many goodies as possible for themselves.
The guys aren't doing any better. John Cornyn and Chuck Schumer led Senate discretionary travel spending
with Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, ahead for having spent $150,000 in the six months between October 2008 and
with Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, ahead for having spent $150,000 in the six months between October 2008 and
Nance, do tell: Has Afghanistan's
Operation Enduring Freedom turned into
Operation Freedom to Shop?
Remember two years ago when while still only a
Representative Nancy Pelosi stopped in Syria on her
way to Afghanistan long enough to ogle jewelry in
Syria? Mrs. Pelosi's taxpayer-funded luxe travel has
now reached the point that even ultra-liberal blog Daily
Kos is critical of her "skiing in the Alps [with her
husband]. And...she took seven Democrat colleagues
along with her. And...the whole trip cost us—who were
hurting and worried at the time about our finances—...
taxpayers $300,000?"
Then there's Mrs. Obama's taxpayer-funded fashion
jaunt to London to visit the Queen, coverage of which
has led her now to want to be taken seriously enough
that we're paying for her new speechwriter.
Operation Enduring Freedom turned into
Operation Freedom to Shop?
Remember two years ago when while still only a
Representative Nancy Pelosi stopped in Syria on her
way to Afghanistan long enough to ogle jewelry in
Syria? Mrs. Pelosi's taxpayer-funded luxe travel has
now reached the point that even ultra-liberal blog Daily
Kos is critical of her "skiing in the Alps [with her
husband]. And...she took seven Democrat colleagues
along with her. And...the whole trip cost us—who were
hurting and worried at the time about our finances—...
taxpayers $300,000?"
Then there's Mrs. Obama's taxpayer-funded fashion
jaunt to London to visit the Queen, coverage of which
has led her now to want to be taken seriously enough
that we're paying for her new speechwriter.
| Mrs. Pelosi shopping in Syria on a taxpayer-funded trip in 2007. (IMAGE--Peyton Wolcott) |
| House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a delegation of Democratic lawmakers to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan for a day. Before landing in Kabul, the eight lawmakers and their entourage of spouses and aides spent eight days in Italy, spending $57,697 on hotels and meals. A spokesman for Ms. Pelosi says that she was working in Italy, meeting with U.S. troops at Aviano Air Base, laying a wreath at the Florence American Cemetery, giving a speech to Italian lawmakers and visiting the Pope, among other things. |
| Mrs. Obama's strategic wave in London. |
Because all real and substantive change starts small,
starts local and starts simple, our local public schools
are our new Concord.
Cleaning them up is the surest, fastest, easiest and
cheapest means available to average Joe's of bringing
us back to freedom.
starts local and starts simple, our local public schools
are our new Concord.
Cleaning them up is the surest, fastest, easiest and
cheapest means available to average Joe's of bringing
us back to freedom.
Remember Concord, the battle in 1775 where
everyday people, farmers and business owners, picked
up their muskets in a small town in Massachusetts and
drove away the most powerful army of that day?
everyday people, farmers and business owners, picked
up their muskets in a small town in Massachusetts and
drove away the most powerful army of that day?
March 2009, "most of it on airline flights, private and
commercial. Democrat Chuck Schumer from New York
is the runner-up for the big-travel-spender award; he
spent more than $140,000, including $111,000 on
private charter flights around New York."
commercial. Democrat Chuck Schumer from New York
is the runner-up for the big-travel-spender award; he
spent more than $140,000, including $111,000 on
private charter flights around New York."
| John Cornyn (L) and Chuck Schumer |
Developing . . . , |