Teacher, Pastor, File Suit Over Language in Charter Schools Amendment

(click headline for full story)

What does this have to do with cell towers?  It is the belief of GTCO-ATL and many others that the cell tower push for our schools is related to an ALEC  initiative to allow private companies take over the education of many of our children through virtual schools.  ALEC is the  American Legislative Exchange Council that allows corporations to initiate model bills to Congress that help them carry out their profit goals often at the expense of the health and safety of our citizens.  ALEC is most well-known as pushing forth the legislation that was controversial for its use in the Travon Martin shooting in Florida which says that it is okay to shoot another human being simply if you claim that you "felt threatened" at the time you pulled the trigger   Since the other person may not be alive to tell their side of the story, and since your feelings about something are really only known to you, this bill is very controversial because, some say, it legalizes murder under certain circumstances that are very subjective.

Since current charter school rules include the fact that there must be a physical site in order to open a charter, the only way for the ALEC plans to move ahead would be to establish a separate authorization board, the charter commission.  This commission will not be responsive to parents as it is not an elective body.  Its members will only need to be concerned with the profitability of the businesses that are assisting with the campaign finances for the few, corrupt Republicans who are pushing through the Amendment with misleading wording that seeks to hide the truth from the voters and trick them into approving it.  The outcome of this lawsuit may determine the future of the charter commission which will, in turn, determine whether or not we will see more and more cell towers pop up in our neighborhoods and on our school grounds, even with the knowledge that the radiation they emit is labeled as a possible human carcinogen with the largest at-risk population being children.

From the Athens Patch  Filed in Atlanta, the lawsuit claims the language is misleading.

• By Rebecca McCarthy

Opponents of Amendment 1, which provides for a Charter Schools Commission, have long criticized the language of the ballot itself as misleading. As an earlier Athens Patch story says,

Senate Democrats criticized the latest move by proponents of a November charter schools ballot amendment today, calling a new ballot preamble "biased, inaccurate and electioneering at its worst."

"As it was written in March, the charter schools question on the November ballot was misleading. The addition of a preamble to the ballot question heightens the inaccuracy," said Senate Democratic Leader Steve Henson of Tucker. "The preamble language adds to the bias and subjectivity of what citizens will be voting on. The language intends to mislead voters in an effort to ensure a specific outcome. This is not democracy."

Now, a Dalton teacher and an Atlanta pastor have filed a lawsuit against Gov. Nathan Deal, Lt. Gov Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp, requesting the amendment not to be enforced, even if voters approve it. The suit was filed in Fulton County Superior Court, according to a story in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

The ballot language and a preamble that describes it are “affirmatively and purposely misleading,” says a lawsuit filed by Rev. Timothy McDonald, senior pastor at Atlanta's First Iconium Baptist Church, and teacher Beverly Hedges, who has been teaching for 22 years, according to the story.

Scientists of the Bio-Initiative Report Call Out the U.S. FDA

Provided by: Neha Kumar, India. (clck headline for details)

Get the Cell Out - ATL is proud to have met many people during the battle against cell towers on school grounds in DeKalb County, GA, and around the greater Atlanta area. While we expected to speak with other active communities in the U.S., we didn't expect to meet people in other countries! But, we recently received an email from India saying that they were encouraged by our fight.  They wanted to share some of the great work they have done to convince their government to reduce the level of background radiation from towers and education the people. 

From a presentation made by Neha Kumar, India.

Among the important literature they have shared with us, this letter to the FDA, dating back to 2010, stood out to us because it was calling out those who should have known back then that cell phones and cell towers are dangerous, especially for children. Yet, here we are in October 2012, moving forward in a sneaky fashion, likely to install cell phone towers without proper notice and without admitting the truth that is behind them.

UNLESS WE VOTE NO TO THE CHARTER SCHOOL AMENDMENT ON NOV. 6, virtual education is on its way to mainstream classrooms, you can bet on it. The infrastructure is being laid as these words are being written. The gadgets have been purchased. Without a sound educational plan to back it up, our school system is soon to embark on a huge financial investment that will, in the short term, help the bottom line of some equipment manufactuers and education outsourcing businesses that are not even based in Georgia.

In the long term? Our children will likely not be any further ahead than they are now. Since people learn best from other people, it is a very difficult challenge to expect children, especially the very young, to succeed in a school that requires a large amount of self dicipline and motivation. 

And those families without the knowledge, time or resourcess avaiable will be unlikely to know how tto help their own children understand the homework, deal with technical difficulties, impart the lessons of taking care of expensive electronics, prevent theft and damage or even know what it is that is being taught. Will it be worth the money? For some, maybe. Will the children understand when they get sick who did this to them? Will we ever be able to forgive those whom we know were involved? What will we think of ourselves?

 

It is right around the corner so it is time to start thinking about all the possible outcomes, not just the immediate gratifications.  It will be here soon.  Regardless of your politicial affiliation, you have to object to seeing innocent people run over by laws, legislators, burocrats and CEOs, helpless to stop dangers from popping up at their own child's school, or next door to their own home putting their health and financial welfare in jepordy.
And, if your child is one of the one's affected, how will it feel to know this letter below, and likely many others, were written but fell on deaf ears?

The Interphone study referenced in the letter below was an industry-funded long term study that showed some significant increased risk in cetain types of cancer, yet the cell phone industry covered it up. 

Other countries immediately changed their standards for safe emissions upon the release of this study.  Others waited until the WHO backed it up with a warning of its own.   

What is the U.S. waiting for?  Maybe they are waiting to hear from YOU! 

Scientists of the BioInitiative Report call out the FDA! “All-clear” Wrongly Issued on Brain Tumor/Cell Pho...

Charter Schools: Dialogue Between Dumb, Greedy and Corrupt

Virtual Charter Schools? What the Amendment is Not Telling You.

(click headline to read more...)

 

Is this what you were expecting from the charter school amendment?

From The Tucker Patch:  http://tucker.patch.com
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 12:25 am

 

 

Are there people out there just waiting to start charter schools but somehow cannot get them approved? 

 
Are there really charter schools that can operate on only the state's portion of the funding?
Who are these people and what kind of schools are they wanting to open here? 
 
Changing the state constitution is a big request. Before we vote on Nov. 6, let's make sure we know exactly what is at stake. 
 
Here's one possible scenario:

"Gee, I wonder how we can start a charter school without a building or enough money to pay lots of teachers," says nonexistent person #1.

"Yeah, and the 13 other charter schools, dozen or so magnet and theme schools, IB program schools, technological schools and neighborhood schools are just not enough. By golly, I need another choice," says fictitious person #2.

"I have a solution," says slick dressed K-12 or "Connections Academy" or "Other New Online School" sales and marketing representative.

"Wow, you look really smart," responds bozo actor #1.

"That's because I am," says the K-12 associate with his General American dialect so as to not give any clue to the fact that he is from out of state, or even another country.

"Have you considered a virtual charter school? Here are some fancy pamphlets I just so happen to have on this high gloss, heavy weighted paper stock, so you know you can trust what is typeset onto its pages."

"Yeah, we thought about that," says well paid spokesmodel #2, "but our local board of education will never approve something like that. We tried and tried to get them to approve a school with a promise of less than 50% graduation rate and a high drop-out after less than a year attendance, but they didn't like that idea. And they have really low standards."

"We can appeal to the state board of education, but they keep telling us we are broke and need to close schools, not start new ones. I'm guessing they wouldn't overturn the decision."

"Looks like we're stuck with the multiple options to choose from that we already have now. Plus, all the church-based schools and community schools. We are in the Bible Belt, after all."

"Don't forget about the private schools, honey. And the home school options," says the Man #1.

"Oh yeah, that's right. We have those options, too. Plus a state run online school and a local cyber-academy."

"Awwwww.... that's too bad," says Mr. K-12 man. "I have an idea for a virtual charter school that I need to sell to someone stupid. I thought you might want to try convincing a bunch of parents who don't know any better and like the idea of free laptops to sign their kids up! Their moms or dads will likely be expected to stay home with them, of course."

"What makes your school better than others?"

"We were first."

"Oh."

(awkward silence)

"And we have better graduation rates than other online schools, but not as good as brick-and-mortar schools."

"Uh-huh."

(Man #1 and Woman #2 start to walk away. But then..)

"Say, did I mention that we make millions and millions in profit? And we hardly cost the school district a thing?" says desperate salesman from K-12. "As long as I can keep signing the suckers, errr... I mean, kids....up, we can keep hiding the actual churn rate of our attendance and bragging about our annual enrollment increases. The more I sell, the more money for me and my bosses."
"Wow, you must be rich!"

"Yes, but don't worry about that. Besides, I have to watch out for some pesky lawsuits coming from New Mexico and Virginia. Oh, and Florida, too, I think."

"Awwww, you poor, misunderstood salesman. It's tough out there, isn't it? Here, let me count how much money you might have in that wallet for me and my friend here. We might be able to help you out," says greedy snake in the grass #1.

"What's your idea, Jim Bob?" says idiot actress #2.

"Well, the way I see it, we can help each other," says paid actor #1. "I have this friend who is in the state legislature. You know, the people who make the laws n' stuff. I will tell him the problems with the local school board and ask if he can help me start a virtual charter school."

"Once he hears about all the money, he'll surely say yes!" says doll face #2.

"Right! And then he can pass a law that says that some kind of a fake, made-up, overpaid board of people can approve our virtual school. Then we can hire Mr. K-12 here to run it for us and we won't have to worry about things like walls, ceilings, or teachers. We won't need libraries, or a football team or even books.  Think of how cheap this could be!"

"Then how will the kids learn?" says suddenly concerned accomplice #2.

"Who cares? Didn't you hear the man say he make lots of money?" says childless man #1.

"Yeah, but... I don't...."

"If we get the state to appoint a board and let them approve schools, then we can probably get a bunch of money, too!! You know, just like they promised the PTAs that kept quiet about the cell towers. Come to think of it, what ever happened with all that ... "

"But the kids..."

"Ma'am, don't worry about the kids. They will be fine. If they do not keep up, we have friends in the private prison industry who will be happy to take them in. They also make lots of money. Not your kids, of course. Other kids. Ones you won't even see because the school is online, remember??" says drooling K-12 representative as he gets out the contracts.

"Oh, I see. But, won't this take money away from the other schools?"

"Yes, some of it, but we will take a lot of the kids away, too. So, that local group of elected folks will actually have fewer kids to pretend to be educating, until ours start dropping out, of course, and returning to their local schools. But we will have the funds up front. That's all that really matters to us. See, It's a win, win!"

"Except for the kids...."

"Yeah, yeah, the kids," says the man #1 as he signs the contract. "There's always THAT, but ... think of all the money! As soon as the plan gets rolling, you will have enough to put your kids in any private school you want, so who cares what happens to the charter after that? We'll be long gone before anyone notices that the drop-out rates are alarming, some of the teachers aren't certified, some classes have as many as 400 students in them at once, the money goes out of state to help a business stay out of Chapter 11, the people can't threaten to vote for a new board since they were appointed, or that the kids are only using their computers to play games and cyber-bully their friends. And, if one gets lost, dropped or stolen, their parents have to reimburse us for 3X what it cost us. Remember, this is GEORGIA. We're #49th in the nation for education. There is no way the people here would ever think of all of the possible outcomes. They are all stupid."

"Wow, honey, you are a genius."

"Yeah, I went to community college for a year before I dropped out."

"Do you think the people in Georgia might vote NO to Amendment 1162 on Nov. 6?"

"Not a chance. Remember, Mr. K-12 is putting lots of money into the advertising. And people here will believe ANYTHING with a fancy slogan. Remember 'Untie Atlanta'? Oh wait... well, that was different... this will be different. It's for the kids."

"Okay, if you say so. Thank you Mr. K-12!"

"Don't thank me. Thank your legislators for joining The American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC, so they can further the profit-generating ideas of big businesses like mine instead of protecting the rights of the people like they were elected to do. You can read about them here."

"And, we can thank our uninformed, easily misled or generally apathetic voters for not showing up at the polls even for a Presidential election," says smug man #1 counting his money.

"Yes, and thank you to K-12 and Connections Academy, T-mobile, ATT and all those sneaky little people behind the scenes who have quietly been laying the infrastructure to make this all possible while they thought we were not paying attention," says woman #2 as she books her plane ticket to Hawaii.

"Thanks are in order all the way around," says man in new leadership position of heading up a charter school for the kids #1. I can now say that I helped bring two great ideas together - profiting off the low achievement and lack of parental involvement in my community and a way to use technology to give the appearance of real education to an entirely new generation of families."

"And, by piggybacking off the national obsession with charter schools, we can use the good reputation of that phrase to trick voters into approving HR 1162 on Nov. 6. Funny how a country can be at war protecting freedom while at home they are willing to just give their rights away."

"Funny?"

"Well, not funny ha-ha. More like funny / sad."