So You Think YOU Can Change The Game?

Anti Fed Ed Warriors, you have gotten used to me using NC as an example of what to look for. Even when I don’t point that out, you are great to say, “Hey, wait, we have that too in______________________.”

Likewise, I’ve done the same. It’s great to be a part of a national team. We know our opponents well. However, I don’t think they truly realize that we’ve figured out by now the fallacy behind ‘school choice’. Page 17 of the Final ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) law and page 33 of the ESSA Final Conference Report were 100% crystal clear that ALL education must be aligned to the same thing.

I guess because our opponents didn’t read EITHER version like we did, they think every time a new way to falsify ‘school choice’, we will cheer for their brilliance. Not me, not at all. I won’t ever jeer. I’ll just point to the research and evidence.

So, imagine my ‘not impressed’ attitude when I found this NC Bill for yet another (yawn) new type of school.

Warriors, Meet NC Senate Bill 160, “Lie Changing Experiences School Pilot Program:

Bill link is here.
Before we look at what a life changing school will look like, I want to remind you of the May 2018 article I wrote where NC was trying a new school pilot program (again phony school choice) called “Lab Schools”.
These schools would combine K-12 education to colleges. The hope was to raise up low performing students via college students in education majors all the while using ‘best practices’ in ed reform.

Should work like a charm, right?

Contrast THAT with this new pilot “Life Changing Schools”. NC has entered into a P3 (Public Private Partnership) with the Children and Parent Resource Group, Inc. (CPR).
CPR is made up of professionals from education,social work, and  community health. Volunteers also are on board to round out the mission of CPR. Below is a brief snapshot of that mission:

Why would I point out the $360,000.00? The “charity” part of the CPR is to offer all their programs for children and youth at no cost, yet HB 160, has set aside $360,000.00 for creating a pilot school. Would it not make more sense to keep the program as is and SAVE NC taxpayers almost $400,000.00?

Since CPR is a type of wrap-around community based program which fits right into the ESSA mandates for such, it sure makes sense to me. But, I’m not a politician.

The “LCE” Community Education Project (Life Changing Experience) Community Education Project:

To see the entire page for the LCE, you’ll find that here.

To learn how the charity of your financial donation works, visit this page. To see the $6.00 per child information, visit this one.

If you’re as curious as I am about how to take a traveling educratic show and turn it into a full time school, you’ll need to watch their 9 minute video explaining they are a ‘first of its kind, a social business’ NOT an educational institution!! (near the 1:10 minute marker)

You’ll also hear the word ‘holistic’ connected to the approach this business takes towards kids. “Holistic” is also known as ‘whole-child’ as in ‘educating the whole child’..a VERY worn out CCSS Machine phrase which hides not only SEL, but much more.

You’ll also need to look for the items chosen to replace negative behaviors with (sustainability tops the list). You’ll also need to listen for the ‘universal plan’ to children in the video. Other ‘buzzwords’ to listen for ‘hypnotic’, ‘keep our world sustainability safe’, ‘life changing app’ and weekly emails’, ‘systematically’, and then listen to the partnerships mentioned. Not one is education based! To see and read the rest about LCE, visit this link.

Warriors, no doubt this new ‘school’ SB 160 wants to create is tied to the NC effort to make schools safe. Problem is, ESSA’s mandates for safe schools attacks our 2nd amendment rights, personal and privacy data intrusion, behavior and mental health overreaches, everything in between!
To read the 2018 Final Report for NC School Safety, visit here. “Behavior” is embedded 27 times, ‘mental’ is embedded 44 times (most are in relation to mental health).
Directly from that Final Report is NC’s HB 75.

What You Can Look For In Your State, Based Off NC’s Final School Safety Report:

1) Is your State considering a state-wide use of a mental health risk screening assessment? NC’s looking at either Pearson’s BASC-2 Behavior and Emotional Risk Screening OR FastBridge Learning’s Social Emotional Learning Risk Screening.
Pearson’s information on BASC-2 (be sure to download the samples for parents to use at home. Those assess the family).

FastBridge Learning’s information on their SEL Risk Assessment.

2) Will your State amend any Statutes or Constitution passages?
NC’s HB 75 will amend the NC General Statute Education Chapter (115C), particularly Section 46 by adding a new section. Previously, Section 46 dealt with school parking and school vehicles. The new section will embed behavior and mental health into civic responsibility.

3) Will your State train school support mental health people? Are these ‘supporting’ people professionals or volunteers?
NC’s will be trained with the MATCH-ADTC (Modular Approach to Therapy for Children with Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, or, Conduct Problems)
To see the MATCH sample, go here.

To see the handout, visit this link.
Warriors, are we seeing how this is going to impact imagination? If I have absolutely no unrealistic thought, how can I think intelligently? If I have zero negativity, how can I understand bad things?

4) Will your State create and expand government in the name of school safety?
NC’s plan is to do so. How? A new State government center will be inserted under the NC DPI (NC Dept. of Public Instruction). This new center is to be called the Center for Safer Schools. This entire center will be under the direction of State Superintendent Mark Johnson. Part of the center will use Threat Assessment Teams. Given that so much SEL is woven into school safety, this should be a huge concern.

5) Will your State continue to increase mental health P3s (public private partnerships) or blend funds between different agencies? NC plans to do this by continuing to align education and health/human services.

Closing:

Warriors, to answer the title’s question, yes, States CAN change the ‘game’ in education.
However, it is not is a good direction whatsoever.