In an effort to keep true to what I said I would do once on the School Board. Now it begins…
This past November at an Instructional Committee meeting, a new program was introduced called Media Power Youth. This is taken from the minutes of the November meeting.
“The overall goal of the program is to provide students and families with support in developing positive media literacy skills; to make better choices with the media they look at. The media that our children are exposed on a regular basis relates to the escalating behavior and violence issues that we are experiencing. There is no cost associated with the implementation of this program; curriculum can be integrated with current guidance and technology, with nothing being taken from established courses.”
You can watch the entire presentation here, it comes at the beginning of the meeting.
http://www.rochesterschoolvideo.com/instruc11_21_13.html.
If you choose to watch part of this video you will see that SB member Sue O’Connor said she would like to see their evidence based data that show this is an effective program, she mentioned that we already have many programs that have been bought and paid for that overlap many of these same themes. She also stressed that it is not and should not be the school’s position to tell parents what their kids should be playing or watching. Another SB member said that it has been his experience that many parents are ‘clueless’ about what their kids are watching and we should be taking the opportunity to educate parents. A now former SB member, said that she didn’t think that the DARE program went far enough and that this would be good to continue with.
Side note...
[Many of you are familiar with the DARE program. Last I knew, it was a fifth grade program. What you may not know is that currently, on at least one 7th grade team in Rochester, DARE is again being taught in 10 week sessions, once a week, during science class.]
There was much more conversation about how violence has escalated in these times and what, if any is the schools responsibility in all this. The fact that the schools have taken on being a nanny to the kids rather than just focusing on academics is a concern. A vote passed to invite Media Power Youth in to see their presentation and gather more information at the next committee meeting in Dec. Doris and Rob Gates, and I spoke to caution the board about adding more programs to the school district when we are struggling to meet our academic goals, including the 90% reading and math goals. You can read the complete minutes to that meeting here:
http://rochesterschools.com/SAU/board/Minutes/minins11.pdf
So Media Power Youth gave its presentation on Dec 19th. You can watch the meeting here:
http://www.rochesterschoolvideo.com/instruc12_19_13.html
Also, I hate being on video, Just Saying.
That presentation begins about 1/3 through the video. They showed a video that the board had deemed inappropriate to include on the SB video for the public to see. The video clip began with Sponge Bob, then a Zombie video game and other 1st person fighting games that might have been rated “T” or “M”.
Side note...
[6th grade last year had a program called “Courage 2 Care”. Included in this program was a movie called “Bully”. The movie was designed to show the harsh realities of bullying and included content of violence, homosexuality, suicide, and profane language. “Bully” was rated “R” when it was released in theaters in 2012. After much controversy, the Motion Picture Association of America, caved to the pressure of the Department of Education and an online petition and released it unrated. Words heard in the movie include, f**k, p**sy, a**, ni*gger, and b*tch. There was a permission slip sent home to give consent to this movie and another. Many parents were unaware of it’s content, figuring that if the school was showing it, it must be ok. My guess is that the SB didn’t know anything about this movie at the time that they approved this program. A full review of this movie can be found here: http://www.pluggedin.com/videos/2013/q1/bully.aspx. I am as fascinated that the DOE has so much power to decide what is appropriate for my child and can control the MPAA, as much as I am with other ‘educators’ thinking I need help in deciding what my child should be watching and playing at home.]
Back to the presentation. Again, concern was expressed by 2 members of the board and a few from the community asking is it our schools responsibility to tell students and parents what they should buy, watch, eat and play. The people that were for this program basically said that parents need help making these decisions. Sue O’Connor said that if this goes forward she would like to have parental permission to participate in the program. I asked the presenter when this program would be taught and was told it could be in art, health, and technology or guidance class. They have given it flexibility to be able to work within the school scheduling needs. So it then came to a vote to “recommend to the Board approve approaching Media Power Youth regarding Rochester becoming a model community for implementing the Violence Prevention through Literacy program.” The Vote came down to 2-2 which meant the motion failed with a tie vote.
I thought that was the end of it. So I didn’t see the need to rally parents to come and speak about invading privacy, taking instruction time from the kids, or social engineering. I was wrong. At my first Regular School Board meeting last week, a school board member read from a script prepared for her, (I saw the exchange) You can her here: bringing it up before the full SB.
http://rochesternh.pegcentral.com/player.php?video=8bf4e5b1ecb2e63bf334573a6bf7f9c7
This happens at minute 33. So despite the vote failing, it gets brought back to the table. More talk about it. This time I mentioned that I could probably support it as an after school club and parent workshops, (Like an elective). If you watch through this segment until the vote you will hear the Chair say that there is a minimum cost to the district, for when the teachers are pulled out for training. That means we are paying for additional substitute teachers. Another vote is taken by the full board, and the motion passes 7-5. More social engineering soon to come to a school near you! I am sure that you have heard me talk about testing, assessments and surveys. Here are some examples of questions that the kids are going to be asked. How much time do you watch TV? What is your favorite movie? What is your favorite video game? How much time do you spend on the computer for fun? What is your favorite snack food? Do you think you will smoke a cigarette in the next year?
So why am I writing all this when the motion passed, and it seems like it’s a done deal? Because YOU had no say. YOU didn’t know anything about this. Maybe YOU don’t care. Maybe YOU think it’s a good idea. Maybe YOU think it’s just another way of the government (Yes, Governor Maggie Hassan has given 6 figures it get this in our communities) getting in our business, but YOU didn’t know. Because it was supposed to have died in committee. So now that YOU know, what do YOU do? I recommend watching the video clips I post here, and go to the Media Power Youth website, which can be found here:
http://mediapoweryouth.org/ .
Do your own research. If you don’t like it, email your SB member and let them know. Then at the next Regular School Board meeting show up, speak during the public comment, mention that you emailed your concerns to your SB member.(Usually, no one’s negativity gets reported). If you are ok with it then do nothing. THEY will be happy to come in and raise YOUR child. Just Saying...
