Media Power Youth, behind closed doors and in front of the camera.

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...

Picking Battles...The Email

I have tried to figure out how to handle the Geography Assignment that was given to son #3. I decide that I would have him do the assignment, filling all the expectations, showing he is “Competent” which is one of the new buzzwords in education these days, along with rigor, and vigorous-but having him do it from a fictional point of view. He will make up a boys name, pick a country, address, and learn about that culture. He will do the assignment from that fictional boys point of view. Now hopefully his teacher will go along with this. Here is the email I have sent her.

Mrs. XXXXXXXX,

I am hoping that you will accept a modified version of this Geography of Me assignment. When XXX brought the paper home to show me he made the remark, “I have a really intrusive Geography project to do.” Naturally that got my attention. With all the things that have come out about the IRS, and the NSA among other government agencies collecting data, and have been proven to use such data against people, this assignment gives me pause. Even if that wasn’t happening, having a book compiled with everything about my child, including actual address, longitude/latitude, favorite past times, activities and other personal identifying information all in one place, really makes me uncomfortable. If any of these books came into a predator/pedophile hands, it could make any of our kids’ easy prey. I am having XXX do this project as a fictional character. In this, he will be researching and learning about a different country and customs, while making sure to meet all Five Themes of Geography, to hopefully demonstrate that he is at least ‘Competent’ in doing this assignment. I hope this will be acceptable. I look forward to your response.

Kathy Dunton

She is probably going to write me off as being whacked. And I probably am not going to get her vote for School Board. But that is what happens when you have to choose and pick a battle. It will be interesting to see where this goes, for me anyways.

Picking Battles...

About 12 years ago a made a decision to return boy #1 back to public education. He had started there, went to private school for 2 years, and due to financial reasons, I had to pull him. I then home schooled him badly for 2 years. I say badly because we were in financial chaos. My husband had 2 back surgeries within 2 months. He had been out of work for a while, and it was taking a long time to catch up. I wasn’t able to work 10 hour shifts waitressing and home school effectively. So I re enrolled him in school his 8^th grade year, and just resigned myself to pick my battles. When you have a different world view from what is being taught in school, there can be a lot of battles. I believe I have brought my kids up well. They are strong in their beliefs. With boy #2, I did the same and honestly except for having to point out to a principal once, that having a Christmas tree in a class room was not a church and state thing, there haven’t been many battles. Until now. Common Core is more like a war. You face them with statistics, facts, and experts, and they just repeat the same unproven propaganda. I regress, Common Core is not what this blog is about, or at least that I know of at this point. This week, boy #3 brought home a Geography project. It’s called The Geography of ME. It kind of an “All About Me” book he is supposed to compile. Benign right? Well maybe if you have been sleeping for the past six months. In this project he is supposed to include latitude/longitude data on where his house is and nearby landmarks. Describe his family, religious group, what holidays he celebrates. Compare that to some of his friends. What is his most prized possession? What movies does he enjoy? What music does he like? Who does he look up to? What are his plans for his future? Where does he go? How does he get there? I.e. bus, car, walk…How has he altered his environment to suit his purposes? First thing I thought of was the article I read last April about MD having a rain tax. (Anything that prevents rain from seeping into the ground, driveway, roof, patios sidewalks, etc. can be taxed). All my misgivings about this project can be summed up in the IRS/NSA/FBI Trifecta extraordinaire scandals.  Being that I have much in common with the people that have been targeted by these agencies ~ Bible Believing, Pro life, 2^nd Amendment, political active mom,~ I’m a little sensitive about these things. Picking my battles. Hmm not sure what to do. Any ideas?

Maybe Pigs are flying, maybe it's cold in hell, but today I attended and supported a cause that Burt Cohen, former democrat state senator organized. It was a vigil against Obama's proposed military action against Syria. If you know anything about Burt Cohen, you would understand why me supporting anything he supports is extraordinary. Just under 30 in attendance, Burt told me that these peace vigils, are happening all over the country. I spoke to a retired teacher from Portsmouth that thought it was a pretty good turn out considering he only read about it in the paper this morning. He also stated that the last time he attended a protest at the North Church was back in 2003, protesting the Iraq war. Besides the familiar, beautiful face who went with me, Michelle Desrochers -Jim Rubens from Hanover, was the only person I knew in attendance. This was my first protest, I hope that there are more and that more get involved so that we can send a message to our elected officials, that we don't want our troops touching Syria, this is not our war, 
and somebody needs to be returning a Nobel Peace Prize... Just Saying

Reflections of, the way life used to be..(now that's gonna stick in your head)

Been a while since I had done any actual blog writing. I have been busy researching a government program coming to every US school district, and gearing up to try and stop it, by way of writing local newspapers and a run for School Board in a few weeks. Something happened last night that took me back 30 years or so and has been occupying my brain for the last 12 hours.

I walk into the room and they look up. They put their heads together and begin talking and staring and pointing at me. I look down and try and find a seat out of the way, and will myself to disappear. What will it be today, Annie anorexic, Cambodian child, Olive oil or is it my eyes today,-frog eyes, boulder eyes, bug eyes. Doesn't really matter, every nick name I would hear would chip away a piece of my soul, my self-worth. I didn't go through my adolescence saying 'Look at me!' it was more like, 'I'm sorry for breathing your air, I have to be here, could you just ignore me, and not say mean things?'

Even though I grew up knowing my worth in Christ, what I thought I knew could not compete with what I was told every day in school.

Thank God that He uses painful things in our lives to mold us into whom He wants us to be. I am not the same quiet, meek, too tall, too skinny, always apologizing for my existence kind of girl. I actually have battled the bulge for the last 12 years, (kids will do that to you). Because I had the experience of being bullied, not in the push and shove, getting beat up kind of bullied, but in the ripping out your soul bit by bit way-I have chosen to raise my boys to not only be kind to those that are different, but to take up for the underdog. I am so proud of my boys.

So last night "when I walked into the room and they looked up and they put their heads together and begin talking and staring at me, I stared them down. They looked away. When they looked up to see if I was still looking, I smile and nod." They were 3 different generations of mean girls, I could tell. I'm not going anywhere, I have a voice, I deserve to have a place at the table.

I write this today to encourage you. When you are facing a situation or a battle that you think may be too much. That you can't do it. It's too big, remember that God has molded you and brought you through everything in your life for this time. Everything that has happened to you is a chapter in your book, His book, to be used for His purpose. Keep your head up and your hand on the plow. Don't give up.

Romans 8:28