Wednesday, September 30, 2009

My Reading Program Idea

A lot of people have been asking me how my idea for a free reading program in Fountain Valley’s schools was coming along. I’ve had to outline my entire plan at least three times and I’m tired of it. I need to get this down on paper and in the public’s eyes and ears.


For those of you who didn’t know, I am making some pretty big plans to run for a public office in Fountain Valley in the next few years (like 2 to 3). I’m actually thinking about getting a chair at a school board.


You see my whole thing is educating the newer generations around my home town, and getting them involved in their community. But my main focus is reading. I don’t think people read enough to begin with, but total illiteracy is unacceptable and has to be combated.


So my idea to get started off in Fountain Valley politics is a free reading program. Orange County has a county wide program where children can go to a library and have volunteers help them with their reading. Well my plan is to bring the volunteers to schools on certain days for certain classes, and have an hour long reading session with the students.


I thought it would be a great idea because you not only teach kids to read, but you encourage continued reading, and it gives you as the volunteer a chance to open a child’s eyes to a book that he/she has never heard of before.


Another great idea I had for this project was a “Book Drive”, where we would collect books or cash toward new books from people and businesses in the community, and give kids free books. This might also benefit the teachers who are suffering from financial cut backs and have barely any books for their students. The “Book Drive” could support both students on a personal level and teachers on a financial level hence everyone wins.


I would get my volunteers from the high schools in the area, because seniors in high school have to do a certain amount of community service hours before they can pass Government class and graduate. Not only will my program be teaching kids to read, and supplying them and our class rooms with books, it will help teens in high school graduate by completing their community service hours as well as teaching them about civic duty and the importance of being involved.


After sometime I could get someone from lets say city council to sit in on one of these reading events and tell me what they think of it. If they like it then I can ask the city council member to honor our program at city hall. You get to take a nice pretty picture and get a neat little certificate showing that the program was honored by the city. That is my first step to getting closer to running for an office.


But how am I going to do this? How can I get this started?


Well first off I have to meet with a man named Reuben Martinez who works at the Santa Ana Library, and did (so I was told) something very similar to my idea which ended up being highly successful. A friend told me about him and that he has a lot of insight and can help me out with some ideas as to how I’m going to get this program into schools.


So I have to talk to Mr. Martinez and get a little more acquainted with this reading program idea. After that I have to come up with a presentation to give to my old teachers that still remember me. If I can win their support I can move up to the next step and start to seriously present the program to schools.


But I need to first find out if I should present the idea to the school board before I go to the schools themselves. Or should I go to the board after getting teacher support? Although it may not be a bad idea to mix all of these ideas together, because I can get teacher support, support directly from the schools, and then go to the school board.


I’m obviously going to be asked how I plan on doing any of this. How do I plan on getting books? How do I plan on getting volunteers? How do I plan on managing this program? When do I plan on doing these on school site programs?


Well, I have a few answers to all of those questions.


First off, I need to build a website that will contain the information of this program like, what it is, who it runs it, where we can be contacted, how to get involved in the program, how to help the program, etc. Once I have a stable median like that it will be very easy to keep people informed with what is going on.


Secondly, I have tons of old children’s books that I have saved since I was a very young boy. I have all kinds of books that are suitable for students from K-5th grade. But, and someone brought this up to me, I have to make sure that there are no “selected reading lists”(notice I called it ‘selected’ and not suggested). I don’t want to read an awesome story to kids yet be told I can’t because the story isn’t on the reading list.


Thirdly, I will be getting my volunteers from the high schools where I have the support, and especially from high schools where I get support from my old teachers. I can ask teachers to suggest to their students to volunteer for the program so they can get their community service completed. I can also go into Government class rooms and talk to students directly.


And then the most common method would be a mixture of all of these techniques, as well as posting fliers on walls and leaving stacks of info/sign up sheets in class rooms. Also, some friends who went to FVHS with me said they would love to help me, and I could certainly use their help in class rooms to help recruit students.


Fourthly, I have no idea how I’m going to manage this program to be honest. I figure it will be an out-of-house operation, meaning that my house will be the programs HQ. Although, I am going to need other people to help me manage the program, and since some old high school mates said they would help I think I will have no trouble finding a team. I will have to form some type of small committee with them basically, which will gather at my house to meet and to plan and brainstorm.


Fifthly, again I have no structure for this problem yet but I do have a few ideas. For one, I was thinking it could be an hour long session in a teacher’s class room (or more than one per day, depending on how many volunteers we have) where we basically break the children up into groups with a volunteer reader. I mean, not only will the kids be learning and totally expanding their minds, their teachers will have an hour of free time to do whatever else they need to do like admin paper work, grades, and even plan lessons for future classes.


But if that idea doesn’t fly I will suggest that the program be an after school program like homework club/study hall. If parents want their children to participate they can just talk to one of the teachers for info, or just tell their kid that they are going to stay an extra hour after school to join the reading program.


Again, this is a free reading program that is comprised of volunteers that want to help teach kids to read and encourage continued reading. No one will be paying for this as it is all community service type of work which will benefit many, so no one has to worry about who the bill will be passed to.


I want to get as much support from teachers and administration staff as possible, as well as parents and school board members. It shouldn’t be too hard, just a lot of planning and presenting of ideas.


It takes a village to raise a child, and I think with this free reading program that’s exactly what we will be doing; getting the village together to raise the children.

So that’s my plan. Again, any support you could give me would be awesome, and if you would like to help in anyway please let me know. And wish me luck.

Monday, September 28, 2009

The Week in Review

What a crazy time it has been. I have been so busy with work, and on top of that I injured myself, and on top of that I won tickets to an album listening party. So where to begin?


Last Sunday I fell off my bike with my friend. I face planted the ground and got a gash right above my eye. On top of that the entire eye was black and blue, and when I fell I put out my hand and got some nargley road rash on my hand.


I was going to have a party on that day, but I hurt myself pretty bad and had to call it off and relax. But I’m feeling better and healing nicely.


I was able to win tickets to Jim Ladd’s “Headsets II” album listening party. It was held at the Lasarium in Hollywood. It was one awesome laser light show to the sounds of Billy Sherwood’s music and Jim Ladd’s inspirational voice over. It was all about love and with the entire Tribe there that was all you felt. It was an awesome experience.

Faris and I got our pictures with Jim Ladd, although they didn’t come out too well because the guy we gave the camera too couldn’t figure out how to use it. Faris bought the album and got Billy Sherwood and Jim Ladd to sign it. We both got them to sign our tickets as well.


I also got in contact with that guy who was complaining about after school sports and the Marching Band at FVHS. He was very sharp and quick with me, but in the end he never really answered any of my questions. Rather he told me to contact HBUHSD, which I have already done. I’m going to go look up the minutes to that meeting on their website and see what really went on.


Did anyone see that awesome Saturday Night Live sketch with President Obama turning Glenn Beck’s show on? It was absolutely hilarious! Glenn Beck tries to rearrange the letters in the word ‘Obama’ and comes up with ‘Aroma’. Quite a testament to what we saw a few weeks back, a paranoid Glenn Beck with a caulk board trying to spell words without using letters that may mean something in secret like how ‘c’ stands for czar.


Anyway, I’m going to post that clip and you should all check it out.


Today I worked all day at the computer and then did s hit load of house work which mainly included getting my room organized. Since I moved back in with my father to help him out with the house I haven’t had a chance to get my room in a good position. I just had to straighten it out today, and whereas it’s not fully complete its good enough for now until I can unload some of this junk I’m selling.


And that was the week in review for me. Stay tuned for incoming news stories.


Thursday, September 17, 2009

Neighborhood Surrounding FVHS Complaining About After School Activities?


It was brought to my attention recently that the neighborhood surrounding FVHS has been complaining about after school activity noises, mainly the marching band and the metronome.


A friend of mine who lives in the neighborhood gave me this flier that he found on his doorstep on day, which was meant to rally people to a Huntington Beach Unified High School District meeting in what seemed like an attempt to quell after school activities due to noise pollution.


The flier (which I will post a picture of) had this say:

Fountain Valley High School is a play ground for outside activities which creates loud and continuous noises. There has been an effort to work with FVHS with little being accomplished. (…)


On September 15th at 7:30pm there is a monthly meeting of the Board of Directors of the Huntington Beach Unified High School District. (…) We will be presenting our information on our grievances and use code violations and pictures showing the offending activities.


Our grievances are mainly related to the band and metronome activity, non-school sporting events, annoying light devices, code violations and general disregard for the well-being of the surrounding residents.


We need to persuade FVHS to discontinue activities after school hours and not allow activities from other areas to intrude in our privacy and well-being. Non-school activities should be held at Mile Square Park since their $20m renovation included areas for the non-school activities.


We need your support!!! Please stand up with your neighbors in taking back our neighborhood. These non-school activities wish to control our environment without regard for their negative influence on our community. (…)



When I read this flier I was pretty shocked. I thought, “Who on earth would want to discontinue after school activities?” Obviously you have a bunch of uptight people who knew they were going to be living near a high school with it’s own marching band and football team and they can’t stand it.


My friend made a good comment when he told me about this story. Why would people want to stop after school activities just because they make noise? Would it be better if there kids were tagging your walls and smoking drugs in front of your house?


And what the hell counts as a non school activity, and how do they make enough noise to disrupt anyone’s well-being? A non-school activity sounds like an activity in which students who are not on a school team go and play a sport with friends on one of the open fields.


FVHS has their own Soccer team, their own Baseball team, their own Field Hockey team, their own Football team, Swim team, Track and Field team, Cross Country team…the list could go on. There are so many students that use this field after school, and practices are occurring just about every day. So tell me, what are these non-school activities that are causing more of a disturbance than any of the school teams I mentioned above?


In the flier they claim that their main grievances regard the marching band and the metronome, non-school sporting events, and code violations? What are these code violations?


A lot of these questions are still unanswered. I did call HBUHSD, and I was told to call Principal Hertzfeld at FVHS. The Principal was not in to take my call, so I decided to call the band teacher directly.


I reached Gary Wampler, the FVHS Marching Band Director. He informed me that obviously the HBUHSD board meeting was already held two days ago, and that many things were cleared up.


Mr. Wampler is trying to keep the noise from the band as low as he possibly can. He told me that they have been playing as soft as possible and that they are pointing the metronome away from the neighborhood. He went on to say that they have been doing even more to curb the amount of noise that gets heard every day after school.


They usually hold practice at a stadium on Wednesdays at 8:30pm. When they play at the school they usually start at 6:30pm. They don’t always have access to the stadium though, so they have to play out of on field on Tuesdays and Thursdays.


Mr. Wampler told me that being a band director you want to get the best sound possible. And that the best sound is the loud sound. They try to keep it down and respect the neighboring residence, but it’s a marching band and sometimes it’s going to get loud.


He also informed me that it wasn’t just the band that caught this flak from the residence. They also complained about the football team due to yelling and the whistles that are constantly being blown. And the swim team of all teams is also at fault apparently for playing music by the poolside to loudly. The pool is much further from the neighborhood…


Either way, Wampler said that the band program has not been affected and that they are doing their best to not disturb the residence.


But come on, you live next to the high school. Did you just think that they’re would never be any noise at all? And what sits across the street from the high school? The FV Fire Department of course. The fire trucks come out of there with sirens blazing all the time, so are you going to start to tell them to keep it down?


That whole area around the high school is a noisy area anyway. The 405 runs right through there, the high school is there, and the fire department is there. Just a street over from all of that you have the hospital.


But that’s not all of the information...


On the flier there is a number you can call to get active and support this whole no after school activities thing. And it’s a 323 area code phone number which means in mainly a central Los Angeles area code.


OK, obviously someone here in Fountain Valley could have an LA number. I’ve known a few people who live here and have out of town area code cell phones. That’s what this number seemed to be, because when I called it I was taken to what sounded very much like a normal cell phone voice mail message that wasn’t personalized.


I left a message and asked whoever gets it to please call me back. I really want to know who this person is and where he lives. And I would really like it if I could get in contact with Principal Hertzfeld.



Monday, September 14, 2009

The Week in Review

What a week man.

Well as all of you know I've been covering the Obama address in schools. I was able to contact a lot of schools in Newport-Mesa, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, and Anaheim. The story is fizzling out now though, so I'm going to wrap it up in a week or so with a final review.

My blog about the Obama address was actually accepted on to theLiberalOC blog early this week, and that was pretty awesome.

Other that working on my blog I've been working my ass off with my dad's business. I seriously just want to fall on my bed when work is over and sleep the rest of the day away...

It was a very interesting party situation though all weekend. I went to my friend's Faris' house on Friday and went to Silky Sullivan's. Pulled a three-party night on Saturday. Faris had invited me to a college football party at his buddy's house, then we had to get to Huntington Beach for my friend's house warming party. Then we had to rush back to Silky's to meet up with some more friends, and that lasted pretty much the whole night. I took some awesome pictures though, which I will be posted on FaceBook soon.

And finally Sunday, I hung out with Faris for a bit and watched some Woody Allen movies, then came back home and worked on the computer pretty much the rest of the night.

Well that's all for the week in review for me. And as always keep your eyes right here because there is always more news to be broken. :)

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Mark Whicker Apologizes for Remarks He Made About Jaycee Dugard

A lot of strange things have happened in the world of journalism. And this one is right up there. Keith Olbermann has dubbed him the Worlds Worst Person in American on his show “Count Down”.


The man in question is Mark Whicker. He’s a sports writer for the Orange County Register and had an article published on the 7th of this month. The article was extremely rude, and absolutely stupid. It had nothing to do with sports at all…except he did talk about them…


Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped on June 10, 1991 while waiting for the school bus. Her kidnapper, Phillip Craig Garrido was caught on August 26, 2009. During that 18 year time span Jaycee was raped multiple times by Phillip and she bore two children between 1994 and 1998.


She was forced to live in the backyard of Garrido’s house inside a shed that had sound proof walls and had to shower and shit outside in a tent.


So in comes Mark Whicker, a sports writer who has the worst taste I have seen in a while. I can’t even find a way to put it into words…I’ll just post the whole article he wrote.


FROM THE ARTICLE

It doesn't sound as if Jaycee Dugard got to see a sports page.

Box scores were not available to her from June 10, 1991 until Aug. 31 of this year.

She never saw a highlight. Never got to the ballpark for Beach Towel Night. Probably hasn't high-fived in a while.

She was not allowed to spike a volleyball. Or pitch a softball. Or smack a forehand down the line. Or run in a 5-footer for double bogey.

Now, that's deprivation.

Can you imagine? Dugard was 11 when she was kidnapped and stashed in Phillip Garrido's backyard. She was 29 when she escaped. Penitentiary inmates at least get an hour of TV a day. Dugard was cut off from everything but the elements.

How long before she fully digests the world she re-enters? How difficult to adjust to such cataclysmic change?

More than that, who's going to explain the fact that there's a President Obama?

Dugard's stepfather says she's going to need a lot of therapy — you think? — so perhaps she should take a respite before confronting the new realities.

So, Jaycee, whenever you're ready, here's what you've missed:

•Barry Bonds, who was just leading the Pirates to their second NL East title, wound up breaking Henry Aaron's home run record. How did such a skinny guy manage that? We'll deal with that later.

•Well, actually, some baseball players began taking drugs in order to hit more home runs and throw faster fastballs. Football players, who had cornered the market on most of their drugs, began driving drunk, slapping their wives, selling drugs, and killing people. The baseball players caught more grief.

•Michael Jordan did indeed win the big one, and five others.

•Yeah, this golfer really is named Tiger Woods.

•Stock car drivers now marry international models and are invited to the White House.

•Domed stadiums, like the ones in Houston and Minneapolis, are considered obsolete, or at least unfit for baseball.

•John McEnroe became a respected television analyst, just as tennis adopted a replay system that eliminated the need for McEnroe to argue.

•Magic Johnson is a billionaire businessman, and most of us have forgotten just why he had to retire.

•You missed absolutely no Servite victories over Mater Dei in football.

•Or World Series championship for the Dodgers.

•Or Stanley Cup championships for the Kings, even though Wayne Gretzky took them to the Finals in 1993.

•Mike Tyson now makes fun of himself in movies.

•The Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley Cup in '07. Yeah, a hockey team came to Anaheim. Yeah, they built an arena in Anaheim.

•I know you've had trouble digesting all this so far, but they also built a basketball arena at USC. Honest to God.

•A guy from East L.A. named Oscar De La Hoya now makes boxing contenders rich and famous. Just as he did when he was boxing.

•The Angels won a World Series. When you learn who they beat, you'll understand why.

•Speaking of the Giants they did not move, but they did get a new stadium downtown. The Florida Marlins, who did not exist when you left, won two World Series and are getting their own ballpark. Even if you were there, it's hard to believe.

•For the most part, fans have stopped doing The Wave.

•In fact, you don't see many beach balls in Dodger Stadium or Angel Stadium anymore.

•The two NFL teams that we used to have? They've been gone for 15 years. You haven't heard anyone complain about that? Neither have we.

•Jackie Autry isn't in charge of the Angels anymore, as you might have surmised by looking at the standings.

•Joe Torre now manages the Dodgers, after a fruitful detour through New York. Tommy Lasorda? Sure, he's around. He hasn't called?

•You disappeared a couple of months before John Daly came into our lives at the '91 PGA. Who's John Daly? Never mind.

•Todd Marinovich showed why careers aren't played on paper.

•USC is one of college football's elite programs, three coaches later.

•The Red Sox won two World Series, which proves that history is bunk. The White Sox even won one. But not the Cubs.

•Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played but never threatened Vladimir Guerrero's record for most consecutive swings.

•One blessed constant remains: Vin Scully.

•And ballplayers, who always invent the slang no matter what ESPN would have you believe, came up with an expression for a home run that you might appreciate.

Congratulations, Jaycee. You left the yard.

This crazy nut…who gave him a job and not me? But he did apologize…

FROM APOLOGY:


For Tuesday's Register, I wrote a column that clearly offended and outraged large portions of our readership.


It was not my intention to do so. But it's obvious that I miscalculated the effect the column on Jaycee Dugard, and the events that she might have missed during her captivity, had on those who read, buy and advertise in our newspaper.


For 22 1/2 years at The Register, I feel like I've had a good and direct relationship with our audience and I think most of the regular readers know how I go about reporting and commenting on sports.


This column appears to have disconnected that bond with at least part of our readers. For that I apologize.


It's impossible to unring a bell or to bring back a column that has already been transmitted. In many ways the damage is done. I'm hopeful that I can be forgiven for this lapse of professionalism by those who were affected most profoundly.


I'll try to earn back the trust of those customers in my future endeavors.


Again, I regret this incident and apologize to all concerned.


The man did this for some weird reason, but I can’t figure it out yet. Why would he do this? He ‘miscalculated the effect the column on Jaycee Dugard, and the events that she might have missed during her captivity…’


I still can’t figure out why you did it. But lets see how long it takes before anyone takes you seriously again.



Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Superintendent Hubbard Update/High School Responses

The saga continues as today I was able to get in touch with a few more schools, and I have more news on other districts as well.

The biggest news I think I should follow up on is the Dr. Hubbard story. As you know Dr. Hubbard is the superintendent of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District who allegedly barred his entire district from watching the Obama address due to “political sensitivities” and “internet access” issues.

I called NMUSD today and spoke with the direction of Public Information Laura Boss. Laura Boss told me that the address was not shown in the district’s schools live in class due to technical problems. She explained that the whole controversy over Dr. Hubbard was blown out of proportion because he never really tried to bar students from watching it all. They are going to make the address accessible on the internet for children to watch whenever they want. They are also allowing teachers to show it in there class, at teacher discretion of course.

Laura went on to say that yesterday was the first day of school in that district and that they had other things to accomplish. But yes, children will be able to watch it, and if parents opt out and don’t want their children to view it they will have an alternative activity planned for them (which is most likely to go to the library).

This is where our conversation got interesting. According to Laura, giving parents the option to opt out is causing some controversy in that district. Many people are upset with NMUSD because they are allowing parents to make the decision to not have their children participate in viewing the address.

On this issue I would say that Dr. Hubbard, while his statements on the NMUSD website seemed contradictory and unclear to me, made a good choice by allowing schools to view the address at teacher’s discretion. Dr. Hubbard, you need to make your statements a little more clearly in my opinion.

But yes, the schools in NMUSD did not show the address live, but they are allowing students to watch it after the live broadcast in class at teacher discretion.

Now I also called FVHS again to see if I could talk to the principal. I wanted to ask the principal if the superintendent of HBUHSD had a meeting with principals and staff, but the principal is still too busy to respond.

I also called Edison High School and still couldn’t get a clear answer. The principal’s secretary had no information for me on whether or not that children got to watch the live address, but passed my phone number along to the assistant principal and assured me that he would be returning my call tomorrow.

Huntington Beach High School’s secretary told me that they “had no comment for me”. So it’s safe to assure that students at HBHS did not get to see the address, which doesn’t surprise me really.

But here is a new piece of news. My friend got a message on his phone from a friend who has kids. His children’s first day at school was yesterday, and he said that his kids did not get to see the Obama address and thought that maybe the Anaheim City School District had barred their schools from showing the address.

I called Anaheim City School District today and got some answers. ACSD did in fact allow their schools to show the Obama address live in class. But once again it was made clear that it would be shown at the teacher’s discretion. The nice woman I spoke with informed me simply that some teachers did show the address live and some did not. She told me that I should call the Director of Public Information Peter Daniels tomorrow as he was on a matter of business outside of his office, and that I should be able to obtain more information on this subject.

She was able to tell me though that the superintendent Jose Banda did have some kind of communication with the schools of the district, making it clear that the address could be shown at teacher’s discretion. Whether or not he had a meeting with principals and staff to discus the issue is unknown, but it was believed that some type of letter or email was circulated throughout the district. And of course, for those parents who don’t want their child to watch the address and alternate activity was offered.

So there you have it, and now it seems like this story can come to a close (unless of course I do find a school district that barred all of their schools from showing the address).

Dr. Hubbard is not barring his schools from watching the address. Although it won’t be live, teachers will have the opportunity to show their students, and the student can also look up the speech freely on campus computers when they have the technological capacity.

Huntington Beach High School said, “No comment”.

Anaheim City School District did not bar their students from watching the address.

If I get in contact with anyone and I have more information I will present it.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Are Your Children Socialists Now?

So today was the big day everyone. Today was Obama indoctrination day for schools across America, and where as some schools refrained from showing their students the Obama address many others did not.


I spent most of the day working so I couldn’t get on the phone and talk to the schools very much, but the information I did collect this afternoon was very helpful. I called schools in the Fountain Valley School district, including FVHS, EHS, and HBHS. Here are the results:


I called up the Fountain Valley School District and I spoke with the Superintendent’s Office where I was informed by a very nice woman on the phone that the Superintendent had a meeting with the principals and staff where it was made clear that this was a principal/teacher discretion issue. That they were allowed to make up their own minds on whether or not their students were allowed to watch Obama give the address in class. It was also made clear in the meeting that if parents did not want their students to watch the address that an alternative activity would be offered. That alternate activity was to go to the library.


Courrages Elementary School gave me a very simple clean cut answer as to whether or not their students saw the address in class today. That answer was no, the students did not see the address. But Courrages was not alone in that decision as Moiola Elementary School and Newland Elementary School also refrained from showing the address to students.


Cox Elementary and Gisler Elementary informed me that the Obama address was a teacher’s discretion issue, and that some children did get to watch in class. Oka Elementary told me that children were allowed to watch the address in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes, but that the principal had a meeting with teachers and staff making it clear that it was up to the teacher’s discretion.


Plaven Elementary gave me a very straight up ‘yes’ answer. They said nothing about teacher discretion or a principal meeting (which doesn’t mean it didn’t happen), just told me that ‘yes’ the students were indeed allowed to watch the address.


I even called Tamura Elementary school but no one was available to pick up the phone.


High Schools were a different matter. When I called Fountain Valley High School I was told by the Secretary that she believed the address was shown, but directed me to the principal’s office. I was advised there that yes the students were allowed to see the address at teacher’s discretion. Whether or not the superintendent at the HBUHSD had a meeting with the high schools was unknown by the person I talked to. She took my number down and told me they would get back to me with more details.


Edison High School’s secretary was a substitute today and had no clear idea if the students were allowed to watch and she directed me to the principal who was not available to answer any questions, so I left a message with my number and hope to hear back by tomorrow.


No one at Huntington Beach High School was available to answer my call.


So out of all the schools I got 3 no, 5 yes, 1 unknown, and 2 no answers.


I believe that this was a good turn out to be honest. It seems like the districts in this area made it less of a district or superintendent concern and made it into a teacher discretion issue. Which is fine by me, at least there were no excuses like, “the internet is down” or the fear of reprisal from parents who have “political sensitivities”.


So why then did Dr. Hubbard, superintendent from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District bar his entire district from watching the address? The address was not only viewable on the internet but was broadcasted live on C-SPAN as well. So why use the excuse that since his district is having “internet access” troubles he can’t show the address?


I find it hard to believe that every school in Dr. Hubbard’s district had this internet issue. I think it did have more to do with “political sensitivities” than anything else, mainly his own political sensitivities.


I believe more light needs to be shed on this NMUSD issue. I would like to see if I can talk to Dr. Hubbard soon, but it may be hard to get in contact with him. And by the time I do it may be too late, and the story will have already fizzled out. And I’m certainly not going to turn this issue into a local political crusade to demonize or make anyone look terribly bad. I just want to know the truth. So I’m going to call NMUSD and see if I can speak to Dr. Hubbard briefly just to get a little more insight on what’s really going on.


Thank you to everyone who has been following this story. I came out with this story last week and since then I have received nothing but support and followers from like minded individuals who share my sense of honesty and truth. The reason I brought this issue to everyone’s attention was because I believed that Dr. Hubbard turned this positive message from the president into a political issue when I really believe it shouldn’t have been.


Hopefully more to come within the week! If I can talk to Dr. Hubbard I think that would conclude my on going coverage of this story.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Obama-nator II: Indoctrination Day

The time has come, just one day to go until Obama’s positive pep talk for schools. Challenging children to set goals for themselves and to stay in school and get an education. It should be one momentous day for our country’s children, but there are still people out there who are trying to say that this is no pep talk, but the President indoctrinating our children.

Seriously, a lot of people in America believe that when Obama speaks to our children that he is going to be indoctrinating them with socialist attitudes and ideas. So I’m challenging anyone out there who agrees with this theory of Obama indoctrination to tel me why you think that and show some proof that this is actually what Obama is planning on doing.

I already have done my research…and then some over the past weekend. I’ve been getting ready for this one, because this one is going to be big. So I challenge you to prove that Obama’s address to America’s children will have anything to do with healthcare, banks, automobile companies, or taxes. Well…anyone?

FROM THE HUFFPOST:

A spokesman said the party was particularly concerned about the study questions the department had provided. "The goal of these materials is to tell students why they should support President Obama in his overall agenda," said Katie Gordon.
"If the former administration had done something like this, the media would be handling this a lot differently," she added.

We reviewed the study materials but didn't see any mention of controversial issues, let alone any attempt to indoctrinate students in socialism. The pre-K through 6th grade materials said the main ideas of the speech would be "citizenship, personal responsibility, civic duty." The materials for high schoolers mention "personal responsibility, goals, persistence."

If you were to ask me I would say without a doubt that the President’s speech is rather innocuous. And what’s also very true about this issue is that if the previous administration was to do this and speak to our children in school it would be greeted with open arms.

Seriously (and I got this from the HuffPost) this pep talk caused so much anger and craziness you’d think that Obama was going on national TV to show our kids how to slip a condom onto a banana. It’s just not going to happen!

FROM FOX NEWS:

Gordon, of Tampa, Fla., is among a growing number of parents across the country who are troubled by the president's plan to address elementary, middle and high school students in an online and televised speech Tuesday.

"It's a form of indoctrination, and I think, really, it's indicative of the culture that the Obama administration is trying to create," Gordon told FOXNews.com on Thursday. "It's very socialistic."

How the hell is talking to kids about work ethics and setting goals socialistic? Unless you have any proof that what Obama is going to be talking about deals with socialism then present it! Unless Obama starts to talk about business, healthcare, taxes etc then it’s not a socialist indoctrination. It’s not an attempt to make kids believe that they should support President Obama, it’s an attempt to make kids have their own ideas about an issue and to get active with the community. Last I checked you could be a member of any political party and still be active in the community.

If you don’t want your child to watch Obama give schools an inspirational pep talk on the value of education then tell your school. I’m sure they’ll find some ridicules alternative activity for your child to do. But whatever you do don’t tell the schools not to show this address, because I’m sure they are some parents who would like they’re child to watch the speech, so don’t ruin it for them because of your misplaced fears and your uneducated beliefs of what socialism is.

Don’t forget to call the local school districts and tell them you want the Obama address to be shown in schools!

NMUSD- 714-424-5000

FVSD- 714-843-3200

HBUHSD- 714-903-7000

These numbers are just the districts by me, you district can be found just as easily on the internet.

UPDATE!


This article was found just as I was finishing up this new blog! The Obama speech has been released (or at least a few parts) to show to America that it is not an indoctrination!

FROM THE ARTICLE:

WASHINGTON – In a speech that drew fire even before he delivered it, President Barack Obama is telling the nation's schoolchildren he "expects great things from each of you."

"At the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world," Obama said. "And none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities."
The White House posted Obama's remarks on its Web site at midday Monday. He's scheduled to deliver the talk from Wakefield High School in suburban Arlington, Va., Tuesday. It will be broadcast live on C-SPAN and on the White House Web site.

Obama's planned talk has proven controversial, with several conservative organizations and individuals accusing him of trying to pitch his arguments too aggressively in a local-education setting. White House officials, including Education Secretary Arne Duncan, have said the allegations are silly.

Oh my god! Obama’s trying to tell our kids that we have the most supportive parents, the best teachers, the best schools, but that it won’t matter if our children don’t fulfill their responsibilities! Socialist! Socialist! I found a socialist everyone!
This is just stupid.

FROM THE ARTICLE:

"It's a sad state of affairs that many in this country politically would rather start an "Animal House" food fight rather than inspire kids to stay in school, to work hard, to engage parents to stay involved, and to ensure that the millions of teachers that are making great sacrifices continue to be the best in the world," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday. "It's a sad state of affairs."
In the prepared remarks, Obama tells young people that all the work of parents, educators and others won't matter "unless you show up to those schools, pay attention to those teachers."

Yes, it is a sad state of affairs when someone turns a good message into something political. I don’t see how this is indoctrinating at all. I don’t see how this instills communist ideas and attitudes in our children.

In my last few blogs about this subject I was under the impression that this speech was only going to be delivered to students through the internet. I found out that C-SPAN is actually going to be carrying the speech.

If that’s true, than why is Dr. Hubbard from Newport-Mesa Unified School District claiming that all of his schools are having internet access problems and that’s why he can’t show the kids Obama’s speech? That is one lame duck of an excuse and I urge everyone to call NMUSD and leave a message telling them what you think of his lame excuses.

Indoctrination…yeah right.
Lets see you try and pull that stuff now righties...

FULL SPEECH RIGHT HERE!!! YOU WILL FIND NO INDOCTRINATION, THIS IS OBAMA'S FULL SPEECH!! CLICK HERE!!