Government schools update

[notoc]

Title   Catholic Arithmetic Grade One

Binding   Paperback

Book Condition   New

Type   Paperback

Publisher    Most Holy Trinity Academy 2001

Seller ID   2372
New; Having exhausted every effort of hoping to find a traditional Catholic textbook for the early grades, the opportunity presented itself to create one. The results of many minds and talents is what you see between the pages of the Catholic Arithmetic. We choose to call the science of computing figures by the correct term, Arithmetic, not Math. The Dominican Sisters have been able to provide us with the most edifying pictures of the nuns that dot the pages. It is here at the very beginning stages of learning that the First Grade student will learn what "Sister says". The pictures will certainly please the little child as they make the journey through Catholic Arithmetic.

http://www.kellerbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=15397&CLSN_848=1326201385848c0bf6a2f1ec9bf14b79

[Mornac]

Wow, that's cool. I might buy one for my bookshelf. Thanks notoc.

[notoc]

Catholic Math Activities

Author(s):Mary Ann Grobbel
Publisher:Catholic Heritage Curricula
Binding:Softcover
Number of pages:102 pages

What really pleased me about this program is the clever way our Catholic faith was brought into these games. Some of the games revolve around a short story involving our faith, bible stories (e.g. Noah's Ark and 2 by 2) and simple Catholic sayings to name a few. I was especially delighted that this book provides games for such a wide range of ages and with a text that is simple enough that an older sibling can read the instructions and then go on to play the game with the younger child. Topping off the program are 40 nicely hand-drawn illustrations of saints. Each saint is accompanied with a short biography and math problems which, when solved, give the child information as to how the picture should be colored.

http://www.love2learn.net/math/mathsupp.htm

[notoc]

Wow, that's cool. I might buy one for my bookshelf. Thanks notoc.

[Mornac]

Looks like you’re a fan of parochial education notoc. Did this thread on government schools have anything to do with that?

[notoc]

What about "Catholic Math"? Some people interpret the words of Pope Pius XI, in his encyclical On Christian Education that "every subject should be permeated with Christian piety" as "every subject should be permeated with religion." They take this to mean that we need Catholic Math books in which word problems are about religious subjects in order to more fully fulfil this description of what a Catholic education should be.

What Math materials are problematic to our faith?
On a more superficial level, there are individuals and organizations attempting to promote their agenda (such as "normalizing" the homosexual lifestyle) through content of Math word problems. Clearly agenda-driven materials aren't worth bothering with. Besides, the Math probably won't be very good either.

Q.

If agendas are ten a penny and only tuppence is collected on Sunday, how can the church promote itself without taxpayer funded subsidies?

 

[notoc]

Looks like you’re a fan of parochial education notoc. Did this thread on government schools have anything to do with that?

My education allows me to look at both sides of of an equation without having to presuppose anything.

[Case_Closed]

Q.

If agendas are ten a penny and only tuppence is collected on Sunday, how can the church promote itself without taxpayer funded subsidies?

 

By "taxpayer funded subsidies," are you including MASSIVE contributions, such as a $4 Million pipe organ that The Crystal Cathedral received from one of its parishioners?

[notoc]

By "taxpayer funded subsidies," are you including MASSIVE contributions, such as a $4 Million pipe organ that The Crystal Cathedral received from one of its parishioners?

Did the writ of attachment define it as a wholly owned asset? Maybe the contributor wants it back.

[Case_Closed]

Maybe the contributor wants it back.

She dead.

Great write-off for her estate, though.

[notoc]

She dead.

Great write-off for her estate, though.

Perhaps the new owners of the building will loophole it, let the Crystal Ministries take it with them, call it a charitable donation and write it off a second time.

[Mornac]

School paperwork failure costs mom custody of son
Moved into social services agency over 'unexcused' absences


Bob Unruh

The fact that a New York school district simply delayed processing the paperwork for a mother who decided to homeschool her son cost the mother custody – at least temporarily – of her son, according to a new report.
 
The Home School Legal Defense Association reports that what should have been no more than a simple misunderstanding or paperwork mixup resulted in the child being taken into custody by social services agencies.
 
The organization which works worldwide to promote the rights of parents and students and to advocate for homeschooling said it was using pseudonyms, Sherry and Carson Fleming, to protect the privacy of the individuals involved.
 
The report posted online said the conflict developed in the Albany school district and escalated unchecked until the New York Department of Children, Youth, and Families removed the child, Carson, from the family home.
 
“One of the problems that homeschoolers face in New York is that school districts are very quick to involve DCYF when there is even a minor dispute over paperwork,” said Darren Jones, a litigation attorney for the HSLDA who worked on the case.
 
The case developed after Fleming submitted to the district her notice of intent and began homeschooling Carson at the start of the 2011-2012 year. As it’s normal for school districts to allow weeks to pass before they process such paperwork, it’s not unusual for schools to total up weeks’ worth of unexcused absences, the HSLDA said.
 
“While Ms. Fleming waited for the school to review her information, the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) received an anonymous accusation, presumably from a schoolteacher, that Carson had unexcused absences from school. Blaming Ms. Fleming for refusing to cooperate with school officials, DCYF charged her with educational neglect. At her hearing, the judge, unfamiliar with New York’s homeschooling laws, refused to recognize that Ms. Fleming was in compliance with the law and ordered that Carson attend public school. But after Ms. Fleming visited the school officials the next day, they approved her homeschool and informed the court,” the organization reported.
 
However, the trials were just beginning, because while Fleming believed the neglect charges would be dropped with the approval of her actions, the judge simply refused and ordered that because Carson was not enrolled in the public school he must be removed from his mother and put into a foster home.
 
The HSLDA said it was able to sort out the information and obtain from the DCYF a dismissal of the charges, allowing Carson to return home.
 
It was just days ago when WND reported that position was exactly what a politician has begun advocating.
 
The issue arose after Lotta Edholm, a prominent leader of Sweden’s liberal party, opined in an article in Aftonbladet, a Swedish newspaper, that the nation’s social service laws should be changed to encourage social workers to take children away from homeschooling families.
 
“That the deputy minister of social affairs, Maria Larsson … should take an initiative to change the social services act so that the social authorities can intervene when children are kept away from school by their parents,” she wrote on her blog.
 
“A country that does not permit home education is not really a free country,” noted Michael Donnelly, director of international affairs for the HSLDA.
 
Donnelly, who has worked closely in support of homeschooling families in a number of nations where they are being persecuted, said the change in Sweden is a turn for the worse.

http://www.wnd.com/2012/01/school-paperwork-failure-costs-mom-custody-of-son/

[Mornac]

Talk about an overreaction! Why didn’t they just send these kids back to their classrooms to play with their Fisting kits?

Hercules Family Battles Sex Assault Claim Against 6-Year-Old

January 27, 2012

HERCULES (CBS 5) – An East Bay dad claims a game of tag on the playground resulted in his 6-year-old son being accused of sexual assault – a decision he said was an overreaction by school officials.
The parent, who asked only to be identified as Oswin, said his son was accused of brushing his best friend’s leg or groin while the two were playing on the playground at Lupine Hills Elementary in Hercules two months ago.

Oswin said his child was kept in the principal’s office for two hours until he confessed. He was suspended, and a sexual battery charge was placed on his permanent school record.

 “To me, I think it’s an overreaction,” said Marilyn Cheeks, a Lupine Hills Elementary parent
Legally, there’s no such thing as sexual assault for a six year-old in California.

It wasn’t until Oswin and his wife got a lawyer that the school backed off. District officials declined to discuss specifics. They did confirm that an investigation was conducted, and that the child could not be charged with sexual battery. The claim was removed from the boy’s record.

Oswin’s son is attending another school now. He said he only hopes no one else will have to go through what his family did.

 http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/01/27/hercules-family-battles-playground-sex-assault-claim-against-6-year-old/

[Mornac]

Pa. Bishop Does Not Recant Saying that Hitler And Mussolini 'Would Love Our (Public School) System'

By Patrick Burke

February 6, 2012

(CNSNews.com) – The Catholic bishop of Harrisburg, Pa., has apologized for offending anyone with his recent comments that Hitler and Mussolini “would love” the public school system in Pennsylvania, because it is similar to what they sought to create in their totalitarian states.
 
But in a statement issued by the diocese of Harrisburg, Bishop Joseph McFadden did not retract comments he made during an interview on Jan. 24 with WHTM-TV, the ABC affiliate in Harrisburg.
 
The bishop made a comparison between the interests of the public school system and totalitarianism, while discussing what he sees as a lack of school choice in Pennsylvania.
 
“In the totalitarian government, they would love our system,” McFadden said. “This is what Hitler and Mussolini and all them tried to establish -- a monolith; so all the children would be educated in one set of beliefs and one way of doing things.”
 
McFadden’s comments drew immediate criticism from the Anti-Defamation League and the American Civil Liberties Union – which complained that the bishop had raised the specter of the Holocaust.
 
"We respect the Bishop and his position in the Church.  We appreciate his commitment the education of children and the viability of Catholic schools.  However, he should not be making his point at the expense of the memory of six million Jews and millions of others who perished in the Holocaust," Barry Morrison, Eastern Pennsylvania/Southern New Jersey regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.
 
"The Holocaust was a unique experience.  It does not lend itself to inappropriate analogies.  We have an obligation to protect the memory of those who suffered because of it from those who would distort it and undermine and trivialize the history of the Holocaust, however inadvertently.  Our role should be to honor those who fought to defeat the murderous Nazis, and not to inappropriately draw reckless comparisons."
 
Andy Hoover, legislative director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, called McFadden’s comments, “completely inappropriate.”
 
In a statement on the Diocese of Harrisburg Web site, the bishop issued an apology to anyone who was offended by his remarks, but went on to explain and justify his references to Hitler and Mussolini:
 
“To those who may have been offended by my remarks, I apologize to them assuring them that I purposely did not mention the holocaust,” the bishop said.
 
“The reference to dictators and totalitarian governments of the 20th century which I made in an interview on the topic of school choice was to make a dramatic illustration of how these unchecked monolithic governments of the past used schools to curtail the primary responsibility of the parent in the education of their children,” he said.
 
“Today many parents in our state experience the same lack of freedom in choosing an education that bests suits their child as those parents oppressed by dictators of the past. I intentionally did not make reference to the holocaust in my remarks,” McFadden added.
 
McFadden said the Catholic Church “recognizes the holocaust as a terrible atrocity and evil emanated against humanity and especially those who were the victims of these crimes,” adding that “I would never minimize or trivialize the devastating suffering that took place.”
 
But the bishop did not actually refer to the Holocaust in the broadcast -- a fact he pointed out in his letter.
 
“I used the example of the dictators merely to explain how an absolute monopoly in education, where parents do not have a right or ability to choose the education that best suits their children due to economic circumstances or otherwise, runs counter to a free and open society,” he said.
 
“Our support of a school voucher program has the goal of giving parents something that dictators never would, a choice in which school their children attend by being able to control the portion of the tax dollars that is designated for the education of each child.
 
Back in December, the Pennsylvania Legislature rejected a proposal  backed by by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett that would have created a school voucher program.
 
If enacted, students in the worst public schools of Pennsylvania would have been given vouchers so their parents could afford to send them to schools of better quality and performance. The measure died.
 
Jonathan Butcher, education director at the Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute, which champions school choice, told CNSNews.com that choice is essential if students are not to be trapped in schools.
 
“The goal here is to provide the best quality set of educational options that we can, and that’s going to differ from student to student," Butcher said. "A student who goes to a failing school should not just have to rely on their assigned public school.”

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/pa-bishop-does-not-recant-saying-hitler-and-mussolini-would-love-our-public-school

[Mornac]

Aide charged with making child porn in NYC school

Feb 7
By TOM HAYS
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - A New York City teacher's aide already accused of possessing child pornography was jailed Tuesday after prosecutors brought new allegations that he videotaped himself spanking one naked child and fondling another in a public elementary school classroom.

FBI agents arrested Taleek Brooks, 40, at his Brooklyn apartment on Monday night after an investigation uncovered the videos on a computer seized last month from the home, authorities said.

A criminal complaint mentioned only two alleged victims—both believed by the federal authorities to be current or former students at the Weeksville School in Brooklyn, where Brooks had worked since 1995. The FBI held out the possibility there could be more student victims and was encouraging parents to come forward if they have information. Agents were expected to be at the school on Wednesday to pursue leads.

"As chancellor, and as a father, I am horrified and disgusted at the charges we learned of today from the FBI," Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said in a statement after the meeting with the staff and PTA president. "Our paramount concern is for the safety of our students, and we are cooperating fully with the federal authorities as they continue their investigation."

The city Department of Education first hired Brooks for a summer job in 1991, when he was fingerprinted and passed a background check. He was given a full-time job as a teacher's aide with the school system in 1993.

Brooks also had worked with children at an after-school program affiliated with Weeksville. Program director Christa McCarthy-Miller said Tuesday that the defendant had passed routine background checks, and that she wasn't aware of any previous complaints against him.

As a "group leader" for about 14 children, Brooks' job was to encourage them to make "positive life choices," McCarthy-Miller said.

"We're obviously very saddened by this," she said.

Though different in the nature of the accusations and the number of alleged victims, the case called to mind the unfolding scandal at a Los Angeles elementary school in which a teacher is suspected of blindfolding and molesting children in his classroom.

According to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday, an examination of a home computer and two external hard drives seized from Brooks uncovered a stash of self-produced child porn.

The videos included two taken in a school classroom, one of Brooks touching a child's genitals and another of him spanking a naked child, the complaint says. Investigators believe they were shot sometime between January 2008 and January 2011.

A letter sent to parents alerted to them to the accusations against Brooks, saying that "these incidents may have occurred on school grounds." It advised families to call an FBI tip line if they had information about the case.

A previous complaint had accused Brooks of sending pornographic photos and videos of children to an undercover agent he met online. The complaint says one of the images was of a man having sex with a boy who appeared to be about 10.

Following the exchange, FBI agents searched Brooks' home on Jan. 13. The complaint alleges that during the search, Brooks "admitted that he had been downloading and sharing child pornography for approximately seven years." He also "indicated that he had collected and saved over 1,000 digital files on his computer containing child pornography," the complaint adds.

If convicted of producing child porn, Brooks faces a minimum 15 years in prison.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9SOT2CO0&show_article=1