Education

Bill Gates on Poverty and Education: Blame the Poor

29 July 2011

Bill Gates recently spoke to the National Urban League, arguing that it is a “myth that we have to solve poverty before we improve education.” “Let me acknowledge that I don’t understand in a personal way the challenges that poverty creates for families, and schools and teachers,” the billionaire said at the civil rights group’s [...]

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Heresy! A Teacher Likes A Standardized Test

20 July 2011

Earlier today, I referenced an interview with Jonathan Kozol, the education reformer who, along with his stirring critique of economic inequality in our schools, has consistently opposed the negative repercussions of standardized testing. In this latest interview, Kozol said: The testing agenda that Duncan is perpetuating is segregative and divisive in yet another sense. In [...]

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Monday Morning Mental Mix

6 June 2011

Monday Morning Mental Mix is a collection of articles I stumbled across during the preceding week, not necessarily articles written or published in the past seven days. It will generally be an eclectic collection of items that made it into my Diigo feed or onto Instapaper. If you have any great articles to share, please [...]

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Barb Rush Attacks Hungry Children on the Way Out

4 May 2011

I really want to let this go, but it’d be foolish to imagine that Barb Rush won’t be running again for the School Board at the next opportunity and her behavior after her loss is just as revealing as her behavior during the election. Instead of congratulating her opponents for victory, she posted a nearly [...]

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Prezeau, Myhre, and Lovshin Win. Levies Pass

3 May 2011

The people of Helena have spoken—and have chosen reason over raw emotion and experience over anger, retaining Aidan Myhre and Cherche Prezeau for three year terms and electing Libbi Lovshin for a two year term to replace Trevor Wilkerson. With over 90% of ballots in, these are the results: Trustee Election:  3 Year Term Aidan [...]

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Perfectly Rehbergian Response to Pell Grants

3 May 2011

You certainly have to love the Montana media and Montana’s Congressman. The former never felt it necessary to cover the national news that Rehberg called Pell Grants welfare but decided he should get an op-ed in every newspaper defending his position, while the latter is pretending to be reforming Pell Grants when all he is [...]

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Myhre, Prezeau,and Lovshin: The Three Best Candidates for the School Board

2 May 2011

With the election tomorrow and ballots already pouring in, I thought I’d try to explain why I believe Helena voters should retain Aidan Myhre and Cherche Prezeau, as well as add Libbi Lovshin to the School Board. Before discussing the specifics of each candidate, I think it’s important to note one characteristic all of these [...]

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Helena School Board: Reject Renshaw, Rush, and Sticht

28 April 2011

With absentee ballots already headed out to voters and the May 3rd election just around the corner, it feels like the right time to remind people that this year’s vote for School Board is critically important. Helena is facing an election between candidates interested the entire education process against candidates who are running on anger [...]

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Shame on Brittany Renshaw

27 April 2011

School Board candidate Brittany Renshaw claims that she is running for the School Board with no agenda other than helping to educate Helena’s children. A touching sentiment, but one that seems hard to accept given her endorsement of an entirely inappropriate and irrational site attacking her opponents. Yesterday, Mrs. Renshaw promoted a “great blog” called [...]

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A Critical Endorsement in the School Board Elections

27 April 2011

Despite my best efforts to get my recommendations out in a timely fashion, I was beaten to the endorsement punch by someone who rarely seeks the spotlight in Helena: Tim Ravndal and his Lewis and Clark Conservative Tea Party. I think it tells voters almost everything they need to know about the positions Barb Rush, [...]

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Who is Supporting Your School Board Candidate?

24 April 2011

While the Independent Record was covering the entirely illogical complaints of spouses of School Board candidates, I decided to take a look at the campaign finance reports of the six candidates, and found that the three running because of opposition to the health curriculum (Rush, Renshaw, and Sticht) have received most of their support from [...]

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Dr. Messinger a Finalist for Colorado Job

22 April 2011

Bruce Messinger, superintendent of the Helena School District, was announced as one of three finalists for the Boulder Valley superintendent position on Thursday and will continue interviewing for the position on Thursday, April 29th. If selected and he chooses to take the position, Messinger will begin his duties with the Boulder Valley District on July [...]

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