enrique baloyra: HHS to cut services, expand internment camps - YouTube

HHS to cut services, expand internment camps - YouTube

HHS to cut services, Expand Internment Camps

enrique baloyra

@nenebalo

On Wednesday the Department of Health and Human Services announced it would be cutting educational, recreational, and legal programs for children separated from their families currently in detention. Deputy Director of Americans for Immigrant Justice Michelle Ortiz told the Miami Herald, “These are children. Even death row inmates have access to educational and recreational services.”
Psychologists warn these cuts are likely to cause an increase in the self-destructive behavior already well-documented in these children.
Cutting legal services also makes it more difficult for children seeking asylum to navigate our complicated immigration process, causing longer stays.
Which is great for the private company running the nation’s largest children’s internment camp — the one in Homestead. They took in close to $billion in federal contracts over the last 18 months. That’s a lot of soccer balls.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Pramila Jaypal are calling for an investigation into how former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly came to sit on the board.
In their letter to Caliburn’s CEO, they write, “General Kelly ... was at the center of the inhumane and poorly planned immigration policies that put children in cages while separating thousands of families and that benefitted your company.” https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elizabet...
“Last week, 705 pages of court documents were filed by lawyers who spent substantial time inside … The documents painted a portrait of migrant children subjected to ‘prison-like’ regimens, potentially sustaining permanent psychological damage due to isolation from loved ones for long periods of time.” https://www.miamiherald.com/news/loca...
Yahoo! News is reporting that Border Patrol agents are now confiscating children’s medicine as they enter the country.
Which makes it no surprise this week also marked the sixth child to die while in Border Patrol custody since December.
Conditions have become so crowded that HHS announced it will be opening three additional facilities for up to 4000 refugee children, including one in Texas later this month that previously housed oil workers.
The family separation policy has been an abject failure, as last month a record number showed up, throwing themselves at the mercy in the richest country on Earth, only to find there is no mercy for them.
At least not with this grifter president and his incompetent administration.

HHS to cut services, expand internment camps - YouTube

Benton Harbor’s Schools are America’s Schools! Tell Gov. Whitmer, Ed. Sec. Betsy DeVos, and the MEA!

Benton Harbor’s Schools are America’s Schools! Tell Gov. Whitmer, Ed. Sec. Betsy DeVos, and the MEA!

Benton Harbor’s Schools are America’s Schools! Tell Gov. Whitmer, Ed. Sec. Betsy DeVos, and the MEA!

Everything in the dark comes to the light.

~Former BHHS student.

Across the country, citizens, parents, and educators have watched their public schools close due to underfunding and high-stakes student testing. These schools are predominately black, Hispanic, and poor.

Public education with elected school boards are democratic institutions. Closing a school or school district, or a state takeover, is seen as an attack on democracy. It steals a community’s right to school ownership.

Right now this is playing out in the community of Benton Harbor, Michigan.

These headlines say it best: Anguish in Benton Harbor as Years of Mistakes Lead to a School’s Likely Demise. Mistakes? Students are being punished for being poor.

Americans should pay close attention to Benton Harbor, because even if your schools seem fine, sooner or later privatization will touch every school in the country.

Funding is always a problem for poor schools. Benton Harbor’s schools are $16 million in debt.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer is a Democrat who rode into the governorship CONTINUE READING: Benton Harbor’s Schools are America’s Schools! Tell Gov. Whitmer, Ed. Sec. Betsy DeVos, and the MEA!

Benton Harbor Mayor threatens to cancel Kitchen Aid Senior PGA tournament if Benton Harbor High School is closed - https://www.abc57.com/news/benton-harbor-mayor-threatens-to-cancel-kitchen-aid-senior-pga-tournament-if-benton-harbor-high-school-is-closed

Betsy DeVos Earned At Least $45 Million While In Office Last Year

Betsy DeVos Earned At Least $45 Million While In Office Last Year

Betsy DeVos Earned At Least $45 Million While In Office Last Year

Education secretary Betsy DeVos and her husband, Amway heir Dick DeVos, earned at least $45 million last year, according to an early draft of her government-mandated financial disclosure obtained by Forbes.

That figure likely understates the earnings of such a wealthy couple, since ethics laws allow for income to be listed in broad ranges that top out at $5 million, or even just $1 million if the asset is owned solely by the official’s spouse—which means the couple’s actual earnings may have been dramatically higher.

The largest source of income they reported stems from their primary source of wealth: Alticor, the parent company of multilevel marketing giant Amway. Dick’s father cofounded the business, which reported $8.8 billion in revenues last year, in 1959. Through a series of trusts, Dick and Betsy own stakes in Alticor that generated at least $7 million in capital gains, interest and dividend income in 2018.

They also took in $6.2 million from RDV Corp., a family office that does everything from managing the DeVos family’s yachts and household staff to investing their billions. RDV, which is run by an outside CEO but governed by a family council, has plowed much of the family fortune into extensive private equity and real estate investments, including a sports complex in Orlando and a resort in the Bahamas.

The couple earned more than $5.5 million in 2018 as investors in a handful of private equity funds managed by AEA Investors, a $15 billion (assets) firm that counts the Rockefeller and Mellon families as founders. DeVos made at least $5 million when an AEA entity cashed out its stake in a privately held packaging company earlier this year, according to the disclosure. Other government documents, filed earlier this year, indicate that the true number may be even CONTINUE READING: Betsy DeVos Earned At Least $45 Million While In Office Last Year

Trump Ends Schooling for Detained Immigrant Kids | Capital & Main

Trump Ends Schooling for Detained Immigrant Kids | Capital & Main

Trump Ends Schooling for Detained Immigrant Kids
About 13,200 minors held in detention facilities will have funding for their educational services, recreational programs and legal aid cut by the federal government.

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION is abruptly cutting funding for educational services for detained undocumented children, as well as recreational programs and legal aid. The decision will impact roughly 13,200 minors currently being held in licensed shelters under contract with the federal government. The cuts, which have been widely decried by child welfare advocates, may also be a violation of federal law. Under the Flores agreement, the government is required to provide immigrant minors in its custody with educational services “in a structured classroom setting, Monday through Friday,” and recreational activities “which shall include daily outdoor activity, weather permitting.”

According to the Washington Post, which first reported the story, the rationale for the cuts is financial. The unprecedented number of migrant children in government custody has created tremendous budgetary strains. Meanwhile, federal officials say it may take up to two years to reunite immigrant children who have been separated from their families.

TEACHERS OR CHARTERS? That, according to veteran education writer Jeff Bryant, is the choice that could face Democratic office seekers — including presidential candidates in 2020. The reason, according to Bryant in a piece that first appeared in Truthdig, is the growing CONTINUE READING: Trump Ends Schooling for Detained Immigrant Kids | Capital & Main

GEORGE W BUSH WARNS DEMOCRAT CANDIDATES ON CHARTER SCHOOLS

Big Education Ape

GEORGE W BUSH WARNS DEMOCRAT CANDIDATES ON CHARTER SCHOOLS

DeVos, unions drive Democratic candidates to back away from charter schools

DeVos, unions drive Democratic candidates to back away from charter schools

DeVos, unions drive Democratic candidates to back away from charter schools
The party's presidential hopefuls are improving their grades with labor groups representing teachers by looking to other education ideas.

WASHINGTON — In 2009, a newly-elected President Barack Obama called on lawmakers to remove limits on charter schools, saying it “isn't good for our children, our economy, or our country” to hinder their growth.

Ten years later, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., announced an almost mirror-image position: A national moratorium on federal funding for charter schools pending an audit, and a ban on for-profit charter schools.

"Charter schools are led by unaccountable, private bodies, and their growth has drained funding from the public school system," his campaign said in a press release.

He's hardly alone. At an education event in Iowa on Saturday, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg sounded a skeptical note toward charter schools.

"For-profit charter schools should not be part of our vision for the future," he told reporters. "And I think the expansion of charter schools in general is something that we need to really draw back on until we've corrected what needs to be corrected in terms of underfunded public education."

Charter schools — a type of public school that is independently operated and whose staff is often non-unionized — have long been a divisive issue within Democratic circles. Now, they're increasingly falling out of favor with the party's current crop of presidential candidates, who are aggressively courting teachers unions in a crowded field, and embracing education proposals more in tune with their demands.

Several candidates, including former Vice President Joe Biden and CONTINUE READING: DeVos, unions drive Democratic candidates to back away from charter schools

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Time For Summer Edition (6/9)

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Time For Summer Edition (6/9)

ICYMI: Time For Summer Edition 

Summer break has arrived in my neck of the woods, which means the Board of Directors will no longer have me outnumbered!. In the meantime, here's some reading from the week. Remember-- sharing is how you amplify the voices that you think need to be heard. Bloggers and journalists can write all day, but we all depend on readers to help put us in front of our audience.

Robots Are Not Coming For Your Job-- Management Is  

Great piece not directly about education, but a reminder that automation is not some sort of mysterious natural process.

Ohio Needs To Abandoned Failed High Stakes Tests   

The League of Women Voters comes down hard against high stakes testing as a measure of educational quality. Always nice to see people outside the classroom get it.

Schools Should Serve Humans, Not "The Economy"\

Lois Weiner makes her pitch for Bernie Sanders to reject the language of business when discussing schools. Never mind Bernie-- can we get everyone to do this?

Is Charlie Butt the New Eli Broad?

Not that we need one for anything, but her comes another deep-pocketed educational amateur with big ideas.

Millions of Kids Take Standardized Tests Just To Help The Testing Companies  

Oh, the business of field testing, wasting everybody's time.

Tennessee Achievement School District At a Crossroads  

"Crossroads" is generous, but here's the OG ASD still not getting its job done.

Let's Hear It For The Average Child  

From the New York Times.

An Anti-Racist Reading List 

Powerful and handy resources from Ibram X. Kendi.

7 Reasons We're Seeing More Challenging Behavior in Early Childhood Settings  

Rae Pica looks at some of those things that we continue to get wrong when it comes to the littles.

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Time For Summer Edition (6/9)

The Twins Are Two

100+by Peter Greene / 23h

The Board of Directors celebrated its birthday this week. Okay, they're two, so "celebrate" might be a bit of a stretch, because they didn't really know what exactly was happening other than it involved cake and ice cream and some new toys. This is not my first parenting rodeo; I have two older children and a trio of grandchildren who are, in my completely unbiased opinion, geniuses. You know the

JUN 07

Talking Point Update: Focus on Fit

58by Peter Greene / 2d

This has been going on for a while, but just in case you've missed this rhetorical shift, I want to highlight the tweaking of a reformy talking point. Complete this sentence: "We need school choice because____________________" The classic answer has been "because students need to escape failing public schools." Or "because the quality of your education shouldn't be determined by your zip code." Be

JUN 06

WV Senate Can't Seem To Hear Teachers

100+by Peter Greene / 2d

It would be funny if it weren't so angrifying. But West Virginia's legislature is at it again. Back in February of 2018, the teachers of West Virginia were fed up. Low pay. Lack of support. Lack of respect. They were fed up enough that they staged an illegal wildcat strike that shut down every school district in the state . The governor and legislature backed down, and in short order, the teachers

JUN 05

A Spectacular Charter Scam

100+by Peter Greene / 3d

You may skimmed past reports of the San Diego indictment of charter scam artists thinking, "Ah, just another charter fraud story." But this $50 million scam is worth a closer look because it highlights several of the problems with modern charters. The scammers were led by Sean McManu and Jason Schrock. McManus is Australian, but as various other operators have shown (particularly the infamous Gule

JUN 03

Teach for America: The Other Big Problem

500+by Peter Greene / 5d

Teach for America's most famously flawed premise is well known-- five weeks of training makes you qualified to teach in a classroom. It's an absurd premise that has been criticized and lampooned widely. It is followed closely in infamy by the notion that two years in a classroom are about providing the TFAer with an "experience," or a resume-builder so they have a better shot at that law or MBA pr

JUN 02

ICYMI: One Year Retireversary Edition (6/2)

30by Peter Greene / 7d

It has been exactly one year since I hung up my teacher hat, so I'll probably meditate on that today, but in the meantime, here's some good reading from the week. Remember-- if you like it, share it. Utah Picked a Testing Company That It Knew Sucked Okay, so I paraphrased the really-long headline, but you get the idea. How Utah went with a company with a history of trouble-- and how that worked ou

JUN 01

NH: Outsourcing and Privatizing Public Education

64by Peter Greene / 7d

New Hampshire's education commissioner has decided to push a really terrible education idea . It's called "Learn Everywhere," and it looks like a new approach to replacing public education, a kind of true backdoor approach to vouchering. It comes dressed in pretty language, but it still smells like a recently fertilized field on a warm summer day. Frank Edelblut was a businessman, venture capitali

Rewarding Failing Schools

400+by Peter Greene / 7d

One of the problems with the business oriented view of education reveals itself in the use of the word "reward." As long as the debate has raged, we can find commentators, thinky tanks, and policy makers arguing that giving more 

CURMUDGUCATION - https://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/