Over the weekend the No Lakota Levy group began to put out our signs. We started with 200 beginning Friday afternoon however by Saturday morning, during the darkest part of night, 50 of those signs were gone, some of them ripped out of the ground and thrown all over parking lots. And in the yards of a couple of people who had big 4’X5’ No Lakota Levy signs driven into the ground with 2”X2” posts, those signs were completely taken and in their place hanging from a tree was the sign you see shown in the picture.
“Someone paid for your education, time to pay for ours.”
It would appear that several groups of radicalized students scurried the neighborhoods across Lakota and vandalized our signs and even went so far to plan for the event. They obviously trespassed onto the property of an owner of the No Lakota Levy signs. They had to in order to take the signs and hang that message in the tree.
Now, who believes that these children did this on their own? I can hear their voices now while at Steak and Shake at 2:30 in the morning, “Hey let’s go help our teachers by stealing the signs of the No Lakota Levy people, those selfish, evil, corporate bastards.” See, kids typically don’t think of things like this on their own, because they don’t understand or know what the financial situation is. In the case of the message from these little vandals, “we are paying for your education! Most every house you see in the community, like the ones you trampled through with no respect to their property rights, pay a property tax of $2000 to $4000 a year and that money goes to your education! The community has been supporting a $160 million dollar budget that fleshes out to $250 million in undeclared money. Who’s not supporting your education?”
Well, here’s the problem. It happened last time and it’s happening this time where several teachers are spending time preaching about the levy to students in the classroom, and it is through these radical diatribes that students become empowered to vandalize. And this isn’t specific to Lakota. Arnie Engle from Fairfield which is the next district over from Lakota sent me pictures of their destroyed signs as we spent a good part of Sunday replacing our signs. Arnie has a long history of being harassed in Fairfield because of his push for reforms so he’s documented his vandalism very well. I’ll put those pictures up to share so it can be seen that this is an epidemic all over the city and has in common a radicle teachers union that is larger than a school district border. (Is this what public education is all about? Stacking the school boards with union candidates and trying to intimidate ANYONE who stands up to them? WHAT DO YOU THINK?)
It’s not just teachers, but administrators play the game equally. I know personally of principals at some Lakota schools who are encouraging their PTA members to boycott businesses who don’t openly support the school levy. We have proof of principals who sent emails to their staff complaining about the public after the last levy failed. Have a look for yourself. The guy who wrote the letter at the link below left shortly after this letter got out, so he’s no longer at Lakota, but it shows what kind of employees some of these people are and how grateful they are to their employers, THE PUBLIC! (we were paying Mr. Holbrook $98K per year! And if you read his letter, you can see what his attitude was)
And look at this letter from the school board president, Joan Powell, who is blaming everyone but herself for rifts forming on the board. The rifts are forming because The No Lakota Levy group is asking questions and some members are trying to answer. I don’t care how wrong they were in the past, I care that they listen today. As school board members are you more loyal to the OSBA or to the people who elected you as their representatives? Because I don’t give a rats ass about the damn OSBA and their consensus building where all the school board members vote in unison for everything and hand to the unions everything on a silver platter! I want school boards who will do the job, and I have news for you folks, No Lakota Levy isn’t going away. The more you fight us, the more costly to you it will become. (Look at Joan Powell’s letter and who she’s picking for school board)
You can hear the speech I gave on this matter at this link:
The school system itself through the radicalized unions are behaving like a crime syndicate, and those participants in radicalism keep their own noses clean, but they openly complain about opposition to their tax levy using class time to do it, hoping to recruit soldiers among our children to carry out their deeds of destruction. It is the students themselves who find themselves seduced into radicalism by their instructors to do their bidding in the middle of the night stealing political material from the “other side.” At the higher level the administrators are participating in the same tyranny using the radically emotional mothers of the PTA’s to participate in boycotts against businesses. That’s how the mob works people! That is not how a school should operate! Everyone and I mean everyone who has participated in this behavior should be ashamed of themselves. And if I were in charge of the district I’d terminate every single one of you! EVERY ONE! I find the radicalism present in these education institutions disgusting, small-minded and pathetic! And I can tell you this much, radical union lobbyists are not worth the money we are paying these people. We are paying them to TEACH! Not to become social reformers and advocates of unionized labor!
When I see that children have not been taught how much money the community is spending on their education, when I see the radical stance that the union will allow busing cuts before they dig into their own pockets, even when a teacher was injured in the process, because it’s an extortion tactic to pass tax increases! It’s no different from the mob charging for “protection money” to protect you from them! Those children didn’t get the words they put on that sign from their own minds. Those words came from a teacher because it’s the same garbage we hear in the anti-Issue 2 protests which come from radicalized unions. It’s the same garbage the Occupy Protestors are saying, which comes from radicalized unions via Facebook and other social networking sites. It’s the same garbage that comes from radical progressives like Richard Trumka, and James Hoffa and big union presidents like Obama. And to see it filter down into the children of our classrooms in the sacred land of Lakota sickens me to my core! Is this the education we are seeing our children receive from these highly paid teachers? Is this what we are spending so much money on? Because if it is, I think we should demand a refund.
The message to me is that the union position, which Move Forward (sounds a lot like MoveOn.org) reflects, can’t argue the problem. All they can do is glaze over it, so they seek to sabotage the message from groups like No Lakota Levy. They think that by stealing our signs and taking away our ability to question them, that everything will be fine and life for them will return to normal.
Last week I received this note from another radical union type. It is sad to consider that this person has children and actual influence over a young mind. With such people in the world it is clear that we understand why kids feel it is OK to vandalize property from homeowners to eliminate the messages they see as unfit. They are their own judge, jury and executioners in a world completely funded by the community, yet they seem to forget that, and believe that they are above us all. They are outrageous. Enjoy the note from one of those people and gain for yourself an understanding into the people who teach our youth:
• Since you are clearly a tea bagger I will assume you have zero intelligence. Kids need a well-rounded educational experience including arts and sports. Hey since you are so smart – google it. I live in Lakota and pay more than my share of taxes. i am sure more than an ignorant SOB like you but my kids and their future are worth it. Go back to your trailer park. By the way YEAH for the kids that took the signs, Kids are aware of the greed of people like you
Now listen to the WLW broadcast I did one year ago on this very same issue with Scott Sloan! Listen to the whole thing. This recording was before Issue 2, before the busing cuts, before the new superintendent. And it shows the pattern of behavior that is at play here and now.
Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com
The Gunfighter's Guide: 
You need to make local television, radio, and print outlets aware of this!!!! So sad so predictable……..
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Yes it is. It’s very sad, and very predictable. We will, it just happened over the weekend. If you can’t argue the message, take it away, is the way they see it apparently.
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Kids need to be left out of these issues. They aren’t old enough to vote and stuff like this is not for the TEACHERS to inform them of this. It is the parents job if they want them to know. All of this need to stay out of the CLASSROOMS. I don’t want teachers telling my children about this. It is my job. My 6th grade son came home one day last week and said his music teacher was talking about the cuts that were going to happen if the levy don’t pass. That is not HER place. They should not even be asking the children to come home to tell there parents if they don’t vote for the levy they can’t play music, art or gym anymore. Thats wrong in opinion.
Thanks for this.
Debbie
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Thank you for putting that up here. Many of the administrators read this site, so those kinds of stories are helpful in bringing the story to the surface. You are right, we are hiring those teachers to teach, not to participate in politics.
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We had the EXACT same issue in Pickerington in August. Some private citizens purchased 100 signs with our own money, got permission from the city manager to put them in public rights-of-way around the city, and nearly EVERY sign was stolen.
We know it was Amanda Tonjes and the Vote4PickKids crowd, because they also stole the .com version of our domain name and had the audacity to point it to their website, and Tonjes proudly proclaimed on WBNS-10TV news she did it “because she could.”
Another whore for the teacher’s union.
Needless to say, their plan of having the vote during summer vacation time worked. They flooded the ballot box with teachers who live in the area and dipsh*t kids who voted for the levy. The levy passed by 600 votes.
We never did recover the signs, and got absolutely NO cooperation from the Pickerington Police dept. since it was such a “minor” crime. Of course, the Picktown PD is a union supporting the teachers’ union.
I urge you to set a trap for these freakin’ idiots. Put some signs out, then hide and wait for someone to come trash them or steal them. Approach them with a video camera, get their picture and their license plates, and PROSECUTE!
I’ve also made it my MISSION to NOT surpport any business that supported the last levy, including the entire chamber of commerce, a local real estate broker, and the restaurant where they had their “cleebration” the night of the levy passing.
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We also had the same issue of teachers preaching to vote “yes” for the levy by scaring the kids. In one case, they took a group of parents aside during an athletic banquet to tell them to vote for the levy.
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This is all a result of union radicalism. If it were removed as an option, I believe things would be much more productive.
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You guys are being far too kind. Second Amendment.
Time for a real line in the sand. In the 70’s I was a holy terror. I ran with a mean, nasty crowd and liked it. Back then was no different except if a porch light came on and the door opened…you could almost count on a man standing in the doorway waving a gun and screaming at us kids. I’m not sure if we’ve evolved or just become completely spineless. I shot, killed, skinned and cured the skin of a chipmunk when I was 8. My father was a marine and I and my sisters were shown survival skills early.
Now I’m not quite that radical as the man waving the gun …yet, but I have a 12 gauge in my foyer and when I go out on my front porch in the dead of night to smoke, it’s in my hand. Habit. I don’t sleep well these days and I don’t see well at night so I have it scoped.
I don’t give a damn if you 16 or 60. if I saw someone trashing signage on my property any time of the day, I’m going to cripple you. My best hope would be to take out your knee caps, but since I don’t see all that well and you chose the cover of darkness…I could miss and hit slightly higher…but make no mistake, you’ll be down.
How would I know your just an angry levy supporter? No, you could be an occupier who strayed a tad too far, or, being a woman, wanting to rape me or steal my belongings. Oh hell no.
We are being threatened at every turn by this president, the vice, occupiers…you name it.
It dosen’t matter. You would be treading dangerously close to peril.
Perhaps thats the message parents should be giving their kids or bad friends participating. Stop coddling and take them hunting or target shooting. Show and teach them to respect property. Period.
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When you deal with a militant union, you can expect the worst. Nothing seems to beneath these people. We’ve had signs taken and knocked down here in Lebanon too. We put out very few NO signs because the kids just tear them down.
I hope the Enquirer article in todays paper serves to educate a few people. The statistics of money versus excellence is well documented. Don’t give these vermin another cent. Time to get out and vote. You can be sure that they will get their people out – dead or alive.
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I left the teaching profession (high school) after three years. I resigned for many reasons.
I hated paying dues to a union that protected incompetent teachers. I resented being used
as a shill to promote tax levies (both in and out of the classroom). Some of these tactics have
already been mentioned here.
Yes, I was expected to discuss the levy in the classroom. My department chairman was a
coward. He wanted the teachers to do the dirty work for him. I refused. I NEVER discussed
levies and politics in my classroom.
And I complained. I went all the way to the top (superintendent). I made it clear that my
job was to educate my students on the subject matter. PERIOD. I also objected to the system of
compensation, i.e., automatic pay raises. Some of my fellow teachers were, quite frankly, duds.
They should have been fired. However, due to the “system” and our powerful union, these
teachers were allowed to coast until retirement. This infuriated me. I was very outspoken
about this.
One day, my department chairman and I had a long “talk.” He claimed that I would never be
happy in the teaching profession. In fact, he even said that I was over-qualified. I guess he
was right. I was the only teacher in the district with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Anyway, I finally saw the light. No longer could I be part of the status quo.
So, I quit and went into the engineering profession. It was great. No more games to play.
And I was paid based on my performance and NOT based on longevity or union affiliation.
Believe me, there are teachers out there who would like to publicly condemn the current
system and their union thugs. I’m afraid their only option is the same one I chose. Resign.
The bottom line is, I’ve worked both sides of the fence. I refused to turn my students into
“levy soldiers” in 1976. Many other teachers shamefully did so. And I guess it’s still going on.
Just my two cents worth. Thanks for reading. And, oh yes, I’m voting NO !!!!!!!!!!!!!
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And you are just the kind of guy I want to pay to be a teacher! Why couldn’t they all be like you!
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That’s EXACTLY what I thought in 1976. Am I not the kind of teacher you want to keep and pay the most??
Apparently not. The school board accepted my resignation. NO ONE tried to talk me out of it. NO ONE, except for a few fellow teachers, even said goodbye to me.
Now this is my opinion. The average teacher is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He/she were average students while in high school and college. They were NOT straight-A students. Probably closer to “C” students. They most certainly were NOT Phi Kappa Phi material and did NOT graduate summa cum laude from college.
Unfortunately, these “average” college graduates are now teaching our kids. Yet, our schools want us to
believe that ALL teachers are the best and brightest. Well, the proof is in the pudding. Compared to many other countries, our education system sucks. How come so many high school graduates fail in the workplace, need remedial education in college or just drop out of college ??
Our school officials have done little to change course. When was the last time you heard of a teacher being fired for “incompetence” ?? Instead, school boards continue to reward ALL teachers regardless of performance.
Think about this. Many, many teachers (and their unions) know that they lack the skills to earn a decent living outside of the teaching profession. Is it any wonder why they are willing to do pretty much anything to
keep their jobs ?? And that includes getting our kids involved in school levies (arm-twisting parents to vote yes, stealing yard signs, etc). It just makes me sick!!!
Keep up the good fight, folks. Never give up. Demand accountability. Demand excellence and NOT just
“average” or less. Remember, more money is not the answer. Never has been . And never will be.
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We Are Ohio is well-funded. Its last report, filed in July, showed it raised $7.3 million: $4.96 million in cash and $2.35 million in in-kind contributions. Most of the money came from labor unions, including The Ohio Education Association, which assessed its members $54 each to generate nearly $5 million for the campaign to defeat Issue 2.
Out of Cox Publishing this morning.
CRIMINAL!
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Don’t Let the Kids Drink the Kool-Aid by MaryBeth Hicks
Posted by Erick Erickson (Diary)
Monday, October 24th at 4:07PM EDT
4 Comments
I’ve started getting in so many books lately for review, I need to start being more diligent with them. So how about this — I’ll write a blurb on the book, give you a picture of the book with Lincoln, and drop you a link to Amazon?
First up is one past due and that I have read cover to cover and promised to write about a month ago only to get bogged down with travel. It is MaryBeth Hick’s Don’t Let the Kids Drink the Kool-Aid.
This one is a bit depressing at first, but then it pisses you and then finally activates something in your brain to fight back. Those are the good ones. Mary Beth delves into polling and studies showing just how well liberals have gotten at indoctrinating kids in school and in culture. It’s rather staggering actually.
But she doesn’t leave it there. She actually gives some good tips on being proactively engaged to clear the brain rot in your kids’ heads and fight back. It was a quick read. The Publisher is Regnery (our sister company for disclosure purposes).
My question is are the parents engaged enough to make a difference anymore.
Article from Redstate.com
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Tom Terrific we do need to hear more from you. You have excellent insight into why the schools are not able to do a decent job in educating our children. Just listening to reports from the Stacy Schuler trial tells us the quality and morals of many of the younger teachers.
Mason has had a recent history of standing behind teachers and administrators that have been exposed for having flagrant mishavior. Just from my memory of the past couple of years: teachers were arrested with multiple drugs in a hotel in Northern Kentucy, a coach (husband of the athletic director) was photographed playing “beer pong” with students, a board member resigned because an affair with an administrator was exposed (board member resigned and administrator was sent to another position in Tennessee), a principal sent Stacy (who else) photos of his private parts (he quietly moved on to another district).
All of these and more were quietly swept under the carpet and the perps moved on to other districts. The superintendent had to know all about Stacy. He went to the trouble of putting in an area for her to “practice” her “rehab.” I was told that there were massage tables available for her. Just how stupid was this practice to put an attractive, young female into the boy’s locker room with the freedom to massage them?
The superintendent and other administrators and teachers HAD to know just how sexual Stacy conducted herself. She didn’t keep it a secret. How many of them had sex with her is my question? How many of them loved having her in their midst? Was the board informed? There are a lot of questions that have been
covered up by those in Mason who want to be able to pass levies.
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Sandra….You want to hear more ?? Okay. We all want our kids’ teachers to be the very best and brightest. However, current hiring standards and pay scales attract mostly “average” teachers.
Let’s use myself as an example. When I started teaching high school, I had three college degrees, including a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. You would think that my starting pay would be MUCH higher than the average first-year teacher. But that did not happen. Due to the union contract that paid teachers based on longevity, my starting salary was pretty much the same as a first-year teacher with a B.A. in Education. My extra work experience, degrees, and better grades (straight-A’s) meant NOTHING !!! I got the same pay as everyone else.
So, how can you expect to attract the very best when ALL teachers, good and bad, are compensated equally ?? After my first year, I was given a raise along with ALL of the second-year teachers. Some of these teachers were duds and should have been fired. However, our union protected them and GUARANTEED their pay raise. Now, I ask you….Is this fair ??
Here’s the bottom line. EVERY teacher should be subjected to the same standards that are utilized in the private sector. If a first-year teacher has superior credentials, then he/she should be paid more than the average new hire. Any future raises should be based strictly on performance. Poor teachers should be weeded out and fired. Great teachers should be rewarded accordingly.
The current antiquated, union-controlled system is broken. It is designed to attract mostly average teachers who happily accept annual pay raises based solely on longevity, not performance. And our children are paying the price.
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Tom, I think you found out that most teachers do not want people like you on the staff. Basically, that is because you have intelligence and a work ethic. I agree with you that our schools are failing to perform because the staff has no incentive to strive for “true” excellence. It is sad that the union controls every aspect of the educational process. They even write the certification process. A licensed medical doctor isn’t qualified to teach biology without the unions stamp of approval. On the other hand a below average education student meets their criteria. Recently, I was discussing some of these things with a CPA. She said that she was required to get some sort of “state” license just to sub in a local high school.
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Sandra…. You are absolutely right. They didn’t want me on the staff. And I sensed some jealousy. Let me explain.
To become a certified teacher, it usually takes four years of college. It only took me two years to get both a master’s degree (M.Ed) AND teacher certification. I was also required to complete a master’s thesis. Some of my high school colleagues and principal wondered how anyone could do this in just two years. Well, I did it. In fact, compared to my engineering studies, it was a piece of cake.
I guess I also posed a threat to some administrators. My principal was the most paranoid person I have ever known. He believed that I was on a mission to take his job. Boy, was he wrong. I just wanted to teach. That’s all.
I loved teaching. And I still miss it after all these years. Oh, well…….
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Well, Tom, that district lost an excellent teacher. I’ve known some teachers with a MA that couldn’t spell two words in a row correctly. One lady I know had to have someone else write her paper for her.
What amazes me is that a native person from France, Spain, Germany etc. is not qualified to teach those languages, but a mediocre student with a teaching certificate can fudge teaching the language. My mother was a high school counselor, but her school needed someone to fill in for Spanish and she “taught” the class. She’d bone up on the next days lesson after dinner and do her best, but she admitted that the kids were cheated. It must have been a humorous class with her Pennsylvania accent.
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Just a question, I would like to know how many teachers out there that has parents still living in the Fairfield and Lakota school district that is on a fixed income and struggling? Do they support the levy just because there kid is a teacher at one of them? Actually any school district. Not just these 2.
Think of all the people that live in these areas that are on fixed income and have NO kids or even grandkids in the school system. Why should they have to pay higher taxes? They don’t get raises like these teacher, adminstrators and even everyone else who is outside of the school system. I’m a stay at home mom and I have 3 kids 2 of which are now out of school. I have one more left and when he is out of school I am still going to be paying for this levy afterwards if it passes. I don’t get paid for what I do. And I am one that was always in the schools volunteering. Simply because I wanted to see my kids learning and what they were learning. I don’t volunteer much anymore. Because I don’t like how things are going anymore. I don’t like the material they are teaching either.
Well we have had tighten up our belts do to the way things are it is time for the schools to do the same and make cuts to stuff that isn’t going to affect the kids. As for the Fairfield I think all board members should have to resign and let the city elect all new for the board. When Arnie sent out the cuts in email then I seen it in the paper I thought why is it that the adminstrators are the last ones to be cut. They should be the first to either go or take pay cuts. They could all take pay cuts so that nobody has to lose a job. I know of several people who have had to take pay cuts to keep there job. Why can’t the SCHOOLS do it to?
Thanks for the rant page.. LOL.. Just my opinions on most of this. I’m just one Ticked of PARENT….
Thanks,
Debbie
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Thank you for the comment. Great thoughts that many people are feeling!
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YES YES and YES…. Lakota Schools are great because we have great parents who stand behind their kids… NOT only because of the teachers. This is not to say that some of the teachers aren’t absolultely wonderful, but we have great test scores and student success because the parents behind the students help, guide, encourage and tutor their own children. In my mind the teachers are the guidance and the parents create the follow through. Without the parents in Lakota the teachers would not look quite so good. The schools need to tighten their belts like we all have…. until we all can loosen our belts we won’t have any extra to give…
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Politics will always be a dirty game. The sad part is the “liberated” ones seem to think that their law breaking is legal as long as you agree with them… they write their own rules. I am willing to be up all night the 6th and 7th to replenish signs if need be. If the money is there…I will find a way to add more money to to our cause… Maybe we should save some signs so that the morning of the election there are plenty of signs. I am hoping that with all the pro levy signs that are out there that the yards without them are simply folks who will use there voice and vote. There are plenty of us who don’t want to cause a neighborhood feud or upselt our neighbors and church friends. There is a lot of pressure from seemingly rather calm folks who are PRO levy. Seems they take the gloves off when it comes to this and so I have to say… they are typical liberals. Spending our money for us… wanting to take away our choices, using force and evil tactics to win… through deceit. We must keep the faith, fight the good fight. Not lower ourselves to their level and pray. This is not just about money…. it’s also about our right to choose….
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