July 19, 2018

"Tempers flare at meeting on whether to keep police in Madison high schools."

The Wisconsin State Journal reports on last night's public meeting of the ad hoc school board committee:
David Blaska, a conservative former Dane County Board supervisor, was the first person to speak during the public comment period, and he was among a handful of people at the meeting in support of keeping school-based police officers.... As soon as Blaska’s allotted three minutes to speak were up, loud jeering erupted from the audience....

“Ain’t no amount of training, ain’t no amount of special certificates is going to matter when it comes to black and brown kids, because (police officers) see us as thugs and criminals,” said Bianca Gomez, a member of Freedom Inc., an activist organization focused on issues that affect minority populations.

As Blaska attempted to capture the public comment on his cellphone, others took issue with juvenile speakers being recorded and attempted to block his view by either standing in front of him or putting objects in front of his phone, alleging he runs a racist blog where the youths’ photos would be posted.

Blaska moved about the meeting room... and others continued to follow along and block his phone.

The emotions culminated in a heated face-to-face argument between a woman who had earlier spoke [sic] in support of EROs [education resource officers] and some people wishing to remove EROs....
Here's Blaska's post from a couple days ago, "Madison school board is put on notice/David Blaska will not be denied his right of free speech" with a letter from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty that accuses the committee of violating his rights at the previous public meeting:
Our client intends to speak at the July 18, 2018, meeting. As you know, if a public body invites public comment, it cannot engage in viewpoint discrimination among those who wish to speak – even if other members of the public wish the public body to do so. At the last meeting of the ad hoc committee on Wednesday, June 20, other members of the audience heckled Mr. Blaska during his public comment and he was not allowed the full three minutes allotted him. An organized group of protestors interrupted his comments several times with signs and rehearsed chants such as “Silence white supremacy!” His ability to speak and be heard was finally halted completely by a loud and sustained chant: “Get Him Out! Get Him Out!”
I blogged about that earlier meeting here. I said: "The committee members do nothing to push back the intimidation or to protect Blaska's right to speak to the group."

And here's Blaska's post from yesterday showing 15 questions he had for the committee, including #15:
[Committee chairman Dean] Loumos, you have permitted a small group to disrupt and bully this committee for 16 months without demanding order or civility. You meet at 4 p.m. which precludes working people from attending as if the chaos wasn’t enough to deter citizen participation. You accuse the one speaker in favor of keeping the EROs in school of using “code words.”
It sounds as though Blaska was given his opportunity to speak for his full 3 minutes this time and the jeering and heckling came afterwards, providing lots of opportunity for Blaska to gather the video that will make his antagonists look awful.

On the subject of photographing "youths" and posting the video on line, I just want to say once again that I oppose the use of children in politics and would like to protect them, but if they are allowed to participate in public hearing where government officials are deliberating important policy matters that will affect the community, they cannot be insulated from exposure and criticism. Either in or out. There's no special limbo for youths who are inserting themselves in politics. If there were, there would be even more exploitation of children in politics.

107 comments:

Fernandinande said...

Ain’t no amount of training, ain’t no amount of special certificates is gone make me talk good!

Sebastian said...

"video that will make his antagonists look awful."

Because they are?

Leland said...

If you speak at a public forum, particular one in which public decisions are made; your direct participation should be part of the captured minutes. To not do this would be censorship and provide a gateway for officials to hide other meeting details that should be made last of the public record. If this is daunting to you, then you have the right to remain silent.

alan markus said...

School Choice/Vouchers soon gonna be bitch-slapping the Madison School District.

cubanbob said...

The action by the "activists" proves the need for the police in the schools.

MadisonMan said...

There is no guarantee of privacy at a Public Meeting for anyone.

I did like how Blaska was identified as 'conservative' in the paper this morning (we still have it delivered) but the others were not identified as 'liberal' or 'insane'.

Ken B said...

Is Hogg a youth?

J. Farmer said...

The response to the disproportionate behavior problems of blacks and browns is always to ignore it and stop reporting it, since the problem is invariably evil white people. And so the response to blacks being suspended for behavior problems is to stop suspending them (i.e. keeping disruptive people in the classroom to disrupt the people who actually want to be there). Local municipalities are asking cops not to arrest people for "petty crimes." San Francisco's BART won't release surveillance footage of groups of black teens assaulting and robbing passengers because, "To release these videos would create a high level of racially insensitive commentary toward the district." Sweden's response to their crime and rape epidemic was to forbid the police force from describing the "suspects' race and nationality."

Wince said...

...said Bianca Gomez, a member of Freedom Inc., an activist organization focused on issues that affect minority populations.

Say it with me: corporations are not people!

Nonapod said...

As soon as Blaska’s allotted three minutes to speak were up, loud jeering erupted from the audience.

Is public jeering an effective persuasive tactic in this day and age? I mean, if someone is on the fence about a particular issue, does jeering incline them toward the side of the jeerers? Someone must've done a study at some point.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

All words are code words. They stand for things.

AlbertAnonymous said...

Reason number 5,067 why I sent my kids to private school. It’s a shame those that want to do so, and can’t afford it, are not even allowed to discuss “vouchers” anymore. Because, you know, “choice” only works where we like you having a choice.

We will control when you have a choice and when you don’t. When you can speak and when you can be censored. All in the name of political correctness.

Darrell said...

The Joker was right: The world needs an enema.

rhhardin said...

Derb on the public swimming pool problem. They ought to let him speak about stuff not mixing well.

Linguistically, this whole zone is a mess. It's a mess because we're afraid to speak honestly about what's going on. When people are afraid to speak honestly, it's because there are true facts in the world that they'd prefer not to face.

True facts like these: For white yuppies from gentrified neighborhoods, a free public swimming pool is a place to swim a little, sunbathe a little, have fun with the kids a little if you're married, flirt a little if you're not, and catch up on some reading. For young blacks and Hispanics from the projects, it's a place to show off, status-challenge other young toughs, get in fights, and defy authority.

The two things don't mix. Whoever thought they would - whoever spent $50 million to bring this pool back to commission, with open admission for all who show up - is an idiot, an idiot whose brain has been addled by the kind of dishonest, reality-defying linguistic malpractice on display in the New York newspapers this week.

http://www.johnderbyshire.com/Opinions/RadioDerb/2015-06-13.html

David Begley said...

Ain't no amount of public education in Madison that will work.

Hard to believe that the professors at the University of Wisconsin send their kids to public schools.

Shouting Thomas said...

The solution for whites will be taking their kids out of Madison schools. They'll buy a house far enough out of town that they are in a white majority school district and they'll live with a nasty commute.

Woodstock, NY, my old home town, is a shining example of this practice.

I'd guess 1/2 the hippie/liberals who move to Woodstock do so to get their kids the hell out of the New York City public schools and into a public school system that is majority white. The only solution in NYC is to put your white kid in a private school that is either majority white, or attracts blacks who self-select because their parents are educated and well-to-do. In other words, blacks who aren't gang material.

I've always thought that Woodstock's obsession with racism can be attributed to this. The white hippie/liberals feel intensely guilty about abandoning the struggle to deal with NYC's gang dominated public schools. Once they are safely in Woodstock, they become even more hysterical about other people's racism in compensation.

stevew said...

The use of children, defined as anyone under the age of 18, in politics is abuse. There is nothing special about their opinions other than they are uninformed and lacking experience. Using children in these situations is no different than the way drug dealers use them to move and deliver their products in that it protects the adults.

-sw

Rob said...

The po-po see us as thugs and criminals, so we're going to act thuggishly right now to reinforce that perception.

Michael K said...

Blogger alan markus said...
School Choice/Vouchers soon gonna be bitch-slapping the Madison School District.


North Carolina has seen massive flight from public schools , since a GOP legislature has enacted an increase in charter schools and vouchers for the poor.

Left to their own devices, individuals will show any interest they have in educating their children or themselves by doing business with providers of the education service, and competition will drive up quality as it drives down costs.

Is it any wonder, then, that a new report from The Charlotte News Observer shows that in the years following a 2010 Republican-led school choice revolution, government-run school attendance is plummeting, while alternative school options are flourishing?

As T. Keung Hui writes for the Observer:

For the third year in a row, enrollment has fallen in North Carolina’s traditional public schools even as the number of students continues to rise in charter schools, private schools and homeschools. The percentage of the state’s 1.8 million students attending traditional public schools has dropped to 80.8 percent and is continuing to fall rapidly.


Maybe an idea for the Wisconsin legislature.

Bad Lieutenant said...

There's no special limbo for blacks who are inserting themselves in politics. If there were, there would be even more exploitation of minorities in politics.

FIFY Emerita

rhhardin said...

Armstrong and Getty: Melania is the ultimate Red Sparrow. She's the Lebron James of Red Sparrows.

SGT Ted said...

Leftwingers are thugs and bullies when it comes down to it. They don't like people recording them because it reveals the truth about what they are to the people they are trying to fool with their civility bullshit.

SGT Ted said...

The left also uses children as political human shields to try and deflect criticism as "picking on kids".

Fuck those people.

MikeR said...

"The committee members do nothing to push back the intimidation or to protect Blaska's right to speak to the group." Sounds like they did better this time, even protecting his right to film.

MikeR said...

"North Carolina has seen massive flight from public schools , since a GOP legislature has enacted an increase in charter schools and vouchers for the poor."
Yup. Parents prefer charter schools. But I would have appreciated the article talking about if the education actually turns out to be better. I would have thought so, but I've heard (Megan McArdle) that there isn't as much evidence for that as I'd like.
Still, there is in any case a value to letting parents make their own choices.

buwaya said...

The swarming and intimidation work very well, usually.

It is intended to deter any other person with similar ideas from speaking up, and thus preventing a true indication of the opinions of the group. The majority does not see people like them speaking, and so assume they are weak. Power is in large part the willingness to assert power. Its how minorities dominate majorities.

You see this everywhere.

Chuck said...

I'm tempted to write that Althouse's blogging is at it's absolute best on this kind of issue; careful reporting of affairs in Madison. But I fear that it would be unfair to her also-excellent law blogging, etc.

I would not know of Dave Blaska but for Althouse. And I am grateful to know of Dave Blaska and his blog.

David Blaska:
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Maybe we were wrong and Robinson/Dohnal correct. Thank God Trump won and Hillary lost.
Even so, we’ll be supporting Someone Else in two years. Someone with Trump’s policies and Bill Buckley’s manners and vocabulary, if such a candidate be.


"Trump's policies." That is an interesting notion.

To be sure, Trump has some "policies" insofar as he has a track record. Beforehand, I have no idea what Trump's "policies" might be. I don't know what Trump's world trade policy is. No one knows what Trump's health care policy is. What Trump's budgeting/reform policies might be, is anyone's guess.

But like Dave Blaska, I have good reason, or better said, some reason, to be happy with my 2016 Michigan (critical) vote for Trump. Gorsuch. Kavanaugh. 23 Circuit Court of Appeals judges. Jeff Sessions. Betsy DeVos. Scott Gottlieb. James Mattis.

I hope I never have to vote for Trump again. Once was bad enough. It is comforting, to at least be able to think that David Blaska thinks the same way.

gspencer said...

Culture approaches to education surface again. Which one will prevail? The white/Asian one which largely appreciates merit. Or the one that doesn't appreciate merit.

exhelodrvr1 said...

"enrollment has fallen in North Carolina’s traditional public schools "

Curious if the number of teachers in the traditional schools has declined yet as a result. If not, it should be a win-win, as that would decrease the student-teacher ratio.

narayanan said...

"Power is in large part the willingness to assert power. Its how minorities dominate majorities."

tactic initiated by small gang "bolsheviks" when they minimized then present majority as "mensheviks"

still persists in history narratives.

Michael K said...

But I would have appreciated the article talking about if the education actually turns out to be better. I would have thought so, but I've heard (Megan McArdle) that there isn't as much evidence for that as I'd like.

The education bureaucracy and teachers' unions are determined that no such evidence surfaces without a fight to the death,

One example. My old high school in Chicago, Leo Catholic High School (St Leo when I went to it ) is now 100% black and is in a blue collar neighborhood of Chicago. The last time I checked, 96% of the boys are accepted to college and the tuition, which is not supported by vouchers, is over 90% current.

Those parents are not wealthy or even upper middle class. They are paying tuition and the kids are learning.

A few testimonials, one negative.

I wonder if that negative one will change his mind after some experience in public school ?

Nonapod said...

buwaya said...The swarming and intimidation work very well, usually.

It is intended to deter any other person with similar ideas from speaking up, and thus preventing a true indication of the opinions of the group. The majority does not see people like them speaking, and so assume they are weak. Power is in large part the willingness to assert power. Its how minorities dominate majorities.


I don't doubt that it's been effective as an intimidation tactic in the past, especially where bad behavior is allowed to persist or even encouraged. I just question whether or not it's still a viable tactic in the specific situation we have here where a person is allowed to complete their argument without interuption. Maybe it can still cause intimidation, but does that convince? I guess it all depends on the audience.

buwaya said...

You wont ever get Bill Buckley's manners, because these weren't his manners, but his manner. That style of speech, that demeanor, was a product of his tribe and caste and time. It is all gone now. They aren't making them like that anymore, or if some few in such small numbers and so powerless that they will get nowhere as leaders, without that divine spark. Buckley himself would have made a terrible politician.

Moreover the manner of a person has little to do with either his positions or his personal qualities for leadership. I have worked for many leaders. The personalities covered all sorts. After some experience one learns to understand where your own judgement of men is tending to the aesthetic rather than the practical.

The ancients understood this.

Michael K said...

"I hope I never have to vote for Trump again"

I'm sure you would be happy with Kamala Harris.

Michael K said...

After some experience one learns to understand where your own judgement of men is tending to the aesthetic rather than the practical.

The ancients understood this.


Edward Lansdale understood this and he was kept away from Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam.

Oso Negro said...

We need a modern Marcus Garvey. Let them find a land free of objectionable white people. Back in Africa, where fellow blacks enslaved their forebears for profit.

Jersey Fled said...

Sounds like time to withdraw police from Madison schools and watch the fun begin. Starting with the teachers who will be beat up, intimidated, cursed at, etc.

buwaya said...

"but does that convince?"

Unamuno said as much in that celebrated confrontation in Salamanca.

"Venceries, pero no convencereis"

You will conquer, but you will not convince. Much more elegant in Spanish. Unamuno was one of those guys who could be elegant while facing imminent execution.

Unamuno was wrong though. Conquest sufficed, for over forty years, which is as much as any human politics can be expected to dominate.

gspencer said...

"I [AA] said: 1The committee members do nothing to push back the intimidation or to protect Blaska's right to speak to the group.'"

It's ONLY unwelcomed/unwanted/unliked/speech-that-some-consider-hateful speech that needs 1A protection.

And committed members, being public officials, have taken oaths, even if they don't remember doing so, to support the federal and WI constitutions, as required by those constitutions. Article VI (federal); Wi Const. Article IV, section 28.

Michael K said...

One school district has the solution to all its problems.

Hire a PR firm.

The Broward County school district is looking for better PR and is willing to pay someone up to $174,870 to make that happen.

The school district is advertising for a chief public information officer who can find ways to “champion a favorable public image and brand for the district” and can “bring to life the many stories” of the school district, according to a job posting.

The job pays between $104,836 and $174,870.

The school district has suffered a number of public relations hits since the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, which left 17 people dead.


This reminds me of Obama saying that "terrorism is mostly a public relations problem."

I'm Full of Soup said...

Dittos what Mad Man said at 9:17 AM.

J. Farmer said...

@MikeR:

But I would have appreciated the article talking about if the education actually turns out to be better. I would have thought so, but I've heard (Megan McArdle) that there isn't as much evidence for that as I'd like.

Two good books that help explain why that is are Bad Students, Not Bad Schools by Robert Weissberg and Charles Murray's Real Education.

The reason there are discrepancies between, say, South Korean and American results on educational testing is largely not because of the difference in educational systems but the fact that the United States has a large black and Hispanic population. If you break out the American performance by race, the discrepancies between white students and Korean students largely disappears. This suggests that educational systems do not have much impact on student performance.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Albertanonymous:

Re sending your kids to private schools...I believe that one unspoken librul goal is to take enough of everyone's money, in taxes, that only the very uber-rich are able financially to send their kids to private schools. If more middle and upper class voters realized that, the Dems would have far fewer voters.

Althouse: I am curious, did your boys go to public schools in Madison?

alan markus said...

@ Michael K said:

Maybe an idea for the Wisconsin legislature.

In a limited fashion, Wisconsin has been ahead of the curve on school choice. It started with vouchers for low income students in Racine & Milwaukee. In this budget cycle, it was made state wide for all low income students. There is a separate program for Special Needs students. I am pretty sure that there is also no "cap" on the amount of vouchers that can be issued. I see a lot of local complaining that the school district has to advance part of their state aids to the receiving school. There is a private education tax credit for families that do not qualify for the vouchers.

The coming "show-down" will be in the next 2-year budget - if Gov. Walker & the Republicans hold on, there will be an attempt to increase upper income limit for eligible families 220% of poverty income to 300%. One of the Democratic contenders for Gov. is Tony Evers, who is the current secretary of the Department of Education. If he wins the primary, expect to see this being a big issue, in conjunction with the campaign rhetoric that the Republicans and Walker are destroying public education in Wisconsin.


Here is an older opinion piece on WI school choice: Borsuk: School choice expansion continues in Wisconsin

stevew said...

The root cause of the problems of the Broward County school district are not of the public relations kind. But, I'll take the PR job for $150k, especially if it comes with eligibility for a pension.

-sw

walter said...

You do your best work with things not Trump.
But Truuuuumpppp!

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michael K said...

If you break out the American performance by race, the discrepancies between white students and Korean students largely disappears.

This, of course, is not permitted to be discussed.

There is another factor, which is the toxic culture in the black population where "Acting White" is condemned and punished.

One potential benefit of vouchers is to get black kids who want to study out of bad schools. Of course, this does not solve the problem of kids having to walk through hostile, gang infested neighborhoods where it is known they are going to a private or charter school.


Chicago is having a problem with closing schools as the population declines. Kids now have to walk through rival gang areas to go to school.

A Leo High School kid was killed a year or two ago outside the school, which could have been a retaliation. He was not in a gang.

buwaya said...

Children, or at least teenagers, are excellent cannon-fodder.
They do not direct public policy, and these children were not doing that.
They were weapons in the hands of persons that do want to direct public policy.
In this case I suspect these peopke, the adults, want to be paid off, in some way, grants or jobs or such, so as to stop making trouble through their use of children.
Thats the usual case.

Jupiter said...

Imagine a shithole, swarming with criminals so violent and degraded that even a constant police presence cannot prevent frequent assaults. What kind of an asshole would send his kids to a place like that?

J. Farmer said...

One potential benefit of vouchers is to get black kids who want to study out of bad schools.

Very true, although I think the school choice movement is largely chimera. Public education is already tasked with an impossible goal.

There is also the sobering lesson of the Kansas City desegregation experiment. "Although the students enjoyed perhaps the best school facilities in the country, the percentage of black students in the largely black district had continued to increase, black students' achievement hadn't improved at all, and the black-white achievement gap was unchanged." Read whole thing here.

ga6 said...

Look. listen, good liberals with good intentions. Then do you send your children to these schools? Well, the citizens of North Carolina are voting with their children's feet. After less than three years since full state subsidy of school vouchers almost 20% of NC school children are in alternative, private, or home based school.

https://www.mrctv.org/blog/north-carolina-public-school-choice-sees-massive-drop-government-school-attendance

Otto said...

Typical blue city happenings. Once the higher education bubble is burst, most of the elites will move out and a typical ending will ensue for this blue city. Sadly the bucolic Sunday pics will end.
Hope your retirement fund is in good shape.

Achilles said...

Black students in Texas outperform black students in Wisconsin.

Hispanic students in Texas outperform Hispanic students in Wisconsin.

White students in Texas outperform white students in Wisconsin.

Somehow Wisconsin outperforms Texas in National education ratings.

It is almost like a group of people want a shitty education system that ignores important social and cultural influences.

Virgil Hilts said...

Agree with Sebastian I would rewrite "opportunity for Blaska to gather the video that will make his antagonists look awful" to "opportunity for Blaska to gather the video that shows how utterly awful his antagonists truly are."

Known Unknown said...

"The Joker was right: The world needs an enema."

It was 'this town needs an enema,' but it still applies.

Shouting Thomas said...

I simply do not understand the apparent preference among black for non-enforcement of the law in their communities.

I've lived in black communities and I've seen the damage this wreaks.

When I've attempted to get an answer to this, about the only response is the perception that non-enforcement of the law sticks it to whites. The desire for blood revenge seems to entirely outweight living in thrall to the gangs.

Ray - SoCal said...

I expected Trump would be doing more on K-12 education.

Or may be I am just missing the news about it?

Same think with HUD.

n.n said...

Children at political borderlines.

Bill Peschel said...

The problem is public schools is that they have to take everyone, which means that the class is only as good as the most disruptive students.

For example, a friend of ours in an adjoining school district (you'll have to accept the fact that we were told this story) had children in a class with a "mainstreaming" student who had mental issues.

When the student acted out so badly that he couldn't be controlled, the teacher would call out "bear party." That was the signal for the class to go out into the hall and wait while the teacher and the aide calmed that student.

This happened frequently.

(This reminds me of when I was worked for a computer game company years ago. We had programmers in two buildings, and the manager in the other building had -- by permission with the CEO -- kept his mentally ill brother with him at work. Most of the time, he was fine, except when he started screaming, taking off his clothes, and masturbating.)

Michael K said...

black students' achievement hadn't improved at all, and the black-white achievement gap was unchanged."

The Kansas City thing was the result of a lunatic judge who mandated all sorts of irrelevant stuff like Olympic swimming pools.

What I think important is to get black kids who want to study and get somewhere useful, out of the black culture that is so destructive.

Maybe only 15 or 20% of them will make something of themselves. Maybe it won't be enough to move the mean but it will be a lot for those people. Then, maybe we get a generation of blacks with healthy cultural attitudes. Black illegitimacy was about the same as whites in 1950.

One of my few American black medical students played water polo in college.

How many blacks play water polo ?

Most of my black medical students were foreign born and raised.

Sebastian said...

@MadisonMan: "I did like how Blaska was identified as 'conservative' in the paper this morning (we still have it delivered) but the others were not identified as 'liberal' or 'insane'"

It's the real tell, isn't it, that the prog position is the default of prog reporters, just completely taken for granted.

Even the headline reflects it:

"Tempers flare at meeting on whether to keep police in Madison high schools." Tempers? Whose tempers? What tempers?

Of course, a more descriptive headline could be: "Progressive activists disrupt public meeting about police in high schools," or, "Leftists harass conservative speaker at public meeting," or "Anti-police protesters take over meeting about school law enforcement."

Michael K said...


Blogger Ray said...
I expected Trump would be doing more on K-12 education.


His ed secretary is more hated, if possible, than Trump.

She is working on it but faces as much obstruction as he does.

Biff said...

I understand that our friends in the activist community have decided that "thug" is the new "n-word," and any white person who uses it is supposed to be a horrible racist.

Francisco D said...

"Black students in Texas outperform black students in Wisconsin. Hispanic students in Texas outperform Hispanic students in Wisconsin. White students in Texas outperform white students in Wisconsin. Somehow Wisconsin outperforms Texas in National education ratings."

Someone is cooking the data if what you say is accurate.

That does not surprise me, sadly.

Dude1394 said...

This is why public schools should all be disbanded. There is no way to FIX what has happened to our public school system. Anyone with a dollar opts out, only the poor are forced to stay.

It is criminal what we are doing to those marginalized children.

Dude1394 said...

""Black students in Texas outperform black students in Wisconsin. Hispanic students in Texas outperform Hispanic students in Wisconsin. White students in Texas outperform white students in Wisconsin. Somehow Wisconsin outperforms Texas in National education ratings."

Someone is cooking the data if what you say is accurate.

That does not surprise me, sadly."

This is ABSOLUTELY true.

Fernandinande said...

This suggests that educational systems do not have much impact on student performance.

"Failing schools" means "schools with failing students".

"Game Over: Genomic Prediction of Social Mobility"

"Social mobility can be predicted from polygenic score."

Fernandinande said...

Dude1394 said...
This is ABSOLUTELY true.


Because Wisconsin has a higher percentage of white kids than Texas. It's pretty tricky!

walter said...

"Somehow Wisconsin outperforms Texas in National education ratings"
Perhaps there's a "holistic" measurement at work.

buwaya said...

The Texas > many others, or rather that some states do considerably better than others when disaggregating test scores by race, is very robust. It’s consistent over many years of NAEP testing. And others, the first I saw was a RAND study of TX vs CA in the early 90’s.
Another state that does (relatively) well is Massachusetts.

None of these states close the racial “gaps”, but some cases are interesting, for instance vs West Virginia whites in NAEP, who score just above the ballpark of the very best states for blacks.

buwaya said...

That is, genetics is powerful, but it’s not everything, and there is room for improvement.

buwaya said...

No, it’s not “holistic”, it’s just arithmetic.

Granted, this is tough to explain to the innumerate.

Look up the NAEP numbers, and check their calculations.

tcrosse said...

If public schools are such hell holes, no wonder the teachers unions are so belligerent.

buwaya said...

A common rule in school district union contracts is that transfers to money re-desirable schools is by seniority preference.
Most teachers want the “white” schools, if any.

David Blaska said...

Thanks, Ann. The “juvenile” in question (if that is what she was) could not have been younger than 17. In any event, the anti-cop agitators trotted her out to a public meeting in front of TV cameras and newspaper photographers. They kept blocking my attempts to record the proceedings well afterwards regardless of the age of the succeeding speakers, all of whom were well over 21. So protecting the "juvenile" was just a well practiced ruse. A bit of agitprop.

They also smacked the smart phone from a mother of a student who was recording MY harassment and followed her son from the auditorium to his ultimate frisbee game. She has contacted police. I update here: https://davidblaska.com/2018/07/19/the-lefts-anti-cop-thuggery-got-physical-at-madison-school-district-hdq/

Rick said...

MikeR said...
Sounds like they did better this time, even protecting his right to film.


They didn't protect Blaska's right to film. They merely didn't abridge it themselves, instead they sat by idly as their allies tried to do so.

Achilles said...

Francisco D said...

"Black students in Texas outperform black students in Wisconsin. Hispanic students in Texas outperform Hispanic students in Wisconsin. White students in Texas outperform white students in Wisconsin. Somehow Wisconsin outperforms Texas in National education ratings."

Someone is cooking the data if what you say is accurate.

That does not surprise me, sadly.


You don't have to cook the data to come to that conclusion.

You just have to ask how many hispanic and black students are in Wisconsin schools.

You also need to ask what kind of mentality and cultural influences lead people to design a public school system that expects less from black and hispanic students. The public school system treats them like animals. They act like animals.

Just like the progressives that run the public school system want.

Most of their parents want them out of that shitty system but democrats kill school choice at every opportunity because it lets black and hispanic kids off their plantation.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michael K said...

Most of their parents want them out of that shitty system but democrats kill school choice at every opportunity because it lets black and hispanic kids off their plantation.

"When children pay union dues, I will be concerned about children."

Albert Shanker AFT president.

Achilles said...

And while I am using race it is actually more about socioeconomic influences and these just mirror racial divides in our country.

Wealthy areas with more property tax revenue obviously put more money in to their schools.

Very wealthy people can escape entirely and send their kids to private school.

Poor people regardless of race are fucked. The poor must never be allowed to improve their station.

The only way they are allowed to gain wealth is through the spoils system and that means supporting the plantation.

The true war the Aristocracy fights is against upward mobility.

DanTheMan said...

The left regularly and routinely uses children as props to get out their message. Then, if someone disagrees, they say "How dare you attack a child?"



walter said...

Bianca Gomez - Gender Justice Coordinator

Bianca Gomez is from Cleveland, OH and staff member at Freedom Inc. After graduating with a degree in Special Education at the University of Akron in Ohio, Bianca moved to Madison to pursue a Masters in Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Her research focuses on alternatives to punitive disciplinary policies and practices, which disproportionately impact Youth of Color, especially in schools and other institutions. She is also one of the founders of the Black Liberation Action Coalition (BLAC), a coalition between students and community members in Madison who share concerns about issues and policies facing their campus and community. Bianca is unapologetically dedicated to Black liberation and the liberation of all oppressed groups. She believes in shifting power to the most impacted communities and looks to her ancestors for support and guidance as she engages in the struggle for freedom.

https://www.freedom-inc.org/index.php?page=staff

George Grady said...

Achilles said...

Black students in Texas outperform black students in Wisconsin.

Hispanic students in Texas outperform Hispanic students in Wisconsin.

White students in Texas outperform white students in Wisconsin.

Somehow Wisconsin outperforms Texas in National education ratings.

It is almost like a group of people want a shitty education system that ignores important social and cultural influences.


It's basically because Wisconsin has so few blacks and Hispanics, and their whites outperform Texas blacks and Hispanics. It's an example of Simpson's paradox.

Achilles said...

walter said...

Bianca Gomez - Gender Justice Coordinator

...

Bianca is unapologetically dedicated to Black liberation and the liberation of all oppressed groups. She believes in shifting power to the most impacted communities and looks to her ancestors for support and guidance as she engages in the struggle for freedom.

Excellent example.

Bianca Gomez produces nothing of value for anyone.

Bianca Gomez has lifetime job security through the spoils system because she directly supports the plantation.

As long as we allow progressives to run the education system people like this will have a job poisoning our children's minds.

People like Bianca keep black kids on the plantation and specifically prodding them to act like animals.

She doesn't care that this hurts Black kids. Or if she does she wants them to be poor and uneducated and dependent for the rest of their lives.

Don't let those kids act Asian/White and be self sufficient.

Achilles said...

George Grady said...

It's basically because Wisconsin has so few blacks and Hispanics, and their whites outperform Texas blacks and Hispanics. It's an example of Simpson's paradox.

That is the easy step and you gave me a name for the phenomena and 3 minutes of reading material.

This is appreciated.

My post is the what. My goal was to get people to how, then move to why.

DanTheMan said...

>>She believes in shifting power

That's all she believes in. The rest is just details....

buwaya said...

NAEP Data Explorer

Have fun.

Pulled Grade 8 NAEP Mathematics for selected ethnicities, selected states

Asian White Mex/Chicano Black
California 307 279 265 256
Massachusetts 322 301 ‡ 273
Texas 312 288 275 267
West Virginia ‡ 275 261 258
Wisconsin 287 294 269 259

National 306 289 270 263

DanTheMan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Oso Negro said...

@ Francisco D - Suck it, Badger Boy

https://www.educationnext.org/are-wisconsin-schools-better-than-those-in-texas/

DanTheMan said...

Simpsons, for those who want the Cliff notes:

Kevin shoots 2 for 7 in the first half, and 3 for 3 in the second.
Lebron shoots 0 for 3 in the first half, and 6 of 7 in the second.

By percentage:
Leading scorer, first half: Kevin
Leading scorer, second half: Kevin
but...
Leading scorer, entire game: Lebron


buwaya said...

Wisconsin has actually improved the white kids standing.

The problem with Asians is that Asians =/= Asians, and you may have a very different mix there.

Note that WV whites are just a hair better than Mass blacks.

walter said...

M. Adams - Co- Executive Director

M. Adams is a community organizer and co-executive director of Freedom Inc., where she has been for eight years. Born and raised in Milwaukee, Adams has been in Madison since 2003. Adams’s dad has been incarcerated most of her life and she comes from a community that has been the extreme targets of police violence—and in March 2016 Adams’s mother transitioned after fighting cancer and many forms of violence. Adams, herself, also a dad and has her family as a primary motivator for her work. As a queer Black person, Adams has developed and advocated for a strong intersectional approach in numerous important venues: Adams is a leading figure in the Take Back the Land Movement, she presented before the United Nations for the Convention on Eliminating Racial Discrimination, the co-Author of Forward from Ferguson and a work in progress on Black community control over the police, and author to intersectionality theory in Why Killing Unarmed Black folks is a Queer issue. Most recently, Adams can be seen in person, on TV or in the newspapers giving near weekly presentations, testifying at city council meetings, and energizing crowds at protests.

Francisco D said...

"It's basically because Wisconsin has so few blacks and Hispanics, and their whites outperform Texas blacks and Hispanics. It's an example of Simpson's paradox."

That is an excellent point George. It likely explains reason for Wisconsin's higher overall rating.

I would still like to see the data because I do not trust education bureaucrats who game the system.

When I lived in Iowa, the state had the highest HS graduation rate (90%) in the country. I did cognitive testing for adult disability patients who had been diagnosed with mental retardation (i.e., cognitive disability) in childhood. Almost all had graduated high school under "special education" parameters. None were likely to hold a job outside of a sheltered workshop environment.

Anonymous said...

Somewhere in the Madison school district is a kid just waiting for the bleeding hearts to pull the cops from schools. When the inevitable disaster occurs it will be Blaska's fault.

Jim at said...

“Ain’t no amount of training, ain’t no amount of special certificates is going to matter when it comes to black and brown kids, because (police officers) see us as thugs and criminals,”

Fine. Since your spawn is so special - and perfect, little angels - then there's no need for the Po. Leese.

I think we're done here.

Good luck.

Jim at said...

To be sure, Trump has some "policies" insofar as he has a track record. Beforehand, I have no idea what Trump's "policies" might be. I don't know what Trump's world trade policy is. No one knows what Trump's health care policy is. What Trump's budgeting/reform policies might be, is anyone's guess. - Chuck

Does the subject of this post have anything to do with Trump? No. Not in the least.

Yet here you are. Again. Running your mouth about Trump.

Give it a fucking rest. For once.

Sal said...

The only reason a parent should be angry is if the school administrators are risking kids' safety for political correctness or cowardice in the face of belligerent parents-of-color.

Gahrie said...

Is public jeering an effective persuasive tactic in this day and age? I mean, if someone is on the fence about a particular issue, does jeering incline them toward the side of the jeerers?

It's not an attempt at persuasion, it's a form of intimidation.

walter said...

Join Freedom Inc. tonight to demand the the school district invest in youth and divest from the police.

The ERO AD HOC Committee has drafted up recommendations for the Board of Education. We have three call to actions for the committee and BOE:

1) MMSD has to stop putting money into the police and instead put money and resources into students.

2) MMSD has no power to hold MPD accountable once they arrive on school grounds. MMSD has to create an in depth policy on how students can report the police, how the police will be held accountable, and on when to call the police.

3) They have to create a policy on how MMSD is going to hold school teachers, administrators and staff accountable for using police to harm students.

#InvestInYouth #NoCops

President-Mom-Jeans said...

These idiots shouting him down, and swarming his attempts to film only understand violence.

I hope they gain a lot of understanding.

DanTheMan said...

>>When the inevitable disaster occurs it will be Blaska's fault.

Only if she joins the NRA.

Bad Lieutenant said...


Khesanh 0802 said...
Somewhere in the Madison school district is a kid just waiting for the bleeding hearts to pull the cops from schools. When the inevitable disaster occurs it will be Blaska's fault.

7/19/18, 1:16 PM

Why should the budding psycho care about an ERO? What did the last one do? Make sure he collected his pension.

mikee said...

Limbo in the Roman Catholic faith of long ago was the place where souls of unbaptized but virtuous pagans went after death, and limbo also included the souls of those infants of Catholic parentage who died before baptism, innocent of all but original sin.

Thus limbo is the exact place for the young barbarians of the political left today, who wish to claim an undeserved moral supremacy via, as far as I can tell, by yelling the discredited platitudes of their elders in their still-breaking voices. Let them float forever in the void, neither suffering the consequences of their uncivilized behavior, nor enjoying in heaven that closeness to God we all should desire. Perhaps time will allow them to find a true faith, or at least to stop being such sockpuppet assholes.

gpm said...

>>Michael K.

>>A Leo High School kid was killed a year or two ago outside the school, which could have been a retaliation. He was not in a gang.

I grew up about a mile from Leo. We often walked by while heading over to the Capitol Theater on Halsted. The geographical focus of the ShowTime series "The Chi," which recently finished its first season, is supposedly on 79th Street between Ashland and Halsted. I loved Shameless, supposedly set in Canaryville, but haven't had much interest in The Chi (though I have watched one or two episodes). I doubt that Leo or St. Sabina (a topic all on its own) have made any appearance in the series.

--gpm

Big Mike said...

@Bad LT, in Great Mill High School in Maryland the resource officer ran towards the sound of gunfire, and engaged the shooter. He fired one round, which wounded the shooter, but which induced the shooter to kill himself.

Greg P said...

It sounds as though Blaska was given his opportunity to speak for his full 3 minutes this time and the jeering and heckling came afterwards, providing lots of opportunity for Blaska to gather the video that will make his antagonists look awful.


His opponents make themselves look awful, all Blaska has to do is record it