February 26, 2019

"As activists chanted, the Madison School Board left its usual meeting place in the auditorium of the Doyle Administration Building Monday night and finished the rest of its session in a conference room down the hall..."

"... and away from the public and reporters. The rest of the meeting was broadcast via live-stream video in the auditorium of the Doyle Administration Building. Security guards blocked entry into the conference room until the meeting ended and School Board members left the building.... Protests were led by Freedom Inc., the local social justice advocacy group that has been calling on the Madison Metropolitan School District to not renew its contract to have police officers in the city’s four main high schools.... The public comment period during Monday’s meeting was dominated by speakers responding to an incident at Whitehorse Middle School where a staff member allegedly pushed an 11-year-old girl and pulled her braids out.... Rob Mueller-Owens, the staff member facing accusations in the Whitehorse incident, is a positive behavior support coach.... Tensions rose during Monday's public comment period as School Board candidate David Blaska took to the lectern urging the audience to not rush to judgment before the police report was released. 'I think we should see what the situation is,' Blaska said as several members of the audience attempted to shout him down by yelling 'this is white supremacy,' as he spoke.... 'A black baby was brutalized,' said Brandi Grayson, co-founder of the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition...."

From "Madison School Board finishes meeting in private room, broadcasts video, after disruptions," by Negassi Tesfamichael in The Capital Times.

Here's Blaska's blog post, "Madison school board takes cover." Writing about himself in the third person:
... Blaska was speaking heresy to the apostles of the Cult of Victimhood who have indicted an entire school district, its elected school board and its teaching staff of racism most foul here in liberal-progressive-socialist Madison....

Blaska agreed with the idea of accountability and ran with it when it was his three minutes to address the school board. He further suggested that parents and students should also be held accountable. This drew loud opprobrium from the masses behind me, to the effect that such a sentiment evinced white supremacism.

Blaska should have stated that teachers can teach all they want but children will not learn unless they are so disposed. The fact (insofar as we know the facts) is that the 11-year-old ignored and/or resisted the classroom teacher’s instruction. Now, is it so very antediluvian to suggest that a student ought to obey a teacher’s command? Or should the teacher respond, “Well, if you really don’t want to, never mind”?

Are we certain the student did not lash out violently?

In any event, one of the other few facts we can ascertain is that the teacher felt she needed help to restore order in her classroom and summoned the principal’s office. The vice principal responded, the hated white man who also fulfilled the role of “positive behavior coach.”...

What happened next is as unknown until a security camera at the far end of the hallway captures man and girl spilling out of the classroom. Another adult “lies on top” of the little girl, allegedly to protect her from the racist assault....

I pointed out that the disorder going on behind me was both symptom and cause of the disorder in the classroom. Still more booing.

154 comments:

AllenS said...

We truly need segregated schools is what I got out of the article. That's the only way some loud people will be happy.

Heartless Aztec said...

This is why there are Charter schools. Unruly students abd parents can - and will be - asked to leave and not come back. Something that never happens in public schools.

Sebastian said...

Good of Althouse to give us a glimpse of progs in the wild.

CJinPA said...

The teacher crossed the line with "This is MAGA class" as he pulled the braids out. The mob's mob-like behavior is justified.

wwww said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SDaly said...

I doubt anyone will be happy, but the teaching and administrative staffs should be segregated as well. That is the only way kids can be held accountable and get down to learning.

Nonapod said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nonapod said...

urging the audience to not rush to judgment before the police report was released

If recent history is any indication, people seem to find it very difficult to not "to rush to judgment" and wait for an investigation and official report. Clearly for many people being to first person to comment seems to be far more important than being correct, fair minded, and objective. Being the first to ride that wave of emotion with it's sense of approval, the sense of belonging that comes with being a part of a mob demanding rightous justice, is far more rewarding than waiting for the sober, staid truth.

buwaya said...

There are a lot of would-be activists about who don't get much scope for activism, so they have to take what they can get, such as harassing innocent people at school board meetings.
Its important to them both as personal fulfillment and in some cases as a matter of professional advancement.

I think a great deal of it is a lack of imagination.

Lucid-Ideas said...

Reminiscent of "Hands up, don't shoot"

"You must believe, he pulled her weave"

"A black baby was brutalized". I've seen what these "black babies" are capable of, and there's nothing childlike about it.

Big Mike said...

Clearly for many people being to first person to comment seems to be far more important than being correct, fair minded, and objective.

@Nonapod, all too true. And I think AllenS is also right; time to resegregate the schools so at least some kids can learn.

Rob said...

All this chanting and acrimony--where was Nathan Phillips when they needed him? Banging his drum inches from the face of the Chairperson of the School Board would have defused the situation for sure.

n.n said...

The children in Florida lost their lives for lack of security.

Since excessive use of force is known to harm clumps of cells of all colors, the indulgence of diversity seems myopic at best and self-aborting at worst.

JackWayne said...

Recently, in Houston, the black majority school board got in a tussle with the Hispanics, who are the majority minority in HISD. Governor Abbot made some critical remarks about the board and threatened to take over the board. The upshot is that we now have a majority Hispanic board. I’m positive that will stop the growth of charter and private schools and provide a great education for all Houston schoolchildren.

n.n said...

where was Nathan Phillips when they needed him

Invading a Catholic Church... and marching/walking/shouting for diversity, age discrimination, summary judgments, and cruel and unusual punishment. #HateLovesAbortion

Michael K said...

You might read this for what public schools are really like.

Bad teaching is a common explanation given for the disastrously inadequate public education received by America’s most vulnerable populations. This is a myth. Aside from a few lemons who were notable for their rarity, the majority of teachers I worked with for nine years in New York City’s public school system were dedicated, talented professionals. Before joining the system I was mystified by the schools’ abysmal results. I too assumed there must be something wrong with the teaching. This could not have been farther from the truth.

Teaching French and Italian in NYC high schools I finally figured out why this was, although it took some time, because the real reason was so antithetical to the prevailing mindset. I worked at three very different high schools over the years, spanning a fairly representative sample. That was a while ago now, but the system has not improved since, as the fundamental problem has not been acknowledged, let alone addressed. It would not be hard, or expensive, to fix.

AlbertAnonymous said...

This is one of the many reasons my kids went to private high school. There, if a kid and teacher have any kind of issue, the parents usually say to their kid "well what did you do wrong?" Plus, most of the parents knew each other, and could be eyes and ears for each other.

But hey, you do you, Madison.

Birkel said...

This is the beginning of the Left eating its own phase of progressivism.
Former allies will be first against the proverbial (and if allowed to progress, actual) wall.

Maybe the first against the wall will ask if Mexicans paid for it?

Dave Begley said...

I've asked this before, but how can the faculty and staff of the University of Wisconsin send their kids to these schools? This is chaos!

Birkel said...

Teachers should know better than to split infinitives.
Alas and alack.

Darrell said...

The Left B CrZy, Part 2,147,483,648.

bagoh20 said...

A guaranteed income is the only hope we have for America's children. We just need to get Mexico to pay for it, becuase the next generation will be on the couch waiting for that check.

Yeaaaaaaa! My pesos arrived! A whole truck load. $13.45 worth.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...
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Jupiter said...

I agree with the activists. The schools should be closed.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

'I think we should see what the situation is,' Blaska said as several members of the audience attempted to shout him down by yelling 'this is white supremacy,' as he spoke

Hmm. I guess I'm a white supremacist.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Ordinarily, I'd say this braid incident is fake news till proven true, but I'll just go with fake. I'm sure part of her hair hat fell off, probably because of all the grease.

Unknown said...


Helena Handbasket is a great pseudonym.

Rick said...

I've asked this before, but how can the faculty and staff of the University of Wisconsin send their kids to these schools?

What makes you think they do?

RK said...

If there's one thing black activists are known for, it's the creation of good schools.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

"That is the only way kids can be held accountable and get down to learning."

Getting down to learning is not going to happen for 99% of them, give or take.

Tommy Duncan said...

Althouse and Meade, does this sort of incident play in your interest in moving? This seems to be the sort of high drama you eschew.

sean said...

Move? These are Prof. Althouse's friends. She has been a stalwart Democrat, supporter of affirmative action, and fighter against state's rights, cultural appropriation, and patriarchal oppression her whole life.

Otto said...

Why did you post this article? The case is on -going, your post doesn't give all details like what would be in a police report . Any intelligent person would say the story you presented is incomplete and no conclusion can be concluded. Are you just click baiting or rationalizing your anticipated move from Madison.

Rick said...

This is why there are Charter schools. Unruly students and parents can - and will be - asked to leave and not come back. Something that never happens in public schools.

This is true but even within schools not everyone is effected. TAG cohorts are now verboten where I live specifically because they separate those focused on learning from the general population. But even without that explicit division kids in advanced classes don't even know who the knuckleheads are except via sports. If you'll forgive a fatherly boast my oldest took AP calc as a freshman and 3/4 of his classes have been advanced or AP. The only classes he has with kids like this are PE and art where the impact is minor.

If your kid is focused he can make it work. The difficulty (I think) is for the parents to create the learning expectation and desire which requires significant involvement starting in elementary school. This can be counter-intuitive because smart kids naturally do well this early even without this involvement. I personally never would have understood this but am fortunate my wife used to be a teacher and understood it from working in the system.

Bay Area Guy said...

In Oakland, the public school teachers are on strike.

They want more $$ to further fail your kids, not teach them how to become productive citizens, and not teach them marketable skills to get jobs in the private sector.

Of course, all the School Board officials, all the political officials, all the teachers, and all the parents vote Democrat.

You'd think since 1 party controls, there'd be more unity, less tension. But, instead, everyone's unhappy and the graduate rate hovers around 50%.

Not many job prospects, if you can't even figure out a way to get a high school diploma.






Lucid-Ideas said...

@Michael K

Thank you thank you for linking that. I read that on Quilette too (link from Heartiste) and it was shocking to say the least.

Everyone keeps beating around the bush. Rhetorically, how - and more importantly why - can you teach those that refuse to be disposed to learn?

Christopher J Feola said...

@Michael K, agree that the lack discipline is a HUGE problem. But... "Aside from a few lemons who were notable for their rarity, the majority of teachers I worked with for nine years in New York City’s public school system were dedicated, talented professionals." That has to have been written by a teacher's union rep. New York City schools have spent decades dragged down by a system where firing a teacher for a minor infraction such as, say, being drunk in class on a daily basis takes years and years. Here's the story of the infamous Rubber Rooms where they have warehoused hundreds of such teachers to keep them away from the kids. https://nypost.com/2016/01/17/city-pays-exiled-teachers-to-snooze-as-rubber-rooms-return/

Cjf

gahrie said...

The term "acting White" to describe minority students who are successful in school was not invented by White people. Dysfunctional Black culture that celebrates criminals and thugs was not invented by White people. White people aren't killing and preying on Black people. Single parent Black families and women with multiple children by multiple (absent) fathers aren't caused by White people.

We've spent fifty years destroying education in a failed attempt to educate the uneducable and the unwilling. It's no mistake that the current crop of red diaper babies are talking about a guaranteed income for the unwilling.

bagoh20 said...

I also read that article about public school's dirty little secret. The stories she told were horrible. Nobody can learn in that, and I don't know how anybody would want to teach in it. It was infuriating and sad, because although the problem is simple, it is unlikely to be fixed. Students and their parents are out of control, and their self-destructive attitudes are enabled by the system which is dominated by leftist think. Unfortunately, they want everyone else to be dragged down with them, so they won't be left behind, which they will be anyway. You just have to get the hell out of there.

Birkel said...

Otto,
It's a free product Althouse is offering; she does what she prefers and invites you to engage.
Point us to the sophisticated analysis you have on offer, please, and quit telling people to do things as you want them done.

gahrie said...

Not many job prospects, if you can't even figure out a way to get a high school diploma.

This wasn't always true. But it is now, and it's only going to get worse. Which is why the Left has started talking about guaranteed minimum incomes.


Jon Burack said...

It is mindboggling, yet also predictable, that Blaska came in a distant second in the first primary. Perhaps this incident will push a few more votes his way in the runoff. I hope. Anyone who fails to vote for him cannot be taken seriously if they say they care about kids in Madison schools, including black kids. This incident is a SMALL foreshadowing of what Madison is asking for by putting up with Freedom Inc and the entire race-baiting mob, whose "mob-like behavior is justified," as CJinPA tells us, by what he thinks he knows happened.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

What kind of a man has a hyphenated name like Mueller-Owens? It's not a traditional upper-crusty British conjoined name, an Allianzname of the Germans, or a nobiliary apellido compuesto of Spain. I assume he got half of it from his husband.

gahrie said...

Unfortunately, they want everyone else to be dragged down with them,

Crabs in a bucket. It's one of the main reasons why I support all forms of parental choice in education...it gives involved parents and those students who do try to learn a potential escape from the dysfunctional public schools.

Roger Sweeny said...

Rick, some us don't know what a "TAG cohort" is. If you are trying to communicate or to persuade, it is good to use the actual words instead of an unknown acronym.

Dave Begley said...

Bay Area Guy:

Over at Power Line I posted about Eric Swalwell who is running for President. He was a prosecutor in Oakland. He, too, complained about conditions in Oakland. And I rhetorically asked, "Haven't the Dems been running CA for at least 25 years?"

tcrosse said...

What kind of a man has a hyphenated name like Mueller-Owens?

In the excellent Canadian series Slings and Arrows there's a character named Richard Smith-Jones.

Dave Begley said...

Char-Char Binks

One of my nephews hyphenated his name and put his wife's Hispanic name last.

gahrie said...

Rick, some us don't know what a "TAG cohort" is.

Talented and gifted. Often called GATE (gifted and talented education) programs. It was a backdoor attempt to reintroduce tracking, but because it produced the same demographic results as tracking it was quickly abandoned in most places.

alanc709 said...

Unknown said...

Helena Handbasket is a great pseudonym.

That was J. K. Rowling's 2nd choice after Hufflepuff.

Mike Sylwester said...

It won't stop at the end of high school. All these brats will go onto college for free.

Bruce Hayden said...

"The children in Florida lost their lives for lack of security."

This bears repeating. The Florida shooter should long before been thrown out of school. But the county, being subsidized by the Obama DoE, refused to do so.

FullMoon said...

HaHaHaHa!
From the link

"The School Board's cowardice decisions to leave and ignore the voices of the people most impacted by their racist policies is a reflection of how they've treated us for the last two years," Gomez said after the meeting. "This is also a reflection of how they treat black parents who bring concerns to them behind closed doors. The School Board chose more state violence in the form of metal detectors and more police over actual safety and well-being of black and brown youth, queer youth and youth with disabilities."

gilbar said...

"pushed an 11-year-old girl and pulled her braids out"
"'A black baby was brutalized,' said Brandi Grayson, co-founder of the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition"

Is it safe to say that the above sentences are talking about Two Different events? I mean, no one (and i mean NO ONE!) would think that they could describe an eleven year old girl as a baby (pre-teen woman maybe?)

TosaGuy said...

Affluent white people in Madison move to Sun Prairie, DeForest or some other satellite community when they have children. The good liberal parents of The Madison area have options and are exercising them.

MadisonMan said...

Sun Prairie is a pit.

I did chuckle when I read the story in the paper the other morning about this, mostly because it was a positive behavior coach who (allegedly) did this.

5th-grade and 6th-grade girls really are impossible to deal with, and throw in entitlement and the knowledge that they've got under someone's skin, and, well, you have a brat on steroids. I don't know if I'd keep my cool with a brat spraying perfume all over the place, as is alleged.

Bruce Hayden said...

Rick, some us don't know what a "TAG cohort" is.

Talented and gifted. Often called GATE (gifted and talented education) programs. It was a backdoor attempt to reintroduce tracking, but because it produced the same demographic results as tracking it was quickly abandoned in most places.


Another reason to send your kid to a private school. The one I sent my kid to in Denver had more AP classes than the top public schools, despite having a class size of < 100, while the two public schools each had class sizes > 10x as large, and that one of those schools has students from one of the top 10 highest income communities in the country. Probably to no one's surprise, a substantial number of the kids in that private school's AP classes now have doctorate degrees of one type or another, coming on 10 years later (my kid was towards the end there, with PhDs tending to take longer than professional doctorate degrees, and I can think of two who are still working on their dissertations). They went into college with maybe a semester and a half of AP credit (some of the kids did even better, with one who could have skipped their entire freshman year, if they had gone to the right college).

One of the reasons that I elected to send my kid to private school was just that, even 50 years ago (when I attending HS in the same school district in which my kid would have otherwise attended) didn't push its brighter students very hard. I made honor roll every quarter of HS w/o taking a text book home a single time my senior year (my hands were full toting my French Horn). I could get mostly A's by studying and doing the homework for a class in the class right ahead of it. I would expect that a sizable minority of the school population in many suburban schools could have done the same, and likely a majority of those commenting here, back when they were in HS. Didn't work that way for my kid in that private school - afternoons were spent at school in mandatory athletics, and maybe practicing for a play or musical presentation, dinner, then maybe two or three hours of homework every week night. Not much time at all to get into trouble (then, there is, of course, college).

traditionalguy said...

This post reads like Bonfire of The Vanities.

TosaGuy said...

“Sun Prairie is a pit”

You forgot to add that is has no good restaurants either, but it does have lots of new school buildings for the growing student population.

Temujin said...

Twenty years of teaching that there is no higher calling in life than to be an 'activist for social justice' is giving us generations that cannot think, cannot listen, and have nothing productive to offer to society other than hand-wringing demands.

This, too, shall run its course, but not until we go through some very bad luck.

FIDO said...

Sometimes I wish I had homeschooled my kids.

Michael K said...

In Oakland, the public school teachers are on strike.

In Tucson the teachers are threatening another strike unless a bill in the legislature that says teachers cannot teach political ideology is withdrawn.

Glad I don't have any kids in the TUSD. I sent mine to private schools but the tuition in California has gone astronomical. The school I sent my son to is now $25,000 a year per kid. I can no longer afford it. At least his two younger are in a charter school they like.

Michael K said...


Blogger FIDO said...
Sometimes I wish I had homeschooled my kids.


My ex-wife, who was a teacher and a big public school advocate, went back to teach for a few months 15 years ago. She said after that she would homeschool if she were doing it again. I put the kids in private schools after we split.

Dave Begley said...

traditional guy.

Great point. Wolfe predicted it all.

gilbar said...

you know what would FIX All of This?
If you guys would get a new Governor, that was Tuned into School Problems! You know, someone Experienced with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and such?

Why don't y'all try one of those? They'll Fix Everything!

Dave Begley said...

The Jesuits know how to run a high school, but the public schools never look at how they do it.

MadisonMan said...

You forgot to add that is has no good restaurants either

Sal's is great!

jaydub said...

First world problems.

Openidname said...

What does "pulled her braids out" mean? Caused them to loosen and come undone? Or ripped them out of her scalp, leaving a bloody bare patch? It makes a difference.

Openidname said...

"Bill, Republic of Texas said...

"Hmm. I guess I'm a white supremacist."

Be careful what you post. Someday, this will be quoted (out of context, of course) and be used against you.

alan markus said...

@ Gilbar
you know what would FIX All of This?
If you guys would get a new Governor, that was Tuned into School Problems! You know, someone Experienced with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and such?


Gov. Tony Evers in his first state budget is seeking to undo expansions of private voucher schools and independent charter schools passed by Republicans over the last decade.

FullMoon said...

Speaking of white supremacy, racism, Maga and stupidity and bad luck:


Woman who took MAGA hat in ICE custody now

gspencer said...

"Young, Gifted and Black Coalition"

Hmmmm?

Why the need to add the racial element?

If you're young and gifted that speaks for itself.

gilbar said...

Openidname said...
What does "pulled her braids out" mean? Caused them to loosen and come undone? Or ripped them out of her scalp, leaving a bloody bare patch? It makes a difference.

I'm sure assuming that the 'braids' were extensions, that is: fake hair

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

"Teaching French and Italian in NYC high schools..."

I guarantee Hudson is part of the problem. What percentage of her students ended up fluent enough in French or Italian to have a conversation with an ordinary eleven-year old Frog or Wop? If the answer is above 1%, she's above average.

And news stories show the pics of the girl's scalp, with no blood, scabs, or scars, and no missing follicles. It's just greasy extensions, just like her mom's, with a space or two where some fell out.

Mike Sylwester said...

Yes, everyone should read the article Public Education's Dirty Secret.

FullMoon said...

More racism:

The City of Chicago is set to delete its gang database after politicians complained that it had too large a proportion of African Americans and Hispanics.

Reports indicate that the gang database held over 25,000 names of individuals believed to be affiliated with 400 or more gangs. However, the Cook County Board believed this tool to be racist, and voted on a bill that required its permanent destruction, and will prohibit police from ever restarting such a list.
https://bigleaguepolitics.com/chicago-to-permanently-delete-gang-database-because-racism/

Murph said...

Bruce Hayden said...

Bruce, according to this piece in Chalkbeat, there's a push on to "flip" the Denver school board. Why?
"Denver’s test scores have risen to within a few points of statewide averages. The graduation rate is up, and the dropout rate is down. Enrollment has swelled, and many families with the means to do so no longer flee the district."

https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/co/2019/02/25/post-denver-teacher-strike-flip-the-board-momentum/

So, the Denver schools are doing better overall, so the board must be doing something wrong. ...ummm, okay.

EducationRealist has another story of a classroom disruption, and some advice for kids:
https://educationrealist.wordpress.com/2019/02/18/lawton-chiles-middle-academy-when-the-cop-shows-up/

Rabel said...

In the 2017-2018 school year 69% of the African-American students at Whitehorse tested at "Below Basic" in mathematics and 60% tested at "Below Basic" in English Language Skills. "Below Basic" is the lowest recordable level of proficiency. Those scores have trended sharply downward over the last few years.

The corresponding numbers for white students were 22% and 23%.

There could be no clearer evidence that the city of Madison operates a racist school system which actively discriminates against the African-American babies placed under its care.

Something must be done. Pulling the racist Madison Police Department out of the schools is just the next step along the path to social justice for all Madisonians.

Whitehorse Report Card.

John Ray said...

The man wanted to wait until all of the evidence is in before further action. Didn't he know that if we wait for more evidence to be in it might turn into a "Smollett" situation? They needed to hang the board and the school's in-house officials immediately, by damn. After all, only a fool needs evidence. To wait for evidence denies power gratification, sexual gratification and other immediate gratifications necessary at the moment.

I taught school in the '70's (algebra, pre-calculus and physics). I was frustrated, I quit. Became a damn lawyer. I can attest that the is not a new scene. It happened to me and others who really wanted to teach back in the '70's. Only, I suspect it is worse now, as certain people are really empowered, to the detriment of their student descendants.

Michael K said...


More racism:

The City of Chicago is set to delete its gang database after politicians complained that it had too large a proportion of African Americans and Hispanics.


Good timing., Election Day today with an angry black woman who hates cops leading.

JackWayne said...

The irony Is strong in this issue. Anyone old enough to remember (class of ‘66) there were a couple of strands just getting started.bAbout 40% or more years of kids quit before senior year. Some of them were old due to retentions and just wanted to work. Others didn’t care and just wanted to work. To work without a degree and advance was still possible but within 10 years it wasn’t. A lot of that was due to the education experts deciding that learning a trade was degrading and only a college degree was the correct way to succeed. In elementary we were segregated into groups in class according to our abilities. The education experts found this to be terrible and it was gone by 66. In its place they provided AP programs so they could segregate the students by ability. But they were quickly watered down. The true irony was that it was the privileged students in AP that began the destruction of the school system. All the privileged students had big ideas about the colleges they went to, so a B was a huge fail. The parents ripped the teachers and by 66, AP grades were mostly A’s. It wasn’t long before teachers applied that principle to all students and schools turned into daycare. White flight is away from a culture begun by wealthy middle class parents......

rhhardin said...

"This is white supremacy"

African refugees seem to desire countries run by whites. Maybe it's rule of law or something.

Danno said...

Whitehorse as a name sounds like cultural appropriation from native American culture. Maybe they should change the name from Whitehorse to Blackface.

Ralph L said...

Major kudos to Blaska for putting his safety and sanity at risk for a nearly hopeless crusade.

exhelodrvr1 said...

crabs in a bucket

mccullough said...

Odd that the guy blogs about himself in the third person. He’s channeling Norman Mailer

The Vault Dweller said...

Lots of parents might get angry if they found out a teacher laid a hand on their kid. But if the child was so unruly that low-level physical force was warranted, and a policy exists where no one in the school can use that force, then it just means that the school winds up having to call police. It is much worse for a child to be handcuffed by the police and possibly get a criminal record, than to have a teacher or school administrator use physical force to restrain or remove the unruly child from the classroom.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Seems like Blaska is a huge shit stirrer.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Inga...Allie Oop said...

What good did Blaska’s presence at the meeting do but create a near riot? As IF he had more to contribute than the people there. Condescending asshole. People in Madison know who he is a what he’s about.

JackWayne said...

Nothing pisses off people more than when someone is right and says “Told you so”.

One Eye said...

I wonder how many of the school board candidates are reconsidering after that fiasco. If you win you will instantly be labeled a racist, regardless of how progressive you are. Madison, aka Shithole USA.

Carol said...

This post reads like Bonfire of The Vanities.

More like Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers.

It's not that Wolfe was a great writer. It's just that someone had to note all the insanity that was/is going on.

gspencer said...

Wait until AA finds out how Peter Fallow creates an "honor student" out of Henry Lamb.

Jupiter said...

Inga...Allie Oop said...
"Seems like Blaska is a huge shit stirrer."

We prefer the term "activist".

Fernandinande said...

Overt racists - "Freedom Inc" - whining about racism. This is funny:

"Freedom, Inc. engages low- to no-income communities of color in Dane County, WI."

Get lost, low income whitey!

Tommy Duncan said...

A truthful root-cause analysis of the failures of the Madison Public Schools would turn up issues no one would be willing to talk about in public. Political correctness ensures our school problems will continue into perpetuity. David Blaska is a hero for attempting to force the Madison School Board to face reality.

Jupiter said...

"Blaska had asked the three putative Madison political leaders if they could not urge calm and civility — to spend a little of their Leftist political capital to urge the more rabidly inclined to at least hold their fire until all the facts were in from the Whitehorse episode."

Hmmm. Civility bullshit.

Big Mike said...

The children in Florida lost their lives for lack of security.

There was a devastating report published online by the Sun-Sentinel that shows the timeline of the shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. So many adults had an opportunity to stop the shooting before it started, and failed. Completely, utterly, abysmally, failed. The timeline doesn't discuss the FBI receiving a warning that someone named "Nikolas Cruz" had posted an online message that he planned to be a school shooter -- and failed to connect it with another warning about the same individual, much less do anything. The report starts second before 2:20 PM, when a school monitor -- unarmed but as a high school baseball coach presumably pretty physically fit -- was unlocking gates around the school, saw Cruz, recognized him, knew that he was not to be allowed on campus with a backpack, and did not initiate any response. His job was to unlock the gates, so that's what he kept on doing. He did radio a colleague that "Crazy Boy" was on the campus with a backpack, but (failure #2) the colleague saw Cruz, could have intercepted him while the gun was still packed away and unloaded, but instead he just hid in a closet.

Three minutes later Cruz has started shooting and killed three students. A girl calls 911 and says that she's in the Stoneman Douglas High School and there's a shooter. Then shots are heard and the we hear no more from her. The 911 operator says "Hello?" He waits. "Are you still there?" She never responds.

The first school monitor, the athletic director, confronts Cruz, and is shot to death. A second monitor, the football coach, enters the building, comes face to face with Cruz, and dies. At this point at least four school monitors are aware that Cruz is on campus and three (two murdered) heard gunfire. The deputy sheriff who is the school's resource officer, has heard shots fired. No one calls a "Code Red" that would put the campus on lockdown and save students' lives. Only the athletic director and the football coach have entered the building and tried to confront Cruz.

It goes downhill from there.

My takeaway from this disgusting spectacle in the Madison schools is that the activists are hoping from dead school students so they can hammer the NRA. There is no other explanation that makes sense.

Tommy Duncan said...

Blogger Inga...Allie Oop said...

"What good did Blaska’s presence at the meeting do but create a near riot? As IF he had more to contribute than the people there. Condescending asshole. People in Madison know who he is a what he’s about."

Speaking of condescending a$$hole$, Inga demands that only the opinions of which she approves be discussed. She is, after all, the final arbiter of truth and allowable discourse.

John Ray said...

To date, I have refused to address Inga Poo's statements. But I noticed that Inga Poo's condition is worsening. Beware fellow AA travelers.

Curious George said...

Dave Blaska is doing the lords work, but in the end it will be for naught. Too late Dave. Years too late. Madison will get the results that decades of idiot lefty progressive policy sows. Shit schools like Milwaukee, Chicago, and the rest. Dumb cunts like Inga, along with all her ilk in Madison will blame everyone but themselves. All the money in the world won't help. Madison is on the way to match Milwaukee and Chicago for the shit holes they are.

Dave Begley, the monies progressives will do what theye do everywhere....send their kids to private schools and continue to support every initiative that Madison schools and these assholes want. And decades of kids will end up in the dumpster.

And I'll laugh.

Curious George said...

"Young, Gifted and Black Coalition"

Two outta three is awesome....if you are a baseball player.

DavidUW said...

The money for universal basic income can come from abolishing public schools.

AllenS said...

Do you want to see black babies brutalized? Go to your local abortion facility.

sinz52 said...

"Young, Gifted and Black Coalition"

I took a look at their website.

Among their demands is the abolition of jails and their replacement by some unnamed new methods that will eliminate the need to incarcerate anyone.

Curious George said...

"FullMoon said...
Speaking of white supremacy, racism, Maga and stupidity and bad luck:


Woman who took MAGA hat in ICE custody now"

Told you she was illegal. Hasta la vista. One more step to MAGA.

narciso said...

eerily right out Bonfire, with mayor Goldberg's confrontation with reverend bacon's people, or what wolfe had chronicled two decades earlier in 'mau mauing the flak catchers' in Oakland,

n.n said...

Do you want to see black babies brutalized? Go to your local abortion facility.

Age discrimination. Summary judgment. Disarmed and without a voice. Disparate, but not unique diversity. Cruel and unusual punishment. The wicked solution. Ms. Pro-Choice, tear down the walls!

Sam L. said...

I can see Wisconsin nice. However, the first incident will be a TKO to them.

n.n said...

A girl calls 911... The first school monitor, the athletic director, confronts Cruz, and is shot to death. A second monitor, the football coach, enters the building, comes face to face with Cruz, and dies.

Three people who made a heroic effort to inform the sheriff and stop the predator at great risk to themselves.

Molly said...

Rabel at 3:44.

I'm so discouraged that no one has responded to your comment. It (to me) goes to the essential nature of the issue here. There are big differences in performances between black and white students. You can wail and weep and accuse about that; but it's "science" -- the fact is unassailable.

That leads directly to the question: Would the overall performance of black students in the Madison School district (not the particular student in this issue) be improved by (a) adopting the policies proposed by Blaska; or (b) adopting the policies proposed by Blaska-opponents?

Fernandinande said...

Rabel at 3:44.
I'm so discouraged that no one has responded to your comment.


What he described is the same everywhere; it's not unique at all, aand it's not a characteristic of Madison schools. It's not interesting.

Would the overall performance of black students in the Madison School district (not the particular student in this issue) be improved by (a) adopting the policies proposed by Blaska;

No.

or (b) adopting the policies proposed by Blaska-opponents?

No.

Decreasing the black-white gap in school is a hole grail and they're been failing to find it for at least 50 years.

Jupiter said...

sinz52 said...

"Among their demands is the abolition of jails and their replacement by some unnamed new methods that will eliminate the need to incarcerate anyone."

So basically, they agree with me and the NRA.

Eleanor said...

In a city large enough to have multiple schools at all levels I think it might be interesting to offer the black community segregated schools that are completely voluntary. Actively recruit black teachers. Set the same academic standards as at the other schools and see what happens. I have no idea what the outcome would be, but it would answer a lot of questions we're all afraid to ask.

PJ57 said...

A version of this also happens in affluent, mostly white and Asian districts, because of the mainstreaming of kids with disruptive disorders like autism across the spectrum, and the tolerance of children whose parents have taught them zero discipline and self-control. My kids would report that they were ushered into the hallway three times a day as some tyke decided to throw a fit, which also meant throwing other things.

Rabel said...

"Would the overall performance of black students in the Madison School district (not the particular student in this issue) be improved by (a) adopting the policies proposed by Blaska"

"No"

Nonsense. Impose order and discipline in the classroom, remove the students who cannot follow the rules, and put the others to work and the proficiency of the students remaining would improve greatly.

The students who need the most help are the ones who would benefit the most because a reasonable level of competence in language and math is well within the capability of a well-taught student whether he has an IQ of 85 or 105.

If the caring people of Madison truly gave a damn about the futures of the city's Black children they would drop the nonsense and insure that their administrators, teachers and students were put to work in a safe and controlled environment.

The numbers show that that's not happening.

gspencer said...

Molly, Fernandistein, et alia,

The difference in academic achievement between whites/asians and blacks is just one of those things that just can't be acknowledged. While true, based on years and years of evidence, this fact must never be acknowledged. Many such things exist in a society that simply refuses to face and accept truth. E.g., Islam is an inherently violent cult/political system masquerading as a religion.

Others have stated the truth in the past, and suffered for doing so. I offer this example. Galileo was permitted, because of his advanced age, house arrest in Siena. Legend has it that as Galileo rose from kneeling before his inquisitors and his forced recant, he murmured, "e pur, si muove" -- "even so, it [the Earth] does move."

cronus titan said...

Public school education in blue metro areas is headed for a train wreck. Beyond the political silliness they spout, there is a very tenuous connection between the public schools and the taxpayers. In our deep blue area, houses are priced on the assumption that any children of homeowners will attend private school. The locality is about 60% white, 30% black, and the schools are under 20% white, under 20% black, and the large balance Hispanic, mostly illegal under sanctuary policies. Over 40% of the students are in English as a Second Language program. That is not unusual in major urban centers. They get away with it because home values remain high, homeowners still like the location and as long as they are left alone the public schools can do whatever they want. There will come a tipping point when homeowners will get sick of paying enormous taxes for nothing, all the while getting hectored by virtue signallers, and the delicate support collapses. That is when the train wrecks.

The political shenanigans cited in the post reinforce the decision to stay the hell away from public schools. They spend their time on politics and fighting the intersectionality Olympics, and taxpaying parents of children who can afford private school avoid that stupidity.

Anonymous said...

Basic Becky Inga wants to talk to the manager.

Green Book is Inga's favorite movie.

Fernandinande said...

Nonsense. Impose order and discipline in the classroom, remove the students who cannot follow the rules, and put the others to work and the proficiency of the students remaining would improve greatly.

Re, your "whitehorse" example:

Whitehorse MIddle School Test scores

All students 3/10
White (51% of students ) 6/10
Black (19% of students ) 1/10
Hispanic (14% of students ) 2/10

All those kids go to the same school and sit in the same classrooms. They're all exposed to "students who cannot follow the rules" to the same extent.

That rank order (Asian >, missing here) white > Hispanic > black is universal; there is almost never any variation, anywhere in the country, in any school system, and there's nothing interesting or different about this school. The scores are completely typical.

Again: All those kids go to the same school and sit in the same classrooms.

Drago said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Drago said...

Inga: "What good did Blaska’s presence at the meeting do but create a near riot"

In the future it will be necessary for conservatives to submit their intended remarks to Leftist Speech Boards to get permission to share their ideas.

Sidenote: that permission will never be given.

Second sidenote: Inga has had much good to say about antifa rioters.

Inga is also a big fan of mobs chasing republicans out of public places.

But only in a good, tolerant, open minded way.

Naturally.

Rabel said...

"Would the overall performance of black students in the Madison School district (not the particular student in this issue) be improved by (a) adopting the policies proposed by Blaska;

No."

"That rank order..."

You miss my point. It's not about rank order, it's not about the the gap - it's about teaching basic academic skills to the less capable students. That is doable (it's really not all that difficult) with a focus on the primary goal, a complete rejection of the idiocy on display at the recent board meeting, and hard work by all involved.

stephen cooper said...

Off topic, but Lion of the Blogosphere claims that Jussie Smollet may have been framed by his Nigerian bodybuilder "friends".

Just saying.

Of course every Democratic Senator running for President voted against a law that would send abortionists to jail for killing babies who survived a late term abortion, and that is a big story, but if Lion is right, the framing of Jussie Smollet is a big story too.

So I don't trust the Chicago police and I don't trust Trump-hating racist liberals like Smollet and I don't trust bodybuilders who charge lots of money for simple training help - Smollett claims the 3,500 was for "training".

stephen cooper said...

Well the Democrats voting to let the Kermit Gosnells of the world kill at will is a bigger story, of course, but the Jussie Smollett story is a big story for him, and it is just plain wrong to think some bad thing is not a big bad thing because it only targets one person.

Just saying,

stephen cooper said...

By the way Lion of the Blogosphere is not that bright, he does not pretend to be, I think.

Achilles said...

Blogger Inga...Allie Oop said...

"What good did Blaska’s presence at the meeting do but create a near riot? As IF he had more to contribute than the people there. Condescending asshole. People in Madison know who he is a what he’s about."

Stalinists hate dissenters.

Oso Negro said...

@Fernandistein - Equality Denier! We have spent a vast fortune to achieve those results

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Leftists are the real racists.

William said...

The rush to judgment is, in fact, the rush. After all the facts come out, they will never have this exhilarating feeling of righteousness......You would think that after the two recent hoaxes, some of the hyperactivists would exercise a bit of restraint. I just don't think the adults are the kind of people who wantonly assault children and aim for their braids.. If they are, there will be a record of other such incidents. Don't they deserve due process?......Here in NYC, DeBlasio is engaged in an effort to bring the hammer of diversity down on our high schools for the gifted. Think of all those Nobel Prize winners from the Bronx HS of Science and think of the feats they would have accomplished if they had more diversity in their background.......My guess is that Stuyvesant has an over representation of NYC's Jewish and Asian population. I'm an ethnic Catholic, and that's fine with me. I wouldn't want to go to school with kids way smarter than me. I went to school with kids who were way richer, and that was a hassle. Diversity probably works better in show business than in high school.

narciso said...

No they dont, as if the check was going to have the legend 'disguise yourself as maga assailants' what were they doing with the check they hadn't cashed it before.

William said...

Off topic: The audience for the Oscars is diverse racially, but they pretty much all come from privileged backgrounds. There's a long and risky internship in show biz, and most people in it come from financially supportive families who subsidize them during their lean years.. Smollett was not a child of the poor and oppressed.

Big Mike said...

Short Inga: when Democrats say something is “for the children,” they do not actually care about the children.

stephen cooper said...

narciso you forget that evildoers too believe they are playing 4D chess

the history we read about in books is basically the story of random and rare evildoers who were good at it for a few years

most are 3500 check for worthless training level most but not all

and then there is that letter he wrote to himself, so Lion is probably wrong

Jupiter said...

Inga: "What good did Blaska’s presence at the meeting do but create a near riot".

Well, she's right. The political realities of Madison are such that the people who are open to what Blaska has to say have already taken their children out of the Shithole School District. Those who remain are ignorant savages whose only expectation from the school system is a baby-sitting service, or useful idiots like Igna, who will cheerfully sacrifice their children's well-being for an opportunity to signal their virtue. It may be that in the long run, the worst consequence of Ignism is the ongoing deterioration of institutions deprived of the influence of more sensible people.

stephen cooper said...

Off topic: while the Oscars were playing I was buying frozen lasagna at the "front desk" of one of those hotel/motels that house welfare families (why I was staying there is not important, change and decay in all around I see is not the answer, but is related to the answer) and the hardworking concierge, out of nowhere, after we exchanged a few unremarkable words and I had paid for my frozen lasagna and cranberry cocktail in a little bottle, said:

Good Night Love bug!


Never having been called love bug before I was almost at a loss for words, but long years of being polite and empathetic helped me to say something not completely inappropriate:

You seem like a very sweet person and I hope you have a good night too!

I did not add that there are people who like to sneer at me on the internet, of course.

stephen cooper said...

Earlier that night I had witnessed, in that same lobby, for the first time since the 1970s , what I understand is a frequent occurrence these days, a prostitute hooking up with a john (She: Are you ready He: Yes I'm ready) : the payee was in her late 40s , probably older, if I compared who she looked like to someone you know I would say imagine Julia Roberts if she looked like Elizabeth Warren, and the payer looked a lot like Richard Dreyfuss but without the busy superficial intensity and a lot more dilapidated ....

the concierge who called me love bug will never, let us pray, sell her body. She was very cute. And polite.

I hate sin.

I Callahan said...

Michael K: about that article in Quillette: Sweet Jesus. We really are screwed.

wildswan said...

I think it has been shown over and over that schools which maintain discipline can teach students from any race or zip code. That's why charter schools and school vouchers are a vital part of school reform. They allow parents to get their kids into schools which are able to maintain order and so able to educate. Also these schools prove that the failure rates among students in the public schools are not because of race as such but because of attitudes toward discipline and learning. I don't know how you reach students who have become hostile as were the students in the story but I am pretty sure that you have to start by making those who do listen successful.

I don't want to be ugly about someone who made a very determined courageous effort to teach French in a poor community. But for the same effort she might have lifted up 15 or 20 kids from the black middle-class into careers abroad and shown the majority of those who took her class why one might study a foreign language. I think she had principles, lefty principles, which she doesn't mention and these made teaching the (black) middle-class seem wrong. She's kind of admirable but I notice she isn't rising at all in the lefty world which is just what I would expect.

Paul said...

If I was a teacher, 'positive behavior support coach', bus driver, or heck.. ANY position in a public school I'd wear a bodycam EVERYDAY just to cover my ass.

But then, we sent our kids to parochial schools just cause of how bad off public schools are.

Fen said...

Ah liberals. Always reminding us how smart and sophisticated tbey are.

And certain they will survive the 2nd Purge.

PackerBronco said...

Inga would be telling the boy who yelled that the emperor had no clothes, to "shut up, what good does that do???"

Tina Trent said...

Inga, you idiot, this Dave Blaska is a candidate for the school board, thus presumably a resident. He has the right to be there.

One might make sure the same is true of the various idiot protesters. And then arrest every single person who disrupted a public meeting.

That is for the children.

Rusty said...

Blogger Inga...Allie Oop said...
"Seems like Blaska is a huge shit stirrer."

You really don't care much for the Bill of Rights , do you?

Dude1394 said...

Vouchers please, faster, faster.

Begonia said...

For those asking about whether the braids were real hair, they were:

https://madison365.com/madison-teacher-on-leave-after-alleged-beating-of-girl-11-caught-on-video/

More information about the teacher with the hyphenated last name at the link. (Maybe his parents had hypenated last names?)

I would be more sympathetic to Blaska if he were a better writer. His writing style is so affected. As Strunk & White would say, "omit needless words." And whats with that third-person style? Is he royalty? In the last paragraph of Althouse's excerpt he drops the pretense and uses the first person tense. Suddenly he sounds less like a crazy person and more like a real human being.

Cornelius Gotchberg said...

Look up Hopelessly Clueless Dip$#!t in the dictionary** and you'll find a picture of Inga...Allie Oop

**Iff'n you're one of the ever-increasing uneducated feral class the 77 Square Miles Surrounded By A Sea Of Reality school district is cranking out, secure a Designated Reader first; you may get hung up on the words Dip and $#!t.

You's wonder why there's chaos-n-violence in the classrooms? Watch the way those kids' parents, wonderfully useful idiots of FreeDUMB Inc & Derail The Jail, act at public meetings.

The Gotch

revenant said...

Once all the other rationalist options for public education have been tried and things have only gotten worse, some city will finally try radical consumer choice in education. that city will produce schools where the uneducable and the unwilling have no place and the educable and the willing thrive because they will be in de facto private schools. nothing short of that will permit an escape from the court-mandated hellscape of the public urban school. that’s my guess. I hope I live long enough.

huflungdung said...

and, the inmates remain in charge of the asylum (that's an indiom, before you PC folks get your undies in a bundle). According to the Freedom, Inc. folks, it is normal for "their children to act out." So, is the rest of the class held to higher standards? All this old Norwegian can say is, uff da.

Cornelius Gotchberg said...


Grayson is nothing but an ignorant loud, foul mouth; and she's neither young nor gifted.

Black Babies? Give me a freakin' break! Who refers to 11 year-olds as babies except rent-seeking race hustlers?

Take a wild guess who pays her rent and other bills.

The Gotch

huflungdung said...

Careful there, Gotch. You'll be right behind Blaska on their hit list :)

Cornelius Gotchberg said...

@huflungdung;

Yikes! I should probably retain a Union Cab EcoBox to convey me to the Re-education Gulag so I may self-report.

I'd wait for the CA Bullet Train or Amtrak Coast Starlight Choo-Choo but...welp...youse get the picture.

The Gotch