Cindy Rose was recently defeated in the most significant loss in our BoE history, but like Jason Voorhees, she is back. Today the FNP published her LTE rehashing some issues seen in that Google Drive thingamabob with her communications to FCPS in it. As Constitution Day’s biggest fan, she is upset over the change to Citizenship Day. In her LTE she appears to be perplexed over why FCPS won’t spend all day every day discussing the Constitution. (Because they are not the ACLU? Because you have to learn to read *and* comprehend before you read the Constitution? It could be anything, really…).
Woven in is some irrelevant claim about Common Core being about feelings (whut? thank goodness she did not win! You deserve a gold star, Frederick County!). As long as you get your talking points in, that’s what matters.
This same person who says that learning about our Constitution helps you understand that opinions of others are going to make you uncomfortable also has written to the school to tell them that she didn’t like books she hadn’t read, and expected them to stop teaching them. Hellooooooooo. Is anyone home? First Amendment. You’re doing it wrong. Reading comprehension, as well. What were we saying before about starting with the skills before leaping ahead to the content?
Have a participation trophy.
She makes a seemingly irrelevant dig at people unable to accept the results of an election. Honestly, anyone who isn’t concerned has obviously had their history, economics, government, and/or spiritual eduction fail them at some point. So, cough cough, if the shoe fits… The best part, though, is how this line of upset creates a beautiful backdrop for another bit of fun from the Frederick News Post today about Our Very Own Shrelauter being unable to cope with the results of a local election that occurred two stinking years ago! Fun times, Frednecks!
She goes on to criticize Dr. Alban for a statement about our rights as citizens being guaranteed by the Constitution, saying Dr. Alban doesn’t know where our rights come from. Odd for someone so obsessed with the document to be so confused by it.
You probably read this article in the FNP previously, but a recent comment caught our notice. It is a link to several email enquiries made by Cindy Rose, candidate for the Board of Education and self proclaimed education watch dog. Even after reading the article that alluded to many of the topics included in the link, it is still surprising and shocking to read these requests.
Seriously, is this her hero?
Ms. Rose wants to have her hand in every single aspect of FCPS. Every one! How does she keep track of all the witch hunts? Does she use excel? Does she have a ledger board? A notebook? Scrapbook? Spell book? A detective’s investigation board?
She must have a really big board.
She has bristled at being labeled a book burner, but these emails show she has questions on several books as well as videos that FCPS uses. What seems nervy is that the books she is concerned about, she admits she has not actually read, just read the reviews. How can you complain about something for which you have only read a review? If you are going to complain, at least make sure you really, really know what you are complaining about.
She has questions specifically about Jessica Fitzwater’s employment status with FCPS.
She has lots of questions about why the school is sending out information on community events.
Why does FCPS spend money?
Read the attachments for yourself. We just keep getting angry as we read and re-read them.
The Frederick County Council workshop on human trafficking really left an impression on the Local Yokel writers’ fret-o-meter. Because of our former BOCC president’s legal issues, we have focused on the sex trafficking aspect of this multifaceted modern day enslavement, while in reality law enforcement has identified issues with labor trafficking as well. At any rate, when we learned that Frederick Community College would be hosting a sex trafficking victim, we wanted to go hear this woman speak.
It was a lot to process. We have a few takeaways to share. People who fall into this are vulnerable in some way from the outset. Their vulnerabilities make them ideal victims. This woman was a 12 year old runaway from Fairfax County. She was having behavior problems, and no one in the community or school system correctly identified the source of the problem as the abuse she was suffering at the hands of a family member. This was one aspect the county cited as a reason the workshop topic was necessary. So that educators in our county receive the appropriate training to stop this in its tracks. And some people made a bunch of noise trying to say this training was some kind of perk for the teachers (this thinking is literally impossible to understand, but it bears repeating because our least favorite school board candidate, Cindy Rose, was a part of that).
Another aspect of the issue involves law enforcement. This young girl was sent to Riker’s at the age of sixteen because she had been abused into submission and would never give her real name, age, or circumstances to authorities. Later in life–it’s truly a miracle she is alive–after escaping this hell, she lost her job due to an extensive arrest record tied to the one set of fingerprints common to all these assumed names. Another part of the county workshop highlighted the need to train law enforcement to ask the right questions and find the right resources. Immediately. This would ensure that victims are not victimized further by a dysfunctional justice system, or the social system as a whole.
And a moment to discuss what an amazing human being we saw speak. Her name is Barbara Amaya. She said someone told her the average life expectancy of someone taken into sex trafficking is seven years. Not only did she return from ten years living this nightmare with just a sixth grade education and somehow cobble together as normal a life as possible–as a parent, a functional member of society, and now someone who writes books, mentors people, speaks in public (in spite of obvious reservations about taking on that role). She is also working with our House and Senate to pass legislation for Safe Harbor and to get the records of sex trafficking victims expunged. Amazing. What a gift she has given to this world out of some truly horrible circumstances.
One thing she was quick to point out is that there is no such thing as child prostitution. If you are having sex with a minor, the only word for that is rape. She was raped dozens of times a day. Let’s take that a step farther, though. If you are having sex with a person of any age, whether you bought the services or not, and someone else is brutalizing that person so that he or she will engage in your commercial exchange of funds for services, what exactly are you doing? Making love? And legalizing prostitution only helps the “customer” avoid punishment for his involvement in this. It incentivizes sex traffickers to find more victims. There really aren’t two sides to this issue. You’re either deplorable or you aren’t. More about that in a second.
It’s been a bee in our bonnet ever since Billy Shreve objected to the need for a human trafficking workshop by running his mouth off without thinking (shocker) and saying that there are groups both for and against this. We know he has a friend who has a history of poor decision making with regard to his sex life. (A friend we feel zero sympathy for when he takes to Facebook to criticize everyone for not being more understanding of his troubles and demons.) Shut up. We don’t know if you know what deplorable means, and we’re pretty sure you think you are using this stupid sign ironically. Even if you don’t know what ironic means–and apparently you don’t, because it sure seems to be totally absent any irony to this clique of writers.
We Ladies of the Local Yokel are early birds, because let’s face it, if you go to the fair too late in the day you see stuff like this collection of whackadoodles at the GOP tent:
You idiots. Really. You are so stupid. And also deplorable.
Why did it not occur to these fools to at least pretend they might be in the half who weren’t going to hell in the handbasket of deplorables? What is WRONG?? with these people???? They might as well just tattoo, “I’m a racist, misogynistic xenophobe,” smack on the front of their bovine foreheads and call it done. We heard a rumor that the Republican tent is selling all their swag. So what this means is that there may be other losers who intend to buy this piece of garbage!
This is really not a bit like getting called a Yankee Doodle Dandy and then claiming the term as a badge of honor. There’s absolutely no way to fix this with some clever spin. They have always seemed pretty dumb, and pretty abhorrent. Points for self-awareness, we guess.
Wake us up when 2016 is over (also, PSA: don’t vote for Cindy Rose). K. Thx. Bye.
So much so that you might even want to have your young ‘uns check into it. The CNN video clip of the interview with Jada Pinkett Smith was something that is worth a glance, because the anecdote they discuss really shows that this could happen to anyone under the wrong circumstances. We learned a lot tonight:
Not New Business: Billy is an infantile hominid.
New Business: Human trafficking is the real deal. It’s here, and we need to be looking out for people. And our own kiddoes. Back up, you say? Will do…
They opened the workshop with this videofrom the Department of Homeland Security. Which is odd, because some local naysayers were very sure that this matter was just some sort of teacher orchestrated boondoggle.
Geniuses you are not. Further information about this catastrophic meltdownis available on the County Council Watch Watch page. Hats off to the dedicated public servant(s?) there for pointing us in the right direction.
One of these “thinkers” by the name of Cindy Rose is running for the BOE. Is it possible that the crew here is so wedged into Blaine Young‘s rump dumplings that they forgot to A.) have empathy like human beings? and B.) that they too should be worried about kids (who are hopefully at school) vulnerable to some deviant lunatic predator on social media? Because that’s all it takes nowadays.
Anyhoo, it is all well explained by Frederick Chief of Police Hargis. He had the experience of attending a youth/law enforcement forum where he actually met a couple of young victims of human trafficking, which made him more interested in the issue. One young lady came from poverty, described herself as a “bad kid” and had tried to improve her circumstances. She was exploited by a man she thought would rescue her from a miserable outlook. Another young lady had come from a family of means, but was trying to escape her parents’ bad relationship, ran from home and ended up abducted, raped, and enslaved in a motel room. One of his takeaways from these discussions was that it is important that they build rapports with victims and ask the right questions. That is what this task force is seeking to do. Build community protocols so that victims have a certain path out of victimhood, and establish the procedures to keep people from slipping through the cracks.
It is truly a shame that the dialogue above is not the slightest bit concerned with the things that the speakers this evening talked about. It really makes you wonder about the community we live in. We have nothing but respect for the input of this panel this evening. Everyone doing their part to make people safer in Frederick County. And on that note, many thanks to Councilwoman Jessica Fitzwater for shining light on this issue.
In our previous reports we’ve talked about this FACT. We also expressed our outrage when BoE candidate Cindy Rose stated that salaries weren’t an issue. Look people, teachers are professionals, college educated and trained. Many go on to get Master’s degrees as well. They plan day in and day out how to best help our children acquire essential skills, behave and function as part of a larger group. They invest their emotional, physical and mental resources into shaping our future. But you know what? They’ve gotta eat, raise a family and prepare for their own futures. So if another county or another profession gives them the pay and security that they so richly deserve, what do you think is going to be the end result? It’s not enough to say we have a cool town or that the personal satisfaction of teaching should be enough. There aren’t many jobs in which you are required to get a four year degree, take licensing tests and within ten years acquire a Master’s degree and still get paid so poorly. If you still think teachers don’t matter, that their job could be replaced by a computer, start reading here andhere.We implore the BoE to reconsider their decision to take money away from salaries, for if we don’t have the talent we don’t have anything.
In an incredibly frustrating move this past week, the Maryland State Board of Education rejected the possibility of opting out of standardized PARCC testing for Maryland students. Including special education students.
Now, the Yokels have made no secret that we don’t think Cindy Rose’s candidacy is anything specialin itself. Over testing of students and onerous curriculum restrictions that impede teachers’ efficacy in their classrooms are concerns shared by absolutely all of the school board candidatesrunning for election in 2016, even if Rose is much angrier and more aggressive in the tone she takes. This issue simply does not make her special enough to stand out from the pack –at least not in any positive light.
That said, just as we criticized her willingness to paint the special education students with a broad brush that could prevent their achievement, this criticism is equally true of the state board’s position. There appears to be absolutely no reason for it, according to the FNP’s editorial from April 30, 2016.
But looking at the statistics of students aged 6 to 21 served under IDEA, it appears unlikely that offering the opt-out option to the parents of severely mentally impaired students would threaten federal funding. According to the Maryland Board of Education’s own Fact Book for 2013-2014, which contains enrollment statistics, 102,578 students were in special education out of a total population of 866,169. Of those, 30,876 were classified with specific learning disabilities — about 3.6 percent of the total school population; 8,095 were classified as having developmental delays. While the fact book doesn’t outline specific details of how many severely mentally disabled students are served statewide, it’s hard to imagine they comprise more than a fraction of that 3.6 percent, and that not testing them would come close to violating that federally required 95 percent.
Special education and IEPs (individualized education programs) are antithetical to standardization. Individualized is not standardized. They are opposites. Why on Earth would you take a child receiving highly individualized services, and then try to make them function in a standardized situation? It defies reason. Wasting the time it takes to administer tests simply so they can check the “done” box when you are working with a student whose learning objectives have nothing whatsoever to do with the test is the very definition of absurdity.
We do wish that Mrs. Rose would take up her issue with the Maryland State Board of Education. They appear to need someone to come along and rattle their cage, and she seems like just the lady for a bull-in-the-china-shop sort of task. Maybe she can teach them a thing or two about the meanings of words (but lets keep the four letter ones she likes so much out of it). If she comes back to town with some educational experience to put on her resume, that might have a great outcome for everyone invested in Frederick County Public Schools.
After we had some words of wisdom to drop on our local looney depository the other day, we realized we neglected to specifically address some advice to Frederick County’s most freak flag flyingest BOE candidate (nonpartisan, por supuesto). We sat on it for a bit because every day the cons list we keep runs longer and longer.
*Always. Just who we need on a deliberative body. Someone who guarantees that they will be uncivil and uncooperative. Please excuse the language–it really makes us cringe. We are citing a potty mouth, not using it ourselves. Not that we don’t appreciate a good swear now and then, but we try to respect those who do not share our enthusiasm for such colorful colloquialisms. High Rd., Cindy. Take it. View’s nice from up here.
Although, perhaps after seeing that there is a gallery collection of her nutbaggery plucked from the interwebs, someone wiser than she has told her to zip it up and hope that no one will notice. If only whomever that may be could have intervened for Blaine (who Mrs. Rose adores) before it was too late.
Maybe you like a pot stirrer. Or maybe you heard how important special education is to her. After all, she was able to talk David Vogt into sponsoring a bill to allow special needs parents to opt out of standardized testing. Oh, how did that go?
A few local entities didn’t support the bill. Why, why oh whyyyyy wouldn’t anyone be in favor of something that is supposed to help the children? Check it out. Probably because there are all kinds of special needs. That’s what makes the needs special, after all. Painting with a broad brush is exactly what we shouldn’t do in order to accommodate unique sets of circumstances, so special needs advocacy organizations were kinda, “NUH-UH.”
And let’s not forget her appearance on the Glen Beck show. Here she lamented the fact that children were taught that other countries provided free child care and that child care in the United States was expensive. Also, she was very upset over the fact that children were being taught that they were part of a global community and it was their responsibility to demonstrate when they felt the sting of injustice. Somehow, in Glenbeckistan, these concepts are Un-American? Sure feels like the one who is Un-American is the one who won’t allow any criticism of the United States and wants to ban books. What’s particularly amusing about her appearance is that she is oh so sure that she has the support of the school board to get this book removed. Amusingly enough, that did NOT happen. Maybe because it is a waste of taxpayer money to get a new set of text books every time someone objects to a paragraph, especially when textbooks are hardly the primary way of teaching subject matter in 2016.
Then there’s the April 11th Frederick News Post Board of Education Forum. How can a person running for the BOE believe that salaries are not a concern? Under what rock must one live to think that Frederick County does not have a problem recruiting and retaining teachers due to the low salaries offered here? Just clueless. It’s the starting salaries that are lowest in the state. The ones willing to stomach that aren’t complaining about it as their first on their exit interviews. The ones who were not willing to accept the lowest pay in the state never accepted that job!
On her website there’s a link to a form letter that anyone who wants to opt out of testing is encouraged to use. It comes from a place called the Thomas More center. What’s the Thomas More center? Here’s how they describe themselves:
The Christian values upon which this Nation was founded are under attack. The ACLU and like-minded organizations are using sympathetic courts to destroy the religious and moral foundations of our great nation. Using the metaphor, “a wall of separation between church and state,” which is found nowhere in our Constitution, they attack crosses, Ten Commandment monuments, Nativity displays, Christmas celebrations in public schools, the Pledge of Allegiance, our national motto, “In God We Trust” and prayers at public meetings. The main battleground in this culture war is the courtroom and that is where the Thomas More Law Center is defending the religious freedom of Christians.
And …
Radical Muslims and Islamic organizations in America take advantage of our legal system and are waging a “Stealth Jihad” within our borders. Their aim is to transform America into an Islamic nation. They have already infiltrated the highest levels of our government, the media, our military, both major political parties, public schools, universities, financial institutions and the cultural elite. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, political leaders still claim “Islam is a religion of peace.” Our national leaders refuse to identify Radical Islam as the enemy. Political correctness has paralyzed our government’s ability to deal with these threats. That is why the Thomas More Law Center has been at the forefront of legal battle against this internal threat.
And we would be remiss if we did not mention her current campaign strategy of encouraging people to only vote for her. Out of a slate of 8, of which you can vote for 3, only her. She cannot find one other person on that list that she would like to run with? What does that say about her ability to work with others on the school board? Is this really about the community, or is it just about her? We’ll let you decide the answer to that one.
Do these people even listen to themselves? They are constantly railing against straw man positions other people don’t actually hold (see any discussion of the second amendment and you will learn that all people who want to see any sort of moderating influence on elementary school children wielding rocket propelled grenade launchers if they so desire, are in fact making a power play to grab up the weapons of Joey Deerhunter <insert eye roll here>).
ApparentlyCindy Rose is running for BOE, highlighted in a post by Mr. “Some People Call Me Thor” (whut????). And this nugget of what he says is true: you can talk to anyone across the political spectrum and they don’t think Ben should take standardized tests. We don’t. Largely people (including us) don’t actually think most typical kids should spend all their time on them, either. If you have never seen it, we urge you to watch John Oliver’s segment about the big business of standardized testing in America. Pretty sure all this testing and curriculum sales to ensure success on the tests they sold you is not designed to benefit teachers or kids. Sounds like crafty shenanigans.
Our bone to pick here would be that in order to be an effective advocate for special needs kids experiencing this–the kind of lady who gets stuff done instead of continuing to have a festering problem, and gets to sit on the couch at the Today’s Show and explain to Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie what is happening and why it has to stop (and gawk in person at those superfluous drunken dingbats on the last hour) you have to shine a light on this in a different way. The Frederick County BOE supported Dr. Alban’s decision, asking for clarification at the state level. It is possible to make contact with the state board of education and your representatives at every level of government. It is easier than ever to exert pressure through positive use of social media and the sharing of information. Maybe we could all lend her a hand with regard to that, because we do actually care, and we can switch tone as needed to be polite and logical and respectful. Then she won’t have to run, and can spend all her free time saying crude things on Facebook.
Her focus–while important, surely critically so to her child and family–does not give her the kind of experience with broad application to all students. Unfortunately her demeanor when dealing with others does not lend itself to being a constructive voice for the community. We know, we know. We’re snarky too. That’s why we write snarky blog posts, and won’t be running for public office. None of us are patient enough to be cooperative with people we think are infuriating. It’s why #kirbydelauter and Billy Shreve are crappy legislators. Running a county and ranting are not the same thing.
This certainly does not amount to a reason for Whatshisname (Tron, was it?) to vilify FCTA. Who ever hears teachers exalting the vitures of standardized testing? Lois Jarman has a fantastic and 100% snark free blog post just today about the weakness of using standardized testing to evaluate students. Everyone’s students.
Our public school teachers are highly educated and well-trained. We should value their understanding of student learning and performance in the classroom. It’s evident that their assessments bear more weight than anything standardized.
frederick local yokel 