Tag: Frederick County Public Schools

Holy Zeus! We’ve been doing this for ten years!

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As we sat around the Round Table at Yokel Headquarters late last week, your Lady Yokels could hardly believe that 10 years had lapsed since we began this endeavor. In celebration of this milestone anniversary we will like to take you on a stroll down memory lane.

Not sure that everyone does, so we are going to retell it!

10 years ago, after reading this LTE, https://www.fredericknewspost.com/places/local/frederick_county/frederick/blaine-young-work-together-or-nothing-will-get-accomplished/article_b1616559-e265-5a0d-9fbc-fe09bfdbe811.html, from our anti-muse, Blaine Young, a group of what became known as the Lady Yokels met in our favorite coffee spot, Dublin Roasters. After we appropriately insulted both Blaine Young and his very poor analysis of why he lost, we decided that we needed to shine the spotlight not only on Blaine, but also on his buddies, Kirby Delauter, Billy Shreve, and Tony Chmelik. At first, we discussed writing a book, but nixed that idea fairly quickly as we knew keeping an eye on these people was going to be a very fluid situation. By the end of that first meeting we decided to embark upon a blog to educate people on what is not often at the top of their to-do list, the inner workings of their local government. (Don’t worry, we’ve also kept an eye on Blaine so every time he tries to slither back into politics we are there to remind everyone of his arrests and bad behavior!)

For the next four years we religiously watched every county council meeting. More often than not, we created a drinking game to accompany such meetings in order to spice things up a bit. Here’s an example:

Will the first meeting of Fall enthrall? Your September 25th drinking game!

We sincerely hope that we didn’t hurt anyone’s livers as these games were only meant for fun. Over the first four years we made sure that everyone had a front seat to just how crazy things were with those three on the council. Here’s a curated sampling from our archives:

Historian Chmelik holds lecture on George Washington and 21st century issues. Outrage follows.
The dog and pony show continued…pony stomps dog to death.
King of the Deplorables: who else makes pro human trafficking claims?

While there are so many artifacts from this part of Yokel history, this is still hands down our favorite:

Backstory: Kirby wanted to prove that the Citizens for Quality of Life PAC was corrupt, but you will notice that nothing comes out of the PAC and somehow Jessica ended up with everything!

After one term in office, Kirby and Billy tried to obtain a higher office, while Tony wanted to stay put. Thankfully enough people paid attention and NONE of that happened! We sent our three amigos out with a departing post:

Oh, they are not getting off this easy! Your Yokel good-bye post to the three amigos!

After saner folks got on the council we kinda checked out on that scene, though we did decide to check back once last summer and boy was there some drama:

A Yokel Stroll Down Memory Lane! Let’s check in with that County Council!

Our main, but certainly not our only focus, has been the Frederick County School Board. People often underestimate (though perhaps that sentiment isn’t as true as it was in the past) the damage the wrong people can do on a school board. Just take a look at Colt Black and Jaime Brennan! The person who dragged us into this new focus was none other than Cindy Rose. Thankfully everyone understood how bad she would be, and after four failed attempts, she has finally seemed to have given up. Here’s some highlights of what we had to say about that one:

All aboard the crazy train-Cindy Rose edition- Part infinity…apparently!
Cindy Rose is stupid AND dangerous
Crazy untucked: Cindy Rose edition

Hopefully we will be more successful next year in reminding everyone how to do the math with the school board candidates so we don’t get left with the shit show we have right now.

Thank you all for an interesting and fun ten years! Think of your Lady Yokels tonight as we clink our glasses together and hope that we can survive another ten years of politics! We appreciate all of you being a part of this journey.

The Moms of Coercion Have Made Progress in Carroll County. We Can’t Let That Happen Here.

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NOOOOO!

Right over the border in Carroll County the Moms of Liberty (snicker, barf), got 39 books removed from CCPS while a Reconsideration Committee decides their fate. You can peruse the whole list here, but of course your friendly Lady Yokels are going to give you some examples.

Yes that Wicked!

Our hearts just hurt watching this. We are going to assume that many of our followers are readers, and we therefore we want you to remember back to your high school days and to that book that changed you. Think about all of the books that have changed you in some way, and then imagine a bunch of non-readers (yeah we are going to go ahead and make that assumption with a whole lotta confidence) tried to take those books away. What part of you wouldn’t exist because you hadn’t read that book?

Moms of Liberty formed as a protest group to all of the Covid-19 restrictions they believed were unnecessary. These so-called “joyful warriors” (yes that’s the same language our very own local book banner, Cindy Rose, likes to use) needed to find another cause to keep that cash flowing when all the restrictions lifted. So, they decided to go after diversity (which they ignorantly call CRT) in the curriculum( or more accurately American History) and LGBTQ+ folks. They’ve pushed themselves into the national spotlight in such a way that Republican Presidential candidates believe they have to court these folks. They even presented Ron DeSantis with his very own liberty sword! How Nice!

When books are written about the collapse of American Civilization, that will be on the cover.

This group of bored Covid deniers have recently been labeled an extremist group by the Southern Law Poverty Center because:

“What we’ve been watching really closely around this particular group… [are] times when they show up with other groups that have explicitly advocated or committed intimidations and violence,” Hiller said. “There are cases at school boards in North Carolina, for example, where Moms for Liberty showed up together with Proud Boys and were part of intimidating the school board.” Carroll Rivas echoed this observation.

“Their organizing is quite concerning for how it harms communities, but also because of the associations with other hard right groups that they’ve really had since their inception,” she said.

Some members of Moms for Liberty chapters have also been accused — and in at least one case, convicted — of harassment.

And, hmmm, weren’t they popping up around here last election…..

Two of those ladies still pop up at school board meetings to promote anti-inclusionary measures.

We need to keep our school board sane as we’ve already heard about some of the folks gearing up for a run next time and IT IS NOT GOOD. Our school system is currently reviewing books because of Cindy Rose et al. and we all need to stand up to make sure this nonsense goes no further. These conservative groups are trying to destroy American education. First, they do things like tell people the schools are making white kids feel bad about themselves, or allowing them to find out that gay people actually exist. Then they sow so much doubt and get people all riled up (remember when folks around here spread the rumor that kindergarteners were being taught about anal sex because we sure as hell do) and then they take over the school board. Afterwards, the curriculum is dumbed down to the point that the kids in that district have a tough time making in the world outside of the county they grew up in.(And if you don’t think this has happened do some reading on the old coal towns. Coal executives sat on those school boards and do you think academics were emphasized by people who needed the local population to go into the mines? Not at all.)Throw on top of that the feeling amongst many elite Republican donors that public schools should all be privatized so they can make a pretty dime on them! It’s all a recipe for disaster!

We sure hope this guy is right:

But, we still don’t want to see things get this far in Frederick County.

There are a couple of groups besides the Moms of Liberty working towards hurting kids and dumbing down our school curriculums. Make sure you stay alert to these threats. We know it’s exhausting, but we can’t let them win.

A Field Guide to Cindy Rose-Part Uno

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Some examples of “civility” from a woman aspiring to be elected to the Frederick County Board of Education who calls progressives “vile creatures.” We’re going to go on here a bit about her temperament, using a few visual aids of her own creation (which she refers to as bullying), but perhaps the most important information is found in the link at the end of this post. More information on school shooting victim blaming here.

crazy shooter dude gets blamed on the liberals
The liberals made this asshole put on a MAGA hat and shoot up the school, yes? Is that what we are to understand. Color us skeptical, maybe.

Dangerous to civil society! Speaking of mean and nasty…

Sometimes we do agree with Cindy Rose, like when school testing seems stupid. And also now. We can just hold a mirror up! Who knew she was a Snoop fan?

More details on Fuck Your Feelings style civility here.

Fuck Your Feelings Bonus Material…from the 2016 Campaign of Cindy “Jason Voorhees” Rose.

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It does seem exciting to have a BOE candidate who is guaranteeing to always be uncivil, doesn’t it?

Here’s a group including Cindy Rose working out the math on why teachers (also part of the county-pertinent discussion were county sheriffs’ deputies and city police) would want to learn to spot the signs that their students may be human trafficking victims–some kind of pyramid scheme to enrich themselves, obvi. If you would like to learn more about this delusional fiction, have a link.

human trafficking pyramid scheme

Here is Cindy sharing a “right wing intellectual” who espouses something called mandatory monogamy, which sounds medieval at best.

Would she bring his ideas into sex education in Frederick County? “You picked. No backsies. Too bad he’s abusive!” Etc. Gah. What is the appeal here?!



*(As an aside, we will mention that the post there discusses our preferences in the primary election. Times change–we support Trone for Congress. For reasons of requiring numbers in the House to hold recklessness accountable, exclusively. Civic duty. Uphold whatever vestige we can retain of norms of government at this point, etc.)

Nolite te bastardes carborundorum, y’all.

Speaking of dystopian fiction:

Cindy Rose screenshot
Holy moly. Do you have so little to do that you have to invent problems to complain about? That’s a rhetorical question. The answer, we know, is yes.

 

Many of us read Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type, and thought it was a funny book to entertain little kids. The farmer was mean and didn’t let the cold cows have blankets, so they quit making milk and started typing complaints. Does Cindy know that cows cannot type? This is not a nonfiction book! This is not even realistic fiction! It fails to address the most basic concerns, such as if your cows die of hypothermia, will you still get milk? Most of your Yokel Staff got a free copy included with a child’s meal at the Original Fredneck Chick-Fil-A, which is pretty funny. Which is it? “We love Truett Cathy Right Wing Dreamboat the mostest or we hate collective bargaining?” Pick now or forever hold your peace.

And now, for “the link at the end of this post,” The Real Witch Hunt.

Some of the material in there goes right along with her role as firefighter from Fahrenheit 451.

Cindy Rose is the firefighter from Fahrenheit 451

Release the hounds: It’s budget time in Frederick!

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This evening marks the beginning of budget time in our fair county. At 7:00 the council will hold a hearing on the Board of Education’s operating budget. Do we see dead horse memes in our future? No doubt. Let’s just hope we can have a productive evening without having to yell this at our favorite undynamic duo:

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FCPS breach is serious business people.

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On December 13, The Frederick Extra broke the story about a data breach at FCPS that left  1,000 former students’ identities compromised. Since then, the Extra has written two additional stories that you can read here and here. FCPS has responded by offering those affected a one year subscription to an identity protection service. You can read the official statement from FCPS here and watch the video from BOE President Young and Superintendent Alban here.

It’s disheartening that we now live in a world in which we have to be super vigilant with our data. At this moment, one of Your Lady Yokels currently has a LifeLock subscription due to Target’s data breach. What is also disheartening is when people with a clear vendetta against the school system, the BOE and the superintendent use this as yet another opportunity to go on one of their numerous FCPS witch hunts. How is this at all helpful people? Especially when this data breach occurred before many of the people who are being vilified even worked for FCPS.  Calling for people’s resignations is at the least premature and at most wildy irresponsible. Let the information roll in before passing judgment! When you are so reactionary it only serves to reveal your own prejudices and motives. Honestly folks, even our own King of Overreactions is looking at the facts:

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That is not to say that if your data was stolen that you shouldn’t be angry and want to get to the bottom of what happened.  And lets let the Frederick Extra, The Frederick News Post and FCPS do just that. If you do feel your data was compromised please email or call the school system at: infosec@fcps.org or 301-644-5332. Steer away from the random people on Facebook who some how got a hold of this list.

Let’s teach Blaine about the Scientific Method!

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Yesterday the Frederick Extra brought you a rumor that Frederick County’s very own failed candidate for County Executive believes it’s a fine and dandy idea to seek the office of Frederick City mayor.  We jumped on the baa haa haa bandwagon with our post pointing out that Blaine will not have the crutch of the Electoral College to sail him into office. With more collaboration of this ridiculous rumor making its way into our inbox this morning, we want to do an analysis of this whole situation. Because really…WTF?

Two thirds of your Lady Yokels live within the great City of Frederick’s borders. So we are very much invested and interested in next year’s race. Republican or Democrat we want an intelligent, thoughtful, well qualified person who would steer our city in the right direction. We don’t want a law breaking, kid-cussing, First Lady ogling, person in that office! I mean really people, what else does he have to do?! 

Also, why the city? It’s so perplexing to us why he thinks that’s going to work out for him. District 5? Maybe. But the City of  Frederick? This is where we think Blaine could benefit from learning and applying the Scientific Method.

scientificmethodmeme
Wash, rinse, repeat!

In case you are thinking: Hey politics doesn’t have anything to do with science. Take a moment and read this article and this one. We Lady Yokels have, in our elitist coffee chats, discussed the many benefits of applying the Scientific Method when making life decisions. Now let us break down the process that Blaine should use before deciding to run for mayor:(Pretend this is Blaine talking to himself.)

Identify the Problem: I really want to get back into politics. Is the City of Frederick a race I can win?

Hypothesis: I think I should run for the office of Mayor of Frederick.

Test the hypothesis: Well, since I cannot force the Board of Elections to make the election today, what other information can I use? I can analyze the political demographics of the city, look at this year’s Presidential election results and my performance in the 2014 election.

Analyze the data: Well let’s see here. In the City of Frederick, as of 2013, there are 10,352 Republicans Vs. 16,884 Democrats . There’s little chance of many of those Democrats crossing the line to vote for me and a HUGE chance, given my past behavior, that many of those Republicans will vote for someone else. In the last Presidential Election, Donald Trump lost the city by almost 4, 000 votes (He only won the county by 3,000). And the last time I ran, in a county wide election with more Republicans than Democrats, I lost by a whooping 6, 313 votes!

Conclusion: Well, crap.

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Durh!

Spare us all please!! We don’t want to have to pull these out of our garage, but we will:

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More news in the BOE race.

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Today Shirley McDonald announced she too is dropping out of the race. Details can be found here.

It is sad to see another qualified candidate remove herself, but it is clear there is a strategy in place. And any strategy that ensures that Joy Schaefer, Ken Kerr and Michael Bunitsky are the ones on the BoE in the Fall, is a strategy the Yokel supports. Take a minute and click on their webpages and learn a little bit about them and their educational philosophies. We think you’ll like what you see! Let’s ensure that education in Frederick County stays on a positive track!

17dwxr

 

Special education (or, why don’t words have meaning?)

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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 special in 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 candidates running 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.
photo HeadDesk.gif

 

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.

Crazy untucked: Cindy Rose edition

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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.
*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.”

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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.

 

Show me a hero! You’re not it, Kathy!

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Pull in your welcome mats Urbana! Quickly!
Pull in your welcome mats, Urbana! Quickly! (Does anyone else find it curious that the Party of Lincoln!!!! is not the Party of Hoover? Or Davis or Bacon? Please don’t let it just be us who are perplexed…)

So remember last week when we had our nice little BOE meeting? The PTA Presidents exchanged contact information and one of our favorite readers told us that members of both PTAs gathered together at the end in a circle of solidarity. Who would want to ruin that!? That’s right, state delegate Kathy Afzali.

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Let’s highlight a section of this letter:

The 2014 changes to Prevailing wage is impacting the entire State and you may have heard an elementary school in Frederick County must be back burnered because of significant costs increases as a result of the changes.

Have you heard?! Back burnered? Anyway, one more section please:

This Wednesday night beginning at 6:45 I will be meeting with the Urbana Elementary School PTA and explaining to them how they have been caught in the crosshairs of the law with regard to the county’s need to choose between them and Hillcrest.

So, let’s see here…a few questions? Is the Hillcrest PTA getting access to this same information? And why the hell is this the approach to solving this problem? We are not really going to advocate for lower wages in order to solve this are we?  Because there is a little bit of a problem with low wages and subsequently poverty in this country. Maybe Del. Afzali has heard of it? This post is excellent to read in its entirety. Let us highlight this one section for now:

If the minimum wage had just kept pace with inflation since 1969, it would be around $10.70 today. If it had kept up with productivity growth, it would be $18.72. Meanwhile, if it matched the wage growth of the wealthiest 1 percent, it would be $28.34.

While the value of the minimum wage has fallen — thanks largely to congressional inaction for long stretches of time — the wealthiest 1 percent are doing quite well, thank you. Their real earnings have skyrocketed 275 percent over the past 30 years.

Remember how Henry Ford made a whole business based upon paying workers who could afford his products? It has been described as the mass production of consumers. Wouldn’t we hope to pay people who work for our community enough to be participating in the local economy? Shouldn’t this be especially popular with those people who are in the same party as those who think the local economy should be based on home building?

Realizing that the directive from ALEC compels Del. Afzali to do counterintuitive things, maybe she could focus on how the economy works for working class people instead of trying to divide and conquer the PTAs to her advantage. Maybe just implore our governor to do the honorable thing, and fund the schools.