Aaron Hilmer, purveyor of Hilmernomics and lead curmudgeon of the Mehlville Fire Board, has recently decided to dip his toes into the world of education. It hasn’t been enough that he has reduced Mehlville Firefighters to taxpayer slaves, but now he wants to taint the minds of our community’s children with his regressive visions for our future as a fill-in director of the Mehlville Board of Education.
Hilmernomics
Hilmernomics, by definition, is the internal destruction of ourselves, all in the name of immediate efficiencies and shortsighted selfishness.
With the Mehlville Fire District, Hilmer has taken the strength and courage of the Mehlville fireman and whittled them down to twigs of widgetry and and bare minimum emergency response. He has turned a economists bean counter’s spreadsheet into a public safety hazard…not for the everyday and mundane, but for the uncertain and unpredictable.
Hilmernomics can be easily compared to that of Congressman Billy Long from Joplin, MO. when he tweeted this unfortunate twit, “KTTS just had detailed Tornado Warning TEST – take cover in the following counties, get in a ditch, yada yada – War of The Worlds Part Duex?” Sure, hindsight is 20/20, but Hilmer’s ability for foresight could use a hefty dose of this reality.
Turkeyism
It’s hard to describe Hilmernomics in a way that makes it hit home the way that it should. Maybe Billy Longism fits. Scroogism is too nice and only implies an economic inequality. Wall Streetism is also too benign. Perhaps Turkeyism fits. Hilmer has made Mehlville the inevitable poster child for philosopher Nassim Taleb’s Thanksgiving Turkey. From an everyday point of view, all is well. Our taxes have gone down a whopping eight cents a day and the ambulance still shows up when your neighbor has a heart attack.
Sure, for many months the turkey gets his daily feeding. Over time, the turkey grows increasingly fat and confident that he is being taken care of and cared for. After all, he is fed reliably and heartily on a daily basis. As a matter of fact, just when he is at an all time high of confidence, the ax comes down and chops his head off…a main course dinner was the turkey’s destiny.
Biological Warfare
As bad as it is, the small scope of the fire department makes it pale in comparison to what will be the long term disaster of what will happen to our community if Hilmer spends even one day on the Mehlville Board of Education. Hilmernomics/Turkeyism is biological warfare on the minds of our children and an affront to the nobility and courage of our educators.
A day of quality education lost by a child is never fully recovered. Education is cumulative and additive in a way that a nuanced understanding of the human mind will never completely understand. Hilmernomics is not just detrimental to our ability to deal with uncertainty about the future, it is ultimately a daily spoon-feeding of 10,000 plus children a dose of inadequacy to meet the demands of the 21st century.
Aaron Hilmer’s dungeon he has built for himself on the Mehlville Fire Board is laughably cute compared to what he appears to be trying to do to our public education system.
Character Education
On June 11th, 2011, Sarah Flagg reported on the Mehlville Patch that fourteen Mehlville schools earned national character education awards for their participation in Dr. Eric Knosts’ massive brainchild in community service called Project ENGAGE.
How ironic would it be that we would have 14 of our schools nationally recognized for their efforts in character education with a character like Aaron Hilmer sitting on our board of education?
In this case, lets just hope the irony stays hypothetical, and Hilmer’s Turkeyism doesn’t get any closer to the Mehlville School Board than Rich Franz already has.
Would you make an investment, if you had a 100 percent guarantee the payback would be at least 4 to 1, with no upper limit? Of course, the answer would be a resounding "YES!"
For Mehlville School District parents, that’s the investment return they see each year, every year, and that’s just with one student enrolled in our school system. How is that possible? For the typical home in the Oakville/Mehlville area, assessed at $200,000, the District’s share of residential property taxes paid is around $1,350 with the rest going to other taxing entities. Yet, the District spends over $7,600 per student, per year. While some of those funds come from the state and federal government, more than 80 percent comes from our local Oakville/Mehlville residents.
The good news is that no district in St. Louis County spends less per student, with better results, than the Mehlville School District. However, when our academic achievement is compared to other districts, we are only average. In my opinion, while being #1 in cost efficiency is admirable, being average in student achievement is not acceptable.
With our current level of investment per student at $7,600, the District is slowly falling further behind other County districts spending over $10,000, and further behind the Fox C6 district in Arnold. Money is a necessity, but not a sufficient condition for success. However, without certain minimums, success becomes increasingly unlikely.
While the Mehlville School District does a wonderful and efficient job with the resources given to us by the community, the desire to be better, to become a destination school district on par with Lindbergh and Parkway was the motivation to ask our residents for a tax increase.
The COMPASS facilitating team, and hundreds of COMPASS participants worked to create a long-range vision for our District, and recommended what became Proposition C. Proposition C’s passage would have led to dramatic improvements in facilities, technology, and more competitive staff salaries, allowing
us to attract and retain the best staff. More resources would lead to improved student outcomes.
Although parents and staff had a strong reason to be supportive, unfortunately the community as a whole was just not ready to financially endorse that vision.
Regardless of why Proposition C failed, the Mehlville School District respects the will of the voters.
With the defeat of Proposition C, it is likely that some cost saving plans will need to be implemented. We will continue to do more, with less.
Our next step will be to conduct a survey and try to get a more accurate picture of what our community will support. We will continue to engage our stakeholders, inform them of our needs, and ask for input.
Ultimately, it’s not the board, or administrators, or teachers, or other staff that own Mehlville. The Mehlville School District is owned by the community: taxpayers and residents. It is up to all of us, collectively, to find common ground, and continue to work to make our District the best possible, with the resources provided to us by the community.
http://mehlville.patch.com/articles/tis-the-season-to-lie-to-children
‘Tis The Season to Lie to Children If your children are reading over your shoulder, close your web browser immediately. If you refuse and they can read, they will learn that Santa Claus is not real…..
I get anonymous letters…
December 2, 2010
…and I throw them in the trash without reading them.
So, if you have something important to say, be sure to include your name and contact information or you are just wasting your time, stamps, and environmental resources.
I have no interest in bothering myself with anything that I can not rebuff or consider the context…of which the source is necessary.
An excerpt from my latest column on Mehlville Patch…
Tolstoy, Truman, and Your Child’s Classroom Teacher
A child’s classroom teacher is the most important element in their ability to receive a quality education. How much do you know about the difference between a quality educator and one who is mediocre – or even bad?
via Tolstoy, Truman, and Your Child’s Classroom Teacher – Mehlville, MO Patch.
My First Weekly Column on Mehlville Patch – Testing Your Child for Super Powers is Highly Recommended
November 25, 2010
Testing Your Child for Super Powers is Highly Recommended
Simply communicating through conversation and touch can drastically improve your child’s ability to learn.
Interesting Analysis of Mehlville School District and Unincorporated St. Louis County
November 21, 2010
A friend of mine sent me the following redacted email. I will leave this email anonymous to save the sender retribution, but I thought it was an interesting analysis of the Mehlville School District and unincorporated St. Louis County from a disinterested non-resident: (Again, this is their opinion and not necessarily mine…)
I’m most sorry to read of your decision to resign from the Board of Education. But I certainly understand your perspective — after six years you have certainly done your duty for God and country (excuse the religious reference). And . . . it must be frustrating to serve on the Board in Mehlville — it just seems like the district can’t buy a break — and it must constantly deal with a newspaper which seeks to control more than report and a community with a history of not supporting local governmental initiatives.
I think some of the problems in Mehlville go way deep. There is a reason people opt to live in unincorporated St. Louis County rather than in a city — for many I think that reflects very deep-seated attitudes about local government. Thus they are susceptible to anti-government messages from people like the former Board members or the goofball who is running the fire protection district. Down deep — it (anti-government messages) is what they want to believe. I think that is an essential difference between the “central tendencies” of public opinion in your area compared to where I live. In (anonymous municipality) — there is a love of community that is reflected in support for both our city and school district. Voters almost always give city and school district officials the benefit on doubt on all important issues. It is no accident that we have outstanding municipal services and an outstanding school district — people believe in community and what it takes to provide a high quality community both with respect to our city and school district.
So while Mehlville can’t buy a break, our city and school district get nothing but breaks from voters. We are very forgiving, tolerant and accepting of leadership. I can’t imagine any active person in (anonymous municipality) living in an unincorporated area — they would view the city as fundamental to quality of life issues.
For what it’s worth…
Mehlville Patch goes live today. Oakville Patch coming soon.
November 17, 2010
Patch.com is a hyper-local newspaper owned by parent company AOL. Today, November 17, is the day that they open in Mehlville. The Oakville Patch is coming soon, joined by
Upcoming coverage of Patch includes:
- Affton-Shrewsbury
- Clayton-Richmond Heights
- Creve Coeur
- Fenton-High Ridge
- Florissant
- Hazelwood
- Kirkwood-Webster Groves
- O’Fallon
- Oakville
- St. Charles
- St. Peters
- Sunset Hills-Crestwood
- Town and Country-Manchester
- University City
- Wentzville
I will be writing for the Mehlville Patch as a weekly education/parenting columnist and look forward to working with Sarah Flagg and other freelance writers in the area.
Check out this short video introduction from Sarah Flagg for more:
Waiting For Superman looks fantastic
November 16, 2010
It’s Settled. I am resigning because of Terry Noble…
November 15, 2010
Last week I wrote rather convincingly the various reasons for why I was resigning from the Mehlville Board of Education, but something just felt like it was missing. The reasons I provided are all real and legitimate reasons for my resignation, but board service is complicated, and the reasons for various decisions contain multitudes – including this one.
While I made the decision to resign early in September, I could not even explain to myself the reason why. Since then, I have spent a great deal of time trying to settle on the one over-arching reason that has caused such a mental check-0ut in my desire for serving on the Board of Education. When it hit me today, I knew it was it.
I simply do not want to serve on a Board of Education that does not have Terry Noble as its Superintendent.
The most important job of a school board member is to find a superintendent that can handle the administration of the school district for the purpose of student success. The complexity of school district management is not something easily understood by the average community member, nor is it something easily understood by a school board director, or even a classroom teacher. Running a $100 million dollar a year operation with 1200 employees and more than 10,000 students, of which the stakes are incredibly high is not for the weary, and it is especially not for the incompetent.
Throw in a highly critical press and a plethora of red tape from state and federal government mandates, most of which is unfunded, and you have a job that very few Americans are physically, mentally, and logistically qualified to do.
As a board member, I joined my colleagues in stumbling upon a diamond-in-the-rough leader. We simply have that best superintendent in Missouri, and maybe one of the best in the country, directing our school district, creating an internal educational environment unlike most have ever seen within the walls of the Mehlville School District.
Few people in my life have been able to throw me in to a pure state of humility like Terry Noble has. He is the kind of person that almost everyone in the community wishes they knew personally, yet here it is slapping them in the face and they reject him. Not only is he not accepted, some of the things that have been said about Mr. Noble and his motivations are despicable beyond all reproach. They disgust me. They literally make me want to vomit when I think about it.
Being the superintendent of a school district is not a charitable endeavor. A public school district is not a church. Asking someone to drive two hours a day to put in hefty twelve hour days at what is ultimately a cost to them is ludicrous. It’s not logical and most of all it’s anti-American.
Have you ever thought about how you can simultaneously be proud of something and sickened and ashamed of it at the same time? Well that is me right now. I am sick and ashamed of the majority of the Mehlville Community. I do not want to serve it and I do not want to be elected by it. Quite frankly, the fact that I was ever elected at all by this community makes me wonder what in the world people are thinking.
I love my kids. I love my my wife. I love my home, our school district, and my family’s roots in this community, but I do not love what this community has become and is on the road to becoming.
After the failure of Proposition C, I was strongly encouraged as a board member to take responsibility for its loss. For years board members have been pointing fingers at each other and others for the failures ballot initiatives. Screw that. I am not taking responsibility for something I have dedicated my life to for no pay and no glory. I certainly am not taking responsibility for the future failures of this district when I know without a doubt that the leader we need now more than ever is a man named Terry Noble.
This community knows the cost of everything but the value of nothing. Nothing…Nothing!
In the meantime, I did my job. I found the best superintendent possible to run this school district, and now this community doesn’t want to do what it takes to keep him.
What a disappointment. I can’t believe how naive I was in thinking to myself five years ago that all we needed was the right people at the helm and this community would accept its responsibility to each other as fellow human beings.
I could not have been proven more wrong…and I hate being wrong.
Terry may be too good of a person to step down in the middle of a commitment, but I am not. I’m outta’ here.
Call Newspapers: Frank announces intent to step down from board
November 9, 2010
NEW: Frank announces intent to step down from boardFrank says decision to resign not based on Prop C results. |
Frank wrote in a letter to board Secretary Larry Felton on Sunday evening that he intends to step down at the Nov. 18 board meeting.
“It has been my pleasure to serve on the board for the last five-and-a-half years,” Frank wrote. “However, I feel I have no choice but to step down, due mainly to some personal reasons, but also to the disheartening disconnect between the direction I believe the Mehlville School District should go and the direction the majority in this community wants us to go.”
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Frank, 34, ran unsuccessfully for the board in 2004 before being elected in April 2005.
He was re-elected in 2008. Frank’s seat will be up for election again in April.
Frank of Oakville is a technology consultant and is the owner of Karl Frank Jr. Computers. He and his wife, Elaine, have three children who attend Mehlville schools.
He told the Call a need to focus on his family and business was what drove him to announce his resignation.
“I could put it off for a couple months, but waiting another five months was bad,” Frank said. “The problem is some people can compartmentalize things and be focused on different things at different times of the day, and I’m not like that. When I’m doing something, I’m completely invested in whatever it is I’m passionate about.
“I’m very passionate about public education and the Mehlville School District, and it was just preventing me from doing the other things I needed to do to be a responsible father and a responsible citizen.”
The decision, Frank said, was not tied to the defeat of Proposition C, the district’s proposed 88-cent tax-rate increase that voters rejected Nov. 2. Frank, who was a fervent Prop C supporter, said he told board President Tom Diehl and Superintendent Terry Noble nearly two months ago he was considering resigning, regardless of how the measure fared at the polls.
However, Frank wrote in his resignation letter Sunday, “It was painful to look in to the eyes of so many children on the morning of Nov. 3 and know what would have been possible for them with just a small investment from their community.”
Frank wrote that “much of the blame” for Prop C’s defeat rests with him for making decisions that were politically difficult but “I believed were the right thing to do for our children and our community.”
“Given a second chance, all things being the same, I would make the same decisions again. Winning isn’t everything. Some things and people in life are worth losing over,” wrote Frank, who named Noble, “our fantastic superintendent and wonderful human being,” as one of those people.
Noble declined to comment Monday on Frank’s resignation announcement.
Frank ran for the school board in 2004 and 2005 seeking more accountability from the district, and he frequently was at odds with a majority of his colleagues during his first term. Discussions during meetings on such issues as oversight of the Proposition P districtwide building improvement program and Proposition A — a failed 2006, 97-cent tax-rate increase proposal — often became contentious. Frank supported the former and opposed the latter.
While he still doesn’t agree with many of his fellow former board members’ actions, Frank wrote in his resignation letter that he owes “most of them a personal apology.”
“Rita Diekemper, Cindy Christopher, Tom Correnti, Bill Schornheuser and Marea Kluth-Hoppe were well-meaning and intelligent people who were victims of an untenable political environment and I said many things to them and about them I regret,” Frank wrote. “They did nothing to me to deserve the kind of treatment they received from me. I hope they will accept my apology and just chalk it up to the arrogance of a 28-year-old hothead who thought he had the world figured out.”
Frank told the Call many of the reasons why he first ran for the board were “‘surface issues,’ issues that are out on the surface that people can see but don’t have any real depth to them.”
“And what I have gotten into over the last five years is the depth of serving on the board and being in public education,” he said. “So when you get into that depth of what it means to educate a child and prepare them for the future … you start to take things personally. Not necessarily because of you but because you know what kind of effect an environment has on a person or a child’s life.
“… But at some point when you get caught up in all the political stuff — and this is where it becomes all-encompassing for me and what makes it hard for me to work — if you don’t stay on top of that game, you end up getting run over at some point …”
In August, Frank urged his fellow board members to place Prop C on the ballot, contending “many things are different now than they were” when Prop A was proposed in 2005. But he said Monday that, in terms of the “climate of public education,” things largely are the same.
“The last five years, I can’t say that a lot has changed,” Frank said. “I mean, we made a lot of efforts to make big changes, and we did definitely get rid of the old board. If you want to say that’s changed, then yeah, that’s changed. But other than that, other than some internal things that I know we can feel good about, nothing has really changed in the climate of public education, and that is frustrating for me.”
Board policy states the board must vote to accept a member’s letter of resignation for the seat to be considered vacant. Diehl told the Call Monday he and other board members planned to ask Frank between now and next Thursday to reconsider his decision.
“Right now is not a good time to have that vacancy,” Diehl said, adding, “I think Karl sent that letter while he was kind of in an emotional state without consulting some of us, and so we want to give him a chance to see the other side of the coin, rather than him just looking at it from what he feels he has to do.”
Frank, however, said he almost certainly will step down next week.
“They’ve made a compelling case, but because it’s not about the election — it’s about some other things that have to do with my life, my business and my family — it’s probably not going to change,” he said. “I’m 98 percent sure that they’re not going to be able to change my mind on that.”
Open Source Essay Project
November 8, 2010
At www.openessayforall.com you will find an essay that I wrote back in August. Much of it pertains to Mehlville now and in to the future. The essay is still open for edits and fixes. Here is the full text:
No one is treading on us any more than we have laid tread on ourselves
An Open Source Essay Project Founded by Karl Frank Jr.
“We have met the enemy, and he is us.” – Walt Kelley
The world is getting away from us, and by us, I mean Americans. Violence (aggravated assault) is five times greater in America now than it was in 1957. Millions of business transactions take place in microseconds, much faster than a human mind can think objectively about a single transaction. Our planet Earth is heating globally to a point that millions will suffer in various ways, millions more will starve to death, and global economies will falter. Our entire education system (including private and parochial) is based on a 20th century national economy instead of the 21st century global economy that we live in. And most importantly, what qualifies as “truth” in the public realm has become unrecognizable to the unsuspecting eye.
Our challenge determining what qualifies as truth is a direct result of the preceding fact that our 21st Century educational system has not kept pace with the requirements of the technologies and business functions of the new era that we live in. The amount of digital data in the world doubles every 18 months. Some have said that the amount of available information in the world as general knowledge doubles every 9 months. The human brain – our minds – physically can not keep up with the information, the misinformation, and the barrage of competing sets of data. It is no wonder that much of America seems to be hunkering down in their Audi’s, slaving away at Big Macs.
In the 16th century, information was simple and simply unavailable. It was a major controversy when Copernicus stated what is now obvious to most of humanity, that the Earth is not the center of the universe. A heliocentric solar system was big news back then. It was so big that some people were burned at the stake just for saying it out loud.
Now, in the 21st century, similar mind-blowing, dogma-blasting science is performed and discovered many times every single day. It happens so often that most humans are at a complete loss as to what all of this data and information should mean to them, and most of us don’t even know that it is happening.
We are confused. We don’t even know where to begin. Entire belief systems are becoming irrelevant on a factual basis and have been relegated to a rationalization of some kind of metaphor in order to remain plausible.
So what have we done in the face of all of this adversity? We have just shut it all out. If it doesn’t support a mindset that we are comfortable with, we just call it a name, put it in a virtual trash bin and refuse to let it in to our reality. That kind of thinking was all right in the year 1500, but it’s going to get us all killed, or at least increase our instances of suffering in the year 2010 and beyond.
To make matters worse, while certain sources of media have never been reliable reading or watching for one who wishes to educate themselves on the issues of the world, most of the 21st Century media outlets have pandered directly to what Farhad Manjoo, in True Enough, calls “Personal Media Environments,” or PMEs. Essentially, American minds are doing exactly what they have always done, and that is to compartmentalize data for easier processing. That worked for us for hundreds of thousands of years because it was easy to compartmentalize a saber-tooth tiger; Danger – Not Danger, and corn; edible, not edible. But decision making, legislation, and governance is no longer satisfied by these over-simplistic compartmentalization’s. (Liberal vs. Conservative – Socialism vs. Fascism). We now need a much broader worldview to accommodate the impossibility of knowing everything there is to know in the face of so much uncertainty and data.
For millions of years, our species only had to worry about survival; food, water, and shelter. The brain evolved with that capacity purpose in mind, to simply do what it takes to survive. If living in the 21st Century global economy only required those skills, we would still be fine, but that is obviously no longer the case. If you don’t know how to build spreadsheets and operate high tech machinery and you live in the city or suburbs, you are going to suffer. And even if you do know how, someone in another part of the world can do it cheaper. It’s not like you can just go out back and shoot yourself a meal anymore. That’s bad enough on an individual level, but the problems we mentioned in the beginning are universal to everyone.
If we don’t figure out a way to solve the problems as stated above, and quickly, it won’t matter if you are gay and have no rights, or sick and have no health insurance, or rich and hate to pay taxes, or believe the free market is the most important, ‘awesomest’ thing ever, or are unemployed and have no skills for 21st Century employment. Ted Perry, writing as “Chief Seattle” said that ‘Man did not weave the web of life: he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself.’ We use that quote because we do not believe there is a more fitting analysis of the problems we face as citizens of the world than this analogy of a web being destroyed from within.
In America, our mechanism for solving the problems of our nation, is a system of representative democracy, or more specifically, our republican democracy. This brings us back to Washington D.C. being sick, infected with the blanket ignorance of America as we travel our modern day Trail of Tears.
The point is not that we Americans are ignorant, or are incapable of being intelligent, but that we just simply no longer have a reliable source for who or what to believe, and our educational system has let us down in the process. But again, the system alone is only a symptom of a deeper problem, the problem of denial, the denial and inattention to the unwillingness of Americans to focus on knowledge and critical thinking skills that have led to this widespread failure of our educational system. Many other Americans just flat out make the choice not to think at all.
Our cherished abstract belief systems, whether they be religion, or economics, or politics, or labor, or marriage, etc., have all taken precedence over the very real problems of the future of our species on this planet. And here is the worst part. Even when we have good leaders who are intelligent enough to help guide us on the the right path, we refuse to listen, and even ostracize them to the point of irrelevance. And yes, there are good leaders on both sides of the political aisle who suffer this fate. Some claim that many intelligent, pragmatic people refuse elected office for this very reason.
With education, we are too busy indoctrinating our children on what to think and not busy enough teaching our children how to think. We Americans have hunkered down in various piles of confirmation bias, sheltering ourselves from any kind of data or information that may open our minds to new solutions for new and old problems alike. We Americans have our minds made up and no one is going to change that. Period.
No big deal really – in 1880 maybe, but in 2010, the inability to think critically and the willingness to consider new data for each unique situation is everything to everyone. The inability for us to think critically about problems in real time and then solve them efficiently is perhaps the single greatest threat to our national and international security. Our problem in America isn’t that the government is too big, it’s that our government is too slow. Again, maybe this was fine in 1880, but it is disastrous to our nation in 2010.
The laborious pace of legislation, filtered through a porous mess of public opinion, mass-produced, conflicting and often erroneous data from every special interest imaginable, and corporate, profit-driven media personalities are close to bringing down not just America, but the entire human race. Many times, Washington D.C. has the answer to our problems right in front of them but will not dare consider acting on it for fear of the retribution of the people who elect them to lead, and they fear even more those factions that paid for their journey to D.C. to begin with. (Of course, the catch-22 is that when government is gung-ho on the wrong track to solve our problems, being slow and inefficient isn’t such a bad thing, which is why the real fix is to repair the filter.)
When James Madison, often referred to as the ‘Father of the Constitution,’ advocated (through James Randolph) a strong central government in his ‘Virginia Plan’ to the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, he made an argument in Federalist Paper No. 10 that the reason why Americans should not fear a strong central government is because the shear size of the country makes it impossible for an individual faction or special interest to rule the country. That was 220 years ago. The size of the country hasn’t changed, but most everything else has.
In 2010, Technology has made the world small enough to fit in our phones, and factions with a common interest can now instantaneously band together and push their propaganda out to space and around the world in micro-seconds. Often times these factions flood our environment with nonsense and misinformation for no other purpose than to intentionally confuse, making it nearly impossible to make an informed decision unless you are someone who already happens to know better.
One of these factions, the multi-national corporations (meaning they are under no single sovereign influence) who appear to rule the world, have no one to answer to, completely ignoring the interests of Americans unless they need money to stay in business or to take a business trip to Palm Beach. Doesn’t this make the mass of us some form of a slave?
It’s hard to think of ourselves as slaves when we have just about every luxury imaginable, but that is essentially what we have become; slaves to the very luxury we have worked so hard to obtain. If we were not slaves to this luxury, then it would be no problem to let large, multi-national corporations falter and fail, but when millions of livelihoods and retirements are on the line, what is humanity to do? To paraphrase the late comedian George Carlin on this matter, we have turned the American Dream into a slavish nightmare. This is what is meant when you hear the oversimplified phrase, “Too big to fail.”
A few years after Madison made his case to the Philadelphia Convention, Thomas Jefferson said in a letter to John Tyler, “I have indeed two great measures at heart, without which no republic can maintain itself in strength: 1. That of general education, to enable every man to judge for himself what will secure or endanger his freedom. 2. To divide every county into hundreds, of such size that all the children of each will be within reach of a central school in it.”
So here we sit, in the heat, ill-educated, unemployed and marginalized by corporate interests, and either busy killing each other, yelling at the t.v., laughing at each others’ ignorance on Facebook, and holding on dearly to the idea that this here dollar bill is going to save us when bread cost $100,000 a loaf and corn flakes are $500 a bowl. It has happened before and will likely happen again.
Dear Mr. Jefferson, this republic can no longer “maintain itself in strength”; not for the good of America, nor for the good of the human race.
Washington refuses to operate effectively in an effort to solve the problems of our planet, not because they don’t want to, or because they are bums that need to be voted out, or because they are ignorant of the consequences, but because there is always a never-ending cycle of elections and the voters who vote them in or out are too susceptible to dishonesty and misinformation to respect the critical thinking skills required to make smart legislative decisions. The spin doctors from every nook and crannied special interest are already lining up at the television stations with their millions and billions of dollars to “educate” Americans as we slave away at the boob tube during Jersey Shore and American Idol and You Think You Can Dance.
Bill Moyers, considered one of the few “deep-think” journalist left in America, gave a speech at the National Conference for Media Reform in 2005 titled, ‘A Democracy Can Die of Too Many Lies,’ and it seems as though he was right. America is passing away slowly, and the entire human race is on the verge of a mass suicide the likes of which has never been witnessed by human eyes. We very well could be on the verge of our very own Noah’s Ark of sorts, all for no other reason than that we cannot grab the truth from a barrel of lies.
Americans, if you really want to fix Washington – if you really want to fix America and the world, you can start by simply turning off your television. Cancel your cable and satellite subscription. Shut down Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN. America, it is not Washington’s fault, at least not any more than it is our fault. In America, we are our government. In America, in the 21st century, if Washington fails – if we fail Washington – all of humanity may fail along with us.
No one is treading on us any more than we are lying tread on ourselves. The worldwide infestation of our willful ignorance is a disease for which until now we have refused a cure. America — let us refuse no more.
Baloney Detection Kit
November 7, 2010
Hindsight Shows Prop C Had Zero Chance of Passing – Regardless of Merits (Updated – 11/8/10)
November 7, 2010
The merits of Mehlville’s Prop C were likely not even considered by most voters. It’s unfortunate, and while there are certainly some exceptions, the vote for Prop C was straight down party lines.
Prop C – 63% No, 37%Yes
100th District– 64% Haefner (R), 34% Spavale (D)
97th District – 63% Fuhr (R), 34% Polizzi (D)
Russ Carnahan in Oakville (34.91%) and Tesson Ferry (36.99%). (Updated 11/8/10)
What is most disturbing about this fact is that public education should not be a partisan issue. Consider Missouri’s Constitution:
Free public schools–age limit.
Section 1(a). A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, the general assembly shall establish and maintain free public schools for the gratuitous instruction of all persons in this state within ages not in excess of twenty-one years as prescribed by law.
Source: Const. of 1875, Art. XI, §§ 1, 3.(Amended August 3, 1976)
“A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people…”
Building upon that, it stands to reason that as times, data, information, technologies, economies, and government change locally and around the world, the ability to effectively diffuse knowledge and intelligence amongst the masses will also change over time. This is a reasonable statement and a general truth.
Why that is a partisan issue is beyond me.
Our classroom teachers, bus drivers, maintenance staff, administration, administrative assistants etc. are all people. They are people who have families, children, houses, cars, sickness, disease, educational cost (required and not reimbursed) that average between $50,000 and $110,000, and more. To call them union thugs or anything else like it is evidence of the despicable mental state of many Americans around the country.
The humanity of many in our community has been lost to a reality that doesn’t really exist anywhere but in their structurally compromised neural network.
Why did I vote to put Mehlville’s Proposition C on the ballot?
October 28, 2010
Three simple answers:
1. While the same old people want to hold Mehlville back I heard from a crescendo of voices who wanted nothing more than to make their school district a destination district.
2. This is not the board’s plan, it is the community’s plan. It’s called COMPASS II and all community members were strongly encouraged to attend and shape Mehlville’s vision. (Creating a vision is a state mandate.)
3. I believe in this plan and it fits well with the ‘Frank Plan’ that I proposed five years ago.
—
Then there is the Committee to Restore the Prides Three Basic Truths:
1. Now is our chance! There has never been a better time to give Mehlville a new day, a new life!
2. Because next to last in per pupil spending is not good enough! Mehlville ranks 21 out of 22 school districts in the county – just one position ahead of Bayless.
3. We must protect our community with good investments. Mehlville High School was built by Mr. Witzel in the midst of the Great Depression in 1939. There has never been a worse period of economic activity in America’s history, yet, Mr. Witzel still found the will to build for the future.
–
Now let me add the following:
- “Are you tired of the politicians and pundits treating Mehlville kids like second-class citizens who aren’t EVEN entitled to a quality education?”
- “Why is it so important for Lindbergh to remain Lindbergh, but Mehlville’s children don’t deserve an opportunity to a better education?”
- “The politicians and pundits have already decided that Mehlville’s children aren’t as worthy as Lindbergh’s kids. As parents, it’s time for us to say ‘Enough is enough!’ Our kids only get one shot at an education. They deserve the same resources and facilities as other kids.”
More than 400 turn out to help Restore the Pride in the Mehlville School District - Yes on C!
A quick update on some of the happenings of the Proposition C efforts of the Mehlville School District. Now is our chance to restore the pride in the Mehlville School District and protect the community. Second to last in per pupil spending (21 out of 22 school districts) is not good enough for our children!
- Proposition C was endorsed by the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch. Click here for more.
- The anti-Prop C mob has been full of mis-information in their efforts to disrupt Mehlville’s future. They falsely claimed that Buerkle Middle School would be torn down. They falsely claimed that Mehlville had no bonding capacity. They falsely implied that Mehlville had not been borrowing money to make payroll for decades, including when the five former board members “served” the district. They falsely claimed that the taxpayers are footing the bill for Unicom-ARC’s services for the campaign. Unicom-ARC has been hired by the Committee to Restore the Pride! to promote successful passage of Proposition C. This is in large part necessary because of a tiny contingent of mis-information campaigns like that of the anti-Prop C mob. Unicom-ARC is hired by the school district to handle advanced communications efforts of the district. This is because the board of education feels that it has a responsibility to communicate to ALL constituents in the most effective manner possible. The Mehlville School District is the largest employer in our area and we are both consumers and suppliers in our local economy. Operations with a $100 million dollar budget have many complicated issues to address and communication is key in successful operation.
- But the biggest load of mis-information from the anti-Prop C mob is their FALSE claim that Prop C will result in a 25% tax increase. Click here for details.
- Fighting for her life, but still fighting for our children. Read about “Do the Right Thing” Candy Green’s honorable efforts to help us Restore the Pride in the Mehlville School District by clicking here.
- Our Facebook Fan Page is now over 320 members and we have almost exhausted or entire supply of more than 1400 yard signs! Way to go Mehlville Community!
- Request a Prop C Yard Sign by clicking here and filling out the form in the middle of the page.
- We have knocked on more doors in the last two weeks of canvassing than in the three weeks of canvassing in 2008. Yes’s at the door are beating no’s at a 4 to 1 rate! However, there are still many undecideds so we have to get out there and educate them the best way possible, which is through personal contact. The last and FINAL chance to educate our community is Saturday at 8:30 am at Bernard Middle School.
- Check out our gallery of photos at www.NowIsOurChance.com’s Gallery.
Visit www.NowIsOurChance.com or www.MehlvilleSchoolDistrict.com for more information. Also join our Facebook page to be a part of the action!
Restore the Pride! Yes on Prop C! – NowIsOurChance.com
September 27, 2010
The Committee to Restore the Pride web site is up and running. New content is added every day.
Over $90 Million in capital improvements creating more than 600 jobs for our community members. Expanded Early Childhood Education, Full-Day Kindergarten at every elementary school, competitive salaries to help attract and retain the most qualified staff, a new middle school, expansions and renovations at various other schools, an arts and technology center at both high schools, full video security in every school, HVAC replacements and repairs, mobile computer labs, wireless networks, and more.
Vote YES!
Check it out at http://www.nowisourchance.com
The Facebook page is gaining steam as well:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Restore-the-Pride-YES-on-Prop-C/162429390437500?ref=sgm
Let’s Roll!
At the August 19th, 2010 Mehlville School Board meeting I spoke to my colleagues on the school board and the staff of the Mehlville School District about the merits of moving forward with the COMPASS II recommendations. The decision to be made that evening was whether or not to place an 88 cent tax levy on the ballot.
Here is the speech:
The text for this speech can be seen by clicking here.
The next day I sent an email out to the staff of the Mehlville School District. That email can be seen by clicking here.
Mr. Tom Diehl, President
Mehlville District Board of Education
3120 Lemay Ferry Road
St. Louis, MO 63125
Jim Barrett vs. Bill Zobrist – a Quick Case Study in why Republicans are not good for the cause of public education
July 31, 2010
I have received a couple of mailers in the mail that I am going to display here. The reason why is that I want to contrast two political ideologies. This is not a game. This is about the lives of 11,000 children a year in the Mehlville School District and the lives of 90,000 residents in our district.
The 21st century Republican Party does not support public education. They may pay lip service one on one, but they do not vote, sponsor, or write bills that would benefit public education in Missouri.
I am using the Zobrist mailer and the Barrett mailer as examples because they are what I have received. First the Zobrist mailer:
What Bill Zobrist is saying here is that no matter what the cause, no matter what the purpose, no matter how worthy an effort may be, he will not support a tax increase. Not only that, he will fight to “reduce” taxes.
Well I am here to tell you now, not all taxes are created equal. If you believe in the cause of public education, if you believe in the efforts of the Mehlville School District, if you have kids, or grandkids in the Mehlville School District, or just plain recognize the benefits of public education in Oakville and Mehlville, then Bill Zobrist (and the rest of the Republicans with the same message) are NOT FOR YOU!!! It doesn’t matter if you go to church with the guy. It doesn’t matter if you BBQ with him. It doesn’t matter if you played soccer for him. It doesn’t matter if he is your best friend. HE WILL VOTE AGAINST YOUR INTERESTS!!! It’s not me saying it. It is him saying it, right here, in his literature.
If you are an employee of the Mehlville School District or have a loved one that is, Bill Zobrist is not your man!!! As a matter of fact, if he had your way, he would reduce our revenue and quite possibly cost you a job! Bill Zobrist is not your man!
Need I mention that the largest employer in the within the boundaries of the Mehlville School District IS the Mehlville School District?
Did you notice that not one of the bullet points on this mailer includes JOBS!!!!
By the way, here is the front:
So, if not Zobrist and the rest of the Republicans, then who?
Well, any of the Democrats would do. How do I know? Because the party has a record of voting in favor of issues of public education. Here is a mailer to prove it:
Jim Barrett supports public education in Mehlville
Jim Barrett has his finger (as do the other Democratic candidates for the 97th, including Jan Polizzi and Rudy Pulido) on the pulse of this community. Notice how his bullet points are pro-Mehlville. ”Working with the local business community to create and retain GOOD JOBS!!!” Ensure our children have access to first class education. Provide for a safe community in which to raise our families.
Barrett hammers it home with the bullet point on the other side of his flyer:
Jim Barrett is pro-Mehlville School District
“Common Sense”. In my mind it just isn’t common sense that matters. Barrett shows his leadership by not making empty promises without any thought to the facts and the merits of any issue. He promises to have a commitment to his community and to ENSURE OUR CHILDREN HAVE ACCESS TO FIRST CLASS EDUCATION…
If you believe in public education, and the vision of the Mehlville School District, then Barrett, Polizzi, or Pulido can be your only choice.
Mehlville School Board members work not to silo themselves – anti-groupthink practices
July 17, 2010
It is incredibly hard this day and age not to get caught up in groupthink, where a group tends to hole itself up and only consider the positives on any given event, sealing themselves off from criticism and building a sense of superiority over other interests. Personal Media Environments, and silos are everywhere. It is easier than ever to find other like-minded people such as yourself and not listen to what sometimes amounts to inconvenient information to a belief or an argument.
However, one thing that I really like about this current board that I serve with is that we go out of our way to look for critics and criticism. We have community engagement sessions, we have meetings at the Panera Bread to allow community members to sit down and discuss issues with us. We make our email addresses and phone numbers publicly available for anyone to contact us or communicate with us at any time.
Today, July 17, we had an open Town Hall meeting to discuss the Facilities Study commission by the Board of Education at Buerkle Middle School. A couple dozen parents and community members came to voice their opinion and ask questions. As always, it was another positive and productive meeting. By positive, I don’t necessarily mean all positive attitudes. I mean that it was constructive and it helps us as board members and administrators to make sure that we are considering every possible avenue before making a final decision.
The bottom line for me is that if you feel shut out of the process at Mehlville, you aren’t even trying.
Below you will find some background reading. Proposition T was passed with the intent of unfreezing frozen salaries and continue COMPASS’s goal’s of moving our teachers and other staff closer to the county median. We are also now out of a deficit spending mode, were able to restore tutoring cuts and cuts in textbook purchases.
Basically, these were voter approved salary increases/raises…
(For quick reading, I put in Bold the most pertinent information.)
Committee to kick off Prop T canvassing
Mehlville School District voters will consider Prop T on Nov. 4
"Our theme and message is pretty simple: To maintain quality schools (and) to protect our investment without increasing our taxes."
— Jeff Clobes, Together For T chairman
October 15, 2008 – A citizens’ committee promoting the Mehlville School District’s Proposition T hopes hundreds of supporters will turn out Saturday, Oct. 18, for a rally to kick off the group’s canvassing efforts.
The rally will take place at 8 a.m. in the gymnasium at Oakville Senior High School, according to Jeff Clobes, a district parent and chairman of Together for T.
"I think the important thing to note on this is that it’s really a community effort,” Clobes told the Call. "We want the community to be involved and we want it to kind of bring the spirit of the community together …”
Clobes continued, "We’re basically asking for any and all community members that are interested in helping with the canvassing process to show up at Oakville High School on the 18th at 8 a.m. to take part not only in the rally, but also in the canvassing effort.”
Among the speakers at Saturday’s rally will be Superintendent Terry Noble. In addition, Clobes said local elected officials and candidates would be invited to attend the rally, which also will feature musical performances by students.
Noting that the rally will take place from 8 to 9 a.m., Clobes said some of that time will include instruction for volunteers — "how to approach canvassing and just kind of talk about the importance of canvassing and the role that it plays in the overall election process.”
The Together for T chairman also praised the efforts of Rogers Elementary School Principal Jeff Bresler, who is serving as canvassing chairman.
"Jeff is really leading the canvassing effort with both the teachers as well as the community and trying to engage both groups to get involved in the canvassing effort. This is probably the largest undertaking of our campaign. So Jeff really needs to be commended for his abilities in coordinating all of these efforts,” Clobes said.
Voters will consider Proposition T in the Nov. 4 election. If approved, Proposition T would transfer roughly 31 cents per $100 of assessed valuation from the district’s debt-service fund to the operating fund.
The measure would generate roughly $5.6 million annually for the operating fund.
Proposition T would not increase Mehlville’s overall tax rate, but would extend the district’s bonded indebtedness by 15 years — to 2029.
The transfer was recommended to the Board of Education by the Facilitating Team of the district’s public-engagement program COMPASS — Charting the Oakville-Mehlville Path to Advance Successful Schools.
Clobes, a longtime district volunteer, had served as co-chair of the district’s Facilities Planning Team, which formulated a long-range facilities master plan as part of COMPASS.
"Our theme and message is pretty simple: To maintain quality schools (and) to protect our investment without increasing our taxes,” Clobes previously said. "And that really kind of sums it up in a nutshell. Prop T is designed to kind of help us balance the budget without taking additional, serious cuts to the district. What we’re trying to do is restore the budget cuts in textbooks and supplies and tutoring, but more importantly, retain and recruit qualified classroom teachers for the district. Terry Noble’s goal of becoming a high-performing school district basically starts with the ability to hire and retain those quality classroom teachers.”
After Saturday’s effort, canvassing will continue as follows:
• From 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 25.
Volunteers will meet at Bernard Middle School, 1054 Forder Road.
• From 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26.
Volunteers will meet at Bernard Middle School.
• From 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 1.
Volunteers will meet at Bernard Middle School.
To obtain more information about Prop T or to volunteer, call (314) 315-2650, e-mail propositiont@gmail.com or visit www.YesForPropT.com.
Of Saturday’s rally and canvassing, Clobes said, "Really, with today’s economic realities, this may provide somewhat of a break, if you will, from all of the negative news that’s going on regarding the economy.
"We really want to create a feel-good event, but the message is still strong that we want to encourage everyone on the merits of Proposition T.”
Mehlville voters give green light to Prop T
Community’s approval of Prop T ‘an overwhelming victory,’ Diehl says
"We want to reassure (the public) that we’re going to be good stewards of the resources that they’ve entrusted us with and we’ll use them for the purposes that we stated we would use them for."
— Terry Noble, Mehlville School District superintendent
November 12, 2008 – With approval of Proposition T in last week’s election, Mehlville School District officials pledge to be good stewards of the resources entrusted to them by voters, according to Superintendent Terry Noble.
"We’re really pleased. We’re really excited," Noble said. "First thing I want to say is how grateful we are to our public for supporting us at the polls. We want to reassure them that we’re going to be good stewards of the resources that they’ve entrusted us with and we’ll use them for the purposes that we stated we would use them for."
In the Nov. 4 election, Proposition T received 31,089 "yes" votes — 62.23 percent — and 18,867 "no" votes — 37.77 percent, according to unofficial totals from the county Board of Election Commissioners.
"Our efforts to be transparent have helped us communicate more effectively with the community and we appreciate the fact that they are giving us this opportunity to resolve some economic issues that we’ve had as all families are having in this current financial situation."
— Tom Diehl, Mehlville Board of Education president
Proposition T will transfer roughly 31 cents per $100 of assessed valuation from the district’s debt-service fund to the operating fund. The measure will generate roughly $5.6 million annually for the operating fund. Proposition T will not increase Mehlville’s overall tax rate, but will extend the district’s bonded indebtedness by 15 years — to 2029.
Revenue from Proposition T primarily will be used to stabilize the district’s budget. Funding the teachers’ salary schedule — which was frozen for the 2008-2009 school year — and addressing technology needs and reinstating supplies and textbooks that were cut this year likely will be done with Proposition T funds.
The transfer was recommended to the school board by the Facilitating Team of the district’s public-engagement program, COMPASS — Charting the Oakville-Mehlville Path to Advance Successful Schools.
Noble praised the volunteer efforts of members of the citizens’ committee Together for T in helping to pass Proposition T, including Chairman Jeff Clobes, and four subcommittee chairs — former Board of Education member Candy Green, communications; Rogers Elementary School Principal Jeff Bresler, canvassing; Randy Lowry, community outreach; and Kelly Wicks, fund-raising.
The superintendent also praised the work of COMPASS co-chairs Dan Fowler, a former Board of Education member, and Jim Schibig, a former elementary school principal who also served as treasurer of Together for T.
Noble thanked the hundreds of volunteers who went door to door canvassing in the weeks leading up to last week’s election.
"Most of the people we were able to talk to about this prior to the election, once they were informed about what we were trying to do, were very supportive. So we felt like really the key was just to reach as many people as possible and make sure they were informed …," he said. "The canvassers were all coming back, reporting how many friendly faces and supportive people they were meeting and really were optimistic about our chances just from their own personal experience of knocking on doors and distributing information."
Board of Education President Tom Diehl said, "I just want to echo what Terry said about our appreciation to the people of the Mehlville School District. This was an overwhelming victory. I think the voters realized that our schools are an important asset to the community. When our kids need their backing, they’re there for us."
Noble and Diehl said they believe approval of Proposition T is a vote of confidence in the school board and administration.
"I think it’s also a reflection on the level of the trust that the community is willing to give us as a board and an administration to manage the resources of the district," Noble said. "Of course, I think that’s something we need to prove every day. I don’t think you ever stop. It’s just we need to prove that to people and that’s what we intend to do. You have to earn it and then you have to maintain it."
Diehl said, "Our efforts to be transparent have helped us communicate more effectively with the community and we appreciate the fact that they are giving us this opportunity to resolve some economic issues that we’ve had as all families are having in this current financial situation. The news regarding state revenues isn’t encouraging, so we do have to do everything we can at the local level to protect our schools. And once again, our voters have stepped up to the plate to support us."
While the COMPASS Facilitating Team had recommended a second ballot measure, the Board of Education decided not to seek voter approval of that proposal — a 37-cent tax-rate increase to help fund the long-range plan that incorporates suggestions from those who participated in the community-engagement sessions — at this time. A telephone survey of 400 district residents had indicated that while 59 percent opposed a 37-cent tax-rate increase, 64.8 percent of those respondents would support the no-tax-rate-increase transfer of 31 cents from the debt-service fund that Proposition T would allow.
Of Proposition T, Noble said, "This was part of the finance plan. The reason we chose to go ahead and go with this first (is because) we’re running a deficit budget and we needed to get that back in the black for survival. But that was part of the plan along with the 37-cent increase. So the board has elected to put the plan on hold basically because Prop T doesn’t really do a whole lot for the plan itself … I think that I can speak for the board to say that we are definitely going to remain focused on moving forward with the plan, but we’re also going to be monitoring the economy and try to find the right time to move forward with a future proposal.
"Again, I really think it depends on the economic situation as to when we would want to go for that because we do think we’ve got a good plan. We think we’ve got one that the community will support. We need to articulate that to the community and communicate it. I’m finding what’s so reassuring about the election is I think this community is supportive of our schools. I think what is required is that level of trust … but also that we’ve got a plan and that we can be trusted to follow the plan once the resources become available. I’m encouraged that when the community is as informed about the entire vision and all that entails that, they will be excited about it and supportive of it."
Diehl said, "I think there’s no doubt that the recommendations of COMPASS would have some real positive impacts on academic achievement and help us better prepare our students to face the 21st-century challenges that they will encounter, but we have to be pragmatic and we don’t locally have the ability to shape the world’s financial markets. That’s it in a nutshell and while we’d like to have that type of funding available in the next 30 minutes even, that’s not going to be realistic."
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KSDK – An Oakville High School algebra and calculus teacher won the 2009 Saint Louis Science Center/Carol B. and Jerome T. Loeb Prize for Excellence in Teaching Science and Mathematics.
Tammy Popp was presented with the award at an awards banquet at the Saint Louis Science Center Tuesday morning.
Four other St. Louis area teachers, all finalists for the prize, were recognized as well. Jennifer Fruend, a science teacher at Rohan Woods School, came in second place. Oakville High School physics teacher Stephanie Allen, University City High School biology teacher Julie Ertmann and Washington Middle School math teacher Sandra Turner were also recognized.
Popp and the other finalists received cash prizes, and each nominated teacher’s class was invited to accompany them to the Saint Louis Science Center for the awards ceremony, followed by a private screening of a film in the OMNIMAX® Theater and time to explore the museum.
The Loeb Prize, which rewards teachers who significantly enhance their students’ performances in the areas of science and mathematics, was established in 1996.
KSDK
Oakville High teacher wins Loeb award | ksdk.com | St. Louis, MO
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First and foremost, I want to thank MNEA President Kay Cappos and the other teachers who
supported me for the School Bell award. Receiving the Bell award was both a surprise and a great honor. Recognition of this magnitude from the classroom teachers of the Mehlville School District for the efforts I started back in 2004 is overwhelmingly fulfilling. When combined with the fact that my late grandfather, an accomplished and ardent supporter of Mehlville, received the same award over 40 years ago, it is more humbling that anyone can ever imagine. It is important that I also acknowledge that what this Board of Education has accomplished over the last four or five years did not happen by my efforts alone. They would have been utterly impossible without the help of our current board, as well as past board member and President, Ken Leach.
I also would like to thank the Executive Editor of Call Newspapers Mike Anthony for the following column in the May 7th, 2009 edition of The Call.
Mehlville teachers present annual recognition to Frank
May 06, 2009 – It’s no secret that this newspaper al-ways has believed Karl Frank Jr. to be an outstanding member of the Mehl-ville Board of Education.
Mr. Frank’s service to the community as a board member has been exemplary. He first was elected in 2005 — when the district was at a crossroads as a misguided majority of the board seemed determined to run Mehlville into the ground.
Mr. Frank’s leadership helped re-verse the direction in which the district was headed and Mehlville voters entrusted him to a second three-year term in the 2008 election.
At the Mehlville School District’s annual Recognition Night last week, Mr. Frank joined some distinguished company when he was presented the School Bell Award by the Mehlville National Education Association. The Mehlville NEA School Bell Award is presented annually to a member of the community who has made significant contributions to the education of Mehlville School District students.
Past recipients of the School Bell Award include former Board of Edu-cation member and longtime district supporter Dan Fowler and state Rep. Sue Schoemehl of Oakville.
Besides being in such elite company, Mr. Frank had a personal connection to the award because his late grandfather Kurt Frank, a 1942 graduate of Mehlville, also was a recipient of the School Bell Award.
In presenting the School Bell Award last week, Mehlville NEA President Kay Cappos stated: "This individual is a proud product of the Mehlville School District and currently entrusts his children’s education to our district as well as operating a successful business in Mehlville. This individual stepped forward several years ago as a catalyst for the positive change our district is presently enjoying. This year’s award winner has served one successful term on our Board of Ed-ucation, bringing stability, transparency in communication and integrity to the Mehlville School District …
"After he was elected to a second term to the board, this year’s recipient was instrumental in moving the district forward through the passage of Proposition T, improving the school district’s financial situation …”
She concluded by stating, "Because of his devoted service to our district, the Mehlville NEA is proud to present its 2008-2009 School Bell Award to Karl Frank Jr.”
We couldn’t agree more.
Congratulations, Mr. Frank, on re-ceiving the School Bell Award. It truly is deserved.
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We’ve written earlier about Anders Ericsson’s research on talent, and we’ve blogged on the subject repeatedly. Ericsson’s thesis is that raw talent is overrated, and that experts in a given field (be it hockey or music) accomplish excellence primarily through “deliberate practice.” Nicholas Kristof wrote yesterday about a new book about I.Q., also reviewed here, by Richard Nisbett. He argues that I.Q. is only 50 percent heritable and that the controversial racial I.Q. gap is environmental rather than genetic. Nisbett offers some suggestions to parents to raise their kids’ I.Q.: “praise effort more than achievement, teach delayed gratification, limit reprimands, and use praise to stimulate curiosity.” He is also strongly in favor of the intensive early-childhood programs favored by our new education secretary.
Practicing Your Way to a Higher I.Q. – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com
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