State Superintendent Brian Whiston Wants Public Input On How To Make Michigan Public Education Rank in the Top Ten Nationwide in Ten Years: You Know What To Do

Wednesday , 23, September 2015 Up North Progressive Section 16 4 Comments


Michigan’s new superintendent, Brian Whiston, once again is asking for public comment on how to improve Michigan’s public schools. This time he needs input because:

State Supt. Brian Whiston is seeking input on making Michigan a Top 10 education state over the next ten years. In the Superintendent’s ‘Back to School’ podcast, he announced that the MDE has set up both a web page and email account to accept submissions/suggestions from anyone who would like to give input on what it will take to make Michigan a Top Ten State for Education in the next ten years.

Superintendent Whiston, we thought you would never ask!

There are so many things that could be done to improve public education in Michigan. We’re fighting funding cuts, for-profit charter schools leeching students and funding from real public schools while for-profit charter school managers embezzle and defraud taxpayers. Now we have another cry for school vouchers, which are illegal in the state and have proven to be devastating in other states.

Most of all, Superintendent Whiston needs to take the time to listen to teachers. Our education professionals are not being heard with the many concerns and frustrations they have working in public schools. The same people pushing for more for-profit charters and vouchers that are designed solely to eliminate real public education are behind the teacher bashing going on in this country, and especially in Michigan. Teachers want to do the best they can for their students, but they can’t when they’re constantly barraged with unnecessary high-stakes standardized testing and unfair evaluations that don’t begin to truly show the great work they’re doing in the classroom. Kids are more than data.

Here are the four questions the superintendent would like addressed:

  • What are the top two or three goals that Michigan should focus on?
  • What current policies get in the way of that goal?
  • What policies are needed to expedite our progress toward that goal?
  • If you were the State Supt, what are the first three things that you would do?

The deadline to complete the online survey is November 1, 2015. You can either go to the website and fill out the form, or email your suggestions at top10in10@michigan.gov

Here is your chance to let the new superintendent know what he needs to do to help public education stay public.

A Former National Heritage Academies Teacher Speaks About How Happy She Is Working For A Real Public School

Monday , 21, September 2015 Up North Progressive Section 16 3 Comments


A Former National Heritage Academy teacher left a comment on this blog that must be shared. They know first-hand that for-profit charter schools are failing our children.

I once worked for this company for three years in Ohio as a teacher and couldn’t be happier to be back in a public school that is getting results without the high stress NHA puts on it’s teachers and administrators all coming from corporate. The corporate world and educational world should never combine – this is a perfect example, but, as long as they have the $$$, they’ll never go away…. someone should really research the turnover rates in these NHA schools. Within three years, almost the entire staff was new (most teachers hired have < 2 years experience). Young teachers are being eaten alive – chewed up and spit out. I’ve never been happier to be in a public school setting where the word “fairness” comes into play not only for students and families…. but the staff working 50+ hours a week, dedicating themselves to better the education world.

The turnover rates are in fact very high for a number of reasons. For-profit charter schools have to make a profit off of our tax dollars. If they can’t, the school closes down, and the staff employed there have to find a job elsewhere. If the teachers working there are from an organization part of the corporate ed reform world, such as Teach For America, they only teach for two years, then TFA assigns them other jobs within their company. Members of TFA only spend time in the classroom when they are the bottom step of that particular pyramid scheme. And then, as this former NHA teacher states, turnover rate is high due to the terrible working conditions and dealing with a corporate administration that puts profits over educating children. Dedicated professionals burn out and leave the teaching field.

The corporate world and educational world should never combine. This is the best statement that accurately explains the demise of America’s once excellent public education system. Corporations fail our children and always will.

Another commenter asked an important question:

Thanks for exposing the truth about the destruction for profit of our public school system. I for one do not want my taxes going to pay these thieves! How can we stop it??

Excellent question! Here are ways for people to get involved and stop the for-profit charter school cancer from spreading.

  • Register to vote and get out and actually vote. The main reason these corporate thieves get away with stealing funding from real public schools is because the wrong people get elected. Don’t assume any Democratic candidate is safe either. Far too many Democratic party politicians support corporate education reform unfortunately, including President Obama. His Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, has been the most devastating to public education so far. All Republicans are in favor of dismantling public education.
  • Take the time to research who funds these anti-education politicians. If they take ANY DeVos money or are endorsed by organizations such as Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP) DO NOT VOTE FOR THEM. There are other organizations and institutions in Michigan also part of the education reform movement. They are all terrible and determined to destroy public education, not improve it.
  • Get involved in your local community’s school district. Attend PTA/PTO meetings and school board meetings. Republicans, especially the religious right targeted taking over these institutions that set policy for school districts decades ago.
  • Any article published in the newspaper claiming 4th graders are failing or statistics show public schools are doing worse than ever and the spokesperson quoted belongs to some “education reform advocacy group” you’ve never heard of before, it’s likely they are a dummy group set up by one of the corporate education reformers putting out negative propaganda. Take the time to research the name of these groups and they always can be traced back to any of the well-known education reform organizations.

Stopping corporate ed reformers will take effort from all of us. Our children’s’ future depends on putting these organizations out of business, and electing candidates into office who support public education.

Cindy Gamrat Knows God Wants Her In Lansing: Files To Run For The Seat She Was Just Expelled From

Thursday , 17, September 2015 Up North Progressive Candidates, Religious Fundamentalism, Tea Party 1 Comment

Cindy Gamrat has been out of office for a week, but she already knows she has to get back there and finish the work God wants her to do. At two in the afternoon today she filed paperwork to run in the November 3, 2015 primary for the house seat she was just expelled from. Apparently there’s no law that says you can’t, so why not?

Religious nutjobs like Cutco Cindy think the constitution should be more like the bible, that’s why God, not the voters, put her in office.

And it’s been a week, everyone’s forgotten already right? God’s forgiven her, so the state of Michigan can at least do that too.

Good luck, Cindy, and thank you for keeping the tea party circus alive just that much longer. We weren’t sure what we would have to laugh at after you and the Toddler were booted from our state legislature.

Dan Benishek Won’t Run In 2016 Because Veterans Need Him After Saying He Would Run In 2016 Because Veterans Need Him

Tuesday , 15, September 2015 Up North Progressive Candidates, Elections, Tea Party 2 Comments


Tea party VA surgeon and 3 term U.S. Rep Dan Benishek won’t break his vow to only run for three terms after all. This morning he issued a statement claiming he wanted to devote more time to his family and help veterans, and he could do those things better if he wasn’t a US Congressman.

Up North Progressive couldn’t agree more.

Benishek’s voting record for veterans’ issues can only be described as abysmal. As the only Michigan member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, he voted in favor of cutting benefits for homeless veterans, made it harder for veterans to sue the governement, and with other Republicans gutted the funding from a veterans health act that made it even harder for veterans needing health care to get it. He also voted in favor of the Republican-led shut down of the federal government in 2013 that cost the American taxpayers billions. The only time he really ever bothered to talk to veterans was during election years, the rest of the time he was too busy beefing up his stock portfolio and taking handouts from K Street.

According to Roll Call, the race currently rates as lean Republican. The Michigan Democratic Party has two candidates seeking to run for U.S. Congressional District 1: Lon Johnson and Jerry Cannon. Now with the seat open in 2016, Republicans will certainly line up to run as well.

It would be a great thing to have a Democratic Party Congressman representing Northern Michigan again. Someone who will represent the people, rather than use the office to get rich.

J.C. Huizenga Crows About The Success of National Heritage Academies Fleecing Michigan Taxpayers

Tuesday , 15, September 2015 Up North Progressive Religious Fundamentalism, Section 16 6 Comments

J. C. Huizenga recently commented on the 20-year history of his for-profit charter school chain, National Heritage Academies, in an MLive.com article. He claimed their success came from superior academics and being financially strong. There’s so much more to National Heritage Academies, how they started, how they really make their money to be financially strong, and their affiliation with Religious Right organizations.

Huizenga mentions being on the board of TEACH Michigan in the 1990s. TEACH Michigan and TEACH Michigan Education Fund were both formed to change education law in the state of Michigan. Established in 1989 by Paul DeWeese (Yes, THAT Paul DeWeese), both organizations were organized and operated by people associated with Michigan Family Forum – the state branch of Focus on the Family, Mackinac Center, Richard McLelland, former governor John Engler, with plenty of DeVos, Prince, Meijer, M.J, Moroun money to fund them. This group is responsible for changing the Michigan State Constitution to allow for-profit charter schools to take money from real public schools in Michigan. Back in the 1990’s, DeWeese likened reforming education in Michigan to competing car companies selling cars because cars are just like schools and all you have to do to know if you’ve picked a good school for your children is kick the tires.

All of the records from TEACH Michigan, now Partnership for Learning, are archived at the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan. Permission to view the records may only be granted by Paul DeWeese.

Huizenga’s financial success comes from the outrageous million dollar rents charged to National Heritage Academies’ 47 schools in Michigan for the buildings they lease. These schools are all K-8, which is cheaper to operate than high schools. For every $7,000 per-pupil tuition grant National Heritage Academies receives from the state, only $5,000 is spent on teaching students. Remember, for-profit charter schools have to make a profit before educating students.

How about J.C. Huizenga’s claim that National Heritage Academies are academically superior? out of the 47 for-profit charter schools operating in the state of Michigan, only 7 out-perform real public schools in Michigan. another 22 perform at the same level as the state’s real public schools. The rest perform far below public school rankings.

National Heritage Academies are part of the Religious Right’s efforts to eliminate public schools in Michigan. When Huizenga says, “we’ve gotten results,” what he really means is, “I’m getting fabulously rich not only collecting people’s garbage, but shoving garbage schools down the taxpayers’ throats.” Since the first days the Religous Right schemed to destroy public education, J.C. Huizenga was right there with them, doing his part.

@LastWeekTonight Has Fun With @Todd_Courser @CindyGamrat expulsion

Monday , 14, September 2015 Up North Progressive Tea Party, Tealiban Leave a comment

John Oliver brings up a valid point, the tea bagger herd is very good at inoculating themselves because they voted for the Toddler and Cutco Cindy in the first place.

Alleged Sex Offender Republican Candidate for State Rep Vijay Kumar Gets His Medical License Back

Friday , 11, September 2015 Up North Progressive Candidates, Elections 11 Comments

Dr. Vijay Kumar of West Branch was arrested on July 21, 2015 for a number of charges, including insurance fraud and criminal sexual conduct with a minor. While those charges are pending and the investigation continues, his suspended medical license was reinstated last week. Dr. Kumar is also a Republican candidate for state representative in the 103rd district according to his campaign website.

The physical therapist owns and operates Adapt or Agility physical therapy clinics in West Branch, Prescott, Rose City, Hale and St. Helen.

The investigation into insurance fraud is ongoing. The investigation into the criminal sexual conduct charge began September 10, 2015.

Republican Vijay Kumar is in good company in the Michigan Republican Party. early this morning, the State House committee voted to expel tea party politician Cindy Gamrat, while her lover and tea party partner, Todd Courser resigned in disgrace. Kumar will run for office, and despite the alleged sexual assault, insurance fraud, Medicaid fraud, and Medicare fraud, people will vote for him simply because there’s an R next to his name. Trash and criminals are all the Republican Party have left.

A Brief Overview of Castlebond Enterprises LLC’s New Charter Schools

Sunday , 6, September 2015 Up North Progressive Section 16 9 Comments

Recently, there was good news for public education. The Washington State Surpreme Court ruled on September 5, 2015 that for-profit charter schools taking public tax money away from real public schools is unconstitutional. Educators and parents across the country celebrated with Washington State this important victory in fighting back against corporate reformers trying to dismantle the public school system in the United States.

Here in Michigan, unfortunately, it’s business as usual for the for-profit charter school cancer working it’s way through the state. Castlebond Enterprises, a “family owned” business is one such tumor currently working to add to the disease. Of course, Mario and Luigi are convinced they’re doing good things for education.

Our sole purpose is finding success and sustainable results for our Education and School-based clients. Castlebond is involved in the day- to-day development and implementation of educational services from all perspectives, including new school development and school management.

The Castlebond team currently has three charter schools under their management. Let’s take a look at the status of each school receiving “success and sustainable results”.

Great Lakes Anchor Academy

In Macomb County, former Walled Lake elementary teacher Amy Neibert wants to create a special for-profit charter school that focuses on STEM and also provides a disciplined, naval theme to the school. Great Lakes Anchor Academy received their charter from Ferris State University in May of 2015 and plans to open for the 2016-2017 school year. This is the current home for Great Lakes Anchor Academy:

That’s because the permanent home for GLAA is still under construction, sharing a building with this fine establishment.

Already GLAA’s board raised eyebrows in the community when they decided to hold one of their required by law public meetings in a local bar instead of the trailer the school organizational team is currently housed in. There are issues with the board not notifying the public of upcoming meetings, also required by law. According to the GLAA website, meetings for the school are held in the Mount Clemens Public Library. Another problem with the for-profit charter school is their association with the Sea Cadets, something already provided by Mount Clemens schools. The for-profit charter school and board are currently under investigation by the Macomb County Prosecutor.

Hinoki International School

This school in Farmington Hills used to be called the Japanese American School of South East Michigan and originally opened in 2010. In 2015 they chartered with Saginaw Valley State University and changed the name to Hinoki International School. Until recently, the school shared the same building that housed the Montessori School on 12 Mile, but then came bad news:

It is with deep regret that Hinoki International School announces that we will not be opening our doors this fall as planned, due to the sudden closure of Schoolhouse Montessori Preschool and the sale of our facility to Aim High School, a private school for students with special needs.  Hinoki’s charter-authorizer is preserving our charter, and many of our stakeholders are encouraging us to start again in a new location in 2016-17.  Many thanks to our hundreds of supporters and volunteers for your support of our school’s bilingual education mission!

Aim High School it seems doesn’t want to share the building with Hinoki, so until Hinoki can find a new home, they will not be open.

Gateway To Success Academy

This for-profit charter school, like all of the other Castlebond-managed schools, isn’t set to open until 2016 because they still need $1.5 million in start-up costs and their grocery store needs to be refurbished into something that can reflect the egos behind the project. The local oil tycoon teamed up with an alternative ed principal and found they shared a common purpose – to close down an alternative junior-senior high school and instead open a for-profit charter school based on California’s High Tech High. High Tech High uses project-based education where students complete hands-on activities in a very non-traditional school setting. Reviews left on Great Schools are very mixed. Students profess their love of the school with reviews filled with spelling and grammar errors. Frustrated parents complain their children weren’t prepared for college. Also, High Tech High fulfills their claim that 100% of their students go to college by requiring all students to fill out applications to community colleges.

This is the program Gateway To Success Academy wants to emulate. There is nothing wrong with project-based education, but if Ludington Area Schools didn’t want Journey in their district any longer due to low state test scores, what happens when Gateway To Success has the same problem?

Castlebond Enterprises LLC so far is off to a great start as a charter school management company. The image that describes their success can be best depicted with this image recently posted to Gateway To Success’ Facebook page:

The Next Representative of Michigan’s First District Lon Johnson’s Labor Day Schedule

Saturday , 5, September 2015 Up North Progressive Candidates, Elections Leave a comment

Bill Schuette Can’t Stop Being Schuette: Calls On The Nerd To Impose Sanctions On Iran

Tuesday , 1, September 2015 Up North Progressive Bill Schuette, Nerd Problems Leave a comment

In a letter to The Nerd dated August 31, 2015, Attorney General Bill Schuette encouraged Snyder to impose state-level sanctions against Iran in the event that the forty year old federal sanctions are lifted. President Obama and the State Department spent months negotiating with the Iranian government to find an agreement where they cease all efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon, and in return trade sanctions would be lifted against them, including selling oil on the international market.

Naturally, because the White House worked to make the world safer and gasoline less expensive, the Republicans are against it. Calling Iran a nation of terrorists and human rights violators, the Attorney General wants the state of Michigan to impose trade sanctions.

Schuette lists four reasons why Governor Nerd should impose state sanctions:

First, Iran engages in some of the world’s most severe human rights abuses, oppressing women, and persecuting people of nearly all faiths, including Baha’is, Jews, and Christians.
Second, Iran continues to be the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism, providing weapons to terrorists, functioning as the central bank for terror, and sheltering members of the world’s most notorious terrorist groups.
Third, Iran continues to hold American hostages, including a journalist, a Marine, and a Christian pastor jailed for sharing his faith. A fourth hostage holds the unfortunate record of being the longest-held hostage in American history.
Finally, the controlling regime in Iran remains dedicated to the total destruction of our ally Israel and the complete genocide of its people. Regardless of political affiliation, people from all States can agree that none of these stances should be tolerated, much less supported by funds flowing through and from the States.

It’s laughable when any Republican points a finger at another country and insists they’re a repressive regime. Republicans in the United States openly support oppressing women, minorities and LGBT people by denying them their constitutionally protected right to choose their own health care, disenfranchise voters, and basic civil rights such as marriage. Just a few days ago one of the Republicans running for president suggested using tracking numbers on undocumented workers in the United States, not unlike another repressive regime did about 70 years ago.

Many Iranian practices should appeal to American Conservatives. They’re a religious theocracy and demand everyone there, even visitors from other countries, follow their restrictive laws based on strict religious interpretation on women and LGBT people, just like Republicans in Michigan have publicly stated they want. Women who have abortions in Iran are stoned to death. Gay people are hanged.

Currently Iran is dedicated along with other governments in the Middle East fighting a common enemy – ISIS. The Islamic State came into existence thanks to the vacuum created by the Bush administration and the totally unnecessary war in Iraq. They are the biggest threat to the Middle East, and nations in the region that used to fight each other now work together to defeat the closet thing that exists to Hell on Earth.

Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu Jamal, Private Chelsea Manning, The Cuban 5 (released 2014), Guantanamo, Ricardo Palmera, All of the members of the Black Panther Party still in prison, Jeremey Hammond, and on and on and on …

And Israel, already a nuclear power, continues to illegally “settle” Palestinian land, refuses to come to the table to settle the crisis between Palestinians and Israelis, and committed acts of war and terror on the people of Gaza, the largest prison concentration camp in the world. It will be a glorious day when the United States stops supporting this repressive regime.

Bill Schuette will always continue to be Bill Schuette. With eyes on the Governor’s office he never ceases to disgust and offend the decent people of Michigan. The White House negotiations with Iran will ensure there are less nuclear weapons in the world. The Republicans are lying about the Iran deal, and it has more to do with the oil lobby than any country or people the Iranians are supposedly oppressing. Iran is not a threat to the United States, power hungry politicians like Bill Schuette are the real threat.