With apologies to Alice Cooper.

 

♪ “Well we got no choice.” ♪
♪ “All the girls and boys.” ♪
♪ ”Makin’ all that noise .” ♪
♪ “’Cause they found new toys.” ♪
♪ “Well we can’t salute, ya can’t find a flag .” ♪
♪ “If that don’t suit ya that’s a drag.” ♪
♪ “School’s out for summer .” ♪
♪ “School’s out forever .” ♪
♪ “School’s been blown to pieces.” ♪

We should never see this happen again with Taxpayer’s money…ever.

Promoters of Cloward-Piven will need to go back to the drawing board this month.

Another spigot has been turned off…hopefully for good!

{I promise: No more misusing and abusing the songs of your youth below the fold!}

Back in July 2012 the Michigan ACLU filed a class action “Right to Read” lawsuit against the Highland Park Public School system.

I’ve posted two excerpts from the ACLU’s own press release on their lawsuit to give you an idea on just how bad things were in this democrat-party stronghold;

“Less than 10 percent of the district’s students in grades third through eighth are proficient in reading and math, based on Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP) scores. By 11th grade, students do not fare any better, with less than 10 percent of students scoring proficient in reading or math on the Michigan Merit Exam (MME). An independent evaluation to assess the reading proficiency of the plaintiffs found that students were reading between four and eight grades below their current grade level.”

Oh, and it gets even better.

“According to 2011-2012 MEAP scores, 65 percent of fourth graders are not reading at a proficient level; 87 percent are not proficient at math. In seventh grade, 75 percent are not reading at a proficient level while 93 percent are not proficient at math. According to 2011-2012 MME results, by eleventh grade, when students should be college-ready, 90 percent failed reading; 97 percent failed math, 94 percent failed writing and 100 percent failed the social studies and science portions of the exam.”

Citing the appalling scores above, poor to non-existent school supplies and abysmal building conditions, the Michigan ACLU was seeking to have Michigan Taxpayers provide “additional assistance”.

One would think that you should be able to provide an outstanding education at $14,000/student each year.

Well, that didn’t happen.

And exactly where were the parents of these students while their children’s future was literally being destroyed right before their very eyes? And in a way that would be considered an “Act of War” if these results implemented by anybody else outside of Wayne County?

They were too busy being conned by the likes of community activist/street hustler Robert Davis. Not only did Robert Davis bamboozle Highland Park resident into voting him into the local school board, but they also had him to thank when he tried mucking up the works when Michigan tried to fix things back in early 2012.

If the name Robert Davis sounds familiar for other reasons, it should.

From 2007 thru 2010 approximately $200,000 went from Highland Park Public Schools to an organization that Davis controlled.

The Michigan AG’s office was never intrigued on why a school system cannot balance its books (can’t imagine why), but the feds were. They began to investigate Mr. Davis’ “humble” union-activist lifestyle.

For a person who purportedly never made more than $63,000/year between ’06 & ‘09, the feds dug up a lot of booze and bling on the public dime charged by Mr. Davis.

The feds ultimately issues a 16-count indictment for stealing more than $125,000.

Davis eventually plead guilty to stealing money and filing a false tax return Sept 2nd.

And THAT is only one example. One that is also leading me too far away from the main story.

So let me get back to the ACLU, parents who cannot be bothered to pay attention to why their children are not at grade level along with local events and the Michigan Taxpayers they want to ultimately hand the bill to.

On November 6th, The Michigan Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision ruled that Michigan has no responsibility to provide a public education to the students under its charge. Justices Murray and Jansen ruling for the majority and Justice Shapiro dissenting.

As expected, the Michigan ACLU Executive Director, Kary Moss was less than thrilled when she was quoted in The Michigan Citizen;

“This ruling should outrage anyone who cares about our public education system. The court washes its hands and absolves the state of any responsibility in a district that has failed and continues to fail its children.”

The whole “…to each according to their need” -thing aside, I go back to a point I made above: EXACTLY where were the parents when academics and test scores started to auger into the ground?

Have they gone over homework with their children?

Have they ever attended a Parent-Teacher Conference?

Do they even know who the name is of their child’s/children’s teacher?

All of this hand-wringing and faux-outrage is utterly useless if the parents can’t be bothered to pay attention to their own child’s academic performance.

Sorry, Ms. Moss (and Justice Shapiro), Michigan Taxpayers have already fulfilled their responsibility in this matter. Money was collected from them at the state-level and distributed to the various districts around Michigan.

If the parents cannot be bothered to educate themselves regarding fundamental issues regarding their own child’s education, all the money in the state treasury won’t change these parent’s apathy.