Former Democrat New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says teachers’ unions were responsible for keeping schools locked down during the pandemic, a move that has enabled a mass exodus of students from traditional government schools throughout the country.
Given the generally poor academic achievement of America’s students, the steep drop in enrollment means states are now paying more to educate fewer children, and, “paying more for failure,” he asserts.
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Walt Disney established the Disney Company in 1923 for the sole purpose of entertaining children with fun-loving characters. It is one of the most iconic companies in the world, loved by most families. Disney’s theme parks are an important vacation attraction for most families located on three continents. Disney is the leading producer of family movies.
Disney’s new CEO Bob Chapek is now transforming Disney into Woke-Disney with his opposition to what the left mendaciously calls “Don’t Say Gay,” a Florida law forbidding public schools from teaching inappropriate gender identity or sexual orientation in grades K-3. The law does not use the word gay.
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As more families and teachers flee government schools, the Biden administration – bound to the teachers unions – has now “declared war” on charter schools, as Robert Maranto, editor of the Journal of School Choice, wrote at National Review Monday.
The Biden education department is now on a path to sabotage the federal grant program that funds charter schools, public schools that are privately managed, with its proposal of new rules that appear to actually deter applicants from seeking grants.
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President Joe Biden has continuously stated that “climate change” is the highest priority of his administration, fueled by Build Back Better spending. We are witnessing the disastrous impacts that establishing the wrong priorities can have.
On the day Biden became President, America was energy independent, our borders were secure, and the world was relatively peaceful.
Biden has done everything possible to shut down, curtail, and undermine American energy production. First, he shut down the permitted Keystone Pipeline. Then he eliminated fracking on federal lands, and slowed permits for new oil fields.
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In January, 2001, America had a balanced budget, low debt, and was at peace. Here, briefly, is what lay ahead: war, financial crisis, civil unrest, massive growth of the federal government, and now severe inflation.
Never in the history of America has our government in its ineptitude created such a false economy, risking hundreds of years of hard work on unsound and unworkable economic policies. The Founders wisely relied on dispersion of power. They knew there would be dishonest and incompetent politicians but, in this case, the entire government is infected with deceptive leaders.
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Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed The Epoch Times Senior Editor Roger Simon in studio to address his latest piece calling for citizens to take back America by running for their local school boards.
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Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael in studio to discuss the silent but public partnership of the Biden administration and Facebook, and the Texas Democrats who spread COVID.
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Wildly excessive federal spending is causing major inflation and shortages, which may lead to a recession and perhaps a financial crisis. Despite the evidence of inflation, Congress is proposing to spend $3.5 trillion on top of the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill passed earlier this year and the intended $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. For comparison, federal revenue is only expected to be $3.8 trillion this year.
Evidently, the Democratic Party and President Joe Biden have adopted Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) to the peril of every American citizen. MMT, which is similar to Keynesian economics, says that the U.S. should not be constrained by revenues in federal government spending since the government is the monopoly issuer of the U.S. dollar. MMT is a destructive myth that provides cover for excessive government spending. And it’s not modern, since reckless government spending has been around for thousands of years.
Embracing MMT is similar to providing whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. We know the outcomes will not be good.
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The dictatorial, repugnant, and repressive Chinese government has ended freedom in Hong Kong. Now it threatens Taiwan, the most important producer of semiconductors for American products — jeopardizing America and her prosperity.
Most American producers are suffering shortages of semiconductors, and if China prevails in its quest to take Taiwan, China will be positioned to shut down American industry by refusing to ship semiconductors to the United States. A Sino-American embargo would precipitate the shuttering of automobile, appliance, and military equipment production, the internet, and processors in virtually every product and industry.
With laser focus, China’s government strengthens its military and economy, as our federal government officials — the most mendacious and incompetent since the FDR depression — weaken American manufacturing and commerce, subvert truth, and squander time and resources on the vacuous follies of gender politics and climate change.
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Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed State Representative (R) Ryan Williams to the newsmakers line to discuss the General Assembly’s special session as it focuses on literacy and reinstalling phonics into public school curriculum.
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Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Tennessee State Representative Clay Doggett to the newsmakers line to discuss the special session on education and their focus on literacy.
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Monday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the show to discuss government-run schools versus charter schools in America.
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Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio to discuss the battle between Metro Schools and the Tennessee State Board of Education.
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School districts across Virginia struggled to cope with increased demand Tuesday, as thousands of virtual learning students logged on for their first day of classes. Districts including Chesterfield County Public Schools(CCPS), Virginia Beach City Public Schools(VBCPS), and Arlington Public Schools (APS) all suffered major system outages. Other districts reported a high volume of callers.
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Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio to discuss how teachers’ unions are only interested in the interests of bureaucrats.
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Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Dr. Carol Swain to the studio.
At the end of the second hour, Swain questioned the science behind Governor Lee and Mayor Cooper’s mask mandates suggesting that it appears that conservatives are the target of citations.
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A government-funded, seven-year study released in 1977 looked at 15 different methods of teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. The study found that fourteen of them didn’t do so well. But one of them did spectacularly well in terms of its effectiveness. That method is called, Direct Instruction.
“There was only one system that had dramatic improvements and was by far the most effective,” said Leahy on Monday morning’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.
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During the second hour, caller David called into the show to inform Leahy about his experience with a Franklin school teacher who he felt was promoting communism in the classroom wall by displaying a poster featuring communist figures like Mao Tse Tung.
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Live from Nashville, Tennessee Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.– Leahy was joined in studio by former Vanderbilt and Princeton professor Dr. Carol Swain.
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In a special interview Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed a very special guest, Heather MacDonald to the show.
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President Trump’s recent budget proposal calls for reforms to the federal student loan program, so that colleges that “accept taxpayer funds have skin in the game through a student loan risk-sharing program.” Certainly, a change in the student loan program is long overdue.
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Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – host Michael Patrick Leahy was joined in studio by veteran grassroots activists Kevin and Laura Baigert to discuss the teaching methodology called “direct instruction.”
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On Tuesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Leahy talked about the recent mayoral debate in Nashville and how moderator Rhori Johnson asked a completely irrelevant question to both candidates who responded with non-answers and dodged the real issues facing public education in Davidson County schools.
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On Thursday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Leahy took a call from a Davidson County school teacher named Mike and discussed his disappointing experience as a teacher within the Davidson County school system. He also explained how many parents are unresponsive while the kids just “don’t care.” Towards the end of the segment, Mike asked Leahy to help get those kids who are causing disruption out of the classroom. The caller was bewildered and stated that many of these “thugs” are causing disruption for those who want to learn. Leahy: Direct instruction is the way to go. But it’s been resisted. It was a methodology that was introduced by a professor then at the University of Illinois who then went on to the University of Oregon. It’s been very effective when implemented. Now, Thales Academy is the biggest implementer of that. Great test results. So direct instruction is the way to go and it needs to happen. Mike in Nashville I’m not sure if this is the same, Mike. High school teacher calling in. Mike, welcome to the Tennessee…
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NASHVILLE — A new private school set to open in the Nashville area one year from now will stress, among other things, character education and innovative thinking. That school, Thales Academy, will cost less than other private schools in the Nashville area, said Director of Operations and Academics Timothy Hall. School officials will open at a temporary incubator location in July 2020 in the area, Hall said. About 50 parents came out to hear Hall and other school officials discuss their plans at an information session at Nashville’s West End Community Church Friday. “This is a private school that will cost about $6,000 a year. In the Nashville market other private schools probably cost about $12,000 – $22,000,” Hall told The Tennessee Star. “For the beginning, it’ll be K-5, maybe K-8, depending on the enrollment and how that matches out. If we have the right enrollment then we’ll create a high school and junior high school as well.” School officials are looking concurrently for both an incubator location and a location for the permanent building afterwards, Hall said. According to slides Hall and others showed parents, Thales Academy teaches critical thinking and leadership skills, and it also teaches students…
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More than 100 employees in the Detroit Public Schools Community District make salaries that exceed $100,000 per year, even though the district consistently ranks among the lowest performing schools. According to data obtained by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, 110 employees of the Detroit school district make six figure salaries, including at least one teacher and two police officers. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti (pictured, center) topped the list with an annual salary of $294,999 in the 2017-28 fiscal year. Coming in second was Luis Solano, the school district’s chief operating officer, who makes an annual salary of $183,750, while Deputy Superintendent Iranetta Wright brings in $182,692 annually. Chalkbeat reported in 2017 that all sixteen employees in Vitti’s inner circle are making well over $100,000 annually. As Michigan Capitol Confidential reports, the one teacher on the list, who teaches seventh and eighth grade, made a salary of $100,057 in the 2017-18 fiscal year. The outlet points out that there are numerous ways for teachers to pick up extra compensation, such as merit pay or agreeing to lead various school functions, which are included in the salary figures. They also found that this teacher, with a base pay of $84,505 annually, brought…
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Bob Luddy had already experienced massive success as a businessman and entrepreneur before launching Thales Academy, one of North Carolina’s most innovative private schools. In 1976, Luddy founded CaptiveAire Systems, now the leading manufacturer of commercial kitchen ventilation systems in the U.S. with annual sales of more than $300 million. Why, after such success, get involved in education? “Primarily because in my life I had a reasonably good education and I realized how much it contributed to my life, and to the American way,” Luddy told Battleground State News in a recent interview. “And also within our family, my parents certainly stressed the importance of education throughout our lifetime. So in making observations after being in business for many years, I felt like too many students are deprived of the opportunity to reach their fruition in life by having a good, sound education.” And that is exactly what Luddy’s Thales Academy (Thales), now in its eleventh year and named for the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus, does: educate each student to his maximum potential. Luddy launched Thales in 2007 using a “temporary facility in the back of” his corporate office, the school’s website explains, and had just 30 students. Now,…
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The future of the controversial classical education movement will be showcased later this month when Columbia University senior lecturer Roosevelt Montás is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at a national symposium hosted by Great Hearts, the biggest classical charter network.
The views of Montás, author of the widely praised memoir “Rescuing Socrates,” are well to the left of many in the classical charter movement, which is rooted in Christian conservatism. What makes Montás’ upcoming speech so notable, then, is the signal it sends about the movement’s effort to diversify its brand and project a welcoming attitude as it seeks to expand beyond conservative strongholds and suburbs where it began.
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