Free Republic

“We got it up to 25%

arent we great ???”

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Exactly my point - you’re just faster on the rebound.

see : http://www.shadowstats.com/

Steve, take a look at LinkedIn. We Nukes have a group over there called US Naval Nuclear Power School Alumni. The group has 3.6k members of late. Not bad considering Adm. Rickover’s program has only graduated about 100k officers and enlisted since its inception 70 years ago. Our group is good about tracking open employment positions in a variety of fields, not just the Nuclear world.

I also searched for this guy on LinkedIn to see what his background was. Didn’t find squat. I wonder if he is relying on placement agencies.

So, having been defeated in the House Ag committee 12-0 ans Senate Ag committee 9-0 on Tuesday, it appears that IDPH has found themselves a friendly journalist that will scare monger for them.

How dare we ask for less regulation instead of more!

The global economic downturn meets fashion. Just like everything else, it seems the answer is nationalization.

ND

GOP Poet, I’m a beekeeper in the midwest so I have no personal knowledge of local sources for you. I suggest that you look at the listing on the BeeSource forum.

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214430

ND

The OpEd is nothing more than a rehash of this month's Scientific American article on a Japanese program that's been going on now for a decade. The little NASA bureau-slaves have slide rule envy and are whining for more as they wallow in the public’s feed trough.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=farming-solar-energy-in-space

The US is now a firmly entrenched service-based economy. We don't need to do the skull work that something of this magnitude would require. Let the Japanese carry the water. If it works, great! I'm sure their worker-drones will happily be exploited by this new industry the same way their auto workers, shipyard workers, and consumer electronics workers have been.

Worse case, they succeed and build a transmission line across the Bering Sea so that we end up sending our energy dollars to Asia instead of the Arabs. Who really cares. Either way, our publically schooled Luddites without opposable thumbs will still be able to hunt & peck the controls on their MP3 players and Blackberries.

It's all good.

This is a follow-up to last year's thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1393645/posts

ND

According to a previous article in the Missoulian: http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2005/11/10/breaker/doc4372889f1b3dc327710338.txt

"A member of the Stratton family applied for homestead rights in 1912 or 1913, but the application was denied because the area had been declared U.S. Forest land in 1906, court records show.

"There's no record of the family using that property until 1939," when the Forest Service issued a permit to operate a sawmill, Kurt Alme, assistant U.S. attorney for Montana, said Wednesday."

but...

"The government filed a lawsuit in 2003 to evict the Strattons after they rejected a land swap in which they would purchase another parcel of land for the Forest Service and keep the land they occupied."

which leads to the question why would NFS offer a land swap to squatters with no claim to their land.

ND

I understand the physical geography, but I was refering to the political geography. I referenced the classical "city-state" form of sovereignty where the political control of the city extends into the surrounding hinterlands. If one were to draw a circle with a radius of, say, 45 miles centered on the Sears Tower you would find that it encompassed all or part of at least 50% of the House AND Senate districts. Thus, while some may call it the State of Illinois, given the influence of the Daley family those outside that circle can equally refer to it as the City-State of Chicago.

I'm pretty certain there is a Supreme Court ruling to the effect that there's no obligation for a law enforcement officer to come to the aid of a civilian. Seems to me that should be a two-way street. Of course, this did happen in the City-State of Chicago aka Illinois.

There are about twenty states that already have state defense forces seperate from the National Guard. You can find out more information by visiting the State Guard Association of the United States at www.sgaus.org

ND

The reporter from the second story on this woman just replied to my email. I'm posting it below.

ND

Mr. Sabo,
Thank you for your comments on my story. To answer your
questions, I don't know whether or not a fund has been set up for her
defense, but to my knowledge there is not one. The story doesn't
state, and you're right it should, that school officials have dealt
with Mrs. Harris and her son for a number of years on the issue of
truancy. The Web site that you referred me to seems overly defensive to
me and ignores the job of the truant officer to make sure that children
are receiving proper schooling. According to the HOUSE Web site home
schoolers should not let truant officers into their homes without a
signed search warrant, but if you are schooling your child properly
what do you have to fear from showing the truant officer that? It's
only those parents that are using home schooling as an excuse to keep
their children out of other schools but not providing an proper
education at home that need fear a visit from school officials. I think
Mr. Garnati made it perfectly clear that he is NOT opposed to proper
home schooling. I think he also made it clear that Mrs. Harris
certainly has the right to home school her child, if she does it in the
proper manner. I appreciate the feedback on my article and if you feel
the need to state your point of view I suggest you write a letter to
the editor here at the Marion Daily which will we gladly publish if it
falls within our guidelines, which can be found on the Opinion page of
our newspaper every day. You can e-mail it to editor@mariondaily.com
or mail it to 502 West Jackson Street, Marion, IL 62959.

Thank you

Eric Chaney



On May 4, 2005, at 10:20 AM, Mike Sabo wrote:

> Mr. Chaney,
>
> Do you know whether a fund had been set up for this woman's defense?
> There
> wasn't enough details in the story to know the sequence of event that
> brought down the power of Charles Garnati and Barry Kohl down upon her.
> I'm a homeschooler outside of ROE #21 so I don't know your political
> situation there, however I would like to point you to H.O.U.S.E. (an IL
> homeschooling organization) and their guidance on handling a visit from
> Truant Officers.
> http://www.illinoishouse.org/truancy.htm
> There are times when standing up for ones rights gets you charged with
> a
> crime. The report does not provide enough details to knwo whether or
> not
> this is one of those times.
>
> Thanks,
> Mike

There were no papers to carry. I had a pencil box. Everything was done in workbooks that were kept by the teacher.

As I dig deeper into the story of this Illinois mother, it looks like a new Regional Superintendent just took over in April. His name is David Erlinger and he sits on the Compliance Committee of the Illinois Association of Regional School Superintendents. It's possible that he's just feeling his oats here.

His office has put together a web page to "help" homeschoolers. http://www.marion.k12.il.us/Services/Homeschooling/Homeschooling.htm

It lists several items that are misleading and some of which are just flat out wrong.

"What are the branches of learning that must be taught in a home school?

The branches of learning that must be taught in an Illinois home school are language arts, mathematics, biological/physical sciences, social sciences, fine arts, physical development and health."


There is no statutory requirement that Private schools teach this, only public schools. Homeschools are defined in IL as Private schools.


"How do I register my home school with the school district, the Regional Superintendent, or the State of Illinois?

The Regional Superintendent of Schools and the States Attorneys request that parents of children officially notify the Regional Office of Education in writing that their child or children are being home schooled. This notification will preclude investigation of truancy and possible charges being brought against parents for truancy. An application is available to print from this webpage so that you may submit the form to the Regional Office of Education."


There is no registration requirement in IL for Private schools (homeschools). There is no need to fill-out and return this onerous form. http://www.marion.k12.il.us/Services/Homeschooling/Homeschooling%20Application.pdf


"When a parent(s) decides to home school their child or children, the parent is assuming the responsibility for the education of their child or children. The School Code requires the parent(s) to assume the responsibility that:

· The child is being taught grade level subjects

· The child has regular hours of study

· The child demonstrates grade level equivalency

· The child is not being neglected"

None of this is required of Private schools. The School Code (http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=1005&ChapAct=105%26nbsp%3BILCS%26nbsp%3B5%2F&ChapterID=17&ChapterName=SCHOOLS&ActName=School+Code%2E) applies only to Public school except in a few noted instances.

"The School Code of Illinois requires that grade placement of any child is the responsibility of the local school board. This means that if a child is home schooled for a year or more, and the parents decide to enroll their child in the public schools, the school board may or may not accept that child at age grade level."

And of course they threaten to punish your child if you pull them out to homeschool but later decide to re-enroll them.

"The regional superintendent of schools has the responsibility for monitoring compliance with the compulsory attendance law. In so doing, the regional superintendent may expect the parents who seek to educate their children at home to establish that they are providing instruction that is at least commensurate with the standards of the public schools. The parents may be expected to document the subjects taught which must include "branches of learning" taught in the public school, the time frame in which instruction will be offered, and the competency of the parent or other instructor(s). It is not necessary that the instructor have a teacher's certificate. The parent may also be expected to establish by written examinations or by some other method that the child's level of achievement is comparable to that of the child's peers of corresponding age and grade level.

If the regional superintendent is dissatisfied with the parent's ability and/or willingness to establish that home instruction in a specific instance satisfies the requirements of state law, the regional superintendent may request the regional or district truant officer to investigate to see that the child is in compliance with the compulsory attendance law."

Once again this is untrue. The Regional Superintendent's duties are clearly spelled out in 105 ILCS 5/3 and apply only to Public school districts.

ND

I happened to have attended one of these types of elementary schools. In answer to your question, you can't have truants if you don't have compulsory education. My attendance to the school mentioned above was still mandated by a compulsory attendance law. If it becomes fashionable to eat apples that are orange colored instead of red and rounded instead of a truncated cone shape, they will still be aplles and not oranges.

Specifically, Illinois (105 ILCS 5/26-2a) defines a "truant" as "a child subject to compulsory school attendance and who is absent without valid cause from such attendance for a school day or portion thereof."

ND

If you open Pandora's Box by making parents criminally liable for a child education, then wouldn't the public schools be held accountable also because they're acting "in loco parentis"?

ND

Another report from a different journalist can be found here. http://www.mariondaily.com/articles/2005/04/29/local_news/news03.txt

"By Eric Chaney, Marion Daily Republican
MARION -- Williamson County State's Attorney Charles Garnati charged Kim Harris of Marion with permitting the truancy of her 15-year-old son, by not properly homeschooling him.

"I want to make it crystal clear that neither I, nor any of the educators here, are opposed to the general concept of homeschooling," he said. "We applaud those dedicated parents who take the time and have the patience to spend so much quality time with their children. In fact we need more of those type of parents in our society."

However Garnati says there is a growing segment of parents who are abusing their right to homeschool their child. These parents, says Garnati, often have students who have had a history of chronic truancy, defined as missing more than 10 percent of the school year. Several years ago Garnati teamed up with county and school officials to create the Abolish Chronic Truancy (ACT) Now program to give those parents and kids the help they need to get back into school."


So it appears that this is being pushed under the auspices of some program set-up by the local educrats.


"There are certain requirements that homeschoolers have to follow as far as hours of instruction and that certain subjects are included in the curriculum and the law does allow the Regional Office of Education's truant officer, Mickey Sullivan, to investigate homeschool situations."

We homeschool in IL and the only requirement is that we instruct in English comparable subject. This truant officer is making the rest of this up.

""If I see a homeschool child on the street I can go to the home and ask the parents to show me their curriculum, show me their instruction materials and show me how they are allotting their time."

Garnati said that sometimes it can be difficult to get into homes to collect the evidence that he needs for prosecution, which is why he's calling the Harris case a test case, but says that Sullivan and local school administrators are very helpful in collecting that data."


As I said in an earlier post, this is the exact same tactic that Bruce Dennison pulled a few years back. I suspect that this is being driven by the IASA to promote their policy of gaining more control over homeschoolers in this state. Though the cases are hundred of miles apart and separated by a couple of years the parallels are too consistent.

ND

Thanks for posting the reporter's reply. It seems to me that the story was slanted by a journalist with an agenda. It's apparent from his report that he thinks the prosecutor hasn't "strayed from his elected duties" by charging a woman with a crime were he admits there's no statutory authority.

It's obvious that this person has never heard of the term unschooling or even deschooling. The reporter equates not being able to deal with problems in school with the inability to deal with the problems of adulthood. He totally ignores the fact that schools are a artificial society created in a confined institution where attendance is compulsory. The only similar situation where he might experience these conditions to this extreme in adulthood would be prison. Somebody should send him a copy of the Human Zoo by Desmond Morris.

De-Lurker Thanks.

It will be interesting to discover the nuances of this case. A fews years ago Bruce Dennison (district superintendent) tried to pull something similar in the NW part of the state. Convieniently, he was given an appointment to Gov. Blago's Education Task Force (as a reward?) last Spring. Mr. Dennison was also a former Board Member of the Illinois Association of School Administrators whose Position on homeschooling is that there's no such think as too much regulation. http://www.iasaedu.org/publications/statements/ci.htm

"10.5 HOME SCHOOLING ... The IASA shall support legislation to enact appropriate laws and policies to demonstrate that the education received by home-taught students is of sufficient quality to ensure appropriate transfer to schools that have current certification and recognition status from the State Board of Education."

It would not suprise me in the least to find that this has been scripted by the educrats in the City-State of Chicago. One thing about politics here in IL, you have to know the currents. Watch out for the undertow.

ND