Updated February 11, 2017 10:45 AM EST:
We mistakenly left the name out of SA 1 Principal Danique Loving as one of the three yenta teachers. What is updated is in red.

Earlier this afternoon The Crack Team got some compelling news from an impeccable, above reproach source concerning, how shall we say, irregularities about Success Academy that left The Crack Team just aghast and sickened.

As many of us already know, Success Academies decided yesterday that Eva's ego comes first and that their students were forced to attend school braving blizzard conditions during the children's commute to school. What better way to open a few seats and to ensure that those who do not meet Eva's demonic standards don't return. At Success, if a few struggling students get killed or maimed being in a blizzard the attitude must be "so be it." Talk about Creaming.

So back to the compelling news that came to The Crack Team. The source informed The Crack Team that at Harlem's Success Academy 1 yesterday, some students were involved in what can be called "Bible study."

The source shared that three SA teachers staff members including SA 1 principal Danique Loving  were yapping it up early this morning at about 7:15 AM, sharing what they had done yesterday when one of the teachers shared, whilst smiling and almost bragging, that some students were sitting through the readings of Bible verses during the snowy school day.

Now ordinarily we here at SBSB have no problem how one wants to conduct their religious beliefs as long as said beliefs don't infringe on anyone else's belief or non-beliefs of religion and/or deities. However, children, especially those at the near underworld fortress like Success Academy, are a captive audience and have no recourse other than to be force fed religious beliefs of someone else. Moreover, Success Academy is funded with public monies paid by John and Jane Q. Public and is therefore a public school, though a public school that limits access to the public, and falls under the US Constitution's Establishment Clause. But this is Eva. Rules and laws are meant for someone else. Never her.

But this violation, though egregious, pales in comparison to the what else the three SA yenta's were cackling about.

Apparently these three just principal Danique Loving, while the other two listened and laughed, all African-American, decided that their time at 7:15 AM was better spent mocking and deriding a young boys first name. A young boy who is a native of Africa.

How dare these "teachers" principal Danique Loving mock anyone's name! How dare these "educators" think that they are so above it all that the only way they can make themselves feel bigger and more important is to mock a defenseless child! How dare these "people" for one minute think that they are educators!

Can you imagine the shit storm that would incur if this happened at a REAL NYC public school and Eva found out about this? Oy Gevalt!

We here at SBSB immediately call for a proper investigation into these dreadful and unprofessional allegations by an independent investigator post haste. No stone should be unturned into the lack of professionalism by these three SA teachers and whomever decided to turn a snowy NYC day into Bible study.

We here at SBSB also call for the removal of SA 1 principal Danique Loving for turning a blind eye to what has transpired for mocking a students heritage and ethnic background!

The behavior at Success Academy 1 is appalling and must not be tolerated. Looking the other way is akin to accepting such behavior.

I got to thinking.

I got to thinking after reading some of Chancellor Fariña's Capacity Frameworks on the DOE website. Yep, was really rubbing my chin and pondering.

Under the Framework known as Trust, and so it was said;

Relationships between all members of the school community— including administrators, educators, students, and families—are based on social respect, personal regard, and integrity. Trust creates a school culture where teachers, principals, staff, and all members of the Department of Education value and respect each other...

Another Framework, Effective School Leadership so sayeth;

 The principal sets the tone for the school, develops a climate of inclusiveness, and inspires staff and students with a clear vision for student achievement. The goal of a strong school leader is to build coherent instructional and social-emotional support that improves student achievement. School leaders support teacher development by consistently offering professional development opportunities and providing meaningful feedback.

¡Uni momento, por favor! It seems that someone has not gotten the Frameworks memo. I wonder who, **COUGH COUGH**, **WINK WINK.**

 What would a lay person say if they have read about the shenanigans that DR Alison Coviello, Ed.D and Principal of PS 154 in the Bronx and BFF AP Jessica Cruz have engaged in concerning me, and possibly others?

When this was shared on August 7, would any Joe Shmoe from Palookaville see the integrity, the trust, the inspiration, and the meaningful feedback? Would Mr Schmoe find the same values in this? Or this?

One would hazard to guess that the answer would be an unequivocal no way!

But let's give DR Alison Coviello, Ed.D and Principal of PS 154 in the Bronx and BFF AP Jessica Cruz the benefit of the doubt for just an itty bitty moment. Perhaps we don't have enough information to make an informed opinion, or enough information to confirm a fact.

But first a little background info.

As reported here on December 3, 2013, the erstwhile and multi-talented Betsy Combier filed a FOIL request in September 2012 for Coviello's any and all emails regarding me. Betsy felt she was quite thorough in using many keywords. But alas, they were one step ahead of her.

In an email in September 2012 from BFF AP Jessica Cruz to DR Alison Coviello, Ed.D and Principal of PS 154, BFF AP Jessica Cruz suggested to DR Alison Coviello, Ed.D and Principal of PS 154 that all future emails regarding me should be use the honorific, "Mr."

Now I am not a member of the legal profession, I do happen to be Jewish, and I can assume that this is not kosher behavior. Can this be obstruction of justice as some have suggested? I can't say, nor is it my place to make either an assumption or pass judgement.

But these questions can be asked...

Why were they so afraid of what Betsy would find out and why would they use a pseudonym for me? 

In a school that still consistently has almost 90% of students across all testing grades in both Math and ELA  put so much energy into what some might also call a cover up?

Are there any other teachers from the 2012-2013 school year that were U-rated for the year subject to what I was subject to? 

Are there any other teachers from the 2013-2014 school year that were rated ineffective or developing for the year subject to what I was subject to? 

Are these kind of behaviors by administrators done in a vacuum or is it systematic throughout the system? Knowing that if we all had a dime for every time we hear a teacher say, "My principal set me up," we would be quite wealthy, if this is just the tip of the iceberg in a systematic problem, how many years do we go back to see if this was done and be sure accused teachers are exonerate?

What did District 7 Superintendent Yolanda Torres know and when did she know it? More importantly, was she the one orchestrating this conspiracy? 

Inquiring minds want answers.

Libel; a published false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation; a written defamation.

I have been wanting to write for a few days about the article in the NY Post last week about a Queens middle school teacher and his relationship with a 14 year old student.

Now mind you, in no way is it being brought into question in this post whether or not he is guilty or innocent, or a little guilty or a little innocent, or condoning the actions of the teacher.

Let's cut to the chase. This teacher was dumb, stupid, and a schmuck for texting a student, especially with anything non-school related and so late at night.

Giving the student expensive gifts and was stupid and wrong.

Letting the student drive his car was stupid and wrong. 

Texting "I love you," no matter how innocuous was stupid and wrong.

Getting facts wrong and making a libelous comment is stupid and wrong.

When this story came out of course Mona Davids was among the first to spew off an opinion. The sad part is not only did Mona play loose and fast with the facts it appeared that she libeled this teacher.

.@rweingarten @SPirozzolo It's outrageous that the parents & principal are forced to keep molesting, kid porn watching tchr in the classroom
— NYC Parents Union (@NYCParentsUnion) July 31, 2014

In the Post article it mentioned that the student accused the teacher of; 

...letting him watch pornography in his apartment, according to a report by Richard Condon, the special commissioner of investigation for city schools

What Mona fails to realize is that the above is known as an "accusation." To help Mona understand what an "accusation" is, and for her to reference in the future, The Crack Team has decided to give her a place to reference;

a charge or claim that someone has done something illegal or wrong.

But that is not all. As one can see in the above tweet, Mona claimed (Shall we help Mona with the definition?) that the teacher watched kid porn with the student.

Does Mona know something we don't know. Does she have access to the hearing transcript?

There was not one mention of what type of porn was being watched. Yet Mona Davids magically was able to not only ascertain it was kid porn but knew as well that that accusation was substantiated by the hearing officer. Mona has magical powers, who knew?

But finagling with reality and the facts is par for the course with Mona. She has no problem calling someone, anyone who does not agree with her a racist or that that person doesn't care about children. Right Mona? Know what I mean, know what I mean? Nudge, nudge.

Heck Mona, one could look at one's Twitter feed of late and make an assumption that one is anti-Semitic, no?

We here at SBSB find it vile and offensive that Mona avoids fact checking and reality but the fact that she would stoop so low to publish a libelous statement we find reprehensible.

We call on Mona David to apologize for the libelous comment just as quickly and publicly as she did in making the statement and to promise never, never, never do it again.

This is why we need tenure. Do we know here at SBSB if the accusations the students made or true or not true? We have no idea. We were not there, we have not spoken to anyone involved, and we have not read the transcript.

As much as we find what this teacher did is wrong he has the right, a right embedded in the United States Constitution to due process. One person cannot be judge, juror, and prosecutor.

One person can't choose which parts of the Constitution to uphold or ignore.

Last month we reported here on SBSB how 6 teachers and an aide in Fallsburg NY were accused of being heroin users while on school time.

On two separate occasions heroin was found in the teachers rest room at the Benjamin Cosor Elementary School. The teachers and aide were accused because the video surveillance equipment set up after the first discovery of the heroin revealed these 7 using using the rest room at the approximate time when it was speculated the heroin was being used in the bathroom.

These teachers and the aide were vilified across the nation in some of the most wing nut, bat s*** crazy places one can imagine. Worse, they were convicted, locked up, and the key thrown away in the very community they serve so honorably.

The police chief of Fallsburg NY, Simmie Williams proclaimed;

"If you got nothing to hide, give me some urine,"

Of course Chief Williams duty to uphold the laws and the Constitution of the United States means diddly as long as he can get pissed on.

Parents of the school and school district while rightly concerned, wanted to be judge, jury and prosecutor and deemed that the teachers were hiding behind the union and should either be fired or suspended without pay. But two interesting things happened along the way, only one of which was reported somewhat en masse and another not so en masse.

As reported here in February, a school contracted employee, an occupational therapist, was also amongst the accused. He submitted to a urine test and it came back negative. Even though we reported on these pages that a urine test for heroin can only come back positive within 2 days after suspected usage.

But last week, according to the Times Herald Record of March 27, the school resource officer, Martin Gonzalez of the Fallsburg PD was quietly removed from the school due to a lack of trust among the staff at the school.

Now, one must ask themselves, how did it come to be that Officer Gonzalez found the heroin both times? What are the chances of this happening? Did he suggest the video surveillance and if so did he obtain a warrant for the video surveillance?

But the investigation is getting higgedly piggedly. The Times Herald Record reported today that all the teachers have been tested, not by giving Chief Williams some pee-pee, but by giving them a piece of their hair. And.....? All tests came back negative.

But what about the occupational therapist? Has he given a sample of his hair? If he hasn't why not? Is he a friend of Officer Martinez? Does he have friends in the Sullivan County District Attorney's Office? Who is he? What is his name? Why so fast to accuse the teachers but not this occupational therapist?

But it seems the teachers have been exonerated and no one, not the Fallsburg Police Department, the District Attorney's office, nor the Fallsburg Central School District is reaching out to the teachers and apologizing. What gives?

These staff members are marked. As Peter Duncan the school aide said before yesterday's school board meeting;

"I'm the one who was told on social media that I deserve a bullet in my head; I'm the one who was told that I needed to be hung and beaten; I'm the one who was told I should lose my job. The district has not done their part to clear our names."

Well, when is the school board coming up with a mea culpa? 

This is not about advocating or condoning drug use or hiding behind the cloak of union protection, but rather about due process that was not afforded these staff members. This is why unions are needed more and more in education. This is why due process is so important to teachers. This country has become so shrill and alarmist to any perceived misdeed by teachers the last ten years that people have more empathy for a serial killer and demand that the killer gets due process but want teachers tried and convicted before any facts are in or before any prosecution even starts.

We here at SBSB demand that a special prosecutor be named to look into what happened at the Benjamin Cosor Elementary School immediately and for the occupational therapist to be named and his hair samples be given just as fast.

We are all innocent till proven guilty, but it seems that this does not mean that teachers are anymore.

Something stinks in Fallsburg really bad.

Nelson Mandela. Eugene Debs. Mahatma Gandhi. Andrei Sakharov. Ho Chi Minh. Bobby Sands.
Pussy Riot. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

These political prisoners are now joined by a new name. Francesco Portelos.

On February 25, 2014, Francesco wrote a post on his blog; "How to 'Hack' the DOE Payroll Portal and Give Yourself a Raise." When you read this, and you will be laughing your tushy off,  you will come to the realization that a brain damaged monkey would come to the conclusion that Francesco's post was tongue in cheek, sarcastic, and satirical.

Sadly, the folks at the DOE and the NYPD are not as smart as the aforementioned brain damaged monkey.

On Monday, March 10, 2014, at 10 AM EDT Francesco was forced to turn himself in to the detectives at the 84th precinct in Brooklyn which so happens to be the local precinct for our friends at 65 Court St. Thus begun Francesco's odyssey.

Francesco spent the next 13 hours in the holding cell in the precinct with having nothing but a bag of Doritios (Dependable sources have shared with The Crack Team it was nacho cheese flavor) for sustenance. He was then shackled with other prisoners and bussed to Central Booking on Schermerhorn Street and spent the next 20 hours locked up in a cell.

A cell in which he was put was filled with crack addicts, child molesters, and mean people. Twenty hours of just cheese sandwiches. Twenty hours before he saw a judge. Thirty hours of holding it in.

When he went before the judge, Francesco came across the first adult in almost 2 days; the assistant district attorney, who saw it was all bullshit and dropped the charges.

Is this what has become of the DOE? It now imprisons teachers who speak their minds? We expected something like this under Uncle Mike and Sock Puppet Klein, but now?

The Crack Team has come up with a theory. It could be that the 7,000,000,908,000,344 lawyers know that their days, and their hold on power, are coming to an end with the millions of dollars spent soon diverted to the students. Can this be an example of their last hurrah?

When The Crack Team reads and hears about what legal at the DOE is capable of, what they do, they think of The Rainmaker. To paraphrase Rudy Baylor;

 We're just wonderin'... do they even remember when they first sold out? 

Whatever became of the rule of law? Upholding the United States Constitution?  The Bill of Rights?

Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press

 This is not open to debate. There are no gray areas.  Francesco had his right abrogated. Worse, he was violated.

And not just with his rights being stripped away. He was charged with a misdemeanor;

S 195.00  Official misconduct.   A public servant is guilty of official misconduct when, with intent to obtain a benefit or deprive another person of a benefit:   1. He commits an act relating to his office but constituting an unauthorized exercise of his official functions, knowing that such act is unauthorized; or   2. He knowingly refrains from performing a duty which is imposed upon him by law or is clearly inherent in the nature of his office.

Why did Francesco spend 33 hours away from his family? Why could he have not received a desk appearance ticket at the precinct?  The only reason one can assume is that someone wanted to send a message and intimidate him.

Francesco has two little boys and they were without their daddy for almost 2 days. Was this fair to them? Was it fair for the angst his wife had to go through? God forbid, what if Francesco was violently assaulted? Does anyone in the DOE have a conscience anymore?

Two things have been on The Crack Team's mind. Why did the NYPD so easily do the bidding of the DOE, and who out there actually thought they could intimidate Francesco?

The persecution of teachers must end.

Oh, and be sure to read Francesco's more detailed account of his 33 hours on his blog!

Let's get one thing out of the way first.


In no way does this blog, myself, nor The Crack Team condone or excuse any drug use by staff members in or near our schools. If a teacher is caught on drugs, having drugs on their person, in their personal space in the school, they should be dealt with accordingly. 

With that being said, we can now move on.

On February 18, the Times Herald Record of Middletown NY reported that heroin and needles were found in a bathroom at the Benjamin Cosor Elementary School in Fallsburg NY on February 11, 2014. This was not the first time such paraphernalia was found. Back in December, heroin and needles were found in the bathroom at the same school. Surveillance cameras were set up and eight people, including a contract employee providing occupational therapy were identified as the possible culprits.

All were asked to submit to urine tests. The contract employee immediately agreed and gave a sample. The teachers at first agreed, but then balked at the advice of their union. Since then it seems that all hell has broken lose and there are those that are speaking without facts, such as our friends at Education Action Network, and the chief of police in Fallsburg NY. But more on EAG a little later.

The chief of police for Fallsburg, Simmie Williams, was quoted in the Times Herald Record as saying;

"If you got nothing to hide, give me some urine,"

Fine. But as we have seen in this country time after time once you acquiesce, once you give up or yield on any of your constitutional rights, more will be asked for you to give up in the future.

Then there is something known as the 4th Amendment to the Constitution which says;

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

The police seem to ignore this when it is convienent and so do Right Wing Tea Baggers when it doesn't jibe with their version of reality.

If Chief Williams truly wants to find out who left the heroin in the bathroom he should have immediately went to court and gotten a warrant. If what he says is true that there was a cameras monitoring the bathroom, then it seems he has probable cause for the warrant. Go get one. They seem to have enough for PC.

"Police used camera footage to identify eight people who used the bathroom before Monday's discovery,"

No where has this video been made public. Does it truly exist? 

All the union and teachers are doing is exercising their rights. Why does anyone have a problem with this, least of all Education Action Group, a Tea Bagger group, and what was "written" by one of their reporters this past Friday, February 21?

The "reporter" Victor Skinner, is a shrewd one. He puts in the dateline that he is reporting from Fallsburg NY, but in reality it's probably his parents basement. The rest of the "story" just regurgitates the Times Herald Record story and he throws in some editorializing as well. But the whiff of false attribution permeates all around.

So does the whiff of lies and exaggerations from "Reporter" Skinner.

Skinner blabbers; It also ensures a druggie school employee remains on the district’s payroll

Again, prove that a teacher was involved. Prove that a teacher is a druggie. You are forgetting that there was an outside contractor. Just because he passed the urine test does not mean he is innocent.

The union’s interjection, and the educators’ refusal to provide urine samples, is a blatant slap in the face to the taxpayers and parents.

No it is not. Yes, as a parent I do not want my child to be taught by teachers that are high on drugs, but as much as any person that commits a crime in which children are around, I can't put aside for once the ideals of this country that you are innocent till proven guilty and that you have the right to the full faith of the United States Constitution. 

And Skinner last bit of hyperbolic malarkey; Parents could also help facilitate the investigation by publicly demanding drug tests for all of the school’s employees, and the termination of those who fail or refuse.

OK, "Reporter" Skinner, under what law will any of these teachers that refuse the drug test be fired? Shall they be fired by decree without any due process? Without ever having a hearing or a trial?

The irony of all this is that the guy who runs EAG, Kyle Olson, is a regularly seen on Glenn Beck. Is it not Glen Beck who keeps on warning us of Obama's intent to subvert the United States Constitution? I guess the Constitution is only convenient for the Tea Baggers, the Olson, and the Skinners of the world when they can use it only for them. Otherwise, too bad for others who disagree with them.

One last thing, and this goes to all involved. No, not really. We can give the cops and the DA a break. They were doing their jobs. The parents, yes we can understand, they are concerned and rightfully so. The Times Herald Record? Doing their job, reporting the facts. "Reporter" Skinner? No, he needed to editorialize the facts and turn it into his reality.

Heroin detection through a urine sample will only show up within 2-4 days of after ingestion. The heroin was found in the bathroom on February 11, which was a Tuesday as the Times Herald Record claims. But then it goes on to say that;

Police used camera footage to identify eight people who used the bathroom before Monday's discovery

Notice it says now Monday it was discovered?  So let's say it was Monday in which the discovery was made. Chances are someone shot up on Friday and by the time it was announced it was Tuesday. Which begs several questions.

When were the urine tests requested?  When did the actual discovery take place? Does the occupational therapist in question have his own keys to the teacher's bathroom or did he have to be let in? Why hasn't the OC been named? Is the OC being as vigorously investigated as the teachers are?

And lastly. Is it possible that the OC is the one who possessed the heroin and was able to avoid detection? Yet, where is "Reporter" Skinner when looking for the facts?

Here's another fact. Heroin addiction is the same high as Oxycontin, and other pain pills, addiction. One gets the same exact high. Both are treated with Methadone! Yet, one is legal. Well, apparently legal. Just because you can get a prescription for Oxycontin does not make it right. So should we drug test teachers that are addicted to pain pills? Should we fire teachers who are hooked on pain killers?

Again, before you forget;


In no way does this blog, myself, nor The Crack Team condone or excuse any drug use by staff members in or near our schools. If a teacher is caught on drugs, having drugs on their person, in their personal space in the school, they should be dealt with accordingly.

Again, we live in a country of laws and rights.

Late on Christmas night I jumped into the middle of a Twitter conversation between Norm Scott and Randi Weingarten. The jist of the conversation was about the lack, and rightly so, of democracy in the the UFT. Of course Leo Casey chimes in with;

@NormScott1 @rweingarten @Sangiovanni @GetUpStandUp2 Strange idea of democracy: losers in election get to make the decisions
— Leo Casey (@LeoECasey) December 25, 2013

But that is another story for another blog post. Of course losers don't get to make decisions, but the losers get to participate, no? Isn't the US Constitution set up to give voice to the minority?

But at that point I chimed in asking a pertinent question which Randi replied to;

@SoBronxSchool @LeoECasey @NormScott1 @Sangiovanni @GetUpStandUp2 -yes& retiree vote is capped so it can never determine outcome of election
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) December 26, 2013

Huh? So the rationale is as long as the retiree vote is capped? At this point, Reality Based Educator shared;

@rweingarten @SoBronxSchool @LeoECasey @NormScott1 Retiree vote increased in 2012 to 23,500 by Unity to rig elections.
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) December 26, 2013

And my reply to Randi, which she never responded to, was;

@perdidostschool @rweingarten @LeoECasey @NormScott1  Willie Mays doesn't get to vote in MLBPA Union elections, why do retired tchrs?
— Bronx Teacher (@SoBronxSchool) December 26, 2013

Which brings us back to the question, why do retired teachers get to vote in the UFT elections?

I mentioned this to a friend of mine that drives for UPS and is a Teamster just after the UFT elections. To say he was surprised would be an understatement. We both put our heads together and were unable to think of one union that has retirees vote.

I understand that the retirees have done a lot for us in the past. They are concerned about their benefits and pensions. They sacrificed a lot in the past and we owe them a debt of gratitude. As one retired teacher friend of my family would say to me, "You schmucks have given back everything we went on strike for in 1968," I couldn't agree more. But now they are holding back rank and file to affect change.

Personally, I have no problem giving them a seat at the table. Of course they should be represented in the UFT. Be it in the DA, executive board, etc.... They have a right to have a voice. But, to be able to sway elections for current teachers with issues that are affecting us today and in the future is not right. If anything, if retirees continue voting, their votes should at the most count for one-half, and still be capped.

But as long as they get to vote, the opposition to Unity (I don't feel I am at liberty to speak for any one organization) must be proactive with the cards we are dealt and be ready for 2016.

This means reaching out to the retired chapter and forging some common bond. Find out what it would take to get an endorsement, to see how the retired chapter can best advocate for the opposition. It certainly won't hurt to try, it's better than sitting around in committees.

The issues facing the teachers of New York are in the present and in the future, not in the past.

I was born and raised a Democrat. My grandfather was a precinct captain for Tweed (the political machine, not the DOE) back in the day. He did the grunt work. Registered voters in cemeteries, voted many times in many places on election day, and left turkeys on the doorsteps of the indigent just before election day. I believe in the principles of the Democratic Party even though I have a strong libertarian bent, and actually conservative on some issues.

I am not one of these Originialists when it comes to the Constitution and the role of the federal government in our lives. I do believe that the Constitution is a "living document" and its words adapt to the times. This I believe was intended by the writers of it.

I go back and forth with the health care debate. I see through the BS, know something must be done, but cringe at the thought of the federal government messing around and doing a good job. I think they should have just expanded Medicare, kept the bill simple. But, and this is a big but. I can see where health care comes into play under the Commerce Clause, and the Necessary and Proper clause. Both clauses I feel go hand in hand with one another. And I can see how others can and will disagree with me on this.

What I am having a tough time with is how the federal government can bogart its way into local education matters. No where, not one word in the Constitution gives the federal government authority to decide local education matters. In fact, Amendment 10 states clearly;

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

So when I read an email sent by an idiot like Whitney Tilson in which he states commenting on unions in the education debate;

they want to completely eviscerate the federal role in ensuring that a quality education is a right of all children.

I wonder about his mental state. But let's examine this statement more closely.

Whitney is using a big word here. But I doubt he means eviscerate as to disembowel, but rather to deprive by content or force. So the unions wish to deprive the federal government a role in education? Yeah, DUH! There is no role whatsoever for the federal government in local education matters. Whitney, you graduated from Harvard and you fail to realize this? Show us where it says the federal government has a role. Anyone show it.

Next, Whitney wants to ensure that a quality education is a right of children. Yeah, that is nice. I really agree with Whitney. I have no problem with this except one teeny tiny thing. It is not a right. Again, no where in the Constitution is there written that children are ensured a quality education. This therefore negates any role for the federal government to play in local education matters.

There is only one way to have the federal government involved in local education matters. The Constitution must be amended and then and only then can Washington have a say. The Constitution states in Article 5;

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.

There you have it. Where are the tea baggers when we need them?

I go back and forth about this healthcare thing going on. I am for it, against it, for it, against it. Yes, I flip flop. I think the system is broken and it needs to be fixed. On the other hand, I got mine and I don't want anyone messing with my health insurance. But I tend to lean towards that this is a states rights issue, and government involved in healthcare could only screw it up more. I mean this is what we hear from Limabuagh, Hannity, Beck, Levin, FOX, and the Tea Baggers.

But where are these states rights, limited government, constructionist, government stay the hell out of my life types with the federal government dictating how STATES should educate its children? By this I mean NCLB, or Race To Kiss Up To Arne Duncan, or better know as Race To The Top.

We here at SBSB went over the United States Constitution with a fine tooth comb. We analyzed it extensively and found no mention that the federal government should be involved in local education.

In fact one might argue that the Commerce Clause, "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes," comes close, but education is not commerce.

What about the Proper and Necessary clause? "To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof," Nope, don't see it there. That only pertains to what the powers of Congress are, and regulating education is not one of them.

But what has been ignored in all this is the tenth amendment to the Constitution, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

NCLB, RTtT is unconstitutional. Any involvement by the federal government is unconstitutional. What do we do? Simple, each and every educator, parent, person with a brain should become a Tea Bagger. Tea Baggers for Education!!!