When you’re the write-in candidate for Seat #4 in the Madison public school board running against the incumbent school board president, you go on the offensive. As the GEICO commercial says, that’s what you do. Blaska attempts to do so without being himself offensive. Judge for yourself by watching the debate recorded Thursday 03-17-22 and sponsored by Simpson Street Free Press. (God bless them for doing so.)
Pressed for time? “Is Restorative Justice working?” is 1:39 minutes
Ali Muldrow largely defended the Madison school district’s current policies while David Blaska levied broad criticism at the district’s focus on “creating anti-racist school culture and curriculum.”
“If we stopped telling people that Madison is racist, if we stopped teaching that some kids succeed all because of privilege, I think everyone would be better off,” Blaska said at the forum. “Because that’s such a disempowering message to kids.”
‘It’s a good kind of invective’
Blaska supports bringing back school resource police officers to the district’s high schools and laced his argument with jabs like calling East High School, “Fight Club East.” …
Nichols did tend to agree with Muldrow, at least in spirit, on the issues. But she also seemed to recognize that Blaska is raising the same concerns as many parents, minus the conservative blogger’s flare for invective.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: What can we say? It’s a gift. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!
18 responses to “Blaska ‘raises same concerns as many parents’”
Cornelius_Gotchberg
From an Isthmus comment thread ~ three (3) years ago:
“Student NET TRANSFERS OUT of (MMSD) district in (Jennifer) Cheathams (~ 6 year) term, 4400 students. In the 15 years previous, 3400 students!!!”
After the 2019 election, you made a $50 bet with Muldrow that there would continue to be a net departure/out-migration of students from the MMSD; any figures for that, and has she paid up?
The battle to change minds of the parents, and their votes, comes first. To this end, parents need to read this new book: Race To The Bottom, by Luke Rosiak. Explosive information about the mind and practices of the Educrats who have destroyed education.
“Even as the once-mighty University of California system slashes programs and raises tuition, it has created a new systemwide ‘vice chancellor for equity, diversity, and inclusion.’
“This is on top of the already enormous University of California diversity machine, which, as Heather Mac Donald notes, ‘includes (but likely isn’t limited to):
*the Chancellor’s Diversity Office,
*the associate vice chancellor for faculty equity,
*the assistant vice chancellor for diversity,
*the faculty equity advisors,
*the graduate diversity coordinators,
*the staff diversity liaison,
*the undergraduate student diversity liaison,
*the graduate student diversity liaison,
*the chief diversity officer,
*the director of development for diversity initiatives,
*the Office of Academic Diversity and Equal Opportunity,
*the Committee on Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Issues,
*the Committee on the Status of Women,
*the Campus Council on Climate, Culture and Inclusion,
*the Diversity Council,
*the directors of the Cross-Cultural Center,
*the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center, and,
* the Women’s Center.”
“While the UC system loses top cancer researchers to Rice University, it is creating new chaired professorships in, you guessed it, diversity studies.
“Likewise, in North Carolina, UNC-Wilmington is combining the physics and geology departments to save money while diverting more funding to campus diversity offices.”
Reynold’s book came out in June 2012, with it being researched/written a number of years before that; ask yourself: Has it gotten better, stayed the same, or gotten worse?
Oy; we’ve gone from bad to diverse (H/T Good Dog Happy Man)!
Great point, One-ster, and often overlooked. Had pals in HS who had the “coolest ever” parents, except when action, direction and responsibility were in dire need. Most were relegated to a life of easy choices, and mediocre results… Thanks!
Agreed, g’ss; The Gotch’s Dear late Father was a friend when he wanted one, but a Father when he NEEDED one; the latter role being the road MOST traveled!
Your agenda – stop telling people that Madison is racist and bring back school resource police officers to the district’s high schools – falls miserably short.
Talk to any military recruiter and you’ll get a snapshot of an education crisis. 8 out of 10 applicants are rejected because they are obese or fail the academic test. To paraphrase Dean Wormer: “Fat and stupid is no way to go through life, son.” I don’t see how a cop sitting in the school cafeteria solves those problems.
At some point, we will have to replicate what works. The Norwegian system works but it is very expensive. The Harlem Children’s Zone experiment appears to be working, but it to is very expensive.
As you know, America’s Catholic schools are closing at a rapid rate. At their peak in the mid-1960s, more than 13,000 Catholic elementary and secondary schools enrolled twelve percent of U.S. school children. By 2012, fewer than 7,000 Catholic schools enrolled about two million, or five percent, of U.S. school-aged children – and the future is likely to bring further contraction. This has particularly impacted inner-city schools.
The cost of public schools has to higher because someone has to educate special ed students, something Catholic schools don’t have to do.
Are you saying that special education alone accounts for the huge disparity between the per-pupil-per-year spending by the Madison schools, and the much lower voucher amounts made available for private schools in Wisconsin? I think not.
The Madison public schools spent more than $13,000 per pupil per year in the 2016-2017 school year. That’s the most recent data available. Eligible private elementary schools receive roughly $7,000 per year in state voucher assistance in Wisconsin.
Regardless of the popularity of Catholic schools, those with the means are going to continue pulling their kids out train-wreck public schools if they continue down this woke BS path. Most won’t care if the alternative is faith-based or not so long as their kids can actually learn marketable skills in an orderly environment. Personally, I would choose a more distant retirement (and other unpleasant things) before I’d send any kids of mine to Madison schools as they are now.
David G., you suggest two alternatives to David’s proposal, and then cut the nutz off ’em both, sayin’ too expensive. I’ll go further: if researched, neither the Norwegian model or the exciting yet useless Children’s Zone are/have accomplished noteworthy changes. In many folk’s minds, the SRO’s are needed so kids that are so inclined can learn and benefit from MS & HS. More important: don’t let kids, (and their dis-associative parents) off the hook for failing to help, direct and support schools, teachers and classroom discipline (SRO’s). Tell children they are victims of racism and, guess what— they’ll be victims -And unhappy, unproductive young future citizens…
Kevin S Wymore says: Are you saying that special education alone accounts for the huge disparity between the per-pupil-per-year spending by the Madison schools, and the much lower voucher amounts made available for private schools in Wisconsin? I think not.
No, that is not what I’m saying. My back of the envelope calculations for Madison shows 14% of the school population (3,780 special ed students) consume 21% of the operating budget, a sum estimated at $100 million.
Blaska Policy Werkes 
18 responses to “Blaska ‘raises same concerns as many parents’”
From an Isthmus comment thread ~ three (3) years ago:
“Student NET TRANSFERS OUT of (MMSD) district in (Jennifer) Cheathams (~ 6 year) term, 4400 students. In the 15 years previous, 3400 students!!!”
After the 2019 election, you made a $50 bet with Muldrow that there would continue to be a net departure/out-migration of students from the MMSD; any figures for that, and has she paid up?
The Gotch
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Nice to hear from you again
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Thanks John; nice to be back!
The Gotch
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Yeah, over the last few years, the MMSD has lost about 3 school equivalents of students. How do they respond? Pass a referendum to build a new one!!
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The battle to change minds of the parents, and their votes, comes first. To this end, parents need to read this new book: Race To The Bottom, by Luke Rosiak. Explosive information about the mind and practices of the Educrats who have destroyed education.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Explosive information about the mind and practices of the Educrats who have destroyed education.”
In 100 Years We Have Gone From Teaching Latin And Greek In High School To Teaching Remedial English In College. — Joseph Sobran
Headed in the right direction…?
Anywho, Glenn Harlan Reynolds (“The Higher Education Bubble.”):
“Even as the once-mighty University of California system slashes programs and raises tuition, it has created a new systemwide ‘vice chancellor for equity, diversity, and inclusion.’
“This is on top of the already enormous University of California diversity machine, which, as Heather Mac Donald notes, ‘includes (but likely isn’t limited to):
*the Chancellor’s Diversity Office,
*the associate vice chancellor for faculty equity,
*the assistant vice chancellor for diversity,
*the faculty equity advisors,
*the graduate diversity coordinators,
*the staff diversity liaison,
*the undergraduate student diversity liaison,
*the graduate student diversity liaison,
*the chief diversity officer,
*the director of development for diversity initiatives,
*the Office of Academic Diversity and Equal Opportunity,
*the Committee on Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Issues,
*the Committee on the Status of Women,
*the Campus Council on Climate, Culture and Inclusion,
*the Diversity Council,
*the directors of the Cross-Cultural Center,
*the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center, and,
* the Women’s Center.”
“While the UC system loses top cancer researchers to Rice University, it is creating new chaired professorships in, you guessed it, diversity studies.
“Likewise, in North Carolina, UNC-Wilmington is combining the physics and geology departments to save money while diverting more funding to campus diversity offices.”
Reynold’s book came out in June 2012, with it being researched/written a number of years before that; ask yourself: Has it gotten better, stayed the same, or gotten worse?
Oy; we’ve gone from bad to diverse (H/T Good Dog Happy Man)!
The Gotch
LikeLiked by 1 person
Muldrow wants to be friends with the kids rather than the adult in the room.
Kids are better served in the long run by the “curmudgeonly grandpa” vs. the “cool mom”. That’s why I’m writing in David Blaska on April 5.
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Great point, One-ster, and often overlooked. Had pals in HS who had the “coolest ever” parents, except when action, direction and responsibility were in dire need. Most were relegated to a life of easy choices, and mediocre results… Thanks!
LikeLike
Agreed, g’ss; The Gotch’s Dear late Father was a friend when he wanted one, but a Father when he NEEDED one; the latter role being the road MOST traveled!
The Gotch
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your agenda – stop telling people that Madison is racist and bring back school resource police officers to the district’s high schools – falls miserably short.
Talk to any military recruiter and you’ll get a snapshot of an education crisis. 8 out of 10 applicants are rejected because they are obese or fail the academic test. To paraphrase Dean Wormer: “Fat and stupid is no way to go through life, son.” I don’t see how a cop sitting in the school cafeteria solves those problems.
At some point, we will have to replicate what works. The Norwegian system works but it is very expensive. The Harlem Children’s Zone experiment appears to be working, but it to is very expensive.
LikeLike
Many Catholic schools also instill discipline and achieve admirable academic outcomes, at a fraction of the cost of the Madison public schools.
Pardon me for beating this particular drum, but it’s not as if we have to boost educational spending through the roof. We’ve already done that.
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As you know, America’s Catholic schools are closing at a rapid rate. At their peak in the mid-1960s, more than 13,000 Catholic elementary and secondary schools enrolled twelve percent of U.S. school children. By 2012, fewer than 7,000 Catholic schools enrolled about two million, or five percent, of U.S. school-aged children – and the future is likely to bring further contraction. This has particularly impacted inner-city schools.
The cost of public schools has to higher because someone has to educate special ed students, something Catholic schools don’t have to do.
LikeLike
Are you saying that special education alone accounts for the huge disparity between the per-pupil-per-year spending by the Madison schools, and the much lower voucher amounts made available for private schools in Wisconsin? I think not.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Madison public schools spent more than $13,000 per pupil per year in the 2016-2017 school year. That’s the most recent data available. Eligible private elementary schools receive roughly $7,000 per year in state voucher assistance in Wisconsin.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Regardless of the popularity of Catholic schools, those with the means are going to continue pulling their kids out train-wreck public schools if they continue down this woke BS path. Most won’t care if the alternative is faith-based or not so long as their kids can actually learn marketable skills in an orderly environment. Personally, I would choose a more distant retirement (and other unpleasant things) before I’d send any kids of mine to Madison schools as they are now.
LikeLiked by 2 people
David G., you suggest two alternatives to David’s proposal, and then cut the nutz off ’em both, sayin’ too expensive. I’ll go further: if researched, neither the Norwegian model or the exciting yet useless Children’s Zone are/have accomplished noteworthy changes. In many folk’s minds, the SRO’s are needed so kids that are so inclined can learn and benefit from MS & HS. More important: don’t let kids, (and their dis-associative parents) off the hook for failing to help, direct and support schools, teachers and classroom discipline (SRO’s). Tell children they are victims of racism and, guess what— they’ll be victims -And unhappy, unproductive young future citizens…
LikeLike
So basic it’s maddening that this has to be said.
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Kevin S Wymore says: Are you saying that special education alone accounts for the huge disparity between the per-pupil-per-year spending by the Madison schools, and the much lower voucher amounts made available for private schools in Wisconsin? I think not.
No, that is not what I’m saying. My back of the envelope calculations for Madison shows 14% of the school population (3,780 special ed students) consume 21% of the operating budget, a sum estimated at $100 million.
LikeLiked by 1 person