Sitemap - 2018 - Public Enemy Number 1

20 for 20 in local tax referenda: public education is much more popular than Richard Corcoran. Don't fear him; use him.

Please watch the Mike Dunn shooting video, Sheriff Gualtieri: the unbalanced risk equation of arming teachers; rapid response community police; and the lethal fecklessness of Tallahassee

Elections have consequences, part 2: generational School Board change, a spectacular Sales Tax result, and the vindication of public engagement

Elections have consequences, part 1: The "80 percent" gimmick, the superintendent's salary, and the cost of Kelli Stargel's state mandates

Who will serve and who will eat? A culture of public accountability for power can't begin and end on Election Day

The sincerest form of flattery: what Anthony Pedicini and those lame Facebook ads say about Polk's importance

The Kelli Stargel/Kay Fields/Pam Stewart alliance: a tired, discredited, unresponsive leadership order desperately tries to save itself

The Tallahassee establishment and for-profit charter industry really want to keep Kay Fields. Why?

Kelli Stargel and the FCSBM put our kids and teachers at the mercy of malicious cranks. Let's change that.

The First Referendum, pt. 2: A video tour Kelli Stargel's contempt for the people of public education. Come see.

New and better communications policies for a new and better era

The unenforceable, anti-public, anti-employee School Board communication policy illustrates a cultural problem. It's already largely ignored. It will be changed.

Why I support the PEA and AFSCME deals: a big step on the long, hard road to making us a better employer

The first referendum, part 3: What would Sheriff Judd do?

Our first referendum on the hateful Florida model, part 1: Ron DeSantis is the Florida educational establishment. Just look at his top supporters.

The importance of questions: Why K12 matters to becoming a better employer and steward of public trust

A moment for regeneration, part 4: the Polk community's sales tax is vital to the Polk community's future

A Moment for Regeneration, part 3: Sarah Fortney for School Board District 3

A Moment for Regeneration, part 2: Jennifer Sabin for School Board District 5

A Moment for Regeneration, part 1: Lisa Miller for School Board, District 7

Which state senators support Amendment 8, the Foreign For-Profit Charter Enrichment and Local Democracy Destruction Act?

The complicity of silence and the obligations of power: my response to Tuesday's meeting and The Ledger story

I will ask the School Board to seek a State Attorney's Office investigation of what happened with K12

Comparing Jackie Byrd's statement about John Small/K12 with Marc Hutek's

UPDATED: What "sexual harassment training" did "executive staff" receive on July 11, 2017?

A K12 timeline and remaining questions: What I think I know -- and what I don't.

Superintendent Byrd's statement concerning K12

Portrait of a leadership culture: a decade-long timeline of power, relationships, and consequences in the Polk District

John Small, K12, the Looneys, and staff's contempt for your elected School Board

The District's Looney Scandal: Why I went quiet. Why that's over. And why we need an independent review -- now.

A new twist in the Looney/HR leadership scandal: criminalizing workplace conflict -- in one direction

On education and teachers, Kelli Stargel and Richard Corcoran are (very bad) Democrats. Come see.

Kelli Stargel's weird, day-late letter -- and the great value of public confrontation

Tuesday's state house election: Ricky Shirah will support schools and teachers. Josie Tomkow will hurt them and support Richard Corcoran. Choose accordingly.

The consent of the tested and punished, part 2: the Florida Death Purple, the NAEP, and the corrupt brand signals we tolerate from our government

The Aramark contract and the Polk School District's most damaging internal pathology

The consent of the tested and punished, part 1: Florida tells Ted Dintersmith, "Educating children is like fixing a car."

What is Algebra? And is it memorable and useful enough to justify doing lasting harm to kids' lives over it?

Kelli Stargel's true colors: "I do not plan to be there" on April 24 when the School Board votes on the Stargel School Kill List

Sheriff Judd seems to misunderstand his own law. So let's start over, as serious and collaborative people.

Don't let Bill Thompson's incompetence fool you, part 1: your School Board, other than me and Kay Fields, may well approve the Guardian program if you don't stop them

End the Test and Die Era, part 5: No, Senator Stargel, this is a "comprehensive" school safety plan

End the Test and Die Era, part 4: of (not) arming teachers and the moral obligations of representation in a democracy

End the Test-and-Die era, part 3: the prime operational reasons for not arming teachers

We must end the Test-and-Die era, part 2: "Why do people think I'm a school shooter? What have I done to deserve this."

We must end the Test-and-Die era, part 1: You can't untangle mass school shootings from school grades and stress-based education

Remember those 1,800 lost years? It's time to stop hugging it out with our legislators

"Bully": How we bury childhood suffering beneath an impossible act of administration

A typical week-in-the-life of the Polk School District

This. is. our. public. school. system. Celebrating the overwhelming success and crucial lesson of the Starbucks Rebellion.

"Union:" the only positive force in Florida education's human capital management model

Introducing "Education and the English Language," a periodic series.

Stop the Kelli Stargel school closures. Vote for Judge Bob Doyel.

The graduation rate conundrum, part 1: To cheer or not to cheer for Polk's good news? Yes.

Lenore Devore is not a "watchdog." Our teachers, janitors, and LPD deserve better than her abuse of a sacred power.