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We Don't Need No Education, Part VIII
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-24-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
Updated 7-17-2012

With the unholy new owners of St. Mary's Hospital conducting mass firings and the Regional Transportation Commission trying to bust the Teamsters, I haven't had a chance to update you about the latest depredations emanating from the sacred temples of education.

So let's proceed from the den of iniquity to the holy of holies.

As politicians always say, we do it all for the children. And sometimes to the children.

The school board just announced five finalists to replace Prof. Harold Hill aka Dr. Heath Morrison as Washoe County education boss.

As I reported previously in this neverending series, Morrison's double-digit (14 percent) graduation rate increase over the past two years is a clever shuck perpetrated upon hicks hungry for good news for this retro state's long-starved education system.

Morrison has never responded to anything I've written. He's too busy packing his bags for and spending his time in Jesse Helms land. He takes over in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina, next month.

In a magnificently ballsy exercise of chutzpah and PR inoculation, the good doctor actually admitted to Charlotte Observer education reporter Ann Doss Helms that he has been doctoring the graduation stats: "Morrison introduced a door-to-door campaign to locate the hundreds of students a year who were listed as 'vanished,' along with those who had officially dropped out, and get them into school. If dropouts who are 18 or older enroll in the Washoe Adult High School, they are switched into the 'transfer out' category, which means they're removed from the calculation entirely, counting neither as graduates or dropouts. Morrison says it's better to have those young adults working on their education than sitting at home, but he acknowledges it's too early to say whether they'll be successful," Helms wrote on May 13.

Morrison has been certainly successful at this shell game. The above is one method long-criticized by local insiders, rightly afraid to speak on the record, that improves the graduation rate by wiping former students off the rolls as though they never existed.

Charlotte educators are admittedly hungry to change the way they count graduates, just as Washoe's panel was three years ago when they hired Morrison from Montgomery County, Maryland.

The longtime odds-on favorite to succeed him is now a finalist. He brought current Deputy Superintendent Jane Woodburn with him from the spawning grounds of the softshell crabs.

I repeat what I've said before: Anybody who wants this job is nuts because it will damage one's precious professional resumé.

Statistics the school district gave the Nevada State Dept. of Education project a meager one percent graduation rate jump this year. The new person is doomed to failure because jacking up the figures by changing the counting method is only good for a one-time blip.

On June 20, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported that one of the school board's inquiries of the new candidates will be "how the finalists would close the achievement gap and dramatically improve the graduation rate."

They also want to know "steps the finalists would take to inspire trust in public education."

I submit that the two are mutually exclusive in the wake of Morrison's shuffle unless the new guy can figure out another way to cook the books and put on a PR campaign to convince taxpayers that the naked emperor marching down the street is actually fully dressed.

Former Washoe deputy super Pedro Martinez is another finalist. He was a Morrison competitor three years ago. Morrison then hired him but forced him out a year later when he couldn't score enough federal money, according to insiders.

Martinez is now a deputy with the Gomorrah South school district which just announced a spectacular (six percent) one-year graduation rate increase.

Sound familiar?

Martinez implemented a Morrison-style home visitation system down south. Clark County superintendent Dwight Jones is a soul brother of Morrison.

Martinez is also one of two finalists for the top job in Philadelphia, so look for him to choose cheesesteaks over pine nuts.

Paul LaMarca, another finalist, currently serves as Washoe County School District chief accountability officer. He is working on a response to requests for background statistics behind the Morrison miracle.

I would not be surprised if none of the five candidates takes the job because the conditions are impossible to fulfill and will bite the old career in the rear.

Moonhowling conservatives and kneejerk education bashers love guys like Morrison. The newly-minted superstar national superintendent of the year has "proved" that drastically gutting education budgets actually improves education.

What a guy.

READ MORE ABOUT IT. Tribune alumnus Dennis Myers has written a splendid puncturing of many of the myths and urban legends which have been allowed to damage our education system.

See Tales Out of School: How Journalism Damages Education with Bad Information in the current edition of the Reno News & Review.

Got a hunch that my critics would like to include me in the bad information category.

OK by me.

Just bring your facts with you and prepare to be challenged and fired upon.

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Thank you.

Be well. Raise hell.
____________
Andrew Barbano is a 43-year Nevadan, chair of the Nevada César Chávez Committee, producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration, first vice-president and political action chair of the Reno-Sparks NAACP, labor/consumer/civil rights advocate, member of Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO and editor of NevadaLabor.com and JoeNeal.org. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. Check local listings for other Nevada cable systems. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Daily Sparks Tribune since 1988.

Smoking Guns... We Don't Need No Education The neverending series If you give it away, you can't sell it How the Beehive State bested Nevada by investing in education rather than prostituting to corporations High-tax Utah has now surpassed Virginia on the Forbes list of most business-friendly states Tax-the-workers Nevada is at the bottom of the barrel, as usual By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 7-12-2012 Morrison & Maurins: M&M's hard to swallow Seventh in a series on the collapsing future of Nevada education Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-20-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune All that's missing is an enemies list Sixth in a series on the collapsing future of Nevada education Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-13-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune Playing Dixieland - The shell game continues Fifth in a series on the collapsing future of Nevada education Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-6-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune Abandon hope, all ye who enter college Fourth in a series on the collapsing future of Nevada education Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-29-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune The Mythological Morrison Miracle Third in a series on the collapsing future of Nevada education Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-22-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune Updated 4-24-2012 — Dr. Morrison is in Charlotte, NC, today signing his contract to accept the superintendent position. The marshal is getting outta Dodge So much for Nevada education's strategic plan + 4/25 Workers Memorial Day commemoration Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-15-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune Breaking our own backs: If you have kids, move elsewhere Have teachers made a deal with the devil? / St. Mary's firings begin Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-8-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune NAGPAC's Ghost Riders Saddle Up Again Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-17-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune NAGPAC attacked Romney and Heller campaigns seek victory by limiting voter choices By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 6-21-2012 The Ghostly Return of None of the Above Barbwire by Barbano / Daily Sparks Tribune 11-9-1997 The None of the Above working people's platform Barbwire by Barbano / Daily Sparks Tribune 11-16-1997 Followed by a moon shadow TRAVUS T. HIPP, 1937-2012 ADIÓS, COMPADRE — Our friend Travus, 75, passed away peacefully between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. PDT on 18 May 2012 at his home in Silver City, Nevada. The sun is in eclipse as I write this at 6:30 p.m. on May 20. CHANGE OF VENUE (5-22-2012) — Adiós in Silver City, Nevada, Saturday, May 26, 2012 —> Updated 5-27-2012 — > The auld church where Travus lived and died proved too small for the expected multitude, so gathering, gnoshing and remembering commenced at the Silver City Community Center, 385 High Street, at 10:00 a.m. PDT. The graveside memorial service began at High Noon. Travus was buried next to his rock star companion Lynne Hughes, a short walk away. My remembrance of Lynne from the 3-21-1993 Daily Sparks Tribune has been linked to Travus' formal obituary at this website. All memories accepted for permanent posting hereat. Stay tuned for pictures and stories of the appropriately rainy day. Thanks for all your kind words. Keep up the good work and the good fight. Be well. Raise hell. Andrew Barbano Barbano remembers the artist Reno Gazette-Journal 5-25-2012 NEW — Travus' life story and obituary Travus' last column in the 5-20 Daily Sparks Tribune Debra K. Reid photo / Sparks Tribune Jan. 4, 2009 Travus T. Hipp & Tales of Nevada's Futures Passed Expanded from the 6-3-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune      At bottom, he was an artist who used his voice to soar and slice, a tenor for the tenor of our times. Many of his mourning California listeners talk about the vocal spells he wove, how he soundly organized the noise of daily life into music that entertained, engaged, enlightened, educated, enthralled and occasionally enflamed. [From the saga of Travus T. Hipp and contributions by The Barbwire to the May 25 Reno Gazette-Journal and May 26, 2012, Daily Sparks Tribune.] POWERFUL PUNDITORY PANJANDRUMS: Compelling guest commentary including random samplings of the wisdom of Travus T. Hipp Nevada Press Assn. annual award winners announced. HAT TRICK: Barbwire takes first place three years in a row. The winning entries Suing for Schools: The 20-year shuck Expanded from the 2-21-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune Click here to view the show on your desktop RED flags flying low over Sparks Expanded from the 1-10-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune The wrath of self-righteous racism Expanded from the 11-8-2009 Daily Sparks Tribune Government contacts Nev. congressional delegation Nevada Legislature State of Nevada Secretary of State Carson City Clark County City of Las Vegas Douglas County Reno City Council Sparks City Council Washoe County Commission Washoe Registrar of Voters The campaign against forcibly-paid newspaper obituaries And they wonder why the newspaper business is dying?   The Dean's List    The Dean of Reno Bloggers could very well be Andrew Barbano, self-described "fighter of public demons," who started putting his "Barbwire" columns online in 1996 and now runs 10 sites. RENO NEWS & REVIEW, 11-9-2006 The 2009 first-place Nevada Press Association award winners Tony the Tiger & the flaky NFL Barbwire / 11-30-2008 Deregulation is never having to say you're sorry Barbwire / 8-3-2008 Nevada: A good place to visit, but do you want to live here? Barbwire / 6-15-2008 The 2008 first-place Nevada Press Association award winners The price of a piece / 6-17-2007 Boxing Pandora /9-23-2007 The Lady in the Red Dress 10-28-2007 1997 Pulitzer Prize entries ...and more ammo Economist: This is a true depression Elliott Parker Guest Editorial / Las Vegas Sun / 11-27-2011 The plight of the paper pushers The great recession made bashing public workers a national sport Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review / 11-23-2011 Bury the Bad News with Rose-colored Reporting How urgent can economic troubles be if leaders say things are getting better? Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review / 11-23-2011 Fact-free nation: Inside the lie machine Mother Jones Magazine May-June 2011 / Cover story and in-depth analysis Bill Moyers: Welcome to the Plutocracy Money fights hard and it fights dirty Speech delivered at Boston University on 29 Oct. 2010 Part of the Howard Zinn Lecture Series Barbwire Corporate Welfare Archive Cabellyup.com From clear-cut forests to dirty Gulfstream waters, this land belongs to old BP TOLJASO LONG TIME AGO BP/ARCO: The greasy root of our evils Barbwire / Daily Sparks Tribune 9-10-2006 The awful truth — Read it and weep, fellow suckers Labor Day 2009: Rise of the Vampire Corpobots Expanded from the 9-6-2009 Daily Sparks Tribune Angry Americans and Freudian fraud Using war to market cigarettes Expanded from the 8-23-2009 Daily Sparks Tribune BARBWIRE Nevada Corporate Welfare Archive Propaganda fuels gasoline price fixing Barbwire 8-14-2005 Donate to the cable ratepayer legal defense fund at our PayPal-enabled ReSurge.TV Consumer War Room Phillips, Kevin; Numbers Racket: Why the economy is worse than we know Harper's Magazine; May 2008; page 43 Phillips has authored numerous books on history and politics over the past 40 years. His most recent, Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism, was published by Viking on April 15, 2008. NAOMI WOLF: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps There are some things common to every state that's made the transition to fascism. Author Naomi Wolf argues that all of them are present in America today. Alternet 5-20-2007 Johnson, Chalmers; REPUBLIC OR EMPIRE? A National Intelligence Estimate on the United States; Harper's magazine; January, 2007. I love it when heavy hitters validate what I've been saying for years in the tiny Sparks Tribune. Barlett, Donald L. and Steele, James B.; America: What Went Wrong? (1992); America: Who Really Pays the Taxes? (1994); America: Who Stole the Dream? (1996) ; Andrews & McMeel/Universal Press Syndicate. Review of Alex Carey's Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Propaganda in the US and Australia The Orwell Diversion by Alex Carey Excerpted from the book available below ORDER Taking the Risk Out of Democracy Corporate Propaganda versus Freedom and Liberty By Alex Carey Edited by Andrew Lohrey Foreword by Noam Chomsky University of Illinois Press      SEE ALSO: Lapham, Lewis H.; Tentacles of Rage: The Republican Propaganda Mill, A Brief History; Harper's Magazine cover article; September, 2004, page 32.      By one conservative estimate, the corporate right has spent about $3 billion over the past three decades manufacturing public opinion to suit big business goals. Lapham's number covered the early 1970's to the present day. Alex Carey noted that by 1948, anti- New Deal corporate propaganda expenditures had already reached $100 million per year, not adjusted for inflation, for advertising alone. (Carey, ibid; page 79)      Adjusted for inflation, that 1948 $100 million becomes $801,659,751.04 in 2005 dollars. Conservatives Help Wal-Mart, and Vice Versa As Wal-Mart struggles to rebut growing criticism, it has discovered a reliable ally: conservative research groups. New York Times 9-8-2006; Free registration may be required.       BARBWIRE: Labor Day '94: People vs. corporate con job, 9-4-94 Chilling forecasts from Alex Carey       BARBWIRE: The Nevada Republican Party Becomes Communist, 3-30-97 A prescient Plato on the dangers of oligarchy The sands of time do not cloud the long memories of the sheiks of Araby Barbwire 9-10-2006       Rinfret, Pierre A.; Peace is Bullish; Look magazine, 5-31-1966

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Copyright © 1982-2012 Andrew Barbano

Andrew Barbano is a 43-year Nevadan, editor of NevadaLabor.com and JoeNeal.org; and former chair of the City of Reno's Citizens Cable Compliance Committee, He is producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration and serves as first vice-president, political action chair and webmaster of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us.

Barbwire by Barbano premiered in the Daily Sparks (Nev.) Tribune on Aug. 12, 1988, and has originated in those parts ever since. Tempus fugit.

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