Please vote in November Your children's future is at stake.

A - Academics (emphasis on Math, English & History)
B - Behavior (kids learn manners & how to behave properly)
C - Consistency (all schools to provide the same fine education)

"A sculpture is to a block of marble, 
what education is to the soul" 
 Addison

My Background

     I am 66 years old and retired. I graduated from a military high school in Georgia as an honor graduate. I then got a degree from college in Mathematics. I severed as a Lieutenant in the US Navy during the Viet Nam war and was a computer programming instructor in anti-submarine warfare systems. I spent my 40 year career as a software developer and manager of software developers. Retired, I spend my time writing poetry, writing Pirkle Reports for the Mirror, playing the piano and tinkering with my 1973 Porsche 914 which I have restored to running condition.  

     But more importantly I was a substitute teacher in Federal Way for 3+ years. I taught at every school in the district and taught nearly every subject including special education and AP classes, plus, of all things, kindergarten.

    So I have been there and I have seen what is going on. I think that my life experiences and experiences as a teacher qualify me to be considered by you as a school board member.

Seven things I believe:

1. Teachers should wear professional dress to work, no blue jeans and T-shirts. This creates a professional atmosphere.

2. Tests that affect grades should be taken home to be signed by a parent and returned the next day. This gets parents involved on a weekly basis.

3. Curriculums and teaching schedules should be standardized across schools. This creates consistency.

4. What education your children get should not depend on the teacher they had or the school they went to.

5. The only things that should hang on classroom walls are things that have something to do with education, no Star Wars posters, sports stars, movie stars, etc. This creates a learning environment.

6. The school board should set the public speaking time back to the way it was, not 3 minutes total time but 3 minutes at the beginning and 3 minutes for each agenda item. This gets the public involved.

7. The school board should advise the administration and not the administration advise the school board.

Seven Things that are Wrong with our Schools

1. Drugs in schools - the kids can get any drug at school including both hard drugs and soft drugs. Cocaine, heroin, PCP, LSD, and marijuana, it's all there for the asking. I proposed using Federal Way's drug sniffing dog to sniff lockers while the kids are in class. My opponent, Ed Barney, opposes this. 

2. Math failure - 50% of our kids fail the10th grade Math WASL. The teacher's union say that the test is bad, yet 50% pass it. Kids who make Bs and Cs in Math fail the math WASL because of grade inflation by the teachers.

3.30% of our kids drop out of high school sealing their fate in life. Some are smart but not challenged.

4. What happens if a kid misbehaves and is sent to the office? That depends on what school they go to. What happens if a kid violates the dress code? That depends on what school they go to. We have 37 different policies on these things thanks to the school board's not standardizing policy, rather delegating everything down stream.

5. Elementary school teachers deliver information to the kids for about 3 hours a day. See below for details.

6. Teachers, who are suppose to be the adult in the class do not dress as professionals, often wearing T-shirts and blue jeans. The teachers seem to want to be the kid's buddy rather than an authority figure and role model. When I finally got the school board to address this, they, including my opponent, voted to leave it up to the teacher's union take care of it.

7. Grade inflation - teachers often inflate the student's grades. This makes them look like a good teacher since everyone makes a good grade. This causes the parents to think everything is OK and this causes the students to think everything is OK. This works right up to the point where they take a standardized test like the WASL or the SAT. Every teacher whose grades do not fit what is expected by the standard curve of normal distribution, should have to justify it.

Myths and Facts about Education

Myth - The problems with education is the Pop culture. The kids are running wild and uncontrollable because of this culture.

Fact - In school the kids are in a closed environment. We have the power to tell them to check the Pop culture at the door and pick it up when school is over. The Pop culture is not present in the court room. The Pop culture is not present in church. The Pop culture is not present at a funeral. The Pop culture is not present in the military. There are special places where a certain behavior is expected. We simply add schools to that list. We tell them that school is a place where a certain behavior is expected and we demand it. We do not have to let the Pop culture into the schools.

Myth - The parents are at fault.

Fact - We have the kids for 6 hours a day for 180 days. Good parents could be a help but if parents were necessary, then it would not be possible to educate kids who are in an orphanage. When there were orphanages we did that all the time.

Myth - It's the fault of Olympia who do not give us enough money.

Fact - Many studies show that the is no correlation between per pupil spending and test scores. It's easy to blame Olympia since we have no control over them. The fact is that the state require 16 hours to graduate high school and  our district requires 20 hours. By requiring more hours than the state requires, we need more money to run our schools. And what are these extra courses? Pottery, driver education, cooking, etc. All these courses are available from the Parks and Recreation Dept. in Federal Way. The state pays for a Volkswagen and we have built a Cadillac. Bureaucracies are very good at that.

Myth - Our teachers are paid professions who are knowledgeable in the subjects they teach.

Fact - To teach in Washington state you have to have a degree in Education. You may not realize this but a high school Math teacher majored in Education and minored in Math. Wouldn't we prefer to have our kids taught Math by a Math major and not a Math minor? But we have no idea how qualified our teachers are because the teacher's union will not allow teacher testing. But the WASL does not paint a flattering picture. Thus the teacher's union is against the WASL.

Myth - The WASL is a bad test.

Fact - The WASL was made up by education professionals. The Math WASL shows the worst performance yet half the kids pass it. If it were a bad test nobody would pass it. But test scores are even declining on the SAT. Is that a bad test also? Parents buy into this thinking because they would rather believe that the WASL is a bad test than to believe that their child is uneducated.

Myth - If we had new schools the kids would do better.

Fact - This is complete nonsense except in the case of science labs. With rare exceptions, Our schools are fine.

Myth - The problem is the books.

Fact - More nonsense. Most subjects can be taught without a book. The history teacher could simply teach about the American Revolution rather than tell the kids to read chapter 1. But I am not advocating eliminating books.

Myth - Class size is the problem.

Fact - In the lower grades like K-2 the teacher often works with kids individually. So a small class size allow more individual teacher time with the kids. But it is possible to teach high school classes with 30 or more kids. So the idea of setting all class sizes at 20 is entirely wrong thinking, requiring more teachers and a stronger teacher's union. The class size should be set by considering the grade level and the subject being taught. What smaller class size does do is give teachers fewer papers to grade and fewer questions to answer. This makes for an easier work day for teachers.

Myth - If we paid teachers more we would get better teachers.

Fact - First that position implies that we don't have the best teachers as we are being told. Second, all that would accomplish is paying the same poor performing teachers more money. Call me at 253 839 4304 and I will explain to you that elementary school teachers actually deliver educational material to the kids for about 3 hours while getting paid for 7 1/2 hours. Teachers get a pension, health care, job security and work only 180 days a year. For budgeting purpose the district uses $60,000 as the average teacher salary.

Myth - The school board should wait for the public to tell them what changes to make.

Fact - The public has spoken when they elect the members. Now the public expects the members do what they promised when running for the office. The public is busy earning a living at their job and the the school board should do its job.

Elementary School Teachers Teach for 3 Hours a Day!

     First, teachers work a 7 1/2 hour day. So how much of that time are they actually teaching? Well they are required to be there 30 minutes before school starts and stay there for 30 minutes after school ends. So that's 6 1/2 half hours of possible teaching. But the children get a 30 minute recess in the morning and in the afternoon. So that's 5 1/2 hours of possible teaching. But there is a one hour lunch break where the children get another recess after eating. So that's 4 1/2 hours of possible teaching. But the children take a 30 minute class in music, PE or the library each day so that leaves 4 hours of possible teaching. Then our district emphasizes reading so the children do 30 minutes of silent reading each day. (the teacher is there but not teaching). So now we are down to 3 1/2 hours each day. We take away another 30 minutes when in the morning the children are putting away their back packs and sitting down, getting organized, the teacher is taking attendance, doing the lunch count, collecting homework and in the afternoon when the children are cleaning up the classroom, collecting their books and papers, putting on their jackets and back packs before being dismissed. Now we are down to three hours. Add to this the 5 minutes here and there when getting in line to go to recess, music/PE or library, and lunch. It adds up to at least 15 minutes a day. So now we are down to 2 hours and 45 minutes of possible actual teaching time. (This may vary slightly from school to school.)

My Report on Schools

When I stopped teaching I wrote a 22 page report. to the school board and public. I thought, in my naiveté, that the school board simply did not know what was going on in our schools so I would tell them. Well it turns out to be more the case that they don't care what is going on in our schools. Ignorance is bliss. If you want to read my report and become enlightened, just click here for the Word document.

Note - It's important that you know who you are voting for. If you want to know everything that there is to know about me, click here to visit my personal website.

I would love to hear from you. Email me here.

 Thank You for visiting this site