Merged $25,000 Spent on programes that made things worse./Woke kindergarten

[catsmate]

Rufo is a neo-nazi who likes hanging around with identity evropa types.

He's also a evolution denier and misogynist who lies about having a Harvward degree, classic USAian 'conservative'.

 

[catsmate]

Several examples have been discussed on this forum in the past.

Ah, facts.

 

[Thermal]

From the linked article in the OP:-

That means less than nothing. The "district officials" are in fact the **** -ups, here, and what the **** -ups think about what they ****** -up is not particularly interesting. How do I know they are **** -ups? Because they took a quarter million in aid earmarked specifically for boosting student achievement and blew it on the Wokey Woke program, which as far as we can see, does not even suggest that it does. That's the whole point of the article. You missed that?

So I'll ask yet again: do you know something about this program where you can assert it's actual objectives authoritatively? What we've seen in the article is that Wokey Kindergarten is mostly one woman offering a Wokey Woke program for free, and asking for donations to support it. Nowhere on her site is an academically accredited teacher teaching program touted. But that's what the district dumped cash on her to deliver.

From that meager information, both you and this district had absolutely no reason whatsoever to think that this mysterious teacher training program would boost student attendance or reduce suspension rates.

If you have no idea what this program was or if it was accredited, fine. But don't call me out for "assuming facts not in evidence" when I am citing precisely what the wasted funding was intended to be used for (boosting student achievement), and your "facts" are the **** -ups vaguely waving to a possibly unrelated correlation that the funds were not to be used for anyway, which yet again, is the whole point of the ******* story.

 

[Stout]

We have no idea why the school board thought this was a good idea. Possibly, it was a diversity initiative required to fill some sort of quota.

If you want Gross's qualifications, you need to check her Linkedin.

They hold an M.A. in Developmental Psychology from Teachers College, an M.S. in Childhood Education/Special Education from the Progressive Education Institute/Touro College and two B.A.’s in Child Development and Family Studies and Psychology, respectively.

 

[Thermal]

We have no idea why the school board thought this was a good idea. Possibly, it was a diversity initiative required to fill some sort of quota.

If you want Gross's qualifications, you need to check her Linkedin.

Ok, she has a couple Masters in the general field. Pretty sure that falls short of the chops expected for creating teaching programs for adults. Presumably, she had qualified developers working on that? Can't really tell, what with the whole invisible cloak and dagger thing she's running.

 

[Roger Ramjets]

So I'll ask yet again: do you know something about this program where you can assert it's actual objectives authoritatively?

You asked, "what exactly gave the Frisco school board the idea that Wokey Kindergarten was going to make their students score higher academically?"

The answer is in the OP's linked article, which I quoted for you. Now you want me to assert it again 'authoritatively'? Well here goes... (quoting from the same - now paywalled - article, which I managed to extract the text from):-

Hayward Superintendent Jason Reimann said the decision to hire Woke Kindergarten, which was approved by the school board, was made by the school community, including parents and teachers, as part of a federal improvement plan to boost student achievement by improving attendance.
The school community, including parents, teachers and staff, identified a provider to help them do that, Reimann said. He noted a subsequent improvement in student attendance, with 44% of students considered chronically absent last year, down from 61% the year prior...

Reimann said the district didn’t hire Woke Kindergarten for its politics, but rather its work in restorative practices, helping eliminate suspensions and removals from classrooms while luring more students back into seats.

Jason Reimann, Hayward Superintendent. That's the 'authority', and his words are plain. If you want to argue that he's lying, or the journalist misquoted him or made it all up then be my guest - but don't accuse me of asserting facts not in evidence.

That means less than nothing. The "district officials" are in fact the **** -ups, here, and what the **** -ups think about what they ****** -up is not particularly interesting. How do I know they are **** -ups? Because they took a quarter million in aid earmarked specifically for boosting student achievement and blew it on the Wokey Woke program, which as far as we can see, does not even suggest that it does. That's the whole point of the article. You missed that?

No need to get shirty.

I'm just stating the facts as we know them. If they don't fit your narrative that's your problem.

 

[Lplus]

So, from the OP the intention was to raise attendance and improve test results.

It seems attendance rose, but test results were worse.

Does that suggest that those who decided to attend didn't pass the tests anyway?

Maybe, maybe not, but at least they now know that confronting white supremacy, racism and oppression doesn't seem to remove any barrier to actually learning whilst attending.

 

[Thermal]

You asked, "what exactly gave the Frisco school board the idea that Wokey Kindergarten was going to make their students score higher academically?"

The answer is in the OP's linked article, which I quoted for you.

No, it's not. I asked *why*. You quoted school officials as saying *we totes did this". Yes, I know.

{ETA: I'm asking what exactly made them think this particular mysterious invisible program would suit their needs, not what they generally were trying to do. It's obvious what they claim they were trying to do. I'm asking what the Wokey Woke Kindergarten offered, and what made the school say "hot damn! This should work because of reasons x, y, and/or z."}

Now you want me to assert it again 'authoritatively'? Well here goes...

You now go on to quote the same paraphrasing of my question, but with a representative's name instead of "school officials". That's still not anything related to *why* exactly choose this particular goofball program.

(quoting from the same - now paywalled - article, which I managed to extract the text from):-

In fairness, yes, the OP article is now buried, and the "linked article" you rely on is unidentified (there were several different links in the OP article, IIRC). No, I'm not asking you to cite the source, because your quotes with hiliting and bolding are not answering my question. It appears useless.

{Also ETA: I'm not sure if you are referring to a link within the SF Chronicle article, or the SF Chronicle article itself is the linked article?}

Jason Reimann, Hayward Superintendent. That's the 'authority', and his words are plain.

No, his words restate the parameter of the question I am asking. I am asking *why* it was determined that this random Wokey Woke organization was given the credibility it was to dump this volume of cash on them. The website offers nothing in terms of teacher training programs. More on this below.

If you want to argue that he's lying, or the journalist misquoted him or made it all up then be my guest -

The information quoted seems accurate. It's just irrelevant to the question of *why* they did so. It just restates that they did so.

but don't accuse me of asserting facts not in evidence.

Here's where you assume facts not in evidence:

Assuming facts not in evidence.

AFAIK the idea was that it could improve attendance and rolls. The school gets paid according to attendance hours. Attendance is down, and rolls are slipping as parents choose alternatives, so they were trying ways to counteract that.

The premise of the OP is therefore off-base. Improving academic performance was never the goal.

Yes, it was (hilited and bolded because you seem to enjoy it). The funding used was from a program to boost student achievement, not just boost attendance, as you erroneously claim. That's the whole point, here, of both our sidebar argument and the OP itself.

Regarding the stellar improved attendence success reported by the district, I find that a little silly. The Wokey Kindergarten program has been running for two years. That means the first would have been in the '21-22 school year. Can you think of anything that might have caused much lower attendance back then, that would have automatically and dramatically improved attendence by this year? Begins with a C. Ends with an OVID-19. Pretty sure that even their increased attendence rate is meaningless.

No need to get shirty.

Gotta admit, I had to look up this phrase. Google was pretty sure I wanted to find out about the John Travolta movie Get Shorty. So thanks for that, increasing awareness of expressions and all. But I wasn't getting shirty. I am annoyed at being accused of "assuming facts not in evidence" when I am accurately paraphrasing the OP article's statements, and being countered by actual facts not in evidence (that the school board did *not* intend to boost acedemic acheivement, with or without improved attendence).

I'm just stating the facts as we know them. If they don't fit your narrative that's your problem.

You are not. You embellish the facts as we know them. What we know (as you highlighted above) is that the funding used was for boosting academic achievement. You insist that this was *never* the goal (your words). It damn sure better have been the goal, even if it didn't work out. And there's no problem with trying something that doesn't work out, as long as you had good reason to believe it should have. And that's what I'm asking: why did the district think that this was worth dumping their limited funds on?

The OP links to the Woke Kindergarten website, which says exactly nothing about offering taxpayer funded teacher training programs. So... why was it linked at all? That site has nothing to do with anything, except to make it's owner look like a nut case. "Ki", as she calls herself, has tweeted that the USA has no right to exist and "we are trying to get free of y'all", and other charming sentiments. What I am asking is if anyone actually knows anything about this teacher training program, which is the subject of the OP, as I can't find anything at all.