TAIB would like to apologize to Sgt. White for not being as clear as we should have been about what to request when filing FOILs with a district when it comes to IB. But what Sgt. White DID obtain is a goldmine for several reasons:
1. It exposes that the district lied about an IB committee being formalized - in which case the district also failed to keep and produce by FOIL the minutes from those committee meetings
2. It exposes that the district has already jumped the gun on its IB strategic plan for teacher training by sending teachers to LA, CA in October
3. It demonstrates that the district plans to make IB "by admission" and plans on a 1-10 teacher to student ratio
4. Ozark's application claims the district will pay all IB fees
5. Ozark's "revised" cost table is a fraud and demonstrates the district's attempts already to "undersell" the cost of IB to the community. The first table is much more accurate.
Great job, Sgt. White. We will be looking forward to your future FOILs for:
1. Official IB Exam Reports from every IB graduating Class in Camdenton and Springfield Central HSs
2. Purchase Orders to IBO for teacher training/conference/workshop fees
3. Purchase Orders to travel agencies
4. Ozark's "Intent to Apply" form (Consideration phase) and Purchase Orders for travel and IB workshop fees for attending administrator.
5. Copy of the Ozark's "feasibility study".
In Ozark's case, as was the case in Incline Village, Nevada, it would appear that no "feasibility study" was ever conducted. Nonetheless, it doesn't hurt to request a copy of this presumably important step. Unfortunately, TAIB did not save copies of the IB Applications from pre-2006. In the "old" days, IBO used to recommend engaging the community in a feasibility study to make sure everyone was "on board" before going ahead with IB application. Apparently, IBO has now found a way to get a district to start spending money and cut the community out of the process by indoctrinating whomever happens to be the IB ideologue at any school.
Before starting the application process to become an IB World School, the school conducts a feasibility study in which it analyses the IB philosophy, programme structure and requirements, compares its findings with the situation of the school and defines what needs to be done in order to implement the programme. The head of school or designee participates in an IB workshop to become familiar with the IB programme and the authorization process. The school can contact the IB for support during this phase.
TAIB didn't expect this to happen quite so quickly, but the local rag makes it clear with these two editorials that it is formally in the IB Kool Aid drinking camp.
Until September 22nd of this year I knew nothing about the International Baccalaureate Program or IB. When I read the Article by Emily Hoffman in the CC Headliner about Dr. Taylor’s presentation to apply for the program and this board’s poor judgement to approve theapplication, without discussion, in the same evening I was astounded.
Especially during this time of economic downturn with all the cuts in funds from the state and lower tax revenues locally.I needed to find out what IB was all about and if it was something I could support for the high school. It did not take me long to figure out that this program was not well suited for Ozark High School or any other American school based on ideology and cost alone.
That was enough for me to go to Dr. Taylor and express my concerns and tell him I would not support IB at Ozark High School. Since when - do we need to pay to play for a so called rigorous academic program when in 2009 79 % of our graduates went on to higher education; 43.1% to 4year colleges, 34.2% to 2year colleges and 1.4% to Technical Institutions? In comparison Camdenton High School (One of the schools visited by Dr. Taylor) has had IB for two years, of their 2009 graduates only 62 percent went on to higher education: 37.6% to 4 year colleges, 22.6 to 2 year colleges and 1.4% to Technical Institutions. That is a 17 percent difference. And that is not the whole story, in 2005, pre IB Camdenton 75 percent of Camdenton graduates went on to higher education: 41% to 4year colleges and 34% to two year colleges. That is a 13% drop! Makes me question the viability of IB seeing how Camdenton has 9th and 10th graders take IB courses to prep them for the so called rigorous academic program at the 11th and 12th grade level. This is ridiculous! Camdenton’s graduation rate went from 93% in 2006 (pre IB) to 85.8% in 2009 that is a 7.2% drop. ACT scores have not improved in fact they are lower than pre IB ACT scores.
So what do we really want to do? The facts don’t support Ozark becoming a World School under the IB program. We will be moving backwards not forward.What about the cost? Everyone wants to cover this up by saying IB cost is minimal. What does that mean? It is cover talk for a program that will easily cost six figures per year. The bare minimum is $150 to $200,000 dollars just in application fees, IB official visits, IB teacher training, and principal and media center training, not to mention IB curriculum materials, staff stipends, ongoing professional development, and exam fees and so on.
IB charges a $141 registration fee plus $96 for each IB exam. That is $237 for a student to take one exam. Oh did you know that Camdenton requires their students to pay for their own exams?
All this effort, time and money spent for WHAT? Lower ACT averages, Lower graduation rates and far less students attending 2 and 4-year colleges.It is time to STOP this application process, not one more dollar or man-hour spent on this insidious program!
In your packets is an incredible amount of well researched information as well as a list of responsible questions that should be asked to Dr. Taylor this evening when he gives his progress report on IB. I encourage you to ask them, to not do so would be shirking your responsibility as an elected school board representative. Ask the questions in front of this assembled body, so all can hear the answers; after all it is our money that you desire to spend. If these questions can not be asked here this evening I would request that they be answered (along with source) in writing and posted on the district web page for all to view.
Thank You for Your Time and may God and your conscience guide you in your decision making!
October 20, 2010 - Sgt. White was excellent. As for KSPR's reporting .... TAIB is wondering what kind of scrambling is going on in Bethesda to counter Sgt. White's research. That was Debra Niwa's IB Unraveled paper on the picnic table between Sgt. White and the reporter, which was not credited by the station, so we will credit it here.
For interested readers, the statistical lies by IB supporters continue. Upon hearing that the ACT scores at Camdenton HS rose, TAIB immediately went to the Missouri State Report Card to check that out. Oopsie! No, they didn't rise. They declined. Not by much, but they didn't rise.
But here are the truly stunning statistics. Since IB was implemented in Camdenton HS in the Fall of 2007, the overall HS graduation rate has declined from 93% to 85.8%, a 7.2% drop! Worse than that, the number of HS graduates going on to attend 2 or 4 year colleges dropped from 75% to 60.2%, almost 15%!! (What possible explanation, other than the fact that IB distracted from overall school excellence, can Camdenton attribute to these terrible declines?)
This is Proof Negative (shameless plug for Freedomizer radio DJ) that IB hurts American public schools.
October 13, 2010 - Sgt. Ronnie White has taken the IB bull by the horns and we here at TAIB know that he will not let go. He has established a Facebook page "Stop Ozark IB" and is making the most amazing effort to enlist parents and taxpayers to attend the October 21st Board of Education meeting to protest the Board's decision to make application to IB. TAIB received Ronnie's permission to repost the following exchange from his Facebook page. Ronnie begins by posting a link to the Wikipedia article on IB's Theory of Knowledge.
In reply to Ronnie's link, a gentleman asks: "Why is it wrong that we question what we know rather than take it at face value?"
TAIB is pleased to share with you Ronnie's thoughtful and reasoned reply. This will require a lengthy answer. If you question what you know (to believe to be true with absolute certainty), then you didn't know it. Every individual bases his thoughts, decisions and actions on a worldview. A person may notbe able to identify his worldview, and it may lack consistency, but his most basic assumptions about the origin of life, purpose, and the future guarantee adherence to some system of thought.
Today there is a battle between worldviews. On one side is the Christian worldview. On the other is the Humanist worldview divided into three easily definable branches: Secular Humanism, Marxism/Leninism, and Cosmic Humanism or the New Age Movement. While the latter three don't agree in every detail, there is one point on which they unanimously concur - their opposition to Biblical Christianity.
IB with it's Theory of Knowledge, worldcitizens view and compulsory service requirements is just another program forcing our young people into the Humanist Worldview. IB subjects will be taught from a non-Christian perspective and some will be taught from an anti-Christian perspective. This program effectively brings to the high school students Humanist style teaching of most colleges. What has this type of instruction at the college level done for America? Family values are trashed in favor of co-ed dorm "new morality," "safe sex" kits, trial marriage arrangements, feminist and homosexual values. Atheism, agnosticism, nihilism and despair attack religious values, and social values are replaced by radical politics, Marxism, socialism, etc.
Out of this resultant value erosion, four things become obvious:
1. Christian young people are not intellectually well grounded in their faith and therefore do recognize the truth and power inherent in their worldview.
2. Parents have a premonition something is wrong, but cannot put their finger on it. Rarely do they realize their child is being seduced out of one worldview (Christianity) into another (Secular Humanism or Marxism).
3. Hostile or lukewarm educators stack the deck against Christians. The traditional family values and the Christian point of view seldom are justly represented. A 900-page biology textbook, for example, may contain 200 pages about evolution and only a line or two admitting that some “ fundamentalist” Christians believe God created the heavens and the earth.
4. Christian parents are paying the salaries of Secular Humanist professors (and if IB is approved high school teachers at Ozark) through taxes and tuition for the seduction of their own children.” “Professors and teachers, whose salaries are paid by the taxes and tuition subsidies of millions of hard-working Americans.” Say James Dobson and Gary Bauer, “ridicule capitalism, attack family values, and rewrite American history, so that if it is taught at all, America is always the villain.” This is the cruelest irony. While Christians in the United States clearly outnumber their worldview rivals (192 million Americans claim to be Christians while there are an estimated 7.3 million Humanist in the United States) taxpayers’ school children are taught almost exclusively the Secular Humanist religious world view.
This is why you don’t question what you know. One of my favorite quotes has always been “Know what you know and know what you don’t know!” You can then stand on your on knowledge base and research what you don’t know to come to your own understanding. Always remember what you believe must be backed by truth! A lot of people are lost on this subject. Just know that programs that teach global citizenship vs American citizenship should always be refused. Any program that requires you to question your belief sytem should be refused. Any program that requires compulsory community service should be refused. And elected officals that don't do their homework before approving such programs should be refused from continued service!
IB = "Redistribution of Funds"
October 8, 2010 - This is a first. Never before has TAIB heard this socialist excuse as justification for inviting IB into an American public school. Congratulations to Sgt. White for wasting no time in getting local press coverage. Please take a moment to read the following article from CCHeadliner.com which includes extensive quotes from Debra Niwa's scholarly paper, IB UNRaveled.
October 3, 2010- TAIB has been contacted by concerned citizens in Ozark, MO, to assist in helping them put a stop to the proposed implementation of International Baccalaureate in Ozark High School. Ozark's Superintendent just issued a press release announcing the district's intentions on September 22nd. TAIB is pleased to see parents wasting no time in rallying opposition to IB.
As we have witnessed throughout the country, enthusiastic administrators and Boards of Education tend to over-sell IB by promising students and parents the sun, the moon and the stars. IB demands ideological endorsement from the "governing body" of a school district. In Ozark's case, Board President Chuck Fugate issues a formidable statement: "This has long been a desire of the board. We are very much in favor and long-term, the board and any future administrators will be 100-percent behind this effort."
This represents Statist solidarity. Not only is Mr. Fugate speaking for those present and accounted for, he portends to speak for any future not yet elected, not yet hired representatives as well. TAIB recommends that the good folks of Ozark, MO, might want to politely and respectfully remind Mr. Fugate that he is supposed to represent THEM and not sit on the Board to fulfill his own, personal desires.
It is important to look at commonalities in ideology, management and spending when attempting to analyze what role IB plays in the big picture of a public school district's "reform efforts". Remember that phrase - it's always about educational reform or simply code for the Progressive agenda. It is vitally important that citizens take into account the many partisan political issues that come in to play and they almost entirely are based on funding. In Ozark's case, we see that the Board is all a-tingle over an anticipated $1.2M from "President Barack Obama's 'jobs bill'". WARNING! WARNING! Acceptance of these Federal monies come with many strings attached along with an agenda for social justice. And when the money runs out? Who gets stuck holding the bag for the outrageous school property tax hikes to pay for all of these wonderful programs and new construction? YOU ARE! Wait, did we say new construction? That's right. It appears the district has already contracted with Hollis & Miller Architects to develop a "long-range plan". Of course, the district has been involved in a "long-range" construction plan since 2004. In fact, it built a new sports stadium that raised more than a few eyebrows in Ozark. You can read about it HERE.
TAIB has personally gone through an almost identical situation in our home district here in NY. Ozark has 2600 students, Locust Valley has 2300. What is being unrolled in Ozark is almost identical to what happened here in NY. Since the early 1990's, our school taxes here have quadrupled. We can see the writing on the wall if this entire machine is not brought under control. Grand educational temples of learning with no students left to attend them because families can no longer afford to live in the district due to the exhorbitant taxes. These people are set to spend many millions of your taxdollars without any sort of community input, other than maybe a few PTA mommies.
The only way to get this behemoth under control is an active citizenry. There's a common sense way to assess building and teaching needs without hiring architects and a Swiss educational firm. This is clearly putting the cart before the horse and wasting YOUR money in the process.
You have a right to your say and you also have a right to vote these Board members out of office when their terms expire. Do not let this opportunity to take back your schools pass you by.
The very first mention of the International Baccalaureate by the Ozark Board of Education can be found in the official Board minutes of September 16th, 2010. First, it appears as an Informational Item:
D. International Baccalaureate Program
Dr. Sam Taylor, high school administrators and teachers have been investigating the possibility of Ozark High School becoming an IB school. Ozark is looking at the diploma program which is a 2-yr pre-university course program taken during a student’s junior and senior year. Successful completion could earn college credit for an IB student. The IB school application process takes up to 30 months. The first application is due October 1. The 30 month process includes teacher training, education resources and curriculum development. Students could start classes in the 2013-14 school year.
To be followed at the very same meeting with a vote under New Business: X. *NEW BUSINESS - A. International Baccalaureate Program A motion was made by Frankie Forgey, seconded by Kim Maddox, to pursue the international baccalaureate program at the high school. Vote taken, motion passed 7-0.
One has to ask, is this standard operating procedure for Ozark City Schools? Aren't "informational items", as a rule, usually given time for discussion and community input before proceeding to a vote?
The Ozark City School District has already posted the following notice on its website. Please note that all links lead to www.ibo.org
The process to offer the IB diploma will take about 2 1/2 years, but the district hopes it will mean great things for the students' futures."
"When it comes to college admissions, I think our kids will have a better chance to get in some of these prestigious colleges and universities," explains Dr. Sam Taylor, Principal at Ozark High School.
"I am very excited. I wish it wasn't as lengthy a process, but understand that good things are worth waiting for," adds Jackson. Nita Jackson says she also foresees more students qualifying for scholarships if they are involved with the program. (TAIB isputting money on Ms. Jackson as vying for the IB Coordinator job)
"The IB program will cost the district an annual fee of $10,000, which will come out of the general fund, students don't pay for the program."
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