LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — A group of Lafayette teachers calling themselves the "Fearless Foursome" launched a Facebook page to spark continued discussion about education issues.
Abby Breaux, Andrea Thibodeaux, Linda Rhoads and Jennifer Guillory started the page "Teachers Standing for Solutions" over the weekend. By late Monday afternoon, http://bit.ly/10HeY0K the page had more than 1,000 "likes."
Guillory said her children encouraged her to start the page after she and the other teachers spoke out last week about the challenges of education. Their concerns include the district's discipline system, a large amount of standardized tests and the state's teacher evaluation system. Breaux presented a letter to the Lafayette Parish School Board last Wednesday that outlined several of her concerns.
"My children were saying we needed to do a Facebook page so all of the comments can be in the right place," Guillory said. "We don't want it to be a whining wall. Our agenda right now is about distractions in the classroom and standardized testing. That's where we are starting because that is where we can make a difference now."
The page is described as a way to pursue "moderate and practical changes" in education and give children better learning environments.
"While our catalyst was one teacher's recent letter to a local school board, the need to take a stand has been escalating for years ...," reads a description of the page on Facebook.
"We stand with other teachers, our students and the community for educational improvement."
Guillory emphasized that the group wants the page to serve as a point for a discussion on solutions, rather than focusing solely on problems.
JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
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Also it seems to me that the present Supt. thinks on the job training is better than a high school diploma.
SO I SAY "VOTE NO" on any new taxes!! The revolution will not be televised!!