Friends, the most effective single thing
you can do to improve your local schools
is to get the district's check register online
and start looking at how your money's
being spent and asking questions. You
can complain publicly in blogs and emails
and letters to the editor about how bad
things are but to get anything done, the
wallet's where it's at. Where your
neighbors' eyes will glaze over when you
complain about ideology and curriculum
issues, they'll come alive when you start
talking about their money.
But you can't go about it like an attack
dog, not if you want to be effective. You
can't even afford the luxury of sarcasm.
The single most useful tool I've found is
the simplest yet hardest for most of us to
implement: The Golden Rule. Treat your
district's administrators and board
members like the friends they really are.
If they aren't, make them so.
You're also going to need to find ways of
organizing with like-minded friends and
neighbors. While some folks appear to be
content to go along with a culture of
corruption in your local schools, you might
be surprised at the courage of others, such
as this Gilroy, California CPA/patriot who
has been named "Man of the Year" for his
town.
And you'll want to educate yourself on the
economic forces at work in your public
schools and in public education in general,
learn who are the major players and how
they are aligned. Stories like this and this
are instructive.
You can achieve much that is worthwhile
provided you're willing to focus your
energies. In October 2006 when I started
the national grassroots check register
movement for public schools there were
only a handful of school districts in a
handful of states with their check registers
online. Today there are almost a thousand
in 38 states and better yet this grassroots
movement has developed its own
momentum.
Find a piece of what's wrong, set a
quantifiable solution, and fix it. Do your
part to make our world a better place.
you can do to improve your local schools
is to get the district's check register online
and start looking at how your money's
being spent and asking questions. You
can complain publicly in blogs and emails
and letters to the editor about how bad
things are but to get anything done, the
wallet's where it's at. Where your
neighbors' eyes will glaze over when you
complain about ideology and curriculum
issues, they'll come alive when you start
talking about their money.
But you can't go about it like an attack
dog, not if you want to be effective. You
can't even afford the luxury of sarcasm.
The single most useful tool I've found is
the simplest yet hardest for most of us to
implement: The Golden Rule. Treat your
district's administrators and board
members like the friends they really are.
If they aren't, make them so.
You're also going to need to find ways of
organizing with like-minded friends and
neighbors. While some folks appear to be
content to go along with a culture of
corruption in your local schools, you might
be surprised at the courage of others, such
as this Gilroy, California CPA/patriot who
has been named "Man of the Year" for his
town.
And you'll want to educate yourself on the
economic forces at work in your public
schools and in public education in general,
learn who are the major players and how
they are aligned. Stories like this and this
are instructive.
You can achieve much that is worthwhile
provided you're willing to focus your
energies. In October 2006 when I started
the national grassroots check register
movement for public schools there were
only a handful of school districts in a
handful of states with their check registers
online. Today there are almost a thousand
in 38 states and better yet this grassroots
movement has developed its own
momentum.
Find a piece of what's wrong, set a
quantifiable solution, and fix it. Do your
part to make our world a better place.
| student data elements |
| P E Y T O N W O L C O T T |
How we take back our children's education: one person, one question, one school at a time. |
| FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which may not always have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of education issues vital to a republic. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C., Chapter 1, Section 107 which states: the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright," the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use" you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. |
| ATTENTION EDUCATORS AND ADMINISTRATORS: Every attempt possible has been made to verify all sources and information. In the event you feel an error has been made, please contact us immediately. Thank you. NOTICE: All individuals mentioned on this site are presumed innocent unless they have been found guilty in a court of law. |
| Copyright 1999-2011 Peyton Wolcott |
| Just because you can doesn't mean you should. |
| H o w w e t a k e b a c k o u r c h i l d r e n ' s e d u c a t i o n : o n e p e r s o n , o n e q u e s t i o n , o n e s c h o o l a t a t i m e . F o l l o w t h e m o n e y , h o n e y ! |
| Texas Hill Country - Mesquite and Wildflowers Boerne |
| Bringing you the information and tools you need in order to improve public education and lower taxes and spending; during the past two decades of the voucher debate an entire generation has grown up in the public school system. |
| January 2012 |
| TURKS IN TEXAS: Harmony charter schools' & Cosmos Foundation, Inc.'s ties to Turkey |
"Walk softly and carry a big stick." -- Teddy Roosevelt "Trust but verify." -- Ronald Reagan |
| Commentary: Where we are today & what you can do about it |
If you don't think this is important look at the Nov. 2008 election where folks voted based on emotions and hope rather than facts. Let's put a stop to the school-to-prison pipeline -- and keep our public schools locally run, strong and free..
FREE Estate
Planning
Seminar for
Women
Spring 2012
Planning
Seminar for
Women
Spring 2012
Do you know how
to protect yourself
in your later years?
Do you live in
Central Texas?
There's a FREE
estate planning
seminar for women
with an expert
panel of CPAs /
attorneys plus
special guest Lou
Ann Anderson of
Estate of Denial
website with her
case studies of
what can go wrong.
to protect yourself
in your later years?
Do you live in
Central Texas?
There's a FREE
estate planning
seminar for women
with an expert
panel of CPAs /
attorneys plus
special guest Lou
Ann Anderson of
Estate of Denial
website with her
case studies of
what can go wrong.
| Marble Falls Public Library 101 Main Street Marble Falls, Texas 78654 (830) 693-3023 |
Math Olympics
Three or four afternoons a week
you'll find two friends and me
volunteering in the library (above)
of our local Boys & Girls Club,
teaching the children their basic
math tables (addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division) to
automaticity using homemade
flash cards. We do this because
the local schools don't any more
and children need the basics so
they don't hit a wall in middle
school and drop out in high school.
We call our program Math
Olympics mostly because one of
our local high school graduates
has been on the U.S. Olympics
track team.
You could do something like this
in your hometown.
We started in October 2010 with
one volunteer and usually a dozen
children a day. We now have
three volunteers and often there
are 30 or more children in an
afternoon. The more volunteers
we have, the greater numbers of
children come. Also, our number
of students has almost doubled
even though the B&GC lost one
elementary (of three) when the
school district discontinued
sending them to the B&GC by
bus and Club attendance dropped
dramatically.
Last May we had 73 children
qualify, by learning a minimum of
three math tables, for our
end-of-year pizza party (below
right); about two-thirds of them
were able to attend.
Word must have gotten out that
we give good parties because of
the 63 children who qualified for
our Christmas party last month, all
but a handful came.
Working with the children is great
fun and as one of our group put it,
"This is the one place I know I'm
supposed to be each day."
The children are wonderful.
Some of our biggest challenges
last year are every-day regulars
this year. That the children come
at all is amazing when you realize
that we get them at the end of a
school day, and we're competing
with many other wonderful
activities at the Boys & Girls
Club. The children know they're
learning something of value.
you'll find two friends and me
volunteering in the library (above)
of our local Boys & Girls Club,
teaching the children their basic
math tables (addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division) to
automaticity using homemade
flash cards. We do this because
the local schools don't any more
and children need the basics so
they don't hit a wall in middle
school and drop out in high school.
We call our program Math
Olympics mostly because one of
our local high school graduates
has been on the U.S. Olympics
track team.
You could do something like this
in your hometown.
We started in October 2010 with
one volunteer and usually a dozen
children a day. We now have
three volunteers and often there
are 30 or more children in an
afternoon. The more volunteers
we have, the greater numbers of
children come. Also, our number
of students has almost doubled
even though the B&GC lost one
elementary (of three) when the
school district discontinued
sending them to the B&GC by
bus and Club attendance dropped
dramatically.
Last May we had 73 children
qualify, by learning a minimum of
three math tables, for our
end-of-year pizza party (below
right); about two-thirds of them
were able to attend.
Word must have gotten out that
we give good parties because of
the 63 children who qualified for
our Christmas party last month, all
but a handful came.
Working with the children is great
fun and as one of our group put it,
"This is the one place I know I'm
supposed to be each day."
The children are wonderful.
Some of our biggest challenges
last year are every-day regulars
this year. That the children come
at all is amazing when you realize
that we get them at the end of a
school day, and we're competing
with many other wonderful
activities at the Boys & Girls
Club. The children know they're
learning something of value.
-- Peyton
P.S. Please email me your success stories!
peyton at peytonwolcott dot com.
peyton at peytonwolcott dot com.
Please note: I will
not be
participating in
this panel in any
way; my sole role
will be to open the
doors and arrange
the chairs with
friends then we'll
help clean up
afterwards.
not be
participating in
this panel in any
way; my sole role
will be to open the
doors and arrange
the chairs with
friends then we'll
help clean up
afterwards.
Adding, subtracting, multiplying & dividing: It all adds up
Volunteers teaching kids basic math tables after school
Volunteers teaching kids basic math tables after school
Above, our
homemade math
worksheets; at
left, homemade
flash cards --
simplicity itself:
using 3 x 5 white
index cards &
black Sharpies.
homemade math
worksheets; at
left, homemade
flash cards --
simplicity itself:
using 3 x 5 white
index cards &
black Sharpies.
1 + 1 2 |
______
Above, our top five winners at the Dec. 8, 2011 Math
Olympics Christmas Party; below, a local middle
school principal reads a message of encouragement
to the children from U.S. Olympics Team member
Leonel Manzano at the May 2011 end-of-year party.
Olympics Christmas Party; below, a local middle
school principal reads a message of encouragement
to the children from U.S. Olympics Team member
Leonel Manzano at the May 2011 end-of-year party.
Our two wonderful
volunteers; without
them, there would
be no Math
Olympics.
volunteers; without
them, there would
be no Math
Olympics.