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August 7, '01                    Vol. 1, No. 26
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   T H E   S C H O O L   L I B E R A T O R
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* Correction * Federal Homeschool Meddling *
* NY Public School Woes * Marshall's Radio Appearance *
* Department of Embezzlement *

--> Sorry for the hiatus--our ISP (that's internet service provider, not independent study program) was having technical difficulty. Back to our separation message with alacrity...

--> We have a correction from last time. We commented on HSLDA's alert that began, "We have an incredible opportunity to end federal control over homeschoolers." Our comment was,
"There's just one little fact missing from this statement: there is no federal control of homeschoolers. Never has been."

--> In an enlightening and enjoyable chat with HSLDA's Scott Somerville, we became educated as to the thinking behind their statement. Seems that there are two particular federal laws that the states are interpreting in such a way
as to have a negative impact on homeschoolers. One involves welfare, the other Pell grants.

--> For states to receive fed. welfare money, they must show that their "client" children are attending schools. In some
states--California, for example--case workers are calling homeschoolers truant and cutting off their welfare checks.
Also, regulation regarding Pell grants (since repealed) required recipients to have a diploma from an accredited high school or a GED.

--> HSLDA termed these regulations control, although we expected control to mean something more direct and encompassing than this. Nevertheless, we erred by not calling our friends at HSLDA and clarifying before including this item in our last issue. Our apologies to HSLDA and to you for our unnecessarily harsh comment.

--> Recently, our friends at Concerned Women for America (http://www.cwfa.org/) brought to our attention a NY Post story about an ongoing investigation of widespread sexual abuse of students by teachers and other public school employees in the NY
system. We had seen articles on this scandal but did not pass them on to you for a couple of reasons.

"Student Sex Abuse Runs Rampant"
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionaln

ews/36216.htm

Also see "YOU PAY FOR SCHOOL ASSAULTS"
http://www.nypost.com/news/regional

news/36766.htm

--> One reason is we were not sure how valid the allegations are. Not long ago we linked to a piece by Christina Hoff Sommers where she said that the charge of sexual harassment is being used in a
less that stringent way. ("Critics Say Politics Distorts Findings in Sex
Harassment Study," http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933

,26603,00.html)
With this information in the back of our minds, and even though law enforcement and the NY public school system are investigating, we were not confident enough in the severity of the charges or the quality of the evidence to use the situation for the advancement of
our goal.

--> Another reason we didn't use this story is that it is contrary to what most people want to believe and are willing to believe about the teachers in their public schools. The Alliance is faced with the constant challenge of balancing our positive message of the liberating possibilities of separation with our negative message of the irreparable damage of government controlled schools. We already have to deal with opponents who would paint us as a
fanatical--and therefore not serious-"fringe" group. To err too
far in the direction of our negative message without, in this case, the cover of national media attention may backfire.

--> We'd like to enlist our readers in developing an acronym for parents who can't think negative thoughts about their children's schools--sort of like NIMBY. NIMKS: Not in my kid's school? Tough
to pronounce. NIMS: Not in my school? Send us your suggestions at
mailto:ccuthbert@fix.net Whoever can come up with something creative
we can use will get a couple of audio tapes of his choice.

--> And let us know what you think about exploiting the NY Post story.

--> Cartoon: The California Schools
http://www.nctimes.com/columnists/th

ornhill.080501.gif

================= ANNOUNCEMENTS =================

--> Alliance President Marshall Fritz is scheduled to be on the Dave Daubenmire talk show for two hours Saturday,
August 18, from 11am-1pm Eastern Time. Dave is a public school teacher and for 25 years, a high school football coach in Ohio. The ACLU sued him for praying with his football team. He no longer coaches. Dave will be interviewing Marshall on the separation of school and state from a specifically Christian perspective. It should be a wide-ranging
and fun show.

You can listen from anywhere in the world at the web-site
    http://www.WRFD.com

Or you can listen directly by tuning to 880 AM WRFD in Columbus or 1080 AM WWNL a 50,000 watt station in Pittsburgh. These stations cover all of Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, and parts
of Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, and West Virginia. 


--> SepCon2001 is set for Nov. 16-18 in Arlington VA, the weekend before Thanksgiving, at the Hilton DoubleTree
Hotel in Arlington VA. We have a SepCon2001 page listing the speakers and topics. Registration information, too. Go to
  http://www.sepschool.org/sepcon.html

Mark your calendar now.

======= SPECIAL OFFER ==========

Marshall Fritz lays out the case against tax credits in this recorded debate, "Private Scholarship Tax Credits Are a Good Step toward Separation of School and State."
Get this 60 minute audiotape as a School Liberator special--$1 plus $3.50 shipping--a full $7 discount. Call Morgen at 559/292-1776 to order.

==================================

The Department of Embezzlement
By Michelle Malkin (July 28)

[CAPITALISMMAGAZINE.COM]  President Bush's "No Child Left
Behind" school reform proposal passed in the House last week. Considering what a colossal black hole the U.S. Department of Education has become, the $24 billion plan would be more appropriately dubbed: No Dime Left Behind.

If Beltway pols were truly interested in educational accountability, they wouldn't be funneling billions of dollars through a government bureaucracy that can't keep
track of its funds. The Education Department failed its last three financial audits and is on track to fail again.
On the same day the House approved Bush's school spending package, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Wainstein issued indictments against 11 people involved in a theft ring of outside contractors working with Education Department employees.
Three former Education Department workers have already pled guilty.

I read the federal grand jury's 64-page indictment papers over the weekend. I wish every member of Congress would do the same. This million-dollar criminal enterprise is just the tip of the iceberg of fraudulent federal spending "for the
children."

The ring centered around Elizabeth C. Mellen, an award-winning, high-ranking telecommunications specialist in the Education Department's Office of the Chief Information Officer. Her indicted co-conspirators include her children and husband, an employee at the Environmental Protection Agency; her
sister and two nieces (both of whom worked in the Education Department's financial assistance office); her nephew (who worked as a technical specialist in the Education Department's financial assistance office); and a Bell Atlantic employee.

Mellen and her family apparently turned the Education Department into their own Home Shopping Network. The indictment says Mellen directed the Bell Atlantic worker, Maurice Hayes, to order equipment through his company's
outside contract (paid for by the Education Department and subsidized by taxpayers). She then had various contract
employees deliver her $300,000 worth of electronic goods. In exchange, the contract employees collected more than
$600,000 in false overtime pay.

Mellen's sister reportedly visited her workstation several times to shop from electronics catalogs; others put in their
orders by phone or e-mail. According to the indictment, Mellen plundered public funds to pay for: 10 Gateway computers and accessories, 15 printers, 4 Yamaha CD drives, 9 laptops for family birthday and graduation gifts, a 61" Sony television, and 7 cell phones (on which a total of nearly 12,000 calls were made).

Also: 169 cordless phones (46 with caller ID, 5 with headsets), 6 Olympus digital cameras and 4 Olympus printers, 8 Sony
digital cameras and accessories, 4 Sony digital camcorders and accessories, 4 Sony Handycams and accessories, 4 Sony video Walkmans, 7 PalmPilot personal organizers, 50 Motorola Talkabouts, and 2 Philips audio CD recorders.

In addition, Mellen arranged for a toll-free telephone number to be routed through the Education Department so that family
members and friends could call Mellen's sister's home in Mechanicsville, Md., without any toll charges. She also
ordered the Education Department's Bell Atlantic contract employees, at taxpayer expense, to install an additional phone line in her apartment and an extra phone jack in her sister's home.

Finally, Mellen used outside contractors as family chauffeurs and handymen. She ordered them to drive to Baltimore to
purchase crab cakes for her, shuttle her daughter and granddaughter to a medical facility, powerwash her son's deck and perform other yard cleanup.

The Education Department can't claim such theft is rare. It doesn't know. Government auditors have identified
accounting discrepancies totaling up to $6 billion. Federal education aid has been embezzled to pay for luxury cars, real estate, diapers and rent. If this agency were a private company, it would have been hut down by government regulators
long ago. Instead, it grows fatter and more unaccountable every year.  republicans, who once led the crusade to
eliminate the department, are now tripping over each other to feed the beast.

"The federal role in education is not to serve the system. It is to serve the children," the Education Department's
motto preaches. I imagine Mrs. Mellen told herself the same as she phoned in another electronics order for her children
and licked the crab cake crumbs off her light and greasy fingers.

http://www.CapitalismMagazine.com/2

001/july/mm_embezlle.htm
(c) 2001 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

This editorial is included for educational purposes. The Alliance does not necessarily endorse Ms. Malkin's views.

=============================
SIGN THE PROCLAMATION or get a family member to: "I proclaim publicly that I favor ending government involvement in education."
http://www.sepschool.org/Proclamation

WANT TO SOUND OFF? Discuss education issues with fellow articulate School Liberators. Go to
http://www.sepschool.org/Other/eGr

oupsDiscussion.htm

COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS? Send us your message at mailto:ccuthbert@fix.net

WORD OF MOUTH is the most efficient means of marketing the Separator philosophy. Please forward this newsletter to your family, friends and associates.

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FINAL THOUGHT

From "Gilbert [AZ] Adds Kindergarten Tests: Focuses on 4-year-olds' Readiness" (The Arizona Republic, July 29)

"'I think a lot of parents feel their [four year old] students are ready for kindergarten,' said Bev Merrill, Gilbert Unified School District curriculum coordinator.

"Heather Mosbaugh of Gilbert has no doubts that her daughter, Makenzie, who turns 5 on Dec. 5, will pass the computerized test designed to measure social readiness and cognitive abilities.

"'I think it is fantastic,' Mosbaugh said. 'I don't think I should keep her behind.'

"Jane Weber, a Gilbert reading teacher who is coordinating the test, said students will be judged on several factors, including distinguishing letters and numbers, putting letters in order and matching words to pictures...."

A computer measures "social readiness"? Oh well, guess we got
to get 'em ready for Harvard as young as possible... [--Ed.]

============================
THE SCHOOL LIBERATOR is a FREE service of The Alliance for the Separation of School & State, 4578 N First #310,
Fresno CA 93726 (559) 292-1776. We are a non-profit, grass roots educational organization dedicated to informing
people worldwide how education can be improved for all-not only the poor-by liberating schools from politics. For more
information go to http://www.sepschool.org

Publisher: Marshall Fritz
Editor: Cathy Cuthbert
Copyright 2001, The Alliance for the Separation of School & State, Inc. All rights reserved.

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