Submitted by John C. Alessio.
Dr. Marty Shafer, current president of the Clover Park School Board, has been attacked, and is now being challenged by a reckless extremist. The Clover Park School District has been recognized as a “Board of Distinction” five times, and in 2019 was named the “School Board of the Year” during the presidency of Dr. Schafer. Under his leadership graduation rates have increased from 68% to 89%. Yet, his opponent and his opponent’s supporters, grasping at straws, try to turn these impressive accomplishments into something ugly, saying he wins awards because he follows the rules too much, or that the high graduation rates represent low standards. That kind of archaic thinking is twisted and harmful to students and their families.
Not all students have the same interests, strengths, and backgrounds, and they don’t excel at the same levels of competency in all subjects. Recognizing and supporting that reality is what makes our country strong and our people free and independent. Denying students a high school degree because they lack an arbitrary level of proficiency in a particular subject is not helpful to the student, their family, or the outside community. People who think that such punitive behavior is helpful are completely out of touch with the modern world. As a former high school teacher, and retired university professor/dean, I assure you that a high level of proficiency in any one area of study is far less important to a person’s success in life than holding a diploma. The data are clear that income throughout a person’s life is directly associated with the level of their educational attainment. Education Income And Wealth | St. Louis Fed (stlouisfed.org) Of course, the more one learns about any subject the better off one is, but punitive responses and deprivation based on arbitrary comparisons and cutoffs help no one. Supporting students’ strengths and interests is what ultimately makes them successful productive citizens.
Dr. Schafer has been most heavily attacked for supporting the implementation of an equity program that will assure all students understand the processes by which concepts like racism and sexism emerge and are actualized in daily life. Those attacks come from people who are less concerned about children knowing the truth than maintaining their now fragile positions of privilege. Dr. Schafer’s opponent in the coming election for School Board President is one of the leaders of those attacks. President Schafer’s opponent, and his opponent’s supporters, are unabashed followers of the Critical Race Theory (CRT) misinformation spoof. They are, indeed, extremists who promote unsubstantiated conspiracies that make people of moderate and reasoned political persuasions blush in embarrassment for them. And yet, they accuse Dr. Schafer of being an extremist. How ridiculous. One would be hard pressed to find a more reasoned and centered individual than Dr. Schafer.
Those constantly extolling idiotic blather about CRT have no idea what they are talking about. CRT comes out of Critical Theory, which I taught at the university level for many years. It is simply teaching students the critical thinking skills necessary to form an evidence-based understanding of reality. CRT applies that principle specifically to understanding race relations. The Clover Park School District is not prepared to teach Critical Theory or Critical Race Theory to high school students. It would be wonderful if they could. They are offering students, through their new equity program, information that will help them become better citizens – people who will understand why it is important to embrace, rather than exclude, those from other backgrounds. This new educational component will also make them more employable and better employees.
The misinformation promoted by people like Dr. Shafer’s opponents is costing employers millions of dollars in lawsuits, and that includes local governments using taxpayer dollars that you and I pay. Civil rights violations by public employees are putting many municipalities in jeopardy of losing their insurance (The hidden hand that uses money to reform troubled police departments (nbcnews.com)). It would seem some pre-employment coursework on how one can respect and appreciate people from other backgrounds might be helpful. It certainly cannot hurt. And gee, I’ll bet Jon Gruden could have benefitted from a course or two on equity (see TNT 10/13/21). He might still have his job as head coach of the Raiders. I’m guessing his family is going to miss that 60 million dollars that remained on his voided contract. Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll’s response to Gruden’s behavior (TNT 10/15/21) is spot on: leaders must demonstrate sensitivity, which Carroll promotes through speakers on race and social justice.
Dr. Shafer’s opponent and his opponent’s supporters would do well to sit in on some equity classes. Their many postings show a palpable unabashed ignorance/contempt related to some of the most important social issues of our time. Undoubtedly my comment will inspire more of their blathering, and we can all look forward to that. They will stop at nothing to preserve what they believe is their birthright – a right to control others who don’t look like them, and a corollary right to dominate social space.
Clover Park is extremely fortunate to have Dr. Schafer as their Board President and should do everything possible to retain him. He is clearly not an extremist. He is a moderate, a minister who served as a church pastor for many years. Dr. Shafer wants to continue to do what is best for students and the community. If the real extremists are successful in taking over the schoolboard, the district’s students, their families, and the general community will surely suffer.
As soon as I started reading this letter I knew all about the problem. I read the attack when it was published last week and remarked on it to a friend. The opponent of Dr. Schafer left me appalled at his negativity and condemnation and I saw him wrong at every turn. I’ve never met Dr. Marty Shafer or John C. Alessio. I would urge everyone to judge Dr. Shafer on his merit and disregard virtually everything his opponent threw at him.
It’s racist to assume “birthright privilege” based on their stance on this equity policy.
There are people of all races, backgrounds and cultures are against this policy because it hurts all kids. I’d argue this equity agenda hurts bi-racial kids the most because you are causing division in their existence.
The pedagogy they are enforcing is creating an undertone of oppressed and oppressors.
It is also enforcing that any real critique of a “historically marginalized” person is only because they are of that status, rendering them unable to truly internalize legitimate critique. That actually does perpetuate negative issues within a culture and therefore widens disparity.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/are-we-born-racist/201205/the-unfair-self-esteem-trap-faced-minority-students
Not once have I seen or called him an “extremist.”
We use fact in our arguments. If that’s insulting, you need to raise your tolerance to insult.
Also, I still don’t think people understand that the “board of distinction” is something they applied for. It’s like paying for a gold medal, then flaunting that gold medal.
Academic achievement is not even a qualification to get noted. It’s a weird thing to parade around.
LOL–LUDICROUS !!
I don’t think “fact” really fits in Dave Anderson’s arguments. I just went door knocking for Marty Schafer and a woman told me that Anderson told her that one of the Clover Park schools was ranked the lowest in the nation. I went home and looked for that information. What I found was that in an article on King 5 News on school HVAC systems, OSPI ranked Tyee Park in Clover Park School District as one of the lowest HVAC ratings due to it’s age. Hmmm – facts ? I heard many other similar types of statements made by Anderson at the doors that totally misconstrues and misinforms. No one I talked to could tell me what Anderson’s plan for improving student success is. I have personally heard him speak on several occasions and at no time heard anything about his plan to improve the woes he talks about. If those of you reading would like to heard from the candidates for school board in their own words, I urge you to watch the League of Women Voters candidate forum by typing in your search engine “2021 General Election Candidate Forum – Clover Park School Board.
Did you hear his claims on your own or are you touting things from other people.
CPSD is, academically, in the lower third of schools.
51% proficiency in reading. 39% in math. This is an issue.
Their disregard for SpEd kids is atrocious.
His plan is on his site.
“ Parents want their children to realize their potential. As your school board representative, I will ensure that best practices for education are researched, recommended, and regularly reviewed for effectiveness. I will advocate for listening sessions to be held with citizens of my district. I will err on the side of transparency. I will insist that public board meetings be characterized by open, forthright, and informed debate”
https://electdavidanderson.com/
But even someone with no plan would be better than current admin.
You support critical race theory being taught in our schools and you support Marry Schafer who just voted it into our district at the September board meeting. (The only one who voted no is Paul). No surprise you support him.
I’ll support David Anderson and Jeff Brown…the “extremists” who stand against hatred, labeling, division, segregation, and racism.
How many times does it need to be pointed out that CRT is only taught at college level. It is not taught at any other school level.
Critical race praxis and critical pedagogy are literally practicable iterations of CRT. Then there’s the ever wonderful “Culturally Responsive Teaching” which falls in the previous two.
How many times does it have to be debunked?
How many times does it have to be said that children learn and retain a lot longer how they’re treated by teachers, administrators, superintendent and Board than anything between the covers of a text book. I suggest you read the Get real! Your comment is just one of the 14 deceptions offered by supporters of CRT. You should read the Clover Park Association of School Principals (CPASP) letter in support of the equity policy (8/4/2021). It reads like a leftist Critical Race Theory manifesto because that’s what it is.
I don’t think you read John Alessio’s letter. And Critical Race Theory, as John explained, is not the same or even close to the same as Equity. It bothers me that most of these anti school board letters pick one statement and then spin it. Please tell us what David Anderson is specifically going to do to improve student success.
Facts tend to get in the way of your diatribe. Schafer has been on the Board since 2005, never having had any opposition until today. Perhaps you’re more comfortable with the old Soviet system of only one candidate running for each position. That’s not how democracy works.
While Schafer crows about increasing the graduation rate from 66% to 89% he fails to note that the District’s academic standing fell from 46% to as low as 32% during his tenure. That is totally dishonest and deceptive. A half truth is even more damaging than an outright lie since it has an element of truth. Half truths have been the basis for many successful deceptions throughout history. In this case Schafer got called on it.
The “blather” about CRT that you mention is on your side. Perhaps you should read my previous Suburban Times article 9/29/2021 detailing the 14 deceptions perpetrated by CRT supporters like yourself and Schafer. The CPSD “equity policy” has all the trappings of CRT but carefully side steps the name itself: they share the same political DNA. You should read the Clover Park Association of School Principals (CPASP) letter in support of the equity policy (8/4/2021). It reads like a leftist Critical Race Theory manifesto because that’s what it is. Schools should be about education, not social engineering.
Grades aren’t punitive; they are a reality check for students, teachers, administration and Board. Failing grades indicate failing schools so stop blaming the students. It is a poor workman who blames his tools. Diplomas aren’t participation trophies; they are rewards for a job well done. What destroys motivation, achievement and self esteem is when grades don’t count and diplomas are handed out with no value behind them. Take such students and dump them after graduation into a real world where expectations are 180 degrees out from what they’ve experienced in high school and tell me “who is the child abuser?”! That’s not how adult life works.
The District, Board and Schafer in particular, as Board President, in any other endeavor would be considered an unmitigated debacle and sacked. Before you start throwing around words like “extremist”, how about giving specific examples of the alleged extremism? How about addressing the real measure of a school district’s success or failure and that of their Board: student academic achievement?
Extremists? I read David Anderson’s letter in the Suburban Times in 2012 ranting incoherently about LGBTQ and the marriage equality act as well as portraying our then President Barack Obama as a monkey. His views have only gotten more extreme since then.
Wrong again Russell. Behavioral scientists have long used animal behavior to model human behavior. Pavlov’s experiments with dogs has given insights to human behavior as have many more experiments in animal behavior. Not once was there any parallel drawn between Obama and a chimp. Congratulations: yours is perhaps the lowest form of “race baiting”.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MonkeyMoralityPose
🤷🏻♀️
It’s a trope.
But when you are an “anti-racist” hammer everything is a “racist” nail.
Ibram X. Kendi, makes this explicit: “The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.” I’m sure this won’t affect our children in schools because its not in the curriculum………….sarcasm intended!
Wrong again Elizabeth. Behavioral scientists have long used animal behavior to model human behavior. Pavlov’s experiments with dogs has given insights to human behavior as have many more experiments in animal behavior. Not once was there any parallel drawn between Obama and a chimp. Congratulations: yours is perhaps the lowest form of “race baiting”.
The goal of the Clover Park School District is to provide kids the best education possible so they can succeed in life. That’s hanging on the district’s board room wall.
In the 2018-19 school year, students were tested and only 38% of the district’s students met the state’s academic grade level standards in math. By any reasonable judgement, that’s an “F” grade. The district failed to teach basic math to the vast majority of its students. Those kids probably can’t even make change at a burger joint.
Only about 40% of the students met state grade level standards in science. Another “F” grade. Fail. The district failed to teach the majority of students basic science.
Only 50% met state standards in English Language Arts. Another district failure. As one board member’s son said after graduating from the CPSD, he couldn’t write a sentence.
And you actually think emphasizing race is the answer to reversing these failures? You think Lakewood should reward your board member, Marty, with another four year term for overseeing such disastrous results?
You say you taught students to use “evidence base understanding” in their studies. Well perhaps you should tutor your favorite candidate, Marty, in that technique because I asked him to his face what evidence does he have that this equity policy will result in higher academic achievements, and he could not provide an answer. None. That is evidence that he did not know if the proposed equity policy would increase students’ academic achievements, yet he promoted it.
Instead of answering my question, your favorite candidate, Marty, punted. He asked his employee, the superintendent, to answer for him. His response was to send me a handful of websites to comb for the answer. I did that research and there was no empirical data, your evidence, that equity policies or CRT had been proven to increase academic achievement. There were plenty of egghead theories, but no evidence of genuine accomplishments.
So this whole equity initiative may or may not result in higher academic achievements for district students. But the board and your favorite candidate, Marty, are willing to spend a quarter million dollars a year ($250,000) on salaries/benefits to the people assigned to implement it.
Nuts.
Mr. ‘Monkey Morality’ David Anderson for school board is endorsed by ‘Crack the Whip’ Paul Wagemann… and David Anderson’s ‘Monkey Morality’ letter to the Suburban Times is quite telling about his views on equity and equality, especially in regard to Marriage Equality for same sex couples, and parents
And David Anderson’s ‘Monkey Morality’ letter’s reference to popular music star Taylor Swift was especially notable… #taylorswift
https://thesubtimes.com/2012/06/25/letter-monkey-morality/
You’re aware that “crack the whip” is an idiom that refers to horses pulling a buggy from the 17th century, right?
CRT has become a rallying cry for those wanting to ride the coat tails of misinformation onto schoolboards and into elected office. They don’t let the fact that it’s not being taught stop them from proclaiming that it is! These people have a specific political agenda and power grab in mind, not the best interest of our children or their educations.
Who is the extremist? Look in a mirror Mr. Alessio. Perhaps you’ve spent too much time in leftist leaning academia. You are part of the problem. Broad brush pejoratives and ad hominem attacks about candidates opposing the incumbents without specifics are signs of a weak argument. I’ll bet you wouldn’t accept this article if submitted by one of your students!
If you and Schafer are intellectually unwilling to tell the truth, the WHOLE truth and nothing but the truth about graduation rates in the context of academic achievement, then your credibility and personal honesty must be questioned. If you’re willing to deceive in order to achieve your goals, what does that say about the goals you seek to achieve? It says you’ll stoop to anything.
You’re not even honest when you deceptively describe CRT in glowing terms:
“It is simply teaching students the critical thinking skills necessary to form an evidence-based understanding of reality. CRT applies that principle specifically to understanding race relations.”
Really? But you know better than that. You fail to explain that critical theory is based upon Marxist philosophy which has failed every time and everywhere it has been tried. CRT “simply” replaced the economic basis for societal struggle in communism with race. That same flawed philosophy behind communism is the same one behind CRT. Apparently you support both and would just love to have CRT (and communism?) introduced into our public school system.
Despite all your degrees and years of teaching, you never learned that students learn and retain a lot more by how they’re treated by peers and adults in school than anything learned between the covers of a text book. CRT doesn’t have to be part of a curriculum to be learned. It becomes painfully evident in how students are labeled and treated by those teachers, administrators, and Board who have undergone CRT indoctrination which has become mandatory in Washington. That Mr. Alessio is the definition of institutionalized systemic racism which you support. So who is the extremist? You are.
Mr. Alessio-
Will you hire me? I would love a job where I get paid without having to do “all” of my job duties. I promise I will shine in at least one aspect. Just like getting a report card with better grades than I earned which allow for my graduation.
That is the entire issue with CP Schools. They are graduating students who did not earn a diploma. Just like President Schafer and the board being rewarded with school board of the year with no improvements from students and test scores. It’s a sad day when just mediocre is what we’re aiming for!
The only extremist, out of touch with society, is the author of this hit piece. Who is Alessio? He is a left of center progressive socialist. He supports anti-parent organizations that are on the left side of progressive. He is unfit to fairly
critique any candidates because of his extremist views. Marty Schafer needs to renounce this article and apologize to his opponents or we will all witness his credibility.
According to the Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Clover Park School District students are not making the grade. They are severely below average in meeting math requirements at 38.4%, Science at 39.8% and barely 50% are meeting common core requirements. With these below average scores, the district is one of the more expensive at $15,296 per student cost. It’s time for new leadership that will focus on academics.
John, you certainly stirred up a hostile, but very small, hornets nest. I, and a vast majority of moderate Lakewood citizens, completely agree with your assessment and will be sure not to elect persons who espouse extremist views based on misinformation and half truths spread by Fox commentators.