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College Students Question the “Safety” of SafeConnect

November 4, 2015 educationwatchdog 3 Comments

College Students Question the “Safety” of SafeConnect

SafeConnect, owned by Impulse Point, LLC is a university network system utilized across the nation and in Minnesota. In order for students to connect to the internet while on campus, students log on to the SafeConnect system. So what’s the problem?

In working with SafeConnect, students are reporting that the system gives full administrative control over a student’s personal computer to software developed by a company called Impulse Point. This means that Impulse Point, if prompted by government, could covertly and remotely turn on a student’s webcam, access all documents and files on a student’s computer, and modify or delete any piece of information on the student’s computer. Although Impulse Point claims not to be used for these purposes, the fact that it has the capability to take these actions should be concerning, particularly in light of published Snowden documents.

Impulse Point runs additional programs like Identity Connect. http://www.impulse.com/identityconnect/ Impulse Point appears as a “TierOne Partner” with VistaOne. https://www.vistaone.com/amx/impulse-point-safeconnect/ VistaOne has a number of partner companies including Riverbed, Palo Alto, Procera, and Synergy. https://www.vistaone.com/amx/tierone-partners/

Students and professors across the US are beginning to look into programs, such as Cisco Clean Access, SafeConnect and others. These companies are employed by universities to satisfy the legislative mandates of securing a private network for their college.

In 2004, all universities in the United States were required to maintain a private Internet network under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. Additionally, the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 set forth guidelines making it necessary for all schools to “combat unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials via illegal downloading or peer-to-peer distribution of intellectual property,” as a condition of obtaining Federal Pell Grants for students and participating in other federal financial aid programs. http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html

To understand the scope of colleges and universities using SafeConnect within the last three years, the following schools came up on a simple search within that time frame: Inver Grove Heights Community College, MN; Augsburg College, Minneapolis; Coastal California University, Yeshiva University, NYC; Sacramento State; University of New Haven; University of Nebraska-Lincoln, La Salle University, University of California – San Diego and Santa Cruz; University of Missouri – Kansas City; Presbyterian College, SC; University of North Florida, American University, Georgetown University, University of North Dakota, and Boston University are using SafeConnect to secure private network and fulfill legislative mandates. No doubt there are many other colleges who employ SafeConnect.

According to the SafeConnect site, “SafeConnect acts as a gatekeeper to the university’s Internet network. Any user who tries to access the New School network must first pass a security check — a log-in page asking for the user’s New School ID. Network access controls allow large networks that serve many users and devices to set rules about who can and cannot log on. Before SafeConnect green-lights a user onto the information super-highway, the program runs a check to see if his or her device has installed current anti-virus software or up-to-date security patches.”

The New School Network, New York City. http://www.newschool.edu/information-technology/wireless-network/

Recently, students at Augsburg College in Minneapolis authored a petition against SafeConnect, a university internet network system utilized in universities across the nation and in Minnesota.

Students of Augsburg Against SafeConnect state that SafeConnect is a program that runs at full administrative privileges, under the SYSTEM account, meaning it can do anything the operating system can do. Students and faculty have signed the petition.

In In In “Safe”Connect Part II: We’ll take a look a closer look at how the program actually works and remotely takes over one’s computer.

SafeConnect appears to be a program designed for covert remote access to a student’s personal computer. Should universities and colleges be able to install spyware/remote access tools on a student’s personal computer? Students have a right to privacy regarding their own personal property and particularly in a university setting where many students live on campus.

Students, Take Note!

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Cradle to Grave Data System Includes Personally Identifiable Information (PII) on Children and Adults; Data Shared with National Data System

September 29, 2015 educationwatchdog 1 Comment

Cradle to Grave Data System Includes Personally Identifiable Information (PII) on Children and Adults; Data Shared with National Data System

By: Linda Bell

This is part 4 in our series on data, career pathways and workforce tracking in Minnesota informed by audio testimony given before the Minnesota Data Practices Commission hearing of December 2014.

As cited in the previous article, (https://commoncoremn.com/2015/09/14/minnesotas-data-practices-commission-meets-our-state-dystopian-data-system-novel-in-the-making/) the Hollywood movie, The Giver, foreshadows the current state of career pathways and necessity for data collection. Art imitates life, as the edict goes, and Hollywood does a good job of that. Much like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which was about the communist Red Scare of the 1950s, The Giver, Divergent / Insurgent and The Hunger Games are windows into our current trajectory. Overreaching governments and corporations are attempting, and succeeding, at controlling the lives and destinies of their citizens.

We introduced you last time to the Minnesota SLEDS (State Longitudinal Education Data System). Here we’ll examine how the data is obtained and populated into the SLEDS as well as important testimony given before the Minnesota Data Practices Commission.

First, how are the data points obtained for the Minnesota SLEDS?

SLEDS student data originates at each public school and is sent to the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) traveling on to Minnesota Office of Higher Education (OHE) and Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). All three agencies jointly manage the SLEDS and receive student data from the schools or colleges in compliance with state mandates. http://sleds.mn.gov/ Private Schools may request to have their student data populated into the SLEDS. Data is entered into the system by teachers and parents. Parents enter their children’s data through MDE-approved vendors, like Infinite Campus and Skyward. These vendors send the information to the SLEDS. This is a list of vendors certified by the Minnesota Department of Education to receive your child’s data in order to configure to a common format before reaching the SLEDS. http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/SchSup/SchFin/MARSSStuAcc/Vendors/058135

The Minnesota SLEDS Charter, set up on April, 2010 states:

“In the 2008 Minnesota legislative session, lawmakers passed statutory language allowing the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota Office of Higher Education to share data elements each currently collects for purposes of conducting research to answer questions in the vision for the Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System.” Here our Minnesota legislature compliantly followed federal law allowing state agencies to openly share data. And to what purpose?

Chapter 298: Sec.2. M.S. 2006, section 13.32 Subd.11. was amended to provide for:

Data Sharing; improving instruction. The following educational data may be shared between the Department of Education and the Minnesota Office of Higher Education as authorized by the Code of Federal Regulations, title 34, section 99.31 (a)(6), to analyze instruction in school districts for purposes of improvement: (1)attendance data, including name of school or institution, school district, year or team of attendance, and term type: (2)student demographic and enrollment data; (3) academic performance and testing data; and (4) special academic services received by a student. Any analysis of or report on the data must contain only summary data.” http://www.ohe.state.mn.us/pdf/MNEdSLEDSCharterApril2010.pdf

Additionally, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), aka our Department of Labor, receives student data. Alessia Leibert, labor market analysist at DEED stated: “Minnesota has two systems. A SLEDS longitudinal system and a Local Database hosted at the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). Workforce program participant data are included in both systems, with the exception of Vocational Rehabilitation. The DEED database is built on SQL Server 2012 and has a staging area and reporting capabilities.” National Listening Session of the US Dept of Labor, WIOA Initiative. http://www.doleta.gov/performance/pdf/WDQIWIOA_ListeningSession_chatresponses.pdf

Ms. Leibert, in her own words, frames student data as “workforce program participant data”.

What is the process of populating the data points in the SLEDS?

Each student (Early Learning Three and Four Year Olds – 12) in a public school, private school that has signed up to submit student data or homeschooler who is openly enrolled in a public school course or public school online, like K-12 Connections, is issued a State Student Identification (SSID) Number.

“The Student ID Validation System was initially created with error-free MARSS enrollment records that had been reported since Fiscal Year 1997. The state student identifiers are then sent to the MARSS system. http://education.state.mn.us/mdeprod/idcplg?IdcService=GET_FILE&dDocName=060426&RevisionSelectionMethod=latestReleased&Rendition=primary

“All children receiving early learning scholarships must be assigned a statewide student identification number. The statewide student identification number is the mechanism for identifying children participating in Early Childhood Family Education, School Readiness and Early Learning Scholarships and is critical to the discussion around the alignment of preschool programs and funding to K-12 data.” These are three and four year olds. ELSA SSID User Guide. http://education.state.mn.us/mdeprod/idcplg?IdcService=GET_FILE&dDocName=060426&RevisionSelectionMethod=latestReleased&Rendition=primary

SSID data is sent to the Minnesota Automated Reporting Student System.

“The Minnesota Automated Reporting Student System (MARSS) collects student data required by more than one area of the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) via one system. Minnesota Automated Reporting Student Web Edit System (MWES) is the system used to gather Minnesota districts information.”

“This crucial data is the primary data Minnesota Department of Education uses to make payment of funds to local school districts. Data collected by MARSS are used for a variety of purposes, including state aid and levy calculations, federal grant allocations, federal and state civil rights reporting, unduplicated child count, and National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).” Student ID Validation User Guide for Minnesota. http://education.state.mn.us/mdeprod/idcplg?IdcService=GET_FILE&dDocName=022337&RevisionSelectionMethod=latestReleased&Rendition=primary

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a federal database, also receives our children’s data. This now proves that Minnesota children have data collected on them within district, sent to a state data warehouse as well as a federal data warehouse. Was this information ever disclosed to you? As a parent, were you ever asked to have your children’s data taken and sent far, far away? Where else is the data sent?

What is “the vision of the SLEDS” and the very reason for their existence?

According to testimony given by Meredith Fergus, administrative lead for the SLEDS, of the SLEDS/Office of Higher Education, before the Data Practices Commission,

“The vision of the SLEDS is to assist in identifying viable pathways for individuals in achieving success for education and work. Four measurements are used:

Predictors of long term individual success
Designing targeted improvement strategies
Improving data-driving decision making
Meeting our federal funding requirements

When we accepted federal funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Stimulus Bill, 2009), we also had federal funding requirements to fulfill.” Testimony from the Office of Higher Education is linked at the end of the article.

TRANSLATION: The SLEDS exist to ASSIST young people with identifying “viable” career pathways, utilizing targeted improvement strategies (testing and survey credentials) for their “long term individual success”! This is the meaning of data-driven decision making. Whether we realize it or not, no longer are 8^th graders in consultation with their parents, in the decision making role. A student’s “data” is informing the decision and there will be plenty of it! And lastly, the SLEDS management must first and foremost meet federal funding requirements (read “policies”). In other words, compliancy to federal policies is much more important than transparency with the people of Minnesota.

Once a teen/pre-teen’s career pathway is confirmed, will their high school curriculum be amended to a narrow academic path? Will the student be enrolled on an academic path or a skills-only path? Middle schoolers and parents know themselves so much better than 3^rd party tests and surveys recommended and sometimes mandated by schools and homeschool co-ops with the backing of the state/federal government.

What else is collected for the SLEDS? Ms. Meredith Fergus, administrative lead for the SLEDS, Office of Higher Education, a cabinet-level state agency, remarks in her testimony before the Minnesota Data Practices Commission on December 2014:

“Of course as always with any state agency reports, public information is summary data (only contains summary data). This is the data that’s currently included in the SLEDS. So from the Minnesota Department of Education, we do include information that they already have on K-12 enrollment assessments. We purchase results of the ACT exam, Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams. We do include information for adult basic education students. We do include information from the Kindergarten readiness sample as well as early childhood education for those programs affiliated with Minnesota Department of Education, Career and Technical Education information and staffing information.”

“From the Minnesota Office of Higher Education we include post-secondary enrollments and completions from all public and private institutions in the state of Minnesota. And that is mandated data collection affiliated with state received financial aid. We also include form the US Department of Education, OHE office, institutional characteristics that is information about colleges in Minnesota. From the Department of Economic Development, we do include the unemployment insurance detail records, a limited set of employer details and workforce training participant data. In addition from Pearson we purchase results of those who pass the GED and those who are Minnesota residents as well as Minnesota public high school graduates who enroll out of state. Their enrollments and completion information is from the National Student Clearinghouse.”

Ms. Fergus states that data collected by the SLEDS is collected in the form of summary data. However, Data Practices Commission chair, Representative Mary Liz Holberg, delves a bit deeper to find the personally identifiable information in the SLEDS. A link at the conclusion of the article will take you to the hearing itself.

Mary Liz Holberg: Question: “Are you linking individual unemployment figures with social security numbers with unemployment? What data are you getting from DEEDS specifically?”

Meredith Fergus, “We get the unemployment insurance detail records which does include the employees’ first name, last name, and social security numbers. ”

Mary Liz Holberg: “And so you hold social security numbers in your SLEDS data as well?”

Meredith Fergus: “Correct! Social security numbers are also a part of the OHE data collection.”

28:58 – Mary Liz Holberg: “So help me out here! Going back to… You list all these… We’re talking about pre-school programs etc. – Are we moving toward a position where an individual’s entire educational history ends up in some government database? Umm . . . I was a little surprised by the pre-school stuff, so help a non-education person understand why we would want to, in my vernacular, track students?”

29:38 – Meredith Fergus: Madam Chair:” We do! SLEDS data will contain the entire educational history of an individual to the extent that we can link that information across the system.”

30:32 – Mary Liz Holberg: “So, how do you stay out of the system if you are a parent and you don’t want your child’s information? How would you even know that the state is? Again using my term, tracking your student for research purposes?”

30:51 – Meredith Fergus: “Madam Chair, this is probably one of the areas we’ve struggled with the most. Most of the data that’s collected at MDE and OHE is state mandated data collection, so we do not allow the opt-out for students and parents. . . . So, for a student who opts out at even the college level to share their data it is still transmitted to the OHE.”

38:57 – Mary Liz Holberg: “I’m still struggling with some components of this. If somebody goes in and files for unemployment, do you – how – does DEED push that data to you or do you request it only on a limited set of individuals or how is the? I mean, education data is one thing. Where you’re working? How much you’re being paid? If you’re on unemployment? I mean, that just seems – you know, it’s a big step!!! So, how does the data subject know? Or even do they? Do you only collect those that you tag or are you getting all of the unemployment and wage data from DEED and then sorting it?”

39:47 Meredith Fergus: Madam Chair: “We actually receive the quarterly wage detail records, so we don’t receive information on unemployment insurance benefit recipients. That is the one thing. We do receive the quarterly wage records which is the data on all employees in all companies subject to unemployment insurance. The entire data file is loaded into SLEDS. There’s no filtering done. So it is all workers in Minnesota subject to UI. And that is under the new statutory authority that was granted two years ago.”

40:20 – Mary Liz Holbert: “See, I missed that! So you’re telling me that every single worker in the state of Minnesota that works for a company that is subject to unemployment insurance, their social security numbers and names are in the SLEDS data?”

40:36 – Meredith Fergus: “Correct, Madam Chair.”

40:38 – Mary Liz Holberg: “Wow! That doesn’t make me feel very good. I don’t know about you across this table.”

Thanks to the many researchers who helped with the testimony transcript. Find the testimony in its entirety here. http://www.lcc.leg.mn/lcdp/audio/20141217.MP3

In conclusion, it should be noted that NO Minnesotan asked to have their children’s data stolen. Not one parent! This has been first and foremost a measure of coercive grants by the federal government in their “well-meaning way” to know what each and every citizen is doing at each and every moment. This ideology translates into “education” tracking and career steering children, from prenatal to the workforce, and then beyond throughout their entire lives. Can this really be happening in America, a country based on the principles of freedom? We see that it is!

If you are concerned about this lack of transparency and failure to properly disclose to parents concerning the removal children’s data, please join us at MACC . Our school districts and school boards, MDE approved vendors and the MDE itself have failed parents and citizens by not securing parental permissions for these data programs. MACC works at the grassroot and legislative levels. We need YOUR help!

American Principles Project, Bill Gates, College & Career Ready Standards, Common Core Costs, Common Core State Standards, Common Core Teleconferences, Constructivism, Curriculum, Data Metrics, Data Mining, ESEA, Home School, HSLDA, MACHE, Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, Minnesota Department of Education, Minnesota Senate Education Committee, No Child Left Behind, Pearson, personally identifiable information, Race-to-the-top, US Chamber of Commerce, World's Best Workforce

Minnesota’s Data Practices Commission Meets our State Dystopian Data System Novel-in-the-Making

September 14, 2015 educationwatchdog Leave a comment

Minnesota’s Data Practices Commission Meets our State Dystopian Data System Novel-in-the-Making

Can you imagine your child’s school teacher or principal presenting you with your life’s profession in the 7^th grade? Without you or your parent’s consent or discussion? In Minnesota, “career pathways” which lead to “successful workforce outcomes” decided primarily by a child’s data is one of the main missions of the State Longitudinal Educational Data System or SLEDS. Minnesota meet Dystopia!

Last December 2014, the recently formed Data Practices Commission sat down for a presentation from the Minnesota Office of High Learning to find out just what is going on with data collection and the student database in our state. Although the presentation involved mostly goals and management of the SLEDS, career pathways were mentioned in passing. I was rather amazed at the amount of information on career pathways in Minnesota!

Remember Lois Lowry’s, The Giver, written in 1993? The novel is “set in a society which at first appears as a Utopian Society but then later is revealed to be a Dystopian one, as the story progresses. The novel follows a boy named Jonas through the twelfth and thirteenth years of his life. The society has eliminated pain and strife by converting to “Sameness,” a plan that has also eradicate emotional depth from their lives. Jonas is selected to inherit the position of Receiver of Memory, the person who stores all the past memories of the time before Sameness, as there may be times where one must draw upon the wisdom gained from history to aid the community’s decision making. Jonas struggles with concepts of all of the new emotions, and things being introduced to him, and whether they are inherently good, evil, in-between, and if it’s even possible to have one without the other. The Community lacks any color, memory, climate and terrain whatsoever, all in effort to preserve structure, order, and a true sense of equality beyond personal individuality.”

“Jonas, who is eleven years old, is apprehensive about the upcoming Ceremony of Twelve (7^th grade), where he will be assigned his career or his “assignment in the community”. In his society, little privacy is allowed; even private houses have two-way intercoms which can be used to listen in for infractions of the rules. However, the rules appear to be readily accepted by all, including Jonas.” Read more here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giver

Granted Lowry’s book is fiction but this story is eerily close to reality! Interest in Career Pathways and Career Pathway Systems has been soaring since our US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan made this comment highlighting his faith in data-driven decision making.

“My personal favorite [story] occurred when he [Duncan] visited a charter school in Brooklyn. He told those assembled that the United States is facing both an economic crisis and an educational crisis. And then came this immortal line: “We should be able to look every second grader in the eye and say, ‘You’re on track, you’re going to be able to go to a good college, or you’re not,” he said.” Diane Ravitch, blog. http://dianeravitch.net/2014/04/05/my-favorite-line-from-arne-duncan-what-is-yours/

According to the Office of Higher Learning (Minnesota Department of Education) website, who helps manage the Minnesota State Longitudinal Education Data System, “SLEDS brings together data from education and workforce to identify viable pathways for individuals in achieving successful outcomes in education and work. It will also inform decisions to support and improve education and workforce policy, helping to create a more seamless education and workforce system for all Minnesotans. SLEDS is populated with education and workforce data collected from the contributing state agencies MDE, the Office of Higher Education and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.” http://sleds.mn.gov/

How does the Minnesota Department of Education collect your child’s data? How are the databases populated? The data is sent via ipad or chromebook. Notice how many school districts are utilizing completely online curriculum and/or testing? Your child logs in with their own personal school log-in ID and the data flies. This is one of the identifiers for your child in the SLEDS. That news for another segment!

Minnesota’s Career Pathways System is quite robust and nearly complete! So who is interested in your little human capital’s career path besides you, the parent and your child? There are numerous organizations in addition to:

Your child’s school district

Minnesota Department of Education

Minnesota State Universities and Colleges

Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development

Minnesota State Legislature via Minnesota World’s Best Workforce: Statute 120B.11

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=120b.11

Minnesota Chamber of Commerce

Minnesota Workforce Council
http://www.mwca-mn.org/Youth/SW%20MN%20Career%20Pathways-MWCA.pdf

Pearson Workforce Education

https://viridislearning.com/

The ACT and ACT WorkKeys

Alliance for Quality Career Pathways

Advancing Career and Technical Education for Career Pathways

Data Quality Campaign

http://dataqualitycampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/files/pdf/stateprofiles/MN.pdf

A Career Pathway is your child’s sequence in curriculum, and therefore THE curriculum! At what age do children know their own minds well enough to make big life decisions, such as their life-long career? Business leaders need to ask themselves if 7^th grade or earlier, an unwise “investment”?

Teachers and schools are no longer in the driver’s seat in curriculum development or curriculum-sequencing. Will these career pathways educate a child for all occupations, the broad liberal arts education that every child deserves, or deliver a more narrow path for just a few occupations? Who is ultimately in charge regarding curriculum? Is it education or business? That’s the question we must ask! We feel that every child should be given every a great academic education, not a mere skills-based training, while allowing them to reach for the stars, whether it be in 2nd grade, 7th grade or 12th grade.

We highly encourage parents to refuse the tests and surveys given online, particularly computer adaptive as well as refuse online curriculum. These three components feed the data system.

NEXT UP: We delve into the world of Career Pathways from all perspectives!

Bill Gates, College & Career Ready Standards, Common Core State Standards, Curriculum, Data Metrics, Data Mining, ESEA, HSLDA, Indoctrination, MACHE, Minnesota Department of Education, Minnesota Senate Education Committee, No Child Left Behind, Pearson, personally identifiable information, Race-to-the-top, World's Best Workforce

Evil Will Prevail if we allow “Every Child Achieves Act” (S1177)

July 10, 2015 educationwatchdog Leave a comment

9 July, 2015

Evil will prevail if we allow “Every Child Achieves Act” (S1177)

By: Anne Taylor

If you haven’t noticed, there’s a lot going on in the world: Most notably, Greece is about to lose it. The NYSE experienced a “glitch” that suspended trading (call it a hack because no one else is willing to admit to it – maybe the power grid is overloaded – or is it?), the Wall Street Journal’s website went down following the NYSE “glitch”, United Airlines was grounded due to a faulty computer system and thousands “mysteriously” lose power in Washington D.C.

Did I mention that HR5 passed in the House, too? There has been little, if any attention to these bills and their ramifications that will only allow evil to prevail in our American schools. Our friends in Utah’s Common Core state group agree. In fact, I can’t help but agree! This is because there simply is no other word to describe it.

Below are 6 headline highlights from the article written by Utah’s state group, Common Core: Education Without Representation, “Six Evil Things Hidden in S.1177 — “No Child Left Behind”. You may read the full article and their extensive research here.

If this doesn’t raise the red flag alert, then I am concerned for our children’s future and this country. The following IS NOT what the media is talking about regarding S1177:

The bill aims to kill parental rights in the parental opt-out movement. “Taking away a parent’s authority over his or her own child is a crime that the Fed Ed is willing to try to get away with. This bill says that states must not only give federally aligned common core tests (they use the code term “college and career ready” which is Common Core) but must collect data from 95 percent of the students. That aims to kill our huge, growing parents’ opt out movement. The bill says, “Measures the annual progress of not less than 95 percent of all students, and students in each of the categories of students”. (1111)”
The bill’s master-servant relationship between Fed Ed and State Ed is unconstitutional. “It’s clearly, clearly unconstitutional. States are supposed to be in charge of their own educational systems. But in this bill, read: “The state shall submit,” and “The Secretary [Fed Ed] shall have power to disapprove a state plan” (Sec. 1111) “If a State makes significant changes to its plan at any time…such information shall be submitted to the Secretary”. That just gives the Fed Ed Secretary power to disapprove a state’s decision to drop Common Core. (Sec. 1111)”

“Cementing Common Core is not what the authors of S.1177 said were the goals of the bill, yet there it is. Putting parents last, and making states do the dirty work for the false authorities at the Department of Education, is a deceptive way of getting people to think that there’s less federal involvement, a misleading attempt to get conservative people to pass this bill.”

The bill will suppress student expression of religious and political values. “…repeated use of the concept and term “school climate” –for example, in conditional “formula grants”. These give the federal government power to model citizenship, to influence what is a federally appropriate world-view, and to pressure schools to suppress student expression of religious values, using each state as enforcer. (Sec. 4103-4104). The bill says that money will be conditionally given and that data gathered by the school will determine whether a student holds appropriate beliefs in the “school climate”. This will allow absolute federal indoctrination in local schools. If family values don’t match Fed Ed values, there will be federally-directed school-based re-education.”

These include “…asking for collection of “school-level data on indicators or measures of school quality, climate and safety, and discipline, including those described in section 1111(d)(1)(C)(v); and risk factors in the community, school, family, or peer-individual domains that are known, through prospective, longitudinal research efforts, to be predictive of drug use, violent behavior, harassment, disciplinary issues, and having an effect on the physical and mental health and well-being of youth in the school and community.”

“That pressures schools to conform to federal definitions of mental health, and forces schools to collect longitudinal data to build and analyze children’s psychological profiles. Schools wanting federal money must intervene if a student’s “mental health” or potential access to “violence” needs “mentoring”. (…by whose definition?)”

*I’ll add that if you’re uncertain what this means, read the “school climate” survey found in the Orono school district I reported on earlier this spring.

“The bill says: “may include, among other programs and activities— drug and violence prevention activities and programs, including professional development and training for school and specialized instructional support personnel and interested community members in prevention, education, early identification, and intervention mentoring, and, where appropriate, rehabilitation referral, as related to drug and violence prevention… extended learning opportunities, including before and after school programs and activities, programs during summer recess periods, and expanded learning time… school-based mental health services, including early identification of mental-health symptoms… and appropriate referrals to direct individual or group counseling services” (4105)”

The bill sees government, not families, at the center of the universe– for younger and younger people, for more and more of the time. “It allots money to fulfill Sec. Duncan’s “21st –century community learning centers” (Sec. 4201) …this bill consumes more family time, giving so much time to government schools. The “community creep” of Fed Ed schools expands in multiple ways if S.1177 passes. The Fed Ed Secretary will pay “programs that support extended learning opportunities, including before and after school programs and activities, programs during summer recess periods, and expanded learning time; in accordance with subsections (c) and (d), school-based mental health services, including early identification of mental-health symptoms” — which means more government surveillance of belief and behavior, via more time spent with Fed Ed, and less time spent with Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa.”

Notice “…that “and community” is attached after the word “school” repeatedly. School and community. School and community. School and Community. Why? What business does the school have, expanding its creep into the community? Yet that’s exactly what Secretary Duncan has been calling for, for years. (See the old Charlie Rose interview on Youtube here, where Duncan asks for 6-7 day a week school, extremely long days, all year round, with school replacing home or church as community center.)”

The bill promotes federal definitions of mental health and promotes collection of mental health data. The bill will assume “…that fed ed defines mental health correctly, and for everyone…(promoting) even more data mining than we already have inflicted upon our children.”

“The local educational agency or consortium… shall take into account… school-level data on… family… predictive of … mental health and well-being of youth in the school and community.” (See 4104)”

“Under a host of other issues identified as federally-politically-correct, your family teachings may not be compliant with federal definitions of mental “well-being” of youth.” Government, not families, are at the center of the universe when school data is gathered on children without parental consent, used to judge families’ and students’ psychological, religious or belief-based attitudes.”

Toddler Snatching. “I don’t like that the bill puts it hands on preschoolers.” *(I don’t like it either being that I have a toddler as well!) “It bullies preschools, too, by mandating federal preschool standards to be enforced by states, as it encourages states to take over toddler time from moms and dads. I don’t like the time-away-from-family aim nor the data mining aim (without consent of parents, of course). Preschool babies are to be psychologically profiled by the state. The bill does not state this plainly. You have to connect the dots: the word “preschool” shows up 43 times in the bill. Statewide preschool standards align with federal standards, creating nationalization of measurement of citizen babies; federal standards are heavily socio-emotional; it all results in the compilation of psychological data on very young children. We already had the Dept. of Ed and its partners co-creating Common Educational Data Standards (CEDS) the better to align everyone with, without voter input, and these folks wave banners with their motto (fourth principle): “Continued Commitment to Disaggregation“ of students’ personal data. Your specific, individual child is wanted in their clutches. That’s what disaggregation means: not in a clump; individual.”

Now, will someone tell me there isn’t an elephant in Washington?

Take these highlights – all of them – any one of them at this point! It’s time to kill this bill!

Continue to call, write and tweet your senators. WE CANNOT DO THIS ALONE.