Governor Snyder signs expansion of online learning options

LANSING— The following is a statement from Brian and Heidi Kevelin, board members of the National Coalition for Public School Options – Michigan Chapter, praising the signing of Senate Bill 619, legislation expanding educational opportunities for students and choices for parents, by Governor Rick Snyder.

“Throughout the debate over expanding online charter public schools in Michigan, all parents have asked for was the option to pursue the kind of learning best for their own children.  Unfortunately, waiting lists, enrollment caps and student lotteries put that out of reach for thousands of families.  Today, with the Governor’s signature, Senate Bill 619 delivers quality options for learning to moms, dads and students across our state.  This is very exciting, and we are extremely grateful to the Governor and to lawmakers in the Senate and House who have stood with parents.”

Love you mom.  Forever.

MIDLAND — Former Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Cliff Taylor and charter public school entrepreneur J.C. Huizenga have joined the Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s Board of Directors, President Joseph G. Lehman announced today.

“The Mackinac Center is proud to add these two accomplished leaders to our governing board,” Lehman said.

Taylor, a former Navy officer, served on the state Supreme Court from 1997 to 2008 and the Michigan Court of Appeals from 1992 to 1997.

“Cliff’s legal and judicial expertise will better enable us to defend the people against government overreach,” Lehman said.

Taylor said he looks forward to serving on the board and is excited about the potential of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation.

“Having a public interest law firm at the Mackinac Center increases its effectiveness, and I will provide whatever insight and guidance I can when needed,” Taylor said.

Huizenga is founder and chairman of the National Heritage Academies, which he started in 1995. NHA operates more than 70 charter public schools in nine states. He also owns several manufacturing enterprises that employ more than 6,000 people.

“J.C. has a career-long commitment to one Mackinac Center core goal: educational freedom for all,” Lehman said.

Huizenga also founded PrepNet, a group of three college preparatory charter high schools in Michigan that educates more than 800 students.

“The Mackinac Center has been a faithful defender of the traditional founding values that have made this nation great,” Huizenga said. “I look forward to participating more actively in the future direction of such a dynamic organization.”

Taylor and Huizenga will attend their first board meeting on Monday.

MICHIGAN House Bill 4769 and Senate Bill 701

THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2012
8:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Mackinac Room
Anderson House Office Building
124 North Capitol Avenue, 5th Floor
Lansing, MI

We must Act Now to re-affirm, as public policy, the primacy of the US Constitution to ensure that no US citizen or resident is denied – as a result of the application of foreign law – the liberties, rights, and privileges guaranteed by our Constitution.

Speakers:

• Rep. Dave Agema (R- Dist. 74) & Sen. Roger Kahn (R – Dist. 32) – Legislation Sponsors
• Richard Thompson, President & Chief Counsel -Thomas More Law Center
• William Wagner, Professor of Constitutional Law
• Christopher Holton, Vice-President – Center for Security Policy
• Manda Zand Ervin, Founder & President – Alliance of Iranian Women

All attendees-are asked to make appointments with their state lawmakers beginning at 11:00 am to urge passage of this vital legislation.

To schedule your legislative appointment call: 517-373-0135

Space is limited and this event is only open to those with a confirmed reservation.

RSVP with name, phone number, and email address to: alacrally@aol.com

After screwing up the first 10 or so, it wasn’t long before I got the hang of it, and was producing semi-pro quality pieces worthy of display.  Enough fortunately, to be able to pass a few to the biggest supporters before going into full electioneering mode.

As we are cat people, (three in the house) I had figured it would be funny to place a button on our black cat ‘Liberty’ and use for fun discussion. Figuring we could say “see even the cats support the candidate!”

After attending (and working for an hour at the VFW breakfast) the first pancake outing, we headed over to the station 9 firehouse in East Bay township.  After going through a veritable ‘murderers row’ of politicians who had volunteered for the event, my small posse was ready to sit down for the second meal of the morning.  It was probably good that I had eaten very lightly at the first.

The food in both places, very good.

Fully a third of the attendees, and probably 80% of the working crew at the station nine affair were politicians seeking office, and I was not as uncomfortable as I thought I might be sporting obvious campaign buttons and identifying items in the popular community event.

Along with nearly every politico in the county, a couple of the notables, County commissioner Rob Hentschel and Jason Allen were there, with the latter and his entire family in attendance.

At one point talking to Jason’s father and commissioner Hentschel, I brought out the picture above, and explained “You have NO IDEA how hard it is to settle the cat down long enough to pin the button on .. ” and then noting Jason’s daughter looking on showed her the picture saying “See Kitties LIKE to wear buttons!”  then quickly corrected myself to her realizing that impressionable minds and this type of humor might not be a great mix. hehe.

Jason?  You might to watch that for a while.  )

Anyhow, it was good to get out and see the community with these two events.  I will be looking to be at more of them so I can meet more of the folks in our county.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is seeking information about two separate illegal elk shootings in Otsego and Montmorency counties. A bull elk was killed near Sturgeon Valley Road and Pickerel Lake Road in Otsego County sometime during the week of April 19.

Wild Eurasian Boars trained in the use of long guns are feared responsible.

A pregnant cow elk was shot on or about March 14, near M-33 just south of Rouse Road in Montmorency County. Parts were removed from at least one of the animals during the poaching incidents.  Adding to the complexity, aliens may have assisted, as their cow harvesting techniques were immediately recognized by at least one DNR official who has seen it before on his family farm and wishes to remain unnamed.

Conservation officers at the Gaylord Operation Center are seeking any information that would assist with the investigation. “If anyone saw anything or has any information, we’d like to hear from them,” Lt. Jim Gorno said.

LANSING, Michigan (April 24, 2012) – There are hundreds of job openings for teachers at Michigan’s charter schools – and many of those people will be meeting with their prospective new employers at the annual Michigan Charter Public Schools Job Fair, which takes place Saturday at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi.

The Michigan Charter Public Schools Job Fair runs from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the Suburban Collection Showplace, located at 46100 Grand River Ave. in Novi. The event is sponsored by the Michigan Association of Public School Academies (MAPSA), the state’s charter school association.

There will be 65 booths at the Job Fair representing dozens of charter schools and other hiring organizations across the state – all hoping to fill hundreds of teaching openings and other positions for the coming school year. The Job Fair is expected to draw more than 500 teachers and other educators. There are jobs available for every teaching subject and every class level from K-12, as well as administrative and other positions. The majority of schools at the Job Fair will be from Detroit and southeastern Michigan.

“Thanks to the growth of charter schools in the state, we’re going to be able to keep hundreds more of our most talented teachers in Michigan,” said Dan Quisenberry, President of MAPSA. “That’s so important to the overall health of our state. As they’ll discover, there are so many benefits to teaching at a charter school. Our teachers enjoy great flexibility and the ability to innovate, and they’re able to work with the staffs in their own buildings to make the changes that will benefit their students. It’s an enriching and stimulating academic environment.”

Michigan’s network of charter schools continues to grow (there are currently 255 of them across the state), as legislation was signed into law in December that lifts the cap on the number of university-authorized charter schools allowed in the state. More than 15 new charter schools are expected to open across the state this fall, and many of them will be at Saturday’s Job Fair, hoping to fill teaching positions and other jobs for the coming school year.

Other existing charter schools are experiencing growth as they add grades or grow their enrollment (more than 60 percent of charter schools in the state have waiting lists). With those new students comes the need to fill teaching and other positions.

In Detroit, for example, the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy will be doubling the size of its student body this fall. The charter high school opened in September of 2011 with a ninth-grade class of 120, and the school will be adding another 120 students this fall as it expands to 10^th grade. The Jalen Rose Leadership Academy will be one of the schools in attendance at Saturday’s Job Fair, looking to fill openings in every subject area as it expands its teaching staff.

The Michigan Association of Public School Academies (MAPSA) advances quality education through choice and innovation. MAPSA has been the unified voice of the public charter school movement in Michigan since 1996. MAPSA represents more than 110,000 students, 5,000 teachers, dozens of authorizers and more than 50 education service providers working in 255 public charter schools in the state. MAPSA assists the state’s public charter schools in their mission to deliver achievement, choice and accountability through advocacy, communications, technical assistance and professional development services. For additional information, please visit www.charterschools.org.

LANSING— The following is a statement from Brian and Heidi Kevelin, board members of the National Coalition for Public School Options – Michigan Chapter, praising the passage of Senate Bill 619, legislation expanding educational opportunities for students and choices for parents, by the State House of Representatives.

“More options are finally almost here for families desperately waiting for a chance to enroll in an online charter public school.

“For months now, parents and students have faithfully travelled to Lansing to make their voices heard, meeting with their legislators and testifying about the benefits online learning options have delivered for their families. Today, the State House took action to expand access to online learning, and we are grateful.

“We are especially grateful to State Representatives Lisa Lyons and Tom McMillin, current and past chairs of the House Education Committee, for their work on behalf of families, and to State Senators Phil Pavlov and Patrick Colbeck for their relentless leadership and commitment to passing Senate Bill 619.

“While it is very unfortunate that partisanship stood in the way of allowing this bill to take effect immediately offering help to families this coming school year, more options for a great education are coming soon to Michigan, and for thousands of families across our state that brings excitement, relief and the opportunity.”

The National Coalition for Public School Options – Michigan Chapter is an alliance of parents that supports and defends parents’ rights to access the best public school options for their children. The Coalition supports the creation of public school options, including charter schools, online schools, magnet schools, tuition scholarship programs, open enrollment policies and other innovative education programs. More information is available online at www.publicschooloptions.org/michigan.

The 99 percent envy that is fostered too often by redistributionist [stimulus] policy and theory, is unfortunately too often stronger than common sense.

This picture (Click on it for a larger view) on the right, is of a wall that contains at least a few patents which affect all of us in some way.  Many of those who bitch about not getting their fair share might think twice when tapping away on the iPhone or android to call mom or dad when the productive pursuits of a ‘gimme’ protest leaves them hungry. Without them, they would be left knocking rocks together and hoping to be heard.

The CD or DVD which loaded your operating system would not be possible without the efforts of the man who populated this wall in Northern Michigan with his storied achievements. The man who also created the process for the LP sized video disk so many years ago, might have said “to hell with it” a while back if the rewards weren’t there as the professionally pitiful left would insist.

It should be noted, only a third of the royalties for these patents were even generated in the USA.  But those royalties made it here.

For those of you out there who are too tired to get it, that means wealth created, and brought in from outside the country. It means a wealthier country with more “trickle down” for our community, our state, and those businesses which this particular patriot engineer patronizes.

It means a healthy economy.

And best of all,  if left to reap the rewards, and uninhibited by government,  it means more innovation from the best minds in the world.