Holding Our School Districts Hostage With Common Core

Posted by Sarah Hall on Thursday, May 16, 2013, @, 8, pm in Politics | 0 comments

I think every politician should be required to research and read the material they are being asked to vote on.  Because when people vote for things they have no idea what the true implications on, we get things such as Common Core.  As much as I am adamantly against Common Core, there is really not a damn thing any of us can do about it.  The federal government is taking our school system and holding it hostage.

Let’s take for example this years proposed Arizona Budget which includes this language in regards to funding for school districts:

Subject to appropriation of state monies, or receipt of federal monies, private donations or grants from any lawful public or private source for this purpose, the department of education, in coordination with the data governance commission established by section 15‑249.01, shall develop and implement the education learning and accountability system to collect, compile, maintain and report student level data for students attending public educational institutions that provide instruction to pupils in preschool programs, kindergarten programs, grades one through twelve and postsecondary educational programs in this state.

As required under Common Core, the state and school districts are required to create this database.  I didn’t realize that not only is the federal government going to hold federal funds and force states to hold state funds hostage from school districts who may not want to go along with this new Common Core, but they are ALSO saying that any private donations, grants or any other source of money cannot be accepted until they implement this!

So our government now is creating a database that has over 400 points of sensitive data in it requiring all sorts of information from our children.  For example they will require information on sexual preference, household gun ownership, mental health issues, and much more. This information will be tracked from pre-school all the way to post college.

Wow!  This is what we decided was best for our children!  A set of standards and a tracking database that can be given out to any 3^rd party the Department of Education finds suitable!!

Did the Arizona legislators who passed Common Core in 2010 have no brain or did they just blindly pass it not even thinking of the consequences!!?

Well seeing that the Common Core standards weren’t even fully implemented until AFTER the state passed it – I am assuming the latter.

We are in trouble people and if you can’t see it – you live in a more delusional world than I do.

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It’s Like Taking Candy From A Baby – Isn’t It?

Posted by Sarah Hall on Thursday, May 16, 2013, @, 7, am in Politics | 0 comments

Since When Did Mohave County Become the Big Cat?  Not that I don’t like living in a County that is considered one of the “big cats.”  You know me – I always did like the city life and all the drama that came with it, but that’s beside the point – why is the Arizona Legislature comparing Mohave County to counties like Pima and Maricopa?   Did I miss something somewhere along the way?  Since when did Mohave County’s 200,186 population (according to 2010 census figures) become even remotely comparable to Maricopa County’s nearly 3.9 million?

Why does it matter you ask?  Because the State of Arizona is denying Mohave County lottery revenue funds based on the simple fact we are no longer considered one of the ‘smallest’ counties in the state.  These dollars use to go to all fifteen counties until 2011 when the state decided it had the authority to balance its budget on the backs of local taxpayers by stealing money from County government.  This fiscal year the State has decided to re-fund the Counties with a share of the lottery fund that should have been there’s from the beginning but they are only re-funding it for the 10 smallest counties making Mohave County ineligible for these funds.

Do you not see the fairness in this?  We were 186 people away from qualifying because according to the new budget proposal released Tuesday in the Senate only those with 2010 populations under 200,000 will get this money.  The County uses the money to help pay for State mandated programs.  It’s my opinion – if the state wants to impose mandates on local government than they need to help foot the bill!

Now aside from hurting County funds, the State has also taking away lottery funds from Lake Havasu City which go to fund Lake Havasu’s transit service.  The state has taken away nearly $250,000 from them.  Add that to the nearly $400,000 the city will lose from the federal government due to the city’s rise in population.  Again it’s another case of unfairness – the city is just above the 50,000 population mark resulting in less federal dollars for transit due to it.  With losing nearly $650,000 – the Lake Havasu City transit may just be no more.

In both scenarios it’s a case of unfairness and also a case of state & federal government stealing money from the little guys.

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Let the Voters Decide

Posted by Sarah Hall on Wednesday, May 15, 2013, @, 7, pm in Politics | 0 comments

Let the voters decide – that’s what I always say anyway.  Looks like me and Arizona House speaker Andy Tobin finally agree on something.  Let the voters decide if they want Medicaid expanded or not.  After all – it’s our tax dollars.  We should have a say in how they are spent.  In 2000, the voters of Arizona approved Prop 204 which was supposed to expand Medicaid to those making less than 100% of the federal Poverty Level.  The State took that money though to balance its budget during the financial crisis which in my opinion they shouldn’t have done because it was a voter approved initiative.  If you want to ignore a voter approved initiative the only way to be able to do that (in my opinion) is to have the voters vote to reverse it.  So with that said, I am 100% in support of House Speaker Tobin’s proposal to put this debate on the ballot.  What is Brewer afraid of?  That the voters won’t agree with her.  Well it’s a risk you might have to take it Mrs. Governor.  The voters agreed with you on the 1% sales tax.  So what are you so afraid of?   Let the voters decide and pass a budget already – after all that’s really the only legal obligation we hire you to do.

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I Want Soup With Italian Dressing

Posted by Sarah Hall on Wednesday, May 15, 2013, @, 7, am in Sarahs Rants | 0 comments

So Sunday we went to La Vita Dolce for Mother’s Day dinner.   It was amazingness!!  Omg!  Cory and I both got the Salmon Wellington (which they only seem to have on special occasions).   It was so worth the $28!  This was one meal I didn’t regret eating after I saw the bill.  

It was so worth it – you got a salad, a glass of champagne, the dinner and the desert!   I <3 their Tiramisu!  It is also awesomeness!

I just love the restaurant period!  We usually go on Monday’s with our 2 for $20 coupon – you get a free appetizer and two entries for $20.  Cause they are kind of pricy but totally worth it.

But yeah it was a nice dinner.  It was Cory and I, Pops, Mem, Grandma and Todd.

I of course was the joke of the night with my tongue ties.  Let me explain – first off I said I wanted soup with Italian dressing.  I MEANT SALAD!  Then Cory gave me the impression the champagne was served warm.  I don’t like warm champagne so I asked the waiter if it was cold or not.   Lol!  Argh!  Yeah I was the joke of the night.   I know ‘gullible isn’t in the dictionary.’   I will never live that one down – I know.

Anyway so Suddenlink came and gave us a new modem yesterday.  All weekend I kept having to reset the modem every hour.  It was annoying.  So they had a tech come out and replace it yesterday and also finally hook up cable in the guest bedroom.   Anyway no one is hacking our modem – I can barely get on with their damn 20-30 character password. Insaneness! And we also broke down and got a DVR.  So we’ll probably be getting rid of Hulu since we have a DVR now.  But having a DVR – do u know what that means?  It means I can record Adam Lambert tomorrow on the Idol finale and watch it over and over and over all summer long … muah muah muah! Well okay not really cause Saturday they are coming to give us Tivos (its the same price) which means a new box – so I have till Saturday to watch him over and over … haha!  They have to do a seperate install for the tivos (I don’t know why) and THEY have to do it too.  They didn’t charge us for yesterday but they’ll charge $25 for Saturday.  Whatever!  The whole Tivo thing sounded cool and it’s the same price so blah.  But yeah – we are backing to the ‘cable’ world.   We went a year with no cable – just Hulu and Netflix and while yes you can do it – it is nice to have a DVR and be able to record certain shows NOT on Hulu (like all CBS and TNT shows).   So we’ll get rid of Hulu but we are keeping Netflix.

After TWO years I am FINALLY on the last season of One Tree Hill!  I know craziness!  I <3 that show though!  It is awesomeness!  All the woman on there (well mostly all) are totally on my celebrity crush list.  Jana Kramer (who plays Alex) is a really good singer.  I didn’t realize she had an album out and a country album at that.  I went and got it yesterday – it’s pretty cool.

Anyway I best be going. Laterz!

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The Economic Failure of Lake Havasu City

Posted by Sarah Hall on Tuesday, May 14, 2013, @, 9, pm in Politics | 0 comments

So an opportunity has been laid out in front of me to voice my unpleasant, dissatisfied and utter disappointment in our Lake Havasu City Council and Mayor.  Do you think I’m going to pass up the opportunity to do it?  Haha!  Hell No.

This past weekend as previously stated I attended the LGBT picnic at Rotary.  I spoke to a dear friend in regards to his recent decision to pack up his life here in Havasu and relocate to Las Vegas, Nevada.  He isn’t doing it because he doesn’t like it here.  He isn’t doing it because Vegas has a way better LGBT community than Havasu and he’s not even doing it because in the city of Vegas the marriage to his husband will be noticed and legal.  He’s doing it because the Company he works for is relocating to Henderson after failed attempts to communicate with the City and after feeling mistreatment by our own City Council and Mayor.

Yes, my friend works for Creative Tent a company that moved here in 2004 and now nine years later is packing up and relocating to another location.

The Today’s News Herald a while back did a nice little fluff piece on the whole thing sitting the reason for the relocation was that Havasu wasn’t ‘ideal’ for them and they already owned two buildings in Henderson that would be perfect for expansion.  Yeah I know – boring huh?   That’s why I blog people – to tell you the unfluffy version of events.  I obviously don’t do ‘fluff.’

100 jobs are leaving Havasu.   Let me rephrase 100 jobs are leaving the Industrial Park the city spent over $4 million on!  Industrial park?  Oh what a joke!  I use to live in Tucson, Arizona now THEY have Industrial Parks.  What we have is a sad excuse for empty building space.

If the City would spend less time giving away City tax dollars on skate parks and more time focusing on economic development maybe this town could be known for something beyond it’s big “spring break” parties.  When was the last time the PED brought anything to this town?

That thing you all call a mall down on the far north side of town is nothing but Wal-Mart, JCP, Dillard’s (which I don’t see how they survive with their outrageous prices), Petsmart … oh yeah and that movie theater.   I do believe there are a couple smaller stores like Rue 21 and whatnot but really – you call that a mall?  No – that’s not a mall.  It’s a shopping complex!!

Honestly there are no jobs in this town besides retail, Sterilite (and from what I have heard I would never in my right mind work for that company), and tourism.  Oh and your government jobs and occasional telemarketing jobs like Suddenlink.

I think the city needs to refocus it’s priorities and start caring about economic development because if the Mayor and Council think that the most important thing is to build skate parks and put beautiful white sand down near the lake shore … well this town is going to be turned into a Ghost Town faster than you can say sliced bread.

I’ll miss my friend when he moves but I don’t blame him for moving with the company like he said “who else in this town will pay him $15 an hour?”

Wake up Lake Havasu City & next election vote for people who actually give a shit about this town – not people like Nexsen and others who only seem to care about the politics of it all.

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More Tax Dollars Being Wastefully Spent

Posted by Sarah Hall on Monday, May 13, 2013, @, 10, pm in Politics | 0 comments

Please note: The following is my personal opinion and does not represent the opinion of any other individual, organization, business or Mohave County employee.  It is my opinion that I wrote on my own time with my own thoughts. 

Today the Mohave County Board of Supervisors selected a new County Administrator (remember they changed the name from manager to administrator).  Out of 36 applicants, 2 were selected as finalists and out of them Mohave County’s current acting-administrator, Mike Hendrix, was chosen.  Congratulations are in order to Mr. Hendrix who rightfully deserves the job.

This blog is not about criticizing Mr. Hendrix.  I believe the board made a good choice in picking him over Mr. Clark; however, as a fiscal conservative Republican I must question why the Board even went through the process of ‘finding’ a new County Administrator if at the end of the day they were just going to go with the candidate they already had?

Why go through the trouble not to mention why spend the money on going out for bid for a new County Administrator when at the end of the day you all chose Hendrix?  I cannot find a law or state statute requiring you to go out for bid for the job.  Granted it looks good to do so.  I am sure hell would have been risen had you just given Hendrix the job over actually attempting to compile a list of other candidates.  However I still question why?  During the February board meeting it was estimated that the cost to do an Executive Search for a new Administrator would be around $9,000-$10,000.  So again I ask – why was $9-10,000 of tax payer money spent when at the end of the day we just gave the job to one of our own?

At the end of the day – what is done is done.  So I suppose it is one of those ‘eh, whatever.  It’s only $10 grand.’  Right?

Well anyway – once again congrats to Mr. Hendrix.

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I <3 Loving You & All The Drama That Comes With It

Posted by Sarah Hall on Sunday, May 12, 2013, @, 2, pm in Sarahs Rants | 0 comments

Well we FINALLY finished organizing our new place!!  We got all the pictures hung, the rooms organized and the house is spotless.   : )   I must say this is probably the nicest place I have ever lived (since graduating highschool).   I have lived in apartment after apartment and duplexes but never a house.  So it’s nice to have a place that is all ours.  You can see all the pics of our new place by clicking here

So here’s a run down of Cory and I’s weekend thus far:

I spent Friday night cleaning up the house and then Saturday we woke up around 8 and started putting the final touches on it.  We hung up all the pictures, finished organizing the guest bedroom and got the office put together.  So we are officially done.  I mean somewhere along the way we will re-organize – we usually do.  : )

Anyway after we finished the house we stopped by the LGBT Picnic down at Rotary.   It was fun to see the peeps again.  I really gotta get back out there and hang out with people again.  I miss my gang!!  It’s always fun times hanging out with them.  We didn’t stay long as we had to come home to start the bread for the spaghetti bread we were cooking my parents for dinner.

After we left the park we went to Lowe’s and bought plants.  I got Fred – my new house plant for the office.  It was the only room without a plant – so we had to get Fred.

After that I came home and put the bread on and while it cooked I went to Walmart to get some stuff.

Then the parents came over.   It was the first time they had a chance to see our new place.

They liked it and said it was homey.   : )   It is!

Anyway we’re going out to lunch/dinner at 3.

Write more later!

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Between the Lines of Trust & Betrayal Lies Me & You

Posted by Sarah Hall on Sunday, May 12, 2013, @, 1, pm in Sarahs Rants | 0 comments

Happy Mother’s Day to all you wonderful Mother’s out there!!

I have two dogs – that’s my Mother’s Day. And two pigs and five fish … oh and Edward the cat! He’s still mine even though my parents adopted him.

I don’t have kids … I almost somewhat did but despite what Mr. Timothy Edwards says – it never happened.

Do I want kids?   That’s a question I have asked myself for years and never really have an answer for.  I really did like the concept of giving my egg away to my gay best friend and his husband and having them raise my child.  But I doubt that option is on the table now.

I’m not good with kids.  I never have been.  When I was with Robert, I didn’t want kids period.  We didn’t want kids.  Than I met Cory in between the whole Jared/Kid fiasco and maybe it was Cory and the whole situation that I decided maybe I want a child.

Truth be told though – we’ve tried to get pregnant.   And a year and a half later – there’s still no baby.

But the question still remains – do I want kids?  Do I want to have a baby naturally, raise it, and devote every last breath to that child for the remainder of my life?

Would it even be fair to have a child?

Jar and I had our kids school picked out in Oro Valley.  It was a private school because with him comes money and the thought of even having to worry where the kid would have went to school was not even a concern, but back to my point – we now have Common Core.  Private schools don’t protect you from that.

The world is so different than it was back in 2007.   Is it even right to bring a child into that?

I guess set all that aside though – all the bad in this world and all the bullshit and yes I want a kid.

I can’t promise you I’d be a good mother.  They said it’s different with your own kid that even though you don’t do well around other children – you’d do great around your own.

So do I want a child?   Yes.

But will it happen? … Well you’ll just have to wait till the end of After the Affair to find out – won’t you?   : )

No Timothy Edwards – not everything you accused us of at the dinner that night was a lie …

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It’s Budget Time

Posted by Sarah Hall on Saturday, May 11, 2013, @, 2, pm in Politics | 0 comments

Well it is that time of year again – budget time!  A new fiscal year is almost upon us and it is that time when all government entities sit down and do their budgets.

So let’s take a look at what we are dealing with this year in regards to revenue for FY2014.

At the State Level we have our usual cat and mouse game between the Republican Party.  You have Governor Brewer who wants a budget with Medicaid Expansion in it and she won’t accept a budget without it.  Than you have the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader (both Republicans) who don’t feel Medicaid should be expanded to include those making 133 percent of the federal poverty level.  Brewer is actually trying to align with the Democratic Party to get her Medicaid Expansion.

So the question is simple – should Medicaid be expanded to include those adults making 133% of the federal poverty level?   Up until a couple years ago when the financial crisis began – Medicaid did IN DEED cover those making 133% of the poverty level.  But the State couldn’t afford it anymore – so they got rid of it.  So the question is – should it return?

Let’s take away Obama Care and the requirement that the State has to do this in order to get the extra federal money for Medicaid.  Just take away that factor because in the long run Obama Care only covers the extra coverage for so many years.  In the end – it’ll be up to the states to cover it anyway.  So back to the original question – can the state afford to reinstate this extra coverage?

In my conservative opinion – no.  Next year everyone has to be on some form of Health Care.  The federal government is going to subsidies those that cannot afford it anyway.  So why is the state going to go that extra mile and do something that will already be done by the feds?  I don’t care what Governor Brewer says – the state is not as fluff in money as she makes it seem.  That’s my personal opinion.  I believe the conservative figures the Joint Legislative Budget Committee released because you always go with the more conservative figures.  It’s the Conservative thing to do.

So in theory – no.  The state of Arizona should not pass the Medicaid expansion … HOWEVER

Yes there is a however

Proposition 204 passed in 2000.  It was a voter approved initiative that required Arizona to cover those making 133% of the poverty level.   I am a big stickler of voter approved initiatives.  Even if I don’t like them or don’t agree with them – like Prop 8 in California – it’s a VOTER APPROVED initiative meaning the VOTERS put it in place.  If the voters of the State of Arizona want to spend their tax dollars (because at the end of the day the Arizona State Budget is only there due to our tax dollars) on covering 133% of the poverty level then the State needs to do it.  Now granted this was passed 13 years ago so MAYBE it needs to go BACK on the ballot.  Maybe voters have changed their mind but until THAT happens I cannot in good faith say we should not cover the Medicaid Expansion.

Now as for the County budget – well the County for the past 5 years anyway (I moved back in 2008) has been in the black.  However we got 3 new Supervisors this past November and are in the process of selecting a new County Administrator (yes they changed the name from Manager to Administrator because in order to be a manager you’d actually have to manage somebody and with this new board the Manager is really just a puppet to the Board of Supervisors) so I really am intrigued to see the County’s finances since we got these three new Supervisors.  I mean after all we did just ‘give away’ County buildings, County flood control dollars and $250,000 to a park in Mohave Valley.  With all this ‘free’ money just being given away to the Cities and various Supervisors’ agendas – I really cannot wait to see what the budget looks like this year.   Should be interesting.

Now as for the City Budget – well I have not read much in the papers regarding it except for the City wanting to give money away to nonprofits.  What is up with people giving away my tax dollars these days?  First the City pays for the skate park now they are giving away money to nonprofit agencies hand-picked by the City Council.  What if the LGBTS Non Profit wants money?  How can I apply for some of that free City money for them?  Hmmm?   Nonprofits are there to RAISE money for their cause not to be given free Government handouts with MY tax dollars.

Fiscal Year 14 – should be interesting to see how all these different budgets play out.

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Why Are People Such Assholes?

Posted by Sarah Hall on Friday, May 10, 2013, @, 8, pm in Sarahs Rants | 0 comments

Well hello blogging world!  Long time no talk – well okay it’s only been a week but it feels longer.  I should update more – I know.

Speaking of updates – I have finally started the Photo Gallery Section again.  The Photo Gallery somewhere along the way got completely messed up.  It had something to do with coding, outdated data, years of neglect, and well … the point being I have finally started to get it back up.  All my photos are on facebook and I really don’t want to use Coppermine again (it’s what fucked me up the 1^st time) and I hate Nextgen (why people swear by it is beyond me).  So fuck it – I am just going to connect my Facebook (which is public btw – if you wish to follow my public updates go for it – or add me as a friend – I really don’t care.  I have nothing to hide – I’m an open book remember?) Albums with my website.  So that is what I am in the process of doing.  One day all my photos – from when I was born in 1986 to today will be posted once again for the entire world to see.  That is the goal anyway.  I think this time though I’m going to leave out the nudity … I know – boring huh?  : )   Except for the scandals Part 2 AOTM Photo Shoot – I think I’ll leave those up.

Speaking of AOTM Photo Shoot – I am almost done with Part 1 (almost) and have decided on a cover for the book.   I need blood and a body bag and well of course someone to PUT in the body bag.  Haha!  As for the part 2 cover – what do u think about me, naked, behind a chair with an FBI jacket and in hand cuffs?  Yeahhhhhhh – Part 2 is scandalous and I am so looking forward to writing it so the cover HAS to be scandalous.  I have done a Part 2 Photo Shoot already with me semi-naked so fuck it – this time no top just me covered by a chair with an FBI jacket on it and in handcuffs.  Haha!  Yes, I know I am so living up to my critics interpretation of this blog being ‘provocative, profanity-laced and filled with sexual innuendos.’

Anyway so I have been up to a bunch of nothing lately.  Just being lazy with the mutts.

We got Duncan a GPS Collar because I swear to God I am so flipping paranoid that he is somehow going to get out one day and then we’ll lose our baby.   He is a really good dog but he’s too damn curious for his own good.

So we got him a collar that will alert us if he gets out and it follows him and it even gives his daily activity reading.  He’s supposed to have a 375 but the dang mutt is so crazy in the head he gets over a 400.   Haha!  We are thinking of getting Charlie Brown one too not cause we’re afraid we’ll ever lose him but because we want to know how much activity he gets a day.   The dang dog is still fat!  I think he has lost some weight since we got him but he’s still fat.

So Cory and I are going to see Cory’s mother in Blue Springs, MO June 7^th through the 14^th.  Yes people – a road trip to MO should be so much fun (sarcasm) and to top it off we are taking Duncan with us because I don’t trust anyone to watch him.  Lol!  He’s too crazy in the dang head!  My parents will watch Charlie and Sue said she’d come check on the pigs for us.  But yeah Duncan + Cory + a 20 hour car ride – oh this should be interesting.

Anyway, that really is all I have to update you all on.

The parents are coming over for Spaghetti Bread tomorrow night for Mother’s Day cause Cory works Sunday.  But then I am going out with them Sunday to La Vita Dolce because they have Salmon Wellington in a Lobster Cream Sauce as a special.  I don’t care if it’s $28!  It’s so worth it!!  It comes with a glass of champion, salad and a desert – so yeah I think the price is worth it.   I am excited!  I love anything wellington.  Haha!

Anyway write more later.

I was thinking of bringing the Photo A Day back.   Thoughts?

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Common Core – The Evil Step Mother of No Child Left Behind

Posted by Sarah Hall on Wednesday, May 1, 2013, @, 9, pm in Politics | 1 comment

If you have all have followed my blog since the beginning, you know I was the biggest advocate against No Child Left Behind back in the day.  My graduating class was the last class to not have to take the standardized AIMS test in order to pass High School.  Now I am sure I would have passed the AIMS test with flying colors and I was given the opportunity to take it to find out, but I refused.  I have and always will be against a standard federal set of tests in order to graduate high school.

Now I am not against a common core of national standards.  I agree the concept behind Common Core to a small extent is reasonable.  Why should a student who lives in Iowa not Arizona be learning different sets of standards?  Why was it when I moved from Illinois in 4th grade I felt like I was a class ahead of the kids in Lake Havasu.  They were just learning multiplication and I had already had a year of it.  Having a common set of national standards is not a bad idea.

So what is common core any way?  I am sure many of you have heard it, but I am sure none of you know what is truly is.  I didn’t until today when I had the privilege to sit in on a teleconference with the Hartland Institute regarding Common Core.  I must say after the call was over the question on if I want a child was answered.   The answer – Hell No because there is no way in hell I want my kid growing up in the United States educational system.

Common Core is a comprehensive K-12 Reform put into place to fix the errors of No Child Left Behind and to make educational curriculum standards for the nation while trying to implement a higher standard of learning for our children.   It is a national set of standards that outlines what kids at different grades and levels should be learning.  For example it specifies that kids in 3^rd grade should be learning 3 digit multipliers.  Like I said to a small extent the concept behind Common Core is not a bad idea.  No Child Left Behind LEFT our children behind.  Like I predicted my senior year of high school, putting standardized tests into place and relying mostly on teaching kids based off passing a test was not the way to go.  Studies have proven my theory that kids learn better when school districts can take a more personalized approach to their education.  That is something you can’t get with a common set of standards geared around a test.

Now if Common Core was JUST that – a set of guidelines for schools to follow with no standard test – hell even if it was state tests or districts test – I probably could go ‘eh, okay.’   But Common Core is far worse than No Child Left Behind.  In fact, give me No Child Left Behind before you give me Common Core in our classrooms.

Common Core standards were created by two private, non-profit organizations, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).  They were independent organizations who had no set of federal guidelines to follow.  In other words, the standards were created behind closed doors.  The federal government had no direct involvement in creating the standards but many federal agencies through lobbyist and other means put millions of dollars into these organizations

To top that off In 2009 the Federal Stimulus Bill gave states incentives to adopt Common Core Standards with enticements such as “Race to the Top” and the No Child Left Behind Waivers.  They promised states federal stimulus money if they committed to adopting Common Core Standards in a specific time frame.  Each state was given 2 deadlines to submit applications in order to receive the money and both deadlines were before the final common core standards were even adopted.  The final standards were adopted on June 10^th of 2009 and the 2^nd deadline to submit an application for the federal stimulus money was June 1^st.

Common Core is scary and what is even scary is that 45 states have already blinded adopted Common Core without ever truly reading through these standards and with the test still yet to be finalized.  The national test by the way that Common Core is centered around is being created by a federal review board.  The federal government is playing a key role in our childs education with very little to no input from local communities and local governmental entities.  In fact a state is not allowed to change the common core curriculum to match their state or local needs and they can only add up to 15% of new information to it.  There is also no mechanism in which to change or adjust the material at the nation level.  If enough teachers feel something needs to be added into the Common Core standards, there right now is no way to go about doing it.

The state of Arizona has already signed onto common core and will begin implementing it this school year.  The cost to implement Common Core WILL break our schools.   If you think the educational system is broken now, you just wait until Common Core rules and regulations go into place.  The Department of Education has not released an official estimated cost of implementing Common Core nationwide; however two independent estimates have been given.  One done by the Pioneer Institute estimated the cost over the seven year period to be anywhere from $12-$16 trillion dollars.

The Arizona School Boards Association and Arizona Association of School Business Officials conducted a survey of the costs to implement Common Core in our state.  They estimated the total startup costs to get the program going (which included the cost of new text books, training and assessments) would be about $156M.  Additional costs related to technology, including administration of the PARCC assessment (the federal test) would be about $225M.  When the test is implemented in 2014 it will be an internet/computer only test resulting in schools who have not done so already to invest in computer only technology by 2014 in order to administer these tests.

Did Arizona realize this when they signed onto Common Core?  Personally I doubt those five states who have not signed on yet will have much choice in the end.  The Federal Government will deprive them of funds and push them into finally accepting these standardizes that will destroy our educational system further.

Now aside from costs and no local control, Common Core doesn’t seem to come with what it’s main purpose is – to set high national standards for our students.  A national review committee was put into place to review the Common Core Standards.  That committee consisted of teachers, post secondary educators (including community colleges), civil rights groups, English language learners, and students with disabilities.  A handful of those on the committee refused to sign off on the standards because they felt they were mediocre and did not meet the “international benchmarks” needed in today’s competitive world.  One study in fact found that common core standards in math will put kids behind a year in the subject once they get out of elementary school and 2 years behind at the end of high school.  In fact, Common Core standards make it a requirement for students to have mastered multiplication by 6th grade instead of 4th.  6th grade!?  Children should be learning the beginnings of fractions by sixth grade.  Multiplication should be a piece of cake and yet Common Core has them not even going beyond basic Algebra in high school?  How is that international bench marking?

But wait – I haven’t even MENTIONED the scariest part about Common Core and that is the part that has NOTHING to do with education.  Under Common Core all states who sign onto the program are required to implement a database that creates individual data for each student and makes that data available to network with the federal government and other states.  The Department of Education re-wrote their privacy laws to allow the US Department of Education to be able to share data with any agency they want regarding our children. I call it the “digital DNA” footprint.  They ask for about 416 data points on each child ranging from religion, blood type, diseases, and even voter status if they are old enough.

You know I wrote this crazy out there story called Affair of the Mind Part 2 in which Justin was a Federal Agent assigned to a new program to research and implement what I called “DNA Tracking.”  Every baby at birth would have their DNA mapped and kept into a data base along with finger prints on file.  Social Security cards and numbers would be a thing of the pass and it would all be about your DNA and your finger print.  The Federal Government justified the program in my book by saying it was a way to combat identity theft.  Who can steal DNA?  Right?

Affair of the Mind Part 2 (at least that part anyway) was supposed to be apart of the ‘make up a story so far fetched no one will ever believe you’ part.  In other words – It was suppose to be a completely made up syfy type thing.   Who in their right mind would think that we’d start DNA profiling people at birth?

Common Core may not actually DNA Profile but the concept behind what they can do is really not stretching the truth too far.

I am starting to wonder if my whole DNA Profiling story is really not that far off from actually becoming a reality.

Common Core is scary & honestly I would NEVER EVER raise a child in today’s public school system.  I graduated in 2005 and in the 8 years I have been out of the public school system, I have seen nothing but decline in our schools.

Common Core is NOT the answer to our educational problems.   In fact if anything Common Core makes the problem 10,000X worse.

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Finishing the Unpacking Process

Posted by Sarah Hall on Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013, @, 7, am in Sarahs Rants | 0 comments

So we are almost all done unpacking!  Only took us a month, but we finally got there.

Saturday we re-organized the shed.  It was only 104 outside, but hey it had to be done.  You can finally see the floor again … granted we still have stuff to go through and Cory needs to organize his blue drawers of tools, but at least now we know where stuff is.   We found a lot going through that shed too that we either forgot about or couldn’t find – like we finally found our Rumba (the robot vacuum  and all the batteries I swore we had but could never find.  Lol!

The doggies thought we were crazy for being out there in the heat (we didn’t actually start on the shed until around 10am and didn’t finish until like 4pm – yes it was almost an all day process).

We went and got pizza at Papa Johns for dinner and stopped at Kmart and Safeway.   We got more monkey towels to match our monkey theme.  We actually we got palm tree towels and checked out to find out they were doing a 10% off purchase deal with your Kmart Rewards Card.  So I went back and got the monkey towels cause it was a good deal.  Those dang towels are expensive.  $10 bucks a towel and then like $7 for the hand towel and did you know they don’t call a wash cloth a wash cloth anymore.   It is now called a “finger towel” and they seem to have gotten bigger than your traditional wash cloths back in the day.   Anyone else find that weird or am I just getting old?   Lol!

Anyway Sunday I did laundry all day – yes laundry is an all day process.  I do laundry once a week mostly.  Usually on one of the weekends.  I am glad I can do laundry though WHENEVER I want.   It is so nice to have our own washer and dryer

Cory and I spent the day hanging pictures and getting the knick knacks put up.   We just have a couple more pics to do, need to make a couple adjustments in the office and need to clean up the guest bedroom and we are done!!  : )   Yeahhhh!!  

Cory cooked breakfast for dinner on Sunday and we watched Once Upon a Time.  Then he went to bed cause he works 5am-1pm so he always goes to bed around 8 now.  I usually stay up till 10 but I stayed up till 1030 catching up on Secret Life of the American Teenager.   I like that show but I am glad to see it end.  After season 2 it just got kind of boring.  I still watch it cause I want to know if Amy and Ricky will end up together at the end of the day, but it is time for it to end.  And whatever happened to Ashley?  I liked her character.   I wish they would have kept her on the show.

Anyway that is all.

Write more laterz!

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Is This Suppose To Be Our Happy Ending?

Posted by Sarah Hall on Sunday, Apr 28, 2013, @, 10, pm in Politics, Sarahs Rants | 0 comments

So I got home from work on Friday to find a letter from the City of Lake Havasu.   Now instead of sitting here and boring you all with the details of it – I’m just going to post it.

At least I changed City policy but note how they didn’t offer for my item to be re-heard (not sure it’s legal for them to but I do believe a council member could bring it back for reconsideration – at least u can at the County level) and as for them claiming to contact me – that’s complete bull shit. My Iphone and I are attached to each other at the hip (if an Iphone had a hip). If someone calls me – I know!! They didn’t try to contact me they’re just trying to cover their ass but hey at the end of the day at least I changed city policy … : ) Right?

You know I posted this exact letter on facebook on Friday night and one of my friends brought something to my attention that I had not thought of before and it is that if she were the City Clerk having to send this letter that she’d be rather embarrassed about it.   Sad the council and Mayor cannot own up to their own responsibility in this and instead must throw the city clerk under the bus.   ::tisk tisk::   So I do apologize to Ms. Williams – my posting of this is in no way reflecting on you doing your job wrong.  You did nothing wrong.  The mayor has his issues with me and unfortunately doesn’t have the guts to face me because if he did – I would have been notified.

But hey – at least I changed city policy for all FUTURE appointments.

And just a little FYI – it’s A Hall.  Sarah A Hall – but u all knew that already, didn’t you?

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Would You Like Some Cheese With That Wine

Posted by Sarah Hall on Friday, Apr 26, 2013, @, 10, pm in Sarahs Rants | 0 comments

Yesterday was Lake Havasu Republican Women’s Wine & Cheese event.  It was some good times with some awesome food!   I have to give credit to Gay Crews for hosting the event and for President Sue Donahue for putting it together (and for making the amazing cheesecake bites!  Yum!!  I’ll be making some and posting the recipe don’t you worry).

I don’t write much about my women’s club like I use too.  You all remember the days of SarahAHall.Com (known as Sarahmarkham.com back then) where I would rant and rave about it (usually for dramatic, I dislike Ms. Fremont reasons).   But the reason it doesn’t get too much front face on my blog now a days is simply because there’s nothing to say (except on meeting day when I go over who our speaker was) and that is a good thing.

We are moving to Shagrue’s next month on the first Tuesday of the month (at 11:30am in case you wish to come – cost is $16) which I am excited about!!  Not to diss on the Quality Inn (okay it’s dissing on them – sorry no way around it) the food at Shagrues I am sure will be 100% better.  Plus they have a bar there (not that I can drink and then go back to work but hey some people just tend to go where there is alcohol so maybe that means more members).

Anyway the Wine & Cheese was well attended (well somewhat not like the entire city of Lake Havasu came out and partied with us ladies (and men) but you get my point).   It was a WINE & cheese event so obviously there was drinking.   Hey no one said you can’t have Republican and Alcohol in the same sentence.  There were some interesting characters there.  I won’t name names – well I suppose I could make this said person a character in my story but then this said person would actually have to play some sort of role in my life which they don’t so therefor no need to give said person a character name – but interesting conversations were had which maybe I just shouldn’t go into.  I mean Republicans are still suppose to be proper and conservative right (unless you’re me of course – I don’t really consider myself proper maybe stuck up but not proper).

Anyway I got home late last night to find my Kindle Fire had FINALLY arrived.   We signed up for a bank promotion about 5 months ago to get a Kindle Fire HD for free.  I’ll be doing a blog soon on the difference between Android and Apple and Kindle Fire vs Ipad.  It should be an interesting blog if you care about that type of stuff.

Anyway I best be going now before I say stuff I shouldn’t … not like that EVER happens but hey you know me …

Oh and to just add to people’s confusion (not that anybody asked) but yes I do consider myself a lesbian – I’m just married to a guy.  : )

I love confusing people with my sexuality …. haha!

Love ya all!

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