Scandal rocks AZ State University, Pres.Michael Crow slides

ASU’s Michael Crow’s salary exceeding $1.55 million in base pay and bonuses vaults him to nation’s top paid public university president

The local newspaper can’t get enough of Arizona State University President Michael Crow. It devotes numerous articles to extolling the virtues of the overpaid liberal,* who has put together programs providing financial assistance to illegal aliens, as tuition and fees continually skyrocket  for Arizona students and wildly spiral for out-of-state American citizens. 

Today’s edition of the Hillary-endorsing newspaper headlines a front page report, “Audit: ASU misspent more than a $million, questions raised over use of research funds.” The 3-page article includes references to redacted information throughout the audit, and “questionable expenditures.”  Missing is any mention of Michael Crow.

Since Crow is in charge of the university, why is there not a single reference to him? 

Money magazine in June 2017, named Crow as the nation’s highest paid public university president, at that time raking in $1.55 million in base pay and bonuses, with a package that vaulted him into the top spot.

His future brightened considerably in May 2018, as he received a 15% raise in his base pay bringing his salary — excluding bonuses and perks — to $690,000 applied retroactively to January 2018. Crow also receives automatic annual 3.5% increases in his base salary starting in September 2019  His salary was unanimously approved by the Arizona Board of Regents.

ASU’s website still extols President Barack Obama Scholars Program, which is described using these words, “President Barack Obama represents outstanding academic achievement, thoughtfulness, a long record of service to others, inspired leadership and a commitment to building strong communities across this country.” It includes a “coaching component.” to elevate failing minority students.

Obama has been out of office since 2016, but still rates high at ASU.

*These figures, published by The Chronicle of Higher Education, reflect Michael Crow’s base salary as of 2016-17. His bonuses and other compensation, including car and a housing allowance for his nearly 5,000 sq. ft. Paradise Valley mansion, personal and social club benefits are in addition to his base plus a $150,000 bonus and a $550,000 payment from the university foundation as a 10-year retention bonus.

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#REDSforEd teachers followed actual dunce, Noah Karvelis

For many Arizona parents, the anger over their children’s teachers abandoning them and sneering at their contractual obligations as they went out on strike for over a week, still rages. The bond of trust was irretrievably broken as they deserted over 840,000 students while over demanding a 20% pay increase for their part-time employment.

Newly elected Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman boasted she “proudly voted to walk out” with her fellow #REDSforEd striking teachers as they followed Socialist Pied Piper Noah Karvelis a 24-year-old hip hop music teacher and avowed Socialist. Hoffman, whose own teaching credentials are paper thin, says she was “inspired by unity within the movement.”

Not only are these educrats intent on dumbing down Arizona students, ironically Noah Karvelis is now being exposed as also being a failed student himself.

Breitbart News reports Karvelis only holds a “provisional” teaching certificate, having failed to complete the required coursework and pass tests on the U.S. Constitution and the Arizona Constitution — documents on which he places no value. Popular KFYI-550 AM conservative talk show host James T. Harris, previously outed Karvelis‘ insufficient credentials.

Important to remember is the fact “underpaid” teachers, who work 81/2 months a year, are able to support the far left teacher’s unions* to the tune of $millions a year, earmarked for Democrat candidates and liberal causes.

These same people are undermining the values conservative parents try to instill in their children. Karvelis’ résumé states he served as campaign manager to elect leftist Kathy Hoffman and was also a volunteer for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. Additionally Karvelis has been a political consultant and staff writer for the Progressive Times, which defines itself on its masthead with this banner: “Progressive, independent journalism for the political revolution.” His mantra is, Teaching is political, and silence is complicity. Karvelis, a young white male. is also a self-hater.

This is akin to putting Marxists in charge of educating our children. Noah Karvelis, and those who march to his extremist tune, are dangerously influencing America’s youth, steering them away from democracy that flourishes in our representative Republic, and into the killing fields of Socialism.

Rare truth was contained in the words of then-retiring NEA legal counsel Bob Chanin. Listen to his admission carefully.(brief video.) He admits that the unions are about money, power, and a leftist agenda —- clearly stating “It’s not because we care about children.

Passage of ballot propositions — 301 in 2000 increasing the state sales tax and 123 in 2016 a grab from the state land trust — guaranteed more money for education, which apparently is never enough. School districts routinely hold budget overrides and bond elections to “get more money into the classroom” —- eduspeak for bolstering teacher’s salaries. A major premise of passing the Arizona Lottery in 1980 was that money from ticket sales would fund schools.

Falling prey to the teacher’s demands was foolishness personified. Akin to attempting to bribe a mobster, no amount will ever be enough.

* Center for Responsive Politics

The harsh realities of Socialism

Venezuela takes a nosedive

The economic crisis in Venezuela has reached fever pitch as alarmed Venezuelans lined up to buy water and fuel on Sunday. The country has entered the fifth day of a nationwide blackout that has left scarce food rotting in shops, homes lacking water and cell phones without reception. Health care is imperiled as patients are dying in hospitals after back-up generators stopped functioning. Desperate Venezuelans, struggling to find food, are looting supermarkets during the blackouts, which have paralyzed the country.

Government authorities suspended school and business activities today providing no information on a possible time frame for resolving the dire situation, leaving the nation’s residents worried that the shutdowns could extend indefinitely.

Chaos reigns. The country’s massive power outage comes as President Nicolas Maduro faces an unprecedented political crisis and a hyperinflationary economic collapse. Opposition leader Juan Guaido invoked the constitution in January to assume the presidency after declaring Maduro’s 2018 re-election a fraud.

Venezuela is out of options. Prices are estimated to be rising at a rate of 3% every day, making the annual inflation rate more than 40,000%. An International Monetary Fund official warns the rate could reach 1,000,000% by the end of the year — one of the most disastrous episodes of hyperinflation in history.

Three-quarters of Venezuelans have lost an average of 24 pounds. Doctors report children dying of malnutrition. Malaria cases have spiked due to a collapse in treatment. Mass departures from the country have surged.

Possessing the world’s largest oil reserves is of no consequence as Venezuela suffers from a catastrophic economic downturn and alarming societal ills brought on by the failures of Socialism.

Yet the United States now has Socialists in congress. Millennials shamefully lacking in historical knowledge are increasingly supportive of both Socialism and Communism. 

This Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) post lists what the group considers its 2018 election successes:

“A renewed working-class movement across this country gives us hope. Earlier this year, teachers in West Virginia went on a historic statewide strike, winning massive concessions and inspiring similar militant action in communities from Arizona and Oklahoma to Kentucky and Washington State. In every respect, 2018 marks the return of the strike and what looks to be the beginning of a new era of militant working-class resistance to corporate control of our society.”

It’s a blatant acknowledgement of leftist teachers unions involvement in crippling strikes that abandoned more than 840,000 Arizona students for over a week…..the same students they have systematically dumbed down. The correlation is undeniable.

Arizona has three DSA chapters. This is the post from the Phoenix-based group along with an invitation to “Join the Revolution.”

These under-educated nitwits would fit in perfectly:

Law school grads failing bar exams under scrutiny

Loony Left insultingly claims diversity considerations trump academic achievement

The fact that too many law school graduates are failing to pass the bar exam on the first test has caused the American Bar Association to consider a proposal requiring the schools to have a 75 percent rate of passage within the first two years of graduation, rather than the current five-year time frame. It has also increased the standards for accreditation of law schools. Arizona’s problem-plagued Summit Law School will cease operation after the current class graduates in 2020.

The proposals are sensible, given the fact that lawyers can have clients whose future hangs in the balance depending on the outcome of a trial. Putting it another way, how many people would choose a surgeon who had difficulty passing the medical boards?

Before applying for a medical license, there is a three-step test called the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE), the board exam that must be passed in order to practice medicine. This test is unusual for two reasons. First, students take each part at different stages of their medical education. Second, unlike many standardized tests, the USMLE actually assesses mastery of the material, not how well one takes a test.

Patients and legal clients have every right to expect their doctor or lawyer knows what they’re doing.

But liberalism has now invaded the examination bastion, taking precedence over rationality. This stand-alone, bold-faced paragraph in the Hillary-endorsing Arizona Republic newspaper tells what radio commentator Paul Harvey, used to call “the rest of the story”:

“Critics worry struggling schools will respond by requiring higher scores on the law-school entrance exam. This would hurt diversity in law schools and the legal profession, critics say, because minority and economically disadvantaged students historically … scored lower on the Law School Admissions Test.”

When they require legal services, count on the fact that those “critics” will seek the best lawyer they can find — regardless of ethnicity. Insultingly demeaning a trained professional as being unable to cut the legal mustard due to their “diversity” component, exposes the not-so-subtle bigotry of low expectations routinely engaged in by the radical left. Hypocritically giving lip service to the fraudulent, separatist concept of diversity should no longer be tolerated.  Regardless of manufactured protestations to the contrary, rational Americans know our strength is derived from unity and ability comes in all colors and from all economic backgrounds.

AZ Republic touts fetid, incestuous, sham award

 

Leftist news skew brings honor to newspaper

The anorexic, continuing to wither and fail Arizona Republic has mustered enough energy to continually hammer a major target: charter schools. They not only operate independent of the public school system providing parents with choices for their own children‘s education, but they excel at doing it. This drives the liberals running the newspaper apoplectic to the point of publishing countless hit pieces on charter schools that have waiting lists for admissions.

It’s worthy of note that charter school teachers did not participate in #Reds for Ed, the mass union-backed walkout, demanding 20 percent raises, as they abandoned 840,000 students statewide for a week — in violation of their contractual agreements — as they followed a 24-year-old, self-proclaimed Socialist leader.

Now the newspaper proudly proclaims it has received a “top honor” for the charter school reports winning the George Polk Award for Education Reporting. The award was conferred by the obscure Brooklyn Long Island University that notes a focus on environmental reporting. The school’s Global Institute hosted Bill Clinton — who doesn’t come cheap —- as he “addressed the sold-out crowd of more than 2,200 people for nearly two hours, touching on international affairs such as North Korea and the Middle East, as well as gun legislation, education, and the broader issue of democracy.” To the best of our knowledge, he left his cigar at home.

Clinton was introduced by former Congressman Steve Israel, who enthused, “President Bill Clinton’s historical impact and experience cannot be understated. His worldview is especially appreciated during this time of global uncertainty and complexity.”

And the elephant in the room is…?

Contrary to the self-congratulatory headline in the local newspaper, “Republic gets top honor for charter schools reports,” it was one of myriad recipient in 16 categories praised for leftwardly skewing the news. One winner excelled in bashing President Trump. Another alleges to have “amassed evidence of ballot fraud in a disputed North Carolina Congressional election.” 

Except for the bracketed sentence, this is an exact copy of the distortions the Polk Award praises:

A team of reporters in Louisiana showed that convictions from split juries disproportionately impacted non-white defendants. Another team in Arizona combed records to reveal false claims and insider deals in the charter school industry. A third converged on the southern border and then spread across the country to show the traumatic effects of separating children from parents and other relatives under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy of immigration.” [Unworthy of mention is the fact that the policy they are so outraged over was used extensively during the Obama administration.]

It continues, “Reporters analyzed a voluminous trove of documents to trace President Trump’s personal wealth to gifts from his father rather than to his own business acumen.”

The awards ceremony featured a “special panel discussion on the role of the press moderated by Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan.”

Is there a newspaper more deeply mired in leftist ideology than the Washington Post?  Only the shriveling Hillary-endorsing, Trump- despising, Arizona Republic.

The fish wrap has outdone itself.

Ed Supe Kathy Hoffman proves too much is never enough

Hoffman’s ‘State of Education’ speech demands additional teacher’s salary increases, as she thumbs her nose at 20% raises

It was easy enough to miss — but Democrat Kathy Hoffman, Arizona’s newly elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, delivered her fledgling State of Education speech.

A committed leftist, her campaign of smoke and mirrors promised a sound education benefiting Arizona’s school children, many of whom are in ESL classes and not up to speed in the basics. Yet Hoffman regards sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, including clear policies, support groups, and activities for LGBTQ students on the top of her list.  Her campaign website stated, “Welcoming family diversity promotes exclusivity and must be a priority for our state.”

Hoffman’s intransigent opposition to charter schools is abundantly clear, with these irrational words addressing her fears, “I do not support the expansion of ESA vouchers and will be voting NO on Prop 305 come November. If passed, Prop 305 would further defund our public schools. This is terrifying.”

The proposition was ultimately defeated by the public school teachers’ union activists* who couldn’t compete with the proliferation of excellent Charter Schools and want to deny parents choice in the education of their own children. While public school teachers went out on strike, none of the charter or parochial school teachers joined their Socialist-led parade.

Paid month’s long maternity and paternity leave is another of the policies Hoffman advocates, saying such plans would help retain teachers. Apparently working a part-time job, with lengthy holiday vacation days and summer’s off isn’t enough of an enticement.

Kathy Hoffman notes she “proudly voted to walk out” with her fellow #REDSforEd striking teachers who abandoned a reported 840,000 Arizona students for over a week in violation of their contractual agreements as they followed Socialist Pied Piper Noah Karvelis a 24-year-old hip hop music teacher and avowed Socialist. She says she was “inspired by unity within the movement.”

Lacking any leadership experience, Hoffman has spent more time as a student than as a teacher, having taught preschool for two years and two additional years as a years as a speech therapist.

After initially rejecting the outrageous demands for a 20% pay increase for their part-time jobs, Gov. Doug Ducey caved in to their threats while lying about the lack of a tax increase, using inventive language to deceive Arizona taxpayers.

We’ve been had…by politicians of both parties.

* Center for Responsive Politics

Brittany Zamora: Another sexual predator teacher

Had this sexual predator teacher not been caught, she would be receiving the 20% raise gifted by vacillating Gov. Ducey, who ultimately caved to the demands of the striking unionist teachers who abandoned 800,000 AZ students for a week. His move only embolden them to hold taxpayers hostage at their whim.

For years Seeing Red AZ exposed the sexual predators in Arizona’s schools.  These were not people scaling fences to illegally enter the grounds where children were supposed to be getting an education.  The predators we routinely exposed were the teachers entrusted to educating students, not exploit them.  After covering countless members of the leftist teacher’s unions who betrayed the trust of parents and students, we let our coverage of these predators lapse, since it became what we referred to as the “Endless Parade.”

This 2013 post exposed the strenuous efforts engaged in by leaders of the nation’s major teachers unions, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers — objecting to barring such predators from working around school children. They claimed the measure might “jeopardize workers’ protections under union contracts.”

In numerous cases involving teachers or administrators, union officials have negotiated separation agreements with employers, allowing offenders to quietly leave their positions with a letter of recommendation — enabling them to secure jobs in unsuspecting districts — as well as taking a hefty payout with them as they leave.

Today, we’re reviving the topic of predator teachers to introduce Brittany Zamora, 27, a married sixth-grade teacher at Las Brisas Academy Elementary in Goodyear Arizona who repeatedly engaged in sex acts at the school with a 13-year-old boy who was in her class. His parents have filed a lawsuit against the district, where other teachers and students were aware of the inappropriate relationship. Rather than notifying the boy’s parents, Principal Timothy Dickey lectured students about “the dangers of rumors.”

Read their explicit text message exchanges here.

Zamora was arrested at the home she shares with her husband and is being held on $250,000 bond. 

In 2016, Zamora was certified to teach elementary education K-8 in Arizona, according to the Arizona Department of Education’s database, which now notes she has a disciplinary record on file. She was certified to teach Structured English Immersion, a method of rapidly teaching language skills to non-English speakers. Obviously, she’s found a universal language that bypasses the mundane teaching practices. 

Brittany Zamora has been booked into the Fourth Avenue Jail, charged with 8 counts of sexual contact with a minor, Class 2 felonies; 2 counts of child molestation, Class 2 felonies; and I count of transmitting obscene material, a Class 4 Felony. She is scheduled for a status conference on March 29 and a preliminary hearing April 2, 2019.