If you have never taken a look at Stow Patch’s web site here is a link that will take you directly too it:

http://stow.patch.com/announcements/school-levy-aug-2-2011

Due to an overwhelming response to our website (some from other states) you may be experiencing lags in the time it takes for your computer to load the website or log-in to leave a comment.  There is nothing wrong with your computer or the website.  We are proud and thankfull that so many of you are visiting us!  PLEASE BE PATIENT.  You may try loading or logging-in at a later time.  WE WELCOME YOUR VISITS AND YOUR COMMENTS.  Also, would the guy in the white van please stop stealing our signs.  Witnessed by two people, unfortunately, we were unable to get a license plate number.  Some witnesses suspect that the van is owned by a local institution.  We’ll be watching and we do plan on prosecuting.  (In case you don’t know it, stealing signs is considered a crime.)

For those of you that are visiting us for the first time, you must register in order to log-in.  Click the registration button under the log-in window.  We only ask for your email address so that we may contact you if we find a problem with the post.  We do not need your name!  You may register with any name or “handle” you wish.  The password you enter is yours alone and you should write it down somewhere so you can comment again in the future.   THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION whether or not you leave a comment, but we hope to see your opinion in print soon.

DID YOU KNOW….?

There is no school record of the School Board approving and adopting the International Baccalaureate Program curriculum.

 There is no school record of School Board meeting minutes showing any community meetings that were called to explain I.B.

 There is no school record of parental meetings at Indian Trail or Echo Hills to explain the I.B. program.

 There are very few school records showing the payments made for the training expenses of personnel for I.B.

 There are a few school records showing the payments made for the travel, food and lodging for administrators and trainees for I.B.   Most payments are hidden as credit card payments without any known itemization.

 If you wanted to learn more about I.B. and possibly remove your child from participating in the program you must have investigated it yourself and notified the school by June 1, 2011.

 That even if the money being used to pay for I.B. is coming from ARRA (federal stimulus funds) the costs beyond the funding will be carried by the local taxpayer. 

 There is no school record indicating the School Board’s approval to spend the stimulus or any other funds for I.B.

 Evidently the taxpayer’s of Stow and Munroe Falls are left to surmise that the Superintendent is acting entirely on his own and the School Board does not see the I.B. program as important enough to be bothered with it.  Or, possibly, maybe the Board doesn’t know how to reign in expenses and control their employees, a major part of what they were elected to do in our opinion.

 Is this what a new ten year, 6.5mil levy is going to get us?  Have you even been notified of the levy vote coming up?  A few selected residents of the city received a nice post card from the levy committee to remind them to vote.  The rest of us are being left in the dark in the hope that a light turn-out will pass the levy.

  WE URGE YOU TO VOTE ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2011, AND REMIND YOUR NEIGHBORS TO VOTE TOO.  IT’S IMPORTANT FOR ALL OF US.

Click here to read a local parent’s letter to the Stow-Munroe Falls community:

www.truthaboutib.com/aparentsplea.html

While the School District is pressuring the taxpayers of Stow-Munroe Falls for a new 10 year levy at 6.5 mills, the costs for the International Baccalaureate Program mount.

According to the IB application Form A, the school to be under consideration to join the program must pay $75,100.  This fee is just to apply for consideration.  So far Indian Trail Elementary School has paid $9,500 for the “consideration phase” and will soon (if not already) spend another $9,500 for the “candidate phase”.    The “candidate phase” is expected to cost Indian Trail School around $46,000.  If approved, the school will be charged another $32,000 to sustain the program.  These amounts are subject to change because most of the paperwork has not been completed. 

 In addition to all the fees, the training also costs a bundle.  So far the school district has shipped teachers and administrators to such places as Chicago, St. Petersburg, Florida, Atlanta, Georgia, Orlando, Florida, Miami, Florida, Cincinnati and New Orleans.  In addition to travel expenses (paid for by the taxpayer) there is a $765.00 registration fee.  The Chicago trip included the Superintendent and some School Board members.  So far, about 40 school district employees and board members have made the trip to far off places for training.  These figures do not include the current teachers/administrators being trained nor the future trainees.

 Indian Trail School began the process in September, 2009, and has been implementing the candidate phase since June, 2010.  The final phase includes a school visit by an IB inspection team, no doubt at taxpayer’s expense.  If the inspection is favorable, the school becomes authorized to offer the program and attains the status of “IB World School”.  The school will then be re-inspected in three years and then every five years thereafter (at taxpayers’ expense, of course).  There are no refunds offered if the school fails any of the inspections.

 The contract, signed by the Principal of Indian Trail School, reminds the administrators that any dispute with the contract must be finally settled by three arbitrators in accordance with the Rules of Arbitration of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Geneva, Switzerland.  The arbitration is supposed to be confidential, contrary to our “sunshine laws”.  At least the arbitration process is conducted in English.  This whole process, of course, will be charged to the taxpayers.

 Below is a chart showing the current and proposed budget just to implement the IB program at Indian Trail School:

In light of the following document, we are forced to ask:

Do we want a foreign entity controlling the way our children are educated with a “universal curriculum framework for peace education”?

Do we want an organization that at one time appointed Sadam Hussein to the post of Human Rights Advocate to influence how our children will be educated under the guise of an “international education system”?

Do we want our children taught to conform to the values, beliefs and behaviors of a “world government system”?

Do we want our school system forced to travel to Geneva, Switzerland to challenge a dispute before an arbitrator appointed by a chamber of commerce?  If we need a chamber’s involvement, Stow already has one.

What does a chamber of commerce have to do with this level of education anyhow?

Our Constitution and other foundational documents are directly opposed to the tenets of the IB curriculum and , indeed, are not even taught in the program.

Do we want our children to be influenced to  “not follow a particular political system” or to pay no heed to “any particular nation”?

Do we want a program that advocates circumventing our elected officials?

Do we really need to send more money to foreign countries?

ARE WE WILLING TO PAY THE HIGHLY EXPENSIVE  FEES, MANY TO BE INCURRED ANNUALLY, TO RISK TEACHING OUR CHILDREN SOMETHING THAT MAY ONLY BE A VERY EXPENSIVE PASSING EDUCATIONAL FAD (there have been many in the past)?

AMERICAN LEGION RESOLUTION

NUMBER 31

(In Its Entirety)

 

RESOLUTION NO:   31

SUBJECT:   International Baccalaureate Organization of Geneva, Switzerland

 

WHEREAS,  The international Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) sponsors the International Baccalaureate Program (IB ) in relationship with the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO);  and

 WHEREAS,  this “relationship” has formed what it called a universal  “curriculum framework for peace education”;  and

 WHEREAS,  IB is a program of UNESCO developed for the purpose of creating what UNESCO calls an “international education system”;  and

 WHEREAS,  According to UNESCO, the  worldview taught by IB includes the promotion of the Earth Charter (a religious/pantheistic document).  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (which views human right the same way Communist countries view human rights) and multiculturalism (which is based on the ideology of Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci);  and

 WHEREAS,  IB is structured to change the attitudes, values, beliefs and behavior of its students to conform to the “world government system”; and

 WHEREAS,  IB is a transformational system of education which exists to promote internationalism,  and

 WHEREAS,  Dr. Ian Hill, Deputy Director of IBO, said that the primary goal of IBO is the promotion of “world citizenship”.  (In his article, “Curriculum Development and Ethics in International Education”, given at the UN Disarmament Forum, 2001);  and

 WHEREAS,  Any arbitration of disputes between American public schools and the IBO:  “shall be finally settled by one arbitrator in accordance with the Swiss Rules of International Arbitration of the Swiss Chamber of Commerce.  The seat of the arbitration shall be Geneva, Switzerland”;  and

 WHEREAS,   America’s foundational principles of national sovereignty, natural law and inalienable rights are at odds with the IB curriculum and are not taught;  and

 WHEREAS,  IBO explicitly states that its curriculum does not follow the political system of any particular nation, including the United States of America;  and

 WHEREAS,  IB programs have currently infiltrated, with the Department of Education’s approval, 1,367 schools across the nation; 717 high school programs; 405 middle school programs; and 245 primary grade programs as of November 3, 2010; and

 WHEREAS,  The international education system developed by UNESCO and the worldview taught through the IB curriculum are in direct conflict with the American Legion National Americanism Commission obligations:   “To uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, to foster and perpetuate a 100 percent Americanism;  To inculcate a sense of individual obligation to the community, state and nation;  To combat the autocracy of both the classes and the masses;  To safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of justice, freedom and democracy,

 NOW, therefore, be it

RESOLVED,  By the American Legion, in regular meeting assembled, that the American Legion based on the Americanism Pillar,  which we are founded on, encourage our Legislators to oppose the implementation of the International Baccalaureate Program in our public institutions of education;

 AND, be it further

 RESOLVED, That the American Legion encourage our Legislators to oppose the Department of Education’s  role in this infiltration, under the ruse that IB offers a rigorous academic program that our institutions of education are unable to develop;

 AND, be finally

 RESOLVED,  That the American Legion encourage our Legislators to ensure that our public institutions of education remain under control of local government and  that this government’s authority never be abdicated to a Non-Government Organization such as IB under the influence of UNESCO or any other International Activity!

 As signed, dated and authorized by the governing body of the American Legion