To hear Michigan Republicans tell the story, they are all about the importance of education in Michigan. Get them in front of a microphone, camera, or a reporter and they will tell you it’s one of their highest priorities. Their hypocrisy on this issue is in clear display this week as they passed to bills, H.B. 4110 and H.B. 4112, […]

The anti-union, anti-teacher corporatist group Mackinac Center for Public Policy has a long history of promoting the demise of teachers unions and public schools. They prefer a world where children are taught by non-unionized teachers in charter schools that profit from our tax dollars. Which is why it’s bizarre to the point of being Orwellian that they have granted $1 […]

I apologize for the lack of new posts this past week. My family is dealing with an ongoing medical crisis with my father and I have not had time to write. Regular posting will resume when the crisis is resolved. Last week, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder unveiled his new budget. According to his spin on the budget, per-pupil funding will […]

Last June, Dr. John Covington, the notorious former Chancellor of the state-run “School District for Misfit Schools” called the Education Achievement Authority, unexpectedly quit his position to “take another job” and “care for his mother”. Covington has a quite infamous history. When he left his position as the superintendent of Kansas City schools after faking a conflict with the board, […]

Pushing back against some of the narratives about job dissatisfaction and teachers quitting the profession, educators around the country are sharing their love of teaching through a social media campaign known as #LoveTeaching and you’re invited to join in with them. By Gary Abud, Jr. Teaching is a noble profession and arguably the one that gives rise to all others. A great […]

Last night, the Brighton Area Schools (BAS) board declined to take a vote on chartering the tea party “classical academy” being pushed by Pasquale Battaglia and a coalition of homeschooling parents. You can read more on the history of this politically extreme group HERE. After months of heated public discussion, the Brighton Area Schools Board of Education refused to even […]

At their meeting on Monday night, the board of Brighton Area Schools held a consensus vote on chartering a tea party charter school being proposed by the “American Classical Academy Coalition (ACAC)” (formerly the “American Christian Academy”.) The vote was 6-to-1 against chartering the “Lindbom Classical Academy” and a formal up-or-down vote has been put on the agenda for their […]

Over the past two months I have been writing about the efforts of a group of people led by tea party zealot Pasquale Battaglia, to set up a “classical academy” in Brighton, Michigan in an elementary school building purchased from the Brighton Area Schools (BAS). The group is called the American Classical Academy Coalition and they received a $100,000 grant […]

I have been writing about the efforts of a tea party-driven group called “American Christian Classical Academies” (ACA) to open a religion-based school in Brighton and their push to have Brighton Area Schools to be their chartering organization. Having purchased the Lindbom Elementary School from BAS for the tidy sum of $1.45 million, ACA, led by extremist Pasquale Battaglia, are […]

I have written before about an effort by a group led by Pasquale Battaglia to get Brighton Area Schools (BAS) to charter his “American Classical Academies” school. This group used to call them “American Christian Academies” before changing the name, and only the name, to avoid being seen for what they are: a tea party influenced school steeped in religion, […]

Last month I wrote about a conservative religious group attempting to open a charter school in Brighton, Michigan. The group was originally called the “American Christian Academies” then later rebranded themselves the “American Classical Academies”, retaining the ACA acronym. The ACA was recently successful in getting the Brighton Area Schools to sell them one of their elementary school buildings for […]