Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Independence Hall Tea Party Wants to End Public Schools

from "Advocates of privatized education want to end public schools," by Bob Braun, Newark Star Ledger 7/11/2011:

"We think public schools should go away,’’ says Teri Adams, the head of the Independence Hall Tea Party and a leading advocate — both in New Jersey and Pennsylvania — of passage of school voucher bills. The tea party operates in those two states and Delaware.

They should "go away," she says, because "they are hurting our children.’’

later
"Our ultimate goal is to shut down public schools and have private schools only, eventually returning responsibility for payment to parents and private charities. It’s going to happen piecemeal and not overnight. It took us years to get into this mess and it’s going to take years to get out of it."

That's an extreme statement to make. Something to keep in mind if you like the idea of public schools.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Teri Adams does not wish to end public schools.

In the brief, garbled phone conversation Ms. Adams had with Mr. Braun, she was referring to "persistently failing" public schools.

Mr. Braun completely mischaracterized her position and that of The independence Hall Tea Party Association in an obvious attempt to ridicule and discredit the organization.

The Association, of which Ms. Adams is President, supports school choice.

We believe parents should have the right to decide where to educate their children--whether it be a public, private, religious, charter, vocational, cyber, or home school.

Quite often, the school of choice will be a public school--since there are many fine public schools.

In advocating choice, we are seeking the best education possible for each and every child.

Don Adams, Co-Founder, Independence Hall Tea Party Association

Anonymous said...

What is Sean Carpenter, Independence Hall Tea Party Vice President for Pennsylvania, doing on a PUBLIC school board? Is this his attempt to help his cause by destroying a public school system from within?

AboveAvgJane said...

I did a quick search and did not see anything that specifically stated the Sean Carpenter on the West Chester School Board is the same Sean Carpenter who is the VP for Pennsylvania for the Independence Hall Tea Party PAC. It is a fairly common name. Could be two different people.

Anonymous said...

You would think it could not be the same person with such a blatant conflict of interest...oh, but it is!
I can't find the picture that is out there somewhere, but if you look at the below link you will see reference to "An example of that is my neighbor, 39-year-old Sean Carpenter...He helped start the Pennsylvania Conservative Council, which, among other things, encourages participation in local elections. That led Carpenter to run for the school board seat he now holds...The last couple of years he's also been active with the Independence Hall Tea Party, which often meets on that mall outside the National Constitution Center".

So I repeat my concern--what is this person doing as a Director of the WCASD School Board????

http://www.ncoc.net/Back_Channels_These_residents_defy_civic_health_ranking

AboveAvgJane said...

He must have gotten enough votes to win the election. I know it is frustrating when someone whose policies you don't agree with is elected. The solution is to get together with some friends or the local party and run someone against him next time.

Anonymous said...

Oh, don't worry, we will. However, if you go to the link at the bottom of the section in cctruthsquad.com that has this info on Carpenter, there is an article discussing the ethics laws related to public school directors. I'd be willing to bet the cost of an hour of an attorney's time to see if Mr. Carpenter has broken any of his ethical obligations here. Perhaps a recall is on the horizon and we won't have to wait until 2013.

Anonymous said...

It's amazing that Above Average Jane and Annonymous, who is not brave enough to sign his or her name, would not even acknowledge that the Independence Tea Party Association corrected the lying well known leftest, Mr. Braun, and the liberal Star Ledger on their erroneous story that you reprinted
on this Website.

Shame on you both. It's obvious that you would prefer to hurt an all volunteer organization,
the Independence Hall Tea Party Association, than correct the record so that others might understand exactly how the group
envisions improving the education of our children through school choice.

Don Adams, Co-Founder
Independence Hall Tea Party Association

AboveAvgJane said...

The newspaper did not issue a correction. According to the newspaper Ms. Adams sent emails saying she wanted to end public school and told the reporter that she had sent the emails. Presumably the reporter saw copies of the emails.

Therefore I don't see anything to correct.

What you're presenting is a "he said / she said" once removed.

Anonymous said...

The leftist lying rag that is the Star Ledger REFUSED to print a correction. It was made abundantly clear to Mr.Braun, who did not identify himself until the end of the phone conversation, let alone ask for an interview, that our organization was focused on "Failing Schools," as our official document below proves. No one from Independence Hall Tea Party sent E-mails to Mr.Braun or the Star ledger stating otherwise. Quite the opposite. Braun was told REPEATEDLY that we had no interest in closing successful Suburban Public Schools, or successful schools of any kind when he asked about our position on them. Our focus was, and has always been on obtaining vouchers for ALL children attending failing public schools regardless of class. Braun is nothing more than big, FAT prevaricator both literally and figuratively and he knows it. https://ui.constantcontact.com/rnavmap/emcf/email/view?flow=view&camefrom=view&

Anonymous said...

Dear Jane,

You are, once again, mistaken.

The anti-Tea Party Star Ledger was asked to print a retraction but they refused.

For the last time--Teri Adams never said, "All public schools should go away." She doesn't even use the expression 'go away.'

The Star Ledger cannot prove Ms. Adams said such a thing, either.

They have no proof other than Mr. Braun's claim.

Just ask them to provide you with a recording of her statement.

They wouldn't be able to provide you with something that doesn't exist.

It's a matter of 'she said v. he said.'

And the most important thing of all is that we're telling you exactly what our Association's position is.

The Independence Hall Tea Party supports choice in education.

Parents should ultimately be allowed to decide what schools their children attend--whether they
be PUBLIC, private, charter, religious, cyber, or home schools.

The money, of course, should follow
the student.

Right now, states are subsidizing failing public schools while many successful private and parochial schools are being forced to close due financial pressures.

How sad.

Bet many on the left, like Mr. Braun, secretly believe parochial schools 'should go away.'

Of course, they would never say such a stupid thing in public.

Mr. Braun, however, could falsely accuse a Tea Partier of espousing such an opinion, and get away with it, because it would seem plausible that a mindless Tea Partier could say such a stupid thing.

Isn't that one of the steriotypes the media has projected onto the Tea Party?

Not only are Tea Partiers stupid, they are racist and violent, too.

Leftist attempts to marginalize and discredit the Tea Party never end.

Don Adams, Co-Founder
Independence Hall Tea Party

AboveAvgJane said...

I have posted your comments on this blog entry, clearly stating your views of Mr. Braun's article.

The people I know who have interviewed by Mr. Braun speak very highly of him.