North Andover School Committee Chairman Al Perry needs to step down. PAYING ATTENTION WITH TOM DUGGAN By: Tom Duggan – May, 2006 Besides his general incompetence on the School Committee, Al Perry is a perpetual elitist insider who opposes reform, defends the status quo and is more concerned with being a member of […]
By: Tom Duggan – October, 2005 Last month the North Andover School Committee approved measures to evaluate academic expectations and goals for students in the North Andover School System. School Committee member Charles Ormsby made a motions, which was unanimously approved. The motion was to intended to support the school committee initiatives adopted last […]
By: Dr. Charles Ormsby – January, 2005 We have been bombarded with news stories recently detailing the abysmal state of public education in the US. It is a theme I have been preaching for decades and a disaster that I am now witnessing up close and personal. The spate of recent articles was prompted […]
By: Dr. Charles Ormsby – January, 2005 You may be familiar with Sir Ernest Shackleton’s disastrous expedition to the Antarctic that spanned 22 months from 1914 to 1916. It has been retold numerous times in books, newspaper/magazine articles, and even a PBS Nova special. After considerable hardship, all members of Shackleton’s expedition survived the […]
By: Dr. Charles Ormsby – December, 2004 I became hooked on politics in High School in the early ‘60s. My favorite bumper sticker was in support of Communist China. It read: “Admit Red China to the U.N. – Give Them Our Seat”. I’d suggest such a trade today, but I think every despotic regime is […]
PAYING ATTENTION WITH TOM DUGGAN By: Tom Duggan – November, 2004 With all due respect to the Superintendent of Schools in North Andover, you might think his previous job experience in Reading would have taught him a lesson or two about listening to parents and not supporting fuzzy math programs. Unfortunately for […]
By: Dr. Chuck Ormsby – September, 2004 The following is an exchange between John Stossel and Gilbert Casellas, the chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, on the topic of the Americans with Disabilities Act during a 1996 interview on ABC’s 20/20: Casellas: “The law’s fairly clear, it’s fairly simple.” Stossel: “If you come […]
By: Dr. Chuck Ormsby – September, 2004 Few topics are as emotionally laden as the issue of abortion. Such emotion often spills over to discussions (typically yelling matches) of the embryonic stem cell issue. Politicians see this as fertile territory for demagoguery and they attempt to take full advantage of the opportunity. It is […]
By: Dr. Charles Ormsby – August, 2004 Last month we discussed (The Valley Patriot, July 2004, Page 3, Freedom’s Laboratory) how free societies, by respecting the rights of property owners to keep their property and to dispose of it as they see fit, permit the maximum degree of rational experimentation and therefore maximize our rate […]
Some People Never Learn PAYING ATTENTION WITH TOM DUGGAN By: Tom Duggan – July, 2004 Former North Andover School Committeeman Diane Huster still doesn’t get it. After being thrown off the School Committee two years ago by the voters, Huster continues to engage in the very same personal attacks and viscous political tactics that […]
By: Dr. Charles Ormsby – March, 2004 If you are a parent of elementary school children, you’ve probably seen it: elaborate make-work homework assignments, cutting and pasting extravaganzas, overly complex and roundabout procedures to add or multiply numbers, estimation exercises that won’t quit, and the use of calculators in place of traditional arithmetic […]
THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX By: Dr. Charles Ormsby, December, 2003 “No legal plunder: This is the principle of justice, peace, order, stability, harmony, and logic.” — Frederic Bastiat, The Law, 1850 We thank God for Liberty. Bands play, soldiers march, and hands cover hearts. Our flag is a symbol of Liberty. Millions are flown, […]
THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX By: Chuck Ormsby – November, 2003 Society is constantly faced with vexing questions related to public education policies. Should we institute a common uniform for students? Should we spend more on mathematics and science, or on social studies? Should we increase spending on students that work harder and achieve more, […]
THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX By: Dr. Charles Ormsby – October 2003 Having been portrayed as the Slash and Burn Candidate for School Committee, I’m happy to report that, after six months “in office” (Unfortunately for me but fortunately for the taxpayers, I didn’t actually get an office), the schools seemed to have escaped without serious […]