Wednesday, October 16th, was the hardest podcast I’ve had to do in the roughly two years we’ve been broadcasting. Our friend Mary with V1SUT Substack joined us on the third Wednesday as usual, but this time she brought her own guests.
With Mary were Justin Cotes and Casey Yochum – two men who have bravely come forward to tell the stories of their abuse at the hands of, teacher, coach and athletic director, Brent McGee.
The stories the two men have shared with Mary are simply heartbreaking, but they want to encourage other survivors of Brent’s employment at either Noble Public Schools, or Wetumka Public Schools, to come forward and they believe telling their stories can help.
In the clip below, Casey shares how he was able to record Brent McGee’s confession.
Yes, you heard that correctly. Casey recorded McGee’s confession, took it to an attorney who agreed that the confession was good, only to find out that he had just aged out of the Statute of Limitations for sexual assault while a minor.
This begs the question; why is there a Statute of Limitations on ANY crime? Doesn’t that handcuff the victims?
Sexual abuse can be buried in the subconscious – as it was in Casey’s case – for many years. Does this mean that abuse couldn’t have happened if a victim doesn’t remember it? Clearly not, but Oklahoma’s current law puts victims in that nonsensical predicament!
Obviously, next legislative session, a brave legislator needs to come forward and remove the Statute of Limitations on crimes committed against children!
Before we signed out of the podcast, Mary goes over the warning signs of sexual abuse happening WITHIN THE SCHOOL and how to spot predatory behaviors by adults toward children.
To recap; be particularly observant about behaviors of coaches around young men (and, as we know from Ashley Roland’s story – young women too!). Watch for teachers overstepping their bounds and taking on parental roles, as well as violating school policy.
Mary reminds us about Representative Sherrie Conley’s bill to protect students from one-on-one communication with a school-employed adult – communication that can be allowing, or furthering, inappropriate relationships among students and school employees.
In fact, schools were supposed to train personnel in the law at the beginning of the year in order to help close this avenue of connection between students and school employees.
Please, speak with your Oklahoma legislator NOW about stepping up to write a bill that would remove the Statute of Limitations on child predation next session. In the meantime, watch the full podcast on our YouTube and Rumble channels and share this information with all those you know whose children are enrolled in ANY school outside their own home.
Wednesday, May 14th, author “Mary” of the Substack V1SUT Vantage joined Michael Grande and me on our ROPE Report LIVE podcast – which broadcasts live on YouTube, Rumble, X, LinkdIn and Facebook every Wednesday and Friday at 9am – to talk about test scores vs academic achievement in Oklahoma public education. Just the week before, “Mary” had written an article, “OK School Performance & Deceptive Data: Parents & School Board Members Untrained to Assess Student Outcomes“, and we wanted the chance to discuss the data she had uncovered on the state’s School Report Card website.
Many years ago – 2016 to be exact – the OSDE under the leadership of then-Superintendent Janet Barresi, created the “A-F school report card”. ROPE was so against it, we wrote a blog about it (Oklahoma’s A-F Grading System Get’s An “F”), we wrote letters to the Governor and Superintendent and Jenni spoke before the State School Board warning them about the adoption of the grade card.
Our primary objections were 2: 1) the only REAL reason to create the grade card was to get President Obama’s end-around No Child Left Behind. As a Conservative organization, we objected to President Obama’s notion that he could ignore the Constitution and go around Congress to make his own law (waiver) simply because he believed Congress would not act to reauthorize the NCLB and 2) because the measurements used meant nothing and could disguise poor student test results.
Sadly/oddly/not shockingly, the school grade card today is essentially the same as the one from 2016. Here were the categories and their percentages: Student Achievement (33%), Individual Student Growth (17%), Growth of Bottom Quartile (17%) and Whole School Performance (33%). If you don’t believe me, check out the categories and POINTS (now) of the updated grade card. Not much difference there, just a whole lot of words to describe how it is that the State isn’t really being transparent with taxpayers and parents – I’d imagine so they can continue to get money from the feds as when the whole grade card thing started.
Here’s a short clip of Mary talking about what she found when she wondered why Achievement Scores are so high in schools housing primarily failing kids.
This is, of course, nonsense, but I pointed out in this other clip from the podcast, that since at least the mid-70’s, public education has been dumbing down education and then trying to cover their tracks. In the clip below, I show how the ‘recentered’ ACT scores made it look like students were doing very well, when in reality, they were doing MUCH WORSE on the test than 2 decades before.
If you’d like to see the whole video, you can find it on our YouTube or Rumble channels.
If you got anything out of the podcast or the research – PLEASE SHARE!
…there are those who believe “ObamaCare” was made to be so difficult to navigate in an effort to crash America’s current health care system. The thought here is that if it becomes too hard to get health insurance, the public will clamor for SINGLE PAYER and just let the government handle the whole ball of wax – none of these silly exchanges – no, we’ll just move America over to the same side of the abacus as England and Canada and nationalize health care. After all, we’re of socialist stock (eye roll).
I believe this is exactly what is happening to public education in America today when I look at the recent history of education ‘reform’.
Second; from the start, you act as the hand of benevolence by reaching out to states in their time of monetary need with ‘free’ money to keep education programs running (State Fiscal Stabilization Funds) where you hook states into a four pillared education reform system that includes national standards and state longitudinal databases.
Third; you play on America’s competitive spirit by offering states a grant where you can Race to the Top of education accountability and results, providing money through a program that continues to perpetuate the four pillars of education reform.
Fourth; you do NOT re-authorize the existing ESEA, but instead, go around Congress completely to create waivers for the worst parts of the law (such as the part where ALL children must be ‘proficient’ in English/LA and Math by 2014). This, in essences creates your own ala cart law menu that keeps states hooked into the all-important four pillars, but also adds something called “accountability measures” for schools such as Third Grade Reading Retention programs, A-F grading scales and teacher accountability measures.
Fifth; you spend 6 years selling the plan to legislators while managing the whole scheme from behind the curtain of private, non-profit organizations within which taxpayers have no representation, propping up the system with huge infusions of cash from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and big business such as Exxon/Mobile and ‘happy to help’ players such as the US Chamber of Commerce.
Sixth; after you have states on their nationalized educational track through your promoted “pillars”, you scare states into keeping all their ‘accountability’ measures by threatening their Title 1 funding. Though states/districts have no idea what will really happen to them if they don’t go along, states take the waivers and in exacting the instructions, districts self-destruct trying to figure out how to keep pressing the bar for their money like a lab rat for its pellet. *Teachers are afraid of having test scores held against them to the point of losing their jobs so they turn on administration. *Administrators turn on parents who are told they must implement ‘reform’ measures and that they can’t opt out of state tests the A-F grading system utilizes scores to create school grades (page 9) without forcing complete ruination of their school;
Schools are expected to test 100 percent of eligible students enrolled in that school during the testing window for every OSTP exam for which they are eligible, regardless of FAY status.
Schools that do not test a sufficient percentage of eligible students will be penalized as follows (all percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number):
The school’s Overall Letter Grade will be reduced by one whole letter grade if fewer than 95 percent of all eligible test records have valid scores.
The school’s Overall Letter Grade will automatically be reduced to an “F” if fewer than 90 percent of all eligible test records have valid scores.
Seventh; you collect lots and lots of data by digitizing the Common Core State Standards states had to take to get an RTT or Waiver, then, you pay two testing “consortia” to create digital online test questions that will align so perfectly that everyone who looks at the scores will be able to tell which standard the students got right and wrong on their exam. Since we so admire the European system of everything including schooling, can’t you believe this will imagine an end result that sounds like, “Sorry Johnny, you can’t be an engineer because you missed several math-related test questions indicating you are not engineer material.” You also collect all kinds of miscellaneous data for federal programming such as the “Safe and Drug Free Schools” that includes very detailed information on discipline incidents (that, by the way, don’t just fall off the internet when your child needs a clean record for college and career applications!). You then use this information against schools when they decide they are dumb enough to come crawling back for more money and or ‘waivers’ from existing unconstitutional federal education laws to further put the screws on them to get what you want.
(Sadly, a whole lot of the links in the original piece above from 2014, are no longer working)
In case you’ve not seen our Facebook posts with further explanations as to why ROPE has chosen to support Dr. John Cox for Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction, I’m going to paste them into the blog where you can share them with all your smart friends who are NOT on social media!
From June 7th:
A story about Dr. John Cox and why history is important: (update at bottom)
Back in 2012 (or so), the Carter County Republicans asked me (and ROPE) to do a presentation for them about why we needed to fight Common Core. They had the meeting at a hotel near I-35. After speaking, Julia Seay and I and a few others went to Two Frogs down the road to have dinner. Dr. Cox had been to another of our presentations previously and came to dinner with the group that night.
Julia and I both wondered why on earth a Democrat was so interested in fighting Common Core, so, we grilled him – beginning with abortion. He shocked us. He said he was 100% pro life. We asked him about gun ownership and he was 100% pro-second amendment.
As we got further into our discussions, Julia and I both started laughing. Julia actually told him something like, “You’re more Republican than many Republicans we know!” He explained that he’d been brought up as a Democrat and where he lived, there weren’t any Republicans to vote for anyway. If he wasn’t a Democrat he couldn’t vote except in a general election, where he traditionally voted for Republicans.
During the Common Core fight, John consistently showed up to do what he could to push back against an initiative he knew would tie his hands as an administrator and dumb down learning for his students – WHEN FEW OTHER SUPERINTENDENTS – REPUBLICANS OR DEMOCRATS – ANYWHERE IN OKLAHOMA DID.
Today we know that ROPE, Dr. Cox and all those who fought so hard against Common Core and federal intervention into state public education systems WERE 100% RIGHT about everything we said would happen with implementation of CC.
Since coming out with our endorsement of Dr. Cox yesterday, we have been lambasted and castigated by a prominent Christian once-supporter and had subscribers drop our email newsletter. This is all fine, as ROPE will fight to the death to allow people to express their opinions, but it is UNBELIEVABLY hurtful and frustrating.
To think – after all these years – that ROPE (or me) would support someone who supports policies I/we HAVE NEVER SUPPORTED is nonsensical. Why on earth would someone look at a label before taking the word of others who may know more about the person than they themselves – or even better – INTERVIEWING THE PERSON THEMSELVES?
Ronald Reagan was a Democrat. TRUMP was once a Democrat. One of the – hands down – most courageous, competent public servants we have in office – Cindy Byrd – was a Democrat and WE SUPPORT CINDY BYRD TOO!
I know that the devil has been seeding distrust since the beginning of time. I know he is the Father of Confusion and Lies. I know Conservatives have been through the ringer lately and trust is hard.
HOWEVER, allowing ourselves to tread water in a sea of emotion, where we all get spooled up in the back-stabbing, intrigue of ‘politics’ to make us feel as though we’re ‘doing’ something – we need to STOP AND THINK – and use discernment and reason to chart our course.
I’m not saying ANY man is perfect – only Jesus gets that label among humanity. All I’m saying is, the more we use emotion over reason and the more we desire to fight with one another, the faster we lose any chance of gaining the ground we’ve lost to the Communists – who are our REAL ENEMY and threat to individual liberty.
**I’m also going to add here – ROPE is not funded by anyone. We tried to be a PAC but it didn’t work. We have always supported this group on gas donations and out of our own pocketbooks. We don’t owe allegiance to anyone or any group. About what other advocacy group can you say that?
And from my personal Facebook page June 9th:
Yesterday, a person tagged me in a post that said they didn’t understand our stand for Dr. Cox because he has ‘never stood for parents’.
Here is the truth: Dr. Cox STOOD WITH PARENTS AGAINST COMMON CORE when only one or two other Superintendents did. But even that isn’t the issue here.
While Dr. Cox was labeled a Democrat, he STOOD WITH PARENTS against a FEDERAL TAKEOVER OF EDUCATION.
Here is the list of REPUBLICANS who stood AGAINST PARENTS and FOR FEDERAL EDUCATION: Former State Superintendent Janet Barresi, former governor Mary Fallin, former Senator Clark Jolley (who is running for state Treasurer and who wrote the bill to insert Common Core AND OTHER OBAMA EDUCATION INITIATIVES – into our state) and the state Chamber. Oklahoma Council For Public Affairs (OCPA) NEVER GOT INTO THE FIGHT FOR PARENTS AT ALL ON THIS ISSUE.
Who was right about Common Core? #ROPEWASRIGHT all it takes is a bit of internet search to find all the studies indicating just that.
As I’ve said before HISTORY IS IMPORTANT and if you choose to overlook it, you do so at your own peril.
In the end, who knows what Dr. Cox will do if elected – we can only go on our past experience with the man and the things he’s committed to us and the public. Obviously, Dr. Cox is human – as are we all.
We continue to remain friendly with Secretary Walters, but I did tell him, when I called to inform him of our endorsement, that one of the gravest concerns we have about his candidacy, other than his desire to see vouchers implemented statewide, is all the people with whom he associates.
In fact, his associates – all on ECKO’s Board of Directors – include former Policy Director for Mary Fallin, (Jake Yunker) – who, with former Secretary of Education Janet Baressi fought the repeal of Common Core – former Representative Lee Denney who fought against the repeal of Common Core and Jennifer Monies, who has worked extensively with the State Chamber who fought Common Core. This election cycle, Secretary Walters has had fundraisers thrown for him by both Jeb Bush – a Common Core and school choice proponent – and Betsy DeVos whose family runs the American Federation for Children 501(c)(4) and PAC; the (c)(4) of which reported 8 million dollars in revenues in 2019. Those names don’t inspire the idea of ‘parental rights’ to us, but the top-down, administrative, big government solutions of which we need to rid Oklahoma, not double-down.
