Unintended consequences

Out of the full day of testimony given at the Benghazi hearings today in the House committee, one thing may have been lost in the competing headlines.  Members of the US military just saw the first crack in the foundation of one of the pillars of our line of work--we never leave people in harms way.

The Warrior Ethos, the creed that we live by, is quite simple to understand.

I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.

The Benghazi terrorist attack, even using the details that all Democrats agree on, violates all four of these basic tenets.

I will always place the mission first.  The mission in Libya, after we helped force Colonel Gaddafi into a shallow grave, was to help transition to an elected Arab government that was not a threat to the US.  That mission was repeatedly pushed to the back burner as the consulate staff was forced to make deals with Al Qaeda militant groups, told to scale back security before the anniversary of out enemy's greatest victory, and denied repeated requests for more security assets at the consulate locations.  The mission comes first, and then we work out the logistics of how to accomplish that mission.

I will never accept defeat.  The very moment that the US government knew that a US consulate and the ambassador inside it was under attack, there should have been an overwhelming response, for two reasons.  First, the terrorists attacking the consulate should have been given evidence of the US commitment to defend what is in effect, sovereign territory of America.  Even a public announcement (to groups that we knew were active on Facebook and Twitter) that the US military was mobilizing and en route may have been enough to sway the second wave of attacks.  Second, the men and women in Libya needed to know that the cavalry was literally on the way.  Morale while under fire is a fickle thing-men who are in a hopeless situation will fight on for months if they believe that help is just around the corner.  But those who believe they are doomed to die will be more likely to quit the fight and surrender.  Can you imagine the reaction if on Sep 12, 2012 the world woke up to a tape of Al Qaeda beating a confession out of Ambassador Stevens?

I will never quit.  At several points during that long night in Libya, the US government quit trying to save our men and women in the consulate and started damage control.  When US military personnel in Tripoli were told to not get on a rescue flight, the US had already quit.  When the FBI investigators were not cleared to inspect the crime scene until 18 days after the attack, the US showed it had quit trying to avenge the dead.  And when reports surfaced of the prime suspects of the attack being seen in public with no US intervention, it was clear that the administration had decided to quit Benghazi.  Officials in the United States government made repeated decisions to give up on the lives of four Americans, and to give up on bringing their murderers to justice.

I will never leave a fallen comrade.  The heart of the contract we make with our men and women in uniform is that we will always come for you.  40 years after the war in Vietnam, we are still actively looking for those who were lost, and they are coming home every week.  This nation's first special operations mission was the failed Desert One raid to rescue the Iranian embassy hostages.  When a US soldier was found to be taken hostage in Iraq, every single US soldier in Iraq was given the details of the event and told to keep their eyes open.

For the military, the failure of these four tenets of the warrior ethos are poison to morale.  We ask young men and women to lay their lives on the line every day across the globe, and they say yes because they understand the deal they are making-if you don't come back we will find you and bring you home.  The attacks at Benghazi represent a breach of contract by US government, a vivid example that the promise we in the military rely on to assuage our fears may not be worth anything.  How can I ask a soldier to take on a dangerous mission when I suspect that America may not uphold its end of the bargain?  How can a Marine on embassy duty in a dangerous country feel safe if she thinks the embassy staff may be told to stand down instead of coming to rescue them from terrorists?

The political effects of the Benghazi attack will, I suspect, result in no more than partisan political haymaking and justifications.  But the unintended consequence of this very real failure to go and get our people in harms way will be long lasting and profound.

What is the DFL House thinking?

Lost among all the proposed tax increases, fee hikes, additional regulations and divisive social issues that is the 2013 session of the Minnesota legislature is that fact that there is a very real possibility that veterans in Minnesota will get royally screwed.  As I wrote last week, the House bonding bill very specifically includes no money for the last phase of the Minneapolis Veterans Home construction. 

A recent article in the TC Daily Planet highlights the bipartisan agreement on the need for this funding. Written by Tommy Johnson, known better to Minnesota conservatives as TwoPuttTommy, DFL activist and solid progressive-

By Tommy Johnson, TC Daily Planet

May 07, 2013

With just two weeks to go before the legislature is constitutionally mandated to adjourn, funding for the Minneapolis Veterans Home construction project is in serious jeopardy for the second year in a row. The Minneapolis Veterans Home was founded in 1887 and is the oldest of the State's five Veterans Homes.
Last year in August a state of the art 100-room skilled nursing facility opened and replaced a condemned Depression-era building. That was Phase 1 of a 2009 Master Plan. Phase 2 called for the demolition and rebuilding of Building 17's north wing. This was funded in 2010 but the Phase 2 is contingent upon funding Phase 3, the demolition and rebuilding of that building's South Wing.

On April 23rd, Dayton spokesperson Katharine Tinucci reiterated support for the project, stating, "Governor Dayton has committed to funding the next phase of the Minneapolis Veterans Home in his last two bonding proposals."

Tommy Johnson and I don't agree on much of anything politically, but we do agree on the responsibility our nation and state have for caring for our veterans.  A Veteran's Home isn't an entitlement-it is an earned benefit that was promised to men and women who defended our freedom and our entire way of life.  Tommy, as a DFL activist, tried to get an answer about why the funding for the home is not in the bonding bill.

Although the House bonding bill does not contain funding for the Home, on the same day House Speaker Paul Thissen said, "The Minneapolis Veterans Home project will be part of the discussion this session as we work to pass a bonding bill that can be signed into law."
A request for comment to the DFL Senate Caucus was not returned. The 2010 DFL Ongoing Platform (amended 2012) states the party supports "Providing timely and sufficient funding to appropriate government agencies to honor all our obligations to active duty military and military veterans." A request for comment on the DFL's position on funding for Phase 3 of the Master Plan for the Minneapolis Veterans Home possibly being delayed for the 2nd session in a row was not returned.

The state commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars commented for the story about the ridiculousness of the situation; without secured funding for the last phase of the project, the current phase cannot be completed, and it will end up costing millions of dollars more.

Reached for comment on May 6, Lee Ulferts, chair of a group of veterans organizations called The Commander's Task Force, said, "The unfortunate thing is if we go ahead with Phase 2 without the assurance that Phase 3 will be completed the whole design of Phase 2 will have to be revisited, as it will mean dead ending electrical, sewer, gas and water. The cost to do this is not insignificant. To the Task Force, it just seems incomprehensible that proper funding for this home is not provided. And now it seems that we can dig into tax dollars to restore the State Capitol for $100 million plus but we still can't find the money to provide beds for 100 veterans. When did our priorities get so screwed up?"

This isn't a partisan issue-I criticized the GOP legislature for not including funding for the project last year.  They at least had the excuse of budget deficits to explain why they bonded less than the full amount.  This year, the DFL is looking to raise billions of dollars in new taxes-surely there is money for veterans?

Libertarian party goes for the full crazy

The keynote speaker at this Saturday's Libertarian Party of Minnesota convention will go a long way towards perpetuating the stereotype that libertarians are unhinged and anti-military.  Meet Adam Kokesh-

Adam joined the US Marine Corps in 1999, one of the few sensible choices he seems to have made in the last decade or so.  In 2004, while serving with a civil affairs unit in Fallujah, he decided to violate military regulations as well as theater specific orders for Iraq by bringing home a war trophy-a fully functional pistol.  I've never heard if it was an Iraqi Army weapon, or a military issue 9mm that he appropriated, but either way war trophies are strictly and expressly forbidden, and was since the very beginning of the war.

While many soldiers and Marines get court martialed for war trophies, Adam got lucky and was given an Article 15 non judicial punishment, demoted (Sergeant to Corporal) and barred from re-enlisting.  In 2006, he was honorably discharged from active duty and transferred to the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), which is a duty status for soldiers who are not actually in a military unit, but still have a military obligation.  In essence, the Corps pushed him out of active duty, but did not release him from his full 8 year enlistment contract.

In March 2007, while still in the IRR and thus still a member of the military, Adam wore his Marine uniform during an anti war protest in Washington DC.  This was the point at which he came to the attention of the veteran community, and the folks at This Ain't Hell have nearly made a cottage industry of following Adam's craziness.  As Adam later admitted, wear of the uniform for political protest by current members of the military or those who are retired is also strictly prohibited by regulation.  After being recognized in a news photo of the protest, the Corps brought charges against Kokesh for wear of the uniform during a protest.  Kokesh doubled down on stupid by emailing the investigating officer in the case, saying that his actions were justified because 'we're at war', insinuating to the officer that the Corps had better things to be doing with its time than investigating him, and then, the piece de resistance, he told the commissioned officer in the US Marine Corps what he could go do with himself.  Military regulations in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, article 89, take a dim view of disrespecting an officer.

In May 2007, after a hearing to review the evidence brought to light by the investigator, Adam Kokesh was given a General Discharge from the US Marine Corps.  Not as odious as a dishonorable discharge, a General Discharge means you did something that the military considers bad enough to tarnish your entire military service.  Put in layman's terms, it means the Corps says that while Adam Kokesh may have served in uniform, he did not serve his full time honorably.

After a short stint as one of the ringleaders of an anti war group called Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) which was notorious for its shock jock style protests and encouraging vets to come forward to talk about war crimes they had witnessed (Winter Soldier), Adam lit out for greener pastures and landed in New Mexico, where he decided to run for Congress.  Adam reinvented himself as a patriotic American who loved his country (despite accusing the US of empire building) and a loyal veteran of the Marines (despite telling a commissioned officer to go f#*k himself).  Adam ran for the GOP endorsement, and when he lost, labored on to lose again on primary day.

Pivoting from running for political office to talking about politics, Kokesh struck it big with a nationally syndicated show, "Adam Vs The Man".  One small problem-he was picked up by Russia Today, the state sponsored entertainment and commentary arm of the new improved Mother Russia.
Criticized about pushing an anti-war and anti-US government ideology on a network owned and operated by the government of Russia, Kokesh said

"No, no—we put the fact that this is propaganda right out front. We're putting out the truth that no one else wants to say. I mean, if you want to put it in the worst possible abstract, it's the Russian government, which is a competing protection racket against the other governments of the world, going against the United States and calling them on their bulls#*t"

The big time gig lasted all of 6 months, before Kokesh was fired by Russia Today after he endorsed and solicited donations for Ron Paul.  While free speech is his right, the fact that Adam was a paid employee of a foreign owned corporation when he endorsed Paul ran afoul of the FEC, which frowns on foreign entities trying to influence American elections.

While Kokesh still introduces himself as the host of his show, he tends to leave out the fact that Adam Vs the Man is now a Youtube broadcast, making him little more than a video blogger.  Check out this 'broadcast' of Adam Vs The Man where he talks about breaking off a chunk of a dead Iraqi's skull to bring home as a war trophy for his girlfriend. He titled the episode "I don't support the troops."


Adam Kokesh is a celebrity in his own mind, who moves from one scam to the next sucking people in and making a living off of their generosity.  He admitted after losing the endorsement fight in New Mexico that he had to keep campaigning to keep accepting donations, which were his only source of income at the time.  He rationalized that with no problem.

The Libertarian Party of Minnesota would do well to make it known that Adam Kokesh is not their poster boy, or they run the risk of minimizing their already tenuous image among mainstream Minnesotans.

Robbing Peter to pay St Paul

My local paper, the Owatonna People's Press, is usually right of center but with a notorious populist streak.  The editorials they pen rarely raise eyebrows in the community; rather they give an eloquent argument to the readers for what most of them already believe.

So it's telling when the OPP breaks out not just the tongue in cheek wit, but a true scathing editorial that condemns the DFL led legislature for their entire approach to the budget and taxes.

When the DFL-controlled state House of Representatives went looking for a way to balance the budget and fill the projected $627 million deficit, the Democrats did so in a predictable way — by proposing to raise taxes. The plan, passed in the House Wednesday by a 69-to-64 margin, will raise $2.6 billion dollars by tapping high earners, smokers and drinkers. 

Even though the OPP wrote in favor of sin taxes compared to the incredibly unpopular extension of the sales tax to services that the governor proposed, the next paragraph makes it clear that sin taxes were simply less bad in their opinion.

Raising taxes on cigarettes and alcohol are not surprising. Despite being an incredibly regressive tax, such so-called “sin taxes” are popular among Democrats seemingly because it doesn’t take more money out of the pockets of people, but it also extends the long reach of government into individuals’ personal lives by trying to change their behaviors.

The OPP goes on to remind us of the actual origin of a popular phrase, 'robbing Peter to pay Paul'.

We are also reminded of that time in England, back in the days before the Protestant Reformation, when English citizens were expected to pay taxes both to St. Paul’s church in London and to St. Peter’s church in Rome. But the taxes were hefty and so some Englishmen would neglect the Peter tax in order to have money to pay the Paul tax. It soon became known as “robbing Peter to pay Paul” — an adage meant to express the idea of using the resources that legitimately belong to or needed by one party to satisfy the legitimate need of another party. The problem, of course, is that there is no net gain in doing it and, in fact, often makes the situation worse.

Such is the situation that the state of Minnesota finds itself now in as lawmakers and the governor are looking for any way they can to balance the budget and still meet the basic needs of Minnesotans.

But then comes the best line of the piece, and the sad truth about the DFL proposal to raise taxes over 3.5 billion dollars to 'solve' a rapidly disappearing deficit, now pegged at less than $650 million.

Yes, Minnesota faces a budget crisis. But let’s try to cut spending before trying to raise taxes. Otherwise, we’re just robbing the people to pay St. Paul.

Robbing the people is exactly what the DFL legislature is intending to do-not for pressing state financial needs, not to rectify a huge budget deficit, but for a laundry list of ideological spending wants.  

DFL legislature kicking our veterans to the curb

Billions of dollars in new taxes.  Taxes on beer, haircuts, home owners insurance, income, and even a temporary tax on high income earners.  But no money for Minnesota veterans?

The DFL budget proposed in the house calls for these tax hikes to fund over 2 billion dollars in new spending in the state, not to mention calling for another $800 million in bonding projects.  But among this orgy of new spending is one very glaring absence-the final $22 million to complete necessary upgrades to the Minneapolis Veterans Home.

Over 5 years ago, the governor and legislature agreed on a three phase series of renovations to the metro area veteran's home, with phase one having been funded and completed in 2012.  Phase two of the renovation has funding allocated, but the work is on hold until funding is allocated for pre-design of phase three.  Last year, the Republican led legislature deferred the $25 million total funding request because of the budget shortfalls Minnesota was facing, instead allocating $3 million to keep the project moving forward. This wasn't a popular decision with veterans, who were rightfully angry at having the project being kept in limbo.  But the reasoning was simple-the legislators felt the state couldn't afford the money last year.

But now, in 2013, the DFL legislature is proposing to fund every pet project under the sun.  With over $2 billion dollars in new taxes and spending planned, plus over $800 million in proposed bonding, the House can't find $22 million for the Minneapolis Veteran's Home? 

The renovations cover upgrades to basic services, making the veterans home more accessible to caregivers, and bringing the facility almost up to the standards of most private senior care facilities.  The men and women who are residents of this facility served their country with pride and were promised to be taken care of if they couldn't take care of themselves.  Funding every other project across the state while deliberately leaving out our veterans holding the bag is insulting and demeaning.  The $5.3 million in the bonding bill allocated to the MN Department of Veterans Affairs is just about the same that the Minnesota Zoo is getting, and less than 1/4 than the amount proposed to bond for the Board of Water and Soil Resources.

The Minnesota Commanders Task Force, a group of leaders from all of the veterans organizations across the state, has been asking patiently for this funding for the last 5 years.  Friday morning they will be holding a press conference to ask the legislature why veterans are being ignored in favor or pork barrel spending.  What will the DFL legislature say?

Veteran, not a victim part 7

It's been a while since I posted in this series, but the issue came up this week about how conservatives can disagree with US foreign policy without insulting or demoralizing the men and women who wear the uniform, not to mention their families who stay behind.  The BLUF, or Bottom Line Up Front is, you may have guessed, that we are veterans, not victims.

There are some key concepts that those unfamiliar with the military need to keep in mind. 1) today's military is an all volunteer force, 2) contrary to misconceptions, today's force is educated and required to understand right from wrong, 3) soldiers routinely worry more about their families than about themselves, and 4) we don't do it for the money, or the thanks.

We volunteered.  It's been over four decades since the the military draft lapsed, yet some people still treat those in uniform as poor victims who are serving against their will.  I've even met people who still think that a judge can order someone to choose the Army or jail for non-violent crimes.  The truth is, not only are we all volunteers, but since September of 2007, everyone in the US military enlisted or re-enlisted after the attacks of September 11th, 2001.  We knew we were volunteering to serve in uniform during a time of war, and we knew there was a chance of being sent overseas to fight.  We knew that our country had determined radical Islam and Al-Qaeda to be our enemies, and that we might end up fighting our enemies or those who aid them on the far side of the globe.

We are not robots.  The old stereotype about 'just following orders' is pure and ridiculous nonsense in today's military.  We train our soldiers extensively in morality and ethics, and require them to live up to those standards.  We encourage younger soldiers to ask 'why' when we are getting ready for a mission, and we require every soldier headed out on a mission to understand the larger picture of what we are trying to accomplish.  This requirement to understand the implications of one's actions are the reason that people who violate the military's rules and ethics are prosecuted and punished for their actions, such as the soldiers who shocked the world by abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib.  We didn't excuse their actions because they didn't know any better--we held them to account for their crimes.

But if we are held responsible for our lapses in judgement, it means we also must take credit for what we did right.  The US military helped bring freedom and democracy to 26 million people in Iraq, gave hope to a generation of young people who had known nothing but despair, and removed a dangerous, brutal and unpredictable dictator who freely admitted to crimes against humanity.  You may disagree with the war as a whole, but it is intellectually dishonest to argue that the war in Iraq was a complete failure, or that the US military didn't achieve what some considered impossible.

For every soldier on the frontlines, a family waits at home.  Ask a member of the military deployed overseas what the number one thing people can do for them is, and they overwhelmingly say 'take care of my family'.  And while there are many patriotic Americans who give of themselves to help military families, for those who disagree with US foreign policy, what you don't do may be more important than what you do.  My wife, while worrying about me in Iraq, trying to raise our kids alone, and faced with seeing her husband less than 22 days in a 22 month period, also had to watch the news every day (but only when the kids were asleep) and see people calling me a baby killer, a murderer, a pawn for an evil America, the foot soldier of the US empire, and my personal favorite, someone who got his kicks from 'killing brown people'. 

In this country, we don't hold sons accountable for the sins of their fathers, nor wives for their husbands.  Yet every anti war zealot who slandered me along with the entire US military also punished my wife for what they alleged to be my crimes.  Every libertarian who honestly disagreed with the War on Terror but choose to express that disagreement by comparing the US Army recruiting efforts to the Nazi Fallshirmjager corps was sticking a knife in the back of my children, who had to wonder why mom quickly changed the channel when the news came on.  There are plenty of people who believed the War on Terror was wrong, and that the US was making a mistake in pursuing it.  Yet only a small group of people took to social media and street corners to attack our troops in harms way. 

We don't serve for the money, or the glory.  Contrary to what some people think, it is very rare these days for someone to thank a veteran for their service (unless they are running for office, of course).  The peak of patriotism in the mid 2000's that saw people seeking out veterans and military to thank them has faded to a dull glow, even for a soldier in uniform or a veteran wearing an American Legion hat.  But we didn't serve because we want people to thank us.  We served because we believed it was the right thing to do, and because we believe that we have left the world a little better place than when we came into it.  Over the last decade, many of us served because we felt that engaging the enemy overseas was far better than letting the enemy attack us at home.  We served because we saw with our own eyes countries where those who disagree with their government are beaten, tortured or killed, and we wanted Americans to have the right to say what they will, even when their words make our blood boil.

So if you are a person who 'unabashedly decried his government's foreign policy', or 'strived to call attention to the folly of our interventionist foreign policy', yet now suddenly find yourself needing the support of proud US veterans, the first step is to put your ego aside and understand the damage that was done.  In the midst of the most stressful time most military families can endure, you mocked, distorted and belittled what their loved ones were risking their lives for.  In trying to draw attention to yourself with pithy comments on Twitter and snarky posts on Facebook, you crossed the line from honest debate over government foreign policy into the realm of accusing US soldiers of murder, and equating them with the very same terrorists we were fighting.

For us proud vets to accept your apology as sincere, you are going to need to do more than tell me about all the military guys you know, or try to pass off your comments as harmless and misconstrued without being able to see how they impacted those in harm's way and those waiting at home.  Most importantly, you have to convince us that you are honestly sorry for your actions.  You can't start making amends until you admit and accept the truth in your own mind.

Oh and please, for the love of Pete, do not use the word 'if' in your apology, unless you want every veteran to know that you are lying.

For the record

The 10th anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War has all the pundits, local and national, opining on what happened, what it all means, and where we are now.  Before you buy into all of the revisionist history being bandied about, let's review some key facts for the record.

At the end of the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein agreed to cease fire conditions (UN 687) that included UN inspections to verify he has gotten rid of his WMD program and current stockpiles.  Over the next 11 years, UN inspectors were never able to definitively say that Iraq had met those agreements.

The May 1st, 2003 declaration by then President Bush that 'major combat operations' were over is entirely accurate.  The Iraqi Army was defeated, and organized Iraqi military resistance had ceased.  For the next 6-7 years we fought a different kind of war, against a different kind of enemy.  An enemy who didn't wear uniforms, did not answer to a government, and did not abide by the laws of warfare as agreed to by the Geneva Convention.  The US military has different rules for war against a nation than we do war against an insurgency, and we transitioned from major combat against the Iraqi military to stability operations against guerrilla fighters.  We won the war against Iraq, then we won the war against radical Islam in Iraq.

Despite repeated claims, there are no verified examples of massive US war crimes against Iraqis.  The Haditha Dam incident resulted in only 1 conviction, and that on a technicality.  Eyewitness reports of atrocities collected under the Winter Soldier 2 committee have never produced one shred of proof of their allegations.

Everyone who looked at the intel believed Saddam had and active WMD program. When people tell you that the CIA faked the evidence, please ask them if they mean the CIA under President Bill Clinton, because that is where we started to hear that Iraq still had WMD.  The CIA under Clinton said Iraq still had WMD in 1994, Pres Clinton used WMD as justification for attacking Iraq in 1998,
and all of the following prominent Democrats urged action on Iraq's WMD issue; Joe Liberman, Dianne Feinstein, Tom Dashle, and John Kerry, Tom Harkin and Allen Specter, Madeline Albright, Barbara Boxer, Robert Byrd, Wesley Clark, Hillary Clinton, William Cohen, John Edwards, Dick Gephardt, Al Gore, Ted Kennedy, Carl Levin, Nancy Pelosi, and Henry Waxman.  All made statements on the record, most in the Congressional Record to the effect that Iraq had WMD and the world knew it.

Last but certainly not least, the country of Iraq is today, by all reasonable standards, and Arab democracy.  It's certainly not pretty, it doesn't have all the rights or niceties we expect here in America, but compare it to their neighbor to the north, Iran, which is imprisoning Christians, neighbor to the west Syria, which is in a brutal civil war intent on murdering enough of its citizens to stay in power, or nieghbor to the south Saudi Arabia which was condemned last month for beheading a foreign national accused of child neglect.  Compared to the other folks on the block, Iraq is a fairly stable democracy, not a bad result for our efforts.

Last but certainly not least, if you are a person who believes that all we have done in Iraq was moot, or not worth the cost, you are certainly entitled to that opinion, and it may well be proven correct by the judgement of history.  But please, no matter your party affiliation, don't go around telling people in a loud voice that Iraq was a waste, we were tricked into fighting, or that we didn't accomplish anything.  Because today's Iraq and Afghan vets, whether or not they believe that what they did was good, do not want to hear civilians who never served telling them how the war really was, what we really accomplished, or how all the troops who served in Iraq were stupid pawns in a political game.  Respect them, tell them thank you for their efforts, and then politely disagree with the war in general. And maybe buy them a beer while you are at it.

The problem with mandated school testing

The No Rugrat Left Behind bill has many faults, not the least of which is the fact that the federal government is interfering way too much in what should be local schools.  But what has become the second biggest problem with the bill is that teachers teach to the test standards, in order to help their students get a good score, thus ensuring a good score for the teacher and school.

Today, I got an email from my son's school that takes the problem to the extreme-asking parents to help motivate students to do well on test day.  Emphasis in bold is original, highlighting is mine-

Dear Maple House Parents,

As the weather changes from winter winds to spring sunshine it brings with it two new seasons…Road Construction and School Testing!  This April your child will be participating in the MCA III Reading and Math tests.  Reading tests will take place on Tuesday, April 16^th through Friday, April 19th.  Math tests will take place the following Wednesday, April 24th, and Thursday, April 25th.  These are statewide tests that are an important part of measuring the growth your child has made during this past year. 

As teachers it is important that the information that we are able to gain be an honest reflection of your child’s true academic abilities.  This information is used in planning, as well as placement in classes for following years.  Because of this, it is important that your child understands the importance of taking this very seriously and doing the very best job they can.

There are many things you can do at home to help your child be prepared to do their absolute best on the test!  A good night’s sleep is important to ensure your child is awake and alert, making them able to better focus on the task.  Food is fuel for the brain, so making sure your child eats well in the days leading up to the test, as well as on the day of the test is necessary.  A small breakfast will be available for each student on testing days.  Your child will also be allowed to have a water bottle at their seats during this time to ensure proper hydration. 

More importantly is that your child feels that they CAN be successful!  That is where you come in.  We are asking each parent to play a very important role that day.  Because you won’t be able to be there to cheer them on in the classroom, we are asking that you take some time and write them a letter or note that can be placed on their desk the morning of their test, encouraging them to try their very hardest and ensuring them that they can do it!  It is our hopes that through this form of communication, they are able to go into the test with a positive outlook and know that they have your support and that you care about their success at school.

These letters are meant to be a surprise for students, and will be accompanied by a small MCA “care package.”  Because of the “surprise” factor, we ask that you send these letters to school with your child in a sealed envelope marked with your child’s name, or even easier, attach them to an email and we will print them deliver it to your child on the morning of April 12^th.  We would ask that these be sent either with your child or via email no later than Friday, April 12^th, so we can be sure that each child has something to open that morning.    

We appreciate your continued support!  We know this will take some time on your behalf, but we feel this would be a great opportunity for you to let your child know how much you love and support them.  Please feel free to contact any of the Aspen House teachers if you have any questions.  Thank you!

These care packages for your child are available for only $1 each, and include #2 pencils, a highlighter, snacks and a waterbottle.

Stuff like this explains the boom in home schooling.