Say No, to the "No-Zero Grading Policy!"

As a former Orange County Public School (OCPS) teacher, corrupt educational practices consciously reduced my passion and pushed me out of the teaching profession. One major issue, which I found alarmingly destructive was often disguised as productive and  “good for the students,the No-Zero Grading Policy.

Grades not only reflect how well a student is performing, but determine how effective a teacher and to a greater extent, a school is. The No Zero Policy, is a school-wide grading policy where students no longer receive grades lower than 50%. For example, a student who completes 30% of their work, and is due a 30% in the marking period, would be manually given a 50% at report card time. While a student, who receives a 55% or 65%, does not receive any special additional points or waivers of grade performance. In the short term, this policy helps students performing poorly, improve their grades through make up assignments at a drastically faster pace. In the long run, this policy produces a fictitious school-wide reflection of how well a student body is scholastically performing. Eventually, this leads to lower tests scores on Standardize tests and even a substandard curriculum which is used to constantly adjust to the abilities of the students.

In Orange County Public Schools, the biggest racket is the grading policy. Schools who institute the No Zero Policy are routinely graded and compared to schools who do not institute the No Zero Policy. Thus, giving an fictitious air of superiority to schools with A grades, and consequences to schools with D or F grades, most likely not instituting the No Zero Grading Policy. However, studies show, these school do not perform any better on State Standardized Tests. The difference is the willingness of school officials to cave into pressure from State and District Officials, who pressure the Principals, who in turn force teachers to turn in their grades with nothing less than a 50% or be reprimanded.

As a Senior Intern in 2008, I sat in a Teacher faculty meeting where the Principal handed down this new policy. And I never imagined that the “No Zero Policy” would spread from that middle school cafeteria to each of the five different schools that I taught. The policy remains fraudulent, an enabler of poor performance in students, and the primary reason, meeting education standards will continue to dwindle in the state of Florida.

Say No, to the “No-Zero Policy.”

Written by Mr. Cowan Amaye-Obu former Howard Middle School Teacher, OCPS Charter School Teacher

http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/TTR-MET-Rothstein.pdf

The High Priority Party: Looking For City Chapter Leaders & Members in Florida

"Are you in support of The High Priority Party themes?"

It is the full intention of The High Priority Party to assemble and elect qualified persons to determine public issues under the democratic processes of the United States (103.095). In addition to The High Party themes, we intend to file with the Department of Elections, local chapters to administer High Party meetings, compose High Party constitutions, and elect/remove Executives, Officers, and Members. Each Member must be registered to vote (to be amended by request of persons with privilege revoked).

It is the full intention of The High Priority Party to produce an elector registered to vote in the political party, in which he or she has so designated, and has a fundamental right to fully and meaningfully participate in the business and affairs of The High Party, without any monetary encumbrance.
The constitution, bylaws, rules, regulations, and other documents must reflect this fundamental right and provide for and contain reasonable provisions that prescribe to membership, parliamentary or townhouse practices, notification of meetings, election of officers (President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, Public Relations Fellow, and Guard), remove its officers, make High Party Nominations when required by law, conduct campaigns for party nominees, raise and expend Party Funds, select delegates to its state or national convention, and if applicable select presidential electors (103.095).

It is the full intention of The High Priority Party to fully organize the people. Leave your name and contact information, if you are interested in joining, funding, or supporting the themes of the High Party. For emails send to TheHighPriorityParty@gmail.com. Thank you!

-Mr. Cowan F. Amaye-Obu
"The struggle of the people today is real. Let us the people begin to address and solve our issues."

Inform Yourself: Documentaries Series

Knowledge is power. The High Priority Party is not a left or right leaning political association. The High Party bases it issues, views, and political stances based on information. Anyone who makes a decision to support or argue against a viewpoint, based on the source of its political party is foolish, and blindly indoctrinated to follow, whether a point is right or wrong. We shall not be marching robots, but alive living- breathing, bleeding, Stewarts of our communities. We will struggle to pull our fellow marching robot patriotic Americans from throwing our national experiment off the edge of the cliff. If we do not inform ourselves, if we do not track the public actions of our elected officials, if we continue to lie to ourselves about the heavy Corporate pressures on our democratic system, this great American experiment will cease to exist.

Inform Yourself will be our blog documentary series, where we will present informative films about issues in our communities. Viewers can use a number of viewer choices including Netflix, itunes, or Amazon Prime. We recommend a monthly subscription to Netflix, as most of our documentaries are featured on Netflix to reduce costs. Remember not to be forced into purchasing these films. Some will be available at local libraries and so, this educational exercise should not be an expensive one. This week's choices are Inequality for All (2013) and The Big Fix (2012).

Inequality for All (2013)
A documentary that follows former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich as he looks to raise awareness of the country's widening economic gap.

The Big Fix (2012)
A documentary that examines the April 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico following the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.


Feel free to leave your comments about each of the films. Express what you liked or did not liked. No work of art is without flaw. And watch with as many people as possible. Thank you.

"The struggle is real."
-Cowan F. Amaye-Obu

Al Franken's Petition Against Citizens United

Citizen United vs. Federal Election Commission (2010) is a U.S. Constitutional law case, in which the US Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment, prohibited the government from restricting political contributions by corporations, associations and Labor Unions.

Citizens United is a conservative non-profit organization, headed by David Bossie. The group has 21 feature film documentaries with strong conservative propaganda, used to influence and endorse conservative ideas. The Citizens United documentary on Hillary Clinton (Hillary: The Movie), led to the Supreme Court case for violation of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. The decision to overturn provisions in the Campaign Reform Act, will allow corporations the ability to provide independent contributions.

The following sites will help viewers learn more about this issue:

Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission
Citizens United
Huffington Post Various Articles

Please visit US Senator Al Franken of Minnesota and sign his petition to overturn or revisit this
awful decision made by the Supreme Court.

"The struggle is real..."
-Cowan Amaye-Obu


 

April 2 Rally Postponed

Please be informed, the rally originally planned for the afternoon of April 2nd, has been
postponed. A request from the Orange County permit is being processed and organizers will revisit
the call for protest after its completion. Thank you for all your support and again stay aware of
the high priorities.

Mr. Cowan Amaye-Obu

Protest Wednesdays & Boycott Saturdays

When: Wednesday, April 2, 2014 at 12:00pm

Come protest with me in Orlando, FL against the racial bigotry and anti-poverty policies of Orange County Govt & Businesses. Come protest against hunger & homelessness, and demand businesses/apartment complexes/neighborhood associations recycle their waste. Come protest against educational corruption in grading and say No, to the No-Zero Grading Policy. Come March for Florida's High Speed Rail. Come march for our right to vote without intimidation. Come demand companies doing business in this state, disclose when their products cause us harm. Come demand those companies testing human vaccines and drug trials in the most vulnerable neighborhoods to leave the state. Come march for yourself and your future Florida!

-Cowan F. Amaye-Obu
"The struggle is real over here!"

Our Party Purpose

                                                       High Priorities

1. Two Americas: Major Corporations and local businesses have installed policies that are both racist and anti-poor. These policies are thriving in Orlando and are leading to the increasingly marginalization of minorities (black & Latino) and the poor. For example, Credit Based capitalism leads to two Americas, the rich America and the poor America.

Credit Based Capitalism can keep you from creating a bank account, buying a car, prevents individuals from having access to rental facilities or the ability to finance basic living amenities, including apartments, transportation, and thereby, directly influences living standards. The effect of Credit based capitalism can force an individual into a social caste system, where having bad credit prevents any possible mobility and opens individuals to predatory business practices such as, payday loans or excessive fees, which again can send an individual into a spiraling cycle of more bad choices leading to worst credit and a permanent caste stamp. This system effectively is creating slaves to the system.

2. Failure of Corporate Disclosure: In the State of California, businesses are required to inform consumers when their products knowingly cause harm. Not in Florida. If people could see the warning sign on the front door of each McDonalds restaurant, it would affect their choice eating habits. Since it is not required by the Florida State Law, businesses are allowed to perpetrate illustrious frauds and escape persecution from doing harm to people in this state. The time for Corporate disclosure is now!

3. There are businesses in this state (Covalence & Digi Labatories) conducting drug human trials on the most vulnerable populations in the state. Covalence Labs, known for their part in bringing the Ebola Virus into the US, as depicted in the movie, Outbreak (1995), opens up their office in the middle of a low income neighborhood. Then, they solicit human candidates with $5000 experiments. Like dangling gold in front of a poor man, but having the man sign his life away before you give it to him. Get these vultures out of Florida!

4. Recycling has gone backwards in this state. Many neighborhoods, apartment complexes, and housing developments do not recycle. This is a State money maker! When you don’t recycle in the State of New York, you pay a fine. The landfills are full or privatizing, when trash is a cash cow. Demand from our local officials, a recyclable city.

5. Homelessness in Orlando, the City Beautiful, is a crime. It is a crime to be homeless. Yet in some of the city schools, over 10% of the students are without a home. We have put them in temporary housing in motels all over the city and forgotten them. A motel is no place to raise a child. That is a crime! The city granting millions of dollars in subsidies to professional sports organizations, but denying basic human rights to the most vulnerable citizens of the city, is a crime. Tell the county Commissioners not to forget our homeless!

6. Hunger in our community is growing. Programs like Blessings in a Backpack which send school kids home on Friday with a backpack full of food, is a sign. The people of this community are suffering from hunger. Evans HS had to set up snack centers in designated areas at the school, to prevent students from fainting from hunger. If the children are hungry, the adults are equally and hungry and stressed! 1 in 6 people in the US is hungry. When you have nurses, Accountants, and working professionals as well as the working poor, working but still not being able to provide food, you see how the American pie is being sliced, and who is getting the big cut and who is left with the scrapes. It is time our local officials get out of bed with Corporate America and come attend to the needs of the people who elected them.

7. High Speed Rail, will provide good paying jobs and access to parts of Florida, many Central Floridians have never dreamed. Get the Airline lobbyist out of our politics and build our damn high speed rail! Connect our city, let Central Florida thrive, not starve. High Speed Rail Today!

8. Economic boycotting is our weapon and we shall use it. Until our demands are heard, families should start staying home. Don’t go to the big grocer, Walmart, or the Hollywood Movies. Let Victoria stay secret, and let the bars & clubs close early. Instead, visit the small family stores for your needs. Boycott Saturdays in Central Florida will help our voices be heard. Boycott Saturdays!

9. Say No, To “No-Zero Grading Policies,” in OCPS. Schools using the No Zero Policy are unfairly graded and compared to schools not using the No Zero Policy. This policy also allows students to work less harder and produces an atmosphere of entitlement to good grades. Studies show, school using this policy do not perform any better on State Standardized test, which would explain the dismal scores of students from all OCPS schools on the FCAT. Say no, to “No-Zero Grading Policy.” And show our students there is no substitute for hard work!