Our podcast seeks to unravel the complexities of the education industry. K-12 education today is an over 600 billion dollar industry in the United States. Education as an industry is mostly ignored since we often experience it only at the micro-level - our teachers, our school, our hometown. We don’t often see the big picture.
Discussing education is typically not a cocktail party activity. We want to change that.
Scandal.k12.us wants to inject some needed levity and help inform the conversation about education. To liven things up, we focus on the scoundrels, miscreants, and blunders to provide a weekly entertaining lesson, and perhaps lead to greater understandings.
Scandal.k12.us is a podcast you have to listen to.
Scroll below for individual episode show notes. As with all articles, a link is not always an endorsement of the site or opinions of the authors or media outlets. All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. We rely only on publicly available information.
Ice Station Zebra
We have a number of sources - most of which are mentioned in the show itself. Here are just a few key links.
This is a link to the Caffeinated Rage blog HERE. The blog is written by Stu Egan who “is an English Teacher in the Winston-Salem / Forsyth County School system. Having taught all grades and levels of high school English, he currently teaches AP English Language and Composition and Shakespeare 101 and 102.” …Yes, we ripped that description from his site.
We were going to link to the article on www.businesswire.com that compared Istation and Amplify but the link from 2020 is now dead and all traces have been evacuated from the internet.
Thanks to FreeSound as always. Here are the credits and if we miss you please contact us. "Dramatic Organ, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org. (As of 3/15 we cannot get our full list from FS but we will update as soon as we can).
The additional sound we found on YouTube from the talented Yoni Schlesinger. Subscribe to his channel HERE.
Our song clip from Mad Men can be found in full HERE.
Crazy Waters
Yes, we totally crushed it.
We mean, we crushed the image to fit and it looks weird. However, unless someone complains, we’re going with this. There are a lot of sources we will release in the second half notes so as not to give away too much of the story.
Here are a few links for the Crazy Waters. NCpedia Here.
You can read about the Crazy Waters Crystals and other horrors over at the online Museum of Quackery Here. It seems that this museum is only online today, but do check out the many stories.
To give a little taste of the coming story, you can read Follow the Money - Looking at Political Contributions Among These Involved With The Station Contract on CaffinatedRage, a blog worth getting your rage on at.
We will do a rundown of all sound credits in the next show note.
Show Your Work - Part II Michelle Rhee Story
We relied on articles in Ed Week, Politico, and the Washington Post.
Here is a link to ProPublica’s list of 990 filings for TNTP. ProPublica is a good source for any 990 research in the event you are doing a news story or want to make a donation to an organization and wonder what their finances look like. Find a starting point HERE. Remember, tax filings and actual financial activity can differ - just ask your uncle Lemmie serving time due to tax frog.
Schools Matter is another blog where the comments are as entertaining as the posts. Schools Matter is written by contributors Jim Horn, Robert Skeels, and Susan O, and a user known as Skrashen. You can find our Rhee source Here.
We are not linking to The New Teacher Project, Students First, or Teach For America, since we’re not a news source we’re a true-crime comedy podcast about education and all three will have their own moment to roast on our podcast.
Sounds are credited in previous episodes, if we missed your email us at scandalk12us@gmail.com
The Iron Chancellor
We have a number of sources and rather than just dump everything, here are some select sources.
This is the blog NYCEducator discussing the story of taping children’s mouths shut. There is so much more on this blog but you can read the original report Here
The Daily Howler is true old-skool curmudgeon blogging from way back. Here is a link to the report that Rhee’s media claims didn’t match up with our current timeline/dimensional reality Here.
We used reporting by the Atlantic and Fast Company, Frontline, but you can google these or find them Here.
Freesound keeps giving us what we need - thanks to dustinreush for “sounds of heaven,” SofiesMood for casino slots, rterry11558 for guitar (Paranoid Android).
Additional music samples from YouTube user Andrew Remillard Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna, and we didn’t use but loved the Otto Von Bismark rap by High School student MrWinkles titled THE IRON CHANCELLOR! GREAT RAP, NOW LAY OFF THE ALL CAPS.
Don’t Let the School Bus Driver Drive The Bus
There are many news reports used for our stories that are mentioned in the episode but we want to give the link to some relevant further reading.
Here is the link to the PEW Research Study: Drunken School Bus Drivers Put Kids’ Lives at Risk.
If you are interested, here is a link to School Transportation News we relied on for this episode. This is only one source of such industry news.
If our stories turned you off and you are still interested in driving a school bus, here are ten reasons by Advanced Career Institute you should become a school bus driver.- and no, this is not ironic…
We used a sample of Doogie Howser M.D. for Solo Ukulele by Youtube star UkeofCarl, go check out the original video or subscribe to his page at http://ukeofcarl.com
Thanks for Freesound contributors: OVERFLOWWW, InspectorJ, Plasagemosonora, and susychristiansen
Like other profession-related episodes, we will do future reports on school buses and their drivers or contracts. If you have a story, tell us at scandalk12us@gmail.com
So much dootie for this episode you can find on your own, but here are a few key resources.
Check out the not up-to-date blog on not-so-fine school lunches: http://whatsforschoollunch.blogspot.com/
To see how much of your lunch Jeff Bezos is eating, here is a good link: https://observer.com/2020/02/jeff-bezos-amazon-stock-richest-man/
Thanks as always to Freesound.org and users: drotzruhn for Silent Night, mikjay for sampling beats, metrostock99, univ_lyon3, susychristiansen, and zagi2 for the romantic music which is under an atribution and noncommercial license but we swear we’re not making money on this Zagi2.
Thanks for listening and we hope for a bigger and better 2021.
There are so many sources for our K12 story and we relied on publicly available legal documents as well which are easy to find using the Googles. From a journalist perspective, this was very one sided… We will include more of K12 responses in our next K12 episode, but the documents we cited speak for themselves.
We relied on investigative journalism of Jessica Calefati at The Mercury News and there is a trove of investigation done around 2016 but you can start HERE.
Typically, we list a number of other resources but when K12 finally got on the radar in 2016, there was a dog pile of reportage. Sadly, we could not find anything really juicy between 2000 and 2008 but perhaps it is out there in some archives. We may do a prequel.
We want to thank our Free Sound project contributors. We also found the Atribution button on the page (sad since we have been using this for years. This episode relied on users: Soundclown for the water pipe, Ecfike (a nine year user and contributor to Free Sound) for fiddle music, Jameswroles for the record scratch, freedomfightervictor for calculator (we didn’t use for this episode but great sound for the future), Zuluonedrop for the sick retro drum track, Mareproduction for 90s Emo rock track (you can PayPal or rach at jazzgitara@gmail.com), and Susychistrian for tapping mic. You can donate money to Free Sound or … sound.
If we missed you, let us know at scandalk12us@gmail.com.
We borrowed the cello music from YouTube from musician and MIT student Janelle Sands in a 2017 recording - you can check out her videos HERE.
We went down the rabbit hole on this one. Reddit users are credited in the episode. We did not do any research to verify information. Any similarity to persons living or dead is merely coincidental - at least we remember hearing that on the Rockford Files.
Thanks for the Youtube channel Glamour Daze which is Vintage Fashion Film Archive from Glamourdaze.com. The audio we borrowed was used under the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video as outlined by the Center for Social Media at http://cmsimpact.org/program/fair-use.
Donate and support the Free Sound project and thanks to users:Pflaniga and Timbre, and many reoccuring sounds that have been previously credited. If we missed you, let us know at scandalk12us@gmail.com. We plan on using Timbre’s work on future episodes.
We used many sources for our Superintendent Supurb Owl MMXX but here are a few key resources for further reading.
For our send off of Superintendent Powell we used Jacob Payne’s Page One Kentucky blog. His posts gave us a lot of information and more details that we could cover in sort form. The Powell story is well worth further reading. You can find more about Jacob Payne here: https://www.jacobpayne.com/ Also, you can follow him on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/cattleprod
We also used Kentucky School News and Commentary’s article by Richard Day. You can find a key article here.
We used a lot of various media sources for our Superintendent Hornsby reflection including the Baltimore Sun, the FBI, and other popular news outlets. An article on Parent Advocates was used as a reference and timeline and you can find that original story here.
While Parent Advocates was a useful resource, after a little digging into what sort of organization was behind the website, you may want to look at the 990 of the parent organization as well as get to know key staff before you start using Parent Advocates as a source for arguments around the dinner table.
As always, donate to the Free Sound project and thanks to users: Daveincamas, Timbre, Jobro, Ashfox, Sandermotions, Adam-n, Dr-Skitz, Djczyszy and many more that have previously been used and credited. If we missed you, let us know at scandalk12us@gmail.com.
Bishop Batman
Here is a key article from Medium’s One Zero by Sarah Emerson and Matthew Giles
A Popular Online Learning Platform Was Actually Created by an Underground Religious ‘Cult’
Another good article on the article in The Patch by Allie Johnson
To present a view into the fascinating world of Billings, here is a link to his weekly show, Science Live. This one covers how the Acellus curriculum is made.
Here is an article from Edweek which focuses more on the content issues and less on the creators of the product. Edweek (needs a subscription or use a free article view)
State Anthem by Youtube user Kcamer and his ukulele tutorial for 4th grade students. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkPGeS3nkv4
Donate to the Free Sound project and thanks to users: benboncan, luffy, and many more that have previously been used. If we missed you, let us know at scandalk12us@gmail.com.
The “Third Man” show notes.
As with any story that expands beyond the original scope, there are many sources but here are some that are worth reading focusing on a few key elements.
Education Dive’s article is from 2013 but conveys the breathy hope for technology to change education.
We relied on articles by John Fensterwald, a journalist at the Silicon Valley Education Foundation and writer for the Educated Guess (published until 2012) who is currently writing at EdSource. Check him out for all things California Edu.
Once again, we relied on the reporting of the Baltimore Sun. Here is one of the articles we used about PGCPS. You can subscribe to the Baltimore Sun … We mean, become a member Here. To learn more about membership go Here.
We gathered some tips by reading articles and comments on Diane Ravitch’s blog … but, wow things get spicy there.
You can follow the blog of Thomas Ultican, a former teacher now blog activist, and read the latest 2020 article on John Deasy on the blog “Tultican .”
Donate to the Free Sound project and thanks to users: Ohrum, Djczyszy, and many more. If we missed you, let us know at scandalk12us@gmail.com.
Floridaman Show Notes
Once again, keep the feedback coming. We are making improvements as we fly the plane. Thanks to our supporters on Patreion as well as whoever dropped that $10 on the ground. We need coffee by any means.
Charters are still in the news for sudden closures in Florida. Here is a story from September, 2020: https://www.fox4now.com/news/local-news/charter-school-in-fort-myers-being-shut-down
We relied on many sources but here are a few top links:
Harvard, of course and their paper blah blah blah charter schools (yeah we don’t follow Chicago or MLA since Professor Pecan can’t give us a bad grade anymore).
The Sun Sentinel. Another ringer of a story. Give it a read.
We really enjoyed the Capital Soup article at Capitalsoup.com (we hope is not right wing but let us know) that covered the report The Hidden Costs of Charter School Choice: Privatizing Public Education in Florida, released in 2018..
Of course, email us at scandalk12us@gmail.com if you have additional information you would like us to use or clarifications to add for future episodes.
Thanks to FreeSound.org and FreeSound contributors: Kiddpark, Dr-Mack, Thesuprememuffi….cking, martysonic, pflanigan, inspectorj, and flex-blume. If I have missed you email us at scandalk12us@gmail.com. We are still working on notifications.
Thanks for the archive at Old TV Time on Youtube. We didn’t wind up using anything from there for this one, but great stuff.
We also used a clip of President Clinton but that turned out to be a right wing site, however, the clip and audio were real.
If you would like to buy the book Barbarians at the PTA by Stephanie Newman, you can at Abe Books, a reseller of used and vintage books. A company now owned by Amazon.
Show Notes to Jackpot Jesus
Thanks again for feedback and criticism from preview listeners.
Thanks to FreeSound.org and FreeSound contributors: Milan, Pierreca, Kaiho, WillyBilly, and if I have missed you email us at scandalk12us@gmail.com.
You can learn more about the misdeeds of these Sisters by reading several online sources but we recommend starting here https://www.gq.com/story/gambling-nuns-of-torrance-california
We also used information found on https://www.globalsistersreport.org
If you would like a feel-good story about nuns, here is a link to a story about singing nuns https://www.youtube.com/
If you need help with gambling you can use the website https://www.samhsa.gov or call 1-800-662-4357
There are many other sources we used for this story. Of course, email us at scandalk12us@gmail.com if you have additional information you would like us to use or clarifications to add for future episodes.
Show Notes to Reform School
Thanks for all the help from preview listeners who gave us constructive feedback.
Thanks to FreeSound.org contributors: Tim Kahan, Ondrosik, Dr-Macak, Al-Barbobosa, Foolboymedia, Thisusernameis, and Robinhood76 Etienne-leplumey (if we forgot you let us know by emailing us at scandalk12us@gmail.com).
You can learn more about the DeSisto School using the following links:
Cult Education Institute (web forum page)
There are many other sources we used for this story. Email us at scandalk12us@gmail.com if you have additional information you would like us to add to the notes or clarifications to add for future episodes.