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School Choice

West Virginia Board of Education President Paul Hardesty took aim recently at parents who choose something other than the traditional public school system. He has blamed the HOPE Scholarship, homeschooling and other school choice options for declining enrollment. He fails to admit the truth: parents are leaving the system because the system failed them and their children. Mr. Hardesty had many fallacies in his impassioned yet misplaced speech. I must correct one of the most glaring: under HOPE Scholarship Exemption M, which receives state money, those who choose the IIP (Homeschooling ...

Let Babydog eat cake

You’d be forgiven if you were to think that West Virginia only has one U.S. Senator instead of two. Because based on appearances, U.S. Sen. Jim Justice appears to be doing the bare minimum. Sure, Justice is casting votes. If he has missed any, I’m unaware. The same goes for committee meetings. Justice is attending meetings, casting votes, and sometimes making speeches, though many times those speeches have little to do with whatever the committee is discussing that day. But is doing the bare minimum enough? One of my favorite movies is “Office Space.” In one scene, a server ...

Democrats still haven’t learned any lessons

On Thursday, Senate Democrats voted for the 10th time to prolong the federal government shutdown. They also voted against funding the military, thereby necessitating that the Pentagon initiate some innovative accounting in order to ensure service members are paid on time. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) defended his caucus’s latest vote, opining, “It’s always been unacceptable to Democrats to do the defense bill without other bills that have so many things that are important to the American people in terms of health care, in terms of housing, in terms of safety.” ...

Peace isn’t a deal

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a quick study in the art of laying it on thick, announced that he was teaming up with Israel’s Knesset speaker to invite parliamentary leaders from around the world to jointly nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize — and for nothing less than inaugurating “a new golden age.” Though refraining from that level of MAGA-fication, Democrats have not stinted on the praise due to Trump for achieving the ceasefire and hostage agreement. Former National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden ...

Showing up: Presence makes a difference

Leaders underestimate their impact in showing up. Why? I find most leaders do not see themselves as special. They see themselves as being the same as others.  A highlight of my career was working with the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Floyd (Fred) Loop, the CEO of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (CCF) at the time, hired my company. (Dr. Loop is no longer with us physically; however, his impact lives on.) He referred to the work as “providing world-class care.” Dr. Loop was a private person. For the kickoff of the engagement session, a daylong event that included presentations from me ...

Tutors needed to help students learn

As we start our Targeted Tutoring program for another year I am becoming more aware of the fact that the original concept of tutoring is the central purpose of Kump Education Center. The word “tutor” comes from a Latin root word that means guardian or protector. If we do our tutelary work well, we will make safe relationships with students enabling them to feel secure enough to learn. Children can overcome their weaknesses if they learn coping devices to make them better students. With private tutoring students do not have to hide their weaknesses from the rest of the class. Good ...