Under Gov LePage, Highschool Student's Had Options, Train For A State-Approved Career, or Serve in A War Zone For a Diploma! Dead or Alive!
Your high school diploma is guranteed if you die while serving in a war zone!
My last Newsbreak post The Future of Work is Remote So What Then is the Future of Housing and Community Development? has very small impressions and views indicating that "remote working" as a phenomenon is not yet part of the thinking in Maine. I wonder what would happen if the words "workforce housing" were in the title instead. That is a term used for production housing that targets decreasing plot sizes so they can fit more housing on a square foot of land, like a sardine town, justified by the hypothetical needs of “large scale employers”, highly sought after by “large scale communities”, which the Boothbay Peninsula is not.
The inspiration for The Future of Work is Remote was a comment I posted in the Boothbay Register in an article promoting "large scale workforce housing" on this small peninsula where former affordable single-family homes have been driven out by unregulated AirB&B's. My comment was deleted by the moderator for the Boothbay Register, which is a frequent occurrence, but Maine mainstream media has no censorship control over Newsbreak.
The Boothbay Region has relied on the tourist industry since forever but McSeagulls, the restaurant where former Governor Lepage has been featured as a bartender, just closed down for the season citing inability to find staff. In a recent article LePage blamed the lack of a cook on Trump's 4-1 visas. I do not know how much covid plays into that as it is resurgent again. I have noticed higher than ever covid numbers reported in the Boothbay Region. All of that plays into the jobs issue and why people might not want to be employed in crowded indoor rooms, or even living in sardine city blocks in rural surroundings or otherwise.
What matters more than the number of views is who is viewing what one publishes. I am posting my own "review and suggestions" for ordinances and community development, because as usual, the BBH town leaders have hired outside consultants, in this case from Lincoln County Plammomg Commission, to reassess the local resident's priorities on these matters. I am writing to them- they have the power! The residents of the community do not- well, Newsbreak is actually changing that because those in power pay attention to what is being said in the media.
I have known that those in power pay attention to what is written in the media since I was first started publishing my own obscure blog which I imagined no one was reading. I wrote about a piece of legislation that had been enacted only a few days earlier and kept the link on my blog so I could easily reference it. Months later I clicked on the same link and the entire text of the act had inexplicably changed. I was on to other things and did not examine the change in a great deal. It seemed too outlandish as it was not a repeal, or documented changes, it was just an unexplained switcheroo. There was a not-quite-real feeling to it that I could not absorb.
I commented on other changes in legislative passages that subsequently changed in ways consistent with legislative protocol. Under the LePage administration, the practice of striking over repealed sections was replaced with deletion. One can ask for the record of a repealed section from the Maine Legislative Library but few do.
I once wrote about language in the Industrial Partnerships Act that stated that a high school diploma can be had for completing training in a state-approved career, or serving in a war zone, especially if one dies while serving in a war zone. When I went looking for that language again I could not find it. Recently I came across the passage and the title in my notes, I looked up the title and found that the section had been repealed and erased from the statutory record. Here it is:
What I wrote about the statutory meaning including the text of the deleted section:
As the State expanded upon its mission to mold Maine’s educational system to fit the agenda of the industrial state, it incorporated the military as a means for dealing with those not fitting State assigned careers. §3304. Industry partnerships was passed and amendments were added to Title 20-A: EDUCATION.
By 2020, alternatives for receiving a high school diploma will include completing training for state approved industries and serving in a war zone. The second alternative can be awarded on a dead or alive basis.
ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
PartChapter 207-A: INSTRUCTION
Subchapter 3: SECONDARY SCHOOLS
§4722-A. Proficiency-based diploma standards and transcripts:
1. Method of gaining and demonstrating proficiency. Students must be allowed to gain proficiency through multiple pathways, with a high school diploma as described in section 4703, and must be allowed to demonstrate proficiency by presenting multiple types of evidence, including but not limited to teacher-designed or student-designed assessments, portfolios, performance, exhibitions, projects and community service.
2. Exceptions
B-2. For the graduating class of 2020-2021 and each subsequent graduating class, a student who has satisfactorily completed a state-approved career and technical education program …, is eligible to receive a high school diploma from the secondary school the student last attended. A student may be awarded a high school diploma from the secondary school the student last attended in accordance with the phase-in of the following diploma requirements for the graduating class of 2020-2021 to
E. A person may be awarded a high school diploma, including a posthumous award, if the person or a family member of the person applies to a secondary school and: the graduating class of 2023-2024:
2) The person did not graduate or receive a diploma from a secondary school because the person left secondary school to serve in the Armed Forces and served during the following periods:
(a) World War II, from December 7, 1941 to August 16, 1945;
(b) The Korean Conflict;
(c) The Vietnam War era, from February 28, 1961 to May 7, 1975; or
(d) The period of wartime or peacetime after a period of wartime described in division (a), (b) or (c); and
There is perverse irony in the concept of the new fascism awarding a posthumous honorary high school degree to those who served in WWII to defeat the old fascism. A high school degree is transformed into a pawn in the internal negotiations of the public-private state. A diploma no longer assures that the student completed courses in English, math and social studies, or even in training for state approved careers. Worse, the tradeoff codified by the Maine Legislature requires a betrayal of the military code of honor by those receiving the unearned diploma:
We demonstrate honor by doing the honorable thing even when no one is around to witness it and striving to do the right thing at all times. In doing so, a solid reputation is built making it easier for the people around you to trust you.
When you are viewed as honorable, people trust the information you are providing and the actions you are taking. Honor helps define who you are as a person while serving as a guiding light for your growth and character. The code of honor; know it, embrace it, By Sandra Gibson, ATEC G5March 8, 2013[
Such a policy codified into law by the Maine legislature likewise testifies to the Legislature’s alienation from the needs of the employer. The employer seeks skills specific to the job. A high school diploma traditionally meant that a person had successfully completed studies in English, math, and social studies
After many amendments since 2013, this section was repealed and erased. It seems incredible that it was ever passed by the Maine Legislature and signed by Governor LePage in the first place. What were they thinking?