It must be noted that I started documenting these education shutdowns at the beginning of 2014. In that year I posted the reports biannually (every six months). In 2015 education cutbacks ramped up and I posted quarterly (every three months). For the past three months of 2016 there have been so many education cutbacks that I’ve posted a report every month!
Disappearing Students Syndrome (DSS): A phrase created by me to describe a phenomenon taking place across the United States, affecting both privately and publicly funded schools, from Kindergarten all the way through University levels.
Incomplete list of publicly announced education related layoffs & school shutdowns, March 2016:
California: Plumas Unified School District laying off ten teachers due to lack of taxpayer funding. Sebastopol based Safari Books Online laid off an undisclosed number of employees, including the CEO! The layoffs were revealed by the former CEO. The company, which does business on the internet, is consolidating operations. Barnes & Noble shutting down their Mountain View College Bookstore, 40 jobs lost by May. 11 months after going out of business Corinthian Colleges lost a lawsuit brought by the state. They must now fork over $1.1-billion USD after being caught lying about employment placement after graduation, running ads for education programs that didn’t exist, illegal debt collections, and using U.S. Department of Defense promotional material without permission! It’s also hoped that the thousands of students who were suddenly dropped will get some restitution to help them pay back their student loans (you can’t claim bankruptcy protect against student loans).
Connecticut: God powerless to stop ‘his’ Archdiocese from shutting down 89 years old (surviving The Great Depression and numerous recessions) Saint Augustine School, the last Catholic elementary school in Hartford. It’s blamed on what I call Disappearing Students Syndrome (some Christians call it The Rapture).
Delaware: Delaware State University eliminating 23 programs, claiming lack of student participation. Administrators also claim no jobs will be lost.
Florida: Yet more medical school shutdowns! The first victim of non-profit Zenith Education Groups massive cutbacks; Everest University announced it must shutdown campuses in Lakeland, Brandon and two in Tampa Bay, affecting at least 343 medical students: “It’s a slap in the face for everybody really!”-Angela Adams, medical billing student
Idaho: In Boise, public school officials are finally outing the so-called friend of education J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation for what it really is; a covert effort to Dumb Down Idahoans: “Why would someone want to undermine public education in Idaho? The motive is quite clear. At a recent Downtown Rotary Club meeting, the executive director of the Albertson Foundation stated that the goal of the Foundation is to increase charter school seats by 20,000 in the next few years. That will only happen if Idahoans lose faith in their public schools….. …..Let’s be clear; this campaign promotes an agenda designed to undermine public schools. It is highly inaccurate. It offers no real solutions to increasing post-secondary readiness. It is a disservice to the work public school teachers, parents, and students do every day.”-Boise School District
Illinois: Barrington District 220 notified 114 employees of layoffs, saying they’re prepping for the state ‘lawmakers’ to cut their funding by $2.6-million USD! 1-thousand Northeastern Illinois University employees must take one day off without pay, due to the Failed State ‘lawmakers’. All Illinois universities are warning of massive layoffs if the Govna’s proposed budget is adopted. Kishwaukee College has decided to eliminate about 24 jobs due to Failed State ‘lawmakers’ failing to come through with funding. Sycamore School District 427 approved an additional 18 layoffs, on top of the 56 approved last month. Administrators blame it on a shortfall of $2.3-million USD, partly caused by Failed State ‘lawmakers’ failing to approve state funding. John A. Logan College eliminating 55 jobs, claiming to be short $7-million USD. Protesting students pointed out that certain departments are not suffering job losses and that school executives refused to say why. Computer Systems Institute shutting down campuses across the state, eliminating 172 jobs between now and September! Chicago Public Schools laid off 62 people on 01 March .
Indiana: In Bloomington, after 45 years Caveat Emptor bookstore shutting down in August. The owner is hoping to sell the business.
Kentucky: Morehead State University notified employees of a pending furlough of five days without pay. It’ll happen before the end of June and is the result of governor Matt Bevin’s $1.95-million USD in funding cuts.
Maine: In Portland, God is powerless to stop economic warfare within ‘his’ own church! Non-profit Good Cause Thrift Shop being shutdown by its owner, the Catholic girls only Catherine McCauley High School, which claims it’s an economic decision. According to Maine’s employment law, if you work for God’s non-profits you do not qualify for unemployment assistance! A local news report revealed the employees were ordered by ‘christian’ leaders not to reveal the shutdown, but the employees basically said ‘bullshit on that’! (that’s why we know about it)
Massachusetts: In Lowell, God powerless to stop the shutdown of ‘his’ 108 years old (surviving The Great Depression and numerous recessions) Franco American School. It’s blamed on increasing costs and declining student enrollment.
Michigan: Farmington Public Schools approved the shutdown/repurposing of three schools. The school district has lost 12% of its student population since 2000, causing an $11-million USD reduction in taxpayer funding.
Minnesota: After ten years of paying for eye checkups, tutoring and giving teachers grants, non-profit Saint Paul Public Schools Foundation shutting down due to lack of corporate donations. Traverse City Area Public Schools shutting down the Interlochen Community School and the International School at Bertha Vos, blaming a $1.2-million USD shortfall. Administrators will also not replace retiring employees (attrition) and reduce school bus service. Stillwater School District shutting down three elementary schools. Interestingly administrators blame increasing enrollment! They claim they’re shifting children out of older schools into new buildings designed to handle more students.
Montana: Federally funded Head Start programs in “Joliet and Red Lodge are closing so schools in Billings and Laurel can admit more children.”
New Jersey: God powerless to stop the shutdown of ‘his’ Mother Teresa Regional School in Atlantic Highlands, 24 jobs lost by the end of June. Mercer County Community College eliminating IT jobs as it will now use a cheap contractor. Some in-house Information Tech employees will be laid off while others will be shifted to other departments. Trenton Board of Education shutting down Stokes Early Childhood Center and eliminating a net 164 jobs! It’s the second year in a row for shutdowns and layoffs due to lack of students and taxpayer funding.
New York: After more than 30 years of school bus service, Carrier Coach issued a shutdown WARN for multiple locations, 224 jobs lost by the end of June due to “economic” reasons! Berkley Publishing Group revealed they eliminated an undisclosed number of jobs, blaming crashing book sales. News reports say the book publisher has been eliminating jobs since Summer 2015. Lack of funding and students forcing Kenmore Town of Tonawanda District to shutdown the Roosevelt and Hamilton elementary schools and Kenmore Middle School (Junior High damn it, we’re not supposed to be part of the bloody British empire!) next school year. Local news reports say the district has been trying to figure out a way to cut taxpayer costs since 2012, and this was the best they could do. After 47 years, God powerless to stop the shutdown of ‘his’ Elmira Christian Academy due to The Rapture of students (what I call Disappearing Students Syndrome). At the school’s peak there were 220 students, this year there’s only 80, the pastor blames the parents: “It’s hard to compete with families who feel that it would be more advantageous for them to educate their kids from home.”-David Leandre
North Carolina: After ten years and without warning the Park West Barber School shutdown four of its campuses. The school’s website had the following message: “IT IS WITH GREAT SADNESS AND REGRET THAT WE MUST INFORM YOU THAT EFFECTIVE TUESDAY MARCH 29, 2016 PARK WEST HAS MADE THE DIFFICULT DECISION TO CLOSE…..THINGS SEEMED PROMISING, BUT UNFORTUNATELY AT THE FINAL HOUR, OUR ONLY OPTION WAS TO CLOSE.”
North Dakota: Dickinson State University shutting down their Strom Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation due to the loss of $1-million USD in grants and taxpayer funding.
Ohio: In Hebron, Lakewood Digital Academy shutting down in June due to cancelation of taxpayer funding. The local school district must also payback $150-thousand USD to the state Department of Education. It’s blamed on changes in laws affecting charter schools.
Pennsylvania: In Wilkes-Barre, Book and Spy Shop shutting down mid-April. The owner is selling the building saying the costs to maintain the building have become too expensive.
South Carolina: Pickens County School Board approved the shutdown of two elementary schools due to lack of taxpayer funding. Obviously uneducated taxpayers protested the decision. If you can’t generate the tax revenues you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
South Dakota: Proof we’re a 3rd World Country; the state level corruption investigation into the U.S. Department of Education’s GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) has revealed that contractors are lying about employment data, using old employment rosters to pad current employment numbers in order to get more taxpayer money! (in Nigeria it’s called creating Ghost Employees, and they claimed they learned it from USAID) Those bogus employment records were part of contracts with “…former top officials of the state Department of Education, the University of South Dakota and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education.” What’s really scandalous is that no criminal charges have yet to be filed!
Texas: God powerless to stop ‘his’ 30 years old Central Christian Academy from shutting down. Church leaders blame The Rapture, I mean declining church membership for forcing them to sell the school property (told you before, this proves money is the true ‘god’).
Virginia: In Richmond, low income daycare Southside Child Development Center shutting down in June: “Funders are saying that they just can’t continue to support us without us being able to support ourselves, which is a hardship when you deal with the families that we serve.”-Sheila Pleasants
Washington: Apollo Education-University of Phoenix shutting down their Seattle operations, 46 jobs lost by the end of April. After 39 years Kathy’s Studio of Dance shutting down: “This was a very difficult decision for me to make but the dance world is changing and I am no longer up for the challenge. I started my studio with the idea that anyone should be able to dance – no matter their size, talent or ability to pay…….This worked for many years but times have changed….”-Kathryn Lahey
Washington DC: Independently operated Law School Transparency has revealed that only 56% of law school graduates find full employment after graduating, which challenges the official employment placement claims made by the top law schools in the United States. The U.S. Navy planning on shutting down its remaining 20 voluntary education program College offices saying they can no longer afford to offer courses ‘on base’. Civilian employees will be relocated to a central call center. Administrators say they’re trying to save everybody some money: “For every dollar I get to spend on college education for our sailors, I would like to see it go to their tuition assistance pot and not paying for overhead.”– Rear Admiral Mike White, Naval Education and Training Command
Dumbing Down the United States, February 2016: Schools being used as sex torture prisons!