In his recent State of the Union Address, President Obama raised an issue about which I have been passionate for almost 40 years. In his 1992 presidential campaign, President Bill Clinton was also talking a great deal about creating partnerships between private industries and public education.
The idea of training that prepares high school students to obtain apprenticeships in specialized tool making and other crafts really fires my imagination. Maybe it is because I dropped out of high school and then got back on track with an apprenticeship as an Ironworker with Local 377 in San Franciso.
I remember reading an article in 1991 about Clinton’s proposals regarding many U.S. employers that were unable to locate the specialized machinists and precision tool makers that Germany produces and how even then employers could not fill the high paying jobs that required technical mechanical skills.
So I voted for Bill Clinton in 1992. After he was elected, there was nothing more said about employer driven training programs. I soon found out that was the price we had to pay to open the door to other priorities that were high on Willie’s ideologically driven wish list.
I have not subsequently heard that kind of discussion about vocational training partnerships for students in the U.S. Not until President Obama proposed the idea for colleges. But why not have such partnerships at the high school level?
Washington state already has the occupational skills centers and vocational training at the community college level. Most of the discussion about high schools seems to emphasize academic programs and getting students into colleges. Many students would develop career interests in high school classes if more opportunities were to become available to work in partnership with employers like Boeing that hire workers skilled in specialized crafts.
Some observers have suggested that vocational education might encourage more young men and women not to drop out. Learning to repair any machinery, like cars and trucks, requires math skills. Math is not so difficult once a student taps into his or her interests.
Bill Stafford, a president of the Trade Development Alliance for 20 years, reminds students and the rest of us that cooks need to read and do math, too. The best vocational programs were once at the high school level. Now maybe many of the folks proposing this are actually modern day adherents to John Dewey’s Progressive educational theories that Dewey called “Industrial Democracy". Dewey advocated dumbing kids down so they could become cogs to be moved around by technocratic social planners.
But according to Mr. Stafford, Edison Technical School was started in 1946 to help World War II vets who wanted to finish high school. Twenty years later, it morphed into Seattle Community College. Vocational education in Seattle is now mostly for students after they are out of high school.
If educators want to begin thinking creatively, they should think about all the occupations that involve precision machining.
Like firearms! It is easy to forget that Boeing is in the weapon system business.
Gun sales have been higher than ever before all over the U.S. and gunsmiths are in extremely short supply. Hillsdale College and 40 other colleges, including Harvard University, Harvard Law, Yale and MIT, just received grants for shooting programs.
One school, Montgomery Community College of Troy, N.C., developed a shooting program and also offers gunsmithing and hunting and shooting sports management programs. The grants came from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms industry.
Gunsmithing is just one example of the kind of partnerships that educators should be discussing. Many educators don’t like talking about guns except in connection with gun-free zones. But who would you rather meet in a dark alley?
A graduate from a gunsmithing program or an armed graduate from one of our state’s largest vocational schools supervised by the Department of Corrections?
Students that get work experience in high school are likely to stay in school, graduate and get a good job. “College for All” is only achieved by one out of three high school students. According to at least one study, “College for All” seems to be the dream of elite educators.
The United States has the highest dropout rate in the industrialized world, according to Harvard Graduate School of Education’s “Pathways to Prosperity.” Many high school students apparently believe high school is not relevant in finding the path to what they seek.
Washington’s achievement gap in education is tragic. Even more tragic is the fact that many educators and school board members are focused almost exclusively on the academic-university educational paradigm. One school board member I know describes proposals for vocational training that partners employers with high schools as Alinskyism!
But the training that would lead directly to high paying jobs right out of high school requires computer programming, math and other serious academic skills so no one is proposing to deprive students of academic excellence. Most of the machinists I meet are as smart or smarter than your average school teacher or lawyer. They just lack the know-it-all attitude that takes some of us years to acquire.
Thus, the technical jobs that are begging to be filled right now can become an incentive to learn metallurgy, electrical theory and chemistry. And the vocational students will develop the ability to read technical manuals and work with very precise mathematical equations.
Apparently, Alinskyism is a reference to the author of “Rules for Radicals"! In other words, giving kids an option to by-pass college (remember- vast percentages don’t even graduate from high school) is the same as consigning our kids to a Soviet collective factory operating under the lash of the Commissars.
I can’t help but think I might be mistaken for a sugar beet that just fell off a Kulak’s turnip truck when a school board member tells me that I have become aligned with the forces of Alinskyism. The same local school board member asked me how I know that Microsoft will be here in 75 years if we let Bill and Melinda Gates come into our Federal Way public schools and start calling the shots!
I am worried now that I have identified with a cause that I apparently share with the 30th District Democrats, some of whom actually are self described community organizers ala Saul Alinsky. I am from Chicago just like Alinsky. And I used to be a bit of a radical.
Before long I will get my credentials yanked as a card carrying member of the Religious Right. Maybe the Ironworkers will give me back my union card and I can man the barricades when Occupy Wall Street begins its reign of terror this coming summer.
Boeing stated recently that it will have 20,000 retirements in the next 10 years. Would Boeing and some of its vendors be willing to partner with local school districts to create new vocational schools in Washington state?
It could be cheaper than the recently failed $110,000.000.00 levy for Federal Way High School — and more profitable.
I now understand that I should have voted for the construction levy because all our local leaders are Conservatives and so we could have trusted school officials to spend the money frugally even though they never told Federal Way why a new Federal Way High School had to cost $110 million dollars! Such “Conservative” principles sound too much like the Beltway principles from which we need to be delivered.
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Many law enforcement agencies choose to contract with the Washington State Patrol for radio communications. They have had coverage problems, according to my sources. The WSP previously built their system to cover the freeways, not the woods or other areas that are covered by State Park Rangers, local agencies and sheriff’s departments or the Washington Department of Fish and Game.
After 9/11 the Feds wanted to increase inter-operability–a nightmare. There were UHF, VHF, trunked systems and digital. Without a lot of hardware these systems can’t talk to each other. So the Feds created a standard, P25 digital, and some agencies purchased radios capable of the standard. The WSP could never quite seem to catch up and never went digital. Nevertheless, the WSP became very interested in becoming the radio communications provider for law enforcement.
Thus, the WSP has been very aggressive about trying to take over all radio spectrum and communications as a single provider for law enforcement in Washington. But some members of the law enforcement community have suggested that management at the WSP has had problems grasping the complexity and needs of their users. The WSP could not or would not upgrade their repeaters to eliminate coverage gaps and poor service to non-WSP users was the result. WDFW is trying to develop their own system to get out from under the WSP costs and lack of service.
Many agencies are presently at the mercy of Motorola because of Motorola’s monopoly built upon its proprietary technology. Even if Motorola allows other radio manufacturers to utilize its technology on behalf of various law enforcement agencies, the preliminary word is that this may still cost thousands per radio for software and equipment to “re-flash” or re-program radios. Non-dedicated but supposedly compatible radios from different manufacturers may work with flash program changes, but not perfectly. There are often volume and other differences that are quite frustrating to the officers–they seem trivial; but in the field when an officer can’t hear, “minor frustrations” can be life threatening. Remember how compatibility issues between New York City’s law enforcement and fire fighting personnel became an issue in the aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center?
Sometime in 2011, the FCC gave the Washington State Patrol and other agencies a deadline to free up large swaths of the air waves. The WSP was desperate to comply with the new Federal Communications Commission regulations. The FCC gave law enforcement a deadline- January 1, 2013- for state and local agencies to free up space on the airwaves for more users or risk losing reception in nearly one-third of the state.
The WSP thought it could quickly replace its radio system for at least $12 million less than expected by signing a no-bid contract with Motorola Solutions- a plan that sidestepped the competitive bidding process. State officials claimed at the time that the partnership with the Department of Justice would lower the cost of the technology upgrade to $41 million.
At least one WSP commander was exuberant in expressing the feelings shared by many in Olympia and the federal government when he crowed, “It’s an opportunity we can’t pass up that saves us a lot of money and gets us where we need to be!” The Legislature agreed that interfacing with the new DOJ system would be quick fix, preventing the loss of coverage areas expected as a result of the FCC’s new regulations. The legislature gave WSP $40 million with more anticipated in 2013.
The Department of Justice came calling on the WSP last September with the message, “DON’T BUILD YOUR OWN, JOIN US!” The state was apparently already connecting some of its radios to the DOJ system but there were limits as to how to connect agencies not involved in law enforcement.
The Federal Way Police Department and Valley Communications are not part of the WSP Radio network system. Valley Communications utilized a “patch” system via the LERN network in the event local agencies need to communicate directly with WSP or Federal agencies. WSP’s system will not impact the 800 MHz system in King County.
The WSP’s priority was to meet the FCC’s deadline to free up space on the airwaves. The federal system required Motorola equipment and software. Details on the cost of radios were not expected until after contracts were signed and some folks had questions about the plan. But after all, converting to the new system was a mere $26 million- with $9 million for other work. Motorola offered a large discount and besides- the WSP already had $32 million in its budget for the contract.
But one of the critics complained, “Seems to me that sole-sourcing essentially locks them into that one vendor and they’re not going to have any options.”
Nevertheless, one of the WSP’s point men, Bob Schwent, assured lawmakers “interoperability” would actually improve! Motorola still would not answer questions- at least from the media- until after the contract was signed.
Now it turns out there are big problems with the Washington State Patrol’s $41 million and counting plan. A new federal audit has described the DOJ Network as “having an uncertain future”. In fact, the DOJ inspector general is now questioning what the agency has to show after 13 years of upgrading its law enforcement radios and spending $356 million. See IG Report.
The Obama administration wants to cancel the program!
Implications for the State Patrol are unclear. Bob Schwent, commander of the State Patrol’s electronic services division claims the system in the Northwest actually continues to work well. “It’s just that they’re not going to fund any expansion of it,” he said.
One state lawmaker says the audit raises “serious questions” about the State Patrol’s move onto a system controlled by the federal government. Since the program has already been shelved nationally, he questions whether it can survive.
According to the TNT, Rep. Reuven Carlyle, a Seattle Democrat, believes that it is likely the feds will be canceling the program- or offering the network to the state to maintain. Schwent admits that possibility.
“The WSP could continue operating,” he said. “We’d have some reductions in what we can do and how we continue to do it.” And maybe just a little additional expense?
The Department of Justice has already decided not to expand its law enforcement radio network because the design might not handle “significant advances in new technologies.” Exactly what the critics were saying to the WSP while the DOJ was quietly abandoning the project!
The DOJ now has concerns about the costs due to not being able to purchase equipment from Motorola’s competition, according to the audit. Again, exactly what some critics in Washington state were maintaining all along. When the State Patrol signed the $26 million no-bid contract with Motorola, it claimed that partnering with the federal system was some $12 million cheaper than building its own.
Did the DOJ know all this when they persuaded ed our state lawmakers to come on board? The Washington Attorney General’s office needs to look into various causes of action against the federal government or tell the people of our state why it is not doing so!
Just a few months after the WSP entered into the contract, the IG was warning that delays in the system are potentially jeopardizing the lives of law enforcement and emergency personnel- and the public! The audit stated that it is impossible to determine the true cost of the IWN program!
The WSP is keeping an optimistic face on things, however, and apparently still claims that it saved some $12 million by linking to the federal radio network. Some law enforcement agencies might have to retrofit or buy new radios in order to communicate with the Motorola system. The Department of Fish and Wildlife will have to purchase new radios at a cost of $1.5 million but that does not include the other Motorola proprietary equipment and software that is required to make things work.
The State Patrol is reportedly paying Motorola an average of $5,800 per radio for 2,400 radios. For agencies with less money to spend, replacing radios with Motorola equipment might not be necessary. But that depends on whether Motorola is willing to let its competitors use Motorola technology. It all makes you wonder whether any of these problems developed because of something to do with state and national politics. You think campaign contributions might have had anything to do with it?
As we publish this article EU Merger regulators just cleared a historical merger of Motorola Mobility (smart phones) and Google. At the same time, the DOJ’s Antitrust Division is approving the Google-Motorola deal while expressing significant concerns about how Google uses some of its proprietary technology. Google just received approval from the US Department of Justice for its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility.
Read more here.
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Keys to a safer Federal Way
By MARK KNAPP
Federal Way Mirror · The Firearms Lawyer
January 6, 2012
Every once in a while, we showcase a Federal Way volunteer that is an example for the rest of us.
I first met Dan Goede at one of the city’s emergency preparedness classes at Federal Way City Hall. Dan is one of many volunteers in our community who is involved in a variety of critical responsibilities, including emergency preparedness and working with the Federal Way Police Department. I have the privilege of working with Dan and getting to know him through the Armed Defense Training Association, where we are both members.
Dan served four years in the Air Force, including a year in Vietnam, where he maintained aircraft. Dan is an informal leader among those of us that have gone through CERT training. Dan and I met for coffee recently, and I asked him whether his military background has anything to with his commitment to emergency preparedness.
Dan told me he kept his AR15 close while repairing aircraft in various remote locations in Vietnam.
The habit of being ready for things that most of us don’t often think about developed from Dan’s experiences in Vietnam. He said the habits developed while working under a chain of command still motivate him to get additional training and work with others who value being prepared, even when it means sacrificing his own time.
Dan completed training with the Federal Way Citizen’s Academy and participates in CERT Advanced Team, a more specialized level of preparedness that comes after classes to become certified with Federal Way’s Community Emergency Response Team. Dan is licensed as a Ham radio technician. Ham radio operation is critical to maintaining communications during any emergency that knocks out electrical and telephone grids.
I have met many of the Federal Way police and CERT volunteers. Many of them have their Concealed Pistol Licenses and have told me that natural emergencies like earthquakes can present threats of violence. Some people who are unprepared for an emergency will often try to take what they need from those who have set aside some extra food and water. There are also opportunists that will use an emergency as an excuse to create chaos.
Dan and 50-75 volunteers know that it makes a difference in how you feel about your city to work with law enforcement officers in making the community safe.
We discussed ways in which Federal Way may be different when we create the proposed “Center for the Shooting Arts.”
We also discussed the ways in which the proposed gun range has the potential to be a “third place” — i.e., one of those places where we can all get to know each other better and interact in order to make Federal Way vibrate with productive friendships and opportunities for growth.
There will be various training groups from in and out of law enforcement working together in collaboration with each other to host events and make the shooting facility a success. Volunteers like Dan Goede are the key to making things work during the tough times when the shortage of funds creates a series of budget emergencies — inside and outside of government. The steps volunteers like Dan take today may also determine how you and I survive in the future.
The next CERT training begins Feb. 9. There is also training for the Neighborhood Emergency Team program scheduled for March 29. For information about these and other emergency training programs, go to www.cityoffederalway.com/prepare or email FWEM@cityoffederalway.com.
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Range time on TV: Root for local ‘Top Shot’ contestant | Firearms Lawyer
By MARK KNAPP
Republished with permission from the Federal Way Mirror
The Firearms Lawyer
February 3, 2012
Television programs that feature weapons and shooting technology are becoming very popular.
One of my favorites is “Wednesday Night at the Range” on the Outdoor Channel — actually several different programs about self defense, competition shooting and the history of firearms.
Then on Tuesday evenings at 10:00 PM Pacific Time on the History Channel there is Top Shot. The program has matches in which top military, law enforcement and competitive shooters compete with everything from antique pistols to .50-caliber sniper rifles and machine guns.
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Sometimes they even throw rocks or tomahawks and shoot crossbows and other primitive weapons.
Just getting selected as a “Top Shot” participant requires candidates to compete against men and women that are highly ranked in various shooting disciplines. Most are experts with a certain kind of pistol or rifle. It takes the ability to master whatever weapon is at hand in order to be successful on the show.
Federal Way Police Department’s Cmdr. Kyle Sumpter recently cleared all the initial hurdles and went on to compete in a series of “Top Shot” episodes in Santa Clarita, Calif. Sumpter supervises firearms training for Federal Way police officers and previously headed up Valley SWAT, the largest SWAT agency in the state. Although Sumpter has already completed the “Top Shot” competition, not even Chief Brian Wilson knows the results. Sumpter knows how he did, but the results will be a secret until the episodes air this spring (season starts Feb. 14).
My occasional talks with Cmdr. Kyle Sumpter, mostly by phone, have me looking forward to seeing him on and off the range. You don’t have to talk to him for long to realize that Sumpter is dedicated to the craft of shooting and that he is the kind of honest, straight talking professional that makes him worth paying attention to. That is why the Federal Way Police Department has him in charge of training officers.
Some of my best memories growing up are of watching Westerns on television with my dad. There was more to some of the programs than just bullets being thrown back and forth by men on horseback. Greatness of character and decency could often be discerned in some of the really good shows.
Of course, a gun itself is not somehow a mark of excellent character — or even being good with a gun. It takes courage to face the people in society that are organized against decency. Sometimes it takes a whole lot of character just to figure out who the good guys and the bad guys are.
I don’t know whether kids think about stuff like that today or not. But get your son or daughter to watch “Top Shot” with you this spring. If you want your kids to see one of the good guys who keep Federal Way safe, and learn something about why America is great, you will not be disappointed.
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