The Keene Sentinel was out today covering the Keene Middle School outreach event. I sat and spoke with Josh, a new reporter at the Keene Sentinel for about 20 minutes, and I did my best to explain the reason for reaching out to the middle school kids. There seem to be a few discrepancies in his story vs our discussion, so I’ve marked a few very minor corrections in red:
Free Staters protest Liberty Outreach at Keene Middle School
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Updated June 4, 9 p.m.
By JOSH STILTS
Sentinel Staff
Published: Friday, June 04, 2010
Police were on hand called by school officials, Friday as about a dozen six members participants of the Free State Project stood outside Keene Middle School at school’s end, holding banners and signs that read “FreeKeene.com” and “School sucks project.”
It was the second time this week the protesters had shown up as students were leaving school.
On Tuesday, Free Keene member blogger Sam E. Miller Dodson stood outside the school on Washington Street by himself, holding a similar sign. He dropped the sign after was attacked when a parent, unable to control his anger, hit his hand holding the sign, Miller Dodson said, and a student ran off with it encouraged by the juvenile behavior of the parent, ran up – snatched the sign from his hand and ran away to rip it in half. Miller Dodson said he needed reinforcements. called for nearby police out of concern that pro-government media sources would use the event to skew the facts and warp reality in support of the state that licenses and feeds them news content.
When Dodson called for Police, several of the 40 or so students watching the encounter started yelling “Snitch!”, just like they do in prisons, which are run by the same organization.
“We want to reach out to the kids and show them what they’re being taught isn’t true, isn’t the only truth out there.” Miller Dodson said. “I don’t think it’s fair that I have to pay for kids to go to a ruined failed school system.”
Miller Dodson said privatizing the education system would create opportunities for children to learn in a way that best suits them as opposed to being forced to learn in just one style.
“The government is letting these kids down,” he said. “Private education based on performance instead of test s results would give students the best chance to learn.”
So far the some students haven’t agreed with the protesters. While others have waved at activists from classrooms and shouted “Free Keene” while waving from departing buses.
“They haven’t been here and don’t know what they’re talking about,” Kelly Choate, a 7th-grade student, said. “Clearly their middle school experience wasn’t a positive one.”
Many of the students simply ignored the group and walked around them, while others accepted fliers, asked questions, and engaged in discussions with activists. Maxwell Cooper, an 8th-grade student, said he didn’t understand them.
One angry parent approached Dodson to return a flier. When Dodson explained he hadn’t handed anything out, she threw it at him and stormed off.
“They’re wasting their time,” Cooper said. “No one’s going to listen to them. They’re not even explaining what they’re talking about.”
Cooper, along with Choate and two other students, Erick Meyarrose, an 8th-grade student, and Mahad Ahmad, a 6th-grader, sat and watched the protesters activists as they waited for rides home.
Whether it has a n short term effect or not, Miller Dodson said nothing is going to stop him and others from trying to make a difference in the education system explaining the reasons government education is a failure and a flawed idea that costs over $16,400 per student/per year.
“We need to take education out of the government’s hands,” he said. “The more money thrown at it, the worse it becomes.”
More protests outreach events are expected, he said.
Josh Stilts can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1433, or jstilts@keenesentinel.com
This, ladies and gentlemen, is why traditional main stream media is dying a slow and painful death.
