The Deserved Collapse of Public Schools: How We Have Been Hornswoggled and Bamboozled – Even Flummoxed and Hoodwinked – by Entrenched Educrats, Tyrannical Teacher Unions and Pandering Politicians

Richard G. Neal

	Format	ISBN	Price
	Paperback (6x9)	9781425924928	$ 15.70

Large segments of the American public school system have been failing for decades, and the pace of failure is accelerating – thanks largely to the entrenched education establishment and teacher unions. This book provides a panoramic view of these failures, as well as an analysis of the failed attempts to improve public education.

The author brings to bear his extensive experiences within the government school system to expose how public education, for millions of students, has been a failure by every meaningful measure. Achievement, as measured by test scores, has been stagnant for years. The student dropout rate remains shockingly high. Many high school graduates are not prepared either for continuing education or meaningful employment. Hordes of unassimilated immigrants are clogging the education process for many of their classmates. Student misbehavior continues unabated. Millions of students desert the public schools yearly for home-schooling and other more valuable education experiences.

All of the politically correct and conventional attempts to save the failing public schools have failed. Dumping more money on problems seems to create more problems. Federal “aid” has been unproductive and inserted the federal government further into public education without any constitutional authority. The constant increases in teacher salaries based on the universal “salary grid” have had no positive impact on student learning. Billions of dollars have been spent on reduction in class size with no benefit to education. The requirements for teacher certification have become more demanding, but with little benefit, if any, on student learning. School districts and schools have grown bigger in a futile attempt to improve education, causing more harm than good. While the public thinks that if a school is “accredited” it must be good, in reality, school accreditation is nothing more than certification of a failed system.

After reading this encyclopedia of failed attempts to stop the collapse of public schools, one can only conclude that education should be given back to parents who can exercise market choices in the education of their children.

Richard G. Neal has a rich and practical background in education that has prepared him well for the issues in this book. Very few educators can claim such a prodigious and long career in their field. He has taught students at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, as well as students in adult education and community colleges. During his early years of public school teaching, he simultaneously served as the executive director of a large teachers’ association. He also served as a counselor at the secondary and adult levels and taught graduate level college classes. He earned his way through the ranks of assistant principal, principal, supervisor, director, and associate superintendent in large districts. Additionally, he served as the director of a large adult education program.

In mid-career, Neal left public school employment to serve as the associate director of an educational consulting firm, specializing in school management. During that period he provided instructional programs on labor relations for school district managers and school board members throughout the United States and Canada. His many books on labor relations have given needed assistance to thousands of school board members and their management teams. Corollary to that function, he served nationally as a negotiator for numerous school boards. During that period he was Executive Director of the National Association of Educational Negotiators and the Association of Negotiators and Contract Administrators.

Next, he became a nationally known consultant on how to decentralize school districts through the use of school based management, conducting seminars and training programs nationally for school management personnel and teachers. His programs were based on his books on school-based management.

Neal is a graduate of the University of Maryland, George Washington University, and Ohio State University. He served on active duty as a seaman in the U.S. Navy, and an officer in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.

He is the author of 12 books on all aspects of school labor relations, such as

School and Government Labor Relations

Countering Strikes and Militancy

Negotiations Strategies: A Reference Manual

Bargaining Tactics (2 Vols.)

Grievance Procedures and Grievance Arbitration

Resolving Negotiations Impasses

Other books include

Merit Pay for Teachers

School Based Management: A Guide to Implementation

School Based Management: A Training Guide

School Based Management: The Final Examination

School Based Management: An Analysis of Special Issues

Time Savers/Time Wasters

Making Good Things Happen: Negotiating for Success (co-author)

Escape to Learning: An Educator’s Answer to the Public School Crisis

The Collapse of Public Schools

Neal is the author of 50 articles on school labor relations, plus

Employee Dismissal: Arbitrators Seek Evidence

Why a Management Audit?

Evidence of Proof in Arbitration Cases

Progressive Discipline & Dismissal

School Based Management: An Advanced Model

School Based Management Lets the Principal Decide

What’s That You Say? Attentive Listening Techniques

The Fine Art of Delegating

Neal also served as editor or assistant editor of

Negotiations Bulletin

Readings in Public School Collective Bargaining

Municipal Progress

Negotiations Games People Play

Employers Negotiating Service

Negotiations Management

Inside Negotiations

ANCA Bulletin

Other Books By This Author

Escape to Learning

The Alliance Against Education Reform

School Choice After the Collapse of Public Schools