Donna Parker for School Board

10/19/2021

10/07/2019

In an astonishing turn of events, a high school student from Iran is making headlines in the U.K. for scoring remarkably well...

08/01/2019

07/29/2019

And rightly so. Props to that school board.

From what I understand, this happened in the same county as the “Kids for Cash” scandal — where judges were profiting from sending kids to for-profit juvenile detention centers. The result was that if a teenager so much as chewed a piece of gum in school, they could wind up with an incarceration on their record. I can tell you because I’ve lived it that the courts in Chesapeake are barely better: My own nephew was illegally detained from his living parent by his former Step-mother of less than 2 years. And the Chesapeake courts prolonged that kidnapping from 3 days to 7 years and counting because they treated a federal criminal matter as if it were a state civil matter, and became accessories after the fact by ratifying the federal felony.

The fallout continues from a letter sent by a Pennsylvania school district to parents who owed lunch money debts.

07/24/2019

A Mighty Girl's top picks of empathy-building picture books for kids!

05/20/2019

I am getting questions on this page regarding the long-term kidnapping of my nephew. I hope to make videos in response to each of the questions.

But for now:

No, Luke is not home safe with his family. Yes, we welcome everyone’s prayers, best wishes, good vibes — whatever is offered.

And, yes, after 8 years of state actors violating the mother’s rights under color of law, and after 6 years of state actors treating a federal criminal matter as if it were a state civil matter, the matter is FINALLY before the correct court (the federal court) and accessible through PACER. If anyone has trouble accessing anything they need or want through pacer, let me know, and I’ll try to send you a pdf.

01/30/2019

Love it!

01/19/2019

To Whom it May Concern at ABC7NY:
You spelled R**E wrong.

01/08/2019

Finally!!! This young woman (who was just a teenager when this happened) should have never served a single day!!!

Cyntoia Denise Brown, a woman serving a life sentence for killing a man who bought her for s*x when she was 16 years old, has been granted clemency, the Tennessee governor's office said Monday.

09/23/2018

09/16/2018

TIME’s new cover: ‘I work 3 jobs and donate blood plasma to pay the bills.’ This is what it’s like to be a teacher in America https://ti.me/2OhPMJr

09/03/2018

03/16/2018

It is always amazing to me when people give school bus drivers a hard time. And it’s amazing to me the people that condone it. (WHEN did people get so ugly?! They should be ashamed of themselves. Their mothers must cry a lot.)

FYI: Lawmakers made it legal for a school bus to park within 9 inches of ANY curb because they’re smart enough to know that that benefits ALL taxpayers. So if you’re complaining about a bus being legally parked by a curb, or entertaining complaints about that, you are not just harassing the bus driver, you are undermining laws designed to benefit all taxpayers. And if you demand that a bus sprout wings in order to park in a parking lot sized for passenger cars only, you are not just inconveniencing the bus driver, you are inconveniencing all drivers who use or even pass by the lot.

01/18/2018

Friends — Thank you for checking in on my page. Unfortunately, I am not able to run for Chesapeake School Board in this May’s election. I look forward to seeing who is on the ballot.

08/26/2017

Another HRT/Transit Union/OSHA issue that deserves attention is the problem with sick time: For years, HRT drivers have driven, even when sick, because HRT inappropriately "disciplines" drivers for using their contracted benefit.

Then when HRT went $5 million over budget, they started terminating senior drivers, many of whom had tens of thousands of dollars in sick time, which HRT then stole back.

Let this sink in: A pre-requisite for HRT to receive state and federal funding is that there has to be a union contract that guarantees driver's sick time. But HRT has been in constant violation of that. If HRT loses their subsidies, the price of a bus pass would go from $4/day to about $30/day, which no one would ever pay. So this ONE issue could basically be the demise of the whole of HRT.

If the problem was just a hot-headed or inexperienced Operations Manager who thinks it is A-okay for senior drivers (who have given millions of safe rides) to lose their homes because they were sick, William Harrell and/or the Board would correct the injustices (that are fairly obvious to anyone with any moral compass at all). But they don't.

And here's one reason why: When an employee is wrongfully terminated, they are supposed to receive unemployment benefits. The Virginia Supreme Court says that when someone is terminated for doing something that they have a right to do (like use their contracted sick time), that is a wrongful termination (even in a "right to work" state).

But when an employer (HRT and Chesapeake Public Schools included) keeps asking the Employment Security Commission for re-hearings, eventually it gets before a Commissioner who is willing to go opposite the law.

The former employee's only recourse would then be to file in Chesapeake Circuit Court, which is guaranteed to not correct the (obvious) injustice. The former employee would then have to seek justice in federal court, which would potentially order the employer to re-instate the employee, with all back wages, interest on the back wages, and potentially up to $250 thousand in punitive damages to discourage the employer from the same wrong things to other employees in the future.

But the problem is this process is so lengthy, almost no one can afford to seek justice in the only forum where it can be had (federal court).

So let's all hope that OSHA takes the necessary steps to ensure the future of Transportation in Hampton Roads.

http://wavy.com/2017/08/24/union-members-take-their-concerns-to-hrt-board/

Hampton Roads Transit union members — including bus drivers — have been working without a contract for months.

08/25/2017

This is an important issue -- school bus drivers deal with the same thing. But it is somewhat mis-stated here: The problem is NOT so much that drivers are being disciplined for violating policies. The problem is that drivers are being disciplined because passengers complain that they don't like the policies (which are often actually law).

For instance: When HRT had a major transfer location on Lot 39, there was a very strict No-Board Zone as busses came off the lot. This was an important safety policy to keep half-million-dollar, tax-funded busses from colliding into each other.

But there was one occasion that even I know of (and statistically countless others that I don't know about) that a passenger tried to waive down a bus like a New York taxicab. The driver adhered to the safety policy and didn't stop. The passenger called the passenger assistance phone number, which led to public funds being misappropriated at least 2 different ways:

1.). The tax-funded purpose of the passenger assistance phone number is to give route and schedule information. But instead of adhering to that obligation, the Phone Representative entertained a complaint about the driver. Instead of explaining to the passenger that the driver did what the driver was obligated to do, the Phone Representative forwarded the complaint to Operations Management.

2. The Operations Manager then requested that the video be reviewed. The tax-funded purpose of the video is for security. When there is an actual security issue, the VERY FIRST STEP is to get a report from the driver. Instead of adhering to these obligations, the video footage, which could neither confirm nor deny the passengers complaint, was inappropriately reviewed.

At that time, the driver was suspended for long enough to cause considerable economic hardship. The driver wasn't disciplined for violating policy; the driver was suspended because a passenger didn't like the policy. Or possibly because of the driver's race or gender.

This egregious error was never corrected by upper management or the Board, and is one reason why HRT is being investigated by OSHA because it is not just a little bit illegal to discipline an employee for following a safety policy.

http://wavy.com/2017/08/24/union-members-take-their-concerns-to-hrt-board/

Hampton Roads Transit union members — including bus drivers — have been working without a contract for months.

05/14/2017

Happy Mothers' Day to the women who have their children with them. And Happy Mothers' Day to women whose children have passed, and women whose children are missing. This is the cover story of Washington Post.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/a-divorced-father-his-estranged-kids-and-a-controversial-program-to-bring-them-together/2017/05/09/b50ac6f6-204c-11e7-ad74-3a742a6e93a7_story.html?utm_term=.89afa37bcc8e

Some children in custody cases are sent to workshops to combat a disputed disorder called parental alienation.

04/17/2017

Someone suggested to my sister tonight that I seek a law degree so that I can become a prosecuting attorney. Other people have made the same suggestion before. So I'd like to give some response:

First of all: Their reason for suggesting this is because my nephew, Luke David Kirschmann, was the victim of parental kidnapping by his father several times in 2010. On 2 of those occassions, he was intentionally burned with ci******es, and justice was not had. At the time, we were told that an assault has to be investigated and prosecuted where it occurred, and because they had travelled by personal vehicle through several states, the little 5-year-old was unable to say, and his father would not cooperate with the investigation. In hindsight, that is probably why kidnappings, even by a parent, are supposed to be immediately turned over to federal law enforcement.

After that, due to ongoing fraud against the court (that continues to this day), the same child has been the victim of a long-time kidnapping by a non-relative, who has circumvented investigation and prosection by federal law enforcement by filing civil actions in state courts that violate the mother's rights under color of law for several years before the Virginia Supreme Court ultimately admits they never had jurisdiction.

This child (now 12) will not benefit from me seeking a law degree (which would take several years), and then having to practice law for several more years, before I could apply to work in the attorney general's office. This child, and this parent, need and deserve the help of someone who is ALREADY a prosecuting attorney.

Unless there is some resolution in the very near future, we will have no choice other than to file federal actions. In that eventuality, it will all be very public; there will be press releases, etc.

Meanwhile:

1.) If you had to put a price tag on an "ordinary" day in the life of you child, how much is the right to parent your child worth to you?

2.) If you had to put a price tag on the "special" days of your child's life, what would it take to persuade you to forfeit a childhood Mother's Day? A childhood Christmas? A childhood birthday? What price tag would you put on those days/memories?

3.) If you were having to ask the court to compensate you for the mental anguish of not having your child with you during hurricane warnings, flash flood warnings, tornado warnings -- what price tag would you put on your mental anguish?

4.) If the court is obligated to award punitive damages in order to keep these same people from becoming complicit in this same heinous crime against other parents and other children, how much money would it take for it to quit being profitable to deprive children of a meaningful, ongoing relationship with their families?

If you have any difficulties replying to this page, please feel free to email me at [email protected].

As an aside: Having lived through this, it takes on a whole new meaning that our forefathers knew that the right of families to be secure in their homes was worth having a Revolutionary War to achieve.

04/06/2017

04/04/2017

Great reason to buy a Sprinter Van! Ot Hyundai.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mercedes-benz-withdraws-oreilly-factor-ads-s*xual-harassment-controversy-990932

"Given the importance of women in every aspect of our business, we don't feel this is a good environment in which to advertise our products right now," Mercedes-Benz said in a statement.

03/23/2017

:) Good morning

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-sets-higher-bar-for-education-of-students-with-disabilities/2017/03/22/fcb7bc62-0f16-11e7-9d5a-a83e627dc120_story.html?tid=sm_Fb&utm_term=.9dea9148bd14

The decision affects millions of children nationwide.

03/18/2017

So where is Chesapeake Public Schools getting the funding to have this? And how many school districts in Virginia have it?

https://youtu.be/GkXwN1ssAgY

Target 7 uncovers a pricey purchase by the state, paid for with taxpayer money, that's been shelved after just a year.

03/17/2017

Well. Remembering when Michael Townes (who was familiar with the best Transportation systems in the world) was the CEO, there was enough money in reserve to cover payroll for 9 years into the future. And it was probably the same city council members that thought he should be fired. So at this juncture, the decent choices would be (A) Find Michael Townes and persuade him to come back (B) Keep William Harrell and hope that he's learned from this experience (C) Both (A) and (B): Bring back Michael Townes and keep William Harrell and hope they learn from each other's strengths (D) Find someone else, who like Michael Townes, is not new to the field of Transportation.

They didn't acknowledge that the single biggest expense (overtime) came from letting passengers (who have no accountability to the city councils) complain about drivers following state and federal laws. Instead of instructing the passengers that the driver was following the law and policies, they suspend the driver and pay another driver overtime.

Surprisingly, they still think ridership is lower than expected. That's not likely. It's probable that more and more people are stealing fare, in part because the drivers are being instructed to deviate from the industry standard by not having passengers get off the bus at the end of the line.

Another ridiculous cost not included in this article is the routine practice of only passing 3 out of 4 people who meet all DMV and HR requirements to go through their 6-week training -- even if all of the trainees clearly meet or exceed the standard.

http://wavy.com/2017/03/14/hrt-president-and-ceo-talks-budget-overruns-with-10-on-your-side/

Why is Hampton Roads Transit over budget and leaving cities on the hook to fork out taxpayer money?

03/09/2017

Two words: Driver retention.

How this happened: They fired safe, tenured drivers who haven't had any tickets or collisions in years. Then they hired rookies so they could pay them $5/hour less. Then the rookies go out and crash half-million dollar buses.

Also: When drivers are fired faster than H.R. and the training department can get new ones on the road, the drivers who are there wind up doing mandatory overtime (at time and a half -- except for holidays, which are triple time). Instead of saving money, it is a considerable cost. No wonder Bobby Edwards skedaddled.

The answer: Quit firing drivers for no other reason than someone who paid $4 in fare didn't like that the driver followed safety regulations.

https://youtu.be/V0RBCMs3hhY

Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) is asking several cities for money as a result of "budgetary challenges."

03/03/2017

A concerned parent just called me that their child is still not home from a school in Deep Creek. From what I understand, the bus has not reported any issues, but the bridge was closed to vehicle traffic for a while, so the they are running late.

02/27/2017

I met a "closet De Vos supporter" tonight. Interesting.

In other news: Reportedly, 25 school bus drivers for the City of Chesapeake were terminated between September and January. Translation: Approximately 5,000 kids standing on the side of the road every morning waiting for a bus that isn't coming. And even more teachers getting criticized because students who are chronically tardy don't fare well on standardized tests.

Sad. On so many levels. Perhaps the School Board should look at what it would take to improve driver RETENTION.

02/21/2017

Love, love, love to my nephew Luke. Always, always, always and forever, ever, ever.

02/19/2017

If anyone has any questions for me, or if anyone would like to share a care or concern please do not hesitate to message me or e-mail me at [email protected].

02/05/2017

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-virginia-school-boards-unconscionable-stance-on-child-abuse/2017/02/03/ce331ebe-df59-11e6-918c-99ede3c8cafa_story.html?postshare=4941486269198340&tid=ss_fb

Children have to feel safe to learn.

02/03/2017

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/angela-merkel-donald-trump-democracy-freedom-of-press-a7556986.html

When Barack Obama revealed that his last phone call as President was to Angela Merkel, reaffirming their alliance and friendship of the last eight years, he wasn’t just saying goodbye. He was handing over his baton. The German Chancellor isn’t just the leader of Europe, she is now the de-facto leade...

01/19/2017

http://m.imgur.com/7xHaUXf

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet.

01/18/2017

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/01/what-happens-to-a-womans-brain-when-she-becomes-a-mother/384179/?utm_source=fbb

From joy and attachment to anxiety and protectiveness, mothering behavior begins with biochemical reactions.

01/17/2017