Barbara Bush violated district policy when she used her visit to
Fleming Middle School last spring to promote the Ignite program.

She also attracted publicity when she earmarked part of her
contribution to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort to be spent on
purchases of Neil's software.

From The Houston Chronicle, 8/14/06:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/4117023.html

Neil's deal

HISD's decision to buy more educational software from the son of a
former president raises red flags.


The Houston Independent School District board has authorized spending
up to $200,000 for educational software and projectors sold by a
company founded by Neil Bush, the son of former President George and
Barbara Bush.

It's a waste of tax dollars that doesn't pass the smell test.

Ignite Learning is an Austin-based venture that markets learning
programs tailored for children with short attention spans.

Its reliance on jingles, cartoons and other snippets seems more likely
to reinforce that limitation than to nourish intellect and learning.

Neil Bush started the business in 1999 with millions of dollars from
Middle Eastern and Asian business and political figures connected to
the Bush family.

The business has not made money and has required repeated cash
infusions from his parents.

Taiwanese interests that had given Neil a job consulting for a
semiconductor manufacturer provided $2 million;

$3 million came from Saudi interests.

The youngest Bush brother has led a checkered career notable for his
involvement in the failure of Colorado's Silvarado S&L in the '80s.

Since then he has worked as a consultant, mostly for interests having
or seeking connections with his family.

HISD's participation in the Ignite program began with the donation of
private funds raised by Bush associates and donated to the
philanthropic HISD Foundation.

Those donations paid only half the software's initial cost; the school
district provided the rest.

Critics complain that the Ignite computers and software are of
questionable value, the contract was not competitively bid and the
program was not adequately evaluated.

Visitors to Ignite Learning's Web site will tend to agree.

The samples on display barely scrape the surface of the subject.

Tariffs, for instance, are represented as a monster created by a mad
scientist.

The taxation of imports is never mentioned.

An eighth-grade student is quoted as saying how much he prefers
looking at cartoons and singing songs to being taught by a teacher.

Quelle surprise.

The company claims its product makes connections between program
content and students' lives.

Isn't that the job of the teacher, who is actually acquainted with the
students' lives?

HISD cannot take money from Bush family interests, then spend public
dollars on a program benefiting Neil Bush and avoid a conflict of
interest.

Barbara Bush violated district policy when she used her visit to
Fleming Middle School last spring to promote the Ignite program.

She also attracted publicity when she earmarked part of her
contribution to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort to be spent on
purchases of Neil's software.

___________________________________________

What a family

Harry

and read;

The tumultuous and tawdry travels of Neil Bush
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=20162

Barbara Bush violated district policy when she used her visit to
Fleming Middle School last spring to promote the Ignite program.

She also attracted publicity when she earmarked part of her
contribution to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort to be spent on
purchases of Neil's software.


From The Houston Chronicle, 8/14/06:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/4117023.html

Neil's deal

HISD's decision to buy more educational software from the son of a
former president raises red flags.


The Houston Independent School District board has authorized spending
up to $200,000 for educational software and projectors sold by a
company founded by Neil Bush, the son of former President George and
Barbara Bush.

It's a waste of tax dollars that doesn't pass the smell test.

Ignite Learning is an Austin-based venture that markets learning
programs tailored for children with short attention spans.

Its reliance on jingles, cartoons and other snippets seems more likely
to reinforce that limitation than to nourish intellect and learning.

Neil Bush started the business in 1999 with millions of dollars from
Middle Eastern and Asian business and political figures connected to
the Bush family.

The business has not made money and has required repeated cash
infusions from his parents.

Taiwanese interests that had given Neil a job consulting for a
semiconductor manufacturer provided $2 million;

$3 million came from Saudi interests.

The youngest Bush brother has led a checkered career notable for his
involvement in the failure of Colorado's Silvarado S&L in the '80s.

Since then he has worked as a consultant, mostly for interests having
or seeking connections with his family.

HISD's participation in the Ignite program began with the donation of
private funds raised by Bush associates and donated to the
philanthropic HISD Foundation.

Those donations paid only half the software's initial cost; the school
district provided the rest.

Critics complain that the Ignite computers and software are of
questionable value, the contract was not competitively bid and the
program was not adequately evaluated.

Visitors to Ignite Learning's Web site will tend to agree.

The samples on display barely scrape the surface of the subject.

Tariffs, for instance, are represented as a monster created by a mad
scientist.

The taxation of imports is never mentioned.

An eighth-grade student is quoted as saying how much he prefers
looking at cartoons and singing songs to being taught by a teacher.

Quelle surprise.

The company claims its product makes connections between program
content and students' lives.

Isn't that the job of the teacher, who is actually acquainted with the
students' lives?

HISD cannot take money from Bush family interests, then spend public
dollars on a program benefiting Neil Bush and avoid a conflict of
interest.

Barbara Bush violated district policy when she used her visit to
Fleming Middle School last spring to promote the Ignite program.

She also attracted publicity when she earmarked part of her
contribution to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort to be spent on
purchases of Neil's software.

___________________________________________

What a family

Harry

and read;

The tumultuous and tawdry travels of Neil Bush
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=20162