Black Caucus threatens suit over Race to the Top reforms
The leader of the Delaware Black Caucus said if the state’s Race to the Top education reform plan doesn’t result in greater racial equality in schools and a fairer distribution of education dollars, the group may consider taking legal action.
Always waiting to take action as victims of this wrongheaded Wall Street inspired education reforms pileup and another generation lied to.
“The new millennium term is ‘charter school’ and ‘choice school.’ I call it segregation,” he said. “There are black charter schools and there are predominantly white charter schools. You can call it what you want, but it is what it is.
Jae, what did you expect from an education reform plan lead by a bunch of rich white billionaires.
Street said the caucus, which includes black elected officials at the municipal, county and state level, recently discussed education inequality with Gov. Jack Markell, who told them the state’s $119 million Race to the Top grant will help underserved schools with predominant minority student populations
8 million dollars to Rupert Murdoch’s Wireless Generation for data coaches. Also new division at the Delaware Department of Education full of high paid administrative positions. Governor Jack Markell is useless as a woodpecker on an aluminum telephone pole
However, Street and others from the Black Caucus don’t share the same optimism about Race to the Top’s ability to correct racial disparities in schools and establish an equitable funding policy.
“I’m going to hope for the best and prepare for the worst,” Street said. “If it doesn’t come to fruition, it is our duty to destroy and abolish this education system. We can and will litigate.”
Race to Top is a federal four year grant with unsustainable funding after the fourth year! When the race is over which race will still be at the starting gate? Why is Race to The Top funding use to pay for SAT test for those who can afford it? Yes let’s wait until 2054 to make it an even 100 years since 1954′s promise. This way we can call the new reform plan, “we waited 100 years for the deliverance of equal education!”
Capital School Board member Raymond Paylor told Street and the other caucus members leading the forum that Delaware’s plans for turning around failing schools with high minority populations are fundamentally flawed
Well Raymond, how about writing an editorial in the News Journal for the whole world to here?
“In high-poverty schools, we need to pay more to have good teachers come in and be willing to work with our students,” said Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, D-Wilmington East. “I know Race to the Top is supposed to help, but it’s so tedious and cumbersome.”
You don’t have to pay teachers more just treat them like professional and giveback control of classroom to the teachers! Giveback control of the school district to to local school boards and get Makell out of education reform! Get Wall Street out of the Delaware Department of Education. Were freedom fighters of the Underground Railroad compensated different at the first mile than the last mile? Stop labeling teachers failures when we as a society fail to support teachers and allow poverty to be a profit center! Is Title 1 really “supplemental”. Delaware legislators allowed the State Board of Education handpicked puppets of Jack Markell to change state education regulations to align them with the Race to The Top agenda. Delaware DOE told Red Clay School Board to either vote yes to the RTTT MOU and if not they’ll fund RTTT with local funds! I WAS THERE! The disrespect DOE officials showed elected public officials aka school board members was a disgrace!
I said before, a day will come for a new civil rights movement but that day is not now! But when that day comes you will know because there will be new young voices full of fresh spirit! It will be sister leading the charge to mop up of after men who allowed themselves to sever the greenbacks of their white masters who rule Wall Street. Poverty in education has become a profit center and more and more of it heads to Wall Street while less heads to the classroom for more teachers to reduce class sizes and more paraprofessional to assist teachers with the most at-high risk students. We have enough data on-hand to get to work! Seeking more data is nothing but a Wall Street diversion.
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Jea is right, Wall Street is wrong. I have made every point the Black Caucus makes in this story save one for 2.5 yrs.
The one point of difference is on “pay to attract” talent. That WILL NOT GET GOOD TEACHERS INTO FAILING SCHOOLS.
Only one thing attracts GREAT TEACHERS: GREAT LEADERS! Just look at what is going on at Edison Charter and Newark Charter. Great Leaders both and they each have a bevy of excellent teachers on their respective staffs.
Plus DSEA will never allow pay disparities for after all a gym teacher which is a dime a dozen, is worth the same as a phyics teacher. One requires bouncing a ball whereas the other requires skills needed to build rockets.
John,
I concur…Leadership is critical in attracting and retaining
talent as demonstrated in Dr. Terry Holiday’s now SecED,
Kentucky – story, see the current ASQ Education Brief…
http://asq.org/education/update_info.html
This success was attributed to Brenda Clark, who did our work
in Milford schools. The question some are asking is: Why was
this effort not replicated state-wide? DE DOE Funding?
To Jea Street, Charles Potter, Rep. Stephanie Boulden,
and Ray Paylor: You’ve had this information to review and
comment and yet, haven’t. Assistance, insight, and
understanding is available….just ask. I have, over the years,
provided you with updates on Quality Education developments
and you have remain silent.
A question to consider…When will the LEARNING begin?
Delaware needs to develop a capacity for
Quality Education, systemic and continuous improvement,
neighboring states have embraced this journey; Delaware’s
effort stalled in Milford. Why?
###
there’s a lot more to being a gym teacher than bouncing a ball… they worked just as hard for the credentials and degrees as that physics teacher. Go visit UD for some education in physical education, health, and wellness. It will enlighten you.
I agree completely. One of the things that leaves me bewildered is how in many schools/districts, principals get shuffled around routinely with so little attention to how much building relationships with school staff, parents, and communities matters. And I also think that great school leaders create an environment in which respect for teachers, for students, and for education is pervasive and fundamental, which helps teachers do their jobs so much more effectively.
This is bigger than Race To The Top.
http://www.delawareliberal.net/2012/02/24/education-segregation-delaware-black-caucus-threatens-to-sue/
Sorry for the shameless plug.
No problem! Glad to see DL engage this Wall Street attempt to takeover Delaware schools. It seems we’re all misinformed and misguided parents and community until our elected officials speak-out just like with DSTP
The aim of my post above was to point out that since 2000, data driven decision making – used 237 times in DE’s Race To The Top Application – has developed as a regular practice and to consider such a cost is suspect.
Here’s the latest newsletter with best practices citations…
http://links.mkt3019.com/servlet/MailView?ms=MzA4MjgzMAS2&r=MjY3NTgwNDY0MwS2&j=MzczNzQ4MzkS1&mt=1&rt=0
Which Street? I choose Main Street, tree lined, inclusive, and vital.
###
Data driven decision making itself is not the culprit. If we forbid data driven decisions and instead mandate that teachers shall individually take each student out to lunch and sing them their lessons in their first language, there will be Wall Street vendors for that.
I want to get data-driven right. I don’t want to go back to the opposite of data driven.
We collect so much useful data now that to not use it, we have to deliberately ignore it. Which is in fact what we are doing for a good deal of it.
Let’s not throw the Data out with the bath water.
As a tool data can be invaluable. It cannot, and should not, be the be all, end all. But it is a vital piece of the puzzle.
Mike,
Save The Date: 2012 National Quality Education Conference…
http://nqec.asq.org/?WT.dcsvid=MjY3NTgwNDY0MwS2&WT.mc_id=EM117790
For 2011, 32 States and 4 Countries participated and I had
Delaware in mind and remain eager to help.
Greg MAZZOTTA
Marketing Chair
ASQ Education Division
http://www.asq.org
My point is we have the data now ! And yes growth model test is needed and was in the pipeline as replacement for DSTP before Markell was elected. We need data to drive adjustments to curriculum needs to as a whip to beat teacher. We don’t need data coaches and if we do the supers are all overpaid!
It’s sad that I view suing as a viable option to address what has happened to our schools. So far only high-poverty students have felt the pain. I think it’s time to spread the pain around and get everyone’s attention.
Right now, too many parents are secure in their “good” school bubble – most don’t even know what’s going on in these high poverty schools. And why would they? Segregation creates a wall between the communities. That wall needs to come down.
Won’t be a lawsuit and nothing a private dinner with Jack won’t cure.
The high poverty school are getting screwed by plans like Teach for America! I wonder how North Star parents would feel if their teachers were revolving door teachers! Ones that didn’t major in education and were given five weeks of summer training! And they get to leave in two years with a bonus via AmeriCorp program and deferment on student loans with interest paid/ Red Clay gave $300,000.00 over an above salaries and benefits to TFA. But like one former school board member said, “It’s only federal Title 1 money”! Just think how $300,000.00 could have been used in enhancing community outreach? Poverty is a profit center in education! Why cure it ?
Data Driven is a misnomer and could be dangerous in this way: in a data driven environment a series of complex outcomes compete. FOr example, we rate schools on testing and growth. We can use data to help us better instruct students so we can improve that out come (this is the way it should work)….but humans, being human, will look at all the other data like attendance, SPEC ED designation, and begin to manipulate the periphery of the system: unenrolling kids, testing on kids days off because their is a 5% allowance for not taking the test…and in extreme cases intervening in the process as proctors in an unethical manner to drive the result. Now you say “John, are you saying there is cheating going on in Delaware?” I’ll say mostly no, BUT with DPASS II component 5 carrying 50.1% weighting on teacher EVAL we have no used the BLUNT instrument of policy (FROM RTTT) to create a sickeningly perverse incentive.
The real question is does the data drive the decisions, or do the decisions drive the data. No matter what the data must say we are successful at any cost. Which do you think will be practice?
I suggest we embrace the moniker Data Informed decision making. It is a truer reflection of the intent of “data driven” and then work harder than ever before at eliminating perverse incentives…because only our kids get hurt by those…just like in Philly, DC, Atlanta, with their cheating scandals…..
I know a phys ed. teacher who mentors many of the students who have no father figure at home
RTTT, Choice, and Charters are the result of flawed desegregation laws which excacerbated and made worse the situation of racial population geography. Neighborhood schools law is the result of a constituency fed up with social engineering. Upper New Castle’s 4 districts is a perfect example of best of intentions rendered FUBAR. The fact is Christina’s Wilmington section was only assigned to Christina’s district to prevent “Flight” from the other three when Desegregation was instituted. Now you have a district being held responsible for a population removed from its geography, no educational benefit has been created and the Wilmingtonian portion, is threatening to sue at every turn. Thanks Jea, keep up the good work and good relations.
Pandora, why shouldn’t students and parents be secure in their “good” schools? Are you inferring that the only good education is one where the racial and socio/ economic distribution is perfectly balanced with some stat that your feel represents the correct political picture, regardless of academic performance? Why wouldn’t students in predominantly minority sections be able to enjoy educational success close to home? What happens in the city that doesn’t happen in the suburbs? Could it be higher incidence of violence, truancy, property destruction, etc? And those things should be spread out over everyone because it benefits the educational experience???? Drop the poverty and segregation crap.
DOE should COMPLETELY reconfigure the districts in the geography north of the canal. The city should get its own district and the city should be held responsible to pay for it. The segregation remaining is not due to some governmental infrastructure and there has been plenty of time for individuals to integrate or move to where they are comfortable. The segregation is by choice and cannot be rationally laid upon some family that lives in Red Clay or Colonial or Brandywine or Christina. Racial distribution is what it is by choice. Playing with geography puzzles will not magically fix educational performance disparities. You need to look much closer in the mirror and not at some governmental program to hopscotch reality. Jea, you listening? Probably not, he’s too busy suing the district he fought to get his district students INTO.
Finally teacher pay cannot consistently and fairly be determined by student performance. It simply doesn’t work that way. I’m no union fan and there are teachers which should be removed but this “pay higher in low performing schools” crap is just smoke and mirrors for the larger cultural and social problems. Schools can’t fix those nor should teachers be expected to fix them.
How is it that high-poverty students are the ONLY ones to feel the pain? What about students that do not get picked in a lottery? What about students who are too shy to speak at an interview at CSW or are unable to write a good interview for DMA? The students who live near schools where there is no accountability? Students who barely know any of their neighbors because they all go to different schools? Our neighborhood is a parade of school busses in the morning. Students whose families move because of the schools around them? Students who get picked on in a big school where no one seems to think it is a big deal? Students who lose their reading specialist due to money and struggle for the next five years? Ones who have to worry until the end of the summer to even know if they have a school to go back to? Students who really want to go to vo-tech but hundreds are turned away because others are just using vo-tech to avoid other schools? (no I don’t have THAT many kids, some of these are about my kids, others are from many other families that I know)
You are right. I do not know what life is like for a poverty child/family. I guess I don’t realize what you mean by ‘good’ school bubble? Kind of feels like you don’t realize what SO many families go through trying to figure out education in this state. Where I am from you just went to school in or near your neighborhood, most of us didn’t even ride a bus. It was simple and easy. Something to be said about going to school with the same kids K-12.. everyone seemed (rather)nice to each other because they knew each other so well. It seems so simple. Obviously not. These blogs are eye opening.
Finally an open recognition that the laws of the state have created severe educational issues. While I don’t agree with all of the foregoing comments, there are many that I have been attempting, one way or another, to put out there. First, John, I disagree that school boards should be put in charge. I worked in Red Clay too long to agree with putting those foxes in the hen house. While plaster still falls out of the ceilings and off the walls in my former school, we have North Star, a projected new school, etc. I agree that there should not be a disparity in pay based on where one teaches. However, those of us who work with disadvantaged children should not be held in disdain for test scores that, while obviously reaching for the ideal, are not comparable to schools with a totally different demographic. Satisfying 20+ cells because of racial and economic mix is a lot harder than filling less than 10. Next, please stop acting as though school boards and administrators are not responsible for this mess. The Legislators in Dover passed the laws, yes, but who lobbied for Choice and Charter? In Red Clay there was a clear push to get this done. Know your history and who the background players are. I’m still waiting for answers from John Carwell to several key questions posed in our meeting 1/30/12. Please note the date – 2/25/12. In my opinion, no answer IS an answer. I’m glad that Jea Street and Theo Gregory are putting this out there for open discussion – it’s way past time. I also blame our Federal Government for their Charter push. What exactly has Arne Duncan really accomplished when he was Chancellor of Chicago schools? Answer: the move to charter to avoid the heavy lifting. RTTT brings that same attitude to the states. God help our children. Or better yet, we should.
Pull up a chair, this is going to take a while.
RTTT, Choice, and Charters are the result of flawed desegregation laws which excacerbated and made worse the situation of racial population geography. Neighborhood schools law is the result of a constituency fed up with social engineering. Upper New Castle’s 4 districts is a perfect example of best of intentions rendered FUBAR. The fact is Christina’s Wilmington section was only assigned to Christina’s district to prevent “Flight” from the other three when Desegregation was instituted. Now you have a district being held responsible for a population removed from its geography, no educational benefit has been created and the Wilmingtonian portion, is threatening to sue at every turn. Thanks Jea, keep up the good work and good relations.
You say that desegregation laws “excacerbated and made worse the situation of racial population geography. Neighborhood schools law is the result of a constituency fed up with social engineering. Upper New Castle’s 4 districts is a perfect example of best of intentions rendered FUBAR.” The reason busing came to be was that not everyone lived in your educational utopia. Desegregation ended up in court because populations outside the city were unwilling to help make sure all children received a quality education – a publicly funded education. Separate was not equal. I guess you and/or your parents were upset, but not so upset that you and/or your parents would look into solution “for all the kids” – solutions that might have averted busing. This didn’t end up in court without the help of those outside the city limits.
Pandora, why shouldn’t students and parents be secure in their “good” schools? Are you inferring that the only good education is one where the racial and socio/ economic distribution is perfectly balanced with some stat that your feel represents the correct political picture, regardless of academic performance? Why wouldn’t students in predominantly minority sections be able to enjoy educational success close to home? What happens in the city that doesn’t happen in the suburbs? Could it be higher incidence of violence, truancy, property destruction, etc? And those things should be spread out over everyone because it benefits the educational experience???? Drop the poverty and segregation crap.
First, it’s no secret that I believe diversity is important if you want to raise a child with a world view. That’s my opinion. You may, of course, disagree. And there are minority student success stories, and these success stories are very impressive given the obstacles facing these kids. And don’t be so quick to throw out the scary city card. Go check out the crime map at delawareonline. Newark looks a lot like Wilmington.
In regards to your last sentence… I will not drop it because it exists. Keep ignoring it like your predecessors did in the past, but don’t be surprised if history repeats itself.
DOE should COMPLETELY reconfigure the districts in the geography north of the canal. The city should get its own district and the city should be held responsible to pay for it.
Finance isn’t your strong suit. Wilmington doesn’t have the tax base. We have a lot of tax exempt properties – you know, the ones where little Johnny from Newark goes to live when his drug problem crosses the line and mommy and daddy are at their wits end. Or the apartment buildings you send Granny to since neither of you can afford Cokesbury Village. Or the homeless shelter your neighbor’s brother uses because he and his spouse won’t take him in. Now, I’m not complaining about these services. They are part of any city. I am pointing out that people outside the city make use of these services. A lot.
The segregation remaining is not due to some governmental infrastructure and there has been plenty of time for individuals to integrate or move to where they are comfortable. The segregation is by choice and cannot be rationally laid upon some family that lives in Red Clay or Colonial or Brandywine or Christina. Racial distribution is what it is by choice. Playing with geography puzzles will not magically fix educational performance disparities. You need to look much closer in the mirror and not at some governmental program to hopscotch reality. Jea, you listening? Probably not, he’s too busy suing the district he fought to get his district students INTO.
These entire paragraph demonstrates how little you understand poverty. What are you suggesting? That poor people pack up the SUV and buy/rent a house in the suburbs. Gotta lot of subsidized housing out there? Oh no, I forgot, that’s another one of those city services you guys make use of and then point fingers at – citing your superiority. You want Wilmington to be responsible for Wilmington? Fine, we’ll discuss that once you start zoning for section 8, opening halfway houses and homeless shelters in your neighborhoods. In fact, Limon House is presently looking for a location. Perhaps you’ll give them a call. If that suggestion seems absurd to you then we’ve identified the problem.
And let’s deal with the reality of Choice. Choice requires that a parent get their child to and from the Choice school. Now, if you own a car, or two, this rule doesn’t seem like a big deal. But what if you don’t own a car? Well, that’s going to limit your choice, now isn’t it.
Now let’s discuss employment. Despite your stereotypical view, most people in poverty have jobs. But most don’t have the sort of jobs that allows them to say, “Hey Charlie, gotta dash out and pick up the kids from school.” That sort of flexibility isn’t found in low wage employment.
So we begin with a system that is designed to limit Choice based on the basic rules of the Choice program itself.
School Districts and Carters can limit Choice by placing, or not placing, certain programs in certain schools. If you’re poor and need a subsidized after school program so, you know, you can work then you’ll need to send your child to a school that offers that service. I understand Newark Charter doesn’t have a cafeteria – which boggles the mind – and I would guess this is a deliberate way to limit those who rely on free and reduced lunch. Either that, or they’re implementing the Little House on the Prairie model. Given all these factors, guess which schools high poverty parents have to pick from.
Basically, The bottom line is that choice (in regards to public and charter schools) means something when you have it. If you can spend only $20.00 on a watch, the fact that there are Rolexes in the case doesn’t mean much to you. The business of choice is meant to serve those who have the means to make those choices — better neighborhoods, access to the right transportation, money for private schools or even charter facilities with mediocre educational capabilities but the ability to Deep 6 the problem kids. Choice is largely meaningless if you can’t move, have a kid with special needs, can’t get the kid to other facilities.
Choice lets school boards and administrators off of the hook for a basic bit of educational business — making sure that a world class education is reasonably available where the kids already are, no matter what neighborhood that is. You can’t mandate equal outcomes, but you can mandate equal opportunity and all of this choice eliminates the possibility of equal opportunity for those without the same choices.
Finally teacher pay cannot consistently and fairly be determined by student performance. It simply doesn’t work that way. I’m no union fan and there are teachers which should be removed but this “pay higher in low performing schools” crap is just smoke and mirrors for the larger cultural and social problems. Schools can’t fix those nor should teachers be expected to fix them.
So… you see no difference between experienced teachers and teachers fresh out of college? One of the biggest problems facing high poverty schools is the lack of experienced teachers. I don’t have a strong opinion when it comes to pay, but I will say that I wouldn’t have a problem with paying them more for two reasons. 1) More pay would be an incentive for experienced teachers to teach in theses schools, and 2) The job description for teachers in high poverty schools is greater than for those teaching in non-poverty schools.
Let’s look at it this way. How would you feel if a Tower Hill parent told you that if you really cared about your child’s education then you would choose to send them to Tower Hill. They would also say that if you only cared enough, were involved enough, you’d make sure they traveled abroad every summer.
My guess is that you’d look at them like they were crazy, because Tower Hill and yearly European vacations isn’t a real choice for you (or most people).
[...] Via this thread at Kilroy’s: [...]
“if you really cared about your kid you’d do what I did” comments over at Kilroy’s – most in defense of Charter Schools. What did I write to make you say that? I said poverty students aren’t the only ones to feel the pain. I should sue because a safe public feeder school is not offered to my children, and it hasn’t for a long time. Personally I would love to see every child have to opportunity to go to a safe and academically sound school. The kids in Wilmington don’t have the opportunity to go to Newark Charter. I would be happy to have any student from anywhere go to school with my kids. I live in CSD so my kids do not have the opportunity to go to DMA. They don’t take kids anymore from Christina Dist. unless there are still openings.. like that will ever happen again. Conrad does not take kids from Christina unless there are openings..like that will ever happen again. CSW accepted one kid from Newark Charter this year. Christiana and Glasgow are unsafe and I am not sending my kid to a school where the 10th graders are learning what my 8th grader already learned. I would like to know what you translated into ‘if you really loved your kid you’d do what I did”. Your comparison to Tower Hill was ridiculous. You are comparing a trip to Europe to me, a parent who just doesn’t want their kid going to a school where it is common practice to do things such as punch guidance counselors, punch security guards, and have sex with students. I realize that although my options for choice are now very limited, CSW out, Conrad out, DMA out, I still have the option to move, other families might not have have option.. You said that poverty kids were so far the only ones to feel the pain.. all I was trying to say was ‘no they aren’t the only ones’!
There was a reason I didn’t link to your specific comments, pencadermom.
Sorry it upset you. How about I add that my Tower Hill comment wasn’t specifically addressed at you, but it addressed at a LOT of commenters here. I will even include and link to your comments. Okay?
And I get why you think the Tower Hill and trips abroad example is “ridiculous” – some might say “unimaginable” to most people. But some Tower Hill parents would look at your pain and ask why are you struggling with these issues – just move to Greenville and send your kids to Tower Hill.
And there’s the disconnect. So if my example doesn’t seem fair or attainable to you, perhaps everyone (not just you) should afford the same understanding to others. Just sayin’
Should have kept my answer more simple.. maybe got lost in translation.. my kids are not high-poverty students but still have ‘felt the pain’ when I really wanted to apply for Conrad but did not have a means to get them there. Conrad does not bus students who are out of district. My kids felt the pain by not getting picked in various lotteries. Maybe I misunderstood your post, I thought you were talking about choices for everyone, I realize choices are very limited to high poverty students, my point was that the choices are pretty limited to others too (even more so now that Conrad and DMA don’t have spots for out of district students)
I get what you’re saying, and I do understand your pain. What I was saying (not just to you) was that there are tiers. What is possible for one socioeconomic class of people is not an option, or a choice, for another.
Your problems with finding a high school for your child demonstrates how Choice and Charters can limit your options. It creates public/private schools and dumping ground schools. That’s the issue. An escape hatch for a select few, while others – who no fault of their own, like you – are dumped into schools that have lost students and resources. There is a tipping point when it comes to poverty in a school – a point that effects everything and overwhelms everyone.
Imagine if parents had united to demand that their school districts/boards took care of all their schools so that parents would be comfortable sending their children to any school in the district. Yeah, I’m a dreamer.
And if you’re serious about moving… move into the Brandywine School District. They pretty much kick everyone’s butt.
Sturgis,
As a friend of both a Physics and gym teacher, I can tell you that your statements are completely false. While the number of course credits for both programs are almost equivalent, the time spent working on the math and science courses needed for a certified Physics teacher is quite alot more than the gym teacher.
My take:
New Castle County’s elementary schools are doing well, the middle schools start to lose it and the high schools are gone.
i think no one would have a problems with a Wilmington School District, IF that was the best one in the state… One that was the newest, one that used the most money and had the best teachers, had the best support staff, and had the best after-school programs, as well as the best of everything… If suburban parents wanted to upgrade, they could choice into the Wilmington School district… It would have outside funding; For It would be unfair to have Wilmington support their own district.
There would be no reason to complain. The schools would be close to their neighborhood. The education would not be inferior, it would in fact be superior, and the after school activities would fill in a social hole existing today.
The problem with integration is not the responsibility of the schools. It comes from the fact that races don’t live together geographically. Because of that fact, to integrate schools, you have to move children from their home, out into a strange land, than move them back again at the end of the day. …
As adults, we feel quite out of place when we change jobs from one location to another… It takes months for us to become comfortable enough to be effective. But with kids, we say, shut up, suck it up… get on this bus, and I’ll pick you up in 8 hours… Does anyone realize what that does to a child? The anxiety? The hyperness?
And the problems for any parent in the city?… ” Ma’am, you need to pick your child up right away.” Calling for a 3 hour bus ride; one with 5 transfer points followed by a quarter of a mile walk to the school from the nearest DART stop… then a return trip retracing the same way, getting home hours after the bus would have dropped the child off normally…….
And “they” wonder why the city kids misbehave so much?
I would have misbehaved so much more during my growing up, if I’d had the freedom these kids had… But I was soooooo misfortunate to have my mother living 3 blocks away and the simple admonishment, ” do I have to call your mother?” effectively rendered all my mischievous plans innocuous. …. ..
So there is something to be said for neighborhood schools. … And if the neighborhood is all black, all poor, all rundown, … and that is how funding for that school is derived, economically that school is doomed to fail…
But,…. what if unlimited resources were allotted to that district? What if no expense was spared?
It would electrify the educational establishment across the world…..
If our African American schools became our magnets, and there is not reason why they couldn’t, if our best arts, our best music, our most intimidating calculus, our most expressive composition, came from the excellent teaching that emanated from the core of Wilmington District….?
How?
(Ideas are worthless without a plan)…..
We create the Wilmington School District, whose funds come entirely from the General Assembly. The state education administration has their duty switched from jerking teachers around over the entire state with worthless programs that prevent them from spending quality time with their students.. … over to running the best school district in the state……. Starting salaries in that district should begin at $10,000 higher than those in suburban districts….. Standards need to be a little higher too….
The other three districts, freed from the Wilmington albatross, can begin to grow back on their own……
This would work with a minimum change in day to day cost. The budget for the DOE would cover that district in the city… Additional cost would only come from new construction or upgrade renovations, required to bring 1930′s schools back into the new century, … which btw. , would happen to employ a lot of those in the building trades…
There it was: my two cents…. As long as it is, I probably should have posted it on my page, but, as I’ve dropped the ball on this for several years, and Kilroy, has sometimes been the only one keeping on the pressure, it was more than fitting that it be debuted here…..
pandora: Speaking as a NCS parent, you may be surprised that I agree with more of your points than you would think. I enjoy reading your posts, I have learned a lot and see you are a true advocate.. Where we may differ is your opinion of me as you all look at your data and determine we must be all SUV driving, bank executives living in a bubble. It is my contention that I bet I live in a more diverse area than most of my opposers. Not all of us roll in the money, we are paycheck to paycheck, retail sales people making ends meet in bad economic times. We cancel our cell phone service and cable when times are tough, pack lunches every day, and hope to take a modest vacation every couple years. We drive used cars and save dinners out for special occaisions. In no way would I ever ever compare myself to someone in the inner city, but in no way should I be characterized as an elitist bigot just because I jumped at the chance to get my kids into a safe and successful school. Yes, I know I have more than most, but I have worked very hard to maintain a modest lifestyle. I can understand your frustration about the inequality among different areas, but you can’t tear one down to build another up. Will that solve the problems? I understand the need to champion for the needy, but it seems somewhat insulting to insinuate that just because you are poor, you don’t have the aptiude to fill out an application or pack your child a lunch. Can charter schools do more to assist in the application process, absolutely, but you have to be careful if in doing so you’re not accused of “poaching” by the school district. Would CSD really want charter applications handed out in their schools? Maybe in Red Clay this would work, but not here, not right now anyway.
I would support more money going to the poorest schools and less to the more fortunate. I would support teachers being paid more to work in the city schools. I would rather see more reading and math specialists hired and less administrative people. I would support more money going to preschool and pre-K programs where it is full day, and learning disabilities are found earlier. Along with this, I would support parenting workshops and advocates to help parents navigate the many choices available to their kids, as well as, the confusing world of LD with 504 plans and IEP’s and benchmarks are explained. Homework workshops run by teachers to show parents how to help their child at home. I don’t think it’s always that parents don’t want to get involved, they may just not know how. And they changed math since I was in school!!! I think on this, we may feel the same.
Finally, I am not asking for anything more for my child, we have enough. I just want her to be allowed to continue in a school, where she thrives, even with her LD struggles. Taking that away from her, because there are failures in other places, doesn’t help anyone.
Let’s reread my bubble comment, since it obviously hit a nerve with many:
Right now, too many parents are secure in their “good” school bubble – most don’t even know what’s going on in these high poverty schools. And why would they? Segregation creates a wall between the communities. That wall needs to come down.
Read what comes after the word “bubble.” That’s the point – The wall that exists. How would a parent at North Star or NCS know what’s happening in these high poverty schools? I wouldn’t expect them to know.
And I’m not advocating taking away “good” schools. I’m advocating for popping the “bubble” and adding more voices (and we need voices, lots of them) to hold schools/districts accountable to all their students. Does that clear things up?
Pandora, I think we have a generation of charter parents who aren’t rooted in the first generation who may be very insensitive. Charter or not parents and we humans are conscious of life outside Delaware. We all live in out own bubbles following the same daily routine. Newarkmom does seem to be sensitive to what we are saying and seems reasonably objective. She is right about all the confusing programs in education like LD and 504. Most parents particularly have no clue what SES is, Also many don’t know there is a difference between School Choice and Title 1 School Choice. Me I don’t fault parents for sending their kids to charters or choice to another schools.It really comes down to dog eat dog world and parent save their own children. There were many parents who were part of the charter movement who were very aggressive and you and I know the anti-busing crowd in Red Clay! Charters many have started out circumventing the goal of deseg but now we have parents who just want what they see is best and are naive to the most insensitive first generation of parents. The first wave of parents get theirs and when this charter school / Race to The Top bubble those parents will be long gone!
Kavips rocks!
Unfortunately, it would be a tough sell in “the my school is better than your school” world in which we live.
Edwatcher, they are simply different. Both specialities are very needed. But, there is more to being a gym teacher than most assume. Think about adapted p.e., the rates of childhood obesity, the sensory needs of kids raised in a chemical society. The gym teacher give the kids the outlet to burn down energy and calories. You see that value when the child in the academic class can actually focus and learn. Gym teachers are often under valued, yet many schools are grasping at straws to find a way to work more exercise into the school day. There is a connection, already well researched that links physical activity to better outcomes in school. Not talking testing, but behavior.
Indeed, “kavips rocks.”
Let us face the fact that forced busing to strive for integration is not working in Delaware.
Therefore, going back to the old neighborhood school approach, with money infusion from the State, makes a lot of sense for reasons already stated. Moreover, RTTT, while it lasts, should be focused on the inner city schools.
We should look at this as a long term investment which will probably take at least a generation before significant improvement occurs. A corollary result will be the eventual rebuilding and refurbishing of the inner city.
I also favor reducing Delaware to one school district, one superintendent, with three sub area districts each with an assistant superintendent, one per county.
This is the way the Fairfax County School District in Northern Virginia is organized, as mentioned in previous posts on Delaware Liberal. FCPS has about as many students as our entire State, organized with the neighborhood school approach. The result: high quality schools, very few private schools, and no charter schools.
I confess to not understanding the history of Delaware K-12 schools and their problems and challenges, but I see a terribly fragmented system in the northern part of our State, as described in posts here and on DL, with a plethora of charters and privates to further complicate attempts to focus on improving our public schools, as Pandora and Kilroy and several others have made their top priority.
I congratulate these people for trying to come up with a better plan for the future of our public schools. I hope Governor Markell and his DOE are paying attention!
I remember we were one school district back in the day. I believe it was called the “New Castle County Consolidated School District”. I believe it got split back up again before I graduated.
I don’t remember it lasting very long or why it didn’t work (it’s terrible to get old!). I’m sure someone on here knows much more about this!
There is a new game in town called charters and as they grow pulling students for traditional schools perhaps from a economical sense to reduce the number of school district in New Castle County which might address some of the Wilmington issues.
Dear Newarkmom.
I’m sorry that you are getting old.. However it appears you are doing so gracefully,.. That is better then the most of us.
Fairfax does have good schools. but they have a lot of white flight suburbanites who escaped the DC and northeastern MD neighborhoods.
I previously also touted the whole district approach; it made economical sense due to its large scale.
I have since realized that consolidating, has a side effect: removing parental care and concern. I don’t speak of those posting here. You obviously care. But to the tens of thousands who don’t…..
It is easy to be part of a school next door, even if that next door is 10 miles away, as long as you consider it next door, then that school sort of becomes a part of you.
If that school is locally controlled, then parents are more apt to buy in and become part of the solution. Even if you don’t, if a school board official walks your neighborhood, you will still feel some loyalty.
But, in a consolidated arrangement, if some of my money goes to Brandywine, some to Red Clay, some to Christiana, some to Colonial, then I will tend to lose interest. It might as well be a mutual fund… But, if my tax dollars go to a certain feeder pattern, then, I will find myself to become more involved…..
It’s human nature. It is one that satisfies our emotional needs, and not the fulfillment of some rational argument. … We like to belong, and if we belong, we have more involvement.
So, I think the better option is to pursue a Wilmington District, finance it from the General Assembly, and with the freedom that would suddenly give the outlaying districts, including their keeping the same tax base that is currently funding their overcrowded schools, that a entire turnaround in education could quickly evolve….
We’ve hit an evolutionary dead end with desegregation as it now stands… Gangrene has set in and is eating healthy flesh.
One final observation. When we ran with the last upgrade, we had the notion of starting with the preschoolers and working our way up…. The idea was that as those with good starts, moved up, they would lift the upper grades in 9, 10, 11 years as they entered high schools. But what happened, was they entered broken middle and high schools. Under-funded, under-staffed, under-utilized. These good students gave up; after all, they had to survive. They were outnumbered by the thugs.
This time we should start with the high schools and work downward; hopefully the elementary schools can keep their current high levels and we can have decently educated students, entering good, well run high schools.
Love your ideas. You are a great writer. Hope you are sharing your ideas everywhere
Dear Newark and Pencader Moms,
This may be a helpful link as it describes the
Quality Education journey that is undertaken
by the Fairfax County School System…
http://rube.asq.org/edu/2009/01/basic-quality/beginning-the-journey-turning-the-vision-into-reality.pdf
Delaware continues to be surrounded by accelerating efforts in:
MD, PA, NJ and high performing schools relate to economic and workforce development and quality of life matters; No wonder.
###
Pandora, while you have given much thought to your opinion, and I’m glad you have given it thought, the logic is flawed. Your perception that if we just re-engineer where people live, how we redistribute resources, manipulate the system, force changes that are either unwanted or untested, then everyone will be happy. NO they won’t. If you read multiple publications, court decisions regarding desegregation and now the reasons for the push to find creative funding and educational enviroments it becomes very apparent that every new iteration of tweaking only serves to create another level of dysfunction. Research desegregration and you’ll find that yes it has exacerbated the geographic and socieconomic problems. By integrating city schools, parents moved out of the city. This subtracted both academic AND economic resources which in turn left more widespread problems in the cities. Enter Suburban/ city desegregation (read: revenue AND academic resources) You still have a population with economic and cultural dysfunctions that schools can’t offset. I would believe a small group in these circumstances could be helped but the population in question still has problems NO SCHOOL AND NO TEACHER can fix. On top of that NO AMOUNT OF MONEY can counter some of the problems that currently exist.
You’re right, I don’t understand poverty. Even in today’s economic enviroment we have lower unemployment then most of Europe. Prior to the collapse, we had 4-5%. That to me is a 4-5% who wouldn’t work no matter what the circumstance. There are ways out of poverty. They are not easy but currently there are cultural and societal influences that are making it acceptable to not work, not learn what they can to become contributing members of society. Yet your perception is that this can be overcome by outside resources. So if we just pay for their housing, pay for welfare, pay for school lunches, pay for aftercare, pay for their free phones, then the turnaround is right around the corner. Umm, no it isn’t.
Newark Charter has no cafeteria because they would have to pay for everything in it. Equipment & Staff which I remind you, the state doesn’t pay for that for Charters so it is very simply a way that they can build a school and allocate their funds to TEACH students. Amazing isn’t it that a school that has no food program has kids doing very well academically. You’d think that since the state isn’t providing their prescribed nutritional food the kids would be woefully underperforming. By the way, since when is it my responsibility to pay for students breakfast ( a bowl of cereal and some orange juice $1.20 ) and lunch ( Ham and cheese or PBNJ sandwich $1.20) ? Aren’t students who already may be on food stamps and welfare, receiving money for food?? Yet there is this belief that somehow the schools need to provide “highly nutritious” food because they aren’t fed at home. Why not, aren’t the families in question already receiving funding to do just that and the schools(i.e.: taxpayers) should provide it?? Don’t I have to pay for my family’s food?
I do see a difference in teacher performance but as an individual who is VERY familiar with educators from multiple generations I can tell you factually, most educators will take a lower paying position where there are less dysfunctions and less irrational demands over a higher paying, higher personal risk position teaching troubled youth. While money can motivate some, most do not view putting their lives in jeopardy for kids/ parents that are threatening or unmotivated to take advantage of whatever educational experience is offered to them. Don’t take my word for it, ask a teacher. “Would you take a position in a high risk school with more truancy, more violence, more academic problems, more disruptions, etc for an extra 20%?” It is a pipe dream. The solution is much more plain. The requirements for students to be allowed to go to school needs to be raised. When the dysfunctional kids are isolated THEN the greater majority of students will be able to learn and the teachers will have less resistance in taking positions doing the job they were trained to do. What experience do you really think can prepare a teacher to be effective if 80% of their students don’t do any homework, threaten their teacher or are more worried about getting with their boyfriend/ girlfriend than what a book is? Again, you are not recognizing the limitations of an individual to effect a positive change in a negative enviroment but you want EVERYONE else to pay for that effort. Sorry, the government waste’s too much of my money to buy into that.
This ultimately is a State and DOE level problem that no official is willing to do the right thing on. The state should properly fund the districts, the DOE should properly align the districts and the Schools should be allowed to appropriately deal with students which would allow the greatest number of students to be educated. Those that don’t want to be educated can become their parents problem.
Deliberate_1,
Where did I say this? “Your perception that if we just re-engineer where people live, how we redistribute resources, manipulate the system, force changes that are either unwanted or untested, then everyone will be happy. ” Please, point it out to me.
You say, “You’re right, I don’t understand poverty.”
You should have stopped with that sentence instead of going on to prove that statement beyond a doubt.
Everything I wrote about poverty was in regards to how it limited Choice. Everything you wrote in answer had nothing to do with my words. In fact, every time you cite “my perspective” you aren’t dealing with my perspective. Please, respond to what I’ve written, not what you think my perspective is.
Pandora, you wrote “-Read what comes after the word “bubble.” That’s the point – The wall that exists. How would a parent at North Star or NCS know what’s happening in these high poverty schools? I wouldn’t expect them to know” How would we not know what is going on in high poverty schools? I have been in them. I have a kid in one and I live in almost walking distance of 2 of them. I know kids, parents, and teachers in them. You don’t want people to put words in your mouth, maybe you shouldn’t do that either. Which schools are high poverty kids not able to choice or apply into? I realize what Kilroy always says is true, that parents aren’t always informed or care about deadlines, etc. or able to get to the school.. Why can’t there be programs to help them? I don’t think there are schools that people can’t apply to.. and by the way, on this thread or another (?) someone talked about NCS poverty seeming low for the area.. We have a relative who I am guessing is in this category, who, when I mentioned to her about the lottery (years ago when it was just a middle school) and told her she should apply for her kid, she said ” we heard it’s hard and they have too much homework”. She is a single mom and just thought that it would be too overwhelming for her and her kid. Maybe there are others in that category?
Corgie,
If you reread my post above, you will see that my point concerned the difficulty of achieving certification for both disciplines, rather as yours indicates that they are both needed. I do agree with you that both are needed and add that both needs to be paid equivalently based on experience and training. However, the central point remains that obtaining a Physics certification usually requires a lot more work in college than a Phys Ed certification.