Thursday, July 16, 2009

Patrick wants more charter schools

What do you think of Patrick's proposal?

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090716/NEWS/90716003/1018/OPINION

19 comments:

Harrison B said...

We helped put him in. Now, it's time to vote the bum out.

MC said...

He's disappointment. I'll never vote for him again.

D. C. said...

Where's Portia? Haven't seen her lately? She wasn't at the suspension meeting yesterday at Keith. Is she on another much needed vacation?

Tom Thumb said...

She was spotted at the school commmittee meeting on Monday but she didn't look like a happy camper.

Big W said...

Members wanting to talk about education and/or NBEA leaders interested in a good post may want to go to credo.stanford.edu and read/post the executive summary of the latest study on charter schools. CREDO (Center for Research on Educational Outcomes)studied charter schools in 16 states and didn't find the results to be overwhelming. According to the study only 17% of charter schools had academic gains which exceeded traditional public schools (TPS), less than 50% did as well as TPS, and more than 17% had academic gains inferior to TPS.The study also found that first year charter school students experienced a drop in academic gains. Massachusetts was one of the states mentioned in the 47 page study. Given the variances and wavers charter schools are granted, wouldn't you expect better results? Additionally, given the results of this study what is the rationale for more charter schools? Why not give public schools the same or similar variances and wavers and then evaluate the efficacy of public schools?

Anonymous said...

I was in attendance at the "suspension committee" meeting the other night. What a waste of time. No superintendent, a middle school principal leading the meeting, a middle school principal leading the subgroups, no high school principal, 2 parents in attendance. We looked at data from other school systems on their suspension rates. Most interesting fact of the night: Middle schools apparently don't have to record conduct cards.

Anonymous said...

Patrick was also supposed to fix the MCAS. What has he done since he's been in office? He needs to go.

Anonymous said...

With regards to the suspension committee meeting- One would think with all of the complaints about behavior the room would be packed.

Big W said...

I believe the turnout for the meeting of the suspension committee
was low because of the scheduled time-4-6 p.m.- in the summer. There were actually more teachers there than parents and community people. I also believe that the number of suspensions is a concern to only a few with their own agenda. Most people realize that every effort is made to not suspend students and that those who are suspended deserve it. Next meeting scheduled for the 29th at 4:00 p.m at Keith.

Anonymous said...

This is just a question to anonymous who was present at the first suspension meeting: which middle school principal were you talking about when you said "Middle schools apparently don't have to record conduct cards."

Anonymous said...

According to the data presented to us at the meeting there were zero conduct cards recorded at any of the 3 middle schools. That does not mean there were no conduct cards written, just that there were none recorded. The number recorded at the high school level was astronomical.

Anonymous said...

In response to anonymous, if they aren't recorded then why are teachers scolded for writing them? In some cases, teachers don't even have access to them; furthermore some teachers have had their yearly evaluations down graded because they chose to write more than a "few" conduct cards. So, I guess what I'm asking is what's so bad about writing well deserved conduct cards???? Again who was the principal who chaired the first meeting?

Anonymous said...

The first meeting was chaired by School committee member Mrs. P!
All conduct cards are recorded in the SWIS program. Only suspensions are recorded by the districts system.

Anonymous said...

The SCM was chaired by the Roosevelt principal. The other two midddle school principals were present also. A comment was made during the small group session about how unfair it is to compare apples and oranges, i.e. the thousands of conduct cards recorded at the high school level and the "zero" amount recorded at the middle school level. There is nothing wrong with writing well deserved conduct cards and for the most part this should not be held against a teacher. Unfortunately, some principals choose to use the writing of conduct cards as evidence of lack of classroom management. Horror stories have circulated about how when a teacher at the middle school level is cursed out or assaulted, the teacher is asked what he/she did to cause the student to do it.
Some teachers do not have access to conduct cards? How is this possible and where does it happen? Should the NBEA be made aware of this?

Anonymous said...

I thought we were talking about charter schools...?

Anonymous said...

I'm wondering if "recorded" Means reported to the DESSE. I very intelligent man once told me if you are being challenged for whatever reason then make the reason disappear. Is that what's going on at the middle school level?

Do Charter schools have discipline problems? Oh I forgot. They remove those and send them to us.

Anonymous said...

Good point, if I can recall there were many instances in the past at one particular Middle School (Keith) where the former SRO officer was looking for all the recorded conduct cards on certain students and could not find them. He was doing this because these kiddos were being sent to court and he need documentation. Hmm maybe some people are making sure they don't enter the system?

Anonymous said...

At the last suspension meeting data was shared from all the middle schools and all conduct cards were recorded and accounted for. Perhaps that SRO didnt really want the documentation or he would have to do his job.
If you are going to share information on this site, please make sure it is accurate. Go to the meetings!

DSSoftball33 said...

As I recall, it is not the job of an SRO to track conduct cards... that's the VP's job (see SRO job description, available at NBPD). SRO's use that information when it is time to refer a habitual offender for court or other action. So if there is no record.... remember when you point a finger, four more are pointing back at you!