This Standard Times article omits some very important facts.
• Many of our students live in “Poverty”.
• Over 200 of our students are homeless!
• The percentage of low-income students rose from 59.6%
in 1999 to 69.5% ten years later.
• New Bedford Public Schools has had a 40% increase in ESL students in the last
10 years.
• New Bedford Public Schools has had a 25% increase in its Special Needs
population.
• 1 in 5 students transferred in or out of the district during the
school year.
• 25% of our NBHS students transferred in or out of New Bedford High School in 2010.
• By May 3, 2011, Greater New Bedford Voc-Tec sent back to New Bedford Public Schools 48 of their students.
9th Grade -- 16
10th Grade -- 8
11th Grade -- 22
12th Grade -- 2
• By May 3, 2011, the Global Learning Charter School sent back to New Bedford Public Schools 28 of their students.
5th Grade -- 4
6th Grade -- 10
7th Grade -- 2
8th Grade -- 6
9th Grade -- 2
10th Grade -- 3
11th Grade -- 1
12th Grade -- 0
Why would the Standard Times ignore these facts in their article?
9 comments:
The S-T continues its trend of bashing the NBPS every Sunday.
The failure rate of 25% for New Bedford High's freshmen isn't surprising. These are the kids that were shoved from grade to grade at the middle school level without doing much work. They are the kids that also misbehave.
The failures at NBHS can be tied to the dysfunctional atmosphere at our middle schools, particularly Roosevelt and Normandin.
How do we fix it? Well, everything starts at the top. Both of those principals need to go!
Is there anyone listening downtown? Do you care? The turnaround plan is worth NOTHING until the district addresses the lack of student accountability for grades and discipline at our middle schools.
The S-T also fails to report that class size is the problem also. What can a teacher do with thirty children. Your basically just policing them. There are behavior problems you have to deal with along with everything else that comes with large classes. In the end it's the children that loose out!!!!!!!!!
Teachers at Normandin are afraid of giving students the bad grades they deserve. The principal makes it very clear. Bad grades = bad teachers. Misbehaving students = bad teachers. What a fun, healthy place to work! I feel for the kids who really want to learn. Their parents should be screaming for a change.
Thank you Watchdog! They won't do anything because they don't care about anyone but themselves and their fattened pensions. It is so clear that there is a massive breakdown at the middle school level. But no one is addressing it. 2 of the 3 middle schools are rampant with fights and lack of discipline. Those principals rule the staff by fear, humiliation and retributive action. I fear who they will put in charge at Keith when Desrosiers retires at the end of the year. Leaders like him are exactly what the middle schools need. I pray they hire someone competent that cares about the students and the district and not another joker looking to get drunk off the power like the other 2.
It is absolutely riduculous that a student ends up at the HS with a third grade reading level- if we are lucky. Again, there needs to be investigation at the lower levels... I bet you will find the same story though... pass them along, we can't let our numbers reflect retention or the state will step in. Central Admin has taught this mantra to all its administrators. So what do we need- someone in politics to actually listen and visit our schools and see what a mess our enabled society has created.
I can attest to the numbers of middle school students who are passed through the grades simply because they are too old to be at the middle school level. What is happening in the elementary schools as well? We are getting these students at the middle schools already reading below grade level at two to three years older than they should be for middle school. It's not good when you have 16-year-olds in the seventh grade! They could drive themselves to school! Last year, a 16-year-old was caught having sex under a stairwell with a 14-year-old girl! What's wrong with this picture?!!!! And this got swept under the rug by administration, just like the drug charges, and the weapons found in lockers and on students, the fire in the building, etc.....hmmmmm, makes you wonder.
I know of a felon who was arrested for armed robbery, (actually mugging people at gun point), was allowed to return to NBHS. Known drug dealers are allowed to continue doing business as usual at the high school. Students caught smoking marijuana in the bathrooms are not expelled. I have even heard of a school committee member defending a student that called a teacher a "f**king c**t" by saying "that's the way they talk, it's a part of their culture." Excuse me? Can I go to a school committee meeting and call her that? I'm from New Bedford too! So I guess it must be a part of my culture to act like an uncivilized piece of garbage that is incapable of appropriate social behavior. And they wonder why enrollment at the high school is down?? Are you kidding me? When are they going to start doing something about this? Do they think this is fair to the rest of the kids in the city? They can say they care all they want, their inaction is deafening to those that are waiting and listening for a response.
No one wants to face the truth that NBHS has become a dumping ground for everyone elses problems, i.e. Voke, Charter School, etc. The S-T has become a joke run by political insiders who want to advance their agenda at the expense of hard working, qualified teachers who are on the front line every day. People commenting on education in NB have not step foot in the school and have no idea of the issues and problems we face, i.e. attendance, tardiness, no books, zero technology.
Can we have separate commenting threads for separate schools? Normandin is out of control. The administration can't handle the kids and take it out on the teachers. It is a miserable place. You should see the look on the well-behaved kids as they watch the troublemakers getting away with everything. Screaming in the halls. Kids cursing teachers (no name calling day -- funny). Detentions skipped without fear of punishment. It is so sad. And so avoidable. Why won't downtown do something?!
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