Charter school amendment debate far from over: Next up in the Georgia Legislature, redefining “public” schools.
Here is a guest column by Lee Raudonis, former executive director of the Georgia Republican Party. He also worked for Paul Coverdell in the Georgia Senate, state GOP and U.S. Peace Corps. A former private school teacher, Raudonis is now a communications consultant and writer whose clients include political candidates, public officials and the Professional Association of Georgia Educators.
By Lee Raudonis
Be forewarned: the recent referendum on Constitutional Amendment 1 related to state-approved charter schools is being viewed by its authors and key supporters as much more than an endorsement for increasing the number of charter schools and — they have promised us — improving academic achievement. They view it as an endorsement for drastically altering public education as most Americans define it.
To better understand what I mean, think about the terms “public housing,” “public hospital,” and “public school.” For most people, the term “public housing” conjures up images of low cost, government-subsidized housing for people with little or no income who cannot afford to buy or rent their own homes. Similarly, the term “public hospital” is commonly used to refer to publicly funded hospitals that primarily serve those members of society who have little or no income or private health insurance.
Unlike the previous terms, the term “public school” does not normally conjure up images of places where only “poor people” attend school. Rather, for most of our nation’s history, the term has most commonly been thought of as the place where American children of all descriptions attend school. It is the place where children from the lowest income level to some in the highest income level, and the vast majority in between, come to learn how to read, write, and calculate, as well as countless other lessons, such as how to be good citizens. It is the place that America as a whole is educated.
This is the concept of public education that many of those who pushed the charter amendment apparently wish to change. Some would very much like to see the day when most American children attend schools other than what we currently define as “public schools.” They would prefer that parents place their children either in charter schools or, even better, receive vouchers from the government and send the children to private schools of their choice. Traditional public schools (schools for children of all types) would be replaced with a new type of public school — one for those children whose parents were not motivated enough to move them into a charter or private school or for whom there were none available. In other words, public schools will come to be viewed similarly to public housing and public hospitals, as places for children whose parents, for whatever reasons, cannot find a better alternative.
The charter amendment debate is not over, because the debate was never about charter schools. It was about the nature of public education. It will reappear again and again as the “conservatives” (people who want to conserve and protect the traditional American concept of public schools) and the “neo-radicals” (those who wish to drastically change the nature of public education) debate the numerous measures that the “neo-rads” will put forth each and every legislative session in the name of “providing greater school choice” for Georgia’s parents.
The time has come for the neo-radicals to reveal their true intent for each new “school choice” initiative they bring forward. It is only fair that members of the public understand that each neo-rad measure passed takes them one step closer to their goal of redefining public education.
Clearly, there is much about public education and our public schools that needs to be changed. There is always room for improvement. The question that the neo-rads don’t want the public asking, however, is where all of the neo-rad changes, if enacted, will eventually lead. They want the public to believe that each new proposal provides just one little way to increase parental choice. They do not want the public to know that all of the proposals, taken as a whole, could lead to the creation of a new public welfare program called “public schools.” And, they undoubtedly do not want the public asking pesky questions such as how well these new neo-rad public schools will be funded when the majority of the neo-rad constituents no longer have children in the “public schools.”
In the 2013 session of the General Assembly, the neo-radicals are certain to introduce several “school choice” initiatives. The public needs to be aware that these measures, like the charter school amendment, are about much more than their stated intentions. They are about redefining the nature of public education in our state.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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117 comments Add your comment
Brasstown
November 28th, 2012
11:34 am
@Snark ,
I’ll bite.
Increase mental health and health services in schools by an astronomical amount
Increase vocational programs in schools by an astronomical amount
Seperate atheletics from schools
Mountain Man
November 28th, 2012
11:40 am
“quite frankly I’m appalled that you believe that students should be denied a better education simply because they have uncaring parents!”
I didn’t say that school districts should “deny” students an education because their parents are uncaring, I just said that uncaring parents results in less education. If you apply the model that I constantly blog about, there is no difference – actually the uncaring parents BENEFIT from the enforcement of attendance of their students. What I said is that the education system cannot change poverty, cannot change SES standing, cannot change parental apathy, and should not try – it is not in their scope of work. What they should do is enforce reasonable policies that benefit ALL STUDENTS.
and Catlady @ 11:20 am – thanks, you are certainly correct and “helicopter” parents are one big reason we have worse education now than in the 60’s. My sister was a teacher, and the moment she hit retirement age, she FLED – mainly due to parents of “precious snowflakes”.
Mountain Man
November 28th, 2012
11:44 am
“Increase mental health and health services in schools by an astronomical amount”
Brasstown – WHy should the EDUCATIONAL system be involved with the mental health and healthcare systems? Next you will tell me that it is the school’s responsibility to cure the poverty of the area families.
Snarkysnake
November 28th, 2012
11:47 am
“Increase mental health and health services in schools by an astronomical amount
Increase vocational programs in schools by an astronomical amount”
Okay- I’ll pay higher taxes if you freeze your salary (real shared sacrifice) to fund your solution.
Deal?
(Eliminating athletics is stupid. Some of the best students participate in athletics and band.Punishing them so that we can create more assistant vice principals is the epitome of selfish. “Every child is important”,my eye)
Rod Johnson
November 28th, 2012
11:48 am
The 58% knew exactly what they were voting for: Freedom from the complete failure and lack of ideas (nor interest in improvement) of the 42%.
The 42% has no interest in educational improvement – only in increasing educational spending, insisting on no accountability and no competition. They sought to fiercely protect a failed status quo and our embarrassing dead-last-place national ed. ranking.
The attitudes of the 42% are exactly why nonsense like APS occurred in the first place. GA voters were well aware of what they were voting for and who they were voting against. It’s why A1 passed with landslide, mandate #s from both Ds and Rs.
DeKalb Inside Out
November 28th, 2012
12:05 pm
Mr Raudonis
You neglected to name one person or provide a shred of evidence to accompany your post. Allow me …
http://www.nancyjester.com/georgiaspendingperstudent.aspx
Education Funding in Georgia as reported to the US DOE
History of spending on education in Georgia – School districts are getting their money. Spending on education per student has gone up and up and up over the last 16 years with NO return on the additional investment. We are spending more now than we ever have.
I don’t think more money is the answer.
However, if the state continues to reduce public school funding
State funding has gone up and down. It went up 5% from 2010 to 2011. Federal funding has gradually gone up from 4% to 11% over the last 16 years. School districts are getting their money.
Q.B.E. Funding
The state has never equated a fully funded Q.B.E to sufficient funding. QBE has never been fully funded.
competition has to be fair – State chartered schools will only receive 62% of the funding traditional public schools receive. Perhaps that should be raised to 100%. Note state chartered schools are subject to the same austerity cuts as school districts.
Isolated Pockets of Excellence
November 28th, 2012
12:10 pm
So, these “neo-rads” are secretly plotting to convert the public school system into a bare bones welfare program that serves only the poorest, most ignorant, and least motivated. Could be, could be. And yet, they aren’t doing it on their own. They’ve had lots and lots of help.
APS has a handful of traditional public schools that some middle class families currently choose to attend, but for how long? How much longer are middle class families going to choose schools in which they have to worry about their kids’ safety, with overcrowded classes in which overworked teachers aim instruction at pushing up the standardized test scores of the lowest performing students? (Paraphrasing what someone else said on this blog today, APS schools are “already viewed as on par with public housing”.)
And then, after years of CRCT cheating scandal, accreditation anxiety, traumatic redistricting process, the families at NAHS are told that their years of hard work, and their opinions about the education of their children DO NOT MATTER to APS. That they must leave these decisions completely in the hands of the experts at APS … or, if they don’t like it, they can pay the “private school tax”, as Kasim Reed calls it. So are these families now nodding their heads at what was, in retrospect, the sage APS decision to tear up their “underperforming” school? I doubt it.
Here’s a post from an NAHS parent on Get Schooled Nov. 26:
“My 10th grader’s chemistry teacher went on maternity leave over a month ago, and according to my child, she has learned NOTHING in this class since then. No class instruction has occurred…seems the substitute teachers are more like babysitters while the “real” teacher is on leave. My child has not had a single grade recorded in this class (confirmed on the parent website) since mid October. Calls to both the new school principal as well as the interim “mentor” principal have gone unreturned.”
Does this sound like a school you’d put your child in, if you had another choice? Whether that choice was putting your kid in private school or a charter school, voting for vouchers, or voting for lower taxes (and decreased funding of the remaining “public” schools) so that you could now afford tuition at a decent private school?
If the “neo-rads” are luring the middle class out of the public schools (and out of their habit of funding public schools), some public school systems are just as adamant about pushing the middle class out.
And I expect most of this is no less true for the responsible, motivated parents who are not “middle class” but who value education.
bootney farnsworth
November 28th, 2012
12:20 pm
@ snarky
sorry, I’m not going to spend hours regurgitating information you can get for yourself.
if you really want to hear our thoughts, this blog archives are loaded with them.
but you gotta research your term paper yourself
bootney farnsworth
November 28th, 2012
12:21 pm
@ Sen Fran
you really want to stand on that comment?
DeKalb Inside Out
November 28th, 2012
12:25 pm
Disappointed
Said:In capitalism there has to be a winner and there has to be losers
Don’t you think bad schools should close down … chartered as well as traditional schools?
bootney farnsworth
November 28th, 2012
12:30 pm
@ mountain
re: mental health
I’m in agreement. that’s not something we need to be in, barring very rare, very dramatic circumstances.
re: healthcare does have a worthwhile place, mostly in the place of school nurses and basic clinic stock. kids being kids get hurt, and get sick all the time. handling minor issues fixed up and get the kids back in class. bigger issues the RN can stabilize until the responsible adult gets there.
otherwise….
caveat: if we ever adopt the charter I keep suggesting for special needs kids, that should have a major clinic with at least two nurses with ER experience on staff
Snarkysnake
November 28th, 2012
12:35 pm
“sorry, I’m not going to spend hours regurgitating information you can get for yourself.
if you really want to hear our thoughts, this blog archives are loaded with them.
but you gotta research your term paper yourself”
Translation: GIVE US MORE MONEY AND SHUT UP!
“My way or the highway”
Exactly the attitude that we voted against 60-40.
Thanks for playing.
bootney farnsworth
November 28th, 2012
12:42 pm
@ snarky
are you unable to do basic research, or just unwilling?
bootney farnsworth
November 28th, 2012
12:45 pm
I’m curious: how many of the charter supporters here want Snarky as part of your educational community? and why?
living in an outdated ed system
November 28th, 2012
12:49 pm
Unfortunately, this is yet another attempt to scare the electorate with nonsense. Public charter schools exist because the quality of traditional public school education is abysmal. Lets not get carried away here. The state commission is not going to create hundreds of charter schools – but they will bring quality learning environments to our state, which hopefully traditional public schools will learn from and integrate best practices. There are SO MANY things our state needs to do to reform its education system: teacher acquisition/retention/training/evaluation, digital learning, funding effectiveness, etc. Public charter schools are just one tool that should act as a catalyst to spur innovation in public education.
But don’t believe Mr. Raudonis for one minute! Change takes time, and this newly formed commission will work methodically, create common performance criteria, and approve only those applications that will truly add value in local communities. But Georgia is headed in the right direction, and maybe these reforms will force the traditional public schools to get their act together. Instead, Mr. Barge continues to be in denial, and is claiming that other states are inflating their graduation rates! Focus on your own state, Mr. Barge – the data doesn’t lie!
Snarkysnake
November 28th, 2012
12:58 pm
“are you unable to do basic research, or just unwilling?”
Just answer a basic question. What is the education monopoly’s alternative to what we voted for on November 6? It’s not a hard question. It’s actually an opening for you to put forth a positive vision for education and win hearts and minds. Why the hostility?
C’mon Boot. Walk the walk.
Dewey Cheatham & Howe
November 28th, 2012
1:12 pm
@Bootney Farnsworth
I think that it is a legit question that Snarkysnak is asking. We never heard anything but “Vote No” on amendment one…But nobody explained why “no” was a smarter vote than yes. It seems that the backers of the amendment explained it better than the detractors.
AlreadySheared
November 28th, 2012
1:52 pm
“They would prefer that parents place their children either in charter schools or, even better, receive vouchers from the government and send the children to private schools of their choice”
You’re darn tootin!! Let the dollars follow the kids, as decided by their parents as to where.
Imagine two restaurants standing side-by-side. Restaurant A is free to all comers. Restaurant B charges $25 for a meal. If A is half-empty and B has a 45 minute wait for dinner, what could one possibly infer about the quality of the meals served in each?
Prof
November 28th, 2012
2:16 pm
@ Snarkysnake, 12:56 pm: “Just answer a basic question. What is the education monopoly’s alternative to what we voted for on November 6?”
I don’t think I’m part of any such “education monopoly,” but I’ll take a stab at answering. I’m sure that others can supplement what I suggest. I voted NO to creating the separate state commission board to approve new charter schools as specified by the amendment. I did NOT vote NO to charter schools generally. I would certainly have liked an alternative amendment setting up such a state commission board that:
had a mixture of appointed AND elected officials as the board members, with the majority elected officials;
had an accountability mechanism for evaluating the approved charter schools after a year by means of external auditors;
provided funding sources for the state commission board’s bureaucracy and offices that were independent from public education funding.
Just A Teacher
November 28th, 2012
2:28 pm
As I said in an earlier post, I teach in a traditional public high school with a 98% graduation rate. I don’t think that is too bad, but it could improve. I don’t see the need for charter schools. I also doubt that a public charter school could improve upon that percentage. That’s why I voted against a totally unnecessary amendment. Having said that, I also can’t imagine where the statistics about public education in Georgia come from. If we are graduating 98% of our kids in this school, that means that somebody else must only be graduating about 30% of theirs. That school and any school (public, private, charter, or whatever) that doesn’t graduate at least 4/5 of its students should be closed immediately!
AlreadySheared
November 28th, 2012
2:52 pm
@Just A Teacher,
See one of the other blogs on this site – GA graduation rate is 67%. You just basically shut down almost all the public schools in Georgia.
Just A Teacher
November 28th, 2012
2:55 pm
@Sheared . . . Like I said, I don’t understand where these statistics come from.
Mountain Man
November 28th, 2012
3:01 pm
“That school and any school (public, private, charter, or whatever) that doesn’t graduate at least 4/5 of its students should be closed immediately!”
You DO know that whether a student graduates or not is totally up to the STUDENT, right? NOTHING the teachers (or the administration) can do will make a student learn if the student does not WANT to learn. You can lead a horse to education, but…
What is MORE important is how much the ones who DO graduate have learned. Let the losers drop out. But a high school diploma should mean something other than I spend a certain number of days in a building. BRING BACK THE GEORGIA HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION TEST!!!
Mountain Man
November 28th, 2012
3:02 pm
“I teach in a traditional public high school with a 98% graduation rate.”
Is that 98% in FOUR YEARS?
Jerry Eads
November 28th, 2012
3:04 pm
My own read of all the data harkens to Raudonis’ take: The proponents of the amendment could care less about charters – this is simply a mechanism to re-segregate schools into the haves and the have-nots or, if you will, the “cares” and the “care-nots.” The hope of those who designed, developed, and teach in public schools is that ALL childen will become productive citizens no matter what their circumstances. Indeed, that’s a tall order. Yet hundreds of thousands of caring, dedicated teachers dive into their classrooms across the country every day to do just that, in spite of every effort on the part of “reformers” to script instruction and force teachers to do nothing more than force kids to memorize meaningless factoids through “higher standards” and the insidious destructiveness of minimum competency testing like the CRCT.
Perhaps it IS time for the governor and his ilk to continue Purdue’s work to steal billions from the public schools to leave them nothing but wastelands for the poor. I can think of no policy more likely to produce the same kinds of folks right here at home as we now create in the middle east whose only goal is to destroy our country. Not a pretty picture for the future of the United States of America. But: There’s hope. If it gets bad enough, perhaps we’ll for a change do something intelligent.
Just A Teacher
November 28th, 2012
3:09 pm
@Mountain Man . . . Yes, I believe that is the rate for 4 years. The Georgia graduation tests are ridiculously easy. When I read this blog it staggers me that schools in this state can be as bad as claimed. We simply don’t have these issues in Fayette County.
Snarkysnake
November 28th, 2012
3:10 pm
@Prof-
had a mixture of appointed AND elected officials as the board members, with the majority elected officials;
had an accountability mechanism for evaluating the approved charter schools after a year by means of external auditors;
provided funding sources for the state commission board’s bureaucracy and offices that were independent from public education funding.
You actually stepped out there and answered the question. But I (respectfully) disagree with your approach because :
1) A majority of elected officials would look to the politics of every decision. That means that the same lobby that has killed real reform in the past would just keep on killing it.
2) Auditing and making a decision after just a year would sabotage the schools that were created. I doubt that traditional public schools would ever agree to such a stricture.A reasonable time would be 3-5 years and show results or bye,bye charter. One year is way too short. If you could do it in one year, charters really would be a magic bullet.
3) The state commissions board and bureaucracy chew up less resources than the GAE office (per employee), but nobody thinks that they are overfunded.
We disagree, but at least you have given it some thought. I wish all public policy got that.
Mountain Man
November 28th, 2012
3:29 pm
“The hope of those who designed, developed, and teach in public schools is that ALL childen will become productive citizens no matter what their circumstances.”
Hope all you want, it is not going to happen AND it is beyond the educational system’s control. Can you stop parents from being dope-heads? Can you make poverty go away? This is simply not what education should be about. The education system should educate the ones who wish to learn at the best level they can.
Mountain Man
November 28th, 2012
3:31 pm
” The Georgia graduation tests are ridiculously easy.”
Then why in some schools do a large percentage not only don’t pass but don’t pass after multiple tries.
Mountain Man
November 28th, 2012
3:32 pm
” The Georgia graduation tests are ridiculously easy.”
They are “ridiculously easy” to someone who has learned the material. What about someone who missed 1/4 of their class days and didn’t pay attention the othe 3/4?
Prof
November 28th, 2012
3:33 pm
@ Snarkysnake. OK. I got some particulars wrong. Possible rebuttals to your rebuttals:
1. That is always the danger in a democracy: elected officials want to keep on being elected. But at least they would be accountable to the voters. The fear of many in the “No” contingency was that for-profit and special interest charter schools could be approved for nefarious reasons, such as pleasing those who appointed the board members.
2. Fine–3-5 years. Just build in some sort of external audit of the charter school.
3. Two wrongs don’t make a right. When you add the GAE bureaucracy to a new charter school commission board bureaucracy…both of which can approve charter schools…. Georgia is not flush with cash right now.
But my point really was that approving the amendment had nothing to do with approving of the concept of charter schools, but approving a new poorly thought-out administrative layer of state government.
3schoolkids
November 28th, 2012
3:39 pm
Show me ONE state in the country that has drastically improved it’s educational outcome by increasing competition through independent charter schools. For all the data being peddled about the success of independent charters who offer true competition, there are no statistics offered by state. Now comes the justification for that information not existing “the amendment only passed because people want another option.” OK, I get that, I tried that option myself. But the problem is having an option is a temporary fix to the problem. The quality of the option isn’t guaranteed. Hence the need now for more options (publicly subsidized private, online and even home school options). The fundamental problem with all public schools (whether traditional, charter, subsidized private and online) is putting all children into the same box. If the goal is a 4 year college degree (and for some a Masters/PHD) and we have moved to a national curriculum in order to supply a steady pipeline of similarly educated workers, then no school will offer the option every parent wants. That is, the option for your child to learn at their own pace and with the curriculum and instruction that works best for them and for their goals. The best way to get that is to home school.
@Mountain Man: We really don’t need to bring back the GHSGT, one of my kids easily passed the American History portion having only yet completed 1/3 of the curriculum. Disparities among difficulty levels in the schools is a large problem that is not rectified by bringing that test back. New independent charters won’t improve that as you are still drawing from the same pool of students and staff and even with CCGPS being implemented-still being tested on the same material (EOCT’s and writing test) in order to get that diploma (which may or may not be worth the paper it’s printed on).
Just A Teacher
November 28th, 2012
3:40 pm
Then why in some schools do a large percentage not only don’t pass but don’t pass after multiple tries.
I am unqualified to answer that question, but I have some theories:
1. The students didn’t care.
2. The teachers didn’t care.
3. The parents didn’t care.
4. The administration didn’t care.
I’m thinking 1 or more of these things might explain it.
Mountain Man
November 28th, 2012
3:48 pm
“get that diploma (which may or may not be worth the paper it’s printed on).”
Which is NOT worth the paper it is printed on. I know of actual cases where students failed the GHSGT MULTIPLE times and then was allowed to get a “variance” AND RECEIVE A DIPLOMA. If that test is “so easy”, what does that say about those who fail it?
Mountain Man
November 28th, 2012
3:49 pm
“Then why in some schools do a large percentage not only don’t pass but don’t pass after multiple tries.I am unqualified to answer that question, but I have some theories:
1. The students didn’t care.
2. The teachers didn’t care.
3. The parents didn’t care.
4. The administration didn’t care.”
I am guessing 1 and 3.
living in an outdated ed system
November 28th, 2012
4:10 pm
@3schoolkids – give it time. Rome wasn’t built in a day! It’ll happen before you know it.
Snarkysnake
November 28th, 2012
4:46 pm
@Prof
Well reasoned, and I agree wholeheartedly that yet another statewide bureaucracy will become a law unto itself in pretty short order. BUT-
There was no practical way to effect change in the sclerotic system we have now short of strong initiatives such as this. It goes back to the politics angle that I noted in (1). If the amendment that we just passed had been held a different way (On 161 local ballots instead of statewide) it would have failed. The reason it would have failed is that it would not have been held in a general election year. It would have been conducted in an off year when school employees make up an almost majority of the turnout and they would have killed it for good. The results would have been shown to elected leaders as “proof” that the voters like the schools just as they are.
2) We agree. Audits should be conducted with integrity by an objective party (preferably from outside the state) with no axe to grind. Sort of the way we should conduct achievement tests when everybody follows the rules. Bad charters should be dissolved forthwith if they are unsatisfactory.
3) Local school boards can still deny a charter. They haven’t lost that right. But if they are being capricious or political,there is now an avenue of appeal that is an important part of the democratic process. This is a reasonable solution to absolute power being held by economically interested parties.
Now. There are no permanent victories in our form of government (except against slavery, I guess). And I know that the power that we create will someday be wielded by our opponents.But that is a risk that a lot of parents and taxpayers are willing to take so that we can see some real improvement in our education system.
Private Citizen
November 28th, 2012
5:28 pm
David Farrar, I don’t know what planet you come from, but Georgia has no teacher unions.
Private Citizen
November 28th, 2012
5:32 pm
David Farrar, You really need to do a retraction. As a Georgia teacher with no union protection, I do not appreciate your misinformation. I welcome your expression, but you need to tune-up on some basic facts about the conditions for labor in Georgia. Georgia government schools teachers get time clocks like a KwikTrip employee and no labor protections. The bosses can tell a Georgia teacher to stand on one toe and the teacher has to do it if they do not want to be charged with “insubordination.” Work conditions can be quite unfriendly for Georgia teachers and many people advise to simply leave the state if you are an education professional (as in TEACHER) and want to work for kids in a government school system.
Georgia coach
November 28th, 2012
7:00 pm
@senator Fran Millar, when the truth of your efforts comes out it will be revealed that this is nothing but a money and power grad for you and those of your ilk. You will be exposed as a fraud and a cheat. Signed kent sparks. I will not call you a fraud anonymously
Rick L in ATL
November 28th, 2012
7:23 pm
@3SchoolKids: We haven’t reached the tipping point yet where traditional public schools, finally acknowledging that they are threatened with displacement (or outright extinction) start to act like there is a knife to their throats. The proof of that is that the bozo who wrote this piece of dreck (Maureen: “It’s anti-charter? I’ll RUN it!”) characterizes these abysmally failing schools thusly:
“There is always room for improvement. ”
Really? That’s your characterization of the schools the rest of us know are, by any metric, utter failures?
Raudonis: you can’t be serious, and you can’t be taken seriously.
Wailing liberals can wring their hands all they want about the poor children who will (in their opinion) be harmed by the deconstruction of traditional public schooling. But as I often say, anyone who actually CARED about those children would be pulling the levers on the bulldozers, because whatever we do next, it will be better than what we have now.
Jerry Eads
November 28th, 2012
8:22 pm
MM, I agree – public education alone can’t ‘fix’ society when the politicians choose to use teachers as their scapegoat rather than address infrastructure, jobs and poverty.
BUT the schools MUST help break the cycle, else our country will go the way of all those fascinatingly depressing scifi movies. We DO break the cycle – one kid and sometimes one parent at a time – but it’s a tough row to hoe when the trolls downtown (on both sides of the aisle) do no more than stuff their under-the-table money in their pockets and sucker the oh-so-gullible public into believing it’s the teachers’ fault. Was it the line workers’ fault that GM and Chrysler went belly-up? Nuh-uh. ‘Twas the girls and boys who run the ship.
Jerry Eads
November 28th, 2012
8:28 pm
I should note that for once in a long time we have somebody at the head of the state ed ship who’s part of the solution rather than the problem. The problems lie elsewhere.
Just A Teacher
November 28th, 2012
8:32 pm
I didn’t want to walk away from this column without sharing some ideas that I have seen help students graduate on time.
1. Offer online credit recovery. This is particularly important when you have immature 13 and 14 year olds taking high school classes and they fail to recognize that failing classes their first semester of high school will keep them from graduating with their class.
2. Do not allow unruly students to disrupt classes. All teachers in Georgia have the right (I would call it a responsibility) to remove a disruptive student from the classroom environment. It is the law.
3. Expell chronic discipline offenders and send them to an Alternative School which is more suited to teach them. If they misbehave there, then they must be expelled from the school system.
4. Zero tolerance of gang related activity. Any student known to be affiliated with a gang is taken out of our schools and prosecuted under a local law against gang activity.
5. Offer students (and parents) the opportunity to make up assignments given during Out of School suspension in Saturday school.
6. We have an open campus high school and an evening high school where students can make up credits on their own time.
7. Finally, be sure to recognize excellence in academics and create a culture within the school where the best students are rewarded for their efforts by giving them special recognition and perks (like free french fries or cookies at lunch or a break from class for a celebratory breakfast).
The article wanted ideas for improving traditional schools, so there are a few I have seen work over the years.
crankee-yankee
November 28th, 2012
8:44 pm
Senator Fran Millar
November 28th, 2012
11:20 am
And we should believe you because?
crankee-yankee
November 28th, 2012
8:47 pm
Private Citizen
November 28th, 2012
5:28 pm
Oh, Farrar’s just referring to his talking points sheet.
N. GA Teacher
November 28th, 2012
9:01 pm
Charter schools receive taxpayer money, and are thus held to public laws, correct? Therefore they cannot 1) select who gets in, 2) kick out behavior and academic “problem kids”; 3) allow really good (market-priced) cafeteria meals; 4) hold kids truly accountable for homework and tests because then they won’t make ” required” graduation rates. This is why most charters will not work, and why true private schools do. Magnet schools are the only public alternative schools (along with Kipp, which is a whole different entity) that seem to be worthwhile alternatives- and why- because Magnets CAN kick kids back to zoned schools.
bootney farnsworth
November 28th, 2012
9:57 pm
what’s gonna be funny to watch is to see what happens when charters prove not to be the be all end all solution red meat Fran and co have pitched them to be.
Morning Reads for Thursday, November 29 — Peach Pundit
November 29th, 2012
7:00 am
[...] school amendment debate far from over: Next up in the Georgia Legislature, redefining “public” schools. It will reappear again and again as the “conservatives” (people who want to conserve and [...]
joke on us
November 29th, 2012
10:59 am
all this blustering and ppl seem to forget what its all about the “STUDENT”: you got some good ones, dumb ones, some don’t care, and etc…. and until we have a multi-track grad system the one size fits all NCLB BS will be with us.
Not every child should be prepped for college; there should be a “CHOICE” between college ready and carrer rdy.
famous words or infamous whichever you prefer: “Mrs. Gump, your boy is special”