Get Schooled

By jim d

August 20, 2008 8:54 AM | Link to this

JMHO,

But seems to me that it may be a mistake to allow the largest school system in the state, which in recent past has admittedly falsified reporting documents to the state, to escape the oversight afforded under current law.

That being said we might ask if it will happen? The answer to that question is not just yes but hell yes it will. Politics being what they are and with the support of the Gwinnett Co. Chamber of Commerce it will be pushed through and damn the students.

The next question we should ask ourselves is. Might documents once again be falsified to signify a success story that isn’t? ——- NAW, no need to ask that question, since the same people are running the show, we all know the answer to that one!

By jim d

August 20, 2008 9:05 AM | Link to this

Gwinnett School district collaborated with the state to help craft the proposed rule. Gwinnett also let the state know Gwinnett is interested in applying for the opportunity

Now there’s a no brainer!! The master of spin Napoalvin has most assuredly mapped every single loop-hole in the proposed rule.

The state DOE would have to be full of complete dolts to allow GCPS to escape.

OH, Wait!! It is!!

By HS Teacher, Too

August 20, 2008 9:38 AM | Link to this

“A proposed rule coming before the state Board of Education could soon give school districts more freedom to educate students without also having to follow mandates on curriculum decisions, class sizes, teacher certification and salaries. Districts could apply to the state for a five-year contract for greater flexibility in operations, in exchange for promising greater accountability for student success.”

AAAAAH!!! So what will this mean? You can’t FIT anymore kids in those d-mn trailers, but if GCPS doesn’t have to worry about class size … well, I flat-out don’t trust them to make the decisions that make sense. (Since they already have 28+ desks in trailers that just, plain, don’t HOLD that many desks.)

Sigh. All the more reason I can’t wait to get the hell out of Gwinnett.

By Gwinnett Educator

August 20, 2008 9:48 AM | Link to this

lol…oh dear me. Tell me if it makes sense to put TWO discipline issues in the same class AGAIN …AFTER the previous teacher CLEARLY stated that the 2 did NOT need to be in the same classroom again.

If you want to give us freedom…actually listen to what the teachers have to say when it comes to who should be placed where when making class lists. This is ridiculous.

By jim d

August 20, 2008 10:02 AM | Link to this

HS Teacher, Too,

Might we add—trailers that fail to comply?

By jim d

August 20, 2008 10:08 AM | Link to this

Gwinnett Educator,

“listen to what the teachers have to say listen to what the teachers have to say”

Now there’s a peculiar and rather novel notion.

By jim d

August 20, 2008 10:11 AM | Link to this

Gwinnett Educator,

listen to teachers??

How do you come up with this stuff? Staying up at night? :-)

By Gwinnett Educator

August 20, 2008 10:37 AM | Link to this

jim d…if only you knew…lol

I have spoken with the higher ups about this. Last year’s teacher told me that she SPECIFICALLY made sure that the 2 students were seperated. (of course it was changed). The issues are so off the wall that it is sad. The problem can simply be reduced if NOT eliminated if they were seperated. (11 classes and you cant move one child…by the way, I’m over my numbers).

I know teachers can’t decide everything, however, I feel that when it comes to certain matters (and being that we have firsthand knowledge because the students are with us daily) some things should seriously be decided by us.

By V for Vendetta

August 20, 2008 11:00 AM | Link to this

Haha, speak up. Yeah, right. I’m sure tons of teachers would speak up if they weren’t afraid of losing their jobs. No one is going to listen to the teachers when they are (forced to remain) silent.

Gwinnett Ed., would YOU speak up against Jalvin? Against the BOE? Against the lunacy which you describe?

Didn’t think so, and I don’t blame you, either. You’ve got a job to protect like the rest of us. No unpopular opinions please, the state of Georgia doesn’t want to hear them.

By Tony

August 20, 2008 2:07 PM | Link to this

Isn’t Gwinnett the county that fired the teacher for giving a zero for sleeping in class?

By Gwinnett Educator

August 20, 2008 2:57 PM | Link to this

V for Vendetta…I hear ya. This is my 2nd yr in Gwinnett. I have a habit sometimes of being “too” vocal (ONLY when it is something I STRONGLY believe in). I dont believe in debating just to debate. I just WISH we could remove all the stupidity and politics. (sigh, I know..I know…keep dreaming)

By HS Teacher, Too

August 20, 2008 3:10 PM | Link to this

jim d,

When Dacula High had its 895,346 trailers, they had no supplemental bathroom facilities. Talk about compliance!

As a former GCPS teacher, I know that the way the schools bypass compliance issues with trailers (outside of facilities and health issues) is to have all “singleton” classes held inside the building. Thus, if only one teacher teaches, say, Basketweaving, then that teacher will either teach Basketweaving in the main building, or will have his/her classroom in the main building.

Nice work-around, eh?

I have nothing nice to say about GCPS, so perhaps I shouldn’t say anything at all.

Well, except this: apparently there is an uproar about a comment NapoAlvin made, and people are calling for his resignation/termination. While I don’t like him, and think his time has come, I do not think that should be the hill he dies on.

By HS Teacher, Too

August 20, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this

Tony,

Yes. Why? Because you can’t grade for behavior. But the kid also had answers he couldn’t have gotten while sleeping, so there was an insinuation of cheating, as I recall. Surely others on this blog know the details better. When I taught in Gwinnett, and in light of that case, I asked “what constitutes behavior?” so I didn’t make that same mistake, everyone told me to stop asking questions.

By jim d

August 20, 2008 4:52 PM | Link to this

HSA teach too,

As I recall

The good Dr. Neace was relieved of his duties due to insubordination—refusing to change the grade when so directed by Mr. Nutt.

His refusal was based on his approved classroom policies and not for suspected cheating but for non-participation in class.

By catlady

August 20, 2008 5:09 PM | Link to this

I don’t know much about Mr. Wilbanks. I think his point was, when the racial demographics are so skewed, as in Idaho (2006: 95% white, less than 1% black if I looked at it correctly) it is hard to see any valid racial bias. I mean, if every single black kid got in trouble, it would still be a very small proportion of all the kids in trouble in the whole state. They might, for example, be 10% of the kids in trouble, but who would care much about such a small number? I mean, it would be unlikely to catch anyone’s eye.

Let them report it by SEs instead of race in Georgia and I think you would see a very different picture. I think lower SES kids, white and black, tend to get into more serious problems than higher SES kids, white and black. It has been well documented that single parent homes disproportionately are represented in dropouts, illiterates, “early family formation”, and prison. Single parent homes tend to be lower SES. And two thirds of black kids are born to single parent homes.

I DON’T think the statement he made was intended to say that black kids are most of our problem in behavior, although without parsing through the statistics, it sounded that way.

By jim d

August 20, 2008 5:22 PM | Link to this

Well what can we expect from someone that has been known to say “special education is an albatross around the neck of GCPS”.

So now I guess it’s the sped’s and blacks. Gee wonder why he has ignored the hispanics?

By thomas

August 20, 2008 7:03 PM | Link to this

In many places, teachers have ENORMOUS freedom to teach the way they wish and interact with the students and parents anyway they wish. Freedom is good, but some people have abused it. Without safeguards and accountability, some people will ruin students. They have to be watched.

But on the bright side, most of the dregs of the teaching profession are in the ghetto and barrio. Same goes for clueless, nitwitted rookies who come out of college with no experience and armed with an arsenal of worthless knowledge from teacher ed school— coupled with the arrogance that they think THEY know everything and us veterans know nothing. I have seen SO MANY arrogant, dimwitted, silly girls come out of college and crash and burn. As they should.

Were we talking about giving teachers freedom? Freedom is a good thing, when it has limits. Freedom without accountability invites disaster. Look at some of our schools. It’s not the kids— it’s the teachers and administrators that are the cause of the problem.

By thomas

August 20, 2008 7:11 PM | Link to this

As for this so-called “racial” comment by Alvin Wilbanks— I read it and thought NOTHING of it. It means ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY NOTHING.

Wilbanks-“Are there any blacks in Idaho?” And some silly fools are “upset”. Lord have mercy. Do these people have anything better to do? No, they really just want, Alvin Wilbanks, a white man, out. Some people are so racist. If this man was black, not a PEEP would have been said. Instead a rent-a-mob will be outside GCPS offices chanting for “Wilbanks to go.”

Besides- are there any blacks in Idaho?

By JW

August 20, 2008 7:25 PM | Link to this

Isn’t this just lovely? It will be interesting to see just what “flexibility” J. Alvin Wilbanks wants for Gwinnett. Maybe class sizes approaching 40 students? Of course, take away the rules/laws meant to support classroom teachers and their students while at the same time expect a “level of accountability beyond Adequate Yearly Progress.” GCPS is in desperate need of house cleaning - at the county office and the Board of Education. I predict a mass teacher exodus from Gwinnett may be on the horizon.

By SallyB

August 20, 2008 10:06 PM | Link to this

Many .if not most, restrictive laws in all areas come about because of abuse of some freedom.

By Northview Teacher

August 21, 2008 8:10 AM | Link to this

Has anyone else noticed that the topics on this board seem much less interesting than they used to be? What gives?

By n. Ga. Teacher

August 21, 2008 9:18 AM | Link to this

If TEACHERS were truly free and empowered to make charter school decisions, you would see tremendous success. These decisions would be: require a few days per year of parental involvement during the schoolday, mandate that troublemakers be removed from the school, reduce class sizes to no more than 20. Gee- wait a minute: isn’t this what good public schools did in the 1960s and 1970s and what private schools do now?

By jim d

August 21, 2008 11:51 AM | Link to this

Northview Teacher,

It isn’t the topics it is more that it is missing Jeff and Just me!

By ma8zda

August 24, 2008 7:38 PM | Link to this

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By ma415zda

August 24, 2008 9:20 PM | Link to this

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By ma205zda

August 25, 2008 2:47 AM | Link to this

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By ma754zda

August 25, 2008 5:46 AM | Link to this

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By ma63zda

August 25, 2008 8:50 AM | Link to this

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By ma50zda

August 25, 2008 8:50 AM | Link to this

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By ma147zda

August 25, 2008 9:45 AM | Link to this

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