AJC.com > Blogs > Get Schooled > Archives > 2008 > September
September 2008
Superintendent or superhero
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Clayton County school board was supposed to vote Monday night on whether to make John Thompson the troubled district’s permanent superintendent. The board postponed the vote to give the public time to review his new contract.
Thompson, the corrective superintendent, has promised to save Clayton schools.
Some expect superintendents to be saviors. It’s not uncommon to hunt for a Superman or a Wonder Woman with such amazing powers they can turn around a flawed district.
Do these people exist?
Beverly Hall in Atlanta and J. Alvin Wilbanks in Gwinnett have been lauded locally and nationally as strong superintendents. Could they repeat their success here elsewhere?
Think about what a strong superintendent must do. They must know how to compromise, they must be able to put out fires and they must have the ability to explain their vision and get others to buy into it.
How many superintendents can do that?
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Are field trips in jeopardy?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fulton County schools has discontinued field trips to save money because of rising fuel costs and state budget cuts. (PTAs and local schools can use money from their own budgets to pay for them if they want.)
Other school districts have scaled back on field trips. Many schools say trips must be tied to what students are learning, so classes studying Georgia may still visit the Capitol.
More schools are turning to virtual field trips, which let students visit museums, farms and other adventures through the Internet. Principals and PTAs also hire presenters and performing artists to come to campus rather than putting students on a bus to travel to them.
While virtual trips and guest presenters give kids information, they don’t provide students with the experience of going somewhere new or special.
So, the Georgia Aquarium is trying to raise $65,000 to cover the fuel costs to get about 13,000 Title I students from Fulton to the popular attraction.
What do you think of field trips? Are they expendable?
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Are school fundraisers in trouble?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s no secret that schools rely on parents, communities and corporations to raise extra cash.
Students sell pizza, candy, wrapping paper and anything else schools can think of. Principals, superintendents and board members reach out to business leaders and philanthropic foundations hoping they’ll give thousands or millions. Colleges are on the hunt for even larger sums of money.
These donations are needed more this year because of continuous state budget cuts and the dwindling economy. But the slow economy and uneasiness on Wall Street may force fewer people to give than before.
Are you cutting back on your support for school fundraisers? How much can corporate and philanthropic foundations afford to give?
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Who needs college?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I want to piggyback on a few of the responses to yesterday’s topic about forcing kids to take algebra before they are academically ready.
Schools have long argued more kids need algebra as a prerequisite for college. But do all students need college?
With each generation, a larger percentage of high school graduates have enrolled in four-year colleges. Studies show we overwhelmingly believe that almost all high school graduates should go to college. There is this idea that a college degree is mandatory for success.
But is this true? Some argue that we are pushing many unqualified students into college. They say many of these students drop out, while others are stuck paying off college loans for years.
Others argue high school guidance counselors should advise students to be more realistic. Counselors could encourage less motivated students to start at a two-year colleges or enroll in vocational training programs instead.
By pushing the idea of college for all, are we setting up some students to fail?
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Drowning in algebra
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An independent audit shows that high failure rates on the eighth-grade math CRCT can’t be blamed on a flawed test.
State officials have long said students struggled because the test was based on a new, more challenging math curriculum. Georgia’s new standards call for all students to learn some algebra in middle school. Previously only the brightest students took these lessons in middle school.
Is this too much math too soon?
A new study from the Brookings Institute looks at the push to have more eighth-graders take algebra and says many low-achieving students forced into the classes are struggling. The report says some of these struggling students have second-grade math skills.
Algebra is considered a gateway to college course, so it’s understandable why educators want more kids to take it.
But what are the consequences of putting kids in this class before they’re ready? What must be done to make sure students are prepared for algebra?
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Bus driver woes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The superintendent of Marietta city schools has recommended the district fire a bus driver who was involved in a chaotic and erratic bus run that was recorded by students and posted on YouTube.
During the Sept. 12 incident the bus driver stopped the vehicle to write up a few students who were misbehaving rather than dropping students off at their bus stops. The video showed students yelling and trying to jump out of emergency exits. Some students and parents said the bus was weaving.
It’s obvious a lot of things went wrong here and the driver has a record of previous infractions.
But the situation makes me wonder who would want to drive a school bus?
School districts constantly report trouble hiring bus drivers and it’s easy to understand why. Driving around metro Atlanta is stressful. The pay is horrible. Early bus run hours aren’t ideal for many adults.
At least teachers can call parents or rely on school administrators to help discipline students when they act out. What power do bus drivers have?
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Schools vs. neighborhoods
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A neighborhood association in Sandy Springs filed a lawsuit over the city’s decision to approve a new school athletics complex in a residential area.
There are disputes brewing all over metro Atlanta between schools and neighborhoods. The disputes in Sandy Springs revolve around two highly regarded private schools - the Epstein School and Holy Spirit Preparatory School - wanting to expand.
Private schools are growing to meet demand. They need more space — classrooms, cafeterias and stadiums — to provide students with a well-rounded education.
At the same time, communities want peace and quiet. They don’t want extra traffic and they don’t want the noise and bright lights that come from weekend games.
Both are legitimate wants. The question is whose rights are more important?
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Fed up with textbooks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I got an email from a middle school teacher in North Georgia frustrated with the textbooks her school bought.
Half the textbooks don’t have all the information she needs, the teacher wrote. So she and other teachers must spend hours finding other materials to supplement their lessons.
This teacher is also the parent of a high school sophomore. She tries to help with his homework, but his textbooks are too confusing. They’ve gone to the publishers’ Web sites for help but more often than not they rely on Google to find their answers.
Is there a way to get around textbooks? Can schools find other materials that will be easier for teachers, students and parents to use and understand?
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When students are truant
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thousands of Georgia students skip school each day and hang out at home watching TV or playing games. The challenge adults face is how to get these kids to school.
DeKalb County is cracking down on school truancy by arresting parents. Most of the parents facing arrest have children who missed at least 40 days of school.
Truancy is a serious problem. It’s a cliche, but kids won’t learn if they’re not in school. Students who skip school are more likely to drop out.
Is truancy the responsibility of parents or schools? Will punishing parents or schools make these kids show up?
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Teaching the Good Book
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A few weeks ago I came across a small item saying Barrow County school leaders were considering offering high school electives about the Bible.
There was a lot of hubbub in 2006 when the Legislature required the State Board of Education to create the voluntary, non-devotional courses about the history and literature of the Old and New Testament.
It’s been relatively quiet since the law passed. Only 41 schools in 31 school districts offered the classes last school year, according to the state education department. The state has 180 school districts.
Why haven’t more schools signed up to offer these classes?
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Overpaying for schools
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Before jumping into today’s topic I want to thank Aileen and Kristina for filling in while I was on vacation.
Now that I’m back, I have a lot to catch up on. There was so much news, but what really caught my attention was the article Heather Vogell wrote about a costly land deal.
The story says that Fulton County school board members missed the chance in 2005 to buy land for a new elementary school in Sandy Springs. Instead the district paid nearly twice as much for the property two years later.
It raises questions about how school boards make decisions about where to buy land and how much they pay for it.
These questions become more important as voters approve more SPLOST projects. Fayette school board members are the latest to ask for the special purpose local option sales tax to pay for school construction, renovation and other improvements.
Do you trust school boards to pay the right price for school land and construction? What would you want them to do differently?
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Off with their heads!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You know, I got so wrapped up yesterday with DeKalb County’s school busing proposal that I nearly didn’t see this from our Megan Matteucci: “If state business leaders get their way, the state could take over troubled schools, no teachers could serve on local school boards and board members would no longer be paid.” See the full story here. The recommendations come from the high falutin’ Commission for School Board Excellence, a 23-member panel asked by state school leaders to weigh in on what makes a good school board in the wake of the accreditation mess for schools in Clayton County. In that same vein, Gov. Sonny Perdue said last week that he may be agreeable to changes to the state constitution that would allow Georgia to intervene more with troubled school systems. Now, I’ve always thought the good guv liked smaller government, not bigger. Are the issues in Clayton worth it?
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Down with school busing?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So DeKalb County has hit the wall — or money pit? — when it comes to busing kids to “choice” schools (if you missed today’s story, see it here).
Is that fair?
The budget issues are a real struggle right now. I sat through an 8 a.m. budget committee meeting this morning. Keep in mind:
1) The state (even before the economy tanked) continues to pay less than its own funding guidelines require.
2) This year’s budget was approved months ago, as the law requires.
3) Today, DeKalb schools’ CFO Marcus Turk said he expects DeKalb to lose another $10.5 million in state funds in a mid-year cut. Turk said he also thinks the state will additionally cut another 1 percent of DeKalb’s state school funding before the end of the school year.
Why does that hurt?
Gov. Sonny Perdue recently delayed payment from the state’s homeowners tax relief grant program (which local governments, including school systems, use to supplement budgets instead of raising taxes). For DeKalb schools, that amounts to almost $22 million.
System officials already plan on cutting jobs, particularly those at central office. At what point are they going to run out of fat and hit bone?
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Should math and science teachers be paid more?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thanks to all of you bloggers who weighed in yesterday about my daughter’s holiday spelling homework dilemma.
I never did get the teacher’s home telephone number, but I am happy to report that my third grader completed her assignment on time. She learned a hard lesson about forgetting her spelling book over a holiday weekend when a project deadline approached.
She finished her massive spelling packet - wrote her spelling words three times, alphabetized them, named their parts of speech, took a practice test and wrote a letter with the words - in one evening. (If you don’t mind a proud mom taking a moment to brag about her straight A student - the teacher gave her an A+.)
Today, I would like to get some feedback about another topic, teachers’ salaries. A state proposal addressing the teacher shortage suggests that math and science educators receive incentive pay to attract more professionals to the field. Existing math and science teachers also would receive annual bonuses.
Do you think that differentiated pay, which is a fact of life for most industries, is a good idea for public schools? Should math and science teachers be paid more than English or social studies teachers for their specialized skills?
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Emergency numbers for teachers?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My 8-year-old recently forgot to bring her spelling book home so she could complete the biggest assignment expected of her each week.
Her spelling packet was due the day after she returned to school from a holiday weekend. It is a massive undertaking. She must write the words three times, alphabetize them, name their parts of speech and write original stories or letters with the words.
I called other mothers in my daughter’s class only to find them in the same predicament. Their third graders also forgot to bring home spelling books. An e-mail to the teacher went unreturned over vacation break.
Some of us began to wonder wouldn’t it be great if we had the teacher’s cell phone number to reach her for important homework emergencies. College professors and some private school educators will provide students with their cell phone numbers as a professional courtesy so they can contact them if they have questions on assignments.
Teachers often say they want to build more communication with parents. Should teachers be required to provide parents or students with emergency contact numbers they can call when they are having trouble with an assignment?
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Should kindergartners be assessed more?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As kindergarten kids playfully sort through the letters and numbers at work stations, a teacher is watching with a clip board in hand.
She jots down notes, asks questions, assesses their progress on a checklist. Can they recognize the letters and the sounds they make? Are any letters upside down? Do the children socialize and share?
The examinations can be repeated numerous times each day or week in today’s Georgia kindergarten classrooms under a new state program that gives kindergarten teachers the flexibility to continuously assess students. The data collected on each kid is fed into a computer that can spit out progress reports on how close a child is to meeting the Georgia Performance Standards for students.
The initiative, called GKIDS (Georgia Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills) replaces the traditional test used three times a year by Georgia kindergarten teachers to rate students. The upgrade means more frequent assessments and academic rigor for five-and-six-year-olds in kindergarten, a place where nap time has been eliminated and free play is fleeting.
State officials say the year-long evaluations should provide a more accurate picture of what a kindergartner knows because they are done over time. Some teachers have already begun the impromptu assessments which can be performed in the areas of English/language arts, mathematics, approaches to learning, personal and social development, social studies, science and motor skills.
Do you think teachers should be assessing kindergartners more frequently to see what they are learning at school? Should kindergartners have more play time instead to get used to the idea sitting in a classroom all day?
Also, check out our new channel to see how you can volunteer: Find and connect to Atlanta non-profits .
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Throwing teachers under the bus
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I got a few emails following Tuesday’s post about teachers forced to change grades.
The teachers who contacted me mentioned a bigger problem — when principals fail to defend them, particularly when it comes to discipline. They cited incidents where principals seemed more worried about parents running to the school board rather than supporting teachers.
Teachers, do your principals back you up?
Parents, how often do you contact principals? Do you try talking with the teacher first?
Housekeeping note: You will have two guest bloggers next week while I’m on vacation. I’m leaving you in the excellent hands of Aileen Dodd, who covers Gwinnett schools, and Kristina Torres, who covers DeKalb education.
Also, ajc.com has started a new channel for volunteers. Check out volunteer opportunities for your school.
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Should the state takeover Clayton schools?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s executive legal team is looking at what it would take for the state to step in and rescue troubled schools. These steps are because Clayton County schools lost its accreditation.
For the state to step in, a change must be made to the state constitution. Any amendment must be approved by the Legislature and voters. The earliest that could happen is November 2010.
About 50 school districts across the country have some sort of state involvement. Takeovers don’t solve all problems. Researchers say it takes about three to five years for a system to turnaround.
States typically fire the school district’s superintendent and other top officials. Then states must appoint new administrators. (Atlanta schools Superintendent Beverly Hall was selected by New Jersey to be the state appointed superintendent of Newark public schools after the state took over that district.)
In some communities, parents and teachers fought against state takeovers, arguing it wasn’t right for the state to usurp local control.
Should Georgia step in and take over troubled school systems, like Clayton? What criteria would determine when the state should come in and when it should leave?
On another note, we recently began a Web channel to link people to non-profits and volunteer groups, so check it out.
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More budget problems
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DeKalb County schools is offering buyouts to 189 veteran central office employees.
DeKalb has been wrestling with financial problems. Like other systems, DeKalb is trying to deal with high fuel and utility costs and funding cuts from the state. But DeKalb has also been hit with a declining enrollment.
As some of you may remember, DeKalb already cut back on running some buses and eliminated a popular German program in two elementary schools.
I don’t think we’ve seen the last of these budget problems, for DeKalb and other school districts. What other cuts do you think systems will make?
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Missing the first weeks of school
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It happens every year. The first day of school comes and officials count their enrollment. By the time Labor Day rolls around, the number of students increases by several thousand.
Lots of kids miss the first days of school. In Gwinnett County, more than 5,000 students have enrolled since the new school year began. Last week I visited a school in Atlanta and saw lines of students and parents waiting to register.
Some of these people are taking advantage of No Child Left Behind transfers. Others just moved to the area and were not aware of August start dates. But that can’t account for everyone.
These late arrivals force teachers to review classroom rules. Teachers must review material new students missed, taking away learning time from students who showed up on day one.
Why is the start date for a new school year no longer sacred? What message does it send to students when their parents let them miss the first few weeks of school?
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Change that grade
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia Professional Standards Commission is revising the ethics code for educators. The commission is working with teacher associations and one suggestion is to prevent educators from being forced to change a grade.
They want a Doc Neace rule.
As some of you may remember, Larry “Doc” Neace was a physics teacher at Dacula High in Gwinnett County who was fired in 2005 for insubordination because he refused to restore a student’s grade on a lab report.
Neace said he dropped the grade because the student fell asleep in class. Gwinnett has a policy against lowering grades as a form of discipline. Neace said he’s been dropping grades for years as a way of reminding students they have to participate in class.
Neace’s firing received state and national attention. Since then, many groups have tried to prevent a repeat of what happened.
How often do teachers face situations where a superior forces or strongly encourages them to change a grade? Will adding a rule prohibiting these demands make a difference?
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Pinching for college
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An interesting essay ran over the weekend, written by a college freshman who pointed out what many of us have long noticed when it comes to paying for college. Many middle class families are in a difficult position.
Many make too much to qualify for financial aid, but not enough to pay for college out right.
Of course there are options. Students could take out loans they’ll be paying back for years after they graduate. Or students could give up their “dream” school and go to cheaper college instead. Neither is an attraction option.
How worried are you about paying for your kids’ college? If you went to college, how did you afford it?
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