Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2007 > January > 10 > Entry
The changing school board
Here are links to today’s stories on Dayton’s change in board president and on the plan for 61 job cuts to be announced in detail next week.
Here are some other notes and observations from Tuesday’s school board meeting:
—Joining new school board president Yvonne Isaacs as part of the new leadership team are Lee Massoud as vice president and Joe Lacey as parlimentarian. Massoud, a finance manager at Miller Valentine who replaced Tony Hill on the board in 2005, has served as the board’s finance committee chair. Lacey, an accountant for the county treasurer’s office who defeated Doniece Gatliff to earn a board seat in 2005, will be the board’s expert in its own rules as parlimentarian.
—Three of the current board members — Massoud, Stacy Thompson and Ronald Jackson — are appointed members who have never been elected. All three, along with Mario Gallin, must be elected in November to retain their seats. All execpt Mario have said they will seek election. Mario told me last month she is still mulling a run for re-election.
—The rest of the board presented Littlejohn with a giant plant as a thank you for her work as board president. The plant was paid for by the other board members.
—The district has added concrete barriers near Germantown Street in front of Wogaman Elementary School. This was in response to an incident in the fall, while the school was still under construction, in which a stolen car crashed through the windows and landed in auditorium/cafeteria. The car thief, who left a trail of blood as he fled the scene, was never caught.
—-Two elementary schools will get new names when they are rebuilt. McNary Elementary School is moving from 2400 Hoover Ave. to be rebuilt in Westwood Park and will carry the name Westwood Elementary School. The former Fairport Middle School, will move from 1952 Fairport Ave. to a site near Gettysburg Avenue and Kings Highway, where it likely will be named Rosa Parks Elementary School if the school receives permission from the Parks family.
—The district’s official enrollment for the current school year was announced at 15,871, a drop of just 162, or about 1 percent, from last year’s 16,033. That is the smallest enrollment decline in more than seven years. Dayton had an enrollment of 24,823 when I began covering the district in 1999. The 36 percent drop (nearly 9,000 students) over that period is stunning, fueled by an explosion of more than 30 charter schools onto the city’s education scene.
Permalink | Comments (20) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Comments
By Rick
January 16, 2007 7:49 PM | Link to this
OldProf, you and I disagree on many things. But your posts on this thread are spot on. You simply state facts and ask for facts from those who disagree with you. How unreasonable!By ron
January 15, 2007 10:30 PM | Link to this
I have to agree with DPS teacher. I don’t need a dictionary or thesaurus to communicate and although it shows your well read you have for 2 posting dodged the answer of if you would be willing to shadow teach for a week. Of course you won’t your above that. I hate getting away from the main point of this blog so I will leave it at that. Put up or shut up!!! Your starting to bore me with your intelectual babble.By DPS Teacher for 29 yrs
January 15, 2007 5:11 PM | Link to this
LOL Again, you leave me laughing! Really, what is it you teach? Creative writing at Sinclair? Such an imaginatation you have! I do admire your creativity, Old Prof, but you do need a reality check when it comes to public education. Go back to the issue I called you on: It is quite obvious to the reader that you do not know what a teacher does in his/her job each day and what educating a child entails. There is no name-calling being done here, just a simple suggestion: Do not offer up all these answers until you know what the subject matter.By Oldprof
January 15, 2007 8:50 AM | Link to this
C’mon, 29-year-teacher. You left out the parts where your principal chides you for providing tissues for students (out of your own income); where you have to spend hideous amounts of time doing meaningless paperwork; where your quality as a teacher will not be based on direct observation by an experienced teacher but by how your underprepared, impoverished, culturally-adverse-to-learning students perform on a series of invalid standardized tests—scored by the unqualified and graded by standards set after the test is completed. But again, I find your attacks lack specifics; which of my assertions is wrong, and why? Is it that you disagree there are too many administrators, or that many of them are there because the state mandates them, or that the current DPS administration is smaller, or what? If you just want to engage in a name-calling contest, I’m not participating; and if you’re not capable of reasoned dabate, please consider if it’s time to draw your generous STRS pension.By DPS Teacher for 29 yrs
January 14, 2007 12:05 PM | Link to this
Oh, yes, a little of the truth might cloud your judgement, huh? I was sure you could not rise to that challnge. Let’s skip the textbook world of your illusory studies and go to the world of reality where I have taught for 29 years. This is not a personal attack, sir. This is a fact: I go to work every day working with children, real live children, with real learning dfficulties, real family problems, sometimes not enough food at home, sometimes not a home to go to, struggling with academics and yet, doing the best that they can do. And every day I am there at their side pushing them to do their best. Come out of your ivory tower and make sure YOU have the facts before your spout your so called wisdom.By Oldprof
January 13, 2007 8:38 PM | Link to this
Um, teacher for 29 years? I’ve done a little k-12 teaching, and I wisely retreated to college where I haven’t had to cope with the diddly that you do. Yes, I do think I know what you go through daily. Do you have any specific facts that you’d like to advance to support your assertions, or are you also engaging in a personal attack bereft of evidence? If so, that’s the second reason I’m not going to take a week off to shadow you; I’ve cited ad hominem ad nauseum here already, and you’ve just indulged in some more of it.By DPS Teacher for 29 yrs
January 13, 2007 1:16 PM | Link to this
Old Prof, Just what is your background? Certainly not anything in public education or at least you have not set foot in a classroom recently. I have been reading your postings for the past few months and have done nothing but chuckle, chuckle, chuckle. I challenge your to shadow any Dayton teacher, especially a primary level teacher for just one week to see what his/her job actually consists of and you will not be shoveling out this same meaningless talk. You are so clueless: just like a textbook teacher, someoe who has all the answers, but has never faced the reality of the problems face on. Go ahead. Accept the challenge. Spend a week with me at work. Then come back and talk the talk! LOLBy Ron
January 13, 2007 12:54 PM | Link to this
I admit I am not hip to all the stipulations that go along with grants and the such. I graduated from Meadowdale H.S. in 1985 and have worked my whole life. I did recieve a good education though and albeit I am no millionaire I do pretty good for myself and my family. I cannot afford to send my kids to private school and I am seemingly the last of a dying breed that actually takes an active role in my childrens’ education. This old Prof is the real problem. Kids having kids that were brought into this world by kids is the crux of our problem. (BTW I apologize for calling you a ringer) When I was young and was reprimanded at school I was paddled at school and then recieved a spanking at home. Why? Because I brought shame upon my family. rest assure I didn’t get too many spankings because I was raised with solid principles and values. This is rare in this day and age in public school. I believe though that I shouldn’t have to pay twice via property taxes and private school tuition so that my children recieve a good education. maybe I am taking out my frustration on the wrong people but I do feel a better job can be done. I also agree that corporal punishment is not a cure all but what a nice weapon to have in your arsenal. more later…By Oldprof
January 13, 2007 8:31 AM | Link to this
Lest Ron think I despise him—Ron, you’re right, discipline problems, or should we just say disorder and chaos, is one of the major issues. I think most principals have spines, but it only takes a few wimpy ones to allow students to habituate bad behavior, and it’s hard to remediate. Personally, I don’t think corporal punishment is a cure-all; I think that the state needs to pass tort reform measures that limit a parent’s ability to sue school districts (it’s interesting that Husted et al want to deny you the right to collect millions in punitive damages from a corporation that neglectfully ruins your life, but don’t seem to care to move to halt scorched-earth lawsuits against school districts for routine discipline). The other part of the problem, quite frankly, is that too few teachers in the early grades understand that their first task is to teach the children how to sit still and maintain focus for their full attention spans. That’s another sea change that I’m weary of waiting for.By Oldprof
January 13, 2007 8:25 AM | Link to this
Staffmember; we’re in substantive agreement. Locally, there’s only so much that can be done. Real progress will not be made until there’s top-down reform (that means losing a lot of current legislators and state administrators) and culture change (to reverse the current anti-intellectual atmosphere). Which is what Ron doesn’t understand while he’s engaging in more ad hominem (ringer? that implies I’ve been hired). The administration is bloated in part because the state and the feds keep requiring it; each unfunded mandate (accountability, curriculum, social services, access) and each funding wrinkle (grants, titles, initiatives) comes saddled with a requirement for an administrator. If we can convince our legislators that complicated is NOT better, and get them to go back to simply funding schools directly rather than earmarking all of the funds, then the local board and superintendent will be entirely responsible for the ratio of management to staff. ‘Til then, complaining that Percy Mack has bloated the administration reveals unfamiliarity with the big picture. Now, Ron, if you want that organizational chart, it’s a public record; go down to Ludlow, pull the figures, and let us know what you find. Just to be fair, do a comparison with the district in 1998, OK?By Ron
January 12, 2007 4:34 PM | Link to this
Seems to me Oldprof is either an actual member of the school board or a ringer set out to defend an administration that is not doing too good a job at managing our money or properly education our children. In respect to the latter I will agree that DPS is required by law to accept all pupils and our system does have some troubled kids. This does create a problem because increasingly the children that were trouble makers used to be the minority and now these kids are the majority. these kids pick on the kids that want to learn and I’ve witnessed first hand spinless administrators that have allowed the bad kids to get away with bullying the other kids. It makes it very difficult for the kids wanting to learn to focus out of fear of being picked on. A bone fide way to handle this problem would be to re-instate corporal punishment. If you discipline children early respect is instilled and we wouldn’t be in the mess were in now. Parents that say “you can’t spank my kid” need to see just how much there kid is showing their butt. On the fiscal responsibilty side I would like to see an organizational chart with salaries of the DPS. Dr Mack may have trimmed the fat but I am positive much more trimming can be done. Before any teacher is layed off I believe the administration should make cuts at the school board. I feel like I am paying for an Escolade that has been stripped out and is now up on blocks yet there are many people at the school board that keep cushy jobs with no real value being put into the final project of a properly educated child. More later…By Dayton Staffmember
January 12, 2007 1:28 PM | Link to this
Oldprof, I don’t agree that the district is better off now than 8 years ago. I’ve been a teacher in this district for that long. I have not seen an improvement in students’ behavior, preparedness for school, or motivation in those 8 years. It continues to get worse year after year. However, I don’t blame Dr. Mack for this. I blame the charter school system and private school vouchers. We continue to get a huge amount of students that are kicked out of charter and private schools. These students are not prepared for school. It seems that our parents are getting more and more into blaming the schools for their kids problems. Also, the kids expect us to “give” them an education. They don’t expect to have any part in it. I think the government’s attitude of blaming the public schools has added to this belief.By Oldprof
January 12, 2007 9:16 AM | Link to this
Hater, my own take on Percy Mack differs from yours. But let’s not stoop to ad hominem attacks like “snake oil salesman”, let’s make objective comparisons. The last superintendent with any significant tenure here was receiving improper slush money from WSU, engaging in outsourcing to companies that paid to play, and running the district into a 19 million dollar deficit while the district’s education quality continued to decline. The board, 2000-2006, hired Mack and turned all of those problems around. Do you disagree that the district is in better shape now than eight years ago? If so, on what objective basis?By dan
January 12, 2007 8:34 AM | Link to this
same old people that need to take english lessons !!!!!!none of them can speak proper english they need to take some money and take some classes!!!!!its sad to hear them on tv as a school representative!!!! dis for this dat for that no putting an ing on hardly any words what a joke they are !!!!!!!By Charterschool Hater
January 12, 2007 12:24 AM | Link to this
Hey Oldprof what I want to know is this. If the school board is truly dissatified with the progress of student achievement, then why does it still employ the snake oil man Percy Mack? Where is the accountabillity that we as the taxpayers have elected the board to demand? If the progress is not what they think it should be then fire the man!! You know we can fire the board if they are not doing their job. I do not thnik that even the most naieve Percy booster could say that he has done a good job here. But he can really talk some bull though. He should of sold snake oil. He would be work millions today if he did. Maybe he is worth millions thanks to the DPS School Board and the ripped off Dayton taxpayers. Hope you and yours had a nice holiday old prof. Take care.By Oldprof
January 11, 2007 10:37 PM | Link to this
Lou thinks what Ron offers here is nicely said? Love her or hate her, but I doubt it’s nicely if it’s untrue. The Kids First team did NOT promise all new schools; that option emerged as the state dangled partial funding (say—do any of you follow these things? The Republican state legislature always promises not to raise taxes—then they turn around and say “you won’t receive your share of the state’s revenues unless you vote to raise YOUR OWN taxes!”). As for the status of student learning, I am confident that no board member is satisfied that adequate progress has been made; nonetheless, getting a passing grade (under the OBE’s ever-shifting standards) is still a welcome accomplishment, or do you disagree? Finally, the size of the district’s administration has shrunk since Percy Mack came on board. I guess, Lou, that you’re responding to style and personal prejudice, rather than factuality. Perhaps your teaching suffers from similar biases? That might explain some of the district’s lack of progress more directly.By Scott Elliott
January 11, 2007 10:30 PM | Link to this
No bylaws were changed. In the past, the Dayton school board had a tradition of rotating the presidency among the members in turn so each member had a chance to lead the board for a year. The Littlejohn board rejected that approach, arguing that the most qualified person should lead the board. Littlejohn was re-elected every year, not for three-year terms.By null
January 11, 2007 9:04 PM | Link to this
when the good old girs took over from the good old boys they were going to eliminate the cronisum so they changed the bylaws from having a new president every year to 3yrs.now she has been reelected to a new term,she steps down to spend her time doing the same thing that she would get acolaids for any way, something really stinks here,do I here the state horses getting closer&closer.By lou
January 11, 2007 2:21 PM | Link to this
nicely said Ron. As a teacher of this district I wish more of the community would get involved. I, too, am disappointed in the new schools. I campained hard for that levy because of neighborhood schools. We need them, we want them, when are we going to get them? Paying to transport these kids across town is a total waste of money. How many more classroom teachers could we have if we did not transport high school students.By ron
January 10, 2007 5:37 PM | Link to this
I for one am sick of the incompetence of the Dayton school Board. The stepping down of Mrs Littlejohn to focus on a levy in May is nothing more than a person trying to dodge the “you fired me bullet!” When the Littlejohn Administration came on board they promised all new schools and improved test scores etc, etc, It is true we are out of academic emergency but we are still on the bottom of the list when it comes to academic performance in the state. I read that 33 teachers (some adjunct) will lose their jobs while the obese administration with assistant superintendants and executive principles for this zone and that zone stay on the payroll. Bottom line is that there is far too much fat at the top and this is were the cuts need to take place, not in the trenches were increasingly teachers are being asked to do more and more with less and less. Many times these expenses are payed for by the teachers themselves and now the school board wants to lay them off?? Furthermore this administration promised new schools for all neighborhoods but I see reverse discrimination taking place not only in the schools that are being razed but also in the neighborhoods the new schools are going to be built. It is time that all residents that have kids in the DPS district start going to meetings and hold the elected responsible for their mismanagement of our schools. The administration ha to know that charter schools were going cut into their budget yet they pitched the last levy to the residents of the district as though all the buildings were a done deal. I didn’t vote yes so that new schools could be built across town I voted yes to have a new school built in my neighborhood. I am tired of being lied to and voice my feelings to who ever will hear it. Trim the fat keep the teachers and keep your promise to this community school board!