I’m going to be spending some quality time with my family away from work and away from blogging for the next few days, so you won’t see much activity here at the Chronicle for a little while. I’m not so naive as to say there will be no activity because, obviously, I’m a blog addict and will no doubt feel compelled to post something at some point. But I’m going to try to do as little blogging as possible for the next few days. I’m sure there will be much rejoicing at the sound of that news among many people in and around Peoria. 🙂
I’ll schedule some open threads in advance so they should pop up automatically. Feel free to continue discussing the issues of the day.
Some advice:
http://www.kcnn.org/legal_risk/rule_2/
Oh for Pete’s sake. No one is calling anyone and harassing them. An 8:22 phone call to address personal differences in the interest of resolving a personal conflict is hardly “late night” or threatening. I’m certain that if there was any harassment, the state’s attorney would be knocking down doors. This isn’t about some personal vendetta, a “cute blonde” or the size of my behind. My name’s been bandied about as well as my profession, my place of residence and my parenting skills. Does the means justify the end? Gimme a break.
Rix: So you’re in favor of shortening the District 150’s school day and agree that it will result in an “improvement in student learning,” as Ken Hinton suggests? I’ve yet to grasp that concept and I’m still waiting to hear from ANYONE as to why this is a good idea.
Rixblix:
Thank you sharing. In seeking to understand, you wrote:
I came from a school district in Wisconsin …. district-wide improvement committee. I was fortunate to sit on my chidrens’ school committee, the district’s committee and the board of directors of the Charter School my oldest attended. I was privy to information that wasn’t disseminated district wide because of the feasibility and nature of the material.
I read this and think to myself hum ….
privy to information that wasn’t disseminated district wide because of the feasibility and nature of the material. What does that mean? feasibility? nature of the material?
Would you be willing to help me (and others)to understand because I have not walked in your shoes? I hope so.
te:
I’m talking about hand-outs, reports, power points and presentations given by various specialists. Of course these things were available via board meetings, at the district office and websites, but bulk mailing was not feasible. So, no, the information was not disseminated district-wide.
Rixblix:
Thank you. So, then I ask, how does any district engage more parents, PTOS, citizens, taxpayers, educators, community leaders, in effect all stakeholders to participate in the process?
These are very important decisions — it is akin to switching a train from one track to another — once the switch is thrown and the train is on another train, especially when it is the wrong track, the damage is exponential as time ticks on.
Any suggestions for opening up the process to all stakeholders?
Also, why are decisions just rammed down people’s throats? Your thoughts on that topic. Thanks! 🙂
Ms. Alms, sometimes unpopular decisions just have to be made. In our former district we were faced with lopsided enrollment throughout the district. The administration and BOE sought to redefine grade school, middle school, and elementary school boundaries. Unfortunately, a river ran through our town which had always created a natural boundary for some schools. When the proposal was presented, there was an enormous outcry in the community. The BOE was on a staggered election cycle so new board members opposed to the proposition were elected. Voting “blocks” were established and the measure didn’t pass. That was 5 years ago. Infighting among board members has prevented the district from moving forward. The battle continues. As a result, some students in the district are in classes of 25+ students while other classrooms have 15 students. At the middle school and high school level, enrollment dictates what classes are taught in each building. Therefore, there are high school students in one school who do not have the variety of classes available to them that students in the high school across town have.
Of course there are important decisions to be made. Sometimes there just has to be a leap of faith so that progress can be made. Otherwise, there will be no progress. And what this entire area needs is some progress when it comes to educating students.
Your group should pursue advisory councils at each building. You should contact the BOE and Administration about establishing these committees. PTO/PTA’s aren’t the same as advisory committees. My experience as a PTO President demonstrated to me the need for separate groups.
Divide and conquer?
Uncle.
Rixblix: I think that I will agree to disagree with you. The problem in my opinion is not that hard decisions need to be made, it is that the information is not distributed to all stakeholders for buy-in and getting people on board. One man spoke at a board meeting several weeks ago and paraphrasing — I may not like the decision but at least I would have been informed. In my experience, the lack of information flow up and down the communication chain fosters resentment rather than unity.
We are talking about adults — citizens, parents, grandparents, teachers, who want to be engaged in the process and help to determine and be responsible for the outcome. To exclude people in this day and age is short-sighted and usually patronizing.
No disrespect intended — sometimes those with the most alphabet soup behind their names from academic learning are clueless are real world application, implementation, and consequences from half-baked ideas being discussed and then shoved down people’s throats.
In the end all of us lose.
P.S. Thank you for the civil discussion!:)
Get down to nuts and bolts people, cut out the personal stuff; what do you think of a school administration who tells their teachers to take their students report cards personally to the parents and into the Harrison Homes of all places? Manual did it. Many teachers said the hell with that noise, and they should have.
http://www.hbo.com/docs/docuseries/swf/summer2008/index.html
Watch.