Thursday, May 15, 2014

DAVONTE'S INFERNO -- A Review





Davonte's  Inferno is a truly remarkable book. It is also informative, insightful and quite disturbing. The author, Laurel Sturt, taught for ten years in a Bronx elementary school with high needs students, demoralized teachers, incompetent principals and overwhelmed parents all the while under the "my way or the highway" dictatorship of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. As a retired teacher I approached reading this book with more or less professional interest. After reading it I am glad I am retired and no longer subject to the pseudo educators who now call the shots. I was fully aware of the folly of Dubyah's No Child Left Behind  and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's  rigged game of Race to the Top; but I had no idea of the devious agendas and shady dealings of the New York City power brokers in their manipulation of the city's school system.

Think of the operations of New York Schools as a game of chess. On one side is Mayor Bloomberg, the Dept of Education, Arne Duncan, Michelle Rhee, Bill Gates and host of supporters (parasites), including many school administrators and principals. On the other side are parents and teachers with the teachers represented by their Union. Unfortunately the role of pawns is played by the city's students who are the end of the line recipients of the school system's actions and programs. After reading Ms. Sturt's chronicle you will come to see the students as not only victims but the real losers during Bloomberg's tenure as schools' chief. Former presidential candidate Howard Dean summed up his departure from teaching after one year with these words: "too many kids with too many needs".

It is widely believed that our schools need to be improved and our students need to receive a more world class education. It is the delivery of this improved program where things go awry. With little valid research and hardly any parent or teacher input (as usual)  programs of dubious value and high stakes testing have been forced on schools by those who actually favor the privatization of our school systems. Ms. Sturt details  how NYC schools were denied funds and staff so Bloomberg's preferred Charter Schools could prosper. As a former CEO, obsessed with data collection and reporting, Bloomberg subjected students to unprecedented testing and evaluation all of which required both time and energy from teachers at the expense of students' instructional time. Ms. Sturt describes a school system where testing and data collection for the sake of testing and collection of data became the norm or the end in itself.

Ms. Sturt documents how Mayor Bloomberg, as head of New York's Schools, was generous if not irresponsible with tax payer money in awarding millions of dollars in contracts for questionable staff development, standardized testing contracts and consultancy hours. All the while Ms. Sturt's school and many others lacked adequate supplies, clean rest rooms, working water fountains and a host of other amenities most of us as students had and took for granted.

Mayor Bloomberg's micro management of the NYC school system was replicated by a succession of Principals Ms. Sturt and her fellow teachers had to endure over her ten years of teaching. From Principal Cruella to Guido to Principal Dearest to finally the seriously disturbed Principal identified as Rosemary's Baby, Ms. Sturt recounts the harassment, verbal abuse, frequent ambushes and disrespect that she and her colleagues endured on a daily basis. This  abusive administrative behavior continued all the while she and her fellow teachers were dealing with children exhibiting serious learning and behavior issues in a less than ideal environment.

As the inexperienced and totally unqualified Arne Duncan continues to lead the nation's schools, students and teachers into the era of Common Core Standards Ms. Sturt's book is an excellent source of information on where we have been, where we are now and unfortunately where we are going with respect to our schools. As NCLB and RTTT have led us to Common Core consider the analysis of the Brookings Institute: "The empirical evidence suggests that the Common Core will have little effect on American students' achievement. The nation will have to look elsewhere for ways to improve its schools." Is Arne Looking?

The answer to the improvement of our schools is not the influx of corporate money, increased testing, more and more teacher evaluation nor the establishment of Charter Schools ;but a recognition of the elephant in the room and that elephant was aptly described by Ms. Sturt as: "poverty, providing prenatal care and ongoing health care and nutrition for kids ... after school and child care, supplying basic education and parenting classes to poor adults and increasing school-to-parent outreach and cooperation".


I congratulate Ms. Sturt for her  years of service to New York city's children and for her dedication and perseverance in surviving what she described as "Ten Years in the New York Public School Gulag'.








Friday, September 20, 2013

Bainbridge Island Schools Have Much To Be Proud About



After enjoying spectacular summer weather students of Bainbridge Island School District returned to class on Wednesday, September 4th., for the start of the 2013-2014 school year. As many of you are aware there have been  e-mails and letters  via the Tripp Wire and other venues describing, discussing and analyzing all that is  allegedly wrong with our schools and in most cases offering solutions. I referred to one such problem on an island discussion group as being more of a "first world problem" and quickly drew the wrath of the moderator. Nonetheless, when we read of the Philadelphia schools not having sufficient funds to open many of their schools, the Chicago system suffering massive teacher layoffs and school closures and nearby Snoqualmie teachers almost going out on strike, we should count our blessings. Of course no system is perfect as we read and hear of some Bainbridge parents working with district officials seeking what is best for their children. However; I do believe that Bainbridge Island Schools are indeed excellent as reflected in the continuous financial support of the community, the professionalism of its teachers and most importantly the achievements of its students.


Unfortunately the time for school articles, especially those of the sky is falling slant or the grass is greener elsewhere persuasion, is no longer confined to coincide with the opening of school in September. The doom and gloom e-mails and stories continue year round. As a result, I thought it might be somewhat novel and even refreshing to focus on the positive, for there is much that is positive and noteworthy  about our community, our teachers and  our students to share and appreciate.


To write that Bainbridge Island Schools enjoy community support is an understatement. For the last three years the Bainbridge Schools Foundation  raised and awarded the school district over one million dollars to reduce class size and support innovative programs. Additionally, the Parent Teacher Organizations and the various Boosters Clubs contribute well over half a million dollars each year to deal with needs and requests for assistance at individual school sites. Finally, there are many more  organizations, businesses and individuals, too numerous to list here, who generously assist the district and our schools to the eventual benefit of our students. Let's face it, people do not give money to a school system in which they do not have faith and confidence. The Bainbridge Island community demonstrates its support year after year through its generous donations to the school district. Likewise the school district, through its teachers  consistently delivers excellent educational programs designed to challenge and educate our students.

I firmly believe that the backbone of any successful school system is its teachers. I sometimes refer to teachers as the end of the line service providers. When the bell rings and the classroom door closes it is show time and all those young eyes and ears are focused on their teachers, ready, willing and quite able to learn.  To capture and capitalize on our attentive students Bainbridge schools have a teaching staff of 224 educators with average teaching experience of 14 years. There are recently hired teachers who are teaching for the first time on the island  and the most senior have 40 years of teaching experience. This group of teachers is also highly educated. Of the 224 teachers  3 have PhD's, 179 hold Master's Degrees and 25 are Nationally Board Certified. A remarkable 81% of the teaching staff hold advanced degrees. It is quite obvious that the island's students are in good hands


Many of us know that as a result of the efforts of the office of the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, we are testing our students ad nauseam. Many educators and parents  agree that we are spending too much valuable time and precious funds on testing and in too many instances this preoccupation with  test preparation and actual testing is at the expense of quality instructional time. I am a firm believer that for most students the only two tests that carry any real weight and significance are taken in the high school years and that would be the State Driver's test and either the SAT or the ACT. But what about the island's students? Being the recipients of all this support, care and concern how do they stack up?


For those who enjoy and relate to statistics and factual information, the Bainbridge High School Profile Page is a gold mine of data stating that 93.6% of its students graduate in four years and the 5 year Cohort Extended Graduation rate is 97.5% . Last year 89% of BHS seniors had plans to continue their education with 77% going to a 4 year college or university and 12% to a 2 year school. Graduating seniors gained admission to over 200 public and private colleges and universities in the United States and internationally while being awarded well over one million dollars in scholarships. After analyzing 21,035 U.S. high schools and then ranking 4805 schools,  USNWR awarded a gold medal to Bainbridge High School and ranked it 7th in the state of Washington and 274th in the United States. Eagle Harbor H.S. was awarded a silver medal and ranked 22nd in the state and 985th. nationally. As I wrote earlier I believe our schools are excellent; but as other tests in various grades indicate there is always room for improvement. However; with almost 90% of our high school's graduating seniors going on to college or junior college the Bainbridge Island community can stand tall and be proud.


Having been a teacher for almost 40 years before retiring in 2008 I have witnessed and endured my share of alleged experts with their power point presentations, attended required mind numbing staff development and in-service days and experienced the absurdity of No Child Left Behind. Gratefully, I missed Arne Duncan's Race to the Top competition. Bainbridge like many communities also has a few individuals, although not actually teaching or involved in education, who nonetheless consider themselves  experts in all matters of education. Unfortunately, these  self-appointed experts have a penchant for making mountains out of mole hills so that small issues or misunderstandings become major concerns and dubious solutions are offered for these alleged problems.  Bottom line is that we have to consider if what we are offering our students is preparing them for life after high school. It seems  obvious that Bainbridge Island Schools are meeting this challenge.  Knowing this, let's appreciate our good fortune. Recognize and be thankful for the continuous financial support of the Bainbridge community. Support and work with our teachers and congratulate and encourage our students as they advance from grade to grade and eventually graduate.

A Japanese  Proverb is spot on correct when it offers:  "Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher." Our children are fortunate to have many great teachers here on Bainbridge Island.














Monday, October 8, 2012

Gotta Gun ? An Up Date




After the recent horrific massacres in Aurora, Colorado and Oak Creek, Wisconsin to write that gun violence has become a part of our everyday experience is an understatement.  As a young boy I grew up watching Hopalong Cassidy  and Roy Rogers  and continued with 77 Sunset Strip,   and Gun Smoke  as an adolescent. Today gun story lines continue with television programs like Criminal Minds  and CSI.  Guns, stories with guns and gun violence have become a common and ever increasing part of our lives. Add to this the popularity of televised out of control behavior as seen on various reality programs and the glamorization of gun play and violence in popular alternative music and film and we have a  gun saturated environment. Unfortunately tragic events like the massacres in Colorado and Wisconsin have happened before and will no doubt happen again.

 The second amendment to our Constitution  states:  "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. "  These words by our Founding Fathers will continue to be interpreted and debated ad nauseum. Interestingly, one of the only other countries with a higher gun owner per capita rate  than the United States is Switzerland and the Swiss have virtually no gun crime. Of course those who believe in a well armed populace like to cite Switzerland as a shining example of a well armed populace.

However; countries like Switzerland with a homogenous, well educated population and an unemployment rate  under 4% are hardly  similar to the demographics of the United States. While our cultural, racial and ethnic diversity are viewed as a source of strength and vitality by many, for others this diversity is a source of fear, loathing and hostility. What some do not understand, tolerate or even accept, the second amendment guarantees a tangible  margin of safety ... a gun. Add to this scenario the perception that our justice system and various police agencies no longer have the ability to protect and serve; but have deteriorated to function merely as administrators and after the fact clean up specialists. It is not surprising that more and more Americans find it desirable and in some communities necessary to possess a gun in some shape or form.

In 1791, 221 years ago, when the second amendment was passed,  the Founding Fathers had in mind a "well regulated militia". Today after years of Supreme Court interpretations and rulings we may not have a "well regulated militia" but we do have a well armed population. Both law abiding citizens as well as this country's criminal element are armed and ready for action. Unfortunately the incidences of gun violence we have seen in this country seems to be increasing and these episodes have been getting increasingly more deadly.

Some believe that if we can't keep guns out of the hands of the criminal element then maybe it is time to more visibly arm the police and others. Of course we then run the risk of having characters like George Zimmerman playing vigilante with a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol. At present the playing field is not level and it seems it is time for the criminal element to be as concerned and fearful of being shot as the rest of us. The current philosophy of gun control has failed and it may be time to consider alternative solutions ... if indeed there are solutions.

The NRA's 4.3 million members exert a powerful influence on this country's  political scene. To take a position for any level of gun control could spell the end for an elected official. In 1970 Democratic Sen. Joe Tydings of Maryland with a 3-1 advantage with registered Democrats was defeated by a Republican in his bid for re-election because he proposed firearms registration.  Today many members of Congress and the Senate avoid any and all discussion and debate on the proliferation of firearms in this country fearing voter backlash. Like with so many other pressing problems our elected representatives are more concerned with their own re-election and gun control is not a safe talking point.

Bottom line is that we will never remove guns from our society but we should be able to control who can own a gun and what type of gun can be owned. I am not interested in infringing on the rights of citizens to hunt, own and fire guns for sport or recreation and insure their own personal safety; but how does a semi-automatic rifle capable of firing 100 rounds in a minute fit in here? Does my right to be safe and secure walking the streets, sitting in a restaurant or movie theatre come in second after the right of others to own guns?

Our Declaration of Independence states: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."  A lone heavily armed gunman  in both Colorado and Wisconsin denied  innocent men, women and children of their right to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" and for some this denial is permanent.

In the 1850's vigilantes were active in San Francisco as a result of the inability of the police to rid the city's streets of criminals. If our elected representatives and the criminal justice system continue to fail to protect all of us and see that we are not denied "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" we may see a return to a form of vigilantism as seen in San Francisco 150 years ago. It is time for the NRA, both houses of Congress and the President to "man up" and see that no one suffers or dies as a result of the current endorsement and interpretation of the second amendment.  It is time for those in charge to lead, follow or get out of the way.












Thursday, June 7, 2012

RANDOM COMMENTS SUMMER 2012



THE FACEBOOK DEBACLE

The casino (Wall Street) opened for business. The gamblers (investors) placed their bets (purchased Facebook stock) and then watched the IPO price fall and fall. To add salt to their wounds it seems that the banks' high rollers (preferred investors) received inside info as to the real value of the Facebook stock price and consequently hedged their bets to avoid big losses. This story has the usual cast of questionable banking suspects and now we are in the finger pointing stage of events with lawsuits to follow. I appreciate consistent banking behavior. Remember the odds are always in favor of the house.

PAKISTAN: FRIEND OR FOE

Is there any doubt that our alleged ally, Pakistan, was actively involved in providing sanctuary for bin Laden? It is time to say enough is enough and cut off the flow of ALL funds to Pakistan. Pakistan is not our ally but rather a stab you in the back, untrustworthy and deceitful foe. 

A Pakistani doctor who helped the C.I.A. locate Osama Bin Laden with a fake vaccination campaign was convicted of treason and given 33 years in prison, a Pakistani official said. More radical Pakistani leaders are now calling for the doctor's death. And now we have Hawks like John McCain calling for our involvement in Syria. Remember the words of former President Gerald Ford. In a Time Magazine interview he said "And I just don't think we should go hellfire damnation around the globe freeing people, unless it is directly related to our own national security."

MITT on TEACHERS' UNIONS
 
The Mitt is at it again. Exchanging his economic expertise hat for his mortar board & tassel. Mitt the mouth has identified teachers' unions as impediments to educational reform and labeled teachers' unions as special interest groups. I would agree that teachers' unions are indeed particularly and specifically interested in improving the quality of education for our public school students and in improving the working conditions for its members. However; I disagree that unions are impediments to improvements; but would offer that the wagon train of underfunded and non funded mandated programs, over emphasis on standardized testing, budget uncertainties, student behavior issues , poor attendance and a check list of other serious problems and concerns compromise the quality of our schools. The only thing different about Mitt's attack on public school teachers and public schools is that these attacks are usually made in September by pseudo power point experts. It is not September and the pseudo job creator is also a pseudo educational expert.

 MITT THE EXPERT ON CLASS SIZE

Mitt the job creator and self-appointed expert on the economy recently spoke in Philadelphia and shared his expertise on education. In a round table discussion with teachers and educational leaders, the likely Republican presidential nominee argued smaller classroom sizes do not lead to better learning in schools: "I came into office and talked to people and said, 'What can we do to improve our schools?' And a number of folks said well we need smaller classroom sizes, that'll make the biggest difference. So I gathered information, across our state. We had 351 cities and towns. I said let's compare the average classroom size from each school district with the performance of our students. Because we test our kids and we'll see if there's a relationship. And there was not. As a matter of fact, the school district with the smallest classrooms, Cambridge, had students performing at the bottom 10 percent. So just getting smaller classrooms didn't seem to be the key."
To the astonishment of those at the table with Mitt he added: "All other things being equal, smaller classes mean more teachers for the same pot of money, producing lower salaries and lower professional status. That may explain the paradox that, after primary school, there seems little or no relationship between class size and educational achievement." The man of business has spoken !!!

Mitt attended the exclusive Cranbrook School in Michigan where as we have recently learned he gave free haircuts to underclassman. This college prep school offers the following on its web site: "A 14-year-old student sits in a circle with fifteen other students. He discusses his interpretation of the book they are reading. Other students offer their insight. These students come from all over the world and throughout the country. We listen and learn. We talk and question. We understand and discover. This discussion is invaluable."

Seems the small class size that Mitt enjoyed is really not necessary or needed by the rest (the 99%) of us.
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

A study by researchers at John Hopkins University found that as many as 15 percent of students miss at least one school day in 10, and have gone undetected because of the way attendance is measured.
Administrators may look at average daily attendance but classroom teachers who are responsible for taking daily attendance in their classes have known for years that we have far too many students on a three and four day week when we teach a 5 day week. Now let's discuss achievement, test scores, grades and graduation rates !!! And of course somewhere there is a pseudo education expert (along with Mitt Romney) with a power point presentation ready to blame teachers for this problem.This study is a wake up call.
EVERYONE'S FAVORITE BANK

The majority of JP Morgan Chase Bank's shareholder (gamblers?) voted to retain alleged financial genius Jamie Dimon as the banks CEO and Chair of the Board and granted him his $23 mil salary in spite of the bank's $2 billion+ recent loss. Of course we are told not to worry as the SEC is investigating. The SEC .... "In November 2011, Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the United States District Court in Manhattan, threw out a settlement between the S.E.C. and Citigroup over a 2007 mortgage derivatives deal, saying that the S.E.C.’s policy of settling cases by allowing a company to neither admit nor deny the agency’s allegations did not satisfy the law." An appeals court subsequently threw out Rakoff's decision. The SEC, the agency with a growing reputation of being asleep at the wheel.
Mexico has its drug cartels and the US has its banking cartels and both do irreparable harm. The list of despicable US banking characters continues to grow. Late last year there was Jon Corzine the former CEO at Goldman Sachs and MF Global who lost one billion dollars of investors' money. When I write lost I mean lost ... he doesn't know where the hell the money is or went! Now we have that pompous prick Jamie Dimon who as CEO of JP Morgan Chase saw his bank lose two billion+ in bad trades in derivatives. Is there any doubt that Mr. Dimon should lose his seat on the NY Federal Reserve Banks Board of Directors?
WHAT'S GOING ON ?
Remember the song by Marvin Gaye "What's Going On?" It could be the theme song for this years political activities. We are still bogged down in the mid east and we pretend that Afghanistan and Pakistan are our friends ... very costly friends. We have economic problems from toxic mortgages to student loans and we worry about who can marry whom and birth control. The middle class continues to carry a disproportionate share of this country's financial burden and at the same time dealing with reduced services. Congress is and has been a bad joke and unfortunately the joke is on us. All the GOP can offer is Mitt the liar. Really, What the Hell is Going On ?????
BARACK OBAMA & THE DEMOCRATS
On far too many occasions when it was 4th down and one yards to go Obama punted rather than get down and dirty and gain the one yard and the first down. Obama needs to roll up his sleeves and risk getting dirty on occasions other than giving a speech. The GOP knows well the lessons of the Florida vote count and will replicate that fraud in more states in November. It is time for Obama to wake up his AG, Eric Holder, who seems to have been on vacation for the past three years and get the Justice Dept to work now before it is too late. We already know what the Supreme Court will do. Has the Obama campaign forgotten???

www.nytimes.com
As funnel clouds form over Washington, Obama still seems absorbed in his endless odyssey of self-discovery.
The voters of Wisconsin have spoken. They want to stay with Scott Walker even if he faces possible indictment. The DNC with its current laid back, don't worry about it attitude needs to re-evaluate its strategy. Its hands off policy led to the loss of Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in MA. and it happened again in Wisconsin where the DNC came in too late with too little. The GOP is serious about winning races on both the state and national level. When will the Democrats get serious ? November is just around the corner. The GOP's success in Florida in 2008 will more than likely be repeated in as many GOP controlled states as possible this year. If Obama, the Democrats and the DNC don't wake up are see the obvious writing on the wall then Mitt will be our next President, world leader and Commander-in-Chief. Now if that isn't a really scary thought then I don't know what is.
 The Democratic National Committee's Mascot --- Alfred E. Neuman "What me worry?"