Watching and listening (with my thumb on the mute button) to last night's FWCS board meeting, I finally heard the kind of conversation I expected to hear seven years ago when Wendy ascended to high office. The serious part of the discussion, however, followed the inevitable self congratulations on higher graduation rates even though this was common to the whole state and most likely due to the rise in teen unemployment with the recession. Like college students, high school students who can't get jobs are opting to stay in school. As Time Magazine said last week, there are some benefits in the recession. But our board can't resist claiming credit where none is due.
There does finally appear to be some impetus for "doing the right thing". Imagine Schools appears to be a serious competitor despite the JG's campaign to smear Don Willis. The visit by the Cambridge group and comments from the governor and Tony Bennett may be a factor. It could be a letter to the editor from a North Side High (or any other high school) School student describing his classroom with half the kids asleep or texting or socializing, which would be news to any clueless board member. Or just maybe it's Federal money at the end of the "Race to the Top" rainbow.
But when they talk about fixing the problem all you hear about over and over is "High School Reinvent". True, the high schools, being at the end of the line, are the key to the system's reputation. But the problems in the high schools originate in the elementary schools and carry through the middle schools. The only mention of that came from a high school teacher speaking at the end of the meeting. The same teacher said the same thing after a meeting two years ago and got nothing but grief for telling the truth. They didn't want to hear it. Whether they heard it last night and whether they take it to heart remains to be seen. If they don't, Don Willis may be our next superintendent.
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3 comments:
Why not save some money and put Wendy Robinson in as an interim principle for half of the year at Northside and the next half at Southside...lets let her lead by example and show everyone how to "reinvent" FWCS....if she can't do it at these schools then she gets her pink slip too
She has the time...the board runs the schools
The board doesn't know enough about the problems in the classrooms to be giving specific direction to Wendy. They deferred to her much too long before applying any pressure on her to make changes. She has to "reinvent" the elementary schools first and we'll have to wait until those changes filter up to the high schools before they improve. So far there are no signs of improvement in the elementary schools.
Actually, I believe the school board
totally ignores what is happening in the classroom. Wasn't it said that FWCS doesn't have a disipline problem? Do they? Ask any teacher.
There seems to be a mindset among certain type of people who make a living on helping the poor. They make a very good living laying a line of B.S. on the people. Read this Editorial that was in the JG this morning.
http://www.jg.net/article/20100118/EDIT05/301189994/1021/EDIT
Is this is what to believe? The only thing I got out of this article is, if the United Way pays somebody like this, then they have too much money and they don't need any more from me. Damn, she sounds like Mark GiaQuinta's girlfriend.
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