The Public Fool System

[Skot David Wilson]

Okay, a cute play on words with a lot to say...
Duval County Schools is truly in crisis, and Wise is not (yes, another play on words).
The canary in the coal mine is that for over two hours teacher after teacher came before The School Board expressing frustration and disgust at having to try to teach and still complete all the reports and paperwork they are required to do.
If there wasn't something wrong, there wouldn't have been so many teachers coming forward. The one thing that disgusts me is that they expressed fear of reprisal at doing so.
(not wise) Wise has further extended the atmosphere of fear and distrust teachers and lower level administrators have for "The Glass House" downtown. Fryer was bad enough, but have we gone from bad to worse?
We hire teachers to teach, then watch as their hands are tied by mounds of paperwork and "progress" reports. They are micro-managed by DCPS. They are told what they can and cannot do to an extent that they have be violated by DCPS.
We hire teachers, who are underpaid, underappreciated professionals who care for some kids more than a few parents do, to educate and inspire our kids. Shouldn't we trust them enough to do what we hired them for?
If you know who I am, you know that I fought DCPS not to close Normandy Elementary three years ago, and they did so anyway, violating the Class Size Amendment three times and closing an "A" school in the process. That's right, Normandy scored an "A", while their "good" schools around it scored a "C". FOOLS! (except for Brenda & Jimmie Johnson).
You also know that I am currently fighting to make it manditory that any new school bus entering service come equipped with air conditioning (visit http://BusHeat.blogspot.com). It IS child abuse to subject kids to 110, 115, 120, 125, 130 degree heat indexes, recognized as dangerous by the CDC and Weather Service, and not even allow kids to have water on the buses.
I have come to develop some good relationships with some really decent people and they are candid with me, because I can be trusted with sources of secrets. I get these views straight from the horses mouth. What DCPS Administration comes out with is usually out the other end.
There is a resounding chorus from teachers and school level administration staff about how badly DCPS is dealing with our kids and their teachers.
The fact that teachers fear speaking out is sickening.
Our kids are taught to "take" tests, but are left without the skills to pass them or understand the material. The JOY of learning has been removed for student and teacher alike, and it is no wonder that the hallways of school are filled with disrespectful future thugs and punks. When you disrespect kids and don't educate them, that is bound to be the end result.
Teachers have ESE/special needs students "dumped" in their classes, which is disruptive and attention intensive. Teachers have to then teach to the lowest common denominator. They also can't both teach and complete all the STUPID and un-necessary paperwork they are required to, and fear losing their job if the fail in either.
Free their hands and let them do what they are there to do, and love doing!
Dreams may begin at DCPS, but they also end there in a nightmare. The best resources are sent to schools that are doing well, and the schools that need help are penalized. The most "at risk" students have resources cut. Is that right?
But I can't complain without offering at least one good idea to help....
Tutoring/Mentoring.........
I propose a high school/grammar school program where kids with on average 3.0 GPA's from 10th to 12th grades can leave school twice a wekk for last period and go to a grammar school and assist teachers by tutoring, and mentoring, grade school kids.
I also think parents and the business community can step in and volunteer a little. Last year, I was asked for help and jumped right in and started a school garden at Ramona Elementary. With donations from Lowes, Home Depot, Freds, and Ace on Blanding, plus what I kicked in and was able to make or recycle, we created a really cool garden. The garden got kids who skipped to show up, kids who fought all year long to get along, even become friends, and sparked interest in learning. Visit http://AGreenGardenGrows.blogspot.com
This year I am bringing the idea to Stillwell, and intend to help Ed White to start their butterfly garden, and have offered my help with anything they can think they may need me for.
I'm broke usually, and fight to stay ahead of bills. So if I can do it, some richbody should be able to throw their hat into the ring with ease.
I se some much waste and stupidity by DCPS. As a painter, I hate to see the shoddy work, and when I did see their painters I saw them walking around wasting time usually. Even at the DCPS main building, there are light bulbs wasting energy, when it's about $2.00 per bulb to change to compact flourescent blubs, which use 25% of the energy of conventional bulbs.
I watch DCPS break the law and abuse kids and teachers all the time, despite those on the Board and elsewhere who truly are decent and enlightened.
The long and short is that things need to change, like yesterday. It will take our collective effort to fight these problems. I say we get started and change things.....
Skot

[jbm32206]

Trust me, I'm right there with you on this....I've been fighting from the inside and it's frustrating to say the least! We're overwhelmed with paperwork, which for the most part, quite redundant...and is no help what so ever in getting us where we need to be. Then Wise blames it all on the state, which is NOT true...some yes, but not all of it!

Wise could care less about what we complain about, and those who do speak up need to watch their backs because he's extremely vindictive. I've seen people demoted from principals, and from much higher up...all because they spoke up against his ideas. His arrogance, I'm sure will eventually come back to bite the school board members that gave him a high evaluation and such praise...he's already thumbing his nose at them.

[Jeremy]

I fail to understand why the teachers' union is not doing something. There was a teacher walk-out back in the late 60's over bad teaching conditions and pay. It was during the middle of the year too. Is there not a strong teachers' union out there any more or am I uninformed or out of the loop? I don't ever hear anything about that.

As for the paper work, nothing has changed in 50 years and probably nothing ever will in the public school system. As long as the school system is committed to hiring "warm bodies" with bare minimum skills in some cases, there will have to be some structure. What is offensive is that the truly stellar teachers who do know how and what to teach are subjected to the same scrutiny. Also, it is a means for the "higher ups" to "create work" for themselves if they dictate others to jump through the hoop and produce. Never mind that the so-called data that is produced is about as important as (censored).--The higher ups have made themselves look important and officious. And these are the ones who usually get promoted to even higher positions.

Thus, we have ourselves the "Mr Wise's" of the school systems of today. They are everywhere.

[jbm32206]

There's bad apples in every bushel, but there is a way to weed them out, when done properly. And actually there's a great deal that's changed over the years...standardized teaching for one, and the paperwork that's required has become so time consuming....it's insane!

As for the union, I agree that it should and needs to be much stronger. I've said that for years. I'm from up north, and the union up there is stronger, but then again, we also have the right to strike and there's a no strike clause in our contract down here....and that, really limits the strength of any union!

I also agree that the higher ups, at least the vast majority of them are out to justify their positions and not in it for the best interest of the children!

[Jeremy]

As I recall, there was a no strike clause back then, but they walked anyway. Tough, strong union. School Board threatened to fire the striking teachers, but how could they fire over half the entire school system, and in the middle of the year? There were kids sitting in the classroom with the few remaining teachers, kids sitting in mass in the gym, or kids running wild down the halls banging on the bottoms of garbage cans. It was total bedlam. While the kids may have suffered educationally for a few weeks, they were already suffering from the conditions. Many of the schools had lost their accreditation, so kids were graduating from non-accredited schools and that made it difficult to get into college. In the end, the teachers prevailed. I never hear a peep about a teachers' union now.

[jbm32206]

Interesting....I wasn't here back then, so I wouldn't know. Like I said, I'm from up north, where the union is much stronger and they don't seem to be so easy to back down.

[Claude91098]

Joan,

I posted about this in another thread: The teacher's union could DO something if it wasn't so "self-serving". Teachers comprise the union's rank and file. Teachers want CHANGE in the system. TAKE CHARGE of your union and list your demands....then present them. If not complied with in good faith: STRIKE!
What can they do? FIRE ALL THE TEACHERS? I kinda doubt that. Who will teach? if 75% or MORE of the teachers simply walked out....what could they do? Really? Not much is the answer!

True, Reagan fired the air traffic controllers, but only about 5,000 of them. The military branches furnished the manpower to support the system until new controllers could be hired, trained and put in place. (Truth is, most of the military controllers got out of the services and went directly onto the FAA payrolls and kept working.)

That will NOT work with teachers! There aren't enough out of work teachers to fill the void that would be created if 75% or MORE walked out...period!

The school boards, government and others would be FORCED TO TAKE ACTION on positive changes in the "system".

The ONLY thing preventing the union from doing this is "fear", AND the fact that the needed changes in the teaching environment is NOT what the union's "mission" is. THAT is what needs to be changed. The mission! Granted, salaries, benefits and tenure are great objectives, but all I hear, and have heard, for decades is the teaching environment forcing teachers into the private school sector where things are much different.

My wife's Dad always taught his kids this truism:

"If it is to be, it is up to me." Time the teacher's union did something other than pay lip service to the issues bothering it's rank & file!

[lindab]

I was one of the striking teachers in the late 1960's. This was a state-wide strike to protest the terrible conditions in Florida's schools, the poor pay conditions, the lack of accreditation. My husband and I were newly married and both were fired as a result of the strike and not rehired by the Duval County school system. The Florida Times Union was firmly in the hands of Ed Ball at that time and refused to print the news of what was going on here and around the state. As a result the public locally never got the message about the schools. All they saw was a bunch of radicals on strike.

Believe me, it was a terrible time for us as teachers. I swore I would never again work for the Duval County schools and instead found a job in a federal program in an inner city school in Tampa a few months after the Tampa riots. Within one year the Tampa schools were ordered desegregated by a federal judge and again the schools were a battleground - real fighting.

No one now can know what terrible conditions existed in our schools in those days. We need strong unions but we also need people who are willing to sit down and negotiate better conditions in our schools. Now we spend more time and money on the construction of mega-schools than the quality of the teaching. And this idea of teaching to a test as a sign of good learning, ...!:hissy fit: