I watched the Heat-Spurs game last night and slept to the last moment possible before heading to work. Thank God. Because had I done my usual morning scan of the headlines, I would have either been late for work or in a road rage to Burlington after reading about the Chester-Upland School District audit results.
I knew the Chester Facebook family would be blowing up. Nope. Not a peep.
Oh well, I guess I have to play bad guy again and give my opinions on this madness they call a school district.
The Chester Upland School District is failing its primary mission to educate its students.
DUH! We didn’t need an audit to know that fact.
From May 4, 2010, through Feb. 26, 2013, during which the 4,505-student district was identified as among the lowest-achieving in the state. In the 2011-12 school year, the graduation rate was 42 percent.
Nearly 3 out of 5 students aren’t graduating high school. WTF! The school district should be in a state of emergency. How can this be? How can folks be sitting on their hands allowing this to continue? I keep hearing we need to get students back from the charter schools. Hell, we need to get students back from the streets first.
Chester Upland failed to account for 592 students when reporting enrollment data to the state during the 2010-11 school year -— a mistake that likely cost the district millions of dollars in state subsidies. The district failed to account for 168 students the preceding year, another costly error.
How can you lose 592 students? Figuring some are special ed students, what’s the average cost per student - $15,000? That’s $9 million the district didn’t get in subsidies. Please tell me my math is wrong.
DePasquale said the situation was so dire there that there was little hope for the district's future...
Another DUH! Maybe that’s why there is no outrage. Folks have simply bought into the direness of it all.
More than two dozen district employees did not even have proper certifications for their jobs, including one school nurse. Chester Upland assigned 30 professional employees, including 21 teachers, to positions in which they lacked certification at various periods between July 1, 2010, and Feb. 6, 2012. It also permitted six bus drivers to work without filing required qualifying documents, including three drivers who lacked state Child Abuse History Clearances.
This is what happens when you hire your friends and family.
Students graduated who did not meet requirements; board members failed to file statements of financial interest; the district violated the public school code by overspending on its budget; expenditures lacked documentation; state subsidies and reimbursements also lacked documentation; and bus driver qualifications could not be verified.
In football they call this ‘piling on’.
Chester Upland allowed several students to graduate in 2011 despite their failure to meet necessary requirements. Six of the district’s 130 graduates failed to earn enough total credits. Another 32 students graduated despite not having enough credits in various required subjects.
I wonder if a few students will be snatched out of line at tonight's graduation. You can assume there are a few unqualified graduates they’re trying to push out the door this evening.
Pointing out that the district has been under state control during most of the last 19 years, school board member Anthony Johnson said, "They can't blame us." The board has limited powers.
We can blame you for not sharing this information with us sooner. Why wait for an audit to be blasted in the public. Or, didn’t you know all this either?
Both C. Marc Woolley, chairman of the former all-Democratic empowerment board, and Wanda Mann, the Republican president of the elected school board, declined to comment until they had familiarized themselves with the report. Anthony Johnson, a Democratic school board member, said he was not surprised by anything in the report. He said state officials finally are seeing the financial issues the elected board had been trying to show them.
Familiarize yourself with the report? You mean there can be more than what they put in the papers? Has the elected board been trying to show the state these issues and the state has ignored them? But now, the state is showing you these issues. Will anything change?
The revolving door allowed issues raised in past audits to be ignored. The district's boards "should have ensured that each new administrative staff member addressed the appropriate operational priorities," the audit said.
The door has stopped revolving. We have a superintendent for the next 5 years. But, will we have a school district that long?
Watkins sidestepped the question of whether his plan included bringing in more charter school operators.
The final DUH!
The paper is just like a highlight film, it doesn't give you all the facts.
ReplyDeleteIf the papers gave me highlights, I don't know if I can handle the lowlights.
ReplyDeleteHow sad and ironic. Back in the 70's when I was enrolled at "the high," my friends and I knew that we were not getting the best education around. However, we believed we were getting an adequate education for the most part. Every year since my graduation, the complaints have seemed to increase while the number of graduates have decreased. When I talk to any one of the stakeholders--parents, teachers, administrators, community members, kids--the response is pretty much the same. The consensus is that the Chester-Upland School District, those enrolled in it--like those who teach in it--are beyond help. "Teachers can't teach. Children can't learn. Parents don't care. Administrators can't lead." It's more than blame. To me it seems more like shame for what you are and resignation for a future unfulfilled.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the problem? Well, for starters, the problem is not a singular one, but a plural one.
1. The poverty of Chester places the children at a disadvantage. Many of the parents who do care are too busy working two and three jobs. They don't have the time or the energy to put in the extra time to oversee their child's scholastic development.
2. In many families, a common activity is drug use. How many children had mothers who were smoking weed before (and after) they knew they were pregnant? How many don't even consider the consequences of drug use on their children's development?Add alcoholism as another family ill.
3. Were the parents high school (or junior high school) drop outs. Research shows that the academic aspirations of the children depend upon the MOTHERS highest academic level, not the dad's
4. Have the teachers been trained to work with children of poverty? Appropriate training shows teachers how to recognize the talent in all children; how to show respect to parents, even if their lifestyle is appreciably different from yours and how to locate and valued the cultural resources in any neighborhood-no matter how poor and how to incorporate what's called the funds of knowledge into the curriculum.
5. Are the administrators advocates for the children or are they individuals who treat the students like future prison inmates? Are they innovators of education or are they merely bureaucrats who entered the profession because Scott Paper wasn't hiring at the time?
Honestly, there is more than one problem so there must be more than one solution. But each of us can contribute to the solution-teachers, administrators, parents, community and the kids themselves.
Though I moved from Chester many years ago, I have even offered to volunteer my services to provide professional development training. I want to offer what I can to be a part of the solution.
Enough shaming, blaming and stagnating. Let's get to work!
Dr. Howard L. Smith
Hi Dr. Smith. Long time no see. Me and Tommy hook up often. You have reminded me to do another post on him soon.
ReplyDeleteTo your points...
1. If there were more parents working two and three jobs, I believe the problem wouldn't be so bad. The poverty is a result of not working at all, or working very low wage jobs. Low income begets low opportunity and that limits the exposure to the outside world our student's encounter. Many of them have never been to Philadelphia, New York, or D.C.
2. I want to believe there aren't as many druggie moms as alleged. However, when I started substituting, my mom warned me of the crack babies. I could never get that out of my head when I witnessed the behavior of some of these kids.
3. Wow. I never knew the mom vs dad fact.
4. Certainly, a Media Friends School teacher would be inappropriate in Chester-Upland. Poverty does change the equation.
5. Scott Paper. That's funny. As much as folks didn't seem to like Superintendent Gregory Thornton, he was the only one I've seen to come into the district and create tangible positive change immediately. Everything he changed has been put back to the old way.
There are a few groups around that are working with a handful of students and getting good results.
Ironically, last night while combing through the DVR, I watched a great program on how the Singapore education system has become #1 in the world (Dan Rather Reports on AXS TV). The formula seems so simple.
Dear Bloggers,
ReplyDeleteRegretfully, I must report, I know for a fact that no less than 45% of the graduating class of 2013
are academically performing at least, at least four to five grade levels below their last grade at CHS.
I also know for a fact that the same percentage or greater of the entire school population are hall
walkers, absent from school 2 or 3 times a week, or the main disrupters in classes.
Females as well as males. I do not know what the solution is, but it is a whole community issue. Not just
before school, during school or after school. It is daily, ALL day.
It is the parents, students, teachers, administrators, city business owners, churches, community
centers - EVERYONE’s Fault!!
Our poor babies, children, teenagers, they do not have a clue!!
Life goes on beyond high school and Chester.
These students wake up religiously to do absolutely nothing! For some, their whole life begins and ends
at CHS.
On any given day come up after school ends and see how many students ‘hang around’.
It does not make sense! They reject school during school hours, yet you have to ‘shoo’ them away at
the end of the day.
Obviously, CUSD has the resources; they are just not channeled in the appropriate direction.
Look at the salaries, especially at the top. They have administrators for the administrators.
But the common factor is the city; we have to get it together!! Change the mindset of ‘this is it’.
NO, expect more! Show more!, Give more!
Our children are wearing ‘mobile blinders’ on their eyes like the horses wear which cause them to
only look straight ahead.
Only our children can’t even see straight ahead.
Straight ahead to a limitless and productive future!! You are so right Dr. Thornton was the best thing
that happened to CUSD in a long while. Can you just imagine the resources and other things that would
be in place had he stuck around?
Sign me,
Regretfully reported
Can you briefly explain the formula?
ReplyDeleteYou're asking the school board/administrators/teachers? They'll be happy to respond, I hope.
Delete