Fighting The Good Fight: Education In Louisville: 2010

Monday, April 19, 2010

You Can't Keep Religion Out Of The School... Not When It's Sponsored

We recently were forwarded an email from a colleague who felt uncomfortable by this email sent school-wide.

For those of you all interested, FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) will study Philippians 2:3 and Proverbs 15:33. The lesson surrounds HUMILITY. We will start about 7:15 tomorrow morning in the teacher's lounge. Come join us if you want a good word. Start your day off right with a blessing. . .

And while we believe the FCA is a fine organization, after reading the email, we too questioned the propriety of this situation. Certainly, religious clubs and groups have access to public school buildings, but should those meetings be held in the teacher's lounge? On one hand is the general feeling held by most teachers; No Kids In The Teacher's Lounge. On the other hand is the idea that religious discussion and prayer are being held in what is usually considered a neutral zone 15 minutes before school begins. It's also doubtful whether other organizations would receive the same accommodations. Try getting the teacher's lounge for the "Student Wiccan Association."

Should this organization be offered the opportunity to function at school 15 minutes before the school day begins? Absolutely, yes. Should the location be the teacher's lounge? No. But here's a simple solution; if you're going to have such a meeting, have it in the sponsor's classroom before school.

And you thought the only praying in school was during tests.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

It's Spring Break; SCHOOL IS NOW OVER FOR THE YEAR

It should come as no surprise that when one has a week long spring break just six weeks before a ten week summer break, the six weeks in between those periods can be a mess. We are now on a countdown until the end of school. Unfortunately, this will be reflected in class studies, student behavior, administrative procedures; everything will chaotically wind down.

It's reflected in the attitudes of students who now have enough credits to pass to the next grade, and knowing this, refuse to do anymore work. Try to imagine that. Try to imagine having absolutely no concern over your grade point average, so long as you can get to the next grade. "D-, no problem! I passed didn't I?"

The wind down is reflected in the scurrying of students who didn't do a lick of work in the first two thirds of the year, but who are now doing "recovery modules" in their failing subjects. Modules are essentially workbooks that cover basic or remedial material (as compared to actual classwork) and allow failing students to "recover" (the actual program is referred to as "Recovery.") six weeks of work in as little as three or four out-of-regular-class sessions.

It's reflected in the attitude of the Assistant Principal who we overheard tell a misbehaving student, "Look, do your work now and after spring break you won't have to worry about it. We have testing and that's pretty much it... it's pretty much over after spring break." Needless to say, we wondered what would have happened if the A.P. had overheard us saying those same words to a student.

Teachers will hear quite a bit about keeping up the classroom activities, etc. But we're going to see a lot more classes running around outside. Packing up of classrooms will begin (Every classroom must be completely stripped to the walls and packed up, regardless of if that teacher will be in the same room next year.). Misbehaving students will finally begin disappearing as the administration has their testing scores and hence won't put up with the misbehavior any longer. Movies in classrooms will make the average school look like Stonybrook or Tinseltown Theaters. There will be lockers to be cleaned out (Note: Want to know what your child's personal educational organization is like? Look inside their locker unannounced sometime.) And finally, graduations for upperclassmen, dances, and the inevitable end of year student (and faculty) parties. Things will be busy. But busy about what?

And you thought there was going to be another six weeks of instruction.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

JCPS FACT: 2009 Board Goals; Racially Integrated Schools

In the Jefferson County Public Schools publication "Facts 2009," the Board Goals (p.3) state under "School Atmosphere" that, "All JCPS students will be safe, supported, respected and confident in racially integrated schools, classrooms and student activities.

We were under the impression that the Supreme Court had something to say about the bussing of students to create racially integrated schools in Louisville. The "Facts" book needs to be updated. The bussing of students will likely continue, but for economic disparity reasons, not racial ones. Coincidentally, the outcome will remain the same - racially integrated schools - but for "different" reasons. Call it what you like; just don't call it contempt for the Supreme Court.

We believe in integrated schools, but we also believe in neighborhood schools where parents and students alike have "buy-in" in the school. Neighborhood schools allow students to participate in extra curricular activities that they otherwise miss for being bussed across town. Neighborhood schools mean after school detention of students is possible and parents can be more accountable for a relationship with their child's school and their child's faculty and administration. If neighborhood schools are having problems, then those schools need focused attention. But taking children out of low performing schools and expecting them to perform better because they are in an integrated environment across town is like taking ill patients and spreading them out among the healthy with the expectation that their association with healthy people will reduce the gap in personal health. It's time to show the data that says bussing students across town improves student achievement. Otherwise, why are we doing it? School systems are for the education of students; not the social engineering of society.

The List of the Sixth Pupil Month Suspensions

By the end of the sixth month of school, January 2010, JCPS published this list of Middle School Suspensions for dissemination among it's employees. These are the number of suspensions in the first two-thirds of the school year. At this writing, we're in the middle of the last third of the year.

The good news; sixteen of the middle schools actually lowered their number of suspensions in comparison with the previous year's data. The bad news; most of the gains were slight to negligible, or were caused by major changes in the school or school population. Still, Stuart Middle dropped its suspensions from 382 in 08/09 to 289 in 09/10; a great change to be sure. But the problem is that this data sheet tells us nothing about why suspensions went up or down; it's just a "out there" list. In other words; a list that causes schools with higher suspension rates to worry about writing fewer suspensions than they have been writing; which could actually make things worse. Imagine a high crime area where the solution to high incidents of crime is to stop arresting perpetrators. Remember, even if a school has only 100 suspensions per 1000 students, then it has a suspension rate of one out of every ten students.

Notes on the report jokingly reflect on how teachers are often held accountable for student behavior in addition to student achievement. The suspension rate = the degree of bad instruction.

So where is your child's school on the list. How many suspensions per 1000 has the school had? How many suspensions has your child had? None; good. One; blame it on the teacher. Two; blame it on the administration. Three; look in the mirror.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Children As A Revenue Stream

Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, sports teams, academic teams, PTAs, local charities like the Crusade for Children, the Fund for the Arts, and dozens other entities are actively separating kids from cash everyday in our schools. Fundraising in schools is at an all time high. With sharp education budget cuts and rising costs, most schools have seen a great increase in fundraising. This seems quite ironic when one considers the numbers of kids in modest to low to very low incomes. One would think these families couldn't afford to engage in much altruism given, understandably, their circumstances. But that is not how today's student "contributes" to a worthy cause. In fact, the motivation to give is rarely obvious because it rarely follows the expected motivation. So, instead of actually altruistically giving a dollar to the Crusade for Children, or bringing in a canned food for Dare to Care, the student is actually buying a "dress down" day by which they can wear what they want instead of their school uniform. "Donations" as a result of these motivations tend to run high (who wants to be stuck in a uniform when everyone else is dressing down?). The same goes for other motivations; a "free day" for the class that delivers the most number canned goods for a homeless shelter, etc.

What's more is that the "collections" for these fundraisers frequently interrupt classroom instructional time. How many times have we seen students walking from room to room in order to collect for a cause by soliciting donations, selling popcorn or candy, or even, soliciting contributions from teachers for other teachers who are ill, pregnant, etc.

Unfortunately, while the resulting donations may go towards good causes, the donations are rarely made for that reason. Hence, there is no real altruism in these scenarios due to the fact that the student is buying something for their contribution. Besides this is the question of should our students be regarded as revenue streams for various fundraisers? Being in the system, we are frequently bombarded by students trying sell/fundraise at school. Now some of the fundraising doesn't have anything to do with the school or its' activities. Perhaps it's time to put a cap on how much money can be fundraised within the school walls. Our kids' "expected" contributions shouldn't be a line item on a balance sheet.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Case of the Honest Kids of Cannabis

Here's a recent report on marijuana in one of our schools. Click the headline for a link to the news story. Not surprisingly, the principal tries to put a good face on the story by being so complimentary of the students' honesty when it came to admitting to dealing and possessing drugs at school. And nine students being suspended is just a minor, isolated incident? Doubtful.

A Question Someone Should Ask: "How many kids were put in handcuffs at my child's school this year?"

When you see three kids removed in handcuffs in two days at one school, you begin to wonder just how often this is happening throughout the school system; even at the elementary level. Once we even saw it happen to a middle school student at a River Bats game. Certainly, there are children who unfortunately require this severe method of restraint, but after being lead away from a school in handcuffs, how soon should a student return to that school? Those wrongfully accused or found innocent should of course be allowed to return immediately, but what of the other students? We know of cases where students with court appointed ankle mounted transponders return to school to the shock of some students and to the awe of others. One would wonder if a student's done something bad enough for the court system to put a tracking device on them, why should they be returning to their regular school. Ask your kids if they've ever seen a student with an "ankle bracelet" or a kid in cuffs. You might be surprised to hear what they have to say.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

JCPS FACT: 53.7 Percent of JCPS Students Receive Free or Reduced-Price Meals.

Elementary Schools 62.1%
Middle Schools 56.7%
High Schools 45.2%
Special Schools 50.9%

More than half the students in the JCPS system come from families who cannot make ends meet without regular financial assistance (Coincidentally, it seems like more than half of all students in middle and high schools have and carry cell phones.). What is the purpose of this statistic; except to act as some excuse or apology. More importantly, remember these are averages. We know of schools with much higher percentages (up to 70% free and reduced) and schools with much lower percentages. These averages do just that, average out the numbers. But these numbers do not include the fee waivers the majority of students receive. These waivers include, field trips, locker fees, book replacement fees; virtually any fee one can imagine. Yet, if you are unfortunate enough to make just enough not to qualify, your student will be hit with a variety of fees that the majority of students simply don't pay.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

JCPS FACT: JCPS has not expelled a student in more than 25 years.

JCPS has not expelled a student in more than 25 years. This is the kind of fact that sounds great on the face of it, but when given more thought, one realizes that if this is true, then it may be part of the problem. To say that in 25 years there hasn't been one student who warranted expulsion defies all reason. Surely there must have been ONE student who needed to be expelled. Pride in this fact is almost akin to saying, "It doesn't matter what you've done or won't do, we'll just keep promoting you."

Of course, the secret is that you really don't have to expel that many high school students. By the time these kids reach 16, those that don't or won't go to school essentially drop off the rolls. Ironically, this new law that keeps kids in school until they are 18 may be more of a detriment to education than a cure for dropouts. Kids forced to stay in school who don't want to be there are hardly likely to find a sudden interest in education. What we need to be working on are the reasons students drop out in the first place. Insufficient skills are frequently the culprit, as who wants to sit day after day in a class in which they lack the skills to succeed? There are, of course, many other reasons for our high dropout rate, but until the public generally understands these causes they will be unable to support what needs to be done to address the problem.

The Sign of the Cell Phone

Why is it that kids haven't figured out they can't use a cell phone in class regularly without getting caught? They may get away with it for a while, but they inevitably get caught up in texting or taking photos and get caught dead to rights using their phones. Then comes the confiscation. Then come the inevitable lies (prefaced by a horrified I-can't-believe-you'd-think-I'd-use-my-phone-in-class facial expression). "I wasn't using it." "I was checking the time." Et cetera.

Today, a teacher confiscated a phone from a young man who was using it to take pictures in her room. Since the student's privacy doesn't allow for a teacher to look through a cell phone's contents, she simply took the phone to the office, where it will remain until the lad's parent or guardian comes to school and picks it up. As she was filling out an envelop, another teacher asked who's phone it was. Upon hearing the teacher's reply, the second teacher laughed and said, "But he just got it back just two days ago after I had confiscated it!" One wonders just how many times a parent will pick up a cell phone that keeps getting confiscated.

Our personal favorite is the father who came to the office, demanded his daughter's phone, and then promptly crushed it with his bare hands right in front of her. He said, "I guess that won't be a problem anymore." And then he left the office to the silent cheers of the staff and faculty present for the memorable occasion.

The Case of the Obscured Facts

It is difficult for the average person to accurately know the educational standing of most public schools in Jefferson County. Though a pile information is available, most of the data is difficult to decipher and sometimes it's downright misleading. So here's some information that while true, is little known.

For the record, currently, Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) is in Tier 3 (4th Year) status according to the 2009 No Child Left Behind results. This means that for six consecutive years, JCPS has not made Adequate Yearly Progress. The Tier 3 consequences require JCPS...

notify parents using state provided information
revise the district improvement plan
request technical assistance if needed
and may make the county subject to corrective action from the Kentucky Department of Education.

Our Schools in Jefferson County

Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) is the school district that operates schools here in Louisville. The district is the 28th largest school district in the nation with more than 98,000 students and over 6000 teachers. Those students and teachers occupy 89 elementary schools, 23 middle schools, 19 high schools, and 24 special schools. There are 155 schools across the county. Currently there are 40 schools that fall under consequences according to the No Child Left Behind standards (2009).

The following Jefferson County schools currently fall under No Child Left Behind consequences according to the No Child Left Behind standards (2008) These are the failing schools.

You may have noticed that this data is not frequently mentioned in the media. It is printed perhaps once a year. But this should be no surprise; the most regularly discussed scores regarding schools today almost always involves athletic scores.

Monday, March 15, 2010

The Adventure of the Never Returning Substitute

Substitute teachers are always a interesting litmus test of a school climate. Subs that want to work regularly try to foster relationships with teachers by following plans and giving detailed accounts of the day's events period by period. These notes are usually followed by a request to be requested again in the future. However, the day can go the other way, as it did last week for a teacher whose sub couldn't control her class. When the teacher returned, it was to a note describing an awful day, of deliberate student misbehavior, insults, and profanity. Plus, it seems that after calling the office for assistance, the sub asked to speak briefly with the principal. The principal told the sub that she was unavailable at the moment, but would get back to her before the end of the day. Naturally, this never occurred and the teacher was left with a bitter note proclaiming that this was the worst school the sub had ever worked in and she would never return. Indeed, she would tell everyone about how awful a school this was. Whatever your take on this, the sub couldn't handle the students, the students were misbehaving, there was little assistance, whatever, the one point that sticks out is that a great degree of damage control could have implemented by the principal hearing out the substitute. The principal might have learned something and the sub could have vented a little. In the restaurant world, a happy patron will tell approximately five people about the experience, whereas the unhappy patron will tell ten. What will this sub say... and to how many?

The Adventure of the Fee Wavier Bullies

Only recently was our attention drawn to a teacher who was called onto the carpet for mentioning the subject of "free and reduced meals" and "fee waivers" in class. She had done so as a result of viewing bullying by fee wavier students of students who actually paid for their own lunches and field trips. The fee wavier students called the paying students "stupid" and "dumb" for paying when they did not have to. Ultimately, after explaining the irony of such teasing and bullying to her students, the teacher was reprimanded by administrators for telling students, "they were poor," a term she did not use. When the teacher tried to explain the context, she was rebuffed, as well as reminded that her students economic status was not of her concern. So now she says, when kids ask her why they have to pay for things that 80% of the kids don't have to pay for, she just tells them to remember they're lucky, no matter what anyone else says. "There's no stigma attached to fee waivers at all. It's like you're ignorant for not taking advantage of it."

Welcome to Fighting The Good Fight: Education in Louisville

Welcome. Whether you're a teacher, administrator, office worker, teaching assistant, custodian, or any of the myriad of employed positions in our school system, you know something that the public doesn't; what's happening in our public schools today. Parents who can afford for their children to opt of the system already have and continue to do so. Many of the remaining parents can hardly afford to "buy-in" into schools that are frequently tens of miles from their own neighborhoods. The media isn't interested in or doesn't want to publicize the day to day operations of our schools, but would rather celebrate some isolated aspect of a school's success, even in our failing schools. Moreover, there seems to be an overwhelming wave of resentment by many in the media towards teachers as if the failing school systems nationwide were simply a result of "bad teacher syndrome."

What is far less known by the public is what the day to day operation of a public school looks like. School today is far different from the educational system of yesteryear. Today's schools are a patchwork of educational and social services, where not only is an education expected, but also a network of entitlements that includes foremost, economic assistance, free and reduced breakfasts and lunches, exemption from fees, etc. As part of the ever changing challenges, teachers today are trained to recognize suicide symptoms in students, as well as other forms of physical and mental abuse, and are required by law to report any suspicion of abuse authorities or face legal penalties. On the behavioral front, student misbehavior has become the number one detriment to student achievement. Behavior that would never have been accepted in the past frequently is seen as cultural expression or excused as the result of an impoverished background. Parents, once allies to the schools, administrators, and faculties, are frequently indifferent at best and hostile at worst towards the very people they leave their children with everyday.

It's difficult to predict in the long run, but until student behavior improves, teachers will be forced to focus on classroom management rather than instructional time. Until parents become vested in their children's educations, fostering the expectation in their children that education really does matter and that they expect their children to be better educated than they themselves were, mediocrity will march on and on. Until teachers and administrators both find common ground that focuses on better instruction by way of better student behavior and until we stop allowing the most disruptive students to repeatedly interrupt instructional time, thereby robbing other students of their educations, nothing will change.

Here, we'll start; one blog post at a time to unveil what's behind the curtain. Take a look and see what you think.

Fighting The Good Fight: Education In Louisville