When Broad Comes To Town: Taking A Sledgehammer To Crack A Nut
SACRAMENTO BROADSIDE CHECKLIST
A reader offered this comment in response to the post about school closings in Sacramento:A “Broad” superintendent who follows its “play-list” to “capture” the school board and privatize the district as much as possible:– Convinced the board of education to turn all the power over to the superintendent.– Keeps secret all the contracts and consultants hired by the superintendent. In fact, it’s been said that the latest consultant working with the superintendent was the principal of Kevin Johnson’s St. Hope H.S. None of this information can be found on the district’s web site. Even the organization chart with unfilled positions is dated July 2012.– Consistently and knowingly breaches the contract to keep the union busy with grievances and court procedures.– Whittles away at teacher tenure by creating a class of teachers in the district’s “priority schools” whose jobs are protected from last hired, first fired. (Yes, the union isgrieving this.)– Increases class size to 30+ in all grades except those in “priority” schools.– In “failing” schools the district insists on split grades rather than keeping class sizeslow.– Forces remedial programs (more test prep on top of test prep) onto “failing” schoolswithout any input from the teachers and wastes hundreds of thousands of dollars onconsultants and test prep companies.- Closes the neighborhood schools under the pretext that there are too few students inthe school. But in fact, it’s because they are “failing” (read: poverty and neglect.)– “Allows” a private charter school to locate in the former “neighborhood ” school.– Parents who want and need a neighborhood school drop out of the public school and send their kids to the charter.– Pink slips for union teachers.
Below is a guest blog from a concerned local teacher, submitted via private message to my Mother Crusader Facebook page. The author revealed his/her identity to me, but requested anonymity, which I have chosen to respect.
Understandably, emotions are high here in town on both sides of this issue. My hope is that this distanced, dispassionate analysis of the current state of affairs in Highland Park, and how they relate to the national corporate reform movement, will help to inform everyone in the Highland Park community.
To Members of the Highland Park Community-
Good evening. I am a teacher in a nearby school district and a longtime resident of Middlesex County. Upon learning of the happenings in Highland Park schools, I have been monitoring the situation from a distance. I write to inform you regarding troubling recent trends in public education since so many of you have engaged in the work of determining the future of your school district.
In recent years, there has been a heightened public discussion as to how best to prepare our youth for the twenty-first century. Much of this discussion is necessary, as our world is changing. However, the predominant meme has been that our public schools are failing to adequately prepare students for this world. Attacks upon public education and the work done by education professionals are frequent and commonplace by politicians and the media. Granted, it’s a sexy
Understandably, emotions are high here in town on both sides of this issue. My hope is that this distanced, dispassionate analysis of the current state of affairs in Highland Park, and how they relate to the national corporate reform movement, will help to inform everyone in the Highland Park community.
To Members of the Highland Park Community-
Good evening. I am a teacher in a nearby school district and a longtime resident of Middlesex County. Upon learning of the happenings in Highland Park schools, I have been monitoring the situation from a distance. I write to inform you regarding troubling recent trends in public education since so many of you have engaged in the work of determining the future of your school district.
In recent years, there has been a heightened public discussion as to how best to prepare our youth for the twenty-first century. Much of this discussion is necessary, as our world is changing. However, the predominant meme has been that our public schools are failing to adequately prepare students for this world. Attacks upon public education and the work done by education professionals are frequent and commonplace by politicians and the media. Granted, it’s a sexy