BOARDS OF EDUCATION; BLOG # 2027; APRIL 08,2016

THE MESSAGE: 

The most important challenge in the development of responsible and successful citizens begins at the top of the ladder with Government Portfolios, School Curricula and Boards of Education. Can parents depend on these Institutions and Traditions to fulfil the needs of their children? Below are some observations that effect the answers.

TORONTO DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD

The dysfunction at Canada’s largest school board is getting “dangerously close” to the classroom, threatening to hurt teacher morale and undermine student achievement, according to Ontario Education Minister Liz Sandals.

SANDALS (L) AND WILSON

A recent report, written by a government appointed education consultant, Margaret Wilson, points out some of the Board's issues and concludes by determining that the ability of teachers to concentrate on the well-being and progress of 247,000 elementary and secondary students is being compromised.

Wilson cites the following examples:  

• A former chair was allowed to pursue “pet projects” unilaterally.
• Trustees were routinely interfering in day-to-day operations.
• Micromanaging was being used by the board’s top-ranking staffer.
• Fears among many employees that  e-mails and telephone calls are monitored.
• Fears that teachers will lose their jobs or be looked on disparagingly because of having worked for the TDSB.

REALITIES IN EDUCATION FOR DETROIT

ABANDONED CLASSROOM IN DETROIT

Detroit schools’ problems are directly tied to the city’s loss of population and resulting tax base. Also the schools are battered by a declining enrolment and a huge debt of $3.5 billion. Some officials in Michigan have predicted that the district is headed for bankruptcy.

The schools suffer from a lack of resources and support for teachers. Charter schools, a popular alternative for public school children, are often seen as having a performance that is worse than traditional public schools. 

Many Detroit public schools have opened their doors to show evidence of widespread vermin, old resources and poorly functioning heating systems. The academic performance of the district is so dismal that the schools are routinely rated at the bottom of urban school districts nationally.

Brian Banks, a Democratic House member from Detroit, said, "Some of the mess has slowly been cleaned up." Enrolment, which dropped to 45,000 students this year from 150,000 in 2000, has begun to stabilize. He has eliminated almost 90 administrative positions and whittled down the number of departments in the district’s central office.

NEW YORK CITY ISSUES

1) A group of public school families and a pro-charter advocacy group filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court alleging that the atmosphere at New York City public schools was depriving students of their right to receive an education free of violence, bullying and harassment.

The class-action suit has been filed against the New York City Education Department and its chancellor, Carmen Fariña It claims that violence in schools is increasing, and that it is often underreported. The suit also claims that school violence disproportionately affects certain groups of students, like those who are black, Hispanic, gay, bisexual or transgender.

2. State testing for New York’s third-to-eighth-grade students is an annual ritual that takes up two weeks in the springtime. The testing season is no longer a straightforward affair.

Some parents claim, among other things, that the tests are overly stressful and that they do not accurately assess student performance.

This year, the tests are not timed, though the school day will not be extended for late finishers. And the results will not be counted in teacher evaluations.

The opposition to the tests has not lessened, and opposers have been calling for more people to join the cause. In any event, expectations are that the vast majority of students in New York City will show up for testing.

A GOOD READ

A SYNOPSIS BY AMAZON 

Drawing on his own experience of feeling undervalued and invisible in classrooms as a young man of colour and merging his experiences with more than a decade of teaching and researching in urban America, award-winning educator Christopher Emdin offers a new lens on an approach to teaching and learning in urban schools. He begins by taking to task the perception of urban youth of colour as unteachable, and he challenges educators to embrace and respect each student’s culture and to reimagine the classroom as a site where roles are reversed and students become the experts in their own learning.

Putting forth his theory of Reality Pedagogy, Emdin provides practical tools to unleash the brilliance and eagerness of youth and educators alike—both of whom have been typecast and stymied by outdated modes of thinking about urban education. With this fresh and engaging new pedagogical vision, Emdin demonstrates the importance of creating a family structure and building communities within the classroom, using culturally relevant strategies like hip-hop music and call-and-response, and connecting the experiences of urban youth to indigenous populations globally. Merging real stories with theory, research, and practice, Edin demonstrates how by implementing the “Seven C’s” of reality pedagogy in their own classrooms, urban youth of color benefit from truly transformative education.

Lively, accessible, and revelatory, For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood...and the Rest of Y’all Too is the much-needed antidote to traditional top-down pedagogy and promises to radically reframe the landscape of urban education for the better.

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE


Donald Trump was visiting a primary school in Orlando and visited a grade four class. They were in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings. The teacher asked Mr.Trump if he would like to lead the discussion on the word 'tragedy.'

So the illustrious Republican candidate asked the class for an example of a 'tragedy'.

One little boy stood up and offered: "If my best friend, who lives on a farm, is playing in the field and a tractor runs him over and kills him, that would be a tragedy."
"No," said Trump, "that would be an accident."

A little girl raised her hand: "If a school bus carrying 50 children drove off a cliff, killing everyone, that would be a tragedy." 

"I'm afraid not," explained Trump. "That's what we would call great loss."

The room went silent. No other child volunteered. Trump searched the room. 

"Can't anyone else give me an example?

Finally at the back of the room, Little Johnny raised his hand. The teacher held her breath.

In a quiet voice he said: "If the plane carrying you was struck by a 'friendly fire' missile and blown to smithereens that would be a tragedy."

"Fantastic!" exclaimed Trump, "That's right. And can you tell me why that would be a tragedy?"

"Well," says Johnny, "It has to be a tragedy, because it sure as hell wouldn't be a great loss... and you can bet your sweet ass it wouldn't be an accident either!"

The teacher left the room.....






THE QUESTION:

Should School Board Trustees have some teaching experience?










THE LEMON:

Awarded to the Taliban in Afghanistan for suppressing the education of young girls

THE QUOTE:

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education." 
-Martin Luther King, Jr. 

  

THE CLIP: