Academic Distress Commission

[AllanY2525]

When it comes to Youngstown City School District's problems, there's
plenty of blame to go around:

Parents who take their child's side when their child does wrong, rather than
re-enforcing what the school staff are trying to teach, including discipline
and respect for others, and the work ethic.  All of "good tihings" in life are
worth working hard for - and they seldom come easily.

Teachers who are so lame that they are basically in the classroom for the sole
purpose of collecting a paycheck, and could give a rat's a$$ about the students
or whether or not they are learning anything of value or not.

My senior year at Rayen, my "U.S. History" teacher would just hand out
crossword puzzles when the bell rang and "class" started, then he would
sit at his desk and read the morning paper.  This was not teaching, it was
baby-sitting..  Nobody wrote essays, there was seldom, if ever,
an actual test on anything remotely related to U.S. History.

My Spanish teacher was not much better, he would hand out some mimeographed
papers with 5 or 6 sentences in Spanish printed on them, quickly recite them
once or twice, tell us to read a book, and then he would also go to his desk and
do the same thing - all within the first 5 mintues of what was supposed
to be an hour long class.

Our woodshop teacher let students spin baseball bats and clubs with the
wood lathes in the shop - which were later used to beat people and
smash the windows out of cars in the parking lot!

This was twenty six years ago... when the city still had a pretty good budget
to work with ..so the apathy amongst the teaching staff in Youngstown is
nothing new... it's been going on for decades.

Incompetence in the school board, itself - for not auditing the classrom
performance of their staff, either frequently or properly, to ensure that each
and every teacher is doing their very best to help our young people get a
decent education and valuable skills they need to succeed in life.
A few good teachers cannot, and do not, make up for all of the old, tired,
lazy and apathetic ones who are just filling a chair and waiting for their
retirement benefits to kick in. 

Because I had a jam-packed class schedule in my early years of high school,
I reached the numbe of credits I needed to graudate by the end of my junior
year -I wound up with five study halls, wood shop and home economics as
my senior class schedule... hmm.... two classes a day, and the rest of the time
stuck in senior day care.  One would think that my guidance counselor would
have gone to bat for me, to get me more class work. but nope, didn't happen.
I was basically told, "you worked hard, you got your credits in early, why not
just relax and coast into your graduation?"

The list goes on and on...

It can be very difficult to fire a union teacher, for cause.  Best thing they
could do is "re-boot" the school system - shut it down over the summer,
let EVERYONE go.. (sorry for the caps... emphasizing, not shouting at
anyone) and then only re-hire the teachers who have the track record to
merit a re-hire.

This would prevent the union from accusing the YCSD of discriminating, or
of playing favorites.

Only teachers who prove themselves worthy of the job should be allowed
to continue working in the district.  Tenured teachers who have been on
the job since the stone age, and lost their desire to make any real difference,
need to get the axe, they are making way too much money doing nothing at
all towards making the schools and the quality of eduction within them better.

Bright, young, motivated, new teachers can be brought in to replace them -
at less expensive salaries.  This, in turn, saves money for a district that is
in dire financial straits...

New school buildings are great, but they are only as good as the activities
that take place inside them.

[iwasthere]

teachers are the blame  how about the parents of these stds who are not performing up to state standards. boe and webb must go into the schools and see for themselves to place the blame on this situation. boe must stopped playing politics and get down to brass tactics and run the school district on what is best for the stds and the teachers and other schools employees besides the boe personal adgenda for their family and frds.

[northside lurker]

Same callers today are already planning for the teachers strike.  The callers feel the teachers are the main problem with the Youngstown City School System.

IMO, the callers are incorrect. (I'm not saying all teachers are blameless, either)

[jay]

Same callers today are already planning for the teachers' strike.  The callers feel the teachers are the main problem with the Youngstown City School System.

[jay]

Aspects of the Youngstown School System will be taken over by a state Academic Distress Commission.

Some callers to a local radio talk show this morning have suggested that the school system should be shut down and started over as a new system.