City Schools

[Towntalk]

There were always "problem students" in city schools, yet the schools managed to turn out better products than they are turning out today.

I attended high school at Chaney and got a good education, but in the last half of my Senior year I went to Rayen, and my schedule  was jumbled up due to the fact that in the courses I was taking, Rayen was a year behind Chaney.

The point is that the schools today, rightfully or wrongfully are not turning out the quality that they use to, and while the home life may or may not be a factor, the fact remains that the teachers today can not compare to the teachers I had both at Chaney and Rayen.

This is historical but is an example of the teacher quality that was once demanded of City School Teachers:

Teacher's Name withheld

Orthography 96%
Reading 96%
Penmenship 95%
Arithmetic 90%
English Grammer and Composition 95%
Geography 90%
U.S. History and Civil Government 95%
Theory and Practice 95%
Psysiology Including Narcotics 95%
Literature 97%

General Grade 95%

These scores were on her teachers certificate.

Now admittedly the certificate was dated 1905, but I dare say that based on this the Boards of Education in the past had higher standards than they have today.

The unfortunate bottom line is the fact that the city school system does not meet the standards that the tax payers demand, and until they do the voters will keep voting down school levys.

So where does the blame rest? The teachers? The Board of Education? The Teachers Union?

When I was in school the teachers inspired the students. I can recall any number of teachers that I really respected both at Chaney and Rayen, they were fantastic, but can that be said of the teachers today?

I don't have enough fingers to count the number of teachers that inspired me, but can that be said today?

I doubt it.

[our2cents]

http://www.vindy.com/content/local_regional/298744582955412.php

The media is always pointing out the negative to make news stories...and not thinking about how it affects the very thing they're slamming in some way.  Sure, there is the truth of losing students.  But, there are other facts not mentioned in the story.  All the advertising sent out by the charter schools promising to have a better experience for students...yada yada.  We received by mail over 20 pieces of junk mail this year for them.

The thing that everyone receiving the junk and believing the sales pitch isn't hearing, is all the positive improvements that have happened with the city schools.  The test scores have gone up, the students love the new buildings and work even harder, and there are many people seeing it happen.

I for one will keep voting NO until I can see some mighty changes from top to bottom system wide

There are already many positive changes with the schools in the last 2 years.  The test scores have proved the change.  It takes several years to keep moving those scores up to where they're out of any form of academic watch.  The time to make these changes is often several years. 

Unfortunately, the schools can NOT fix negative behavior and problems that start at home that make it even harder for the schools to do their job.  So, the public believes negative hype and shuts down funding...negatively affecting the students that are working hard to get beyond the negative behavior of others.  There are many classrooms at the moment, that just received another 5-6 students into them because of the failed levy and loss of staff.  That's another 5-6 students for the teachers to try to teach...or try to keep from mis-behaving.  We know several students in one of the elementary schools, that are already saying their class was perfect before this happened, and now the teacher has to help the new kids fit in.

Oh, and those charter schools...the grass isn't always greaner on the other side.  Some of them are losing students back to the city schools.  Too bad it's already past the state's attendance week, which means the charter schools get to keep the funding from what we were told.

We know many people on fixed incomes, that own their homes, that voted for the levy.  They all saw that making funding worse, would not help anything, including their future home values.  And the average cost per month to them, about the cost of a meal or two at a fast food place...was well worth keeping the system in order.

[Towntalk]

The teachers ... the Principals and the Board of Education need to hang their collective heads in shame over the sorry state of the city schools ... a school system that in the past turned out so many successful men and women who made a mark in local, state and national history. But unfortunately they have no shame, and the result is that for this year alone, they have lost 3,535 students according to today's Vindicator.

SHAME ON YOU!

The voters defeated the school levy because YOU FAILED THEM AND THEIR CHILDREN and I for one will keep voting NO until I can see some mighty changes from top to bottom system wide.