As a public school teacher, your statement does not offend me, as long as you are suggesting an "average," as not all public schools are failing their students/community/parents. However, many are.

 

My school has made some significant changes over the past year, thanks to a new principal and continues on that road of "rocking the boat" and seeking to become better.

 

Yes, just an average. As an example, using Kentucky's benchmarks we were only expected to achieve 'proficiency' by 2014 in about 20% of Kentucky's schools. They have now changed the benchmark, so I don't know what to do with it, but there it is.

The only reason we are talking about charter schools in KY is Jefferson County. Being 16th largest city.

Are KY teachers part of a union?

Are KY teachers part of a union?

 

Not in the sense you would think a union would be, like a AFL-CIO.

 

I am but it is more for the liability and legal protection they offer if someone would file a charge against me.

 

I usually either call/email my state and local reps to express my disdain for a position they have taken. We usually disagree more than we agree.

I need an example of a charter school and what they are before I can pass judgment..............

 

Can a current school in a public district become a charter school?

I need an example of a charter school and what they are before I can pass judgment..............

 

Can a current school in a public district become a charter school?

I don't believe so, school districts manage charter schools here. Keep in mind that a charter school may not have to teach traditional curriculum, but in many states, as here in Florida, they still have to meet graduation and state testing standards (FCAT down here.)

 

Here is a story of one in Pinellas County (St. Pete/Clearwater) that could be closed soon.

 

http://www.tampabay.com/news/st-petersburg-charter-school-pleads-for-the-school-district-to-let-it-stay/1082178

I don't believe so, school districts manage charter schools here. Keep in mind that a charter school may not have to teach traditional curriculum, but in many states, as here in Florida, they still have to meet graduation and state testing standards (FCAT down here.)

 

Here is a story of one in Pinellas County (St. Pete/Clearwater) that could be closed soon.

 

http://www.tampabay.com/news/st-petersburg-charter-school-pleads-for-the-school-district-to-let-it-stay/1082178

 

 

If a current district school cannot become a charter school then there isn't much danger in KY. of it happening outside of Louisville, Lexington, and maybe NKY, especially in these economic times...................

Not in the sense you would think a union would be, like a AFL-CIO.

 

I am but it is more for the liability and legal protection they offer if someone would file a charge against me.

 

I usually either call/email my state and local reps to express my disdain for a position they have taken. We usually disagree more than we agree.

 

Is it the NEA? AFT?

Is it the NEA? AFT?

 

NEA

Is it the NEA? AFT?

 

NEA at the national level.

KEA at the state level.

And then the county name then EA at the local level.

Many blame "bad teachers still teaching" on the unions. Do teachers agree?

 

A teacher in L.A. was caught with porn and cocaine AT SCHOOL and was able to keep his job. School systems often choose to not enter into a long, expensive process against a powerful union. I fully realize this is an extreme case. However, we've all heard the reports that NYC fired .01% of their 30,000 teachers for being poor performers. .01%? Come on.

 

7% of DC juniors tested at proficient yet the principals graded all of the teachers at "exceeds expectations." Seems incongruent.

Let me lay it out for you guys. There are definitely good and bad teachers. In Kentucky, if principals take their time, they can make a case for firing the bad ones, and those principals who really care about student achievement build the case. There are also good and bad principals and they are easier to get rid of than teachers, but superintendents have to be doing their job and building their case. There are good and bad superintendents, and they are even easier to get rid of, all the board of education has to do is not renew the contract. So especially in the state of Kentucky let us please drop the argument of the all powerful union. Sharon Oxendine is not going to save my job if I perform poorly, and if I do exceptionally bad the EPSB can come in and take my certificate away, or suspend it.

 

But I digress, finally, there are good and bad family/household situations and NOBODY can fire them, nor does anyone want to. But the kids in those homes and not going to perform as well as kids in strong households in the same time frame. Many of them can perform as well but it may take a little longer.

 

Let me use my son as an example - he has gone through the public school system in a poor/small/urban (central KY, is that urban??) for 9 years. 1 pre-school, 1 kindergarten and through grade 7. He just scored a 17 on the ACT and is taking Algebra 1 as a 7th grader. There are students in his class who have had the same teachers for as long as he has (except for maybe the pre-school, becuase that was not free so many didn't come). There are only 3 teachers per grade through grade 4 and the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders rotate through all of the teachers in that grade. Given nearly the EXACT same experience in education there will be some in his class who, a couple of year from now, will be candidates for drop-outs, or candidates for my alternative school. Pundits will want to blame the teachers, but they are the same teachers that put my son where he is.

 

So is it the fault of the teachers, principal, superintendent or board of education, or the UNION - that some of the students will not score well on standardized tests? And trust me, I am all about differentiation and meeting the needs of the specific students. That is what I have loved about this district, because they met my sons needs (kinesthetic learner). I assume that they meet the needs of the other students too. So, which teacher do i blame for the students who get to 4th grade and is not on grade level, or third, or second, or first, or kindergarten. When students come into the school 2 years behind where their peers are, which union do we blame for that? If teachers work their noses off to try to catch them up by the third grade, which is the critical year, but they only catch them up one year to their peers, which principal do we blame?

 

You want to blame me and my peers in public education, then give us the resources we need to take care of the kids whose parents/community have already failed them. Give me a social worker for every 20 kids who need one. Make sure that I have a nurse for every 500 students. Give me a clinical phychologist or even better a psychiatrist for every 500 kids. Make sure that i can send food home every weekend to be sure that the kids eat when they are not a school.

 

Give me the money for after school programs so that the kids don't have to go home to an empty house when they are under 12 years old. Give me the money to take them on field trips to parks and museums so they can experience learning that they don't get at home. You want schools to educate ALL of the students, then give them the resources to do so and quit blaming the good teachers, principals, superintendents and even the union because we don't take the kids home to live with us in an environment that is conducive to learning.

I agree Ace that you can't fix the home life. But when you have teachers that won't teach those kids, that is when I have an issue.

 

I think 3 things hurt Education in KY.

 

1. Site-base - they are not effective. (95% of them)

 

2. There is no true way to measure a teachers effectiveness (currently)

 

3. The Ky General Assembley. (you have one who is worthless in your district)

Ace, when you say resources, you are talking about money.

 

For decades, teachers have been saying "give me more resources, and we will deliver." Every single solitary year, more and more resources are given, and every single year, performance fails to deliver. Last budget year, 67% of Kentucky's state budget was spent on education. That is appalling, you know it, I know it, everyone knows it. Fiscal year before that, 63%. It goes up every year. How much money do you need?

 

It may very well be that households are broken, and that the teachers do not have the ability to repair them all, and it is in a downward spiral. Noone places all the blame on teachers or public schools for that fact. But the other fact is that students who want to learn and deserve better, the students that come from the more solid households, are suffering tremendously, in the classroom, in the subsequent job market, everywhere. If you don't see that then you are blind.

 

It is a question of choice. At some point you must choose to either go with bringing up the bottom end, or loosening the restrictions on the top end. Since, 1991, KERA has been doing the former and all I am saying it is now time to look at the latter. It has been almost 20 years.

 

The charter school amendment, as well as the other views of educational reform back to a voucher system, do the latter.

 

Coach, your comments are interesting. Nearly 20 years ago, the Department of Education thought that site-based councils, brought in with KERA, were the panacea for all that was ill with education. Now, they want them gone.

 

I totally and completely disagree with your second statement, they can be evaluated just as well as any other job or profession. Only teachers don't believe that teachers can be evaulated, which is not unusual, noone believes their own job can be effectively evaluated.

Let me lay it out for you guys. There are definitely good and bad teachers. In Kentucky, if principals take their time, they can make a case for firing the bad ones, and those principals who really care about student achievement build the case. There are also good and bad principals and they are easier to get rid of than teachers, but superintendents have to be doing their job and building their case. There are good and bad superintendents, and they are even easier to get rid of, all the board of education has to do is not renew the contract. So especially in the state of Kentucky let us please drop the argument of the all powerful union. Sharon Oxendine is not going to save my job if I perform poorly, and if I do exceptionally bad the EPSB can come in and take my certificate away, or suspend it.

 

But I digress, finally, there are good and bad family/household situations and NOBODY can fire them, nor does anyone want to. But the kids in those homes and not going to perform as well as kids in strong households in the same time frame. Many of them can perform as well but it may take a little longer.

 

Let me use my son as an example - he has gone through the public school system in a poor/small/urban (central KY, is that urban??) for 9 years. 1 pre-school, 1 kindergarten and through grade 7. He just scored a 17 on the ACT and is taking Algebra 1 as a 7th grader. There are students in his class who have had the same teachers for as long as he has (except for maybe the pre-school, becuase that was not free so many didn't come). There are only 3 teachers per grade through grade 4 and the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders rotate through all of the teachers in that grade. Given nearly the EXACT same experience in education there will be some in his class who, a couple of year from now, will be candidates for drop-outs, or candidates for my alternative school. Pundits will want to blame the teachers, but they are the same teachers that put my son where he is.

 

So is it the fault of the teachers, principal, superintendent or board of education, or the UNION - that some of the students will not score well on standardized tests? And trust me, I am all about differentiation and meeting the needs of the specific students. That is what I have loved about this district, because they met my sons needs (kinesthetic learner). I assume that they meet the needs of the other students too. So, which teacher do i blame for the students who get to 4th grade and is not on grade level, or third, or second, or first, or kindergarten. When students come into the school 2 years behind where their peers are, which union do we blame for that? If teachers work their noses off to try to catch them up by the third grade, which is the critical year, but they only catch them up one year to their peers, which principal do we blame?

 

You want to blame me and my peers in public education, then give us the resources we need to take care of the kids whose parents/community have already failed them. Give me a social worker for every 20 kids who need one. Make sure that I have a nurse for every 500 students. Give me a clinical phychologist or even better a psychiatrist for every 500 kids. Make sure that i can send food home every weekend to be sure that the kids eat when they are not a school.

 

Give me the money for after school programs so that the kids don't have to go home to an empty house when they are under 12 years old. Give me the money to take them on field trips to parks and museums so they can experience learning that they don't get at home. You want schools to educate ALL of the students, then give them the resources to do so and quit blaming the good teachers, principals, superintendents and even the union because we don't take the kids home to live with us in an environment that is conducive to learning.

 

Great post Ace:thumb: