Just a few more quick reminders about our old and busted public school system and all of the different ways that it has failed Kansas City residents
To with . . .
THIS PASSAGE FROM A RECENT KANSAS CITY BLOG POST PROVIDES AN IMPORTANT PERSPECTIVE ON THE KANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT AND ALL OF THEIR RECENT PROMISES!!!
This post entitled "Learning From Kansas City" reveals a warning about former KCMO education officials who were once crowned as saviors . . .
"We (Kansas City Public Schools) fired 150 teachers without cause and replaced them with (drumroll) 150 Teach for America teachers at a cost of $3,000 per head.
"John Covington, when in Kansas City, created new graduation requirements so low that no competitive college would take a student with those minimal courses. He didn’t know basic college requirements stats, or the range of college placement scores to achieve acceptance.
"He ruined a successful college prep program by closing the more modern of the two buildings (one with wireless internet, a pool, two gyms and a larger cafeteria) and slamming 1200 sixth through twelfth graders in an antiquated building lacking those amenities.
"In the other college prep campus, he bussed over a thousand at risk, low performing students into the building. In the first semester, the school at 1400 suspensions in the first semester (with only 1200 students in the building), 51 fires/fire alarms, and three principals. Covington’s last principal had only elementary school experience. In the principal’s defense, Covington was quoted in the paper saying “I don’t have urban experience and I think I’m doing pretty good.”
"He cut the budget for a successful debate program that served hundreds of students claiming he didn’t have the funds, but then commissioned a massive $28,000 trophy out of his own discretionary budget which didn’t require board approval . . . He killed what little progress we’d made, interviewed on the basis of improvements that were actually accomplished by his predecessor (such as rising test scores for tests taken before he was hired), and then left abruptly – weeks before the State was ready to announce that under his leadership we had passed fewer benchmarks towards accreditation than when he was hired."
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And just a bit more bad news on the education front . . .
Another lesson in austerity coming up: Missouri schools stand to lose $51 million in budget cuts
Linked one more time for good measure: Kansas No. 37, Missouri No. 41 in Education Week rankings
KCTV5 reports on even more discounting of public schools: Former Kansas City school could become Walmart
30 empty buildings and no cash: The Kansas City school district continues efforts to find new life for unused schools.
Educuschmating generations of deluded narcissists.
ReplyDeleteMission Accomplished
Lol. Tony, I think you meant 30 empty buildings, not 300. :)
ReplyDeleteWhats the point of education when our sons and daughters can pretend they are Olympians, Formula 1 drivers, rock stars or sharpshooters on their computers?
ReplyDeleteWith Facebook and Twitter, young people can pretend they are worth “following,” as though they have real-life fans.
Who needs education?
Covington is now seriously fucking up the already seriously fucked-up schools in Michigan.
ReplyDeleteIncompetent idiots in charge of massive amounts of tax dollars...
He's like a lot of other HNIC's:
ReplyDeleteSoetoro
Holder
Ad nauseum...
Teach For America staff wasn't suppose to reach 200. They are a large part of many buildings. Those buildings are failing faster than the rest of this awful district.
ReplyDeleteBlow the system up! Tony you union lover fiddle me this the district was run into the ground years before covington came to town by the likes of Judy Morgan and her cadre of union thugs, who refused to fire incompentent, unmotivated teachers. In the past you had to commit a crime in the classroom to get fired. They hire and protect anybody off the street as long as you pay "dues" The AFT and their racism of low exspectations against Black and Latino students is the real problem tony!
ReplyDelete12:38 is right. Judy Morgan held this district hostage for years. We've had some lousy superintendents, but Morgan did her share, too.
ReplyDeleteWasn't this the same outfit that blew a BILLION bucks some time ago helping the CHILDREN?
ReplyDelete@12:38 and @12:48
ReplyDeleteIt is not hard to fire a teacher with a bad evaluation. The Union does not evaluate teachers. Administrators evaluate teachers. They only had to go into a classroom twice in the first semester and fill out a couple sheets of paper. The district creates the evaluation rules. The Union just makes them follow the rules they create.
Teachers grade hundreds of papers a week. Administrators cover up their incompetence by giving good evaluations to teachers that suck. The Union only fights for teachers that suck when due process was not followed.
I have had several years where no administrator visited my class the entire year. I would receive a perfect evaluation. I do a good job, but I am not perfect.
It is not the Union's fault if the administration does not do their job. The administration has always been the problem in the district. A strong Union is a symptom of a poor administration. Teachers wouldn't waste their money on the Union if they could count on the administration to do their job.
A couple of years ago we had to pick up our checks in person because the administration did not even know who was working in the district...