posted May 9, 2008
Please take a few minutes to go to the Tennessee Department of Education and look at results published by the state for Hamilton County Schools. Brown and Battle Academies score consistently Fs and Ds in student achievements. For some reason these schools fail to meet even minimum requirements for excellence.
Suspension rates are in the high teens. How does one out of five students K-5 get suspended?
Should we continue to operate these "academies" when the results are so dismal? Our inner city students deserve better school performance.
Harry Presley
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Inner city students deserve better? Have you seen the school buildings that they learn in every day? They're new. Do you realize that those inner city schools are given thousands of dollars to have the newest programs and technology? Those poor children.
You're right, they deserve better. They deserve more parental involvement. I wonder if these magnet schools are actually enforcing the mandatory parent volunteering hours that are required to attend the schools. If they were, parents would be present to help monitor behavior in the hallways and classrooms. They would also be available to tutor students having trouble.
If schools are to be closed, busing these kids across town won't help. Parents won't drive or take a bus across town to volunteer. Going back to a neighborhood school system is the only answer. Children and parents need a sense of community and belonging. Neighbors take on a sense of responsibility for the schools that serve them.
At my school, which is as close to a neighborhood school as you can get, the parents are always in the building. (And, yes, they have jobs, too.) They are reading with students in the hallways, helping teachers with instructional materials, collecting recycling from all the classrooms, fixing computers, planting flowers and hanging ferns in the front, gathering box tops, and even managing the construction of our new playground. That's just a small part of what they do. They have raised the funds that we needed for a new gym, computer lab, and technology in the classrooms. We were not just given these things, the parents of our children earned it for them.
Inner city parents need to do the same for their children. Those schools have been given the best resources to work with. Rather than sit back and accept all that the Benwood grant gives them, the parents should appreciate it and make sure their children are using it. They should also teach their children how to behave at school and be there to make sure their children are doing their part in the classroom.
J. Smith
Signal Mountain
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Mr. Presely, the low performing schools should be closed, and these children be allowed to access quality education through better options, such as voucher programs and the creation of charter schools. All children deserve access to quality education.
Educational options outside of the "one size fits all children" public system that is currently in place, would seem to be a starting point. If the public school system cannot meet the minimum, which is a very low bar, then major changes need to occur for these children.
Unfortunately, the majority of our public system schools beginning at 6th grade are low performing and are not limited to inner city schools based upon the report cards. I believe that 29% of all children in Hamilton County attend private schools, and another 6-10% are homeschooled based upon estimates I have read. It seems that the number of parents removing their children from the public school system will continue to rise, because the public school system does not meet parental expectations.
Allison Graham
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Does Ms. Graham understand the voucher system? A voucher system basically turns private schools into public schools by having private schools accept government money. (Strings attached.) A voucher would be given in the same amount as what the government spends per child in the public schools.
If she's checked the price of private schools lately, that voucher's not going to make a whole lot of difference in the tuition. The families of the children in these schools, more than likely, can't make up the difference. The voucher system would only benefit the people that can afford to go to private schools. Shouldn't they receive the vouchers, too?
In addition, private schools do not provide special education services to all students that need them. Unless the school is founded on that principle.
J. Dressler
Brainerd
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I read this article and felt I needed to share my opinion on this matter. It is very unfortunate that children are being suspended K-5. I'm not saying that they haven't committed offenses that warrant such discipline, so let me explain.
When I was in school, if my teacher or principal would have made a phone call to my parents, I would have feared the consequences of my actions when I got home. These children aren't delinquents at birth. This is a learned and accepted behavior.
I have no problem with a school being funded for children to learn. I do not feel that closing schools is a solution. However, I do have a problem with parents not disciplining their children at home and not teaching them that they will suffer the consequences of their behavior. If parents cannot control a child in grades K-5, they will have no control over a teen. Parents need to be accountable for their children.
This town is getting consumed by gangs. Our town children, the children of the future, are getting drafted by gangs. Parents are ignoring and sleeping through losing their children. Parents need to take every opportunity to see what their child is doing and with whom they're doing it with.
If those schools close, those kids will be bused to other schools. That does not fix the problem. It only shifts the problem to make numbers look better. Parents, help your kids and don't be the source of the problem. So come on Chattanooga, except the problem, find a real solution and fix it.
K. Patton
kristypatton@comcast.net
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The question to our underperforming schools is why? Both of these schools are new facilities, the finest that can be provided with the best tools available to teach. So, why?
Why are they underperforming at dismal rates in the face of the big push by a federal government mandate called No Child Left Behind ? Certainly this comes as no surprise to the administrators and teachers, so where is the missing link and where is the problem?
Could it be that the parents just don't care and are neglectful? Is all the schools offer is a babysitting service and meal ticket? Until taxpayers shed their unwillingness to investigate what's being sold to them as education, what we see today will continue and get worse.
Just as important is the recognition of the fact that our parents and school board bear the ultimate responsibility, and it is they who have been grossly derelict in their duty.
Chuck Mehan
East Ridge
cbm2006@comcast.net
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The letter by Mr. Smith was extremely accurate. There are no "underperforming schools," only underperforming homes. This is due to parental quality and socioeconomic status. These factors contribute 99% of a student's chances of success. If both these factors are unfavorable, children have very little chance.
Compare statistics concerning test scores and behaviors in the different schools in the Chattanooga area. By first grade students from underprivileged, poorly-parented homes are already far behind in reading and vocabulary skills, and are usually lacking in social and behavioral skills. Parents (if existing) give teachers little to no support in helping their children improve the behaviors and thinking skills needed to catch up. Relationships between caregivers and school personnel tend to range from nonexistent to antagonistic.
On the other hand, parents in the school districts that are "good" (even though the faculty and administrators are the same quality) volunteer time at schools and take seriously the teacher's suggestions for advancing their children. These parents schedule reading and work time for their kids at home, hold their children accountable with strict discipline and set good examples. Vouchers are a political red herring that offer no real help.
Gary Furman
Teacher
Rossville
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It doesn't matter how much money we put into inner schools as long as almost 70% of the kids in the black community are born to single mothers then they will continue to underperform.
Douglas Jones
Chattanooga
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