posted November 4, 2009
It doesn’t seem like we are getting much bang for our $330,000,000 bucks. Perhaps if the school board concentrated more on a basic curriculum –like teaching math the way it was meant to be taught – not some fancy “Lattice method” that has been proven not to work.
Good job by our superintendent too, whose contract the school board extended in the middle of the night. If our county wants better schools, then it must change from what has been failing, and that starts with the people at the top – new people on the school board not beholden to the groups who have ruined our children’s future by short changing their education and short changing the taxpayers along the way.
Gregg Juster
* * *
Wow, I am so glad they secured Mr. Scales bonus a few years ago; that was money well spent on those schools with straight F's. Well done; the inmates are running the asylum.
Drafted straight from the AIG playbook, you all must be quite proud of the accomplishment. They will enjoy celebrating their mediocre accomplishments, along with the Erlanger people, too. Of course I guess preserving your own paycheck is reward enough, public servants, indeed.
Idiocracy is closer than you think.
Stop the madness, but how?
Veronica Madaris
East Ridge
* * *
Maybe next time the county should go out of state and throw tons of money at the next head teacher. Oh, they already did that and here is the lead lines, "Twelve Hamilton County schools scored straight F's in academic achievement in 2009."
Whoever was responsible for the initial action of hiring the last superintendent, if still on the board, needs to refund all of their pay for that time period. Look, if you buy something and it does not work, even though promised it will, a refund is in order, don't you think?
How hard can it be to get someone to a job well? If you lose a career for doing shoddy work instead of receiving bonuses, that would be a good method to try, since it never is, in dealing with anything involving the education system.
I am writing just words, but action is needed at the ballot box since money we can't afford is being wasted. Aren't you sick of it, too? I don't live in Hamilton County but have children, grand children that do. The concern is legit, and I am encouraging all to watch out for each other by being diligent in hiring the right people.
Joe Blevins
Guild, TN
* * *
It is easy to blame the superintendent, the school board and teachers for what seems to be a failing school system. Let us not forget that the parents and the students are at the heart of the matter. There is only so much that teachers can do. Parents, and I applaud those that do, must be very active in the education of their children. It must be stressed to the children that school is not playtime, and that they are accountable for taking their education seriously, as the teachers are for teaching.
Instead of always pointing fingers at this person or that group, something has to be done by everyone, because the results of failing schools will affect all of us, whether we have children in the county school system or not.
There are some terrific teachers in our school system, who teach out of love and concern for the students and have a genuine desire to see all students succeed. There are some terrific students who take their education very seriously, and I applaud them as well.
So instead of always finding blame with someone, let us all offer support and solutions to the problems. If we see a house on fire with kids inside, are we going to just point fingers at who may have caused it or should have prevented it while the children burn? I pray not, but let us do what we can to keep our kids from burning inside the burning schools.
Joelander Wheeler
* * *
"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."
HCDE can do everything in its power to provide excellent educational
opportunities for children. They can spend a a quarter million dollars
or more on technology for schools that get new buildings. They can
build world-class school buildings with interactive boards in the
front of the classrooms to try to get the students involved in
learning. If the student doesn't want to learn, they aren't going to
learn.
So what can we do? Dr. Scales can't make a student read a book if he
doesn't want to read. The school board can't make a student sit down
and learn how to add and subtract. A principal can't make a student
stop yelling at another student in a computer lab so as not to disturb
the others; they don't have anything they can do but send them home so
they can watch TV all day. Teachers aren't allowed to discipline
students anymore, so they have to resort to 'pulling bears or sticks'
to try to get a student to act right while trying to do their jobs.
Parents point fingers at all these people. Some say it's Dr. Scales
and the school board's fault. Some say it's the principals, teachers,
teacher's aid's, etc. Others point their finger for political gain.
My question is this: at what point does the parent or parents have to
take responsibility for their child?
It isn't the school's job to raise a child. It is their job to give
them the best available information possible. The parents must have an
active role in the education of their children. The student needs to
see that the parent believes that this education is important enough
to invest their own time at home. If the parent doesn't have a
computer, sit down with them and go over spelling words or do some
math problems. Do something so that they may see that it learning
isn't just from 8-3, or at least it shouldn't be.
Step up parents. That's where your achievement scores are coming from.
Eric Ford
* * *
I am not surprised at the failing school system. In the first place, most of these school are inner city schools that should have never been taken over by the county in the first place. I was reared in the city school system and received a great education. I cannot say the the same for these babies now. I feel the lack of African American teachers in the inner city schools instructing our students is part of the equation.
The fact that parent involvement is almost nonexistent adds to the problem. Parents of the children at these schools need to own up to their responsibilities and also make these teachers accountable. I know some people will get mad, but it is what it is.
Denise Morris
* * *
How to stop the madness, Ms. Madaris? Simple. Elect new people to the school board. Elect people who have a clue and who will put the interests of the students (and the taxpayers who foot the bills) ahead of the interests of the central office personnel and the teachers' union.
The board hires and fires superintendents and the board sets policy; the board is the key. Nothing will change until the makeup of the school board changes.
In other words, elect more school board members like Rhonda Thurman.
Rhonda is doing her best to improve the Hamilton County schools, but she can't do it alone. It takes five votes to change anything, and often Rhonda finds herself on the wrong end of an 8-1 vote against the status quo. Even when she can persuade one or two of her at least slightly open-minded colleagues on a given issue, 2-7 or 3-6 or even 4-5 (the vote count on the premature renewal of the superintendent's contract) still equates to a loss for Rhonda, for the citizens who fund the school system and most of all for the kids.
Unfortunately, the very slight majority of the voters in my district and Mr. Juster's did not take advantage of the opportunity we offered last year to start changing the makeup of the board. Thus, the status quo remains, and we still have board members who are more concerned with booking stale acts for Riverbend and "accidentally" filling their purse at Wal-Mart than with fixing our broken schools.
Fortunately, voters in District 1 did return Rhonda Thurman to the school board for another four-year term. And next year, voters in five other Hamilton County districts (3, 5, 6, 8, and 9) have the opportunity to replace their school board members with someone better. That is the solution.
Joe Dumas
former School Board candidate, District 2
Signal Mountain
* * *
The agendas behind some of these comments are completely inappropriate and unsubstantiated. I agree that management should be held responsible for the overall bottom line; however, they are not responsible for engagement. As a parent, that responsibility falls on my shoulders. While at times that might be difficult, at the end of the day the responsibility remains. So everyday do your part to volunteer and support your children; it will make a difference.
Renee Gibbs
Harrison
* * *
Why don't we just eliminate all the politically correct points about the Hamilton County Schools report and get right to the point?
As long as 7 out of every 10 babies in the black community are born to a single parent the test scores in inner city schools are never going to improve. And the same goes for the 3 out of every 10 babies in the white community.
We can spend all the money from Washington and Nashville they send us, but until the traditional family is restored we're just re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic of education.
Douglas Jones
North Chattanooga
* * *
What are we going to tell our kids who bring home a report of all “F’s” and say, “I didn’t fail”? That is what Dr. Scales is saying.
Michael Hicks
Jasper, Tenn.
* * *
We need higher property tax increases to improve our schools? We could improve the math scores if students could work on education spending. $330 million, if they could balance the school budget, they deserve an A. The county can't do it. Tax us out of the county, and we won't need schools. We need more walking paths and bike paths, art, corporate welfare, etc. Take my money and spend, spend, spend; I don't need it.
Chuck Davis
* * *
I am surprised at how little responsibility parents and students take in the educational process. When "report cards" like this come out, there is a rush to blame the superintendent, the school board, the man in the moon, the president, my Jack Russell Terrier..you name it.
Most kids today just seem to care about the newest cell phone, game boy, who can dress like a prostitute or some other ridiculousness (have youseen what your kids are doing at Riverbend?). When I see articles like the one not long ago about the judge that is wanting to have parents pick trash up on the side of the road as punishment for their truant children, that makes me wonder where the responsibility lies when the "report card" comes out.
We need to compensate our teachers more, stop spending all that money on "public art," and let's see some folks show some backbone in parenting and being more attentive to the education of their own children. Take the game boy and the cell phone out of someone's hands until he/she is showing some decent grades in school and some responsibility. Parents, take your power back.
Is it more important for Timmy to have an I-Phone, or is it more important that he grows up to be an intelligent, high functioning adult in the real world when the time comes? That folks, is the time when the rest of us have to deal with your darling child. Trust me, this world isn't gonna care who was superintendent of your school district-only that your kid can't cut it in the real world.
"If a child doesn't want to learn, he won't learn." Give me a break. Stop blaming and start paying attention to your children, their grades, and their lives. You made them;the school board didn't.
Anna Creer
East Ridge
* * *
Eric Ford is absolutely right about the importance of parents in the educational process. In my 30 years experience in the local public schools as a teacher and principal, I discovered that many people today want to outsource everything from house cleaning, laundry, car washing, and lawn care to the full responsibility of educating their children. Some in the middle and upper income brackets were so busy with their careers and hobbies they were willing to turn over one of the most important relationships they could have with their offspring to teachers. In the lower income brackets, I found most greatly valued a good education for their children but had little or no understanding of what it involved and how much work and energy on their part was needed.
Furthermore, if schools are to blame then they must share a part in the blame. Every time some new idea or demand is made by the state department of education, legislature, federal government or advocacy groups, someone in the school hierarchy says, “We can do that.” Then when they ask for more money to do all these things they are told they don’t need it. I am not advocating for more money, just the idea that we concentrate on mastery of skills before we try to make nuclear scientists and brain surgeons out of kindergartners and first graders.
Schools can never be treated like a business. That doesn’t mean schools can’t be more business-like. In a manufacturing business, the plant can reject the raw materials that do not meet specification. Schools must take everyone regardless of skill level or ability and train and educate them to be a contributing member of society. Free market and the law of supply and demand control prices and profit in the business world. Schools must rely on a “fixed income” budget. Sadly everyone who ever had an education believes they know exactly how to spend that money, myself included. This leads to more confusion and delays in getting moneys to the right place quickly and efficiently. The larger you make the school system, the bigger the problem becomes, because the basic services are a lot more removed from the people who manage the solutions.
There are solutions that work: parents must spend time with children when they do their homework and must make sure their child is in school unless ill. Another involves the T-Cap test. There are skills indicated that have been mastered or non-mastered by the students taking the test. A student should never finish a school year unless each of his/her non-masteries have been addressed and remediated as much as that student is able to do. This is attempted through portfolios and other activities, but there is no substitute for time with students. And as schools get larger classes with greater learning problems, less time for each reduces the teachers' effectiveness and learning by the students. And spending money on a consultant to tell you that you’re doing it all wrong is usually a bad use of money, especially when the consultant is so bad they are sent home before completing their lecture series.
Ralph Miller
* * *
I think we can take something from each response in this thread. The first thing we have to do is replace the five board members that will be asking for your vote in 2010. The education system cannot change as long as we have the same board members. That is a fact. We need a board that will hold Dr. Scales' feet to the fire.
We hear a lot about taxpayer and property owners, so what? If you live in Hamilton County and rent or own a home, you pay property taxes. You may not write a check once a year, but every time the taxes go up your rent will go up. Every resident of Hamilton County should be represented at the school board meetings by the elected board member. It should not matter if you have a child in school or not. We pay the bills.
I do want to respond to Eric Boyd's comment asking at what point do parents take responsibility for their children. First of all the students spend almost as many waking hours in the hands of the school system as they do with their parents. We do have good parents and bad parents and some that are doing the best they can.
When you have teachers telling students that if their parents hit them to let them know and they will put a stop to it, how does a parent maintain respect? This was done after a federal mandate was issued to try and protect abused children, but of course our school system had to do it their way. And it left us with comments like the one stated above. I have stood in a middle school and high school hearing these comments. I can teach my children respect all day long, and when they get to school and the staff shows no respect, it's like mixed messages.
It goes both ways. One needs to support the other. Everyone can lay blame, but go to a board meeting, walk into the school without calling and see how you are treated. When you go to that board meeting try and talk to the member that represents your district.
I have a lot of respect for Rhonda Thurman. She has tried to make positive changes, but you can only do so much when you are a lone vote.
I am surprised at Warren Mackey's comment about 60 percent of children being born out of wedlock. Mr. Mackey, are you now blaming the mothers of the children that were not married when their children were conceived or just the ones that were just born out of wedlock? Wait a minute Mr Mackey are you not one of the elected officials that approves money for the school system? Mr. Mackey, you say we have to adopt a higher standard, is that what we did when the students from Howard could not get out of bed and get to school at the same time as everyone else? Let's just let them come in an hour later. You say parents are not interested; no they are just fed up.
We have some really good teachers in our system, and we have some that should just go away. In order for us to improve our schools we all have to work together. We have the power; we just have to use it. Make the needed changes in 2010. Get out and vote.
Marchetta Cannon
Georgetown
* * *
Stay tuned for a solution to this problem. It's called an elected superintendent, who will, in turn, reorganize the HCDE by sending all of the "administrators" back to the classrooms and make the system family friendly by involving not the "community", whatever that is, but families in the process.
The home is where real and lasting education takes place.
There will be a petition launched soon to get this on a future ballot. It is coming to a polling booth near you.
Philip W. Haymaker Sr.
Hixson
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