[regional_school] Re: College presidents just petitioned for mayoral control of schools
- From: William Cala <wcala9@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: regional school <regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2010 08:07:47 -0500 (EST)
Re: Penikese Isand Schools....... as we have said from the onset with the
Regional Academy..... One student at a time!
Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: "Keith Rankin" <keithwrankin@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Regional School" <regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, February 28, 2010 7:30:40 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [regional_school] Re: College presidents just petitioned for mayoral
control of schools
I'll never forget Jesse Jackson's line during his 1st presidential campaign:
"We pay 3 times more to incarcerate then to educate."
Depending on where you obtain your figures that metric could be 4-8 times to
incarcerate then to educate.
Also, from a social justice standpoint, only two states don't automatically
disenfranchise felons. Vermont and Maine. Any guess as to the racial profile of
felons in those states ;-(
Another interesting solution to troubled youth is the Penikese Island school.
http://www.penikese.org/
Keith
Keith W. Rankin
44 Creston Court
Rochester, NY 14612
585.734.7295 cel | txt
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 2010 09:01:43 -0500
From: wcala9@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [regional_school] Re: College presidents just petitioned for mayoral
control of schools
Thanks for your very insightful comments Gina. We will continue to address
these important issues in our work with the Regional Academy and are near ready
to move into additional work groups. Failure to deal with the pernicious
side-effects of poverty and inequality will never bring about the kind of
results we want for our kids.
And Keith, the boarding school idea is not crazy (initially expensive up-front)
but very successful. Currently I am providing secondary education to about 125
HIV/AIDS orphans in Africa. I send almost all of them to boarding schools.
There home lives are beyond the pale. At school they have 3 square meals, safe
and comfortable accommodations and people who care for them. All of our kids
in Africa are penniless yet most of our students perform in the top 25% of
their respective classes.
We don't understand investment in human capitial in this country. Money
invested today saves signifcantly in the future. Perhaps if we send kids to
boarding schools today, they will not be boarding for life in prison (USA is
the prison capital of the world).
Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gina Baker" <gbaker05@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "regional school" <regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 6:12:12 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [regional_school] Re: College presidents just petitioned for mayoral
control of schools
I would add to the causes of poor urban performance-- the lack of an arts and
music program in a majority of the high schools, and a solution is to partner
with the incredible music and art programs in our city to bring this culture
into all our schools full time – maybe a RochesterCorps (RocCityCorps?) program
– built around the principles of Americorps – bringing this curricula into our
schools full time. Art, drama, and music are akin to breathing in our urban
children, but the opportunities in high school are just not available to all
our kids.
Another note to add regarding the presidents’ endorsement – ironically, many of
the teachers and administrators in the city and in the suburbs are a product of
the colleges and universities that have blindly endorsed mayoral control;
therefore, if graduation rates are acceptable in the suburbs with teachers that
graduated from these same institutions, with all things being equal, we would
see the similar performances in the city. But we know all things are not equal,
as per Bill’s list of causes of poor urban performance. So how do we begin a
positive dialogue to incorporate these solutions listed? Our children need to
have us work together on instituting these solutions, like yesterday . If our
regional academy is not going to be ready by next year (is that correct?), what
if we concentrate our efforts to build on these solutions? For every cause you
have listed below, we should be able to identify teams who already have
expertise in these areas. Where do we start, who do we call, what is on the
agenda? We have momentum now; shouldn’t we make the most of it? What if we come
up with a plan that the mayor and the board endorse? Enough said.
Gina P. Baker
From: regional_school-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:regional_school-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of William Cala
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 4:41 PM
To: regional school
Subject: [regional_school] Re: College presidents just petitioned for mayoral
control of schools
Thanks all for the insightful dialogue. My two cents is to frame the issue in
terms of what will help urban children via correcting the insidious issues
facing them:
Causes of poor urban performance (an abbreviated list)
Teen pregnancy
Child abuse
Family Violence
Community Violence
Health/illness/disease
Suburban Housing Plans that prohibit affordable housing
Mental illness
Some of the many solutions:
Childcare to enroll the 25% of the eligible children who cannot access UPK
Transportation to enroll the above
Initiation of Perry Pre-school program (40 year evidenced-based program proven
to increase graduation rates, reduce teen pregnancy and reduce teen violence)
Primary school class-size reduction per the guidelines of the S.T.A.R. program
of Tennessee which has been proven to increase graduation rates
Major initiative to include total community commitment to the Developmental
Asset initiative. City kids are bankrupt in relationship to the number of
assets they possess out of the 40 identified by Search Foundation
Resorative Justice practices to be taught to every adult and student in RCSD
Establishment of a community solution summit to identify target areas of
concern and initiate action recommendations for all concerned parties in the
county.
This is just a primer.
Thanks all for your involvement in this most important issue
Bill
PS. The letter from the college presidents is intellectually bankrupt. It is
nearly inconceivable that the leaders of institutions of higher learning-
leaders of institutions that value research, scholarship and adherance to the
ideals of evidence-based solutions could be cajoled into supporting a hostile
takeover that is based on false rhetoric (ersatz success of other city schools
controlled by mayors) and a mayoral management plan that does not exist.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Meg Callahan" <mcallah5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "regional school" <regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 12:35:42 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [regional_school] Re: College presidents just petitioned for mayoral
control of schools
David, I like your idea. I think we can get a lot of faculty from area schools
of education to sign a statement. I will get a sense at my faculty meeting
tomorrow about how many would sign it.
I think we need to send a message to our alumni and colleagues in the RCSD, as
well as the community at large, that we support their resistance to mayoral
control. And we need to let them know that our college presidents don't speak
for all of us.
And Dan, I think a teacher/administrator letter would be interesting too. I
think the public needs to hear the voices of dedicated teachers/administrators
so that they can't frame this as 'union resistance'.
That's my thoughts.
Meg
Meg Callahan, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor and Director
Undergraduate Adolescence Education
Nazareth College
4245 East Avenue
Rochester, NY 14618-3790
mcallah5@xxxxxxx
(585) 389-2998
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Drmacich" <dandrmacich@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "regional school" <regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 12:23:25 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [regional_school] Re: College presidents just petitioned for mayoral
control of schools
Or could it be from a cross-college group of concerned educators???
Perhaps the same should be initiated by teachers & administrators.
--- On Thu, 2/25/10, Hursh, David <dhursh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Hursh, David <dhursh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [regional_school] Re: College presidents just petitioned for mayoral
control of schools
To: regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thursday, February 25, 2010, 11:33 AM
Meg:
Good point. Of, if not an statement from the schools of education (some Deans
may be hesitant to get involved and/or go against their presidents), then from
faculty who are willing to sign on to a statement.
David
On 2/25/10 11:29 AM, "Meg Callahan" <mcallah5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Gina,
Your message is a powerful one. I too thought the college presidents' statement
was unfortunate, especially given that most of those colleges/universities have
schools of education, whose faculty were apparently NOT consulted. I don't know
what I find more infuriating: the prospect of mayoral control OR the fact that
the expertise within schools of education was ignored.
It makes me wonder whether the area schools of education ought to come forward
with our own statement. I will bring this up at our next faculty meeting.
Meg
Meg Callahan, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor and Director
Undergraduate Adolescence Education
Nazareth College
4245 East Avenue
Rochester, NY 14618-3790
mcallah5@xxxxxxx
(585) 389-2998
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gina Baker" <gbaker05@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "regional school" <regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 4:15:37 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [regional_school] Re: College presidents just petitioned for mayoral
control of schools
Re: [regional_school] Re: College presidents just petitioned for mayoral
control of schools
I find the area college president endorsements very unfortunate in light of the
fact that RCSD teachers are counted on time and time again to provide
productive student teaching experiences to the are college teacher candidates,
and many of these teachers (I am one) have had the great fortune of finding a
job from one of those placements. They are endorsing a proposition that has the
potential to be harmful to their own core group of students. It would be a very
real problem if RCSD teachers no longer accepted student teacher placements
from any of these institutions. I’m just sayin’…
Gina P. Baker
From: regional_school-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:regional_school-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Hursh, David
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 8:28 PM
To: regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [regional_school] Re: College presidents just petitioned for mayoral
control of schools
Well said. I read the Presidents’ letter and they claim that “mayoral control
has been successful in NYC, Washington DC, Chicago, Hartford, New Haven,
Boston, and Cleveland. I wonder what their evidence is? I haven’t seen it.
I’m off to Chicago on Saturday to work with my colleague, Pauline Lipman, who
continues to be active in the struggle against mayoral control and has written
numerous devastating critiques. Now, years after its implementation, parents
are still trying to have some say in decisions.
David
On 2/23/10 8:20 PM, "William Cala" <wcala9@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Tonight I was called by Nestor Ramos of the D and C and he informed me that all
19 area college presidents were endorsing mayoral control. He interviewed me
and I shared pertinent research on the issue of which apparently all 19
presidents are completely in the dark.
I would echo Ellen's thoughtful comments. The time is now to write to the D
and C and share your views via letters to the editor and/or Speak Out essays.
Given the wealth of research on the causes of school failure (lack of social
capital due to inequality of wealth) it saddens me deeply to see that the heads
of institutions of higher learning are relying on a plan that fails to address
every single root cause of student failure in the city.
Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ellen Weber" <eweber1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "regional school" <regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 6:37:16 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [regional_school] College presidents just petitioned for mayoral
control of schools
Invitation to share in the critical conversation of Rochester City School
Leadership at http://bit.ly/cE8XhO <http://bit.ly/cE8XhO> .
Many in this listserve care deeply about Rochester students -- who rarely get
mentioned in current fights for control. Like you I care for students,
especially teens, with whom I have spent a lifetime learning from. Let's add
our voices to the discourse, and support whatever we see would offer more to
learners. At http://bit.ly/cE8XhO. let's reach past ourselves and any political
persuasion - to support our youth together. I left the comment below at the
Democrat and Chronicle site where the article appeared and urge you to add your
wisdom and insights too - as well as solutions you see that would help
Rochester schools.What an honor to know a circle of leaders who care about kids
and learning! Stay blessed!
How does giving urban schools to mayoral control help poorly served teens?
Would handing over Albany to the schools, fix gridlocks that mock democracy?
Teens in Rochester get cheated if schools fail them. Only when school-success
becomes more about teens than controls, can a finer way be launched. Let’s talk
teens rather than adult control, and support and a mind-bending legacy for this
great city.
We need competent facilitators for schools, we need competent facilitators for
government, and until then we all suffer. Not shifting blame or offering
controls to other adults - but quality that comes to teens (and to the rest of
us) when skilled leaders facilitate the best in those they serve. Rochester
teens are as bright as any in the nation – and their voice appears lost in this
fight for adult controls. What do you think?
Ellen Weber (PhD)
Director - MITA International Brain Based Center
PO Box 347, Pittsford, NY 14534
eBook: MITA in the Classroom and Beyond - at
http://mitaleadership.com/buyonline.html
<http://mitaleadership.com/buyonline.html>
MITA Brain Leaders and learners blog: www.Brainleadersandlearners.com
<http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/>
MITA Brain Based Center Web Site at www.mitaleadership.com
<http://www.mitaleadership.com/>
--
David Hursh, PhD
Associate Professor
Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development
Dewey Hall
P.O. Box 270425
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627-0425
Phone: 585.275.3947
Fax: 585.473.7598
--
David Hursh, PhD
Associate Professor
Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development
Dewey Hall
P.O. Box 270425
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627-0425
Phone: 585.275.3947
Fax: 585.473.7598
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