New Haven Independent

posted by: Swatty on March 21, 2011  5:52pm

Give them MORE recess!

posted by: Threefifths on March 21, 2011  5:52pm

More school reform three card monte.

posted by: Ed on March 21, 2011  6:06pm

16 years running a failing school? Who was protecting Williams all those years and why? Clearly an overpaid and ineffective administor. How many kids got inferior educations at that school? How many more cops, teachers or janitors will the mayor layoff in order to protect his cronies and pals ?

posted by: HOLD THE MAYO on March 21, 2011  6:43pm

Funny, my school is Tier 3 (and the one that had a fire last week, set by a student) yet just lost its assistant principal to another school (the assistant was pulled to become interim principal at another New Haven public school).

Now why would the “braintrust” at NHPS headquarters pull an administrator from a Tier 3 school like mine which—according to Mayo and his cronies—needs all the support it can get?  Worse, my school still does not have an assistant principal.

Also, if anybody has a good reason why Mayo, being paid $226K annually, needs a chief of staff, a CEO, a reform director, a magnet schools director, and an assistant superintendent in addition to department heads, please post.

The chief of staff, CEO, reform director, magnet schools director, and assistant superintendent each make well over $100K plus benefits.  This doesn’t even count the department heads, principals and assistant principals, who also make close to or more than $100K.

Last I checked, none of these people work with kids.  And some of them have neither the experience nor background to govern a teaching staff, never mind a student body.

posted by: Jonathan Hopkins on March 21, 2011  6:56pm

Prior to 1998, the Wexler School was mostly populated with children from the Elm Haven public housing complex, which had one of the highest crime rates per square mile in the northeastern United States. I wonder why children may have under preformed in their schools as compared to a school like Hooker. It must be the schools, there is no other explanation.
The Wexler School combined with Helene Grant during the Monterey Homes construction project, which replaced the old Elm Haven housing projects. This brought children from the Saint Martin townhouses (section 8), Florence Virtue houses, Monetery Homes (public housing with some market rate units), and low-income sections of the Dixwell neighborhood into the same school. The fact that this neighborhood is over-whelmingly low-income has nothing to do with the quality of education that the schools are able to deliver?
How is this argument taken seriously?

posted by: Manny on March 21, 2011  7:24pm

It is not Dr. Williams fault that he was put to be in charge of a school he may not wanted to be at! But was forced to be there! In addition, no Principal should be allowed to stay in a school over five years…every five yeas an administrator should be moved! Also, learning starts in the home!!! Educators must deal with what comes to them and that is in this day and time an unstructured home for Teachers and Principals to deal with.

posted by: jimmy john on March 21, 2011  9:00pm

Why must the world blame the teachers for the failing schools?  This so called pick a new team of teachers will not change a thing until we as a society are willing to stop taking the blame for the lack of parental responsibility.  Eating lunch and more prep time is not going to help a kid that goes home and does not do his homework,  it all starts at home. It would be interesting to see the percentage of troubled students that come from singe parent homes, work status and their history of education.  I bet it repeats its self.

posted by: tic tock on March 21, 2011  9:02pm

You can not blame the teaches or the administration.  If the kid(s) do not want to learn and their parent does not teach them the importance the same thing will occur year after year .........

posted by: Goatville mom on March 21, 2011  9:21pm

Ed is spot on—-why does it take 16 YEARS to figure out that someone isn’t doing their job and make a change? In what other sector would that be tolerated? And where will he go next? Perhaps the same place one of the other ex-principals mentioned in the article went—another high paying admin job, where he can’t even be bothered to answer parents’ phone calls /emails. Not to pick on this guy—he’s only one example of the huge, underlying problem. Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

posted by: Outraged! on March 21, 2011  11:14pm

Lonnie Garris and Leroy Williams were the leaders of Hillhouse and Clemente for many years.  The fact that these two schools were allowed to serve children so poorly for so long says something about the leader of the NHPS system.  How sad for the thousands of children who left these schools ill-prepared for their future.  How about a turnaround for the leadership of NHPS system?

posted by: Jonathan Hopkins on March 22, 2011  8:10am

“why does it take 16 YEARS to figure out that someone isn’t doing their job and make a change? In what other sector would that be tolerated?”

In other professions the bosses pick their employees based on their applications, qualifications and interviews. Public school principles are dealt a hand and must work with it. Is a principle going to perform better if the students come from stable neighborhoods as opposed to low-income, crime plagued neighborhoods? What about the teachers?
However, it is not fair to white wash bad teaching practices and a top-heavy school district entirely with the circumstances that children face in their neighborhoods and homes then bring into the school. School reform that resulted in less excessive administrative positions and less wasteful spending on things like the elaborate, private yellow busing system (we have a public transit system), combined with measures to increase employment opportunities for low-skill workers would be a much more worthwhile investment of public funds.

posted by: Been Here, Doing That on March 22, 2011  10:09am

I have been working here at Clemente for 10+ years. I have a son who is in college now and one who is in the eighth grade here, who has applied nationally to private schools. You can point fingers at the Principal, teachers, and administrators, but until there is some accountability placed on the parents nothing will change. You also can bring in the Barack Obama, and the the House of Representatives and any professor throughout the nation, but until Clemente is stopped being used as a dumping ground, nothing will change. we have had students leave here prepared for various high schools in the area who have gone on to be productive members of society. They have attended fine institutions throughout the U.S.and come back to tell us how much this school prepared them for life. I invite anyone to come spend a quarter of your day at Clemente and view some classrooms and hallways before you form an opinion about this school. PARENTS MUST BE HELD RESPONSIBLE!!! We can only teach those who come here everyday to meet EDDY!!! you may ask, who is EDDY? He is EDDY-U-CATION

posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS on March 22, 2011  10:30am

Jimmy John and others -

The chief reason why teachers are at the center of blame is not because of their classroom activities.  The real public anger directed at them is because through their unions, they resist commonsense reforms.  Collectively, NHPS teachers send tens of thousands of dollars out of their paychecks to pay to:

1.  Fight to keep ineffective teachers in front of children;

2.  Fight to preserve certification laws that act as a barrier against highly qualified and talented educators from coming into the public system to teach;

3.  Harrass and attempt to unionize charter school faculty so that these ground-breaking schools become less of a threat to the lucrative AFT and CEA business models;

4.  Insist on preserving a 6 1/2 hour school day and an archaic 182-day school calendar;

If teachers just focused on teaching as well as they can in their classrooms and stopped funding all of the destructive political action up at the statehouse, I think that people in general would have a lot more sympathy for their plight.  I, for one would.

posted by: Goatville mom on March 22, 2011  11:25am

No doubt that kids who come to Wexler-Grant have more issues than kids who come to Hooker, and far fewer advantages. But that means that we have to work harder with the W-G kids, not throw up our hands and blame them and their parents. I refuse to accept that poor kids of color can’t do well—and so should NHPS, from the Superintendent on down. Dr. Mayo gave an interview to the Advocate a few years back that made the same basic claim—‘what can you expect with what they give me to work with?’. That is shameful. Making a living (and a ... good living at that) on kids’ backs and then blaming them and their parents.
We can’t afford to write kids off because they were born in less than optimal neighborhoods or to less than optimal parents.

posted by: junebugjune on March 22, 2011  11:39am

Been here doing that said: “until Clemente is stopped being used as a dumping ground.”

When educators use this kind of language, it’s really no wonder kids are not meeting their potential.

“Dumping Ground?!” These kids are not garbage, none of them, even the ones who come from difficult homes, who have lost their way.  We may need to find new ways to serve these kids and better support our teachers and schools as a whole, but I roundly reject the notion that it is appropriate to refer to any New Haven schools, and by extension New Haven students in this fashion.

When an educator has decided before walking into the building each day that certain children can’t/won’t learn, that educator should take a good hard look at his/herself and consider a career change for all our sakes.  I’d rather not waste my tax dollars paying the salary of someone who approaches such an important job with that attitude.

At the same time, I believe that the health of our families and communities is crucial to our educational system and the well being of our city.

posted by: Hillhouse Alum on March 22, 2011  12:51pm

In defense of Dr. Williams (not that he needs it) he’s a really good principal and truly DEDICATED! You can always find him at the school even on weekends WORKING! He goes far beyond the call of duty and is doing the best possible with a very disadvantaged student and family population. While it me be easy to point the finger at the leader when things aaren’toing well, it’s not the appappropriatend to play here. Teachers are the one’s in the classroom doing the leg work and if they don’t buy into the program it’s doomed to fail. Furthermore if parents and guardians are n’t sending their children to school alert, awake, feed and properly cared for the students would preform better! A LOT of New Haven’s schools are failing and lets not have the wool pulled over our eyes with the newly adopted tiering process. The student population at Clemente and other schools like Wexler-Grant and Lincoln Bassett are EXTREMLY homogenohomogeneouss show that students in classrooms where 100% of all students are low-income and face a myriad of socioeconomic issues (lack of health care, malnutrition and exposure to high crime areas) will not fair as well as would a student in a mixed-income and socioeconomic background classroom. ISN’T THAT THE PREMISE OF MAGNET SCHOOLS???? (Clearly a rethoricarhetorical)

posted by: ElisaQ on March 22, 2011  2:06pm

@Fix the Schools:

First of all, the areas of this country with the strongest teachers’ unions have the strongest schools. Those with the weakest unions have the lowest performing schools. There is a reason for that fact: better working conditions lead to better results.

“1.Fight to keep ineffective teachers in front of children”
Why would we fight for that? Ridiculous. We fight for decent working conditions. Administrators can fire any teacher, even those with “tenure” (which, for public school teachers really only means the right to due process). Also, let’s stop pretending that all veteran teachers are worthless. Experience is a powerful teacher, and the veteran educators I know are incredibly skilled and dedicated.

“2.Fight to preserve certification laws that act as a barrier against highly qualified and talented educators from coming into the public system to teach;”
Uncertified teachers are not highly qualified. I can’t say that all of my education courses were equally valuable, but my degree matters. I am better prepared to teach and more successful because I am truly dedicated to the craft of teaching. This is not a whim for those of us who have worked hard to EARN this position.

“3.Harrass and attempt to unionize charter school faculty so that these ground-breaking schools become less of a threat to the lucrative AFT and CEA business models;”
Making an offer is not harassment. If everything is as amazing as you say in the charters, you shouldn’t be threatened by this offer. If everything is so great, won’t your teachers just say “no thank you”?

“4.Insist on preserving a 6 1/2 hour school day and an archaic 182-day school calendar;”
No teacher works only 6.5 hours a day. We need to be in the building when the students are here and before and/or after school to offer extra help, but much of our work is portable and flexible. If a teacher prefers to plan and grade on his/her own time, there is no reason to keep him/her in the building. If a teacher needs to pick up his/her kids, spend time with them, and then get back to work when they are in bed, why is that a problem? As for the extended school year, at many charters the summer school is the same as it is in public schools: remedial work. Not all AF students attend school beyond June.

posted by: BEEN THERE DOING THAT on March 22, 2011  2:34pm

@ junebugjune, you have to accept my invitation to know what I am saying. as a person who has lived right here in this community and been educated in the New haven system i feel I am an authority on how things used to be and how they are now.Now I say once again until parents become involved in their child’s education process you will not get anything positive. The only parents we see are those whose children are aachieving more often than not we never see a parent after orientation, is that our fault? Addresses change along with contact numbers and our hands are tied, the only time the parent comes here is when they feel their child has been wronged, until they get the real story. I along with many other teachers wake up each morning with zest and zeal to help these students with all they need. We need the parents to meet us halfway with the same energy. as long as you continue to make excuses for the reasons they are not aachievingyou are giving them that “out” that they always choose to take. You have no idea how many times I have heard, “so what” and “i don’t care”. It is time for us to push someone up rather them hold them back with our “crab mentality

posted by: Jonathan Hopkins on March 22, 2011  3:21pm

“we have to work harder with the W-G kids”

Is that fair? Why should one public school get more resources than another? Why should one school’s teachers be required to work longer hours to make up for a child’s deficient home and neighborhood life?
If schools that have low-performing students are reformed with better teachers, more resources and more funding, is that fair? Why shouldn’t schools that might be performing adequately or exceptionally not have access to those same things? Well, because if that were to happen, we wouldn’t get rid of the education gap, we’d just raise all boats with a rising tide. And that is assuming that school reform is capable of overcoming socioeconomic conditions that children face, which is something that I personally am pessimistic about.
I attended NHPS from 1994-2007, and there were many kids that ran circles around my in grade school in terms of reading comprehension and math, yet today they are single teen mothers, in jail, dead or addicted to cocaine because they were unable to overcome immense forces in their neighborhoods and homes by the time they were in middle and high school. How are longer school hours going to stop the gun shots that wake children up almost nightly in some neighborhoods? How is a better curriculum going to stop neighborhood bullies from jumping and mugging kids as they walk home from their bus stop on a weekly basis?

I do not believe in favoritism funding in school reform, which is necessary in order to address the education gap through the schools. Without favoritism, the education gap will not change.
I believe in opportunity for people who want to better themselves, which is why I support bringing an abundance of low-skill jobs into working class neighborhoods so that people can easily access them, earn a wage, support a family, and become encouraging and hopeful parents.

posted by: Jonathan Hopkins on March 22, 2011  3:36pm

Fix,
“1.  Fight to keep ineffective teachers in front of children”

My 7th grade class tormented a new teacher for months until she had a nervous break down and quit. Since she was ineffective, should she have been fired before she was allowed to stay in the classroom for 3 months and not teach us?
Most “ineffective” teachers are only ineffective because of the students. Sure, there are some that are just bad and shouldn’t be teaching, but how does an outsider discern? What is the criteria used to determine ineffectiveness? Is student performance heavily weighed in this criteria? If reform had begun when the school reconstruction project did, then many of my middle school teachers would be out of a job because I rarely did homework, and my classroom antics prevented a lot of teaching from occurring during class. Was that my very nice and caring teacher’s fault, or should I, and other students, have been blamed?
Lucky for me I got my sh*t together and straightened up. Unfortunately, that is not often the case for many students and we have to look outside of the schools for the solutions. It may be nice to think that problem can be addressed through the sweet little children, but the reality is that the solutions will come from confronting thugs, ex-convicts, drug addicts, and extremely morally degraded grown ups.

posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS on March 22, 2011  9:08pm

ElisaQ

THIS area of the country has the strongest union grip on school policy and law which correlates directly with the largest achievement gap in the nation. And you won’t find a stronger union environment than in Bridgeport which has some of the worst results found anywhere.

Just out of curiousity, how do you define “better working conditions”?  And please make a connection to helping children learn how to read, write, and compute.

Q: Why would you fight to keep ineffective teachers in front of children?  A: To maintain maximum membership in the union.  Next year when New Haven is forced to lay-off an additional 160 teachers, all of them will be let go based on tenure only.  There will be no measure of effectiveness whatsoever. That’s what your union wanted. 

In Hartford, there is actully a rule that states that in the event of a tie in terms of tenure the tie-breaker is, get this, the last 4 digits of the teachers social security number!  Your idea of effective is a random SS#?

Due Process: The union’s version of “due process” would keep a principal busy for the better part of two years before being able to dismiss an incompetent teacher.  If you are a parent, would you want your child sitting in a class with an incompetent teacher for TWO years?  Those two years can be the difference between success and failure in life.

The article says that all teachers who are let go in a historically failing school get automatic re-assignments.  Can you name one other industry in which this happens?  Which children will they teach when they are transferred? 

Veteran teachers: No one is saying that veteran teachers are worthless.  In fact, master teachers are worth their weight in gold.  The combination of experience and excellence is unbeatable.  Those teachers ought to be paid extremely well based on the results that they achieve or help others achieve.  But the union steadfastly resists any proposal for indivudual merit pay or any performance differentiation.

Certification:  Why do the majority of private schools not bother to have their teachers become certified?  Why do the majority of parochial schools not bother with inane certification requirements or state standards?  Only in a failing system is “certified” synonymous with quality.  Elsewhere certfication is generally known to be worthless as a proxy of effectiveness. 

But please don’t take it from me, take it from Arthur Levine, former President of Teachers College at Columbia .  Dr. Levine called the vast majority of teacher prep programs in the country “ineffective”.

Organizing:  The teachers are not mine.  They are all stellar individuals who choose to think and speak for themselves.  But let’s get real. The AFT and the CEA are businesses - BIG businesses and they are threatened by the existence of high-performing charter schools.  Their organizing attempt is an effort to inject a culture that is incompatible with a positive learning environment for children.  But that’s not the point, is it? 

And Jonathan Hopkins,

You’re staking out quite an extreme position,no?  Students are to blame for their teachers ineffectiveness - and even their sanity?  If you were a doctor, would you blame the patients for being too sick?

posted by: Threefifths on March 23, 2011  12:34am

posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS on March 22, 2011 9:08pm

Organizing:  The teachers are not mine.  They are all stellar individuals who choose to think and speak for themselves.  But let’s get real. The AFT and the CEA are businesses - BIG businesses and they are threatened by the existence of high-performing charter schools.  Their organizing attempt is an effort to inject a culture that is incompatible with a positive learning environment for children.  But that’s not the point, is it? 

And the Charter schools are big businesses,Which are run by Right Wing corporate vampires for profit.

The Faces of School Reform
By John Tarleton
From the January 29, 2010

http://www.indypendent.org/2010/01/29/faces-of-school-reform/

Obama and the Charter School Sugar Daddies
Wed, 06/02/2010 - 13:48 — Glen Ford

http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/obama-and-charter-school-sugar-daddies

Albany charter cash cow: Big banks making a bundle on new construction as schools bear the cost
Juan Gonzalez - News

Friday, May 7th 2010, 4:00 AM

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/05/07/2010-05-07_albany_charter_cash_cow_big_banks_making_a_bundle_on_new_construction_as_schools.html

Don’t take my word.Take hers.

Diane Ravitch Uncensored

http://dailycensored.com/2011/03/04/diane-ravitch-uncensored/

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/03/20/obama-s-war-on-schools.html

P.S. I for BEAO.Ceck there money tree.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/poisoned_tree.htm

http://www.blackcommentator.com/7_voucher_tricksters.htm

posted by: Tom Burns on March 23, 2011  1:02am

Thank you Mr. Leroy Williams for your hard work and dedication to the children of Clemente over all those years——you have been a light in many a child’s life—

Fix is so far off I can’t even comment—...

Mr. Hopkins-although in many posts you are a bit wordy—you are very intelligent—wish I was one of your teachers who could take credit for helping you along—-your post is right on as so many of your posts have been in the past—

and to all you teacher posters—keep doing what you are doing—for the people thatcount adore you—for those that don’t count—it really doesn’t matter—-You public school teachers are my heroes—

God bless my teachers—I remember all their names—Ms. Weigh in Kindergarten—Ms.Brown in 1st grade—Ms. Shea in 2nd, Ms. Flanagan in 3rd—Ms. Quinlan in 4th, Mr. Grigoraitis in 5th and Mr. Capone in 6th——Thank you for putting up with me and for making me what I am today—-Tom

posted by: ElisaQ on March 23, 2011  7:27am

@FixTheSchools

“THIS area of the country has the strongest union grip on school policy and law.”
Stronger unions mean stronger schools across the nation: http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ617440&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ617440

“how do you define ‘better working conditions’?  And please make a connection to helping children.”
Unlike the charter schools, which cycle through one group of teachers after another and let people go claiming “we do hard work here” rather than admitting “we are burn-out factories with no real teacher development (and we prefer cheap labor),” my union understands that teachers who have time to sleep and time outside of school hours to get their school paperwork done will be able to plan more effective lessons, provide more meaningful feedback to their students, and reach out more frequently to parents. 

“Q: Why would you fight to keep ineffective teachers?  A: To maintain maximum membership in the union.”
We have plenty of members in our union.

“Due Process: The union’s version of ‘due process’ would keep a principal busy for the better part of two years”
And it should! New teachers who are struggling need support and development so that we can create a stable environment for our children. Abandoning an “ineffective” teacher will not help kids; administrators getting in there and helping to make changes will.

50% of teachers leave the profession within the first five years, and the early years are usually where the problems are despite a media blitz claiming otherwise. We need to do work to develop people who really want to do this job, not people who want to put in a couple of years and then move on. As for seemingly random approaches to layoffs, in New Haven, we are currently working to develop a program to evaluate teachers. In the charters, there is no system for developing talent; there is simply tremendous turn-over of faculty and less stability than ever in the lives of children who need it most.

“The article says that all teachers who are let go in a historically failing school get automatic re-assignments.”
If the teachers are truly ineffective, they won’t last long in the system. This shifting around of teachers does not mean that the teachers are not good at their jobs. They are not the sole reason the schools are “failing,” even though it’s a simple sound-bite ready answer.

“Veteran teachers: No one is saying that veteran teachers are worthless.”
Yet, you imply it every time you complain about “ineffective teachers” hiding behind tenure. Which, again, does not mean what you want people to think it does. In our litigious society, it’s difficult to fire anyone in any industry. Teachers are working on a plan to make sure it’s fair, which is more than any other industry is doing.

“Why do the majority of private schools not bother to have their teachers become certified?”
Because they work with a very different population. Do you really think you need the same skills to teach in a school where disruptive children are asked to leave?

“But let’s get real. The AFT and the CEA are businesses - BIG businesses”
No. Unions are looking to keep a profession that benefits our children going strong. CHARTERS are big business. You ask me to take Arthur Levine’s word for it? What about Diane Ravitch, former US Secretary of Ed who championed the same things you do until she saw the reality. She now pulls back the curtain so that people can see that charters want to BUILD THEIR BUSINESSES on the backs of our children: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/nov/11/myth-charter-schools/

posted by: Jonathan Hopkins on March 23, 2011  7:32am

“Those two years can be the difference between success and failure in life.”

This is a fairly accurate statement and it is precisely what I find so cynical about our society. If children don’t achieve a high level of education, they’re out of luck. I found that extremely distressing. Even children who don’t achieve a high level of education should have a chance at a decent life where they can raise a family, afford housing and have discretionary time for friends and recreation.
One mistake during schooling and the person is burdened for life with inaccessibility to employment for their skill level. People have to take multiple buses for hours to distant communities that offer low-skill jobs like suburban retirement home kitchens. Time is wasted commuting, money is wasted on bus tickets, and the children suffer by not having a parent present.
It makes more sense to stop outsourcing jobs, bring back outsourced jobs and simply pay more for services and goods and substantially less on taxes that go towards programs to address the effects of outsourcing. And who knows maybe in a couple generations everyone will be economically stable enough to achieve a high level of education and we can outsource jobs without having the rub being pulled out from under neath anyone.

The medical reference is a separate issue. While advancements in the medical field should be applauded and pursued (as should logical reforms in schools), what would have the largest impact on health in this country does not involve hospitals or doctors. People are largely unhealthy in this country for several reasons, 1) the do not get daily routine exercise like walking 20 blocks to and from work, 2) they eat food grown with chemical pesticides and herbicides, too much hormone-filled meat, and too much processed food, 3) we breathe pollution-filled air, 4) we are over-prescribed medication unnecessarily by a medical profession that is bought by large drug companies, 5) many do not have access to good, affordable health care for routine check-ups.
It has little to do with doctors.

posted by: brutus2011 on March 23, 2011  11:57am

I would like to know why some schools, such as Barnard School, are not being completely reorganized. I know for a fact that no other school in New Haven has the amount of resources being put into it as does Barnard. Is the principal and his leadership team accountable in the same way as other school leaders? Why not? Is there some kind of political agenda that needs to be brought to public scrutiny? These are the kinds of questions and issues that need to be raised.

posted by: Goatville mom on March 23, 2011  12:02pm

“Is that fair? Why should one public school get more resources than another?”

You have got to be kidding. Why don’t you ask children and families in poverty what they think is fair? If things were fair, we wouldn’t have children and families in these dire circumstances. It’s ridiculous to blame poverty and the inequalities in this country on personal choices.

The kids like those in W-G need more, so yes it is fair to give them more. The kids at Hooker (for example) simply don’t need what those at W-G need.

posted by: Paul Ferrino, Math&History; Teacher on March 23, 2011  12:08pm

I believe that NHPS should explore teacher-led schools before they turn buildings over to private companies such as Domus or Achievement First, etc. Teachers are dedicated and educated in the fight to teach our kids. I know, I am such a teacher. I am only one of many such passionate and caring professionals. If we are to be held accountable, as we certainly are, for the success of our students, then give us the power and control to lead our schools. The current system is ineffective. Everyone knows this…the problem is how to effective real change. Everyone know this as well. Why do the same or similar things with the same people calling the shots and expect different results? This is not disrespect…this is plain logic!

posted by: Jonathan Hopkins on March 23, 2011  7:11pm

Goatville Mom,
You misunderstand my argument. I do not think that large scale poverty (25% of New Haven’s population, close to 35% of New Haven’s children) is the result of personal choices. I think it is the result of decades of low-skill job outsourcing in the form of service jobs moving to the suburbs along with the middle class following WW2 and manufacturing jobs leaving the country to exploit cheap labor in the 3rd world. Newhallville used to have 20,000 low skill manufacturing jobs with decent pay within walking distance of almost every home at Winchester Repeating Arms. Since 2006, zero residents are employed at the factory because it closed. This has a direct impact on schools, a far larger impact than a few bad teachers and few too many administrators.
My proposal for fixing the achievement gap is to uplift the underemployed and unemployed populations through decent employment opportunities within their neighborhoods in the form of jobs for their skill levels. This would raise income, get people off public assistance, and provide children with a home and neighborhood life that is conductive to development. This translates into better preparedness for school and the teachers are better able to teach a student population that is doing homework, getting encouragement from parents and getting supplemental education in their neighborhoods instead of getting jumped by bullies, mugged by drug addicts and woken up by gunshots.

posted by: Amir Kabesr on March 23, 2011  7:31pm

Give me a break…
Williams is no hero here. Tom
You know the success of a school is top down!

How many lives do we sacrifice?

As a parent of a student at Clemente who has been there and heard the language and seen the fighting recently during the CMT pep rally.. Thank the lord it was not televised on Channel 8. I was shocked! Where is the discipline?
My daughter tells me horror stories daily. This is her last year there.  The school will be better off with this turnaround. Remember these are precious lives that deserve a good education, not just a new building.

posted by: I'm There For The Children on March 23, 2011  8:50pm

I find it interesting that in all of the ideas presented for turning around Clemente, there is not a significant component that address parental involvement.

If doing homework, respecting teachers, and getting an education are not valued in a child’s home, imagine the attitude he or she has when they enter the classroom.

Yes, let’s look at teachers, administrators, policies, curriculums to see if they are aligned with serving our students. However, we must also encourage parents to play their vital role in the school’s team.

posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS on March 23, 2011  8:53pm

ELISAQ,

Your information about AF and charters schools is wrong.  It might surprise you to know that at AF:

- There is a far higher rate of teacher retention than in NHPS; 

- Most teachers who choose to leave AF are moving to another area of the country;

- Teachers receive far more professional development than NHPS teachers do; 

- The talent development model at high performing charter schools is being studied and adopted by public school districts all around the country;

- Right now AF is actively engaged in providing leadership training to NHPS; 

- That most charter schools including AF are 501C3 not-for-profit organizations and have no “owners” who are getting rich. 

- Every person at AF works on a year-to-year contract and is reviewed based on their job performance just like most successful industries in this country;

- AF schools spend 10% of total cost on central administration. NHPS spends between 30-40%.

If you want to see for yourself what a charter school is, and so you can be more accurate in your criticisms, perhaps you would consider attending a future visitor morning at Amistad.  You would learn a lot.

And JH, your observations about the causation of our societal problems are usually spot on.  But like your solutions for schools (fix poverty first), your solutions are akin to lowering the river instead of raising the bridge.  How about we build a higher bridge while simultaneously doing a little dredging?  (sorry to mix metaphors).

posted by: Tom Burns on March 23, 2011  11:38pm

I hear you Amir—we have yet to get the behavior/discipline area right and this is our greatest challenge——we in the reform movement plan to attempt new initiatives to make sure our children understand boundaries and standards of normal behavior—-don’t give up on us yet—-we are only into year one in reform and proper student behavior and decorum is our next mission—-and the MOST IMPORTANT one if we are to achieve our goals for the children.

And to Fix—-charter schools were intended to be our models for innovation—but they have become our competition—-what snakes—-

And non-profit leaders certainly enrich themselves—ask Ms. Moskovitz in NY what she makes and while your at it ask Alex Johnston what he pays himself—

It’s a NON-PROFIT so they must do it for free—right——NOPE—-and while your at it ask the biggest fraud in the country—Michelle Rhee what she pays herself in her new non-profit—Never on earth has there been such a charlatan—-Failed as a teacher and failed in DC—yet people still listen to her cause she is the poster child for the rich getting richer at the expense of our children—what a shame—-Tom

posted by: RichTherrn on March 24, 2011  6:08am

Fix wrote this misleading comparisons:
“- There is a far higher rate of teacher retention than in NHPS; “
Not sure that either number is public, so don’t know how you decide that. My knowledge is that is about equal.

“- Teachers receive far more professional development than NHPS teachers do; ”
It depends on what you count as PD, job embedded, meetings, workshops, etc…

“- AF schools spend 10% of total cost on central administration. NHPS spends between 30-40%.”

I would challenge the last statement especially, having seen the budget and staff lists, as very false. And its tough to compare, since AF has partner organizations and foundations that assist it.
Please move past negative portrayals and comparisons of your partner school system and just continue to inform about your own.
I think you are correct in that many teachers (and 3/5) lump AF charter schools in with many other for profit charter schools CMOs they hear/read about, and that may lead to misleading impressions.
But you can correct them without putting us down.
The latest reform announcements show the tremendous work of many dedicated educators and should be welcomed.
-Richard Therrien
-NHPS Science Supervisor

posted by: RichTherrn on March 24, 2011  6:18am

brutus2011: Barnard was reorganized last year in the transformation model of school improvement… which means with a recently hired principal, new assistant principal, and that added/reorganized their leadership in a new model. They also had new work rules, so teachers had to agree to that to stay at the school. href=“http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/barnard_teachers_face_longer_day/” They also had new work rules, so teachers had to agree to that to stay at the school.</a> The whole point behind school reform is that different models are being applied to different schools. As research shows, districts that support differentiated supports to schools are the most successful.
-Richard Therrien
-NHPS Science Supervisor

posted by: ElisaQ on March 24, 2011  6:21am

@FixTheSchools

You can make these claims, but anyone who lives and works in the area knows teachers who have been through the AF ringer. When you hear the same stories over and over from a variety of sources. . . well, a picture becomes fairly clear.

And I have visited AF schools. The students at the high school, despite having been in the AF wonder system since fifth grade, were still behind. The administration seemed overwhelmed by “sweating the small stuff” and was ignoring several bigger issues. The teachers were wondering how to get their students to “stop merely doing and start thinking,” yet they were relying heavily on a model that promoted exactly that approach. The school was OK, but it did not come anywhere close to impressing me.

posted by: Threefifths on March 24, 2011  9:16am

Most of these schools were the teachers work longer hours are nothing more then Teacher Sweat Shops.

http://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blogs/kipp-reform-schoolsteacher

posted by: Goatville mom on March 24, 2011  12:44pm

@Tom Burns, “non-profit” doesn’t mean for free. If you want an excellent example of the rich getting richer at the expense of our children, just look at the NHPS administration.
@I’m there for the children, are you sure parental involvement is welcome? I’m not. Example, our friends who called school to meet with Principal to talk about their daughter, who was to start in K in the fall. They were told that the Prin. “doesn’t have time” to meet with them. Nice way to start off in the school, huh? Look what happened with Hooker School in recent past—new principal assigned with zero parent input, they were just informed. Seems the NHPS wants only a certain kind of “involvement”, if any.

posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS on March 24, 2011  10:19pm

Rich,

I will stop hammering the NHPS educators when they stop paying their union lobbyists to undermine AF at every turn.  Why can’t your colleagues stop trying to dismantle charter schools?

Are you aware that at this very moment the AFT-CT is fighting to have a significant number of AF teachers and principals removed from their schools because they aren’t properly “certified” according to the union-written state law?  We’re talking about some of the most effective teachers in the entire state and the unions want to have them removed from classrooms.

Do you not agree that this is pure protectionism of adults at the expense of children? 

Here’s a proposition: When you and other leaders from NHPS, including Dave Cicarella want to accompany me up to the legislature to meet with Ed committee leaders to tell them that you are NOT in support of this blatant anti-child harassment of gap-closing charter schools, I’ll stop writing about uncomfortable truths about NHPS. Deal?

ElisaQ - The real difference between your system and high performing charter schools isn’t the children.  The kids are the same.  They have the same challenges and the same struggles.  The clue to the real difference between the two systems is found in your derisive description of AF as “wonder” schools and Tom Burns’ focus on charters as “competition”. Your system is built around the goal of adult employment and benefits while high-performing charters are centered on the needs of the child. 

The sad irony is that for all of the protections, work rules, and “rights” that are built into the teacher contracts in NHPS and other districts, you haven’t been able to construct a school environment that people feel is hopeful, ambitious, energizing, and supportive of the desires of great teachers to want to make a difference in the lives of children.  Lawyers and binding arbitration just don’t get you there. 

AF has challenges.  As an organization that aspires to closing the education gap for all children, it always will have challenges.  But they will never make excuses or settle for just good enough.  They will do whatever it takes to serve the best interests of their students. 

As for the progress at the high school, AF will never rest.  But sometimes folks ought to pause to reflect on the achievements of the students of Amistad High.  Just recently, we learned that for the second staright year, that every senior at Amistad High was accepted into a 4-year college.  You may look at charter schools with disdain because they “compete” with NHPS.  But for New Haven students and their parents, these great schools mean all the difference in the world.

posted by: ElisaQ on March 25, 2011  7:07am

“The real difference. . .isn’t the children.” 
I never said it was. I simply said that after many years in your system, the students were still behind. AF clearly does not have the solutions it claims to have.

“you haven’t been able to construct a school environment that people feel is hopeful, ambitious, energizing, and supportive”
The energy in NHPS schools is AMAZING! We are working for our students, and we won’t stop. Even after we close the gap, we will keep working to improve. We are working to serve the needs of our kids; it’s the entire reason we do this difficult, demanding, WONDERFUL, meaningful job.

“AF has challenges.”
Why should we be understanding of your challenges when you aren’t understanding of ours? AF and KIPP hold themselves up as the answer, so you will be judged according to that measure. Also, the energy in Amistad when I visited was far from positive. The teachers were frustrated, as were the students; no one was energized. I appreciated that they were working hard, but it was not nearly as strong a school as the PR materials lead the community to believe.

“But they will never make excuses or settle for just good enough.”
Neither do we. Just because we want decent and fair working conditions doesn’t mean that we make excuses.

“reflect on the achievements of the students of Amistad High.”
Like the falling test scores while those at many NHPS high schools are rising?

“every senior at Amistad High was accepted into a 4-year college.”
How many students were in the graduating class? If any given NHPS school only had to get twenty or thirty kids to college, do you really think it wouldn’t happen? Also, what percentage of AF students returned to NHPS schools between 5th and 12th grade? Do you count those students in your stastistics?

“You may look at charter schools with disdain because they ‘compete’ with NHPS.”
I could not care less that you are competing. The public will realize the truth behind your claims eventually.

posted by: RichTherrn on March 25, 2011  7:38pm

Fix: when did this article become about certification? I took issue with your other comparisons between NHPS and charters as a way to inform others by putting down NHPS… It would be great if you could stay on a topic!

... and by the way, no I don’t agree that charters should have different certification laws than public schools. (is that your current issue?)
but I DO agree cert laws need to be changed. and I HAVE testified many times in Hartford about the need to change them. My views are public record. And trust me, I’ve been working on this for 20 years, and I think you ascribe way too much influence to teacher unions in things like this. Cert regs are written by bureaucrats and in some cases university professors wanting to prove their need for “high quality teachers”
-Richard Therrien
NHPS Science Supervisor

posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS on March 26, 2011  3:34pm

Rich, We got into cert. because it was about the union power which was about teacher-bashing which was about who to blame for the need to turn schools around…I agree, pretty convoluted.

Also I would like to apologize to the local AFT for blaming them for lobbying against the proposed changes to the certifcation law which incidentally came out of ed. committee yesterday on a 30-2 vote (Yeah!).

The AFT-CT in fact was NOT lobbying against this bill as far as I understand.  It was opposed exclusively by Yrchik at the CEA. 

I am obviously not a fan of public teacher unions as a general construct. However, I am aware of the differences between the various locals and their statewide organization.  I am also aware of the differences between the AFT and the NEA which can be quite significant. 

I am sure the need for criticism will continue but I apologize for the mistake and I will try to be more accurate in the future.

Yes, we need to change certification laws for all.  How about a test-out option for mastery of various disciplines and great latitude granted for any school which has a demonstrated track record of high student performance?