New Haven Independent

posted by: Threefifths on February 3, 2012  5:19pm

So if there are three surprises, I return with two resolutions. New Haven must become the urban school district in America where every child gets a public education that ensures lifelong success.  And second, as a community we need to actively and urgently work to match our residents’ skills to today’s employers, not yesterday’s

And the third resolutions will be this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww2JEQXezhA

posted by: HewNaven?? on February 3, 2012  5:59pm

“New Haven must become the urban school district in America where every child gets a public education that ensures lifelong success.”

If we’re going to take this seriously, we need to add three things that are almost never taught in schools:

1. How money works
2. How the body works / preventative healthcare
3. How to repair our infrastructure / engineering & construction

If we continue to leave these three things out of our education system, we will never be able to “ensure lifelong success.” In fact, we may actually be ensuring failure by not teaching these things.

posted by: brutus2011 on February 3, 2012  6:24pm

This post by Mayor DeStefano is a revealing moment. In fact, it immediately caused me to literally gasp as I absorbed its implications.

I can only repeat what James Bond might say, “My apologies Blofeld, an inspired plan!”

So this was the plan all along, even going back to the school reconstruction project.

These beautiful new schools are for the charters. The governor’s call to reduce state certification requirements is to allow ed managers to pressure their workers (teachers) because the lessening requirements will dramatically increase the pool of available teachers.

My apologies, it is an inspired plan Blofeld.

For those who truly care about educating our young, I see now that this is a loser’s game.

Demons hide in plain sight.

Lord have mercy on our souls.

posted by: Threefifths on February 3, 2012  8:15pm

@brutus2011 You are on the money. In fact they are all ready doing it in New York.

Wed Dec 28, 2011 at 08:16 PM PST.

Eva Moskowitz moving her charter into another school that does not want it.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/28/1049536/-Eva-Moskowitz-moving-her-charter-into-another-school-that-does-not-want-it-

posted by: DingDong on February 3, 2012  8:20pm

(Apologies if this is the second I’m posting; the first didn’t seem to go through).

While it is great the mayor is keeping us up to date, can this really be all he took away from this conference?  That New Haven needs good schools and that we need to make sure we train them for today’s job, not yesterday’s?  That’s not exactly a pathbreaking insight. 
If that’s what he learned, what did he think before he went to the conference? 

Now I’m sure he must have learned something at the conference about how to progress towards these goals.  The mayor is a smart man, but by serving up this pablum, he treats us as if he weren’t.

posted by: Deluge on February 3, 2012  9:25pm

Gonna send him a copy of Shock Doctrine.

posted by: truthbetold on February 3, 2012  9:45pm

Dear Mr. Mayor,
Good idea! Thanks for communicating with the readers of the NHI & Thanks for sharing with us your experiences in Seattle. I hope there will be renewed interest in improving the education of the whole child. Viewing the child as a multi-dimensional, spiritual, emotional being is what is important. Thanks again for sharing.

posted by: Charter revision on February 4, 2012  7:51am

The mayor keeps writing this nonsense to readers with the assumption that someone takes him seriously.  I will repeat what I have written countless times, the mayor only cares about himself.  Period.

He sites what is going on in New Orleans as his inspiration fir New Haven alleged school reform.  While at a conference in Baton Rouge last year, obe of the leaders in the charter school movement in New Orleans said, and I quote, “the good thing about Katrina was that it washed away all the schools and allowed us to start over.” I dididn’tow there was a good thing about Katrina.  Repugnant.  However, this mentality is New Haven’s inspiration for school reform.

In addition, if you look at NAEP scores for Louisiana, they are dismal.  In fact, states with the fewest Charter schools have better NAEP scores than those with higher numbers of Charters.  And if you look at the state sets used by Louisiana, they are a joke compared to MassMassachusetts Connecticut.

We must continue to fight the hostile takeover opof schools by hedge fund managers and their partners the Gates, Walton and Broad foundations.  I, for one, refuse to stand idly by while Mayors and Governors use schools as politicos footballs to advance their own self, egomaniacal agendas.  Whether it’s Malloy, DeStefano, Christie, Corey Booker or Andrew Cuomo, none of them actually give a damn about kids, and would prostitute themselves and others, and yes, even kids, in order to get what they want.

The mayor went all the way to Seattle to learn that we need great schools.  Not only could he have learned that right here, without wasting my taxpayer money, but had he stayed, he could have found a Starbucks open earlier.  I feel really badly that he could nit get his coffee.  ...

posted by: Tom Burns on February 4, 2012  3:07pm

Brutus and three/fifths——I sure hope what you stated here isnt where we are headed—It certainly isn’t the Reform Plan we agreed to—-New Orleans certainly has one of the worst school systems in the country and the corporate vulture take-over of their schools(after Katrina) isnt a solution——-The only reason that big city mayors are looking at the Charter option is to get the schools off the books and save money by having them subsidized by private financiers—-this would lead to the end of America as we know it by having an even bigger discrepancy between the HAVES and HAVE NOTS in this country——We need to show the way—not take the easy path—we need to take the road less traveled by utilizing ORIGINAL thought and the creative juices of our talented staff to build those individual school portfolios that the mayor spoke about—sans outside intervention—-We have Domus (on a small scale) and Renaissance (on a larger one) as our present experiments——lets leave it at that for now——Unleash teacher and parent voice in our communities so that each school community can choose their methods, plan and program—-and allow the teacher to teach their classroom the way that they choose to—-Only then can we truly and fairly hold anyone accountable for our childrens growth—-I look forward to meeting with the mayor upon his return and hearing about how this trip might be helpful in moving our system forward—Tom

posted by: Threefifths on February 4, 2012  4:51pm

@Tom Burns.It is a done deal.Look at the players.

1.Garth Harries a former McKinsey consultant who has worked with Chancellor Joel Klein since 2003.

http://gothamschools.org/2009/06/08/garth-harries-to-leave-city-for-new-haven-schools-at-end-of-year/

2.Stefan Pryor He worked as policy adviser to the mayor of New Haven, Conn., from 1994 to 1997, and was the co-founder of a widely praised charter school in that city, Amistad Academy. A group that set about to expand Amistad’s model, Achievement First, has since opened additional schools in New Haven and New York City, according to Pryor’s bio. For a colorful and detailed overview of Amistad Academy, which discusses its origins and its academic approach, check out Education Week Teacher’s 2006 profile of the school.

Before coming to Newark, Pryor worked as president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. In that capacity, he served as the agency’s chief executive.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/state_edwatch/2011/09/connecticut_picks_new_schools_chief.html

Sorry friend it is a done deal.

posted by: Threefifths on February 4, 2012  4:55pm

My bad I forgot this.This will also be coming here.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=7880

posted by: brutus2011 on February 4, 2012  5:36pm

to “Tom Burns”

I don’t whether to believe you anymore, but I will say this.

This situation with our schools and charters and the future can be summed up by this reference.

If you want to boil a frog, you don’t put him in a pan of hot water because he will jump out.

You put the frog in a pan of tepid water and slowly increase the heat so that by the time the frog realizes what is happening, it is too late.

The frog is cooked—mission accomplished.

Think about how the smart money used President George W. Bush to push the agenda to privatize social security. Imagine where millions of Americans would be now if that agenda succeeded. Imagine the parties on Wall Street if social security privatization occurred.

The smart money is trying to do the same thing with public education. But they have learned from the social security defeat and are proceeding with more caution and patience. There is a 600 BILLION dollar pie at stake in this.

This is the year that, at least here in our state, they are turning up the heat a notch.

The newly appointed State Commissioner of Education is one of them.

The organization ConnCan has ceded the reins to a conservative political operative after the very capable and convincing Alex Johnston (who also sits on our Board of Ed) has stepped aside after giving ConnCan the legitimacy it needed. (He kind of fooled me!)

Governor Malloy, whether he realizes it or not, is aiding the privatization push by pushing the amending the Ct. teacher certification process.
How? The more teachers there are competing for the same jobs, then the managers can grind them as much as possible. After all, people need to make a living. Imagine if you lost your job and were burnt so you could not get another one?

New Haven Public Schools is slowly adding charter schools to its “portfolio” of schools.

The heat is slowly being turned up.

The time has come to jump out of the pan.

Or are we already “cooked?”

posted by: Threefifths on February 4, 2012  10:47pm

@brutus2011Well said In fact Check this out.

Aaron Regunberg: The Story Achievement First Doesn’t Want You to Hear
Friday, February 03, 2012

http://www.golocalprov.com/news/aaron-regunberg-the-story-achievement-first-doesnt-want-you-to-hear/

posted by: streever on February 5, 2012  9:45am

I am concerned by the focus on charters as the tool for reform.

Charters can deny kids based on any number of criteria, which is problematic for actual school reform. Gated communities where only the highest-performing kids can attend is not the way to fix a city. It is a way to give a great education to some kids who would probably do well no matter where they went.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success/250564/

posted by: Tom Burns on February 5, 2012  10:12am

To Brutus and three-fifths-
Point well taken—-Time to turn the heat down and have the frog remain partners with the human——if we cant turn the heat down then of course it is time to jump out of the pot——the future action of our school and town leaders will determine the course of action we take—although it might look like a frog, might smell like a frog, might hop like a frog——I hope it don’t taste like a frog—-
We will continue to work in a trusting fashion with the BOE while getting more involved at the state level—a group of teachers are going to the legislative offices this Saturday from 9 to 2—-we need to come up with the right recipe ourselves—not one copied from a limited Cajun chef———
Keep the faith—and—Brutus—I guarantee, you can trust me——judge me on my actions and on our successes at improving our school community as we move forward—-I still have one eye open—-Tom

posted by: Jeff Klaus on February 5, 2012  3:03pm

Great mayoral shout out to Achievement First scholars and teachers! Onward!

posted by: HhE on February 7, 2012  2:41am

streever, thanks for the link.  That was very interesting.  It will give me something to talk about at the next family get together (four generations of teachers).  Only problem, you added one more book to my long list of to be read.

posted by: streever on February 7, 2012  1:08pm

HhE
I’m glad! Your teacher family members will appreciate the sentiments, I am sure.

I don’t mean to knock charters—I think they do wonderful work, and are a test bed for new theories, teacher training, and provide a great school for many children.

However, they aren’t the sole answer. I strongly disagree with the notion that charter schools are “corporate vampires”—I laugh every time I read those comments and picture people like Jeff Klaus, or the entire staff of Common Ground.

These people are doing good work, with a somewhat self-selecting population. Would they be as successful if you opened them to every New Haven kid, not as a choice but as a de facto neighborhood school?

I haven’t seen any evidence for this, and I think the Mayor is over simplifying the problems when he says that charters will play a big role in resolving them.

I’m concerned that the mayors approach to school reform ignores larger issues and focuses on partnerships to offer scholarships. A great idea, but where is the early childhood intervention?

Is is literally just that—that with a hope of college, kids will take education seriously at the age of 10?

Our problems are far more complex than high school students motivation (or lack thereof)—one of the main problems is that our city is over-built for our population.

We are a small town in a large city, struggling to get by.

Forget blaming Yale & non-profits—can’t we instead say we need more residents? The tax burden is too hefty on the small number of residents we have now, but it wouldn’t be so bad with another 30,000 residents.

Increasing density and livable neighborhoods should be a top priority, in addition to stabilizing our current neighborhoods. This isn’t impossible, and it doesn’t contradict improving our young students lives and educations.

Every indicator favors an increase in students performance when they have stable homes and stable families.

An activity that raises student performance—and tax rolls—is investing in and improving our most depressed neighborhoods. This needs to be a priority shared across the city, and not just left to chance.

We can’t simply make a jobs pipeline, or a college program, or a community policing initiative.

We need to look at the root causes of neighborhood depression and improve the neighborhoods in a holistic and sustained way.