New Haven Independent

posted by: THREEFIFTHS on January 26, 2010  9:12am

Is a elected school board part of this reform.

posted by: Taxpayer on January 26, 2010  11:13am

How about a deadline for a failing mayor and BOE??

posted by: Grammarian on January 26, 2010  12:37pm

“The major pieces of the reform are being hashed out behind closed doors by three small committees, each one comprised of teachers, administrators and parents.”

In an article on education, it would help to get the grammar correct. “Comprise” is more or less a synonym of “is composed of,” which makes “comprised of” grammatically incorrect. If the writer wanted to keep a form of “comprises” in her sentence, she could have written, “teachers, administrators and parents comprise the committees.”

I realize that many writers think “comprise” sounds more technical or formal, causing “comprised of” to enter the American lexicon from sheer usage. But the misuse is as grating as fingernails on a chalkboard, particularly when it’s so easy to replace “comprised of” with the grammatically-correct “composed of.”

Let’s hope that New Haven’s reformed schools pay closer attention to the things that will give our students a leg up, including mastery of the verbal, quantitative and critical thinking skills essential to any successful member of society. When that happens, we’ll all rest a little easier.

posted by: Frederica Von Stade on January 26, 2010  12:51pm

They should get rid of the failing students.

posted by: streever on January 26, 2010  6:12pm

3/5ths,

I think a hybrid model is better, personally: I worry that if all the BOE members are elected, they’ll worry more about re-election. When the time comes to make tough decisions, I’d rather they were not worried about elections.

If we feel strongly that the appointed board is failing, we can always “un"elect them by changing who we vote for. That too me is the beauty of an appointed board—it puts responsibility on an elected individual without necessarily making the process overtly political.

A hybrid model where we have appointed & elected would well serve New Haven, by giving us some continuity & people who are willing to make tough decisions, but also injecting in an element of public control.

posted by: THREEFIFTHS on January 26, 2010  7:32pm

streever

3/5ths,
I think a hybrid model is better, personally: I worry that if all the BOE members are elected, they’ll worry more about re-election. When the time comes to make tough decisions, I’d rather they were not worried about elections.

If we feel strongly that the appointed board is failing, we can always “un"elect them by changing who we vote for. That too me is the beauty of an appointed board—it puts responsibility on an elected individual without necessarily making the process overtly political.

A hybrid model where we have appointed & elected would well serve New Haven, by giving us some continuity & people who are willing to make tough decisions, but also injecting in an element of public control.

Don’t politician also worry more about re-election. Also under this system of appointed you have nothing more Than ventriloquist dummies that are control by the mayor. In fact if you took a poll in new haven you would find that the people want a elected school board.

posted by: Consti2amend on January 26, 2010  10:08pm

“...which two failing schools to close…”

“...The deadline is set down in the teacher’s contract, which was ratified last October, he said. The contract lays the framework for an ambitious plan to cut the dropout rate in half, eliminate the achievement gap in five years, and turn around the city’s poorest-performing schools…”

“... The schools would be given improvement plans to take effect next school year…”

“... The teachers will have to reapply if they wish to continue teaching there. If they get rehired, they face the prospect of new work rules, which could mean a longer school day, along with more pay…”

What is going on here in NH?  We just spent $1 B-B-Billion on schools!  How can the children be failing now?!?!  Weren’t we ALL told it was because of the conditions OF the schools, that the children could NOT LEARN?

Now we have two “new” schools that are failing.  How could this be?  ALL of that money wasted!

Maybe you should give the schools the improvement plans THIS YEAR!?!?

This kind of thinking has got to stop!!!

You SHOULD NOT even TRY to place the “blame” on the teachers!
It IS the student’s fault AS WELL AS their parent(‘s)!  That is the ONLY place to put the blame! 
If the child(ern)‘s parent(s) do NOT have a diploma from High school, how do you expect them to help their own child LEARN??  And how can you PROVE IT IS THE TEACHER"S “fault”?

The teacher may have 15-24 children in their class, while the parent(s) may have only 2,3,4, oh, I don’t know{LOL} children.

A longer school day, B-b-u-u-t-t MORE MONEY?  From where will you get this “extra” money?  Raise OUR taxes AGAIN?  How many teachers will get this “new found money”?

With ALL of the “entitlement” money floating around New Haven, shouldn’t we demand MORE for it??
We MUST change the laws for this “entitlement” money!  NO government assistance WITHOUT a High school diploma!
No welfare,

No Section 8 housing,

NOTHING!

If you are trying to “force” the teachers into “teaching more/better”, shouldn’t the previous “failures”, be “PAID” to go/STAY in school?!?!

I could go on, but I will spare you my diatribe!

Vote King John and ALL of HIS cronies out!

posted by: Charlie O'Keefe on January 27, 2010  12:26am

Am I missing something here. A school is classed as non performing and shuts in June or July and opens again in August. Just like all the other schools in town. Smoke and Mirrors. The teachers at the non performing schools then get more money to work longer hours in the fall. How will this improve our kids education. I guess so few folks have commented they realize this is politics as usual. In 3 years when there is no improvement in our schools who will be suing who.

posted by: City Hall Watch on January 27, 2010  11:59am

“The main work of reform is being done behind closed doors.” Why? What is there left to discuss once the mechanics of reform are brought to the full board for a final vote? How is it possible for anybody attending that full board meeting supposed to absorb all the changes when they’re hearing it for the first time? This entire process should be open, transparent and subject to the scrutiny of the public and the press. Anything less is once again, deciding in private what is to be done and then ramming it down the throats of people who are being asked to both pay for it and subject themselves to final product.

posted by: Mark Oppenheimer on January 27, 2010  1:03pm

To the charming grammarian:

While you are right in a historical sense, the usage of “comprise” to mean “constitute” or “compose” has worked its way well into current usage. What’s more, it does the work that language should: it’s clear and unambiguous and precise. Nobody reading that sentence would imagine it means anything other than what it means. There is definitely a place for grammar prissiness (just ask my freshman English students!), but the “comprise” fussiness is pretty close to the “don’t split an infinitive” fussiness, which all grammarians agree is nonsense (recalling that Shakespeare and dozens of other canonical authors split infinitives in English). In other words, “comprise” is not really worth one of the arrows in your grammarian’s quiver. Or, in other words, chill out.

posted by: It takes a village on January 27, 2010  1:23pm

Who will evaluate which teachers stay? Test scores clearly don’t tell the whole picture! ...A MUST READ…New Haven’s New Face: The “Norton Street” Tour in The New Haven Independent-Tues. Jan.26,2010…JONATHON HOPKINS FOR SCHOOL BOARD NOW!!! Also interesting..New Haven Register…Companies line up for custodial work- Wed. Jan 27, 2010 and comments that follow

posted by: Grammarian on January 29, 2010  8:31pm

Mark,

As I mentioned, this use of “comprise of” has certainly slipped into common usage, even though it shows a lack of etymological understanding of the origins of comprise. And I do think that many writers use comprise because they think it sounds somehow more scientific or scholarly, even when there are perfectly good, simple words and phrases that mean exactly the same thing. And if being “clear and unambiguous and precise” is, as you say, one of the primary goals of language, wouldn’t it make sense to take advantage of the simple, straightforward phrases and sentence constructions that accomplish what the writer intends? Here, there were simpler, more accurate ways to communicate what she meant, yet she instead chose a phrase that not everyone agrees is unambiguous.

I think this link pretty much sums up the problem with “comprised of”:

http://sledpress.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/comprised-of-stop-it-already/

I realize that you have some editing chops, but don’t you, too, get a bit frustrated when misused words and phrases become so common that we’re forced to accept them as “correct?” Reading “comprised of” annoys me as much as reading “with au jus” on an Applebees menu, and for a similar reason: it’s redundant and shows ignorance of the meaning of the original word.

I love that English has evolved, making our language a rich repository of culture, meaning and nuance. But at some point, can’t we draw the line to ensure that communication is truly a shared experience, with meaning that is structured, unambiguous and clear? Or is writing just an exercise in anything goes, as long as we kinda sorta get what the other person was trying to say?

posted by: New Haven Parent on February 8, 2010  10:18am

I, as a parent, believe that this idea for reform is a good idea. However, to shut down two schools is ridiculous. What type of reform would happen if you close down schools. Instead of spending that 100 million dollars of our states money on shutting a school down why are we not spending that money on making the schools work better. If you ask student what will make their school a better place they will give you an idea. Stop undermining their abilities to change things in a positive way for ourselves. In fact, many students believe that if they had more one on one time with their teacher they would be able to focus more. One of the biggest issues is that we are throwing about 30 students into a classroom at the same time and expecting them to be able to pay attention to everything that a teacher says. Yes, I understand school is a place to learn, but as a teenager it is easy to get distracted with a large amount of students in a class. Why are we not expanding buildings and making smaller class sizes to give the students a better chance at getting the help they need. How many of you adults remember being a teenager in school? How many of you remember ow hard it was when you didn’t understand something that a teacher went over in class? Now, out of all of you that can remember that can you remember how it felt? Pretty ... huh? That is how our children are feeling, and it is hard as a teacher to help 30 students at once. So yes, in some ways it is a students fault for giving up instead of pushing hharder but it isn’t their fault for feeling discouraged. Yes, it is a teachers fault for not giving students enough opportunities to get help, but it iisn’ttheir fault that class sizes are outrageous. Why don’t we work on a plan to make schools better instead of closing them up . Think of your children. How many of you reading this have a teenage child that goes to school. Lets pretend your child is one of the students whose school is going to get shut down. Where are you sending them? What oppertunities are you creating for them? How many of them are going to have no place to go? Where do you plan on putting these students? You cant send them to other schools. That will over crowd other schools and you will end up back where you started. Lets think before we act, but then again its too late because they had closed meetings. Whose voices were heard? Not mine, Not my childs Not my childs class mates, not any of the students that attend these schools that you plan to shut down.  Do their voices count? Our children are the future, or so they are told, but they have no say in what happens to them. Lets give them a chance to help thierselves. I know they are capable.