EDUCATION QUESTIONS TO ASK IN THE FACE OF BLOODLETTING BUDGET CUTS - there is no bandage big enough anymore!

Across the local blogs comes the topic of Tuesday's Board of Education cuts that, according to their AGENDA, promise to be brutal with the potential closure of two elementary schools as well as terminating remaining programs. While you can read the blog comments HERE and HERE, since last year I have advocated a complete overhaul of the education system. It is beyond "not working."  It now has no hope of working since the only thing left to float it was money, the very thing that is shrinking to miniature proportions between local costs and California stealing money from anyone with an extra dime.  Sadly, this will not help the state, projected to remain in a black hole for many years to come - their idiotic policies are as archaic as that of education. On a related topic, why is the Board wanting to spend $130,000 on Round Table Pizza for students in K-12?  (page 20 on AGENDA)  On the agenda is a list of schools up for potential closure and reopening as Charter Schools. While the idea of more Charter Schools is not in and of itself a bad idea, the fact that the revised plans of operation show the "Concentric Rings of Leadership" as revolving around the site administrator in a mirror dance of the way things are right now does little to address the fundamental concerns at a site level, chief of which is unenforceable conduct creating a negative learning environment (NLE for those edu-acronymists among you.)  In the interest of time we will have to address those items another time. And are you willing to pay for sports? How about $300 for the first sport and $225 for the second up to $600 per year? That is assuming that the new Athletic Foundation can raise $200,000. Consider these questions (sadly I have asked them before to no avail): Why do we have districts? Worse; why do we have three superintendents; the State Superintendent of Public Education, the county superintendent and the district superintendent?  Are their job functions so different? Why do we need a district?  The school site has a School Site Council that comprises site staff, parents and others. The SSC has to delegate its own budget from an amount determined by the district. What does the district do for the school site? Frankly, I am hard pressed to find an answer. Why do we need site principals, especially at elementary? Any teacher will tell you that the office manager and secretary do the work. I have not yet met a principal that is not replaceable by the above two support staff and a teacher acting in charge. Under McHenry the site principals proved they could be gone for long periods in his meetings and return with inane modeling practices for staff to follow.   Why are we replacing textbooks every handful of years? Did the English language change radically? Has basic math changed? Each time a new adoption takes place under the premise of aligning to the standards (meant as a reason to advance learning while the high school drop out rate tells another story) millions of dollars are wasted on the textbooks, training and support materials, while the old materials are hauled away.  I fail to see how this has helped learning when the real impediment to learning is a lack of control over misbehavior at the site level (blame for which must be placed on the parents.) Why do teachers have a union? In my 7 years of teaching the only battle the union had time for was the endless, never satisfactory bargaining for pay increases. I'm sure we could find a negotiator amongst the thousands of teachers to tackle that. What else has the union done, aside from suck $96 month from teacher paychecks?  I had three issues that required union involvement in seven years and each time, aside from the union teacher rep on site, hardly solid experience, my issues were unresolved because to deal with them could have undermined negotiations over pay. One issue revolved around a lousy principal with 75% of the staff at the union office. That went nowhere. Despite that presence, the matter was never addressed and teachers left that school rather than bang their heads on the wall. We/they could have done that without paying $96 per month union dues. Why does the school need custodians? In terms of cleaning in the classroom the only cleaning they do (usually every two of three days) is a sweep of the floor. Once a year there is a wax job. Maybe. The rest of the cleaning is done by the teacher. Yes, they clean bathrooms and the multi use rooms, but really, why can't those messy, trash throwing little snot monsters learn housekeeping with school chores?  It would certainly teach a bit of respect for property that virtually none have right now. Have you walked through a high school lately? It's disgusting. And why do trash cans have to be padlocked to poles? There is your first clue... Why are school sites not autonomous? School sites should be run as community schools, drawing on community teachers and with a committee running the school. Much like the city council in Concord, the head position rotates each year. Contrary to some who believe that such a system does not work, I disagree. It provide a majority rule with a rotating head.   Education funding that is allocated by the state should go to the site directly.  Sites still have to report their data - they can report to the state directly rather than through the district. It is not like the contents being taught vary from place to place anymore.  Isn't that what the homogenized education practice we call standards is all about? There are so many other points that I want to make, but I respect the fact that you have a job and need to move on in your reading content. The present structure of education is dead. No amount of transfusion will revive it and frankly, given the horrific failure rate and drop out rate and the fact that despite glowing rises in API that one quarter of our college bound freshman require remedial instruction shows that the present system is not only dead, but rotting already. There are ways to effect change. There are ways to take the first steps and we will have to explore those as time passes. For now, the next Board Meeting will be straight forward. You only have so much money - things need to go. I do not blame the Board Members for this; they have had to make an ongoing series of horrible decisions.  And contrary to the blog chatter, this is not about McHenry - why revive his name in conversation, aside from getting back some of the money he parted with for his silence?  It is time to move on - not forward as there is no forward to move to. It is time to look at fundamentals. What are the priorities of a public education? What do we want to achieve?  Start there. Every parent should make that list. Every parent should be in contact with other parents at their school site. Discuss independence. Discuss the ramifications that are needed to break up a district. Discuss financing options from local tax revenue to supplementary revenue. Community schooling is a viable option using time tested methods and structures already in place at the site level.  Isn't it time that radical revisions are made by parents and teachers?  Or are you waiting for the magic fairy to sprinkle special dust to make it all better? Tuesday (tomorrow) the MDUSD begins its final act - chopping off its limbs. Already the state knows that there will be another hole in the budget later this year and next year... and when the limbs are gone, what then? MisterWriter