St. Louis parents hit school overhaul

Boston Globe ^ | September 8, 2003 | Stephanie Simon

[Steve_Seattle]

This is also why blacks are so reluctant to bolt the Democratic Party - they can throw their weight around and be "players," even if Democratic policies ultimately do nothing to improve the black community.

[Criminal Number 18F]

They "served" them by achieving a phenomenal dropout and failure rate?

Yeah, but then when they dropped out, they could get minimum wages (ah, but "with benefits"), as lunch ladies or textbook clerks.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Cincinatus' Wife]

And they have all the "I care" and "you're racists" rhetoric down. What awful people.

[Steve_Seattle]

In the Seattle school district, there's an African American Academy staffed by blacks and ostensibily "sensitive" to the needs of black students. The academic performance is no better than in the regular public schools (in other words, it is very bad), but black leaders are proud of the school - again - because it is their turf.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Actually it's not. The few studies which have bothered to separate class size from school size have found that small school size is much more important than small class size. Likewise, the Department of Education's own research has shown school shootings to be disproportionately frequent in schools with over 1000 students (which naturally doesn't stop them from funding the growing number of huge consolidated high schools). I really think the "smaller classes" rallying cry is just another scam from the teachers' unions, demanding more jobs for teachers. Like so many of their pet educational theories, research utterly fails to back it up.

[Tired of Taxes]

they've infuriated so many parents in the black community that several civic leaders are calling on families to boycott the first day of school today.

This just might work. Maybe they'll boycott the entire school year, educating their kids at home in protest and forming groups of home-educating families. Think of the empowerment! (The other day, I met yet another homeschool family, who happen to be African-American, whose 11-year-old is starting his "first year in high school" this year through the K12 program).

[SAJ]

Actually, it was Kansas City, under the so-called ''consent'' order issued (unlawfully) by judge Kenneth Clark, which included, among other atrocities, the first-ever judicially ordered tax increase (by a **federal** judge on citizens of a single state).

The business about attracting white students back to the KC schools was largely a fig leaf, and in any case, not many came back (and many of those left again shortly).

You ought to **see** the maintenance bills on these formerly gold-plated, now decaying and underused, schools. Absolutely astonishing.

[Mr. Bird]

The MBAs in charge of the district seem bewildered by such fury

Because the people who are angry were educated by the same failed school system that is being repaired. They are being set upon by a legion of morons.

[em2vn]

Two billion dollars were stolen from the people of Missouri and poured in to K.C. schools. The system is now unaccredited. Nice job your honor.

[Marc Poor]

I was just wondering about this case the other day. A judge placing himself in the roll of executive and legislature and failing miserably. Can anyone cite an instance of liberal policy that has actually worked?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Like so many of their pet educational theories, research utterly fails to back it up.

Bump!

[martin gibson]

In the process, they've infuriated so many parents in the black community ...

oh...

[Steve_Seattle]

"Two billion dollars were stolen from the people of Missouri and poured in to K.C. schools. The system is now unaccredited."

Is that true? Wasn't this the school district where Ashcroft as Missouri A.G. litigated against the court remedy and was labeled a racist for his efforts?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

You ought to **see** the maintenance bills on these formerly gold-plated, now decaying and underused, schools. Absolutely astonishing.

Florida is another state with schools crumbling from inferior construction. Money, money, money. Just show them the money. Money has not helped education and it won't. LIBERALS began taking over public education in the Sixties and they've totally destroyed it.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The bottom line for teachers unions***If the UAW proposed that domestic automobile manufacturers be paid a federal subsidy for each new employee they hired, everyone would recognize its self-serving aims -- to swell the ranks of auto workers and increase its own membership.

But when teachers unions demand hefty increases in education spending or mandatory reductions in class size, they get a respectful hearing. Union officials are routinely quoted in the media and invited to testify before legislative committees. And yet their aims are no less self-serving and their interests no less mercenary than those of any other union. So why the difference?

Part of the answer is that Americans think well of teachers, and teachers unions take advantage of that good opinion. When the public is asked to rate various professions for honesty and ethics, teachers are always near the top of the list. Union officials are typically closer to the bottom. ''Given those results,'' asks Mike Antonucci of the Education Intelligence Agency, a public-education research firm, ''which of the two words in the term `teachers union' would you emphasize?'' ***

Schools at odds in racial division - Hearne ISD sues nearby Mumford for "white fight***The school district stocked its computer labs by taking advantage of grant programs. When it launched its high school a few years ago, it focused on academics and avoided costly athletic programs such as football.

There are many school districts that shun transfer students because the $5,500 state aid payment cannot cover the cost of an education, Bienski points out. And it is Hearne, not Mumford, that receives the property taxes paid by the transfer families.

"All parents -- regardless of race, whether it is Hispanic, black or white -- they want their kids to have the very best education," Bienski said. "The only thing we're guilty of in Mumford is educating children."

The Hearne school district has requested specific remedies in its lawsuit.

It wants the federal court to order Hearne students back to Hearne schools and to order Mumford to stop accepting transfers. It also asks the court to consolidate the Mumford school district with Hearne.

If Hearne is successful, the ruling would be devastating, not just to Mumford, but to many rural school districts in Texas, Bienski said. Although few go as far as Mumford, 262 Texas school districts accept transfer students.

Many are small and rural and would be bankrupt without them, Bienski said.

"If we were not able to take any transfers, then Mumford would not be able to exist, but Mumford would not be the only school district that would not be able to exist. There would be a lot of schools affected by that," he said. ***

[PleaseNoMore]

"If there is such a budget crisis in this district, why are they spending all this money for an outside firm to come in and bulldoze our community?" asked the Rev. Timothy Tyler, who decided to send his daughter to a suburban district this year.

Pardon my ignorance, but, isn't it worth 5 mil to save 60 mil?

[em2vn]

I think the case may have taken place while Ashcroft was the governor. At that time the I believe the current A.G., Jay Nixon was representing the state. Here are a couple of less than praise worthy sources for the two billion dollar figure, the K.C.Star and Sixty Minutes on CBS.
You can't imagine the appointments of the schools. They were gold platted with the acception of the education offered. The school board is afflicted with a cadre of self serving, black racist bent on feathering their nests to the detriment of every students.. IMHO

[EdReform]

Bump & Ping

[Missouri]

Wasn't this the school district where Ashcroft as Missouri A.G. litigated against the court remedy and was labeled a racist for his efforts?

Yes he was. I really got a bad case of heartburn listening to Teddy Kennedy berate Ashcroft at his confirmation hearings about this.

[HighWheeler]

Do you have a ping list for this?

Very interesting contention between the failed school community and the successful corporate structuralists.