Same ol' status quo BS regarding free & reduced lunches, diversity, blah, blah, blah.
The new way CMS uses to give students free lunch is causing problems
The plan sounds great: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools cuts down on the amount of paperwork schools have to wade through by simply giving free lunch to everyone in 74 schools with high percentages of low-income students.
But the new method is now causing a number of problems for the school district as it plans for future years. In short, CMS now has no easy way of knowing which of its schools have the most economically disadvantaged students. That makes allotting teaching positions and classroom supplies a whole lot harder.
This is all part of a recently developed federal program called the Community Eligibility Provision. The details get pretty complicated, but essentially it means that a school with significant percentages of students on government assistance can go ahead and get free lunches for everyone.
It means that families in those schools don’t have to provide proof of income or any of the paperwork associated with applying for free or reduced-price lunch..... MORE: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/your-schools-blog/article20536695.html?fb_action_ids=1644003082479447&fb_action_types=og.comments
But the new method is now causing a number of problems for the school district as it plans for future years. In short, CMS now has no easy way of knowing which of its schools have the most economically disadvantaged students. That makes allotting teaching positions and classroom supplies a whole lot harder.
This is all part of a recently developed federal program called the Community Eligibility Provision. The details get pretty complicated, but essentially it means that a school with significant percentages of students on government assistance can go ahead and get free lunches for everyone.
It means that families in those schools don’t have to provide proof of income or any of the paperwork associated with applying for free or reduced-price lunch..... MORE: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/your-schools-blog/article20536695.html?fb_action_ids=1644003082479447&fb_action_types=og.comments
And the gnashing of teeth continues…
ReplyDeleteDo I recall CMS demanding more financial transparency from charter schools? Yes, I think I do although - in this case - it appears our efficient federal government is mostly to blame for all the "community provision" confusion. Oh, what the heck. Let's provide EVERY traditional public school child free breakfast and lunch in an effort to avoid stigmatizing anyone while public charter schools with plenty of economically disadvantaged children receive $0 for cafeterias, lunch ladies, and food. Let charter schools eat cake?
"Is anybody listening? Does anybody care"? Where's Vilma when you need her?
And to think I don't ever have to give a rats behind about Free and Reduced Lunch programs that affect CMS student assignment boundary changes ever again! It's a new day in NC.
Alicia
And CMS wants to run it's own charter schools?
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine this? With NO free lunch program and NO way to manipulate student assignment? Lol.
Alicia
Oh, they'll find a way.
DeleteProbably redefine the definition of what "is", is
Knew you'd like this...
ReplyDeleteEspecially THIS part:
" Going forward, they’ll use the percentage of students who qualify under the Community Eligibility Provision, which is based on the number of families who receive food stamps or other government programs.
This can be wildly different than the percentages who were on free and reduced price lunch. Huntingtowne Farms Elementary, for example, had 83 percent of students qualify for the lunch program, but only 59 percent qualify under the new guidelines, according to federal data."
Wildly different, eh?
How could that possibly be?
Does anyone really think there might be just a little dishonesty involved when something "free" is involved?
That's why they're afraid to seriously verify the program. They know people lie to get a free lunch. They'd lie to get food stamps and other benefits, too, if we'd let them. But at least people TRY to control that.
Of course, the solution is to just make lunch "free" for everyone.
It's for the children.
Except the children who are in private and charter schools, of course.
Wiley, I think I've figured out the next "problem" they will have with the latest free lunch program (Community Eligibility Provision). That's the one where EVERYONE gets a free lunch as long as enough poor folks attend the school.
ReplyDeleteHere's the list as it stands today:
http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/cmsdepartments/cns/Documents/Community%20Eligibility%20Provision%20(CEP).pdf
So, what happens when the demographics of those schools change and they are NO LONGER eligible for the free for all lunches?
Surely, they won't take food from the mouths of babes.
That would probably piss a few people off who feel they were entitled to that free lunch (by osmosis, I guess), wouldn't it?
That should be hilarious to watch.
Especially after they finish finagling with the borders to bring more "rich" kids into these schools and the law of unintended consequences (for "doing the right thing", of course) bites them in the rear.
I guess they will need to "grandfather" those schools in to appease the paupers and those bleeding heart liberals (Pam, cough, cough) who go to those schools (such as Shamrock Elementary, cough, cough) in order to sacrifice their children for the sacred cause of diversity.
But, hey, at least a free lunch is something concrete the libtards can point to as a "benefit" for attending the poor schools, aside from the wealth of wonderful experiences they get from being surrounded by the pseudo-diversity of poverty.
But like all self-inflicted bureaucratic wounds, there is an even more bureaucratic solution.
What I'm expecting is something like the current designation of "Historically Black" colleges and universities which may or may not (but usually ARE) still mostly black today, but are "special" simply because they once were entirely black at a time when blacks had few other choices.
I suggest the term "Historically Impoverished" to keep those schools on the dole.
Maybe "Historically Impoverished" will become a new catchphrase for those schools which once were "poor" but which were brought out of "poverty" through re-drawing the boundary lines and other chicanery.
I know how stupid this sounds.
But we are talking about public education where they are constantly pushing the envelope of stupidity forward.
My space to vent…
ReplyDeleteIn preparation of the EOG's, my students took a NWEA math MAP test today. My highest scoring student had scores that went up 18 points since December. This kid has a parent in jail, arrives everyday to school with no lunch, has been in and out of trouble all year, and has terrible school grades.
It's this kind of thing that breaks my heart.
Alicia
So where do they stand? Passing, failing?
DeleteAre you blaming their current situation on poverty or the lack of rich kids in your school like Obama believes to be the case?
Barely passing when they could be getting straight A's. I have rich kids and very poor kids at my school. I believe the odds are stacked against this kid primarily due to his/her parents. The school and I can only 'fight the good fight' so much.
ReplyDeleteTrue, parents make a huge difference. As do the general attitudes of peers and other people (not necessarily parents) that the kids "look up to". Unfortunately, today, that includes a lot of "celebrities" of dubious character.
ReplyDeleteHeh. Just read this article about the Duke professor. Seems that he dared "speak truth to power". I only have one criticism of the quotes in this article. I think he underestimates the Asians when he says they worked "doubly hard".
ReplyDeleteI've seen enough of both groups to say that it is probably an order or magnitude, not just doubly. After all, when you really aren't working much at all, it isn't too hard for someone else to work ten times harder than you are.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article21174990.html
Too bad the guy had to wait until he was 80 years old and about to retire to speak the truth. Of course, he is getting skewered for doing so by the liberal crowd who wouldn't dare say something so "crass" and insensitive to minorities. Even if it is largely true.
They know who will be buttering THEIR toast politically for the next few decades...
Until the Asians own them, that is.
From the Duke Chronicle, the professor's full comment:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2015/05/15/james-b-duke-professor-jerry-hough-makes-controversial-comment-new-york-times-editorial#.VVlCSML74y0
------------------------------
This editorial is what is wrong. The Democrats are an alliance of Westchester and Harlem, of Montgomery County and intercity Baltimore. Westchester and Montgomery get a Citigroup asset stimulus policy that triples the market. The blacks get a decline in wages after inflation.
But the blacks get symbolic recognition in an utterly incompetent mayor who handled this so badly from beginning to end that her resignation would be demanded if she were white.The blacks get awful editorials like this that tell them to feel sorry for themselves.
In 1965 the Asians were discriminated against as least as badly as blacks. That was reflected in the word "colored." The racism against what even Eleanor Roosevelt called the yellow races was at leastas bad.
So where are the editorials that say racism doomed the Asian-Americans. They didn't feel sorry for themselves, but worked doubly hard.
I am a professor at Duke University. Every Asian student has a very simple old American first name that symbolizes their desire for integration. Virtually every black has a strange new name that symbolizes their lack of desire for integration. The amount of Asian-white dating is enormous and so surely will be the intermarriage. Black-white dating is almost non-existemt because of the ostracism by blacks of anyone who dates a white.
It was appropriate that a Chinese design won the competition for the Martin Luther King state. King helped them overcome. The blacks followed Malcolm X.
Alicia,
ReplyDeleteThat kid you describe sounds like enough kids I have known (even some relatives).
Having a parent in jail and another who is either a druggie or lazy or otherwise worthless doesn't help. Poor kids grow up without anyone they can depend on, except perhaps a grandparent, who can't keep doing it forever (or end up working/worrying themselves into an early grave)
I can probably say that about my brother's two boys.
However, they both MOSTLY stayed out of trouble while in school.
One, though, has already been in jail in his early 20's for driving while drunk and he already shows the attitude of some of the thugs I've seen (mainly blaming OTHERS for his self-inflicted problems), but the other has stayed in community college and is at least trying to do something with his life.
Not so sure he will succeed, though, because he is fairly seriously damaged emotionally from being around that family. The cards are surely stacked against him, but he is at least trying. And, to his credit, he has enough sense to stay away from the most toxic members of his family, including his father and brother (sad as that may be).
He does have a cousin with similar drive to do better who provides him some support, though. However, socially, this kid is still a bit of an oddball and will probably have problems working with others, although he does show some signs of getting better.
Really, as much as you (or I, for that matter...) would like to help kids like these, there are just too many other strong influences for us to do so.
I truly believe we would literally have to take them and raise them ourselves (assuming it is not too late) to make a real difference.
That's why when people ask me what I'm doing to help "these" kids, I just tell them I'm doing the best I can with my own children.
Because I've seen what happens when you don't.
I know I make mistakes, but I don't think I've done as much serious damage as I've seen others do.
And that's MY contribution to "society"...
Oh, yeah, when I said "poor kids", I didn't mean kids without money... I meant "poor kids", as in feeling sorry for the kids who endure that. Gotta stop saying that I guess...
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteActually, now that I think about it even more, I doubt that raising these kids ourselves would matter that much. I have a niece who has two children who doesn't seem to know how to take care of them, either.
ReplyDeleteBoth HER mother and HER MOTHER's MOTHER have had to take care of her kids. And BOTH have kicked them all out.
She has all kinds of reason why she can't take care of them (such as being a poor, "working" mother), but in reality her problem is that she had two children with worthless scum boys (not men) who have nothing to do with her children. And she didn't care at the time because right after having one with one guy, she turned around and had another with another guy.
I seriously think she did it hoping to get free stuff. And I'm not kidding.
That and she dropped out of the local community college (nope, didn't get that "art" degree she was hoping for - another stupid idea), and has been floundering ever since.
She has since developed quite a typical "liberal" attitude towards what society "owes" her as a struggling "mother" and a "woman" which includes more pay without any skills and free food for her kids.
Meanwhile, from reports I get from other unreliable family sources, the woman cannot be bothered to go to the drugstore to get the "free" medications for her AD/HD afflicted child who regularly bounces off the walls without them.
Typically, she is too busy engaged in online "fantasy" fashion and interior decorating to attend to her real world situation (things like taking out the trash, sweeping, cooking food, etc., etc.), so has had to live with various "mother" substitutes to keep her from drowning in her own refuse.
Yet, to hear her side, she is the "victim" and seems to get behind every silly "cause" she can, usually against evil "corporations" and such who are apparently preventing her from living the "good life" she feels she deserves.
Her latest "cause" was against Nestle for bottled water during the California drought.
THAT one hits close to home in Podunk, Alabama...
Yeah, go for it, Tiger Mom...
These people are BEYOND help.
ReplyDeleteThat's why when people ask me what I'm doing to help "these" kids, I just tell them I'm doing the best I can with my own children.
Because I've seen what happens when you don't.
"I know I make mistakes, but I don't think I've done as much serious damage as I've seen others do.
And that's MY contribution to "society"…
Every parent makes mistakes. I certainly have regrets about things I could have done better. This being said, I get tired of people like Taylor Batten who continue to place blame on public school systems and teachers for continued academic failure in low-income minority areas although, perhaps, Mr. Batten believes that HIS contribution to society is making sure his children receive a premier education at Charlotte Country Day School while reassuring everyone else that he and the CO "believe a thriving city, state and nation rests to a great degree in the quality of its public schools, and that every child deserves a dedicated, dynamic teacher, regardless of what ZIP code that child lives in". I can't wait to read Mr. Batten's opinion on the success of Project Lift. With all those dedicated and dynamic teachers (who are also compensated at a higher rate), how could this initiative possibly fail?
In the meantime, I give thanks for my ability to contribute to a rural NC public school with kids who face as many challenges as some do located in the "wrong" zip code in Charlotte.
Alicia
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWell, like the majority of liberal newstypes, Batten is a hypocrite.
ReplyDeleteMost of them who make it to the top live lives of the elite while trying to be champions of the downtrodden.
It's a bit like his recent editorial comparing Charlotte to Baltimore and saying that Charlotte needs to have more economically mixed neighborhoods.
Yet he lives in a wealthy enclave. I'd love to see him do this in HIS neighborhood. But that won't happen. Same as the cowards in the Birmingham media who lived in lily-white parts of town (which are STILL lily-white, BTW) while "fighting" for "integration" everywhere else in town.
I used to know people who lived in those places in Birmingham and the only times you EVER saw black people in their neighborhoods was when the maids were waiting on the buses to take them home. You could tell they were maids because they wore maid "uniforms".
I'm not kidding. It would be comical except that their whining ruined a lot of people's lives who had fewer options in life than the "elite" who were so eager to change them.
Of course, the elite probably have Mexican or Central American maids now and feel that they are promoting multi-culturalism.
Disclaimer for anyone who shows up new here; my own children attended expensive private schools in Charlotte between two CMS boundary reassignment wars that left me angry and bitter. I didn't appreciate having my children jerked around by the righteous crowd in District 5 who had NO problem booting out undesirable zip codes to far worse schools in their area while unilaterally power grabbing more desirable zip codes come hell or high water. Talk about hypocrisy?
ReplyDeleteThis being said...
I do think economically diverse schools are a good thing and I question the long-term benefit of having my children attend schools in wealthy south Charlotte vs. a school like the one I currently teach at that's far more aligned with the middle-class values I grew up with and wanted to instill as a parent but often lost sight of which isn't hard to do when you're living in a bubble. In this regard, my rural charter school feels like utopia.
Alicia
Alicia,
ReplyDeleteI'm beginning to wonder if "middle-class values" we grew up with even exist anymore or if they are as relevant today.
I think I can remember what they were like when I was growing up and I don't see those same "values" in the current generations. Maybe they're upper-middle-class values or something else now. Or maybe they are just not working as well as they did before.
It seems that I knew a LOT of kids who grew up in blue-collar families which were probably lower middle class, but who seemed to see the value in an education and staying out of trouble with the law. At that time, dependability and predictability were tried and true paths to some level of "success" in life.
A LOT of kids I knew grew up to do quite well considering their starts in life.
I'm not seeing the same with today's kids, especially among the poorer ones.
Maybe it has something to do with the current lack of job stability, which is something a lot of people before the 1980's could somewhat depend upon.
I remember knowing plenty of people who worked in factories, mills, etc., etc. for decades. That just does not happen today.
Nowadays, everything (including people and their jobs) seem disposable.
Perhaps that has something to do with the problem. Only certain people with certain skill sets can navigate this kind of maze.
I remember reading a book called Future Shock (Tofflers) back when I was a kid. OK, I was a geek. It was summer reading for me when I was a young lad.
Seems that they predicted a LOT of things about the upcoming turmoil in the "future".
One of the big takeaways I had from this was that brain work and creativity would be more important than physical labor and typical "production" mentality.
Maybe being "clued in" to this at an early age helped me some where others seemed to think things would always be the way they were.
Those people seem to be the ones who were hurt the worst by the last few decades.
Some of the Toffler's "predictions" were total crap, but the general gist of what they were saying about how things would be changing so rapidly that people wouldn't be able to handle it and how stability was pretty much a thing of the past was spot on.
I'm not sure that many people are aware of this even now.
I'm also not sure how "economically diverse" schools (or much of anything) will matter, though.
Maybe the already successful people know this and prefer to hobnob among themselves, since that is where they are most likely going to make the best connections for their own prosperity.
I see this a lot in the "expat" community in HK.
Why hang out with the domestic helpers when you can hang out with the "executives" who hire them?
When I think about the value of "economic diversity" I am reminded of what a young college co-ed from a wealthy family (which is why she could be an art major) once told me when I finally got enough nerve to ask her out (shortly after graduating and getting my first REAL job):
"My momma said you can love a rich man as much as a poor man"
I'm pretty sure that was a NO...
She obviously had no room for economic diversity in her life.
And, speaking of hypocrisy...
ReplyDeleteWilma Leake is at it again. And to think that this woman is so influential in CharMeck schools. The place literally reeks of Leake.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/religion/article21332430.html
Lettuce spray.
My space to vent…
ReplyDeletePreliminary Data: The Thrill of Victory, The Agony of Defeat. My first year as a non-specialty area classroom teacher.
My kids and I might need therapy by the time we get through the EOG testing process. Not surprisingly, I've got one math class anticipated to easily score at and mostly above grade level. These are the kids who "love" math and routinely challenge my own knowledge of the subject. If I make a mistake, they joyfully call me out on it.
My other class - with 4 EC kids, 5 kids with ADHD, 1 kid with autism, 1 kid in foster care, and 2 kids with a parents in jail - will most likely score below grade level and yet I'm supposed to take some pride in my ability to potentially raise our overall school 5th grade math scores to 65 -70% (if I'm lucky).
I have a whole new appreciation for teachers who have survived this high-stakes testing process before. I couldn't sleep last night worrying about it.
Wouldn't it be nice if our county commissioners could pray silently about this?
Alicia
Therapy. Yep. Therapy. Lots of it...
ReplyDeleteMy public charter school adopted the Singapore math program this year even though NC uses Common Core Standards in it's traditional public schools. I was just informed - a mere 15 minutes ago - that the weeks I spent covering:
1. Estimate measure of objects from one system to another.
2. Measure of angles.
3. Triangles and quadrilaterals.
4. Angles, diagonals, parallelism, perpendicularity.
5. Symmetry - line and rotational, and asymmetry.
6. Data - stem and leaf plots, different representations.
7. Mean, median and mode.
8. Constant and carrying rates of change.
will NOT, I repeat NOT, be included on THIS year's 5th grade EOG test. Nope. NC "moved" these concepts from 5th grade this year.
"Topics may appear to be similar between the CCSS and the 2003 NCSCOS; however, the CCSS may be present at a higher cognitive demand. For more detailed information see Math Crosswalks: http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/acre/standards/support-tools/".
Somebody shoot me. Seriously. Just shoot me double dead.
Alicia
WTF does "the CCSS may be present at a higher cognitive demand" mean?
ReplyDeleteAlicia
Alicia,
ReplyDelete"My other class - with 4 EC kids, 5 kids with ADHD, 1 kid with autism, 1 kid in foster care, and 2 kids with a parents in jail"
Honestly, there should be special schools for these kids. I know the big trend now is "mainstreaming", but even common sense tells us that this is not very smart and a waste of precious resources (you, for example) trying to "reach" these kids at the cost of ignoring the kids who might better benefit from the attention they are not getting.
It's one of the more serious problems I see in our school system.
At least Hong Kong gets this right. They "track" those kids into different schools. Too bad if their mommas get their feelings hurt. If they don't like it, they can go to private school if they can afford it and find one who will take their kids.
Seriously, this is an issue with our schools.
Not EVERYONE is equipped to teach the "challenged". Just as everyone is not equipped to teach the gifted.
As for "higher cognitive demand", I think it means:
"I have been edumacated enough to use large words, but not well enough to understand what they actually mean"
AKA the Oswald Bates syndrome:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ROOi5xagxg
"Because a mind is a terrible thing to develop without help"
Alicia,
ReplyDeleteDid you know there is a Singapore Math series aligned to Common Core? I remember reading about that so googled it.
http://www.singaporemath.com/Singapore_Math_Common_Core_s/272.htm
Is this the curriculum you are using? If not, it may be worth a look-see.
Of course, that's assuming that the state is really following common core and not their own version of it, which may be the case.
Again, we're too far out of that loop to be too concerned at this time. A lot of the English medium schools in HK are following a British curriculum.
But maybe we'll need to brush up on common core standards as we approach re-entry path into the US.
Also, FWIW, interesting holiday coincidence...
Memorial Day is also Buddha's Birthday.
So have a Bodacious Buddha's Birthday and a Memorable Memorial Day, y'all.
Alicia,
ReplyDeleteOur kids are doomed.
Was just reading a science "glossary" from that webpage...
http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/docs/acre/standards/support-tools/glossary/science.pdf
This is what it says about "temperature"...
important abiotic factor affecting distribution and abundance of organisms;
influences metabolic rate and affects rates of growth and
reproduction http://estuaries.noaa.gov/Resources/Default.aspx?ID=136#T
Jesus Effing Christ. Does everything but define temperature, doesn't it?
Taken from some obscure glossary from the National Estuarine Research Reserve System.
I'd say that is a bit too "specialized" and obscure for most uses.
I hope to hell something like this NEVER appears on a general science test not related to a specific text they were reading.
I'd certainly NOT PICK IT as an answer, and I'm no dummy.
God, no wonder "educated" people are turning out to be so dumb nowadays.
Not a thing about measuring hot or cold in the definition of temperature.
This MUST have been written by a fool who knows NOTHING about science, but who just snagged some largely irrelevant "relevant" quote out of some longer passage and used it as a definition.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWow, even more crap from that website with the "glossary":
ReplyDelete"The Glossary of Terms is not meant to be exhaustive, but seeks to address critical terms and definitions essential in building content knowledge and understanding but also in promoting consistency across disciplines, increased student outcomes, and improved parent communication. "
OK, now I'm no "educator", but I consistently score in the top fraction of a percent in reading comprehension according to the much maligned "standardized" tests such as the ACT, SAT, GRE and GMAT.
I can barely read the garbage these educrats write.
Seriously, does ANYONE think that last phrase beginning with " but also..." is the best way to write what (I think) they are trying to say?
It is a really jarring speed-bump when I try to understand what they are saying.
I can tell that these poor bastards have NEVER had to do something as simple as diagram a sentence.
I'm sure that's a lost skill, but also (heh) it is one that is severely needed today.
(Honestly, I can't write that poorly even when I try...And sometimes I DO like to flout the rules of grammar just for effect.)
Not to be a grammar Nazi, but shouldn't we expect better from an official document on education standards?
I mean, it's not like it's some frickin' blog...
Who knows, maybe Oswald Bates finally got his dream job in education...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAguP-zY2AA
I'm sure Taylor Batten would approve his appointment to the Board of Education.
Shamash,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info on Singapore and Common Core.
This goes back to my thoughts on how we train teachers in this country. I support Common Core in the sense that it reduces the guesswork in terms of WHAT teachers should be teaching - except in my case now knowing that I wasted time teaching concepts that will not be covered on this year's EOG's but kids will eventually need to know anyway. Then we get into the issue of HOW to teach which is a loosy-goosy sort of thing which can't be measured on any type of standardized test that "highly qualified" teachers are expected to pass. One of my major complaints about education programs in the U.S. is the vast amount of time prospective teachers are required to spend designing the perfect lesson plan. The Singapore method is highly scripted as well my Social Studies curriculum. I don't need to spend half my day dreaming up overviews, objectives, activities, adaptations and assessments.
Alicia
Shamash,
ReplyDeleteThen we get into the issue of meeting everyone's "individual needs". So if a student's "individual needs" are meeting them at a third grade math level then why the hell am I trying to teach them and test them at a 5th grade math level before judging my "effectiveness" as a teacher?
Alicia
Alicia,
ReplyDeleteYou did not "waste" your or those kid's time teaching them these things as long as they were capable of understanding them. Yeah, I think one point of the Singapore system was to avoid having teachers re-invent the wheel all the time.
My only experience with "lesson plans" was as a EFL teacher for a year in China. I didn't really find that they mattered much because each day was different from what I expected anyway. Not much point in sticking to a "plan" when no one else is. Of course, I guess a perfect "plan" would take that into account. But I wasn't a perfect teacher, just better than most of my students.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAlicia,
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you read EdWeek or not, but I've been on their mailing list for a while just to see what the education crowd is talking about.
This article was interesting, as something like this may happen to you someday with those "special" kids you have in your class...
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teacher_in_a_strange_land/2015/05/the_killer_in_my_classroom.html?intc=mvs
Yep. One of this poor guys students turned out to be a murderer.
(Reminds me of the sob story about Malik that Ann Doss Helms wrote a few years back...).
I was just thinking about this after my earlier comments. I am pretty much convinced (unlike many of these teachers in the comments on that article) that some kids are just beyond help. I'm not sure when that happens, but, in most cases, by the time they are in HS, the die is cast.
I think it's also fairly obvious to the other students who the criminals are most likely to be as well. And it's one of the reasons I say that the best thing to do is to GET AWAY from these people. No one gets extra brownie points in life for being a victim or a martyr.
I've read comments from others in various class reunion sites about which kids ended up in jail (or other serious trouble) and it's almost always the ones everyone expected would end up that way. Seems that there are very few surprises.
When I think about some of the kids I've know, I can pretty much guess which ones ended up with ruined lives. They were the ones who were uncontrollable and in trouble all the time and thought they were getting away with it. It eventually catches up with them.
Some of these kids were actually my friends at sometime or the other, usually when they were younger, but they just kept getting crazier and crazier as time went on to the point that I could no longer relate to them.
One friend of mine started out shoplifting, for example. Then he kept doing more and more things to see what he could get away with just because he did get away with most of them (usually due to his "juvenile" status).
He started selling drugs and then got into more and more serious trouble and started developing quite a record with the local police.
One time he visited me out in the rural area I lived in and was just so wild that I couldn't bear to be with him. We went out riding bicycles and he would just race down the hills at full speed without any regard for potholes, gravel, or oncoming cars coming around various blindspots. He really got a thrill out of doing this, too.
I couldn't believe it, but he just seemed to get more excited the more crazy stuff he got away with. It was around that time that I figured out he would probably spend most of his life in prison (or dead or crippled) and really decided to not have much to do with him out of concern for my own sanity and safety as much as anything else.
Sure enough, within a year he was locked up with a rap sheet that went on for pages from what I heard. It was something he even bragged about to others.
People like that probably cannot be helped. Many tried, but it seems that the more "chances" people gave him, the more he tried to get away with.
You just don't really want to be around these people when they finally take their last fall. And don't ever feel guilty for not being able to "help" them.
Most of them do not want your help, even if you try.
Alicia,
ReplyDeleteThen we get into the issue of meeting everyone's "individual needs"...
Been there, done that, even as a student. I really do not understand why, for example, I had to read tests to illiterate basketball players in my ninth grade History class.
It was pathetic. The teacher kept dumbing down the material trying to "reach" those losers. They really needed to be in a special reading class, not failing ninth grade History.
But they were black and the teacher was also black, so I guess she felt she had to "uplift" her "brothers". It made the whole class a joke and was certainly a waste of my time.
But who REALLY cared about the white kids and the kids who actually could learn? As far as the school was concerned, we could take care of ourselves. All because we had paid attention before and actually learned the basics. Pretty sad.
The teacher's tests got so pathetic, that I remember her last attempt to reach those morons. She told us in advance that her next test would be a 20 question T/F question where half the answers would be True and half would be False.
That meant that a TOTAL IDIOT who knew nothing could be guaranteed a 50 out of 100 by simply answering ALL THE QUESTIONS either TRUE or FALSE.
One of the idiots I tested actually managed to GET A 40 on that test. I knew that he was going to get the 40 and I told him that he would be guaranteed a higher score if he just wrote TRUE or FALSE to all the questions.
He could not understand this, so just sent the paper in with all his wrong answers.
And got his well-deserved forty.
Against damned near everything the teacher tried to do to give these kids a shot at a grade they could "bring up" to a D.
I hope that teacher cried her worthless ass to sleep that night.
But I doubt that she did. She probably tried to come up with yet another way to dumb down the class, instead.
I think I understand, though, how so many teachers in Atlanta probably thought it was in everyone's "best interest" to change all those standardized test grades. It's just another thing they'll try to give everyone a "second" chance.
I hope they enjoy their time in prison.
I just have to wonder when the "acceptance" of these failures begin? Is it third grade, kindergarten, or where?
It must be early.
Haven't been here in awhile. Just reading through the comments. I was just wondering two things that make my stomach turn and why CMS is so screwed up.
ReplyDeleteSomeone a long time ago that George Battle send his kids to private school, anyone know where? How about other high ranking officials from CMS kids?
When I look up the salary ranges in CMS that Andrew just pubilshed, anyone know why those "wealthier" elementary principals like Providence Springs makes almost double than then average principal? I mean almost double. Is the database not including some bonuses? I personally don't think an elementary principal in Charlotte should make over $100,000.
Wiley,
ReplyDeleteHope you purchased that Catamount shirt! Best wishes to your future daughter-in-law in her search for a teaching position. Congratulations.
My son graduates from Elon University tomorrow! Business/Finance major which is good although I still wish he had decided to minor in art or art history. Oh, well. Graduating from college is cause for celebration :)
I'll be getting a Phoenix shirt - not an Angry Bird shirt that Opportunity Culture middle school students can comprehend and spell. Lol.
Alicia
Congratulations to everyone for getting their kids through school.
ReplyDeleteWe still have a long way to go. I got a late start in life with the kids.
Maybe that's part of the reason I'm so persnickety.