Do these people have to regurgitate this stuff to stay alive or what?
Reminds me of some mother birds (or Alicia Silverstone) who chew up food for their young and regurgitate to them so they can survive.
It's like they're 3 fries short of a Happy Meal or something.
How many ways can you tell the same, lame story bout "diversity"?
Also, how in the world are they going to mix the poverty or skin colors? What if fewer new students sign up for magnets?
Good God these people are dense. The old, "we gotta mix 'em so we can bury the problem(s) is still their solution.
Pathetically and perpetually stupid
For CMS, a wake-up call on trust
By Peter St. Onge
Associate editor, Editorial pages
We’ll be hearing a lot in the next year about what’s good for our children in schools.
We hear that every time Charlotte starts talking about which of those children go to which of those schools.
This time, the conversation is about diversity, and it’s an important discussion for not only our children, but our community.
But it’s also a conversation about trust. Here’s one example:
Last week, Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board officials approved a proposal that would expand transportation options for families of magnet students. The plan, which will cost $6 million and perhaps more, would theoretically increase magnet participation, which would theoretically increase diversity in CMS schools, which could theoretically help narrow the district’s nagging achievement gap.
There’s nothing wrong with that. School districts like CMS rely a lot more on theory these days, because that’s about all we have left as we look for new ways to help struggling schools. Expanding magnet schools is one such initiative, and while the $6 million busing plan has its flaws, in itself it’s a worthy path to pursue.
There’s another proposal out there, too, that could help students. It has more research behind it, and also more results. It would cost less than $6 million, probably a lot less.
That plan involves letting the 40,000 or so CMS high schoolers come to school an hour later, instead of the current dawn-breaking 7:15 a.m. bell. Science says this is a good idea, because early high school times interfere with the circadian rhythms of adolescents.
Studies, which we’ve written about here for years, show that it works for school districts.
It’s why several large districts have moved or are moving that direction. Parents from across Mecklenburg County, including some who participated on a CMS task force, have long asked CMS to do the same. (So has the Observer editorial board.) CMS doesn’t dispute the science or parents’ willingness to make a change. Officials have said, however, that CMS can’t afford to start spending the millions of transportation dollars it saved a few years back when it changed the bell schedule.
Except now, the district apparently can afford a significant transportation expense for magnets.
Let’s recap: CMS now is able to spend $6 million on a worthy plan that could help a targeted demographic of struggling students. CMS doesn’t want to spend a lot less than that on a worthy plan that could help high schoolers across the district, including that targeted demographic.
In fact, CMS hasn’t seriously studied the start time issue, to see what the costs actually would be. It is, one school board member said, “not a priority.”
That’s shortsighted, pragmatically and otherwise.
The pragmatic: As CMS dives into its discussion about diversity, it will need buy-in from parents across Mecklenburg, especially if integration involves anything more than expanding magnet programs.
Some might say that the district could approach integration the way the county approaches bond packages – you get a better response to the overall plan if it includes something for everyone.
But this is about more than offering the reluctant a carrot.
People understand, some more grudgingly than others, that CMS needs to focus more of its efforts and resources on low-performing schools. The new magnet busing plan is part of that emphasis.
There will be other parts, too, and the discussion we have about them will inevitably touch on something larger – that we should think about what’s best for the community as a whole, not just our child.
That’s true, but that’s also where trust comes in. If CMS wants families to believe that we’re all in this together – and that it wants all children to improve – it should be willing to entertain proposals that accomplish exactly that.
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/peter-st-onge/article45047139.html#storylink=cpy
