“American students are the most unsophisticated people in the world.” Stokely Carmichael (aka Kwame Ture)
Education news continues to flow like The River Wild:
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the entire school district is under a cloud due to a testing scandal that resulted in the firing of three principals.
Newton, Massachusetts parents in a high achieving district are questioning administration response (or lack of) to the three suicides, in four months, by students attending their high schools.
Heroin bags and hypodermic needles were found inside the staff bathroom at Benjamin Cosor Elementary School. Located in Sullivan, New York forums have been held and a national discussion regarding the dangerous drug has evolved.
A February 26th USA Today article on super PACs pointed out how Democratic state senator Raymond Lesnik representing Elizabeth, New Jersey used outsider money to influence city school board elections and strengthen his hold on political activity.
Online and for-profit institutions, like the University of Phoenix and Premier Education Group, are being scrutinized for their educational practices. The latter accused of fraud, accounting gimmicks and snatching federal grant money without returning a value.
In East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana a group calling themselves Local Schools for Local Children is rallying to separate from the 42,000 student school district. If successful they would call the new city St. George and per-pupil spending would increase from the current $9,635 to $11,686. Unfortunately the kids that remain will see their spending drop to $8,870 per-pupil. Of course it doesn’t take AP Statistical Analysis to figure out what group of young people will suffer greatly.
On the hollowed grounds of The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill between 1990-2011 the department of African, African-American, and Diaspora Studies offered more than 200 lecture courses that never met. In addition internal reviews found over five hundred unauthorized grade changes effecting mainly basketball and football players.
The Big Apple is buzzing with news that Mayor Bill deBlasio has reversed plans to open up three additional charter schools operated by former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz (Success Academy), but will green light the applications of more than a dozen others that will function inside Department of Education space.
What has been fascinating is the sheer volume of activity and banter, along with the widening gulf about how best to assure all kids are successful. The overwhelming issue remains the selected few with nothing more than a financial motive. That includes school districts who receive special education funding and are quick to label children that way. It’s unfortunate that so much of the discussion boils down to dollars and cents.
But that’s reality and as always it will be the masses that pushes the boulder up the hill.
On an inspiring note Woodlands High School in Hartsdale New York (Greenburgh Central School District) captured both the girls and boys Westchester County Section 1 Class B Basketball Championships in dramatic, comeback fashion.
We need to grab the beats where possible.
It keep us righteous.
“Signed…An Educated Brother!”
aneducatedbrother 