neat hay!...who ever said our language can't be fun? Now that I have your attention lets get serious. Just two items to ponder today.....The first is the public/private/public Horace Mann Charter question. After reading all the material and associated material, I am still confused as to what help this will be to our City students. It seems to me, and it is just my opinion, that there isn't any real substantial difference between our existing system and the charter system, as far as it would concern the students. Yes their are many technical differences between the two systems but they only seem to address the managerial aspects, and even in this area there seems to be a lot of redundancy. To put it in an egg shell, it seems that it is nothing more than privatization of public schools? The Mayor has made a 180* turn in his opinion on this subject but with no explanation for his reversal, and I am not trying to rag on him here, but I am wondering what was the reasoning behind it , being that it is not of his nature to do something like that.
Hell....now I have forgotten the second thing!.......... What Do You Think?
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13 comments:
Heh. You sound as if you just moved to North Adams. Befuddlement at the nonsense is the number one attribute in common of all newcomers, you know.
There is a big difference between a public and private charter school. The BArT school was started by someone who came to town and told everyone they needed a new school. They were paid to do so and didn't necessarily need local public approval. They were certified by the state and take money from each school system in north Berkshire in order to operate. There is no local input such as with a local school committee.
The public Horace Mann school operates in one community and is funded as other schools are funded. They receive local input and are part of the public system.
It seems to me that the biggest difference is in the funding and local input.
When I was growing up, there were neighborhood schools, Johnson, Brayton, Freeman, Houghton, Mark Hopkins, etc. The city decided at some point that it was more cost effective to consolidate schools given drops in population and other factors. So we now have fewer schools that cost less to operate the physical plants and more money goes to the teachers, and other factors in the school budgets. The BArT school came into the area and basically said that it doesn't care if it is cost effective to run an additional school, they want to operate. (Private companies wouldn't do this. You wouldn't see a McDonald's on the next block from the one in Adams or North Adams, as it is not cost effective. Economically speaking, this is the law of diminishing marginal utility.) The upshot is that whether one believes that BArT is necessary for the education of our young, it takes away from the rest of the area schools as it operates less cost effectively by having more physical facilities and the incumbent cost structure therein than the locals have decided are needed....and without their input.
The public Horace Mann School uses existing facilities and existing infrastructure where possible. They have local input and operate within the local budget. It is like the old centers of excellence that used to run within the university system here in Massachusetts or the Commonwealth College within the UMass Amherst Campus. I have never heard the Mayor say that he wasn't in favor of making the school system better. In fact, the experiment with longer days is an example of innovation. The after school programs in North Adams make for a longer day at our public schools than at the charter school. The laptop initiative embraced by North Adams gives more technology to the Middle School than the existing charter school has. So it is clear that there is some inclination that change is needed.
There is a world of difference in starting a charter school that exists within local frameworks and doesn’t redirect funding to the detriment of the remaining kids and the private charter school. There is a world of difference between boards that selects it’s members as BarT does and a publicly elected school committee.
Without an opinion on whether or nor BarT does a good job educating their students, it is clear that there are very big differences between a regional school that is imposed by outside forces on a group of communities that are then forced to fund this entity regardless of whether it makes local sense; and a school that is integrated into the both the funding and existing curriculum structure of a single community.
Then the question is whether or not one thinks the local public school system is in good hands and feel those hands are capable of guiding a Horace Mann school into excellence? I have to say, I fail to see how it is an alternative if the same minds are shaping it.
Horace Mann schools are used as experimental schools within school systems. Hopefully practices that are established and work in the Horace Mann School will be absorbed and practiced by the regular system. The private charter schools are supposed to do this, but by their very nature, they are unable to do this. Their role is almost adversarial and they take money from traditional schools that then are unable to do the same things. I can’t think of one innovation at the BArT that has been transferred to the regular school system.
As examples, Horace Mann schools allow teachers to work in groups, operate in units with a mentor teacher, and use innovative classroom techniques as experiments rather than making the entire school system begin a new teaching process that may or may not work.
"I can’t think of one innovation at the BArT that has been transferred to the regular school system."
There may well be some innovations going on there, but we'll never know about them . . . no one wants to hear and BART itself acts far too paranoid to tell anyhow.
I was going through the vaults at the Transcript the other day and found an interview with Simeon Stolzberg saying that if BART doesn't get the students in jeopardy and ends up with a bunch of rich kids, then it has failed in its mission. Considering BART's hedging in regard to SPED programs, I have to wonder about who it wants to service and who it is actually servicing.
As far as the Horace Mann schools go, it all sounds fabulous in theory, but, again, I have to ask, if the same minds are in charge of the experimentation an HM school that are in charge of the public school system, I still don't see the innovation. New ideas spring from new ideamakers and the NAPS aren't always receptive to that.
It would nice if it did work though. I guess we'll see.
Hmmm......Why do you need a Horace Mann system to do this? Haven't progressive techniques and inovative teaching methods been a standard ongoing practice already employed in our existing system? It would seem to me that any school system in todays world has to stay up to date with current inovations. What you are explaining reminds me of what I have seen in action, oh so many years ago, At the School Of Education at U of M Amherst. Prospective Teachers, as part of their training, or maybe it was punishment...:~), were exposed to the latest classroom techniques so when they did find a job they would have had experience. I fail to see where a Horace Mann school will enhance our students if it is just a medium for experementation.
Look - this is in an investigatory phase---unlike BaRt that first surfaced with a full-blown plan that you could look at and tear apart-that is they were already in the "application" to the state mode---we are not------- beyond the funding issue----there are too many questions being posed here- and there will be no answers until the "looking into" phase is completed---so chill out---none of us knows what the hell we are talking about----so talking about whether it's good or bad-- just shows ignorance---not an uncommon position demonstrated by some of the posters on this board--- chbpod
I don't know any limits for posting either---and I don't think stupidity is one- if there are any--- you are proof positive of that---asking the questions??? fair enough-- presuming you know the answers??? STUPID--- but typical-- chbpod
You're stupid if you don't already know and you're stupid if you ask so you know. Once you do know, you're stupid because you asked in order to know.
Got it.
I am convinced that no one on this blog has a clue about a HMCS---and that includes me-----when it gets to the specifics as they relate to our existing school system--I have too many questions to ask on this subject and no one here can answer them---so why shoot your fucking mouth off like you;re some authority on the matter---stick to fuse boxes--maybe you have some expertise there--- chbpod
bmm- I have no idea-- except that with the wireless iniative we may have some methdology initiatives that might be better suited for some students-- althought the overall laptop thinigies suggestes that ALL students will benefit--- I have no idea---all of the MCLA freshmen have to have laptops---no sense integrating them into a classroom setting if the other students don;t have them--- so I don;t use the comuter programs---too much a waste of time---I did have one student this past semester ask if he could bring his lap top to class-- I said sure-- I might facilitate your note taking-- after that class- three students that sat behind him-- complained that instead of taking notes he was playing video games---needless to say he never brought his lap top to class again----and it's true that I use the same tests each year--- and I hand them out to the students at the beginninhg of each section of the course--imagine that-- you have a copy of the test in your hand (the short answer test-- not the take home essay)-- I teach the test and then give it in class-----why does anyone flunk it????
it's just my way of making people look stupid--- it is definately a talent that I have--- and it extends to the Council floor---although I haven;t had to use for a long time--- I am looking forward to this year very much---
as far as my working and teaching-- tests aren;t everything---I do have to show upo to class and regale the masses with my knowledge--all cjt has to do is change a fuse--- or blow one----he is certainly more proficient in the latter case-- ASSHOLE!
chbpod
Music boy? That's the worst glib insulting nickname I've ever heard.
Mr. Tremblay and Mr. Billings are good examples of why nothing ever gets done in this town - they are too busy personalizing everything and bickering their way far from the actual issue being spoken. It's like attending some really hostile group therapy session. You two don't bat around ideas, you bat around each other's swollen egos and North Adams still waits and waits and waits for something to happen.
"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt."
Abraham Lincoln
I'll be the first to admit I know nothing about HMCS's, so why engage in conversation about it and have you all joyfully tell me my opinion doesn't matter?
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