Once managerial discretion is removed through contracts, state and federal statutes, school boards shall be demoted to ceremonial roles.
Ceremonial roles: graduations, honor roll dinners, concerts, ball games, etc..
17 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Even a casual observer can tell, that this and other 150 boards have always just said yes to what ever the Superintendent's have wanted. I loved Ken Hinton, but really the whole Chinese thing, I mean really. The buying the houses on Prospect. Which are still costing the district money. How much money was thrown away on those. Then there was the whole Royster thing. Good money, that should have been used on new buildings, the students etc. I am not going to bash Lathan, because the results have not been seen yet. But, I knew she would get the 10 grand from the minute they said it would be available. She should have donated it back to the District and looked like a hero, instead of the usual greedy supers. I remember I think it was Ed Griffith, when the public found out he was given a district vehicle, and a $400. a month car allowance. First he needed an Explorer to pull buses out of the ditch, then he would use it to pick up students when it snowed too much, finally he said, "Don't blame me, the board approved it".
The first anonymous is probably a French teacher. Mandarin should be offered instead. Really. Who is our largest local employers biggest foreign trading partner? More cluelessness in Peoria. Effective boards can lead. The current group, notsomuch.
Anonymous, I didn't mean anything about trying to teach Mandarin. I meant bring the Chinese here, buy the houses for way more then they were worth. They are still mantained by Dist. 150.And, I think that the Chinese are going to be learning English. Most of the kids in Peoria, barley speak English. Ok, that is an exaggeration. And, I am not a teacher at all, but I believe that I read that most adults will not be able to speak Chinese correctly. Our mouths will not form the sounds correctly.
Inasmuch as I have now read on this thread that Anonymous says " ...(he/she) believe(s) that (he/she) read that most adults will not be able to speak Chinese correctly. Our mouths will not form the sounds correctly", I suppose it's time for me to spread this as a fact.
Whether one agrees or disagrees with the purchase (and current retention) of the houses on Prospect, it is sad that we have lost the opportunity for a significant segment of our student population to attain what has become an exceedingly important and potentially financially rewarding language skill.
Why is Spanish not important? Think of nurses, doctors, teachers, etc. Peoria is more than just CAT. 150 doesn't provide any quality language programs. The administration does not put emphasis on foreign language studies.
In the past, I would agree that training in foreign languages had been insufficient. But. . . with Dr. Lathan implementing the MYP into middle schools that MUST change. The MPY requires that foreign language be offered as part of the curriculum.
Of course, how effective the MYP will be implemented remains to be seen, right.
Spikeles, I do not wish to argue with you, I am trying to say, that most of the kids in Peoria learning Chinese is kind of silly. I know that Charter Oak had the teachers and some of those kids could do well. Charter Oak was at one time (I don't know about now) the the UN of the district. They had a large number of kids from other countries. I was trying to make the point that hiring the Chinese people to come here and live in the houses, (which were not bought for them to live in), made me think of indentured servents. I felt that a lot of money was wasted on the whole venture. Maybe you were one of the people who got a free trip to China. I don't know. onsidering the large number of Hispanics in the world, I think I would rather learn Spanish. I wish I still had the article about how human mouths are formed after a certain age. I do not expect any one to believe any thing they read and take it as fact. One should do their research, always. And if I am not correct, would not college be a better place to learn Mandarin. And again, I am not certain, but aren't there several different dialects of Chinese? But, I digress. My whole point was that the boards just usually follow along like lemmings. Sorry, if I offended you.
The question is: how much Chinese did any of the 150 kids learn? Counting to ten was the big production put on by some students at a board meeting. I think what little they learned could have been learned by watching a demonstration on YouTube. Now, of course, the hype, according to the 150 calendar, is that with the Rosetta Stone program, kids can learn 27 different languages.
Graduates with foreign language capability and multicultural exposure have a competitive edge over others in the workplace.
District 150s decision to offer more languages was a good one, its approach to implementation sounds like it was flawed.
The District, IMO, seems to implement special offerings too broadly in an attempt to appear equitable. Then, because the task and cost of implementing and maintaining such programs on a large scale is so difficult or because the program is an ill fit for some groups of students, the entire program crashes and burns.
Offering Mandarin was a wonderful idea in theory, however, it should have been concentrated in a couple of key schools around a core group of students/parents that were interested in this area of study. And, as Sharon alludes to, it is a difficult language to learn, it requires regular and intensive study and the school schedule would need to be overhauled to allow for daily language study.
Just as Sharon said...."Too many initiatives are just for show (good PR)--with no substance"....and they continue to ignore the problems, especially discipline, which are dominating some of the schools.
My school was a "zoo" today. The menagerie was running the place. Kept my students in the room with me with the door shut, except for lunch.....FRIGHTENING...FOR SURE!
17 comments:
Even a casual observer can tell, that this and other 150 boards have always just said yes to what ever the Superintendent's have wanted. I loved Ken Hinton, but really the whole Chinese thing, I mean really. The buying the houses on Prospect. Which are still costing the district money. How much money was thrown away on those. Then there was the whole Royster thing. Good money, that should have been used on new buildings, the students etc. I am not going to bash Lathan, because the results have not been seen yet. But, I knew she would get the 10 grand from the minute they said it would be available. She should have donated it back to the District and looked like a hero, instead of the usual greedy supers. I remember I think it was Ed Griffith, when the public found out he was given a district vehicle, and a $400. a month car allowance. First he needed an Explorer to pull buses out of the ditch, then he would use it to pick up students when it snowed too much, finally he said, "Don't blame me, the board approved it".
Actually 150 should just have two board members..one that would clap and one that wouldn't clap.
The board can clap if lathan ever gets a decent hairdo.
The first anonymous is probably a French teacher. Mandarin should be offered instead. Really. Who is our largest local employers biggest foreign trading partner? More cluelessness in Peoria. Effective boards can lead. The current group, notsomuch.
Anonymous, I didn't mean anything about trying to teach Mandarin. I meant bring the Chinese here, buy the houses for way more then they were worth. They are still mantained by Dist. 150.And, I think that the Chinese are going to be learning English. Most of the kids in Peoria, barley speak English. Ok, that is an exaggeration. And, I am not a teacher at all, but I believe that I read that most adults will not be able to speak Chinese correctly. Our mouths will not form the sounds correctly.
The board's specialty: Pig Latin.
I yay ove lay enita gray.
Inasmuch as I have now read on this thread that Anonymous says " ...(he/she) believe(s) that (he/she) read that most adults will not be able to speak Chinese correctly. Our mouths will not form the sounds correctly", I suppose it's time for me to spread this as a fact.
Whether one agrees or disagrees with the purchase (and current retention) of the houses on Prospect, it is sad that we have lost the opportunity for a significant segment of our student population to attain what has become an exceedingly important and potentially financially rewarding language skill.
Why is Spanish not important? Think of nurses, doctors, teachers, etc. Peoria is more than just CAT. 150 doesn't provide any quality language programs. The administration does not put emphasis on foreign language studies.
In the past, I would agree that training in foreign languages had been insufficient. But. . . with Dr. Lathan implementing the MYP into middle schools that MUST change. The MPY requires that foreign language be offered as part of the curriculum.
Of course, how effective the MYP will be implemented remains to be seen, right.
Frustrated, Right! It all depends.
Spikeles, I do not wish to argue with you, I am trying to say, that most of the kids in Peoria learning Chinese is kind of silly. I know that Charter Oak had the teachers and some of those kids could do well. Charter Oak was at one time (I don't know about now) the the UN of the district. They had a large number of kids from other countries. I was trying to make the point that hiring the Chinese people to come here and live in the houses, (which were not bought for them to live in), made me think of indentured servents. I felt that a lot of money was wasted on the whole venture. Maybe you were one of the people who got a free trip to China. I don't know. onsidering the large number of Hispanics in the world, I think I would rather learn Spanish. I wish I still had the article about how human mouths are formed after a certain age. I do not expect any one to believe any thing they read and take it as fact. One should do their research, always. And if I am not correct, would not college be a better place to learn Mandarin. And again, I am not certain, but aren't there several different dialects of Chinese? But, I digress. My whole point was that the boards just usually follow along like lemmings. Sorry, if I offended you.
The question is: how much Chinese did any of the 150 kids learn? Counting to ten was the big production put on by some students at a board meeting. I think what little they learned could have been learned by watching a demonstration on YouTube. Now, of course, the hype, according to the 150 calendar, is that with the Rosetta Stone program, kids can learn 27 different languages.
Graduates with foreign language capability and multicultural exposure have a competitive edge over others in the workplace.
District 150s decision to offer more languages was a good one, its approach to implementation sounds like it was flawed.
The District, IMO, seems to implement special offerings too broadly in an attempt to appear equitable. Then, because the task and cost of implementing and maintaining such programs on a large scale is so difficult or because the program is an ill fit for some groups of students, the entire program crashes and burns.
Offering Mandarin was a wonderful idea in theory, however, it should have been concentrated in a couple of key schools around a core group of students/parents that were interested in this area of study. And, as Sharon alludes to, it is a difficult language to learn, it requires regular and intensive study and the school schedule would need to be overhauled to allow for daily language study.
Too many initiatives are just for show (good PR)--with no substance.
Just as Sharon said...."Too many initiatives are just for show (good PR)--with no substance"....and they continue to ignore the problems, especially discipline, which are dominating some of the schools.
My school was a "zoo" today. The menagerie was running the place. Kept my students in the room with me with the door shut, except for lunch.....FRIGHTENING...FOR SURE!
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