Speculating a Gold Rush

I am not sure I want to read the newspaper anymore. I used to think it was a great place to find out what was happening in the world, and see what people were thinking. Well... I am not sure I want to know what people are thinking anymore.

At the risk of sounding like a know-it-all pipsqueak, I found myself (again) befuddled by a story in the Seattle Times. Two things bothered me in particular:

1. They had spoken with a teacher protesting in front of Seattle Public Schools HQ. At the time of the RIF, around the 10th of May, he said: "I wish they could have waited a little longer, to see if they could find the money," Jarosz told me then.

2. "They say stimulus money, but they don't tell you how much. And did they know about it before? You go through a lot of stress when you lose your job. Was it all really necessary?" To which Nicole Brodeur chimed in I wondered the same thing.

I am not a fan of RIF's/Layoffs/Job Losses. It is awful for all parties involved, and if I had graduated last year I would likely be in the RIF pool. If I get a job this summer, then I may find myself in that same position next May 15th. But this was something the district needed to do, for two reasons:
1) it is a state mandated deadline that they need to notify people of RIF's. There's no waiting, no "maaaaaybe if" scenarios.
2) you can't speculate on the money you will get. They didn't have the stimulus money, so they needed to RIF. You can assume you have certain pools of money, but you don't really know until it has been allocated.

I get the notion that the man was upset. I can't imagine losing my job via RIF, but I have lived through my wife having her contract non-renewed due to budget issues. It makes for a stressful time! But yes, it was necessary. The district doesn't want to create stress. As a journalist (or columnist), Nicole Brodeur needs to a bit more research. It was an issue of timing and budgeting. Maybe there are guidelines that the school board and superintendent could have followed regarding budgeting. I don't know, and I would imagine Brodeur doesn't either.

Don't Read the Newspaper

Reading newspaper articles and op-ed pieces on education can be infuriating. This morning I read a Seattle Times Op-Ed that I couldn't make heads or tails of. At best I disagreed with her assessment that our kids are thriving in schools. At worst I was confused by comparing education to being science-based like medicine.

Personally I believe that education needs reform of some sort. Does it need to scrapped in favor of charter schools? I don't think so, particularly as the data comparing charters and public schools don't support the huge gains that charter school supporters champion. But I do believe that we need an education system that isn't a slave to assessment. Assessment should inform instruction, and help teachers target instruction at appropriate levels. I am not quite sure what is so science-based about education either. Perhaps it is the number of case studies that eventually lead to best practices. Then again, hasn't a case been made for virtually all of the "best practices" that have been in education, many of which competing against each other?

I think there are some great things happening at schools, but by no stretch of the imagination are they thriving. If they were thriving, and preparing all students for higher ed and the great beyond then we wouldn't have programs like Rainier Scholars. There was a great article about RS in the Seattle Times as well. What kills me are the comments, which show a complete lack of understanding for why a program like Rainier Scholars exists.

Spring Break, One Week Down!

Spring Break started as of 3:06PM on Friday. The first week didn't go too bad, although I have much to consider this week. What's happening this coming week?

• Marathon training started today, which means a solid 86 miles on tap this week.
• Reading, reading, and more reading! I plan to go through some reading, writing and science texts to see what I can integrate into my practice.
• Some classroom moving... I will post pictures later, but I plan to shift tables, desks and students with a hope of bringing some new life into the classroom (kids are tired of their table groups, and the space is a bit cramped).
• My Praxis exam next Saturday, which in Washington is called the WEST-E.
• Sleep!

I also have to say that I've been cleaning out my google reader only to find an article from the Seattle PI (now a web-only "paper"). In the article, the candidate for mayor says that a takeover of Seattle Schools could happen if improvement doesn't happen within 2 years. He goes on to say that takeovers have had great success in other cities... If we have solid critical thinking skills we can make statistics mean whatever we want, can't we?

Closure Follow-Up

I watched some of the Seattle School Board meeting last night. It was unruly, contentious, and heated. I wouldn't expect anything less to be honest. I see both sides, albeit from afar. In my eyes... Families and school communities don't like to see that they will close. Who would really? They think they are being singled out, and that the district is closing schools instead of collaborating to improve existing schools. The school board and superintendent see closing schools as a better option than slashing teaching positions, and the goal is to fill buildings.

The last thing heard on the broadcast last night was, "You are pathetic." People are angry, but is the board pathetic? What alternative do they have? Do they close north end schools and send kids south? Not quite sure how that would go over, but I would guess not so well (and probably lots of white flight). Does this look bad racially? Absolutely. But I don't think the moves are racially motivated. I'm not quite sure how to describe it. What I do know is that this process pitted schools against each other, and got ugly very quickly. Is that what we want for kids? Do we want schools, families, and teachers to say that they shouldn't be closed but that someone else is more worthy of closing? Ugh. No one wants to be on the bottom.

School Closures

Today is a big day for the Seattle School District. The front page of the Seattle Times has a an article about the looming school board decision on closures. It won't be an easy decision, nor should it be. A great resource on this is the Save Seattle Schools blog. But there are some interesting nuggets from the Times article like...

Closing buildings does reduce many costs. One building with 500 students, for example, requires less heat and electricity, and office, janitorial and other staff than two schools of 250. By closing older school buildings, the district also avoids some major maintenance work such as new roofs or major heating and plumbing repairs. That's perhaps where the biggest savings lie.

Closing schools can't be easy for anyone, particularly the families at the schools in question. But the reality is that the district faces a massive budget shortfall. Where else can they save money without compromising the quality of instruction? I would probably be swayed, at least for a short time, that the smaller buildings are better for students because of the closeness students can feel to the teachers and staff. A 500 person elementary school seems massive. I went to a school of around 250, and it was K-6! But if not schools, then the question is where do the cuts come from? Teachers? Supplies? Food service?

A sidenote is that my wife is having her school closed in a different district. Does she like it? Not particularly. But we've had conversations about how ultimately the district can't keep open buildings with low or declining enrollment, particularly when there are nearby buildings that could absorb these students. She should have a position in the fall, at one of the schools where her kids are going to be moved to. But it doesn't make it hurt any less.

But hey, Seattle Schools is creating 100 teaching jobs for next year, and is committed to that (see the above Seattle Times article, towards the end). At least i've got that going for me...