All failing schools moved to one district run by state

[AGDee]

So this is the latest in crazy Michigan politics/government.


http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...=2011111110050

All of the schools deemed as "failing" (individual schools, not districts) are being moved to one statewide district to be overhauled.


I have a lot of conflicting feelings about this whole concept. I don't understand how this is going to work. I would think that most parents whose kids are in one of these schools would "school of choice" to a better school. What about schools that feed into each other? You have four middle schools that feed one high school. One of those middle schools is put into this new district. Does that school still feed into that high school? Kids are changing districts constantly if this is true. How is that going to screw up their transcripts? What about athletic conferences? How does that work? What about bond issues that were district wide? Does that money go to the new district or the old one? What do people think about this? What is to stop them from deeming all schools a failure and making a state-wide district where the people have no say in what happens because they don't get to elect the school board, etc.?

I would love to hear people's thoughts, especially the GC educators.

[Smile_Awhile]

In my opinion, this is bull.

I'm a graduate of a "failing" high school that hasn't reached its expected AYP in four years (at the present, but i know things weren't that different while I was there). There was one big problem with using one single band-aid over the entire school- this same high school also provided one of the best educations in the state. In essence, my high school suffered from being two high schools in the same building with the same administration. If you were in the AP classes and academically pushed yourself (or were pushed by your parents), you would get a quality education that very well prepared me for a college career. I watched friends get into MIT, Yale, Williams College, and many other top universities nationwide.

But, if you weren't- if you were in the regular classes0 you received the "failing" education that meant you were the students targeted by the testing, who failed it and cause the school to be forced into the failing category.

What in the world would putting my high school into the failing district do? I guarantee the "solutions" provided to help fix the problems would only hurt the students who were doing well.

ETA: I know that my high school had real problems that did need solutions. But I certainly don't think this would help them at all.

[DrPhil]

Based on what I read, this is a dumb idea. This is just districting, zoning, segregation, and labeling placed under a different title. Now you will have a "failing district" which is what some cities already have.

[crosscaravan]

I'm not an educator, but I graduated from a "failing" school. When I started applying for colleges, I would sometimes have to meet representatives from the college in person for interviews, and without fail I always got asked about the "failing" status of the school and why I thought they should ignore that stigma.

Obviously I'm in college now so I was able to get in to places on my own merits, but I feel like the stigma of graduating not from just a "failing" school but also from an entire district full of "failures" - no matter how well the student does on an absolute scale rather than a relative one (I only bring this up because I was also told at some points that coming from a struggling high school would make people think that I only appeared to excel because other students weren't excelling, if that makes sense?) - is going to be something that's much more difficult to overcome. It seems to me like this is going to hurt good students who put a lot of effort into their education, but for whatever reason can't get waivers to get into different schools approved by the administrators.

Which, in my experience, has been a lot more common than some people seem to think. ("What do you mean they wouldn't let you switch from Failure High School to Decent High School? Just get them to sign the papers." "They wouldn't, though. They said it wasn't possible." According to my mom - a former teacher - they probably just wanted to keep me there they thought my high grades would boost the school's average. Then again she's my mom, so she was probably just trying to make me feel better!)

Feel free to correct me if you don't think that's going to be an issue - I'm just pretty cynical when it comes to this sort of thing, but that's because I've been on the receiving end of some pretty spectacular failures within the educational system.

Personally, I think it would be more effective if, instead of drawing up new districts and creating an entire cluster of idiocy - because that's really the only way I can see this going - they used a fraction of what the new districts would cost to just send a small, core team of educators to help get the schools back on the right track while keeping them in the districts they're in now. But again, I'm just a college student, so I don't know if that would actually be feasible.

[AGDee]

The more I digest this concept, the more questions I come up with. Who is transporting these kids to their school? Who is providing supplies, warehousing and delivering those supplies, etc.

And, I agree DrPhil, it's no secret that the "failing schools" have a different racial makeup than the non-failing schools. Separate but equal was struck down years ago.

I hate our governor and I hate this state lately. I really want out of here.

This article has a little more information: http://www.detnews.com/article/20111...hancellor-says

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by AGDee

The more I digest this concept, the more questions I come up with. Who is transporting these kids to their school? Who is providing supplies, warehousing and delivering those supplies, etc.

And, I agree DrPhil, it's no secret that the "failing schools" have a different racial makeup than the non-failing schools. Separate but equal was struck down years ago.

I hate our governor and I hate this state lately. I really want out of here.

This article has a little more information: http://www.detnews.com/article/20111...hancellor-says

My local high school is considered "failing" per NCLB because there is too large a gap between the test scores of white students and the test scores of students of color. So, even though the averages are high enough to pass, they don't get any NCLB money

[*winter*]

I don't know what to think about all these failing schools. In PA when a school is turned over to the state (at least in the cases I'm familiar with) it's a real quick invitation to get your act together, or go out of business (see Duquesne High School; Clairton City School District.)

However, in NJ, there are school districts (mostly "Abbott Districts" if you google that) that have been under state control for 10, 15 years. And guess what? They are still failing schools. Because just like the local governments, the state doesn't have all the answers either. I don't have a problem with state takeover, but if it's just going to be one more drawn-out burecratic bunch of nothing while kids continue to fail, what is the point?

The parents in the districts in NJ under state control don't think they have ANY say in what goes on in the school, which is sad.

This idea sounds really good on paper, but as you've pointed out, the execution of it is going to be a nightmare. Heck, around here, if they close one school, parents are in an uproar about increased busing times! How do they think this is going to pan out?

[KSUViolet06]

This is super dumb.

In Ohio, the failing schools are taken over by the state (not combined inot a big district, though.) Guess what they're doing? Still failing. While pointing the finger at the teachers (when they're the ones who took over the school.)

[AGDee]

Yes, because they don't understand that kids fail for a number of reasons: malnutrition, no utilities at home, lack of parental guidance, stress, etc.