I just have a question. Lynn has a majority of minorities or at least close to it. I don't know the exact number but I am sure it. That being the case, my question is "How many minority teachers do we have in our school system?". It seems to me they would be better able to relate to the students.
The message we are sending to our students tells these students, at least subliminally, "Only blue eyed, fair skinned people are educated". I am sure there are some exceptions employed by the Lynn school system and maybe I am completely off base. I hope so but that is why I pose the question. It is an important question after all, teachers are the gatekeepers of our society.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Librarians To Lead The Turn Around At Our Failing Schools!
Rumor has it that funding has magically appeared to allow reinstatement of the librarians at our Level 4 schools. Evidently someone believes that they must be important to the educational progress of these under performing schools. I guess we have to wait until our other schools fail before we can have librarians in the other five libraries in the city schools. Where does our educational wisdom and leadership come from?
I would hazard a guess that the money came from a Turn Around grant similar to the one mentioned in the Boston Globe where 12 under performing schools shared 27 million dollars. I can not confirm my suspicions absolutely since Dr. Latham does not chat with me over coffee about the school system's fiscal dilemma and proposed solutions. Rest assured I will be at the upcoming meetings seeking answers.
There is a sub-committee meeting on Aug. 19th and a public hearing on the proposed budget for the 2010-2011 school year will be held at 7 pm at Breed Middle School on August 31st. I hope to see everyone there.
I would hazard a guess that the money came from a Turn Around grant similar to the one mentioned in the Boston Globe where 12 under performing schools shared 27 million dollars. I can not confirm my suspicions absolutely since Dr. Latham does not chat with me over coffee about the school system's fiscal dilemma and proposed solutions. Rest assured I will be at the upcoming meetings seeking answers.
There is a sub-committee meeting on Aug. 19th and a public hearing on the proposed budget for the 2010-2011 school year will be held at 7 pm at Breed Middle School on August 31st. I hope to see everyone there.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
I Can See The Future!
It just blows my mind how the LSC could even contemplate the possibility of passing a budget that does not include librarians. It might be different if we were blowing the doors off all our standardized tests but with such poor MCAS scores such a move is totally irresponsible. Anybody who thinks this is an acceptable solution to our budgetary crisis is dangerously myopic.
Without fully stalked and running libraries our LSC members will not be able to read the writing on the wall and it will read: "Lynn School System Taken By State Because Of Weak Education Standards And Low MCAS Scores".
Without fully stalked and running libraries our LSC members will not be able to read the writing on the wall and it will read: "Lynn School System Taken By State Because Of Weak Education Standards And Low MCAS Scores".
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Maintenance Makeovers
The school department seems to have the same problem we all do: not enough money and too many places to spend it. It is all a matter of prioritizing. Dr. Latham voiced her support and satisfaction with the job Mike Donovan is doing with the overall maintenance of the school system.
The problems range from the extensive renovations being done at Classical due to the swampy foundation to air quality issues at Pickering. The various projects ongoing at Classical are slated to be completed by the start of school but the assurance of that was not all that confident due to the contractor's late start,
The air quality issues at Pickering are common to all the schools built doing that era - poor ventilation causing a buildup of CO2 due to the air tightness of the construction. Making matters worse is the fact that the exhaust fans are often turned off by teachers or other personnel because they are too noisy. I guess that means some people are choosing listening over breathing.
Every school in the system has problems unique to it but all share in a fiscal impediment to any solutions. We have to find away to address these problems somehow because not only are they not going away by ignoring them, they are going to get worse.
The problems range from the extensive renovations being done at Classical due to the swampy foundation to air quality issues at Pickering. The various projects ongoing at Classical are slated to be completed by the start of school but the assurance of that was not all that confident due to the contractor's late start,
The air quality issues at Pickering are common to all the schools built doing that era - poor ventilation causing a buildup of CO2 due to the air tightness of the construction. Making matters worse is the fact that the exhaust fans are often turned off by teachers or other personnel because they are too noisy. I guess that means some people are choosing listening over breathing.
Every school in the system has problems unique to it but all share in a fiscal impediment to any solutions. We have to find away to address these problems somehow because not only are they not going away by ignoring them, they are going to get worse.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Falcons' Flight To The Stars Delayed!
Sadly the astronauts in the International Space Station have pressing business so a NASA/MIT joint sponsored robotics competition that Ford has entered with nine other schools across the state will not be held this Thursday but has been tentatively set for August 16th providing no more problems with the ISS.
Last week Ford beat all the other schools in a preliminary trial. This made them the favorite to have their program ran in space. This could have meant the Ford school and its students could have reached inrtagalactic status.
Last week Ford beat all the other schools in a preliminary trial. This made them the favorite to have their program ran in space. This could have meant the Ford school and its students could have reached inrtagalactic status.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Buses To Nowhere Or At Least Empty Libraries
These are tough times no doubt. The school committee had to make some hard choices to trim the budget to avoid layoffs and thereby increase class size and that all too important teacher-student ratio. No one would be happy with any cuts. Everybody gave a little, just some more than others.
Transportation cost which does make up a significant portion of the budget seemed to be treated with kid gloves. Despite stories of tens of thousands of dollars spent to transport students to the KIPP charter school and the phenomenal increase in the cost for placements outside the Lynn school system.
Surrendering to the prospect of making any changes to this year's massive transportation budget due to time constraints, Donna Coppola put forth the motion or the wish that a careful analysis of the transportation budget be performed in order to avoid this same problem next year.
A noble gesture that fell on deaf ears. No one seemed interested in touching this sacred cow, now or in the future.
This kind of educational foresight and planning will guarantee that we will have the more priveledged students tranported to hollow halls. We would be better served to have our children walk to fully stalked libraries with librarians. Our students would be in better shape mentally and physically. Oh yeh, our MCAS scores would be higher.
Transportation cost which does make up a significant portion of the budget seemed to be treated with kid gloves. Despite stories of tens of thousands of dollars spent to transport students to the KIPP charter school and the phenomenal increase in the cost for placements outside the Lynn school system.
Surrendering to the prospect of making any changes to this year's massive transportation budget due to time constraints, Donna Coppola put forth the motion or the wish that a careful analysis of the transportation budget be performed in order to avoid this same problem next year.
A noble gesture that fell on deaf ears. No one seemed interested in touching this sacred cow, now or in the future.
This kind of educational foresight and planning will guarantee that we will have the more priveledged students tranported to hollow halls. We would be better served to have our children walk to fully stalked libraries with librarians. Our students would be in better shape mentally and physically. Oh yeh, our MCAS scores would be higher.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Save Our Library's Devastation
An Open Letter To Dr. Latham:
This letter is meant to express my outrage and dismay that the librarians have been eliminated from this year’s school budget. With all of the trouble Lynn schools are having with the MCAS tests, how can you justify making school libraries such a low priority in the educational budget?
This area has served as the cradle of education with so many prestigious institutions of higher learning distinguishing the landscape. To make such a irresponsible budgetary move lessen our chances of qualifying for all the federal monies you are counting on to rescue our failing school system.
Two of the seven dedicated libraries are in the Level 4 schools so it boggles my mind how this move can be incorporated in their proposed turn around plans. This lack of forethought puts Lynn’s control of it’s own school system in jeopardy. The state and federal Departments of Education could see this move as a signal that they need to step in and assume management of the city’s educational system.
More than all of that, the kind of person one becomes is determined by what they read. If there is nothing to read in school what kind of person will he or she become? Given the state of Lynn’s test scores, we should be adding libraries not eliminating librarians.
Hopefully you will do everything in your power to reverse this atrocity and prevent the further devastation of our educational system. To insure this matter gets the serious attention it deserves, I am asking all concerned parents to join me at the public hearing on the budget for the 2010-2011 budget at Breed on August 30th at 7:00 pm. According to my understanding of the budgetary process, if the Lynn School Committee can free up money by making line item cuts, you would then have the discretion of restoring the position.
Given your long and distinguished career in education, I am sure you are in harmony with that goal. Otherwise a sour note will be struck for our future.
Stanley H. Wotring, Jr.
Lynn
This letter is meant to express my outrage and dismay that the librarians have been eliminated from this year’s school budget. With all of the trouble Lynn schools are having with the MCAS tests, how can you justify making school libraries such a low priority in the educational budget?
This area has served as the cradle of education with so many prestigious institutions of higher learning distinguishing the landscape. To make such a irresponsible budgetary move lessen our chances of qualifying for all the federal monies you are counting on to rescue our failing school system.
Two of the seven dedicated libraries are in the Level 4 schools so it boggles my mind how this move can be incorporated in their proposed turn around plans. This lack of forethought puts Lynn’s control of it’s own school system in jeopardy. The state and federal Departments of Education could see this move as a signal that they need to step in and assume management of the city’s educational system.
More than all of that, the kind of person one becomes is determined by what they read. If there is nothing to read in school what kind of person will he or she become? Given the state of Lynn’s test scores, we should be adding libraries not eliminating librarians.
Hopefully you will do everything in your power to reverse this atrocity and prevent the further devastation of our educational system. To insure this matter gets the serious attention it deserves, I am asking all concerned parents to join me at the public hearing on the budget for the 2010-2011 budget at Breed on August 30th at 7:00 pm. According to my understanding of the budgetary process, if the Lynn School Committee can free up money by making line item cuts, you would then have the discretion of restoring the position.
Given your long and distinguished career in education, I am sure you are in harmony with that goal. Otherwise a sour note will be struck for our future.
Stanley H. Wotring, Jr.
Lynn
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Are We Going To Cross The Finish Line?
The good news is that Massachusetts is a finalist for President Obama's Race To The Top grant. The bad news is that we are 18 others and only 2 will be chosen. There are enough hoops to jump through that there are a lot of t's to cross and i's to dot.
Can We Have The Results, Please?
Tommorrow is a due day for MCAS results. They will be available for the superintendant and principals only. The rest of us wil have to wait a little longer.
It's A Nice Time For A Picnic
A Leadeship conference was held on July 27th at Endicott College. In attendance were Mayor Kennedy, Patti Capuano, and John Ford. Hopefully they learned how to solve some of the many educational problems we have. Well at least the campus is beautiful this time of year.
Make A New Plan
The Turn Around plan for the two Level 4 schools are due Aug. 14th. Hopefully there is something more substantial than the music chairs the principals played! If not the music may be the llast swan song for the Lynn School system.
An Open Letter To Dr. Latham:
Dear Dr. Latham,
After witnessing yours and the other members of the Lynn School Committee express their desire that proper protocol be followed before starting any school improvement project, I thought I would expree my ideas to you and the appropriate people first. In order to void beingwhat JSC member John Ford termed a “wildcat operation” I am putting forth the following proposal.
I was discussing with my wife, Doreen how the International Garden at Ford School looks more like a 4-H project rather than reflecting any multicultural authenticity. She suggested a marvelous and extremely low budget remedy. The idea was to have the students paint different countries just below the windows on that side of the building. This would build the student’s self-esteem and pride in perhaps their own authenticity while giving the building a more balance given the beautiful student painted mural on the other side of the building.
The students at Lynn Tech could help with any design issues allowing an opportunity for outside work that LSC member Rick Starrbard wants. I think this is a win-win proposal and look forward to your answer.
Sincerely,
Stanley H. Wotring, Jr.
After witnessing yours and the other members of the Lynn School Committee express their desire that proper protocol be followed before starting any school improvement project, I thought I would expree my ideas to you and the appropriate people first. In order to void beingwhat JSC member John Ford termed a “wildcat operation” I am putting forth the following proposal.
I was discussing with my wife, Doreen how the International Garden at Ford School looks more like a 4-H project rather than reflecting any multicultural authenticity. She suggested a marvelous and extremely low budget remedy. The idea was to have the students paint different countries just below the windows on that side of the building. This would build the student’s self-esteem and pride in perhaps their own authenticity while giving the building a more balance given the beautiful student painted mural on the other side of the building.
The students at Lynn Tech could help with any design issues allowing an opportunity for outside work that LSC member Rick Starrbard wants. I think this is a win-win proposal and look forward to your answer.
Sincerely,
Stanley H. Wotring, Jr.
Young Bulldogs Barking!
The front yard of Lynn English High School is once again being used as a practice field for the East Lynn Pop Warner cheerleaders. It is a good thing that the school grounds can bee used for such a positive activity. Besides that, everyone gets to admire some great archetecture.
What/Who's In Your Wallet?
There are really only two types of education: public or private. I is all a matter of who is paying the bill, Most people go to public school where our government pays for the costs associated with education by using the revenue generated by our taxes. The goal is to insure that everybody has an opportunity for higher leaning.
At the other end of the educational spectrum are private schools. They claim to have a more serious attitude toward education as evidenced by their willingness to pay for it, In an effort to insure an elitism there are monies available on a need-based basis. It may not be easy but with enough hard work you can usually find a way to pay for it.
Now along comes charter schools to save all of the woes of public education but charter schools come to the education danceThere are really only two types of education: public or private. I is all a matter of who is paying the bill, Most people go to public school where our government pays for the costs associated with education by using the revenue generated by our taxes. The goal is to insure that everybody has an opportunity for higher leaning.
At the other end of the educational spectrum are private schools. They claim to have a more serious attitude toward education as evidenced by their willingness to pay for it, In an effort to insure an elitism there are monies available on a need-based basis. It may not be easy but with enough hard work you can usually find a way to pay for it.
Now along comes charter schools to save all of the woes of There are really only two types of education: public or private. I is all a matter of who is paying the bill, Most people go to public school where our government pays for the costs associated with education by using the revenue generated by our taxes. The goal is to insure that everybody has an opportunity for higher leaning. education but charter schools come to the education dance in costume. They are not who they appear. Their goals are more toward their own self interests instead of pursuing the advancement of their students. No Child Left Behind becomes Not My Child. That is the marketing plan that masks the school/company’s true objective, to make money for the corporation.
The government ends up funneling precious education dollars for questionable results. Good test results are easy to get if you are select enough with your students. The whoe thing reminds me of an old saying my father was fond of repeating, ”Figures lie and liars figure”.
I just want to ask, “Didn’t Ross Perot make a lot of his millions on government contracts?”.
At the other end of the educational spectrum are private schools. They claim to have a more serious attitude toward education as evidenced by their willingness to pay for it, In an effort to insure an elitism there are monies available on a need-based basis. It may not be easy but with enough hard work you can usually find a way to pay for it.
Now along comes charter schools to save all of the woes of public education but charter schools come to the education danceThere are really only two types of education: public or private. I is all a matter of who is paying the bill, Most people go to public school where our government pays for the costs associated with education by using the revenue generated by our taxes. The goal is to insure that everybody has an opportunity for higher leaning.
At the other end of the educational spectrum are private schools. They claim to have a more serious attitude toward education as evidenced by their willingness to pay for it, In an effort to insure an elitism there are monies available on a need-based basis. It may not be easy but with enough hard work you can usually find a way to pay for it.
Now along comes charter schools to save all of the woes of There are really only two types of education: public or private. I is all a matter of who is paying the bill, Most people go to public school where our government pays for the costs associated with education by using the revenue generated by our taxes. The goal is to insure that everybody has an opportunity for higher leaning. education but charter schools come to the education dance in costume. They are not who they appear. Their goals are more toward their own self interests instead of pursuing the advancement of their students. No Child Left Behind becomes Not My Child. That is the marketing plan that masks the school/company’s true objective, to make money for the corporation.
The government ends up funneling precious education dollars for questionable results. Good test results are easy to get if you are select enough with your students. The whoe thing reminds me of an old saying my father was fond of repeating, ”Figures lie and liars figure”.
I just want to ask, “Didn’t Ross Perot make a lot of his millions on government contracts?”.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Focus On Finance-LSC Finance sub-Committee on 7-29-10
This sub-committee is chaired by Donna Coppola and the other two members are Rick Starrbard and Maria Carrasco.
Dr. Latham warned the committee to expect costs to increase since sveral students will be coming out of the paraocial school system due to the poor economy.
Rick Starrbard expressed concern that public monies are being spent on transportation to KIPP,a charter school to the tune of 32,000. Donna Cappola echoed these sentiments and wants a detailed breakdown of ALL the transportation expenditures. A huge portion of the annual school budget is spent on transportation. Few of the other membeers of LSC shared her concern.
The entire budget was moved out of committee with a motion by Rick Starrbard and seconded by Maria Carrasco. Donna Cappola voted no,feeling that she just could not vote for a budget without librarians. She reminded everybody that this is the 21st century.
Robert L. Ford phone home!
Tommorrow students are scheduled to talk to the I.nternational Space Station. How cool, we never got to do stuff like this when I was in school.
Ford Falcons Soar To Victory
Ford School wins preliminary programming challenge at MIT beating other schools throughout the state in a robotics challenge in Cambridge today, August4th.
Ford School Gets New Desks, Sorta
At the LSC meeting 7/29 committee member Donna Cappola brought to the attention of the LSC that used furniture was being trashed and wondered if a better use ould be found than the dumpster.
Ford School is getting used desks from Harrington School that had been slated for the trash. These used desks will be an upgrade since some of the desks they are replacing are vintage 1930's era desks, complete with ink wellls.
Ford School is getting used desks from Harrington School that had been slated for the trash. These used desks will be an upgrade since some of the desks they are replacing are vintage 1930's era desks, complete with ink wellls.
Coat Of Many Colors
It only took 25 years but the kitchen at Ford School has just been repainted.Should we send out hanks to the Lynn School Dept.? If you did you would be showing gratitude to the wrong people. The people who deserve the real gratitude is PASSPORT, a volunteer church group out of the south.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Focus on the Building aand Grounds sub-Committee 07-29-10
John Ford chairs this sub-committee. David Gass testified before the committee, updateing them on the progress made in the International Garden at Robert L. Ford School. The garden was approved by the LSC.
David came before the committee seeking reimburssementfor expenditures totaling in the neighborhood of ten thousand dollars and approval for expansion of the garden including a greenhouse and coi pond. Rick Ford expressed concern about proper documentation and the lack of adherence to employment regulations. Also, he was concerned about donations not being filter through the LSC. There appeared to be no questions about honesty only concerns about accountability.
Schoo attorney Mihos questioned Mr. Gass about the hiring practices of Mr. Gass's group, "The Highlands Coalition". It seems that no thought was given to employment regulations. Mr. Gass apologized for his lack of organization and promised to do better in the future.
LSC member Viinnie Spirito questioned the educational value of the garden and Mr. Gass's and fellow workers competence to teach in ths MCAS driven world.
After Donna Cappola called attention to Mr. Gass's sincerety, a compromise was put forth and Mr. Gass through the Highlands Coalition was given $4000 and a hold was put on any further expansion of the garden
David came before the committee seeking reimburssementfor expenditures totaling in the neighborhood of ten thousand dollars and approval for expansion of the garden including a greenhouse and coi pond. Rick Ford expressed concern about proper documentation and the lack of adherence to employment regulations. Also, he was concerned about donations not being filter through the LSC. There appeared to be no questions about honesty only concerns about accountability.
Schoo attorney Mihos questioned Mr. Gass about the hiring practices of Mr. Gass's group, "The Highlands Coalition". It seems that no thought was given to employment regulations. Mr. Gass apologized for his lack of organization and promised to do better in the future.
LSC member Viinnie Spirito questioned the educational value of the garden and Mr. Gass's and fellow workers competence to teach in ths MCAS driven world.
After Donna Cappola called attention to Mr. Gass's sincerety, a compromise was put forth and Mr. Gass through the Highlands Coalition was given $4000 and a hold was put on any further expansion of the garden
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