Tag Archives: Education and Politics
Twenty years and counting
We’ve past a milestone that I hoped we’d never see. August 7 was the 20th anniversary of state takeover of the Paterson Public Schools. Will we ever return? We could. NJ QSAC [Quality Single Accountability Continuum] finally provided the roadmap. Our state … Continue reading
Lies, damned lies and statistics, II
All our children need good schools. Nobody disagrees with that. So why can’t we have a civil, rational discussion about how to reach the goal for all kids? Why do we end up twisting statistics in a semantic duel? The … Continue reading
Unspeakable truths and takeover
Last Sunday, to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, my Children’s Chapel children and I talked about justice. As I listened to them wrestle their experiences, I was reminded that Paterson participated in racist/segregationist policies for its school children. We adults don’t talk … Continue reading
Noah’s Ark and “Opportunity Scholarships”
Each time we talk about vouchers, even lightly disguised as “Opportunity Scholarships”, I think of Noah’s Ark. You know the story. God sends a flood to destroy the evil people, but gives Noah a chance to save two of each kind of … Continue reading
Lies, damned lies and statistics in the Supreme Court
I have a hard time listening to lawyers describe our public schools. I want to stand up and shout: go to a school! We could have gotten up from the Trenton court room and walked a few blocks to a … Continue reading
Suburban Allies? We can only hope.
Gov. Christie moves to limit superintendent salaries and the suburbs fight back. Could this be the issue that brings the cities and the suburbs together? Listening to the suburban superintendents and school board members at a public hearing last week … Continue reading
Is mayoral control the answer to local control? Maybe not.
Two interesting reports were released Oct 12: one on fairness in school funding and the other on mayoral control of schools. I’ll write about the school funding report later. But for now, let’s consider mayoral control of schools as a … Continue reading
QSAC Stars in Trenton: Will we ever return to local control?
Yesterday I attended the Joint committee on Public Schools meeting. Here are a few things I thought noteworthy. Senator Rice asked some very pointed questions about QSAC. He wanted to know: the implementation process, how many districts had been evaluated, how … Continue reading
Myths About Returning to Local Control: Twenty years and counting
Myth # 1. Paterson schools were better in 1991 than they are now. Were our test scores better? Yes. But the level of educational performance they were testing at the high school level was about our current 4th grade curriculum. … Continue reading