Is Klein out of the running?
My brother Fred thinks so.
The Nation give credit to the push-back by a growing movement of activist teachers:
Teachers hamstrung for the past eight years by budget cuts, poor administration and policies like No Child Left Behind began working together on a national level three years ago, forming a coalition called Teacher Activist Groups (TAG). They are poised to make an impact on the future of education by speaking in unison with a voice loud enough to reach the White House.
I agree.
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Fred also exposes Boston Consulting Group’s Kermit King for his role in bankrolling the anti-gay Prop. 8, in California. It’s also worth mentioning that BCG was the group brought into Chicago by Daley/Duncan and the Gates Foundation to design the failed high school reform and school privatization component of Renaissance 2010. Coincidence? I think not.
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Remember Littleton, Colorado?
It’s the town, home of Columbine High School, where the horrendous mass shootings of students took place in 1999. The shootings sparked a debate in Congress about, among other things, the size of schools, which then led to bi-partisan passage of the federal Smaller Learning Communities initiative. To show how far the pendulum has swung, Littleton’s 2 small elementary schools are now being closed and students will soon be housed in one large school. Parents are outraged. But the Rocky Mtn. News blames the deepening economic crisis plus an aging population that doesn’t want to pay or can no longer afford to pay for schooling other people’s children.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteFor the record, Columbine high school is part of the Jefferson County school district not Littleton. The RMN reported correctly that the district is going through a significant demographic shift that is forcing the closure of some schools. Fortunately for Littleton with high performing schools and open enrollment, they are able to recruit a significant number of kids from Denver and other low performing districts to prop up their numbers.
Interestingly, you’d think the home of Columbine (JeffCo schools) might be a bit more interested in personalizing or getting rid of their big high schools than most districts but not. Check out this article and quote from one of their high school principals.
“The trend elsewhere is to take a comprehensive school and turn it into three or four smaller ones. That won’t happen here,” says Lisa Ritchey, assistant principal at the 1,850-student Lakewood High School. “I suppose there’s a strategy in ‘divide and conquer,’ but it’s just not anything we even thought about doing here.”
It makes you wonder what Lisa Ritchey is thinking about.
See the full article here on EdNews Colorado ( http://ednewscolorado.org/other-news/jeffco-renovations-preserve-the-comprehensive-high-school.html)…it’s fairly depressing given what we know about best practice in high schools
Great point Van and thanks for the correction. Also, see today's post for more on this situation.
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