I genuinely appreciate everyone posting comments to my blog, even if I wish so many didn't post anonymously. As I have said before, I have a self-imposed policy of not responding to anonymous posts.
That is not because I think those who post anonymously have nothing useful to say. Rather, it is because a give and take discussion is impossible when you aren't sure the same person is responding to your statements each time. I wouldn't want to incorrectly attribute something to a person when they were not the author. So, that is why.
The only time I violated this policy was for the same reason I am posting now - I will not let false accusations of racism go unanswered. For the second time since I started writing on this subject, an anonymous poster has accused those opposed to the CES/HES merger of doing so on racial grounds. I do not profess to speak for anyone other than myself, but for me, nothing could be farther from the truth.
Just to be sure that I wasn't unintentionally sending out the wrong message, I went back and re-read everything I have written on the subject - both here and on Squeeze the Pulp. I couldn't identify anything that would give the impression that race had anything to do with my opposition to a merger or the decision to enroll my son at HES.
In fact, what I read was pretty consistent criticism of the Orange County Board of Education - a conspicuously all white body, by the way - for their eagerness to exploit the performance of HES students to hide their failure to address the needs of students at CES.
As I have a written a number of times, in one way or another, "I believe that the purpose of any school system is to provide the best possible education to each individual student given their individual abilities, talents and motivations." That belief knows no racial or socioeconomic limits.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
RETREAT!
Earlier today the OC Board of Education held its much anticipated "retreat" to more fully discuss the reasons they seem to be pushing forward with plans to merge Central and Hillsborough Elementary schools.
According to an agenda distributed earlier this week the BOE was supposed to use this four-hour meeting to create a "shared problem statement" that defines what they hope accomplish.
Although there does appear to be some moderation of support for the current merger proposal (it's amazing what a judge's ruling that forced year-round schools are illegal will do), but from what the Raleigh News & Observer reports, I am not convinced they are any closer to a concensus than before.
Susan Hallman: "I definitely think it is time to look at the high concentration of free and reduced lunch. I don’t think that’s a statistic I can be comfortable with. ... Does it means merger is the answer? Not necessarily, but it certainly remains on the table as a way to solve that problem. ... I think Central has a lot of positive things happening there, a lot of things we know are important in education is already happening there -- experienced teachers, small class sizes, some community involvement going on, extra tutoring, First School is something we’ve agreed that would help."
Elizabeth Brown: "I’m not actually ready to make a final decision on that. ... I think it’s worth looking at whether we want to keep Hillsborough Elementary open as an extra elementary school. ... [If closed] we would still have 300 extra elementary seats open. ... I'm uncomfortable with forcing Central to adopt a year-round calendar. ... I also think we should do something immediately, if not sooner. I don’t think it’s fair to make Central chug along at 70 percent [free and reduced lunch recipients] for another year."
Debbie Piscitelli: "I think that looking at the proposed combination is worth pursuing. ... I just feel in the year 2007 in Orange County we should not have a school that has a high free and reduced lunch [rate] and a high minority [population]. ... I’m also in agreement that we need to move quicker than slower. I’m concerned about Central in general ... a child’s education in one year is important. ...It may be a multi-step process ..."
Anne Medenblik: "I think we can all agree that diversity makes us all richer. I’m coming from that perspective. I’m sorry that a diverse community has not populated Hillsborough Elementary. I think that if the make-up and demographics of Hillsborough Elementary were different, we probably wouldn’t be at this table today. It’s a school of choice, and I wish that a more diverse community would have made a choice for Hillsborough Elementary. That hasn’t happened and I’m wondering how we can foster that even more so. ... I just really struggle with how this is all going to come together. If there’s a merger, my question is will the students who may not have met AYP [Adequate Yearly Progress], will they make AYP if they’re combined with students who have in the past?"
Al Hartkopf: "When I started thinking about this ... I was having a really hard problem because, in the scientific definition of the word absurd, there's so much about this plan that is absurd at a macro and micro level, it’s really difficult to consider. ... These schools are apples and oranges, totally different, when you start pulling the lid off that, start looking at choice versus districted school, that’s so totally different. ... I know there are folks in the community, not this board, there are folks in the community who are trying to make political hay on the backs of this issue. That’s unfortunate. It really needs to be about these kids."
Ted Triebel: "I believe we have a problem and an issue that appears to be impacting performance. ... Diversity for diversity’s sake is not something I’m on board with. At times less diversity is a good thing, for example, in middle school where boys and girls have been separated for math and science, with good outcomes. I think we have to be careful how we throw diversity around. I am not yet set personally on whether we should combine or not combine these two schools."
Dennis Whitling: "The reason I think the school board hopefully considers anything is academic success. We also value diversity,but getting back to academic achievement, the reason you would do SES [socioeconomic] diversity is to benefit academic achievement. ... As far as the combination, I think it’s something we certainly have to consider and consider seriously and fairly quickly. I know some groups out there [from both schools] are trying to work on solutions ... That would be the ideal situation certainly, getting these two school communities [to bring a solution before the board], but I don’t think they’re so far different that they couldn’t be put together in an academic way."
According to an agenda distributed earlier this week the BOE was supposed to use this four-hour meeting to create a "shared problem statement" that defines what they hope accomplish.
Although there does appear to be some moderation of support for the current merger proposal (it's amazing what a judge's ruling that forced year-round schools are illegal will do), but from what the Raleigh News & Observer reports, I am not convinced they are any closer to a concensus than before.
Susan Hallman: "I definitely think it is time to look at the high concentration of free and reduced lunch. I don’t think that’s a statistic I can be comfortable with. ... Does it means merger is the answer? Not necessarily, but it certainly remains on the table as a way to solve that problem. ... I think Central has a lot of positive things happening there, a lot of things we know are important in education is already happening there -- experienced teachers, small class sizes, some community involvement going on, extra tutoring, First School is something we’ve agreed that would help."
Elizabeth Brown: "I’m not actually ready to make a final decision on that. ... I think it’s worth looking at whether we want to keep Hillsborough Elementary open as an extra elementary school. ... [If closed] we would still have 300 extra elementary seats open. ... I'm uncomfortable with forcing Central to adopt a year-round calendar. ... I also think we should do something immediately, if not sooner. I don’t think it’s fair to make Central chug along at 70 percent [free and reduced lunch recipients] for another year."
Debbie Piscitelli: "I think that looking at the proposed combination is worth pursuing. ... I just feel in the year 2007 in Orange County we should not have a school that has a high free and reduced lunch [rate] and a high minority [population]. ... I’m also in agreement that we need to move quicker than slower. I’m concerned about Central in general ... a child’s education in one year is important. ...It may be a multi-step process ..."
Anne Medenblik: "I think we can all agree that diversity makes us all richer. I’m coming from that perspective. I’m sorry that a diverse community has not populated Hillsborough Elementary. I think that if the make-up and demographics of Hillsborough Elementary were different, we probably wouldn’t be at this table today. It’s a school of choice, and I wish that a more diverse community would have made a choice for Hillsborough Elementary. That hasn’t happened and I’m wondering how we can foster that even more so. ... I just really struggle with how this is all going to come together. If there’s a merger, my question is will the students who may not have met AYP [Adequate Yearly Progress], will they make AYP if they’re combined with students who have in the past?"
Al Hartkopf: "When I started thinking about this ... I was having a really hard problem because, in the scientific definition of the word absurd, there's so much about this plan that is absurd at a macro and micro level, it’s really difficult to consider. ... These schools are apples and oranges, totally different, when you start pulling the lid off that, start looking at choice versus districted school, that’s so totally different. ... I know there are folks in the community, not this board, there are folks in the community who are trying to make political hay on the backs of this issue. That’s unfortunate. It really needs to be about these kids."
Ted Triebel: "I believe we have a problem and an issue that appears to be impacting performance. ... Diversity for diversity’s sake is not something I’m on board with. At times less diversity is a good thing, for example, in middle school where boys and girls have been separated for math and science, with good outcomes. I think we have to be careful how we throw diversity around. I am not yet set personally on whether we should combine or not combine these two schools."
Dennis Whitling: "The reason I think the school board hopefully considers anything is academic success. We also value diversity,but getting back to academic achievement, the reason you would do SES [socioeconomic] diversity is to benefit academic achievement. ... As far as the combination, I think it’s something we certainly have to consider and consider seriously and fairly quickly. I know some groups out there [from both schools] are trying to work on solutions ... That would be the ideal situation certainly, getting these two school communities [to bring a solution before the board], but I don’t think they’re so far different that they couldn’t be put together in an academic way."
I'm back!
I sincerely apologize for seemingly dropping off the face of the earth. Thank you to the number of you who regularly read my blog and wrote to see if everything was OK with me and my family.
Nothing particularly dramatic happened, but there have been some changes that absorbed much of my time recently. Between taking final exams in my Masters' program, leaving my last job and starting a new one immediately after the semester, I haven't had a lot of spare time to commit to writing here.
I also want to thank everyone who shared information with me about the most recent moves of the Orange County Board of Education with regard to merging CES and HES since the meeting on April 23.
But now that things have settled down a bit, I expect to take back up the cause.
Nothing particularly dramatic happened, but there have been some changes that absorbed much of my time recently. Between taking final exams in my Masters' program, leaving my last job and starting a new one immediately after the semester, I haven't had a lot of spare time to commit to writing here.
I also want to thank everyone who shared information with me about the most recent moves of the Orange County Board of Education with regard to merging CES and HES since the meeting on April 23.
But now that things have settled down a bit, I expect to take back up the cause.
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