Just like failing to see the forest for the trees, paying attention to the performance of only a small number of Orange County schools puts you at risk of not seeing the big picture.
I will be the first to admit that I have been so wrapped up in the senseless destruction of Orange County's highest performing school that I nearly missed the "forest" all together.
Thank you to the Raleigh News & Observer for bringing it into clear view: the majority of Orange County's schools failed to make adequate yearly progress in 2006.
According to the N&O, "The passing rate was ... 42 percent in Orange [County]." That means that 58% of our county's schools are labeled failures!
And, even so, Board Member Liz Brown repeatedly argued for one of the schools that actually met its goals, Hillsborough Elementary, to be closed all together.
Under the "leadership" of Chairman Dennis Whitling, the Orange County Board of Education has presided over the ruin of what was once a jewel of North Carolina public education.
No wonder "they don't intend" to answer parents' questions. What could they possibly say?
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5 comments:
Clearly the numbers speak for themselves. What I do not get is how the OCSB intends to "fix" such a vast problem with all this merger blather. It seems so obvious to me that with those numbers, this is not a race, demographics, or free lunch problem. It goes much deeper than any band-aid approach is going to correct. Some real work needs to go into preparing a plan to resolve this, including input from teachers, administrators and parents as to the actual cause of this situation. The board's version of the problems and proposed solutions just do not make the grade so to speak. To the Board, the children, families, tax payers and voting population of Orange County deserve better than your arrogant, ignorant silence. Speak now, or you may never be heard again over the sustained outcry of angry, frustrated populous.
I have been thinking about this merger for the last 6 months. I know that dismantling HES makes no sense whatsoever. To punish the parents, the teachers, the administrators, and the children for being "too good" is a crying shame. CES is being punished because at the time of the last redistricting, their needs were ignored.
Our society is really two societies. There is the society that works for everything they have got, loved and paid attention to their children, volunteer within the community and have open dialogue with their children's teachers. The other society is waiting for a handout, ignoring their children, and havingno idea on who their child's teacher is. The problem is a micro level, and not a macro level (a la merger).
The Board is thinking this: let's merge the two schools, and that way the problem is gone. But it doesn't work that way. These kids whose parents are not taking care of their needs have yet to be helped. They are taking the easy way out of this problem. The hard way, but correct way, to resolve the problem is to find out what went wrong. Check the egos at the door.
It's time for the Board to get their hands dirty. This merger makes as much sense as Duke merging with Durham Tech.
You might want to learn a little more about the AYP subgroups that determine whether a school "passes" or not. HES does not have enough students to qualify for many of the subgroups that other schools have to count. That makes it much easier "pass" in the AYP game. From the DPI web site:
"Student groups, or student subgroups are groups of students whose achievement is measured annually to determine if Adequate Yearly Progress has been made in reading and mathematics. NCLB-defined student groups are: 1) the School as a Whole; 2) White; 3) Black; 4) Hispanic; 5) Native American; 6) Asian; 7) Multiracial; 8) economically disadvantaged students; 9) limited English proficient students; and 10) students with disabilities. Achievement under North Carolina's ABCs of Public Education is reported according to groups defined by gender as well."
If you know the population at HES, there are not enough Hispanic, Native American, Asian, Multiracial, economically disadvantaged, or limited English proficient for those subgroups to be counted as AYP groups. All of the other schools in the Orange County School system DO have enought students to have to include most of the above listed subgroups in their AYP results. Please look at the Department of Public Instruction website explaining AYP at http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/nclb/abcayp/ - it is quite enlightening.
Ok, so now that we know about subgroups, we can see exactly who is not passing right? It seems to be lower income and/or minorities correct? Wouldn't it be common sense to address them (and the adults responsible for their learning) specifically?? How does shuffling them help the situation?? It is completely unfair to the child not passing if we shuffle them off to another location to dilute their scores with higher scores simply so all the OC school scores might "balance out." It seems nobody wants to take the common sense approach, which would make far more sense than uprooting two schools that parents and children seem to be happy at.
Put that thinking cap on and come up with a no nonsense approach. Certainly 7 Board members can't know what is better for all of our children than we, the parents and at CES and HES do!
The future of all of OC's children is at stake here, and it's time those in charge start taking it seriously.
Again, it is important to look at each child--not just a subgroup or a school. You don't teach to a subgroup: you teach to a child.
The problem is not about what HES is doing right and what CES is doing wrong. It's about teach each individual child so they can get the best education available. Merging the 2 schools will net no improvement to these kids. Why disrupt so many families? This is not what NCLB has in mind.
Let's not pick on HES because it lacks diversity. Every parent, every year, has the "choice" to apply to HES. A large percentage applying to the school are accepted. Not all get in, and it is not because of race, socio-economic status, etc.
Something to ponder: The News of Orange thinks it's funny to call HES the "whitest school". 50 plus years after Brown vs. the Board of Education Casey Farrell feels it's important to demonize a group of people because of the color of their skin. If Casey was to change his words from whitest to blackest, you would think he was talking on behalf of David Duke.
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