Charter School Amendment (Atlanta, Dunwoody, Washington: middle-class, foreclosed, rental)

[RoslynHolcomb]

Oh, and I forgot to mention, wouldn't this draw attention from the justice Department? I assume Georgia is uder desegregation guidelines of one kind or another. Will this get us bogged down in never ending and insanely expensive lawsuits? I don't imagine the opposition is going away if it passes. Has anyone seen any poll numbers, btw?

[RoslynHolcomb]

Originally Posted by lastminutemom

Chalvey, I am curious how old you are. Do you mind sharing?


Hightower is actually an award winning school, doing very well considering its population.

For the record, Gwinnett has a much better system of teaching non-English students. It is a shame that DCSS won't even consider what other systems do. In fairness, Gwinnett has much larger schools and therefore, each school has more resources to do things with. DeKalb desperately needs to get to larger schools for a whole host of reasons. This is one of them. (Gwinnett has a multi-step approach to teaching English language learners. )

This is troubling. The neglect of the growing ESL population is just mind boggling.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by AcidSnake

...
I'm simply afraid that if this charter-amendment goes though, it will simply be a revamp of the segregation academies of the bad ol' days, where only those who are well-heeled will have access to a decent education.

I know that my mother simply did not have the capability to be as attentive to me as she wanted to be given her struggling with money and trying to take time off. Our economic system is so predatory that it does not give parents the opportunity to take time to attend to their kids' academic needs.

A potential charter school law will simply make this situation worse, if you take the few meager resources that the public school system has left. Georgia might as well be racing with Mississippi for the bottom.

...

This.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

...It goes against all my progressive principles to even consider voting for this amenment. Factor in the ALEC involvement and I want to run screaming in the other direction. Of course they're going to create "seg academies" with taxpayer money. Anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional. I don't think this is the amendment Georgia needs...

And this.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by lastminutemom

...
Hightower is actually an award winning school, doing very well considering its population.

...

This is what I thought/heard/remember reading about in the not-too-distant past. I just didn't feel like taking the time to verify it this time around.

Thank you for taking the time to post this bit of information.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

I think you and I are in the same space AcidSnake. It's crazy frustrating to me that the DCSS is so thickheaded. It goes against all my progressive principles to even consider voting for this amenment. Factor in the ALEC involvement and I want to run screaming in the other direction. Of course they're going to create "seg academies" with taxpayer money. Anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional. I don't think this is the amendment Georgia needs. What Georgia needs is an amendment to allow new cities to form their own school systems. For the life of me I don't know why this is not on the agenda. Even if the board wasn't full of criminally inclined morons, this school system is just too big.

I think this notion of judging parental involvement by how much time parents spend at the school is a tad misguided. My folks were blue collar. My mama was a cook/housekeeper, my dad did construction and odd jobs. I really can't tell you a time either of them were at my school OR helped with homework. They made their expectations clear: Anything less than an A was unacceptable. I was to do my work, obey the rules and stay out of trouble. If either had to leave their jobs to come to my school, my butt was grass and they were the lawnmower. I think parental expectations are crucial. Parental involvement? I'm not convinced.

Well, I have always interpreted "parental involvement" to mean taking a keen interest in your child's educational progress--in a variety of ways. High/no excuses expectations (within a household) would definitely fall under "parental involvement" in my book.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by AcidSnake

I wish that there was a way to force our leaders to look outside Georgia's borders to the world and see how other nations instruct their children. I know that people get tired of me saying it, but I have to: Why not look at Finland or Singapore? Why is our state so bereft of imagination, so insular in culture, that a true conversation on education reform is all but impossible?.

I don't think it's reasonable to compare Georgia to places like Finland or Singapore. They're both very small countries with a population that's about the size of metro Atlanta. In Finland, it's a totally homogenous population, and you don't have the same big language and cultural gaps we have to deal with here. Singapore is more diverse than we are, but they do NOT for one second put up with discipline issues like we have here.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I don't think it's reasonable to compare Georgia to places like Finland or Singapore. They're both very small countries with a population that's about the size of metro Atlanta. In Finland, it's a totally homogenous population, and you don't have the same big language and cultural gaps we have to deal with here. Singapore is more diverse than we are, but they do NOT for one second put up with discipline issues like we have here.

It is not about "comparing."


It is very reasonable for Georgia and the rest of the U.S. to see what Finland is doing because we are all dealing with educating young human beings.

Finland's approach is not Finn specific--their educational principles and policies can be applied to young humans the world over.

[aries4118]

Georgia Parent: vote NO on Constitutional Amendment « Diane Ravitch's blog

[AcidSnake]

I am just about sick and tired of this "homogenous" crap and "language gap" excuses. Guess what? My old alma mater, Ronald E. McNair High School...is darn near over 95% black...BLACK. The primary language? English. Not ebonics...ENGLISH.

Heck, half of doggone Dekalb County below I-20 is homogeneously BLACK and speaks homogenous ENGLISH. There is no reason why a consistent education reform program based in part or whole off of Finland's system CANT WORK IN SOUTH DEKALB.

No reason, WHAT-SO-EVER.

In fact...the only real obstacle is a bunch of typical southern power-trippin' oldheads who are stuck on this amorphous neo-liberal thought process that demands that competition is everything, free-market is god, and to heck with investing in children who don't look like me.

It's that typical old world plantation owner/money changer type of mentality that this country just can't seem to shake itself loose from, especially in the south.

THAT'S WHAT IS STOPPING TRUE SCHOOL REFORM!!!

Please stop with that "homogenous", "cultural", "language gap" stuff when it comes to looking outside Georgia for education reform, because this excuse is so old and overly done to death. This logic has no basis in reality when looking at the true picture from an open perspective. It's time to tell the truth and shame the doggone devil!

It's time for us Georgians, Atlantans, and Americans to start opening our hearts and minds, leave the ego at the door, ask our fellow allies overseas to come over and help us save our kids from poverty-ladened ignorance already. This action already should have been done...yesterday!

Another informative message from your brother in humanity, the Acid-man!

Originally Posted by arjay57

I don't think it's reasonable to compare Georgia to places like Finland or Singapore. They're both very small countries with a population that's about the size of metro Atlanta. In Finland, it's a totally homogenous population, and you don't have the same big language and cultural gaps we have to deal with here. Singapore is more diverse than we are, but they do NOT for one second put up with discipline issues like we have here.