Troubled Student Program in Doubt (Durham: crimes, neighborhoods, public schools)

[senalj]

I can't believe all of these kids are going to be basically left to roam the streets in their neighborhoods in Wake County! Without an education, how can they be productive members of society? It amazes me how we talk about reform, but Wake wants to give a 12-year-old girl long-term suspension for poking another student in the arm with a pencil. Seriously?! Maybe I'm missing something...

Troubled student program in doubt - Local & State - News & Observer

[dansdrive]

One can also debate, where they productive members of society in Wake County Public Schools? I am a supporter of the schools but maybe its time trouble students learn there are consequences for their actions. Is that not a lesson in life we all learn at one time or another? IMHO the sooner one learns that in life the better one is.

Maybe we should just keep them in public schools so they can disrupt children that are there to learn and follow not only direction but basic rules. Ones that are there to become our future leaders. Educational funding can only be stretched so far.....do you want your child's educational opportunities to be on the wrong side of that stretch? Do we want advanced educational opportunities funded or trouble youth programs funded within our schools? How you answer that will determine if you missed something or not.....

I cannot judge someones suspension but do trust the people that are put in place to make those decisions. Suspension in any form is a serious matter and must be administered in a fair manor and hopefully teaches that there are in fact consequences for ones actions.

[Waterboy526]

Originally Posted by senalj

I can't believe all of these kids are going to be basically left to roam the streets in their neighborhoods in Wake County! Without an education, how can they be productive members of society? It amazes me how we talk about reform, but Wake wants to give a 12-year-old girl long-term suspension for poking another student in the arm with a pencil. Seriously?! Maybe I'm missing something...

Troubled student program in doubt - Local & State - News & Observer

I'm neither defending or blaming WCPSS for this, but I would take things that you read in the newspaper with a grain of salt. I'm sure the long term suspension had more to it then just a friendly poke in the arm with a pencil.

[senalj]

Originally Posted by dansdrive

Educational funding can only be stretched so far.....do you want your child's educational opportunities to be on the wrong side of that stretch? Do we want advanced educational opportunities funded or trouble youth programs funded within our schools? How you answer that will determine if you missed something or not.....

I cannot judge someones suspension but do trust the people that are put in place to make those decisions. Suspension in any form is a serious matter and must be administered in a fair manor and hopefully teaches that there are in fact consequences for ones actions.

Yes, educational funding can only be stretched so far, but why is it we have 4 or 5 vice principals at each school? Why do we have different administrators sitting in the office, each appearing to have no function, but to tell parents to speak to "so and so"? The first people cut in schools are teachers and janitors, but I have yet to hear of a vice principal (1 of 4 or 5) or even the third administrative secretary to the principal being cut.

So basically Wake has the highest long-term suspension of ANY of the surrounding districts, yet they want to get rid of the program set up to ensure these kids get an education. And if Durham has the highest crime, why don't they have the highest incidence of long-term suspension? It appears to me that Wake's long-term suspension program is either extremely strict, or very unfair. I'd love to know the types of crimes these students committed, as well as the demographics. Schools aren't always right in doling out punishment and they definitely aren't always fair.

[Waterboy526]

Originally Posted by senalj

Yes, educational funding can only be stretched so far, but why is it we have 4 or 5 vice principals at each school? Why do we have different administrators sitting in the office, each appearing to have no function, but to tell parents to speak to "so and so"? The first people cut in schools are teachers and janitors, but I have yet to hear of a vice principal (1 of 4 or 5) or even the third administrative secretary to the principal being cut.

So basically Wake has the highest long-term suspension of ANY of the surrounding districts, yet they want to get rid of the program set up to ensure these kids get an education. And if Durham has the highest crime, why don't they have the highest incidence of long-term suspension? It appears to me that Wake's long-term suspension program is either extremely strict, or very unfair. I'd love to know the types of crimes these students committed, as well as the demographics. Schools aren't always right in doling out punishment and they definitely aren't always fair.

I agree with both you and Dansdrive. Great post by Dansdrive BTW (can't rep you yet). I will say that central office administrative positions could be cut by at least 20%. There are so many departments with up to 15 senior administrators each that make at least $65k a year (some much more). They each have specific roles and some of these people do very little work for that kind of salary. Del Burns doesn't want to do this, because they like keeping people on the payroll. The people of Wake County need to realize that the school system is not as "lean" as they would like you to believe. They feel entitled to use taxpayer money as they see fit and they are not interested in saving the tax payer money.

If the school system were run like a business we could see substantial tax payer savings, but in it's current format money will continue to bleed from the system and be spent on unnecessary salaries and programs.