Why is BPS so bad and what should be done to improve it? (Boston: college, live in)

[msRB311]

Are there any of the companies dripping in dollars in Boston that actually donate money to BPS? Or there's just 0 expectation for them to do such a thing so why would they? there are so many companies in Boston from bio to tech. I worked for a non profit that basically operated as for profit and i can remember they did stuff like donate canned goods and asked people to bring in some old coats to donate. God forbid any of the CEOs ever take some of their pay for a year to help out those less fortunate. And I don't want to hear 'maybe they do' unless you have proof.

you hear of alumni from certain colleges donating millions to the school they once attended and sometimes I wonder why did they choose to give their money to that of all things? Do colleges really need that much extra money with what they charge for tuition? I realize donating to a college keeps the scholarships going...but I'm just saying it would be nice if someone donated some millions to BPS rather than to Umass amherst or Harvard.

[dazzleman]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

While state takeover might be helpful (idk if I’m really convinced) I don’t look at a recommendation from the Pioneer Institute very seriously.

I’m not opposed to state takeover but I’d want to hear a chorus of shared opinion from multiple organizations on all side of the political spectrum.

As for charters yes I think they harm public schools- I’d prefer pilot schools. However public schools have a lot of self inflicted wounds and are wayy to overly self-congratulatory. It honestly turns my stomach that’s they’ll tout at 78.8% graduation rate and 2% dropout rate like they’re actually producing well functioning graduates and they’re not lowering the bar when they CLEARLY are. I also don’t believe BPS teachers need higher pay or more power in the union.

At the same time I blame mostly bureaucrats and parents for BPS not teachers and not students.

It’s also my lost in me that since they reoriented try e younger grades to be more neighborhood based in 2013 the white % enrollment slowly crept up until last year. More white people are feeling like they can use Boston elementary schools, more white people are bearing children in Boston (according to birth data the city has) and that’s good, it is. but it really bothers me that after 50 years of incompetence and various DECADES that warranted a state takeover… a takeover is only now seriously being considered when there’s a critical mass of white parents. And of course it’s just as POC in Boston really have a political voice/might and 79% of Bostonians votes in favor of an elected school board- is now the best time to do this?? But what else is new?

It sounds as if Boston moved a bit in the direction of New York City with having neighborhood schools in the lower grades. That has allowed New York City to enroll a good number of white kids in the better neighborhoods because the parents are more comfortable knowing that their kids can't be sent over into a different neighborhood in which they wouldn't choose to live.

I don't think I've ever seen a case in which a state takeover has improved the school system markedly. New Jersey I think has done the state takeover in some cases and I don't think it ever made much difference. I sort of doubt that the modest influx of white students is what is driving this, since they have probably brought the performance numbers up. Without them, there'd be even more of a case for radical action. But who knows the real motivation?

[dazzleman]

Originally Posted by msRB311

Are there any of the companies dripping in dollars in Boston that actually donate money to BPS? Or there's just 0 expectation for them to do such a thing so why would they? there are so many companies in Boston from bio to tech. I worked for a non profit that basically operated as for profit and i can remember they did stuff like donate canned goods and asked people to bring in some old coats to donate. God forbid any of the CEOs ever take some of their pay for a year to help out those less fortunate. And I don't want to hear 'maybe they do' unless you have proof.

you hear of alumni from certain colleges donating millions to the school they once attended and sometimes I wonder why did they choose to give their money to that of all things? Do colleges really need that much extra money with what they charge for tuition? I realize donating to a college keeps the scholarships going...but I'm just saying it would be nice if someone donated some millions to BPS rather than to Umass amherst or Harvard.

Rich alumni give money to the institutions that need them least. I remember when a person at the company I used to work at made a huge donation to Greenwich Country Day school. I can't think of a place that needs the money less. What did they even do with it - buy gold-plated soccer uniforms?

And look at all the money that is given to Harvard, with its already gargantuan endowment.

The problem with giving money to BPS, as an example, and why people don't do it is that they assume it's a black hole, that the money will be wasted and won't do any good. So what is the point?

A while back in New York City, then mayor Mike Bloomberg courted Caroline Kennedy and she made a big contribution to New York City public schools. But that is rare. Most people are afraid the money will be wasted. One prominent Wall Street exec makes large donations to the Catholic School system in New York, since they perform so much better than the public schools and it allows scholarships for kids to go to those schools and gets them out of the public schools. People like to put their money where they think it will do some good, and very few people have any confidence in the way urban school systems are run. I know I don't. Personally I have willed a good sum of money to a Catholic School scholarship fund in my area to allow kids to escape the public schools in a neighboring city. I think that could do a lot more good than giving the money to a corrupt, poorly run and failing public school system.

[msRB311]

I guess that's what i was thinking is that maybe BPS will just do the wrong things with whatever they are given so no one bothers. Who knows. But I find it hard to believe that of all of these Boston based businesses who claim to care about public education and kids and, blah blah that no one thought to donate to BPS.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I guess that's what i was thinking is that maybe BPS will just do the wrong things with whatever they are given so no one bothers. Who knows. But I find it hard to believe that of all of these Boston based businesses who claim to care about public education and kids and, blah blah that no one thought to donate to BPS.

I don't think its a maybe. They don't give for that exact reason. Dazzleman is definitely right.

Right now they're in a push to build libraries (and failing at it), like in elementary and middle school...why? You absolutely should've done that 40 years ago. Wayy too little and too late. Why do they need libraries right now? They have phones. They have public libraries and the internet. They don't have ANY free time during the day anyway.

Don't forget the cockamamie unlicensed and controversial RC therapy they were running until the mayoral election. A program most in BPS didn't even know was happening

[JacksonPanther]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I guess that's what i was thinking is that maybe BPS will just do the wrong things with whatever they are given so no one bothers. Who knows. But I find it hard to believe that of all of these Boston based businesses who claim to care about public education and kids and, blah blah that no one thought to donate to BPS.

Because those CEOs didn't come from BPS. They don't care.

[JacksonPanther]

State takeover? What a joke.

Tell me what the state is going to do, that BPS didn't do?

I've seen state takeovers in other states. The schools continued to suck. I've also seen states threaten a takeover, but when the time came they didn't do it. Because if the state takes over, that now means the state (the governor) is responsible for whatever crap happens in that school system.

No governor wants that albatross around his neck. Expect nothing to come of this.

[Highlander617]

Didn't Mark Zuckerberg's $100 million gift to the Newark School District transform that system into a acdemic beacon for the entire nation?

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

State takeover? What a joke.

Tell me what the state is going to do, that BPS didn't do?

I've seen state takeovers in other states. The schools continued to suck. I've also seen states threaten a takeover, but when the time came they didn't do it. Because if the state takes over, that now means the state (the governor) is responsible for whatever crap happens in that school system.

No governor wants that albatross around his neck. Expect nothing to come of this.

They took over Chelsea and Lawrence. Most people say it worked there- especially Chelsea.

They took over Southbridge too with worse results, apparently.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

Because those CEOs didn't come from BPS. They don't care.

that's what I figured as well.