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fringe
Citizen
Username: Fringe
Post Number: 802
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 3, 2005 - 8:25 am: | 
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In his 1 march budget address posted on Soapbox, Gov. Codey put into words what many have been thinking. It's worth the read. And if this Acting Governor is to leave a legacy, I can think of none better than:
"Those programs that cannot demonstrate proven results will be eliminated or consolidated."
Perhaps the BOE will find the Governor's courage in considering the district's education budget. I, for one, would like to hear a recitation of the proven educational results of some district programs that will be funded at the expense of staff cuts.
JTL |
johnny
Citizen
Username: Johnny
Post Number: 1203
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 3, 2005 - 7:52 pm: |
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Maybe Codey should have said that last year when he was leader of the State Senate and the second most powerful man in New Jersey politics. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5711
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 4, 2005 - 2:37 pm: |
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Like, for instance, what district programs do you think are ineffective? |
Reflective
Citizen
Username: Reflective
Post Number: 785
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 4, 2005 - 6:38 pm: |
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Pretend the program posts on MOL education are a dartboard.
Close your eyes and toss a dart.
Guarantee you will find one! |
fringe
Citizen
Username: Fringe
Post Number: 804
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, March 5, 2005 - 8:38 am: |
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In the era of S1701, "ineffective" is a relative term. It may be that the BOE will have to prioritize programs and services based upon what is the most effective. The question is what role should the community play in setting the priority list. Is a consensus possible? Or, should this be left to the BOE members. If so, should we demand more straight talk and less posturing in the campaign? Or, should this be left to the Superintendent on the theory that he's the ultimate educational expert in the district?
For instance, the 05-06 budget shows that the BOE is willing to gamble that the administration can schedule elementary music, art and PE in such a way that the district can cut 6 teachers for next year. It may work, but there is evidence that it may not. Are the savings on these programs less important or more important than, say, bussing to Seth Boyden? As we've seen, there is debate, but in my opinion the debate should not be about a comparison of two programs in a vacuum, but constructing the priority list and how that will be accomplished.
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Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 1175
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, March 5, 2005 - 8:56 am: |
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I find myself wondering about Seth Boyden, based on talking to other parents, not on MOL. As in, what is the cost per student there v Clinton. Is it higher there than for other elementaries in the district? Is there adequate justification based on needs, or transfer of knowlege?
I think the general understanding is that Seth Boyden is to some extent an experiment, and that part of it's justification is that they may develop strategies that work that could be transferred to other elementaries in the district. Has that proven so?
It does seem like a time for looking at sacred cows and everything, kind of equally, to determine the best path forward. |
susan1014
Supporter
Username: Susan1014
Post Number: 418
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, March 5, 2005 - 2:19 pm: |
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Please correct me if I've got my story wrong, but my memory is that the Seth Boyden program was created to help achieve racial balancing across our elementaries without resorting to more cross-town bussing. (I was new in town and didn't have kids at the time, so may have this wrong.)
I've been here long enough to know people who left when they bought a larger house, because of the seeming possibility that their kids would have to spend an hour on the bus each day going cross town in the name of racial balancing. |
Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 1180
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, March 5, 2005 - 2:39 pm: |
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Maybe someone more in the know can clarify? I had thought it was one of those demonstration/magnet kinds of things w/multi-age and other stuff. Where, they might try new approaches that could be replicated at other district elementaries. I believe it's voluntary, and they recruit for it.
At least, the foregoing is what the parents I talk to seemed to think. If it were purely an experimental school, I'm just allowing as how one might look at costs associated with it -- if they exceed the norm for district elementaries -- and see whether it is in a sense a program that is affordable to this district, at this time. |
alison
Citizen
Username: Alison
Post Number: 129
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, March 5, 2005 - 4:43 pm: |
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7-9 years ago, Seth Boyden was wildly over-crowded and for two years conversations continued about how to alleviate the problem. During those conversations, the entire fifth grade of Seth Boyden was bussed to Jefferson. That was not intended to be a permanent fix. Separately, and additionally, there was a serious racial imbalance in the school.
The school board at the time talked endlessly about different plans which would redistrict the entire district and having every student throughout the district on a bus. There were a tremendous number of ideas discussed.
When Dr. Horoshak came in, he proposed the following: compress the area specifically districted to Seth Boyden and have the rest of the old SB district dispersed amongst most of the other districts. Make this a school which utilizes multiple intelligences and one which students from other districts could attend.
Hence, he had come up with a solution to remove the unacceptable overcrowding in Seth Boyden without redistricting everyone -- make it a place where creative teaching strategies could be explored --and address racial balance by making it a school that students from other districts in M/SO, many/most white, would want to opt into.
I think people should not underestimate the challenges that many of the students within Seth Boyden face -- and anything that can help prepare them as students is valuable to everyone. In the end, come middle school, all our students are together.
I think that Seth Boyden has not been a perfect experiment but it has some very bright spots. I think it has been a benefit to the school district and even to the community as a whole.
I even think that the 're-integration' that is happening in the Hilton area is partially attributable to Seth Boyden being a more desirable school to be districted for.
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Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 1181
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, March 5, 2005 - 5:47 pm: |
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Thanks for the clarification, Alison. Having had a child in Clinton, I have no feel for imbalances of the sort you describe, and I only knew of Seth Boyden as an educational strategies experiment. I wonder if the neighborhood imbalances are still what they were, then, and whether the cost still justifies any extra expense attributed to bussing or whatever might make it more expensive. Not that I know whether it is, or not. |
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