KC closing half its schools--wow

[oldandslow]

This may need to go into DC...

still, I think this is an amazing and disturbing thing to happen.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/11/mis...html?hpt=T1CNN) -- The superintendent calls it the "Right-Size" plan," but many Kansas City, Missouri, residents say it's plain wrong.

Superintendent John Covington called for the closing or consolidation of almost half of the city's public schools. A divided Kansas City school board voted Wednesday to approve the downsizing.

A packed room of people watched the board make its historic move after weeks of debate and years of declining enrollment. Some parents voiced their anger, while some students cried.

"I have an 8-year-old and a 6-year-old that will be going to school with 12th graders. I find that very inappropriate. I don't feel my children will be safe," Deneicia Williams told CNN affiliate KSHB-TV.

"I feel like I have nothing, I have no high school legacy. I feel like I have nothing, nothing to go back to," said Prince Jones, a senior, who will be part of the final graduating class at Westport High School.

Covington proposed the "Right-Size" plan arguing that the financial future of the entire school district was at stake. The plan shutters 28 of Kansas City's 61 public schools, cuts 700 jobs and saves $50 million to help reduce a burgeoning deficit.

Some called Kansas City's measures draconian but school districts across America, hit hard by budget cuts, have been struggling to make ends meet.

They have had to make tough choices between closures, program cuts, bus route cancellations and layoffs of teachers and staff. Schools in at least 17 states have opted for four-day weeks.

Covington said the closures were the first phase of "right-sizing" a district where enrollments have plummeted from over 35,000 in the 1999-2000 school year to about 17,000 in 2009-10.

"Closing schools is hard - and it is tough on the community," Covington said recently in remarks posted on the superintendent's Web site.

"Closing schools and making the remaining schools much stronger academically is unquestionably the right thing to do for kids," he said. "Keeping all of the schools open with too few children in them is draining the resources we need to improve the education of all students."

But four of the nine board members disagreed with Covington.

"I deserve the right to make a rational decision based on facts, and we were never given facts about student achievement," Cokethea Hill, who voted against the closings, told KHSB.

Some members of the public showed up Wednesday to air their last-minute appeals.

"What I'm asking you today to do is to give our children justice," said Ron Hunt, a community activist.

Others worried that school closures would lead to deterioration of communities and drive residents out of the district.

"The blighting of the urban core is scandalous and shameful," said Sharon Sanders Brooks.

Covington is slated to discuss the school closings at a news conference Thursday morning.

[Mr. Flopnuts]

Originally Posted by NewPhin

All of them were intentional other than the initial extend/extent.

I'm actually so lazy about my revising/posting here that it's ridiculous. I find so many errors in my posts when I reread them. At one time, I was extremely conscientious about such things. Now I don't really care.

Well, I'm way too anal about it and I still **** up all the time. My grammar is average at best.

[13and3]

Originally Posted by DJJasonp

Fu*k that

...the really good ones go on to the NBA and own million dollar homes and 3 hummers and 2 escalades....I dont think they're feeling to bad about being "used" by the university.

And for the others that arent good enough for the NBA....screw them again....they have opportunity that many people in america dont have...a free-ride at a 4-year university with the opportunity to get a degree. What they do with that opportunity is up to them....but again, there are a lot of 19 year old kids working at jack in the box and not in school.....or even worse, working 30 hours a week to pay rent, etc....and trying to pay tuition for themselves at a junior college.

I feel no pity for "student athletes".

##k a free ride, that only gives you time for a bullshit degree. Take that basketball and throw it to f##cking moon. Maybe ony 1 in a million kids on a court today have NBA talent. However most people given of average intelligence and the same amount of sweat equity wasted on the basketball court could become doctors. But in the kcmo school district even that has become a remote possibility.

[13and3]

Originally Posted by jiveturkey

It seems as if everyone is missing the point. This particular story has little to do with failure. The enrollment rates have dropped and the tax base has dwindled. In this case they are actually doing the right thing by closing several schools.

The actual education being provided still sucks but this consolidation gives them a real chance at improving things.

Enrollment is down because kids are dropping out!!!

[blazzin311]

Missouri: "Not pretending to educate our youth since March 2010."

[alnorth]

Iowa is in better shape. The big screaming match going on up here involves people wringing their hands over reducing or eliminating a few programs like art and music in elementary school.

[DJJasonp]

Originally Posted by 13and3

##k a free ride, that only gives you time for a bullshit degree. Take that basketball and throw it to f##cking moon. Maybe ony 1 in a million kids on a court today have NBA talent. However most people given of average intelligence and the same amount of sweat equity wasted on the basketball court could become doctors. But in the kcmo school district even that has become a remote possibility.

You're out of your mind....

So a 4-year degree from Duke University or USC, or (insert any division 1 school)....is (as you put it) a "bullshit degree"???!!!

I guess you may be sitting behind a desk with your Phd on the wall behind you...maybe that's why you can sh*t on all those "bullshit" degrees from nationally-recognized for excellence universities.

It must be a comforting position for you to be in.

As I said before....there are thousands of kids (and adults as well) who would kill to be given a free-ride for a degree at a division 1 university.

If USC wants to give me a free ride to come play for their fencing team (or whatever).......I'm more than happy to put on the gear for their, as you put it - white alumni. At the end of the day, I have a degree from a division 1 school....and I didnt pay a dime for it.

One more thing to add.....of all these bb players....how many were going to have the opportunity to go to a 4-year university and get a degree if they werent playing bb?

[MahiMike]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Cue White Man's Burden in


5...........

4.................

3........................

2...............................

1........................................

It is real. It is painful. And it will be the downfall of America.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by jiveturkey

It seems as if everyone is missing the point. This particular story has little to do with failure. The enrollment rates have dropped and the tax base has dwindled. In this case they are actually doing the right thing by closing several schools.

The actual education being provided still sucks but this consolidation gives them a real chance at improving things.

It's connected to failure because parents have been fleeing the failed KCMO school district for quite some time now, which I'm confident is a big factor in the declining enrollment and to a somewhat lesser extent the declining tax base.

The plan seems reasonable, but the KCMO school board is so full of fail that it's hard to believe that either of the alternatives that split the board 5-4 is a good idea. It's much easier to tell when the vote is 9-0, because then you know the defeated measure was the right way to go.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by 13and3

Whites value worth wile educations and endeavors and are encouraged to do so. Blacks on the other hand are handed a basketball

Did you have NewPhin as a teacher?

[13and3]

Originally Posted by DJJasonp

You're out of your mind....

So a 4-year degree from Duke University or USC, or (insert any division 1 school)....is (as you put it) a "bullshit degree"???!!!

I guess you may be sitting behind a desk with your Phd on the wall behind you...maybe that's why you can sh*t on all those "bullshit" degrees from nationally-recognized for excellence universities.

It must be a comforting position for you to be in.

As I said before....there are thousands of kids (and adults as well) who would kill to be given a free-ride for a degree at a division 1 university.

If USC wants to give me a free ride to come play for their fencing team (or whatever).......I'm more than happy to put on the gear for their, as you put it - white alumni. At the end of the day, I have a degree from a division 1 school....and I didnt pay a dime for it.

One more thing to add.....of all these bb players....how many were going to have the opportunity to go to a 4-year university and get a degree if they werent playing bb?

The school does't give the degree its true earning power. It is the major. A 4 year degree in psycology, art, or counseling, is not going to pay very will no matter what school you go to. Besides there are things such as academic scholarships that probally require less effort, time and talent, than dribbling a basketball 7 days a week, after school at practice and on the play ground, from age 5 to 18.

[DJJasonp]

Originally Posted by 13and3

The school does't give the degree its true earning power. It is the major. A 4 year degree in psycology, art, or counseling, is not going to pay very will no matter what school you go to. Besides there are things such as academic scholarships that probally require less effort, time and talent, than dribbling a basketball 7 days a week, after school at practice and on the play ground, from age 5 to 18.

I agree with you that, as a parent, you should counsel them that the odds of making millions in the NBA are far greater than if they were to study hard, get an academic scholarship, degree, so on...

My point is though...for many kids (inner-city or not)....an athletic scholarship may be the only way they get a degree.

And trust me...whatever the major may be....those that have a degree versus those who dont have a degree....find a heck of a lot less "closed doors" when it comes to the job hunt.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by patteeu

It's connected to failure because parents have been fleeing the failed KCMO school district for quite some time now, which I'm confident is a big factor in the declining enrollment and to a somewhat lesser extent the declining tax base.

The plan seems reasonable, but the KCMO school board is so full of fail that it's hard to believe that either of the alternatives that split the board 5-4 is a good idea. It's much easier to tell when the vote is 9-0, because then you know the defeated measure was the right way to go.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by 13and3

The school does't give the degree its true earning power. It is the major. A 4 year degree in psycology, art, or counseling, is not going to pay very will no matter what school you go to. Besides there are things such as academic scholarships that probally require less effort, time and talent, than dribbling a basketball 7 days a week, after school at practice and on the play ground, from age 5 to 18.

Why do you blame the universities or the alumni or white people or whoever it is you're blaming instead of the individuals who choose to get these lame degrees? Why didn't these mysterious, outside pressures-to-fail work their insidious magic on you?

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by NewPhin

Huh? Did you quote the wrong post or am I missing something?

[WilliamTheIrish]

Originally Posted by 13and3

I agree, funding may not be a cure all, but with its absence problems will only get worse. My wife and I were both products of the KCMO magnet theme. I graduated in 94 and she graduated in 96. We both greatly benefited form the magnet themes. She went to Southeast's health and information magnet, and in result has a job as medical transcriptionist. I attended Southwest Science Math Magnet, and developed excellent analytical and mathematical skills which helped me attain an associate's degree in Industrial Electrical Technology, an A.A.S. in engineering, an electrical apprenticeship with a local union, and a master electrical license. I don't think the districts integration policy made a damn bit of difference in the quality of education that was to be administered. The race of my class mates made about as much difference as the race of my teachers. The real loss I believe was these programs that peeked the interest of at least some of the students of the district and allowed us to develop skills to have a chance in life.

13-3,

Your wife didn't need a magnet themed school to become a transcripitionist. All she needed was a vocabulary teacher.

The magnet themes were a true waste of money coupled with nepotism and waste on a scale that would make Bernanke/Geithner blush.