A Survey With Sense: Harford Students and Parents Weigh-In On Constrictive School Reform
Remember that bogus survey with the $46,000 price tag, all about high school reform in Harford County?
The Dagger just received another survey that’s full of questions the folks who got paid the $46,000 didn’t even think to ask. The new survey was created by a local high school teacher who wanted to know more about one of the Concepts of Comprehensive Secondary School Reform (CSSRP) - the one theorizing that students should choose a “career pathway” in high school, because students would be more interested in school if they had “coursework with an exit purpose.”
So let’s find out what kids really think about picking a career path when they are still freshman in high school and what happens when students are, as one of them put it, “pigeon- holed” into taking certain classes. Continue reading A Survey With Sense: Harford Students and Parents Weigh-In On Constrictive School Reform
State Senate Amends Legislation And Paves The Way For A Partially-Elected Board of Education In Harford County
UPDATE: The Harford County delegation voted UNANIMOUSLY to support the amendments creating a blended school board. Del. Dan Riley, who had abstained from voting on the all-elected board, voted in favor of the amendements. Del. Mary-Dulany James was absent from the vote.
An amended version of Senate Bill 306 passed by the state senate today (Tuesday) would establish a nine-member Board of Education in Harford County with three members appointed by the governor and the remaining six members elected in-district.
The amended elected school board bill, SB 306, received a favorable report from the Senate’s Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee on Friday and received local courtesy today in the state senate, passing on second read.
There were no questions in the senate, and no further amendments in Tuesday’s action. A third reading of the bill is scheduled for Thursday.
With the first hurdle of senate approval out of the way, Sen. Barry Glassman cautioned today, “Still have my work cut out on House side.”
March 10, 2008 at 1:28 pmC. Milton Wright High School Science Teacher and Wrestling Coach Arrested For Multiple Child Sex Offenses
David “Dewey” Louis Vasses, a 29-year-old Science Teacher/Wrestling coach with C. Milton Wright High School in Bel Air, was arrested Saturday on charges that stem from information that a teacher at the high school was having a sexual relationship with at least one student at the school.
On Saturday, March 8, 2008, Harford County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Vasses, of the 100 block of Kipling Court in Abingdon, on charges of sexual child abuse, 4th degree sex offense and unnatural and perverted practices.
Vasses was released on $50,000.00 bond.
Continue reading C. Milton Wright High School Science Teacher and Wrestling Coach Arrested For Multiple Child Sex Offenses
The Elected School Board Stunt of the Week
Take a wild guess – throw a dart with a blindfold on – and you might divine that I’m not a big fan of establishment politics. Nor am I big on PR stunts. The problem with PR stunts is they are inherently deceptive. The stuntmen and stunt women want us to believe what we’re seeing is real. The problem with establishment politics is that society’s pressing need – “the children,” for instance – always ends up playing second fiddle to flaccid businessmen and guileful dealmakers.
PR stunts and establishment politics go hand in hand. One such stunt, designed to protect the status quo against what has become a groundswell of support for an elected school board in Harford County, played out in Annapolis Wednesday.
Del. Mary-Dulany James (D-District 34) considers herself a stalwart of the community’s educational institutions. She has every right to. Not just because her father helped found Harford Community College, but because she’s been a voice of reason during heated education debates past – and because she’s been a defender of the liberal bastion of education in the conservative bastion of Harford’s suburban farm country.
Continue reading The Elected School Board Stunt of the Week
“A Republic, If You Can Keep It” - Part II
You have to wonder what Del. Mary-Dulany James and Del. Dan Riley really think about the people they represent. Maybe we could get them on “Moment of Truth”, that new reality show where people are hooked up to a giant lie detector and then asked embarrassing questions such as:
Do you think your constituents are incapable of electing their own board of education?
That would be one way to get at the truth. Or we could just take a look at HB 806, the legislation James and Riley put together to thwart the elected school board bill being sponsored by the rest of the Harford County delegation.
Continue reading “A Republic, If You Can Keep It” - Part II
What do we really get out of the Board of Education’s budget spending? Survey says…
It’s budget season in Harford County, when public hearings are held, pleas for funding are made and grumblings about taxes waft through the air. At one such hearing last Wednesday night, Harford County Public Schools were a hot topic. But don’t you wonder what the Board of Education does with its money? Let’s look at one example.
A few years back, the Board of Education approved a series of high school reforms known as Comprehensive Secondary School Reform (CSSRP). One of the core concepts behind reform was that students would be more engaged in school if they could take more electives, which also meant that students would spend less time in classes covering math, science, English and social studies.
The idea was that something had to be done to improve student achievement; and this was definitely something. Despite warnings from teachers, parents, students, a few brave administrators and a boatload of research, the Board of Education approved the change. In light of those same warnings however, the board promised an independent review by the end of the first year of implementation.
Continue reading What do we really get out of the Board of Education’s budget spending? Survey says…
“A Republic, If You Can Keep It” - Part I
In a self-serving act of eyebrow-raising proportions, the Harford County Board of Education is seeking to thwart school board elections as part of its legislative platform for the upcoming General Assembly session.
Despite the fact that most school board members in Maryland and 95% of boards across the country are elected, the Harford school board is fighting to remain one of the few appointed by the governor and thus insulated from the public it serves. The board contends that elections would inject politics into the process. So elections are political, but political appointments are not political? Please.
Then what do you call it when unknown supporters give a quiet nod to select individuals who are granted power to set public policy and dispense public funds without the approval of the public?
Continue reading “A Republic, If You Can Keep It” - Part I
