Student Voice: Baltimore City School Student Sees State Setting Youth Up For Failure
By Raven Moniqu’e Coleman (a Junior at Doris M. Johnson High School in Baltimore City)
I bet the state is content with many of Baltimore City’s students having a bleak future.
In 2000, Judge Joseph H. Kaplan ordered that the state issue adequate funding to the city after he deemed that students would need to receive between $200- $260 million in addition to other funds in order to comply with students’ constitutional rights.
As expected, these demands have yet to be met. I think the state doesn’t want to admit that they set our youth up for failure.
Continue reading Student Voice: Baltimore City School Student Sees State Setting Youth Up For Failure
Harford County Council Resolution Establishes New Panel To Endorse Candidates For Board Of Education
Rarely do politicians pull back the curtain and let the public see how political appointments are made, but Harford County Councilman Richard Slutzky has done just that by introducing the resolution to open up the selection process for school board members. Designed as a temporary fix until elections are approved by the General Assembly, the resolution establishes a 7-member panel composed of elected officials and representatives from the county executive’s office which will review and endorse candidates for the school board in view of the voting public.
Currently, school board members are appointed by the governor who relies on endorsements from local officials; a process that serves almost no one. Local officials are often flying blind because they have no formal way to recruit or to vet the candidates, candidates are dependent on having the right political connections and the public has no way of knowing who’s in the running or who’s backing whom.
Such is the case with the Bel Air seat on the board of education which will soon be vacated by current president Tom Fidler. Fidler reportedly favors a certain candidate as his replacement, one who does not support an elected school board, and on whose behalf he has been contacting local officials. This type of thing now happens behind closed doors, but may soon be brought into the open.
Continue reading Harford County Council Resolution Establishes New Panel To Endorse Candidates For Board Of Education
Concerned Parents Expose Issues at the New Patterson Mill Middle High School
The new Patterson Mill Middle High School should be the pride of Harford County. Thanks to the decision to forward fund several schools, Patterson Mill was the first in a string of long overdue construction projects intended to launch our students into the 21st century. Patterson Mill boasts many state-of-the-art features on the inside, but on the outside at least, someone clearly dropped the ball.
With several big ticket projects in the works, namely Bel Air and Edgewood high schools, Deerfield and Youth’s Benefit elementary schools, not to mention two brand new schools in various stages of development, the Patterson Mill experience may serve as a cautionary tale to the thousands of parents and other taxpayers who want to ensure that their school facilities are planned appropriately and delivered as planned.
Continue reading Concerned Parents Expose Issues at the New Patterson Mill Middle High School
A Failure of Leadership: CSSRP Under Fire Yet Again
A long-awaited independent review of the high school reform plan known as CSSRP was provided to the Board of Education by Leadership Capacity, Inc. at the board’s work session Monday, April 21st in Bel Air. The board received a 300-page report reiterating many of the issues brought to the board’s attention by teachers, parents, students and administrators as far back as 2005.
Particular interest was sparked by focus group reports indicating a low level of support among teachers for many aspects of CSSRP ranging from the block schedule to the mandatory class “Living in a Contemporary World”.
Board president Tom Fidler wasted no time concluding that this reflected of a “failure of leadership” on the part of Superintendent Jackie Haas and senior staff members Dave Volrath and Gerry Scarborough.
Continue reading A Failure of Leadership: CSSRP Under Fire Yet Again
“Take Your Child To Work Day” gets a no go from Superintendent Haas
“Take Your child To Work Day”… seems like an easy concept. I can remember as a child I looked forward to the fact that my mom, a speech pathologist in the school system, would take my sisters and I to work on that special day.
The whole day was so cool right down to eating lunch in the classroom and using the faculty restroom. Wow, we were easily pleased. We saw all that the ‘big bad’ world had to offer and that our mother was something other then ‘mommy.’ She was someone that taught and was important to others as well. I can remember marveling at the teachers and then returning home to play school.
Now, that very same “Take Your child To Work Day” is considered an UNLAWFUL ABSENCE. I have a real problem with that.
Our eldest daughter has been asking about this day for years and now that she’s old enough to understand the concept and follow directions safely, she will not be able to attend work with her father on Thursday, April 24th.
Continue reading “Take Your Child To Work Day” gets a no go from Superintendent Haas
What Ever Happened to Local Courtesy? Who is the Roadblock to an Elected School Board in Harford County?
The fate of the elected School Board bill goes down to the wire in Annapolis. For the latest updates, check out the comments to this article…
When a majority of delegates from a local jurisdiction sponsor legislation affecting their jurisdiction alone, the custom of the Maryland General Assembly is to approve it as a “local courtesy.” The bill proposing an elected Board of Education in Harford County should be a good example the Annapolis political tradition.
When the bill establishing a fully elected board was amended to create a partially elected, or blended school board, http://mlis.state.md.us/2008rs/billfile/SB0306.htm, it got the support of all three Harford County senators, unanimous approval in the full state senate and unanimous approval by a vote of the Harford County delegation - although Delegate Mary-Dulany James, a staunch opponent of elections, was not present for the delegation vote (remember this for later).
With no recorded votes in opposition to the partially elected Board of Education legislation and overwhelming public support for it, the bill should be well on its way to passage, courtesy of local courtesy. Why, then, are two members of the House of Delegates from outside of Harford County trying so hard to kill it?
Continue reading What Ever Happened to Local Courtesy? Who is the Roadblock to an Elected School Board in Harford County?
“First, do no Harm” - Councilman Slutzky Questions the Merit of Board of Education School Reform
Read the ‘Erroneous and Malicious’ Comments that Forced the Board of Education President to Announce He’s Leaving Office
Public frustration with the Comprehensive High School Reform Plan (CSSRP) prompted the Harford County Council to make an unprecedented address to the Board of Education at its meeting tonight (Monday) in Bel Air.
The half-hour presentation delivered by county councilman Richard C. Slutzky, a veteran educator of 39 years, reflected questions raised by parents, students, teachers and administrators who had contacted the council as a result of what they believed was a lack of response from of the board since CSSRP was presented in 2005 and implemented in the fall of 2006.
Before councilman Slutzky was able to begin his presentation, board president Thomas Fidler, Jr. announced that he will not seek a second term and wanted to clear the air about “erroneous and malicious” comments made on a website regarding the scheduling of the county council’s discussion.
Slutzky began by commending the board for their efforts at reform, but noted that an evaluation was necessary to determine whether the “good intentions” of the board had actually been carried out by CSSRP. Using the board’s original rationale for reform as a framework, Slutzky posed questions which he said would assist the board in determining whether intended results were being achieved and what unintended consequences have resulted. He also suggested areas for future exploration.
March 16, 2008 at 9:22 pmWhy the Board of Ed Doesn’t Want You to Know About the Harford County Council Visit Monday Night
UPDATE: At tonight’s (3/17) Board of Education meeting, board president Thomas Fidler, Jr. announced he will not seek a second term on the board. Stay tuned for details.
You might not know by looking at the agenda released by the Board of Education, but The Dagger has learned that the Harford County Council is expected to raise a series of serious questions Monday night regarding secondary school reform in the Harford County Public School system.
Prompted by public concern over the Comprehensive Secondary School Reform Plan (CSSRP), County Councilman Dick Slutzky is expected to make a presentation on behalf of the entire county council during the Board of Education meeting Monday, March 17 at 6:30 p.m. in Bel Air.
As rare an occasion as it would be to have most, if not all, of the Harford County Council in attendance for the Board of Education meeting, Slutzky’s presentation has been curiously dubbed “County Council Discussion” and buried 2/3 of the way down the agenda under General Public Comments.
Continue reading Why the Board of Ed Doesn’t Want You to Know About the Harford County Council Visit Monday Night
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.”
