Student Voice: Baltimore City School Student Sees State Setting Youth Up For Failure
May 27, 2008
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
What do we really get out of the Board of Education’s budget spending? Survey says…
January 23, 2008
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
January 3, 2008
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
