Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Bullying a problem in Oklahoma schools
"A newly released report says as many as a third of elementary and middle school students in Oklahoma are involved in bullying," the Associated Press reports today.
Send your kids to our jails or we'll send you to jail
"Parents of truant students could face fines and even jail time under a contract approved Monday night by the Oklahoma City School Board," Wendy K. Kleinman reports today in The Oklahoman.
In other words, parents could go to jail if they don't send their children to unsafe places with metal detectors and security guards and which are sometimes put on lockdown.
If compulsory attendance and compulsory taxation be our lot, shouldn't we at least have the option of choosing schools that are safe and that teach children to read and do math?
UPDATE: Similar news from Tulsa.
In other words, parents could go to jail if they don't send their children to unsafe places with metal detectors and security guards and which are sometimes put on lockdown.
If compulsory attendance and compulsory taxation be our lot, shouldn't we at least have the option of choosing schools that are safe and that teach children to read and do math?
UPDATE: Similar news from Tulsa.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Blind boosterism is not helpful
In Sunday's Oklahoman, some Oklahoma City civic leaders offered up "10 things that make our city great." One of the 10 things listed was ... "schools." I assume they're talking about the ones that aren't locked down, but even so the graduation rate in Oklahoma City is less than 50 percent. There's nothing even remotely "great" about that.
Friday, October 3, 2008
'Charter schools find success where traditional schools fail'
So reports Janice Francis-Smith today on the front page of The Journal Record. "Members of the House Education Committee met Thursday to discuss how some charter schools in high-poverty, urban areas are graduating successful students while their neighboring public schools continue to garner low test scores and high dropout rates."
Either way, taxpayers are paying twice for K-12 education
Matt Montgomery, editor of the student newspaper at Oklahoma City Community College, reports that "nearly 80 percent of Oklahoma's community college students have to enroll in remedial or zero-level coursework." He quotes a spokesman for the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education who suggests that students may not be to blame for their unpreparedness, but rather -- um, how to put this? -- "their preceding educators might be to blame."
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Ho hum ... another day, another teacher raping a student
The Associated Press reports today that "second-degree rape and forcible sodomy charges have been filed against a former Ponca City middle school teacher. Ashley Renea Flores, 26, pleaded not guilty in Kay County District Court Wednesday to having a month-long, sexual relationship with a 14-year-old male student in her math class earlier this year."
You may recall that a recent analysis by the Associated Press found that "sexual conduct plagues U.S. schools" and suggests that sexual misconduct among male schoolteachers is at least as common as among male priests. A 2004 U.S. Department of Education study found that one in 10 public school students is sexually harassed or abused by a teacher or other school employee at some point between kindergarten and 12th grade.
You may recall that a recent analysis by the Associated Press found that "sexual conduct plagues U.S. schools" and suggests that sexual misconduct among male schoolteachers is at least as common as among male priests. A 2004 U.S. Department of Education study found that one in 10 public school students is sexually harassed or abused by a teacher or other school employee at some point between kindergarten and 12th grade.
Districts fail to notify parents of choices
[Guest post by OCPA intern Emily Solomon]
A recent article in the Tulsa World exposed the fact that schools in 19 Oklahoma districts failed to notify parents that their children’s school was on the Needs Improvement list, meaning the schools failed to meet No Child Left Behind test benchmarks. It is required by law that schools not only notify parents of their status on the Needs Improvement list, but also that they allow transfers within the district (if applicable) and provide bus transportation for participating students.
It's sad that students continue to go to underperforming schools because someone dropped the administrative ball. But it's even worse that parents didn't get to choose where to send their kids in the first place. It's likely that many of them knew the schools weren't the best, but couldn't afford to move or send their children to a private school. Wouldn't it be great if we had some kind of voucher or tax credit system to help parents make the best choices for their kids?
A recent article in the Tulsa World exposed the fact that schools in 19 Oklahoma districts failed to notify parents that their children’s school was on the Needs Improvement list, meaning the schools failed to meet No Child Left Behind test benchmarks. It is required by law that schools not only notify parents of their status on the Needs Improvement list, but also that they allow transfers within the district (if applicable) and provide bus transportation for participating students.
It's sad that students continue to go to underperforming schools because someone dropped the administrative ball. But it's even worse that parents didn't get to choose where to send their kids in the first place. It's likely that many of them knew the schools weren't the best, but couldn't afford to move or send their children to a private school. Wouldn't it be great if we had some kind of voucher or tax credit system to help parents make the best choices for their kids?
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Unsafe-schools watch
Another Oklahoma City high school was put on lockdown today, as was a Tulsa high school, where police recovered three handguns. Meanwhile, a former Tulsa elementary-school teacher pleaded guilty to a felony peeping Tom charge after setting up a video camera in an air vent in a boys restroom, and a mother in Gore, Okla. says her first-grade daughter was sexually assaulted on the school playground. "You send them to school so they're going to learn and be taken care of," the girl's mother says in this video. "You don't send them to school just so they can get half an education and get their clothes ripped off."
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Horace Mann prophecy watch
Horace Mann, generally regarded as the father of America's current public school system, once prophesied: "Let the Common School ... be worked with the efficiency of which it is susceptible, and nine tenths of the crimes in the penal code would become obsolete; the long catalogue of human ills would be abridged."
It hasn't quite worked out that way, of course. Not only have the crimes not become obsolete, they are now occurring in the schools themselves, schools which in many ways have become like prisons. Worse yet, none of this comes as much of a surprise anymore; it's just something "the kids feel like they have to get used to," as one parent told The Oklahoman.
"Metal detectors across the Oklahoma City School District are being inspected in the wake of a student's arrest Monday at U.S. Grant High School in an incident involving a gun in the building," The Oklahoman's Wendy K. Kleinman and Augie Frost reported today.
It hasn't quite worked out that way, of course. Not only have the crimes not become obsolete, they are now occurring in the schools themselves, schools which in many ways have become like prisons. Worse yet, none of this comes as much of a surprise anymore; it's just something "the kids feel like they have to get used to," as one parent told The Oklahoman.
"Metal detectors across the Oklahoma City School District are being inspected in the wake of a student's arrest Monday at U.S. Grant High School in an incident involving a gun in the building," The Oklahoman's Wendy K. Kleinman and Augie Frost reported today.
Students at U.S. Grant said after school Wednesday that security measures are more stringent since Hodauri Latifu McCoy Jr., 14, was arrested on a felony complaint of carrying a firearm in a school. According to a police report, he pointed a loaded gun at another student and threatened others.
"We weren't really surprised," junior Edgar Estrada, 17, said as he left the campus Wednesday.
"It's just kind of something the kids feel like they have to get used to," said parent Rebecca Owens, who has a son in the ninth grade at the school.
Tulsa World editorialist supports vouchers!
Janet Pearson, a liberal columnist for the Tulsa World, says vouchers can help Oklahomans who need ... health care.
Simply take the fifth word in that quote, patients, and replace it with students. Then take the next-to-last word in that quote, uninsured, and replace it with educational.
Under the voucher concept, patients who have serious problems and need specialty care could receive such treatment through vouchers underwritten by local philanthropic foundations. The long-range goal is for vouchers to be underwritten by various public and private sources, including state and federal sources. Some observers feel the voucher concept eventually could be the answer to the state's uninsured problem.
Simply take the fifth word in that quote, patients, and replace it with students. Then take the next-to-last word in that quote, uninsured, and replace it with educational.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Unsafe-schools watch
[Guest post by OCPA intern Emily Solomon]
A freshman at U.S. Grant High School in Oklahoma City was accused of bringing a gun to class yesterday, causing a school-wide lockdown.
Is this the kind of learning environment parents want for their kids? Is it fair to those trying to learn to have to question if they will live through the day?
A freshman at U.S. Grant High School in Oklahoma City was accused of bringing a gun to class yesterday, causing a school-wide lockdown.
Is this the kind of learning environment parents want for their kids? Is it fair to those trying to learn to have to question if they will live through the day?
Even though they've been to school
Monday, September 22, 2008
'It wasn't fair to me'
[Guest post by OCPA intern Emily Solomon]
An article in today's Journal Record examined causes of rising dropout rates in Oklahoma schools. As the state legislature conducts an interim study to assess the problem and determine solutions, we, too, must ask ourselves what needs to be done.
Andrew Grimes, a former Capitol Hill High School student, described a typical school day as one full of gangs, graffiti, and teen pregnancy. Grimes started his freshman year with 400 peers, but only graduated with 141.
Amir Jacob Darvishzadeh, another former Capitol Hill student, confirmed Grimes’ experience, and said the atmosphere was often a deterrent to learning. "Because of that, the students didn't care," Darvishzadeh said. "It wasn’t fair to me. It was a really sad experience."
One teacher, Sandy Bitner, said in her five years at the school, she knew of five students who were shot outside the building, one stabbed inside, some charged in drive-by shootings, and two charged with first-degree murder.
The interim study has found that some of the most evident causes of rising dropout rates are gangs, pregnancy, and language barriers. But, one cause many fail to see is our lack of school choice. If parents were allowed to choose where to send their students to school, they would likely send them to positive learning environments instead of defunct war zones.
It isn't fair, as Darvishzadeh said, to consign some students to unsafe and underperforming schools. It's time to give parents more choices.
An article in today's Journal Record examined causes of rising dropout rates in Oklahoma schools. As the state legislature conducts an interim study to assess the problem and determine solutions, we, too, must ask ourselves what needs to be done.
Andrew Grimes, a former Capitol Hill High School student, described a typical school day as one full of gangs, graffiti, and teen pregnancy. Grimes started his freshman year with 400 peers, but only graduated with 141.
Amir Jacob Darvishzadeh, another former Capitol Hill student, confirmed Grimes’ experience, and said the atmosphere was often a deterrent to learning. "Because of that, the students didn't care," Darvishzadeh said. "It wasn’t fair to me. It was a really sad experience."
One teacher, Sandy Bitner, said in her five years at the school, she knew of five students who were shot outside the building, one stabbed inside, some charged in drive-by shootings, and two charged with first-degree murder.
The interim study has found that some of the most evident causes of rising dropout rates are gangs, pregnancy, and language barriers. But, one cause many fail to see is our lack of school choice. If parents were allowed to choose where to send their students to school, they would likely send them to positive learning environments instead of defunct war zones.
It isn't fair, as Darvishzadeh said, to consign some students to unsafe and underperforming schools. It's time to give parents more choices.
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