In a message dated 10/4/2004 7:42:15 AM Central Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< Dorie writes: The enrollment in the schools have dropped due to people sending their kids to charter and private schools is my understanding, not due to a census drop of children. One would assume then, that parents are not satisfied with the education being given in the public school system... >> I agree with everything said in the whole paragraph that begins with the above two sentences. It seems to me that parents are very likely to look for alternatives to the public schools if their children are not on a college bound curriculum track. I believe that "white flight," and now "black flight" has more to do with that than anything else. The district has schools with high concentrations of inexperienced teachers and high teacher turnover rates, including most of the "racially isolated" schools, of which 21 of 23 are on the state's list of poor performing schools. Students are ability-grouped and tracked (put in separate classrooms for fast, medium, and slow learners) on a part-time basis for reading instruction as early as Kindergarten. Why not fix the schools, instead of downsizing the district? The district can begin to make a quality education accessible to all students by desegregating probationary teachers (3 years employment or less), stopping unnecessary layoffs (which would cut teacher turnover rates), and phasing out "low" ability curriculum tracks. I believe it is possible to untrack the schools without watering down the college bound curriculum programs which are currently reserved for only about one-fourth of the district's students. -Doug Mann, King Field write-in "Doug Mann" for school board on November 2 www.educationright.com - REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
