I'm afraid I don't have time to give this the full attention that it
deserves today, but here are some preliminary comments:
>>>>> "Eli" == Eli <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Eli> Didn't anybody catch the article in Star Tribune on the
Eli> Saturday that the district was considering or plan to keep
Eli> Jefferson open and merging the Emerson Dual Emersion Program
Eli> with the one at Jefferson.
Yes, I saw this, and I'm relatively pleased. On the face of it, it
looks like a much more sensible decisionI think it makes more
Eli> The facilities planning group was not charged with dealing
Eli> with programs, options, choices, but with working with the
Eli> best facilities for the entire district.
I agree. But I additionally feel that this shows how pathological the
process was. We have a planning group that is supposed to decide how
space should be allocated FOR EDUCATION, and the board has for some
reason gone out of its way to avoid having educators participate
(giving it instead to an architectural firm), and to rule out of
bounds concerns about the programs that will be moved, destroyed,
etc. That just seems like a kooky way to plan operations for a Board
of Education. Education being the purpose of this organization,
should drive other concerns (although admittedly, there are other
constraints, including population trends and money that must be taken
into account). Driving your decisions from buildings and then making
the education fit is topsy-turvy.
Eli> However I think that MPS can get back on the path, but we
Eli> need to be constructive critics, and not just negative
Eli> critics.
Amen. I believe I have done this. I have tried to suggest that the
Board should have gone out of its way to involve the community in this
decision-making process, and have consultants that would act to
promote this process, instead of just having a band of technocrats.
I don't wish to slam Kevin Hallbeck and his group --- they seem
sincere people, and I do think they want to provide the best decision.
But I don't believe that this overall process has been conducted in
the best way: the Board didn't act to convince the citizens of the
need for school closings, the Board hasn't gotten buy-in for the
plans, and (as I said earlier) no one has given us detailed enough
suggestions to convince us that they have even thought about how to
handle the mergers and closings, much less that they have a good
plan.
I don't care if parents' objections to buying a pig in a poke are
stigmatized as negative. Stopping people from doing something dumb is
a positive act. Maybe it would be better if we could provide
suggestions to overcome problems, but we need to be informed about
what the problems are before we can do this. In the meantime, it's
important to avoid having things get worse.
Eli> This type of attitude drives the school board crazy. People are
attached to
Eli> bricks and mortar.
When you have GOOD bricks and mortar, you SHOULD BE attached to it.
There are older buildings that are simply irreplaceable now in this
day and age of shoddy building practices.
But I'm NOT that attached to bricks and mortar. I am attached to an
institution that is a TEAM of educators that functions well, and I
don't want to see that scattered to the winds on the say-so of a
committee that freely admits that they are not experts on education.
Eli> When my daughter was at Lake Harriet Open school and it was
Eli> slated for closing that was fine with my family. However
Eli> some people who wanted to keep the school program at Lake
Eli> Harriet and keep the building open started to make
Eli> anti-semetic remarks about our family as well as against our
Eli> profession. This is the tone of some of these discussions,
Eli> we should be focused on what is best for kids and next
Eli> generation of kids that are coming behind us. Talk about how
Eli> best to work with the system, because it is here and not all
Eli> the kids have choices about where they can go. I would like
Eli> to see a busload of kids from the Southwest go as a school to
Eli> another school with the same learning style and spend several
Eli> weeks there sharing life experiences with kids from a
Eli> completely different neighborhood. Too many people talk about
Eli> diversity but they are completely unwilling to do anything
Eli> about it. The refrain is I want diversity but I want my
Eli> neighborhood more. Life is full of changes and subjecting
Eli> our kids to life experiences may be the best thing for them.
Look, Lake Harriet may not be, but Jefferson is a VERY diverse school.
It has a very high proportion of hispanic and African-American
students. I don't know what experience you had with Lake Harriet, but
as a person active in this discussion about Jefferson, I find your
tone very offensive. I am NOT interested in sheltering my children
from diversity. I am NOT interested in beating up on Public
Education, and I am NOT trying to just be negative.
But I am absolutely NOT going to just shut up and hope that this Board
of Education will Do the Right Thing, if I can see things going wrong.
And I *do* want my children to stay in their neighborhood, thank you
very much. I don't see that having them sit on buses for vast
quantities of their day is at all useful. *MY* neighborhood school
offers diversity, a stellar group of experienced teachers, a Principal
I have the greatest respect for, education in Spanish and English, a
well-designed building that fits its purpose, and a supportive
community.
If it's a crime to fight for these values I stand guilty as charged.
--
Robert P. Goldman
ECCO
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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