Oklahoma Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Re: FFFCs
That is quite odd of your ILs. I'm sorry that they are putting you in this situation. But in regards to the feelings they have tied to it and to the other story about the hunting incident.. people deal with grief in different ways. and I sincerely hope that these two stories of these people are just their ways of dealing with it and I'm sure that they don't think of it the same way you do. They must think of it as somehow honoring their loved one. I've done odd things out of grief that people just wouldn't understand. Maybe you can talk to your ILs about your feelings towards it? But I am sorry.. that would make me very uncomfortable too. I think I would just put the baby in the outfit, take her picture, and take it off. Give the ILs the picture and be done with it.
This definitely doesn't make me want to flame you---it makes me want to give you a hug! Sorry you're going through all of this.
The Paddack ads that talk about "elite" schools turning kids away were totally false. A graduate from my school, who went to Barresi's middle school as well, wrote a letter to the editor to the Daily OK that was published. Our students were outraged that anyone would label our school "elite" seeing as around 70% are on the free/reduced lunch program, many are first-generation college-bound, and some even work jobs to keep their families afloat. They are proud of the fact that they came from so little and have worked hard for everything they have earned. I understand how they feel--I grew up poor, but am educated and articulate and get quite defensive if a student, or anyone, assumes that I came from an affluent, well-educated family. Because, only smart, educated people are rich!
Okay, I concede that your kids are worse off than mine...yay for you. I'm still proud of my school and my students for showing that people who come from difficult backgrounds CAN go to college and be successful students and citizens of this society. I'm still proud that Barresi won.
And, just in case anyone needs it, a present from my "elite" students:
From nationsreportcard.gov:
charter school. A public charter school is a publicly funded school that, in accordance with an enabling state statute, has been granted a charter exempting it from selected state or local rules and regulations. A charter school may be newly created, or it may previously have been a public or private school; it is typically governed by a group or organization (e.g., a group of educators, a corporation, or a university) under a contract or charter with the state. In return for funding and autonomy, the charter school must meet accountability standards. A school's charter is reviewed (typically every 3 to 5 years) and can be revoked if guidelines on curriculum and management are not followed or the standards are not met.
We receive PUBLIC funding (in OK, 75% of per-pupil state funding, to be exact) and are under Oklahoma City PUBLIC Schools. We are a public school that has no application standards. No charter schools do, nor can they. It goes against what being a charter school is. My school has not turned away a student yet. Trust me, there are some that leave because the courses are too difficult (not all charters are like this, it's different for each school) but we never turn anyone away.
Now, magnet schools, like Classen SAS, can turn kids away. They have admission tests or auditions that must be passed in order to be accepted.
Janet Barresi founded two charter schools to prove that students from all backgrounds can be successful. Not because her kids were bad, or bratty. Neither of her sons attended either school she founded. I don't believe she has a "skewed" vision of how a school should work; I think she has a progressive view of how schools could work, if given the chance.
We will disagree, I am sure, about whether an educator should be the super or not. I don't think it has to matter. You don't have to be an educator to understand there are problems that need help. Perhaps it is time to bring in someone from the outside for a fresh perspective.
I agree with Jamie. Would you hire a doctor who has no medical experience? A lawyer who doesn't have law experience? The list goes on. The fact that she has funded schools doesn't make her a great super, it makes her a good business woman. Claps for that. I could throw money into a business and make it work, but that doesn't make me the most knowledgeable or qualified for the position. It makes me a good business woman.
I think most people think charter/pilot/magnet schools are elite because they don't usually accept special education/low socio economic students and students are required to perform at a certain level. And most of the time that's not attainable. I think that's what Jamie was trying to say not have a pissing contest as to whose students are worst. Bottom line, most of the public school students in low performing, high poverty areas wouldn't be accepted and wouldn't make it in most non public schools. That's a different story for a different time.
For me, I think Barresi was elected because she was Republican. I don't think the majority of the people did research as to what a great business woman she was or how long she was a dentist. I think they saw the (R) after her name and filled in the line. The voters wanted to make a statement and they did. Unfortunately it comes at the price of education yet again. Yippee for more reform!
Ok, but clearly SOMETHING has to change regarding education in OK, right? Is that a unity-horse issue at least?
The same-ole, same-ole isn't cutting it. I have college freshman who, in all seriousness, write at the 7th grade level. Our college has the third best graduation rate in the state---at 33%. That means I can quite literally tell students, "Look to your left and right. If you graduate, those two people won't." They can memorize terms, but can't apply them to scenarios or come up with examples. They're bright, but severely under-educated.
FWIW, I don't blame their teachers for this. You all work your butts off! But we have so much poverty in the state and so many negative structural issues outside of the classroom that something has to really change if we want to make any gains. The only place we can legislate these changes is within the schools. Alas, since this is an elected office, I fear it will be more of the same (or just very slight variations thereof) but a gal can hope!
I didn't plan on responding anymore, because it appears I should probably have started this in the UO thread, but...
We DO accept children with learning differences, even severe ones, as well as many, many ELL children. We have programs, supervisors, sponsors, tutors, and a lovely and amazing special services coordinator that takes great care of all of them. Our 2011 salutatorian is autistic and it's amazing to see how far he has come. Half my yearbook staff is on an IEP for one thing or another. To say that we don't serve these types of students is a flat-out lie.
Maybe Classen can turn them away. We cannot.
Yes, SOMETHING has to change. I am not a huge supporter of Obama's health care plan, but I do recognize that what we had wasn't working for everyone, and so I have conceded the fact that at least he tried something. The public school system is archaic and obviously not working anymore. Instead of just saying, "well, that's how it always has been and so it shall be," let's at least all TRY something.
That's why I love how my school works. If something isn't working, then we can change policy immediately, in a monthly faculty meeting. If it's something that can't be changed for this school year, then we change it for the next. We are constantly adapting to our students' needs.
Fuzzy~You are too close to the situation. Take a step back and realize no one is attacking your school. We are expressing our concern that Oklahomans hired someone to do a job that has no classroom experience.
Amanjay~ I totally agree change needs to happen. However, there has been so much reform that hasn't worked and won't ever work. The state and our last super would change things before they even had time to make an impact. It is ridiculous. Now, the state and our new super wants to blanket everyone under one general reform movement. You've read enough studies to know that blanket movements don't work for poverty stricken students. Blanket movements don't work for anyone. Instead of differentiation we're going to treat education like it's a business, which it is not. We're going to throw money at issues that don't take money to fix because we have a super who only has business experience. So, while money is being thrown around for a quick fix my student body will continue to get farther and farther behind and slip through the cracks. There will be another generation of poverty stricken adults who could have had the chance to get out but we have stupid people in office who want to treat everyone equally. Because what works for one will work for all right?
I know my school isn't being attacked; however, I felt it necessary to point out the flaws in the statements about how charter schools "pick" their students, and how we don't have students with special needs. Those statements were false. How do I know that? Because I understand the charter school law in OK and I teach at one. So yes, I cam close to the situation, and being close allowed me to point out that there were false statements about what charter schools are and are not.
I understand you are concerned that Janet has no classroom experience; I, however, don't feel that it is a requisite. There is no pre-requisite for being the state super. I don't believe there really is any job like it out there that could prepare you for it. It doesn't matter to me if the person elected doesn't have classroom experience. What matters is they realize there are problems that need to be fixed, and that they try something new for once, instead of just allowing the legislature to run all over them or just keeping the status quo while simultaneously chastising the schools for not doing their jobs.
Again, we're all going to have to agree to disagree on this. I have my opinion, you two have yours. I simply cannot let the fact go that so many people are uneducated about what charter schools are, and what they can do.
I definitely agree with you that you can't legislate things across the board and expect them to work for everyone. I'm not at all familiar with what it's like to be a primary or secondary school teacher, so what do those of you who are suggest for ways to help individualize education? Getting rid of NCLB? Smaller pupil-teacher ratios?
This isn't entirely true though. Charter schools aren't allowed to pick students but they can turn students away. Whereas nonchartered/pilot/magnet schools can't. Because charter school students are admitted on a first-come, first served basis, or by lottery when applicants exceed available slots they can be turned away.
This statement, "I understand you are concerned that Janet has no classroom experience" is what I'm talking about. You are on a first name basis and there is nothing wrong with that, but it hinders your ability to have an open mind about the situation because you are so close to it. I hope she proves me wrong and completely overhauls this very flawed system. I still think most people voted for her because of the (R) after her name and under any other circumstance would be up in arms about someone being in a high position with no field/classroom experience.
This is somewhat embarrassing, but part of the reason I refer to her as Janet is because I always misspell her last name.
I have only met her a handful of times.
Also, a big reason why I supported her was because she ran a clean campaign. She took a stand on issues like consolidation and SQ 744, while the other candidates simply said they "don't like politics" or "I don't like the word reform." Paddack ran negative ads against Janet B., and I despise mud-slinging and negative campaigning. In my mind, if you really had something to say, you would say it. Paddack never said anything about pretty much anything, except "I was a teacher therefore vote for me."
Yes, eventually we will have to turn students away--there is limited space and our charter only allows 500 students. However, we have not gotten to that point yet. I'm not sure if any of the charters in OKC have.