School Bus Program Reaches St. Charles County

[moguy1973]

I know it's not going to happen, but I think the families that send their kids to these other districts should have to pay the same taxes of the families that live in the districts they are transferring to. That's my big beef with what's going on. I'm paying more than likely twice or three times in school taxes as someone that lives in the Normandy district, but yet they are going to get the same education as my child will be getting. Not seeing the fairness in that at all.

[Quillback]

Well I am glad my grandkids will be going to catholic schools.

I was in the Memphis area this week for a couple of days and had discussions with folks about the Memphis school system. Unfortunately the public system in Memphis is broken and seemingly can't be fixed. Folks get tired of trying to work within the system and fix things and decide rather than gambling with their child's future and leaving them in the public schools, they pay the money and send their kids to private schools.

Another thing to ponder is the ballot initiative that passed in CA last year that imposed a state income surtax on high income earners. Money raised is earmarked for public schools. It turns out that 50% of that money is given to teachers in the form of raises and pension funding. Hopefully by the time the pigs are done feeding at the trough, there will be something left for the students.

[Guest Brian B.]

Hmmm... Memphis too... Hmmmm, I wonder if there is a pattern emerging?

More legislating fairness at the expense of the folks in the suburbs- they moved out there years ago for a reason. As. You watched the Normandy. Parents sitting in on the meeting... -WHERE WERE THE DAD'S?-

(There you have it.. So let's spread the problem of that culture and smear it all over greater St.Louis? How does that make sense financially and practically?)

[Feathers and Fins]

Guys I know we have teachers on this site my wife is a teacher and I will say what I have seen and believe.

First; No Child Left Behind, is the biggest load of horse crap to ever infest our education system. A child needs to be left behind or more to the point HELD BACK! I have seen children passed just to move them through the system. When I was in school if you didn’t make the grades ( real grades not study for a dam federal or state test ) you got flunked!

Second; Parent accountability! Wow I can go on for hours but to make it short parents JOB is to insure homework is completed and correct and if the student is having a hard time GET THEM A TUTOR and stay the hell off the lake spending money on boats gas and toys. Your CHILD is more important than anything else and they need to come before toys and fun.

Third; Put the all mighty WOODEN BOARD OF EDUCATION back in to school and teachers USE IT. When they use it the parents need to use it that night and then take all the toys from the kids!

Fourth; Leave the Phones, games and electronics at home learn to use writing and thinking abilities.

Fifth; If a student refuses to learn ship them to juvenile facilities or night school or someplace away from those who want to learn or who can be taught.

Sixth; Pay our teachers right they sure don’t make enough now and make dam sure they have the tools needed, not make them buy pencils pins and paper etc.

As an employer I see these ( No Child Left Behinds ) and it makes me furious most have elementary school education and mentality at best in some cases. Others think they are entitled a paycheck just for showing up. They need to be taught at HOME and school they have to work for what they earn and that means grades, passing to another grade or money.

Government needs to insure the teachers have the tools, but they need to stay out of education and one curriculum fits all because all learn at a different pace and speed. Some need to be held back others need quicker promotion. It needs to be about the needs of the child not the governments beliefs!

[Old plug]

Fins--- you sound a lot like my niece. she is a principle in a school district in the St. Louis county.

Like I say my grandkids are going to go through catholic school from k to 12. They have smaller classes more discipline and a lot more family involvement. It is expensive but I can guarantee you if the cost puts a hardship on my son and his wife I and the other grandparents will step in and take up the slack. I am not rich either and I would starve for their education if need be. I really hope they grow up and enter fields that opens the whole world to them because I do not think there is going to be much left of this country by the time they are adults. I no longer look for answers to our problems. It is way to late to solve this complex mess we are in.

[Flysmallie]

I have a lot of thoughts but I'll just say I'm very thankful for where my kids have the privilege of attending school. Small town outside of Springfield that has a great school district. There are a lot of good districts in the towns surrounding Springfield and I'm sure it's the same in the really big cities. You would think with the size of the cities they would be able to generate enough funding for their school districts to succeed. These small towns in southwest Mo don't seem to have a problem coming up with the funding.

I'm pretty familiar with FH from marching band competitions and it's obvious that they are doing something right. It's sad that they will have to take on the extra load.

[Justin Spencer]

They still use the paddle in Dora, but check with parents first for liability reasons I'm sure. There will always be good schools and bad schools, I too blame the home life more than the schools. The important thing is to have the teachers in place for those who want to learn, the rest will unfortunately live on our dime either in jail, or by feasting on the govt. cheese.

[Mitch f]

Thank you for being a voice of reason. The people who will choose to go out to Francis Howell will be exclusively those who want a good education, and a better life. Not the kind of people that will cause trouble.

First of all, no one that I have read on this thread is assembling a lynch mob, we are merely discussing the situation.

Second, how do you know what the motives of the students are? I've seen these situation turn out bad as well, just talk to Christine Smetzers parents.

[rps]

Interesting ideas by many of you.

First and foremost indicator for success in school is socioeconomic status. Second indicator is education level of the parents (two parents with college degrees versus one parent with a GED). The consequences of other factors are far less telling.

Now, on top of this set of facts, layer in parental involvement. Study after study proves active involvement by many parents is one of the key indicators for school wide success.

Add to the above the fact that NCLB is not science based and has at its heart a political desire for public education to fail. That is right, a desire to see schools fail. Why? Because when schools everywhere fail, then you can bust unions and you can pass laws authorizing school vouchers for use at parochial schools, two political beliefs near and dear to many people, but at odds with the concept of universally educated citizens.

BTW, those that say "hold the students back" and/or "let them quit school" do not realize these are measures of failure under NCLB as well. Under the rules, schools get dinged for dropouts.

Now stop and think this through - inner city schools are typically the oldest and need the most upkeep, heating and air conditioning costs, and are the least adaptable to the use of technology. Socioeconomic factors also create student bodies with the lowest predicted success rate. As these symptoms become more evident, caring parents move away if they can or go parochial if they can. This harshens the consequences for those left behind. The entire school district can become toxic and that leads to non-accreditation.

That is when the courts rule the students MUST be afforded an equal opportunity for school success. Under the current political climate, state departments of education know they cannot force the suburban people who live in school successful districts (or already send their children to parochial schools and already resent paying school taxes) to pay more. Therefore the departments penalize the children of the poor district and penalize the tax base from that district as well, by making them pay for transport and enduring the transport. The department of education knows the result will be a strain on the recipient districts, and they know the penalized district will be unable to pay the tax burden, The department does not care. That's right. They know they will only cut the statewide finite pie of tax into to smaller dollars per child and then demand that the principals and teachers do more with less.

My wife and I teach in a school district where well over half the students qualify for free or reduced lunch (poverty level) and many/most do not live with two parents. In fact, many live with neither parent. Thankfully, our non-unionized teachers have successfully kept the district out of the toxic state and performing as well as the "rich kids" districts in Bentonville and Fayetteville. Even so we realize we are doomed to fail because the law says we must show a 10% improvement annually. Did anyone with a lick of sense think we can show a 10% improvement every year when that number is based upon all students, including non native English speakers, and special education students?

My daughter has devoted the last ten years to Citizen Schools, a NGO that provides supplemental education to inner city children affected by the factors I describe above. She recently agreed to become a principal for a charter school in Fall River, Mass. that is striving to create a good school in an inner city situation where the public school failed.

I hope that all of the above will help those of you who can read because of teachers realize that simple slogans like "hold the teachers accountable" and "hold the parents accountable" and "get rid of teacher unions" are not answers. Instead they are talking point slogans for politicians.

I will now conclude this rant without personal character attacks.

[Justin Spencer]

_{Thank you rps for your service to our children. My kids go to school where most get free lunches and many live with grandparents. The entire school body gets free school supplies and not many go to college. Many teachers or aides I talk to at the school don't use proper English and while Amy and I help the kids when they need it I don't feel like we do anything special. They always do well on what ever standardized test they are taking so I guess the teachers are doing a good job with them.}

_{I do think the things we did with the kids before they started school probably got them off to a good start, those that start out behind tend to stay behind I'm afraid.}