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Do Something!

Posted by jcpswatch on March 7, 2017
Posted in: Admin. Leave a Comment

Dear JCPS,

In life, when you fail to take action in a timely fashion, your decisions will be made for you. Fail to pay your mortgage or your car note? Fail to turn in paperwork? Forget to make an important decision? You know how it goes.

That’s what is happening right now in our school district. We are facing a litany of legislation and overreach from Frankfort, in many ways directly attacking JCPS. On top of that, we are being subjected to a management audit from KDE. I believe all of this is a result of inaction and indecision by our district leadership.

For example, we saw the writing on the wall with regards to inequitable and outdated student assignment plan for some time now. In September, there was even a work session around this difficult and delicate topic. But as far as I know, no action has been taken.

And then suddenly, as if out of the blue, we find ourselves potentially faced with the possibility of having to blow up our student assignment plan, leaving our most vulnerable students the ones to take the greatest hit. This led to scrambling to make maps and respond to attacks instead of bringing forth recommendations and action plans while they were still our ideas. It’s hard work, which is why we need strong leadership. Instead we tend to be reactive, not proactive.

In addition to having HB151 thrust upon us, we are about to have to potentially surrender some of our badly needed tax dollars to support so called “public” charter schools. How are we supposed to juxtapose that exposure with our billion dollar problem with our growing facilities needs?

Not only is our inaction causing us to have decisions made for us, we are not even putting up a fight. Instead of creating an effective defense against unscrupulous education reformers. We seem to be rolling out the red carpet. This must stop!

Awhile back, you supported the district’s legislative position with regards to superintendent hiring the school principal because she is the one who is held accountable. Look at the situation Shawnee is in. This is not a new problem that just came to our attention today for the first time. Where is the accountability? Who is coming to their aid?

Over the course of the past two years, we’ve watched a poorly planned implementation of School of Innovation. And as a result, on Friday, Maupin lost its SBDM. They were made promises that were left unfulfilled and students are paying the price. Who is being held accountable?

We focus on adult problems instead of kids. We deny problems exist instead of addressing them. There seems to more interest in kicking the can down the road or playing shell games than in doing the heavy lifting of doing it right the first time. We are afraid to take risks, to be bold and decisive.

For the last several months, and longer, board members have expressed frustration with how long they’ve been waiting on reports, proposals, solutions, etc. We knew we had problems that needed to be addressed, but yet more months go by where nothing seems to happen.

I share your frustration. And yet, we continue repeating same mistakes.

I hear repeated requests from board members to “do something.” Again, last board meeting, regarding the facilities plan. However, those pleas seem to be directed at the JCPS staff, instead of the person who has the authority to make action happen. The person who is supposed to be accountable to you.

Really, there is only one employee you supervise. That is who you should be looking at. That is who you should be demanding to take action. She is the one who needs to do something. And if she doesn’t.

You must.

Inaction has led us to this predicament. We cannot afford to be indecisive. We must take control. Before more is done to us.

Something must be done before the contract renewal season. While there is still time for someone to guide us through the audit and staffing for a turnaround. May 15, I believe.

We repeatedly hear and personally experience the culture of fear, intimidation and retribution in JCPS, instead of openness to constructive criticism. Under toxic and ineffective leadership, staff become paralyzed. Don’t look at the staff. Many of them are just doing what they must do to survive. To keep their jobs. They are not to blame.

This starts at the top.

Hold your direct report accountable.

I ask you please. Do something.

Learn from Tennessee’s Mistakes

Posted by jcpswatch on March 6, 2017
Posted in: Privatization of Public Education. Leave a Comment

Dear Senators on the Education Committee,

I write today to ask you to vote no on charter schools in Kentucky.  I am a parent in Tennessee, but I can tell you from experience that charter schools are NOT the magic cure that you may think they are.  Learn from Tennessee’s mistakes…

Let me tell you about the charter school that was just a few miles from my house.  On the outside, it looked nice.  With taxpayer money, this charter operator rented prime real estate in a strip mall on the busiest street in our town, bought fancy looking office chairs for students, and hung flat screen TVs so big you could see from the street.  You can google it, it was called the “New Consortium of Law & Business Charter School.” For a school that pledged to teach students about law and business, it sure didn’t practice what it said it preached.  The charter operator (who drove a shiny new BMW convertible, and probably still does) squandered taxpayer money, failed to pay the teachers and staff on time, and didn’t pay their insurance premiums as agreed to in their contracts which caused health insurance to lapse for employee’s families.  Yes, it broke the law by not honoring its contracts, and it also had awful business management by not managing its cash flow to meet its expenses year-round, but there was nothing we as taxpayers could do about it.  There was no elected board to talk to or hold accountable.

Even worse than hurting the adults employed there, the students were robbed of years of their education.  That charter was supposed to be high-tech, with every student getting a personal laptop instead of textbooks.  However, after the money ran out, students didn’t get their promised laptop, and teachers had no resources to teach with.  It was a disaster.  You can read parent complaints on Facebook about how their children were treated, how impossible it was to get their children’s report cards, and how difficult this charter was being when they tried to transfer their children back into public school.  The school’s test scores ranked among the lowest in the state.  It took several years before the local public school board was finally able to revoke that charter school’s charter and close it down last year.  It was a disastrous experiment, and it was allowed to happen because the politicians in our state (who accepted huge campaign contributions from out-of-state charter organizations) voted to approve charters.  Unfortunately, the children are now paying the price.

If you visit Memphis, you’ll likely see the huge expensive billboards on the interstate advertising charter schools.  Realize the money spent on the billboards was money that should have been spent on students, on more guidance counselors, on lowering class sizes, on extra-curricular opportunities for children to excite them about education, on field trips, etc…  Instead, a marketing firm and billboard company got that money.  In the summer, you might see advertisements for parents to attend charter school events where they will be treated to massages and given free food to enroll their children in those charter schools.  The money for that comes from the existing public schools which are already on shoe-string starvation budgets.  It is shameful and wasteful.  The poorest students suffer the most by having their public schools deprived of funding and resources to pay for the charter schools that serve a cherry-picked student body.

Charter schools are experts at making themselves look good.  Here’s one way:  My friends who teach in public schools in the inner city have told me how their public schools get a wave of new students in the spring just before the big state standardized TCAP test.  Where do these new students come from?  They were kicked out of the charter schools because their predicted test scores would lower the charter school’s average.  Since this is after the “count” day for attendance, the money for these students stays at the charter school instead of going to the public school that is now educating them.  It is shameful how these poor students are treated like pawns and money-makers.

Charter schools are excellent at marketing themselves, especially to legislators.  Charter High Schools will brag that their school has 100% college acceptance rate and 100% graduation rate, but they won’t tell you the alarming number of students who were kicked out or held back.  Ask how many students were in the freshman class, and how many made it to their senior year?  You’ll be shocked to learn how low their retention rates are.  Ask where the students went that they “counseled” out?  These charter schools also won’t tell you that a requirement to graduate from their charter high school is to be accepted into a college (which is a lofty and worthwhile goal, of course), but they won’t tell you that they count ANY post-secondary institution (even the shady ones that accept anyone) as a “college.”  The truth isn’t as pretty as it seems.

Disrupting and possibly destroying your strong public school system to create a parallel system that will be prone to mismanagement, manipulation, and greed to serve only a fraction of students whose parents can pass the gauntlet of the application process… it isn’t worth it.  Take it from Tennessee.  Charter vultures are eager to get into your state.  The endless flow of tax dollars is too tempting.  So, please, northern neighbor, learn from Tennessee’s mistakes.  Vote against charters in Kentucky.  Support strong public schools for every child who needs it.

Sincerely,

Jennifer P.
A Mom in TN

 

This information is from the Network for Public Education about Kentucky’s charter school bill:

HB 520 flew through the House on Friday, and will soon come before the Senate. The bill contains numerous provisions that have been damaging to public schools in other states.

The bill allows charters to contract with for-profit Educational Management Organizations (EMOs). EMOs will be able to design and implement the curriculum and manage charters– all for profit.  This has proven to be disastrous in other states. In Michigan, home to Education Secretary and school choice advocate Betsy DeVos, 80% of charters operate for-profit, and charters are overwhelmingly represented in the lowest performing 5% of schools in the state.

The bill doesn’t place a cap on the number of charters that can open in Kentucky. With unlimited potential for growth, for-profit charters will be able to quickly grow and expand, with limited accountability and oversight.

As currently drafted, HB 520 fails to ensure that teachers in charter schools must be certified. It also fails to stipulate how charters will be funded, who will fund them, and how much funding they will receive.

Scenes From Last Night’s Rally Opposing #HB151

Posted by jcpswatch on March 2, 2017
Posted in: Accountability, District Boundaries, Privatization of Public Education, Vision: 2020. Leave a Comment

Magnet “programs” will not be protected under this new law. Many families will lose out on choice.

Be sure to see where your board members stood on this discussion prior to the unanimous vote to support local control over student assignment (opposition to HB151).

Read Chris Kolb’s full speech here.

@JCPSKY Board Member Chris Kolb on HB151

Posted by jcpswatch on March 2, 2017
Posted in: District Boundaries, Privatization of Public Education, Vision: 2020. 1 comment

Chris Kolb speaks on the detrimental impacts of HB151 (16:00 mark).

Remarks on HB151
Dr. Chris Kolb
JCPS Board of Education Special Called Meeting
Wednesday, March 1, 2017

I’d like to share an email I got from one of my constituents this morning.

One of the reasons my family returned to Louisville to raise our children is JCPS’s vibrant system of magnet programs. My daughter’s middle school will prepare her for wherever she wants to go next—she’ll have the academic preparation if she wants to focus on language at Atherton’s IB program, she’ll have arts experience if she wants to pursue art at YPAS or Manual; if she’s interested in learning more about law and politics, Seneca, with its legal work magnet, is her resides school. What a great selection we have! Thanks to JCPS our city is full of people who want to venture into new-to-us areas. My children go to school with kids who have similar life experiences and kids who don’t. Thanks to JCPS families have been allowed to choose the educational approaches that will best help them succeed. Please don’t allow Frankfort’s legislators limit my kids’ friendships to those we already have met. Don’t send us back to our isolated islands, segregated again.

Thirty-eight days before I was born, white pro-segregation rioters in Louisville burned school buses, threw rocks, and attacked police. The Ku Klux Klan organized and led several such riots in Louisville, all in the name of “neighborhood schools.” Many in the all-white crowds held Confederate flags while they threatened, harassed, and assaulted black children.

But our city persisted, led by the courage of African American parents and children. And thanks to their sacrifices, I was able to attend high-quality, integrated public schools in Louisville, as have my children. Thanks to their bravery, I have lifelong friendships with people from all over the city I never would have met. I am extremely grateful for their sacrifice and struggle.

But now we are facing the very real possibility that the hard-won progress of the last 42 years will be undone through government overreach into local affairs by state legislators, the overwhelming majority of whom do not live in our community.

House Bill 151 threatens a core principle of our democracy: local control of our school system. It’s curious that many of the lawmakers who just spent eight years consistently complaining about what they perceived to be federal overreach of the Obama Administration are now some of the most vocal supporters of state overreach into local issues.

The voters of Jefferson County elected the seven of us you see before you. I would ask our state legislators to remember that seven of the fourteen candidates for the JCPS Board of Education in 2012 ran on a platform of “neighborhood schools.” They were all defeated, most of them handily. The voters and families of Jefferson County have spoken on this issue time and time again and the state should respect the democratic will of Jefferson County voters. It is simply not acceptable for state legislators with little or no experience in Jefferson County to undermine the democratic will of Jefferson County voters in dictating where our kids can and can’t go to school.

In addition, there are several reasons why HB151 will have significant negative impacts on our families. It will lead to less choice, less predictability, less equity, and wider achievement gaps. These are not debatable points. This is what data, evidence, and logic tell us will happen.

But on top of all that, HB151 will not even accomplish what it sets out to do. For instance, if HB151 is implemented, the closest school with guaranteed openings for some students who currently attend Shawnee will be Waggener. Instead of a 1.9 mile walk or a 19-minute bus ride to Shawnee to participate in after-school activities, these students will endure an hour and a half ride on two different TARC buses to do so. While Waggener is over eight times farther away than Shawnee, Waggener will be the closest “neighborhood school” for many kids.

Families who live as little as 0.8 miles away from King Elementary will not be guaranteed admittance, nor will families living 0.73 miles from the Academy at Shawnee, 0.9 miles from Frayser, 0.84 miles from Rutherford, or 2.6 miles from Carrithers. And these boundaries will change every… single… year. The only way to guarantee you will get into your neighborhood school is to move, literally, across the street from it. On top of the dozens of other reasons HB151 is unwise, HB151 is not even a neighborhood schools bill.

In closing, I want to share something from an article in the Atlantic magazine in 2015 comparing Louisville to Detroit. In 1974, Detroit largely abandoned school desegregation efforts.

By 2000, … the average black Detroit student went to school with less than two percent white students, while in Louisville, the average black student went to a school that was half white. In 2011, 62 percent of Louisville fourth-grade students scored at or above basic levels for math; only 31 percent of Detroit students did.

As researcher Gary Orfield states,

Go to Louisville, go to Detroit they’re just different planets today. … These are places that had the same percentage of black people, they had the same percentage of poor people, they were almost identical, racially and socially. And Louisville is thriving. And Detroit’s collapsed.

HB151 is a threat to local democracy, to school choice, to student achievement, to a more integrated community, and to the economic livelihood and the very future of our city itself. Decisions with this level of impact on our community must be left to the people who actually live here, pay taxes here, and who vote for School Board here.

Thank you.

Suggesting Neighborhood Schools is Racist Move

Posted by jcpswatch on February 24, 2017
Posted in: District Boundaries. Leave a Comment

Dear JCPS,

Regarding this busing thing. Someone said “let the black kids go to school in the black neighborhood.” That is the problem. White officials closed 3/4’s of the schools in our area like years ago. Boarded them up or made apartments out of them so white kids did not get bused to our area. Started zero tolerance, physically and mentally abusing black kids, then throwing them in alternative placement to get them out of their school.

Now you say, “go to school in your own area?” There are only two high schools in the West End, and all the black high school kids can not squeeze in those two schools. They’re building new schools in other areas, so yes, white kids will go to school in their area, but not blacks. They are not investing in the black kids or the black area. So saying “go to school in your own area” is a very, very racist move. And not even realistic unless more public schools are built in our areas.

Concerned JCPS Parent & West End Resident

Maupin – More Questions Than Answers

Posted by jcpswatch on February 22, 2017
Posted in: Accountability. Leave a Comment

Dear JCPS,

After following the schools of innovation competition I decided to send my then emerging 2nd grader and kindergartener to the newly incepted Catalpa school at Maupin. I could have left the 2nd grader at Lincoln and likely obtained a seat for the kindergartener, as I knew these spots (at Lincoln) were highly coveted, but I was greatly inspired by the Catalpa model and felt it would be even more beneficial for my children. I was mostly right. While the school faced inherent challenges through the transition, my children’s confidence and creativity was blossoming. Then without any warning, the media informed us over Thanksgiving break that first year, only three months in, that the the school was going to be held accountable for prior year’s test scores, which meant without a massive improvement Maupin would enter “priority status.” In response, administration decided to revert back to traditional curriculum for grades 3-5. This combined with the addition of several teachers, thus some students being moved to new classes, caused several magnet families to leave. Once test scores for the school year came out, to no surprise, the children who were already struggling and just underwent a major transition with new staff and new models, were incredibly low.

 

Somehow, despite former talk of an alternate time line and waived scores, this prompted an audit by KDE. Because of this, the SBDM (through the administration’s push) decided to remove Waldorf language from the school’s mission and vision statement. At that time, administration insisted that in practice, nothing would change. It was just an attempt to please the highly anticipated auditors.

When returning to the school for the 16-17 school year, things also felt different. While the hallways were more peaceful and several classes were able to loop with their teachers, there were also numerous classrooms that no longer had the homey Waldorf feel they did the prior year. It appeared that the encouragement and support for Waldorf methods had dropped off to some degree, despite increasing magnet enrollment and parent involvement. Even still, talks continued as if the magnet program was not under threat. I kept being told that they had preemptively done everything the auditors could ask for, such as new administration, new staff, removing the waldorf language along with the alternate timeline.

Then last week, SBDM apparently met to discuss the budget and discussions were had that JCPS had put the “add-on” budget for Maupin on hold which meant funding for many of the items that make Maupin unique, such as the magnet coordinator, a special area teacher (which is presumed to be handwork, an integral part of Waldorf), retired teachers, and extended day were not being included in budget talks at this time. Yesterday Mr. Leffert held a last minute Q&A which provided probably more questions than answers, but in short said that all of this is pending the audit results which will be released at an undetermined time.

Meanwhile, potential incoming families had a sticker applied to their acceptance letter, stating “We want to inform you that Maupin Elementary is currently designated as a priority school by the Kentucky Department of Education. Based on our priority status, changes may occur that impact the magnet program for the 2017-2018 school year,” but up until yesterday, currently enrolled families had no clue of the pending potentials. Here it is well past the enrollment period, and we remain in the dark about what this means for our children.

—

Jessica Deis, RN, BSN
Maupin Parent

 

Helpless and Hopeless

Posted by jcpswatch on February 21, 2017
Posted in: Accountability, Behavior/Discipline. Leave a Comment

Dear JCPS,

I briefly reviewed the results of the recent audit. It seems that the documents I read about the audit, and nearly every other document about or by JCPS, rarely address real-life problems faced by students and teachers…issues that the general public are rarely aware of. Here are a few:

  • Students who are supposed to be receiving counseling and mental health services are not getting their needs met. There are too many students needing too many services and the 1 mental health counselor in the school can’t possibly meet the demand. Kids are falling through the cracks.
  • Teachers can’t teach. Kids can’t learn. The district has created an atmosphere that inundates teachers and other school staff with an unimaginable amount of paperwork, meetings, number crunching and data, data, data. In moderation, these are all great and necessary. But it’s primarily bullshit. These mandates keep teachers so stressed out with deadline after deadline. Paperwork has truly become a part-time job.
  • West End schools are failing. JCPS IS a disaster. Kids need more help. Teachers need more help. Students in these schools experience trauma on a daily basis, yet programs, policies and promises never live up to the hype – they never produce results because the people making the decisions are those who have worked hard to climb the ladder and ‘get out of the classroom’. Teachers are under such scrutiny. More and more demands are placed on teachers’ very limited time. We are expected to teach cookie-cutter, scripted lessons to students who act out, due to trauma, in the way of fighting, throwing objects, kicking chairs, destroying property – crying out for help. Clearly, they need MORE help. Clearly, they are living a trauma-based life. THEY NEED MORE. COOKIE-CUTTER, DISTRICT approaches DON’T WORK. We know what’s waiting for our students of poverty. Why not offer real interventions that could change the trajectory of their lives? Why not ask teachers what help THEY need to better serve their students? Does the district even care?
  • Many principals push all the district mandates without thinking about the specific population of students they are serving; without thinking about all the demands that are placed on teachers and how hard they work day in and day out. Everyone in education it seems touts “students come first.” This is such crap. Nothing is further from the truth in my opinion. It should be, “covering our butts” comes first. The people who know their students best, are rarely asked what they need to help their kids. And even if you were asked, you couldn’t tell the truth for fear of retribution. It’s one way – the district’s – or the highway.
  • Here at JCPS, there’s one way to teach. If kids can’t recite the standard they are learning, then you’re an ineffective teacher. If the wording of the learning objective is misstated, uh-oh. If you’re not using the script of the “research-based” brand-new program we’re shoving down your throat, whoops. I’m not a teacher. I’m a robot. My poor kids.
  • PLC’s are exhausting. Nobody likes them. Just another avenue for administration to regurgitate what the district erroneously considers “best practices.” PLCs are the epitome of number-crunching, uber-focus on data, more tracking, more paperwork, more of “you’re shit teachers and you’re not doing it the way we believe it’s right.”
  • BULLYING IS AN ISSUE! Some administrators either don’t know how to handle it, don’t believe they can change it, or they completely disregard it on a systemic level. If only parents knew! It’s ridiculous.
  • PGES is another way JCPS covers their butt. It’s more paperwork. It’s more deadlines. It’s a joke.
  • Teachers work hard and put in very long hours, often to the detriment of their family-life, health, etc. They love their students. They truly don’t stop when the bell rings. I would ask that the district and admin cut us some slack, for crying out loud. Give us a voice. Let us teach!

How in the world did we get to where we are in education today? Prior to the last 4 or 5 years, I felt I was truly able to teach and meet the needs of my kids. Not sure if it was the initiation of Common Core or the beginning of Hargens rule. Regardless, I am so frustrated and I feel helpless and hopeless. It’s time to REALLY start putting our kids AND teachers first.

Signed,
A JCPS Teacher

Time to go!

Posted by jcpswatch on February 20, 2017
Posted in: Accountability, Admin. 1 comment

Join us! Call for Resignation of JCPS Superintendent!

The community of JCPS stakeholders (parents, teachers, staff and community leaders) will come together tomorrow night to issue a vote of “no confidence” in our superintendent’s ability to continue to lead our district and ask for her to step down.

At least 5 of the 7 JCPS board members have expressed concern in her ability to lead, as have numerous organizations and community members. However, we understand that with more than two years left on her contract, terminating Dr. Hargens, even with cause, can be costly and time consuming. With potential negative outcomes from recent BOE executive sessions and the state audit, we believe it would be in everyone’s best interest if she would step down from her position immediately so that the board can appoint an interim superintendent who can fully cooperate with the state audit team and help get our district back on course.

There have been repeated examples of mismanagement and misreporting of data, denial of/failure to address problems, misrepresentation of facts to board members, media, state and community members, with zero accountability. Our kids can not afford to wait any longer as our district continues in this out-of-control downward spiral, which has invited legislators to propose overreaching bills such as HB151 (neighborhood schools bill), paved the way for unproven charter schools to siphon money away from public schools, and more recently resulted in an unprecedented state audit and potential takeover. We do not feel the superintendent is equipped to guide our district going forward, much less through the state audit.

The press conference will take place from 6:30 – 7:00 pm tomorrow night outside of VanHoose, prior to the 7:00 board meeting. Any groups or individuals wishing to speak to the press or during the board meeting on Tuesday evening, please contact moderator@dearjcps.com or call (502) 565-8397.

In addition to attending the event, please sign this petition. The petition has over 6,000 signatures so far.

The Jefferson County Public School (JCPS) District is conducting the 2017 Comprehensive School Survey (CSS) until March 24, 2017. Be sure to share your feedback here, as well.

Are Men Better Than Women?

Posted by jcpswatch on December 7, 2016
Posted in: Accountability, Behavior/Discipline, Vision: 2020. Leave a Comment

This letter was submitted via our Open Letter Form. Please join in the conversation on our Facebook page.

Dear JCPS,

Why is it that the females in our schools are punished more severely than the boys? I have been in the JCPS system for years, and every year when girls act up, their punishments are almost 3 times as harsh as when boys do the same “crime.” I used to coach for a boys athletic team here, and even though I finished the season with them, they were horrible. Lack of discipline and respect for the teachers Continue Reading

Student Fighting

Posted by jcpswatch on December 7, 2016
Posted in: Behavior/Discipline. Leave a Comment

This letter was submitted via our Open Letter Form. Please join in the conversation on our Facebook page.

Dear JCPS,

I work in one of the elementary schools in the Southwest part of the city. Our school is one of the Compassionate Schools. Three times each week, our students learn how to calm themselves down, and to use words instead of fists. Despite this training, there are students who get caught up in bickering and fights on a daily basis. When asked to use other strategies, we are told by the kids that their parents told them to fight back. Here is a letter I received from a student who engaged in fighting even though I strongly discouraged her from doing so. Continue Reading