Morning Shots

I don’t normally do this but I felt compelled to write about something more personal – our town, Port Washington’s school budget vote.  

Port Washington is a smallish, character-laden town on Long Island’s North Shore- yes, the Gold Coast.  I decided to vote Yes, even though I get all the arguments put forth by the No voters.  Yes, we spend $21,000 a student in our district (surprisingly, this fact does not seem to generate much ire), but in return 97% of our students go to college, with 10% of last year’s class purportedly being accepted to Ivy League schools.  Moreover we spend less than most surrounding towns, if that can be believed, and voting No to the budget has little if any role in resolving the nettlesome teachers’ contract issue.  Though I certainly am on the side of rewarding better teachers rather than merely those who have hung around the longest, my town is hardly the ideal petri dish for this experiment to take hold.

But having listed these reasons, it somehow feels like the rabid pro-budget voters might be missing something crucial.  Reading about my hometown New Jersey voters’ dissatisfaction, I started thinking about this more.  I, too, was tempted last year to vote No, based mainly on the idea that all around me were stories of school budget scandals and thefts, including a long-running, multi-million dollar rip-off perpetuated by some folks formerly of Roslyn, now inhabiting a 9×12 cell.  Without knowing the specifics, I think a reasonable hypothesis for my New Jersey brethren voting no to school budgets would be the impact of similar situations that have been reported on there. If true, the people in charge who stole or wasted money now have done so twice: once to the existing students, and once to

Read More …

{Scene opens to a packed chamber of the British Parliament for Eduwonk Question Time. A number of studies anxiously await the chance to pose a question to the Eduwonk.}

Mr. Speaker: “Questions to the Eduwonk- Chapter 10 of Rethinking Special Education-Nasty Brutish…and Often Not Very Short: The Attorney Perspective on Due Process”

Nasty, Brutish, etc: “Number 1 Mr. Speaker!”

{Eduwonk rises from the bench, places a book on the dispatch box, and answers}

Eduwonk: “This morning I presided over a meeting of the Education Sector Staff and blogged like mad. In addition to my duties in this House, I shall be having further meetings later today.”

Speaker: “Chapter 10!”

Chapter 10: “Thank you Mr. Speaker. Does the Eduwonk recall editing me? Isn’t it odd for him to claim that the process of some special needs children attending private schools through the legalistic process is adequate when we described the process that can lead to such placements as “blunt, costly, time-consuming, and otherwise imperfect instrument to accomplish its assigned task” in 2001? Does he recall the part where we concluded “The current due process regime is very complex and technical, and thus difficult (if not nearly impossible) for parents to navigate successfully without legal representation or well-trained parent advocates?”

Eduwonk: “It is the position of this blog not to support school vouchers for disabled children unless they can sue their way out of the system. School officials know best about these sort of things, and if they do not, you can attend a school of choice after proving malpractice with a fancy attorney. Can’t afford one of those, well, tough!”

{Backbenchers grumble, the opposition sits with jaws agape in stunned silence}

Speaker: “Chapter 13 of Rethinking Special Education!”

Imagine, if you will, that you have a child in your local city or county’s public school system and your government pays all of the costs associated with your child’s education. Let’s say your child is your typical third grader and does relatively well in his standard academic courses – reading and writing, arithmetic, science. He’s consistently brought home A’s with a rare B every once in a while and you are quite proud of him.

But then the day comes when he is to enter the fourth grade and you get a letter from your local school that your son will be transferred to a different school. A school much farther away from home and one that specializes in “at risk” children.

“At risk children?” you ask your self, knowing full-well that your son is the exceptional student. Smart. Honest. Well behaved. Always does his homework. Never missed a day of school.

So you go to your local school and ask to meet with his administrator.

“Surely there must be some mistake” you say to the administrator. “My son is a great student. Straight A’s. Never sent to the principal’s office. Never absent.”

The school administrator looks at you straight in the eyes with a serious frown. He pulls out a thick file, tosses it atop his desk and opens it.

He begins sifting through pages and you notice that he is going through your sons school file. The file seems pretty thick for a third grader.

“It must be a mistake,” you repeat to the administrator. “These things happen sometimes. My son is…”

“It is not a mistake,” the school administrator interrupts. “Your son has been found to be a troublemaker.” He is quite stern in his response.

“My son is nothing of the sort,” your voice raises a decibel or two. “He is the

Read More …