New law gives parents power to overhaul failing schools

Any dumbf*** with access to $$$ and some extra time can get a job teaching. Private or Public...a third of all teachers are all dumber than I was when I was in 9th grade.

There are a lot of factors that are involved when a school fails. Yes, there are lots of lazy, parents who could care less if there children learn or not. The biggest problem is the administration and the unions. Tenure should be abolished plain and simply. Is your job guarantee, no matter how many times you fail to produce at quality levels? Administrators should be fired if they are unable or unwilling to do what they were hired for. The political game that unions and Administrators play at the expense of our children is disgusting. There is an administrator who is running for political office for the Superintendent of San Bernardino County Schools. Look at his record as the Superintendent of San Bernardino City Schools before you consider voting for him.

Buttmeat Jenkins wrote:

Any dumbf*** with access to $$$ and some extra time can get a job teaching. Private or Public...a third of all teachers are all dumber than I was when I was in 9th grade.

So how many college credits do you have, hot shot? Have you ever heard of the CBEST? How about the RICA? Let's not forget the CSET. You think money alone can buy you a teaching credential? You are pathetically uninformed (what a shock). I have no doubt that if you were to attempt any of the aforementioned tests you would fail miserably based upon your idiotic post. You sound like a minimum wage earner for life.

Chris wrote:

There are a lot of factors that are involved when a school fails. Yes, there are lots of lazy, parents who could care less if there children learn or not. The biggest problem is the administration and the unions. Tenure should be abolished plain and simply. Is your job guarantee, no matter how many times you fail to produce at quality levels? Administrators should be fired if they are unable or unwilling to do what they were hired for. The political game that unions and Administrators play at the expense of our children is disgusting. There is an administrator who is running for political office for the Superintendent of San Bernardino County Schools. Look at his record as the Superintendent of San Bernardino City Schools before you consider voting for him.

Define "political game."

MaryAnn wrote:

I find it interesting to read all the comments about parents needing to get involved in their child's education at school. If the parents are the vital link to a child's education, why do we need the public school system and teachers who apparently aren't as good at educating as a parent?

MaryAnn you are a genius! Lets just leave it up to each individual parent to teach their kids what they want them to know, not what they need to know to succeed. Why dont you take your kids to the park and teach them to feed the birds. Thats where they are going to end up with no structured education.

Look at the schools listed that could be challenged in this manner: All of them are in worst parts of town, where parents usually have little interest or interaction with the schools anyway.

The problem DOES start at home, and this program is like giving power to drug dealers to clean up the streets....the people behind this have the option of sending the kids to private schools, homeschooling or actually taking part in their kids education. Instead, like 90% of what happens in the USA these days, they band together to blame someone else.

Being a teacher in today's world is just about the most abused, under-appreciated job you can name. It's no wonder good teachers are leaving the field to go make a living in other areas.

The schools have unions... Maybe the parents need one as well. The schools also have the children for more waking hours a day than the parents.

I don't believe that teachers need to be excessively credentialed for elementary school, but a caring, enthusiastic and optomistic outlook is very important. There are many good teachers out there, and I think they should pay administration less and good teachers more.

A failing school should have an intervention of some kind, and not just more money thrown in it's general direction.

Some teachers are highly qualified and care about the students and the people they work with. Others are simply people with attitudes who think they are better than everybody else because some college or university gave them a worthless piece of paper. Some principals and other adiminstrators are the same way. This law would help kick the worthless ones out and keep the ones who are doing good in.

It's not just the parents; it's their peers. Kids don't value education, and it's a contagious disease.

Ceniceros for schools wrote:

Let me speak by experience. My children are performing above proficiency level. Two are GATE students not simply because of genetics, but by grit and the persistence of two parents. My wife attended high school in Huntington Park and was an honor roll student. The conditions there may not have been suitable for most parents. I don't recommend that parents pull a child from an under performing school. I encourage parents get invovled, participate, know your child's teacher and stay engaged. You will be suprised how far they will grow. PTA parent CJUSD

My vote is for Randall!

Xeno wrote:

<quoted text>
My vote is for Randall!

your voting for a street in fontucky
good for you

this happens alot wrote:

<quoted text>
your voting for a street in fontucky
good for you

Do you know your candidates? Randall C. is running for Colton School Board... Fontucky? is that some fantasy dream world West of Rialto?

Xeno wrote:

<quoted text>
Do you know your candidates? Randall C. is running for Colton School Board... Fontucky? is that some fantasy dream world West of Rialto?

No first Randall is a street in Fontucky and Second Colton is not a city

Two problems with the premise of this law:

1. Until the current federal education law is changed, it is inevitable that almost every school will be classified as failing by 2014. Every school will be required to have every student proficient at that time. Only the smallest schools with the most select group of students will be able to accomplish that. Economists, statisticians, educators, and most politicians understand how stupid that provision of NCLB was, but until Congress acts, we're stuck with a useless definition that will expose almost every school to some risk/jeopardy under the "parent trigger" law.

2. The notion that you can grade or define "failing" schools on the basis of limited measures has not been proven reliable or useful. In fact, a recent study from Florida proves the opposite. Florida gives every school a grade. Researchers compared the graduates of an "A" high school, ranked in Newsweek's Top 100 (another joke), and the graduates of a "D" high school. The kids from the D school had higher college GPAs and were more likely to continue beyond freshman year of college. So, if we were to put these schools in CA, which one would be subject to sanctions, restructuring, etc.?

dupontchevy wrote:

<quoted text>
Because so much of a child's ability to learn has to do with the value they place on their education. If education isn't important to their parents, it's not going to be important to them. This in turn results in a lack of motivation, effort, and responsibility.

The thought process that I'm seeing in these comments is so simplistic and closed minded. A child's ability to learn goes far beyond the value they place on their education. This is a myth that has been debunked in the intellectual community for years. Just as we have a diverse group of people in California, families have a diverse range of obstacles to deal with in their communities. Rather than blaming "those bad parents, or bad teachers", why not think about the ills that our society imparts on itself to create these issues with "bad people". It doesn't directly suggest racism or prejudice, but it does provide a precursor to blaming a group of people with common characteristics for bad things that happen.