City's middle schools face up to ugly truths | The Columbus Dis...

That figures, that Gene Harris would have a "no- failure policy".
She doesn't want the system to look bad. Facts are facts. The system is not enforcing its rules. I will agree that those years are hard on both kids an teachers, but you have to stand fast. I never heard of this when I was a kid. Haveing to send teachers to special training, or have consultants hired to evaluate the schools!!! I know people that work at the school. They can't wait to retire. There is no control of the kids. Teachers just turn there heads for fear of retaliation. How many teachers have been attacked the last year? What Harris is afraid of is not getting Federal money if she can't meet certain requirements.....

End busing and stop forcing students from Columbus' few remaining decent neighborhoods to attend schools in the ghetto. End of story.

The blame needs to be put on the students and their parents. Students do not want to learn today and their parents do not want to take responsibility to make sure that their children are behaving in school, doing their work and homework. The administration of the schools needs to enforce law and order in these schools. How could you expect teachers to teach a class with a bunch of unruly students. You do not see these problems in the suburbs, because parents expect more from their children.

Middle school students are afraid to walk to and from school alone or to do well in class because they will be bullied. The students in the discipline classes, detention rooms, and special programs are the brightest kids, whom we are boring to death. Kids can't afford to be less than thugs in order to survive in their neighborhoods. That's the real problem. Dumbing everything down just earns kids' contempt. Clean up neighborhoods, make school active, interactive, inquiry-based, full of choices and really fun and require kids behave to participate. Everything should be mastery learning, no grade levels. Keep requirements to a minimum and make them about real life skills, not politically correct bs. Best way to bond with kids is to be real.
Confront students and parents about behavior, take them to court if need be, and keep in their face until they get on board.
Stop making principals and teachers be cops and let them teach. For kids who still need to be in detention or very stuctured programs, give enough supervision, don't stick some poor person in a room in a back hall with no way to even contact the office and expect them to control 25 unruly kids.

American Citizen wrote:

End busing and stop forcing students from Columbus' few remaining decent neighborhoods to attend schools in the ghetto. End of story.

Bussing ended while Mixon was Sup. The damage had been done. The exodus from CPS by that time was compleate. The "delinquent " school is still nonexsistant. That is a huge part of the problem. Behavior standards need to be raised across the board. It will not happen.

American Citizen wrote:

End busing and stop forcing students from Columbus' few remaining decent neighborhoods to attend schools in the ghetto. End of story.

Your comment is racist.

The real ugly truth here is how millions and millions of dollars have been stolen from taxpayers to fund these miserable institutions that call themselves schools. And they still demand more money. Those parents who don't do right by their kids? They were schooled in these government schools. So were the grandparents. Those who call for Mastery Learning to be used don't have a clue what it really is. We are seeing the results of a plan and real intentions. To dumb down generations. To destroy a country. Good job.

Real Patriot wrote:

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Your comment is racist.

It was not racist , just wrong. The only decent neighborhoods in Columbus are not in CPS district. Which will happen first, CPS withdraw from win/win or Southwestern,Westerville, Worthington withdrawing. When it happens, a lot of city property values will tank.

lfod wrote:

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It was not racist , just wrong. The only decent neighborhoods in Columbus are not in CPS district. Which will happen first, CPS withdraw from win/win or Southwestern,Westerville, Worthington withdrawing. When it happens, a lot of city property values will tank.

Yes it is, look at what you are suggesting, the re-segregation of the school system.

If you really want to help, how about doing something like start a business to create jobs that employ people at a living wage. Volunteer at a local non-profit or food bank. Become a tutor in a school that is having problems. There are many things that can be done to help improve the lives of others. After all, instant that more import than property values?

The only way to cure social problems is through education. We are now dealing with the second generation of a poorly educated population, uneducated parents raising children, and all at a huge cost to the taxpayers. These parents cannot relate the value of education to their children because their poor education held no value for them. This is an awful situation which is really hurting the Columbus neighborhoods. Gene Harris has made it worse by trying to mask it.

I think the first new middle school should be an ESL school. With the rising number of non-English speaking immigrants and refugees rising in the district, this is the only fair way to let the rest of students learn at a pace that will allow them to accel.

This isn't meant to be a racist comment. ESL comes in all colors.

The article didn't specify where the kids go when they leave- private school, charter school, drop out entirely, run away to join the circus, what?

Lets see we know from numerous studies that state children at this age have a hard time getting up..so we start the school day at 7:30 sharp...hmm...wouldn't it make more sense if we started a little later for these kids that have the sleeping issues...not only start later but end later this would boost the parental involvement issue as more working parents could be active during the latter part of the school day...less trouble on the street with all of their after school options running out.. change middle school hours 11-7...

I taught middle school starting in 1978 for about 15 years when I returned to the elementary school. I loved many aspects about the age group but eventually the day to day discipline got me down. When I retired in 04 from Columbus many of the same problems we faced in middle school now we see in the elementary school. Children are so different throughout the world now. Children in America grow up so fast compared to the rest of the world. The Asians and many other cultures keep children tightly around the family and guide them so much longer then we do. I would like to see American parents keep their children home at night, convince their children to be less social and concentrate on vlaues. I would like to see discipline become more in schools and home. Enforce the rules if you have them. Make children accountable for their actions.

"Who am I going to hire?" she asked,
The schools need to do what businesses need to do when their future is certain failure, hire someone that specialty is restructuring to make them successful again.Of course this means getting rid of all the dead weight and years of excuses.

Let's see, we have a Superintendent and a Deputy Superintendent that need focus groups, surveys and parental input to figure out what the problem is. What do they actually do? They should, at least, have an idea what the problems are and not be surprised at the findings! What a waste of money!

Real Patriot wrote:

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Yes it is, look at what you are suggesting, the re-segregation of the school system.
If you really want to help, how about doing something like start a business to create jobs that employ people at a living wage. Volunteer at a local non-profit or food bank. Become a tutor in a school that is having problems. There are many things that can be done to help improve the lives of others. After all, instant that more import than property values?

Actually, you are the racist one. The poster didn't mention race at all in their posting, only that students that live in better areas shouldn't have to go to ghetto schools. Ghetto does not associate itself to any race. Whites, blacks, latinos--all live in ghetto neighborhoods, just as many whites, blacks, and latinos live in nicer areas. Might want to look in a mirror and re-evaluate YOUR assumptions.

That said, Columbus schools are fighting a losing battle. Many parents in the school district are worthless and couldn't care less about their children's education. It's not because of money, or the "early" start time (which I always had and my rural school didn't have a problem), or any other reason. How are teachers supposed to motivate kids who have learned from a young age that school isn't important?

Sorry, Real Patriot. Columbus Public Schools was an excellent school system until deseg. It was a huge failure for all. Inner city children that were bused to the burbs lost most of the academic federal funding help that is based on average income of the student body as a whole. When averaged in with the incomes of suburban families, many programs designed to help those struggling with academics were lost. Parent involvement became almost non-existent because parents couldn't cross town for conferences or when problems arose. One of the finest high schools Columbus had in the 60's and 70's was East High School. And, it was predominately black! But the students and parents valued education and took pride in their education and their extra-curricular activties. Deseg was its downfall. The "racism card" is thrown about way too easily when there are legimate statements of fact. Social engineering just doesn't work!

Focus groups are a good idea when the person running the show is clueless. I give Gene Harris a thumbs up for recognizing here short comings in management style. I thought all that sheepskin Ms. Harris had hanging on the wall in her office gave her the keys to all the answers. Guess not.

Hey, here is one idea. Lob another school levy onto the Columbus School grease fire and tell the voters we need more money to solve our problems. This has always worked in the past. Another levy should mover Ms. Harris a few more years down the road until she can claim an empty victory of making Columbus Schools a better place before she retires to Florida.

Real Patriot wrote:

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Your comment is racist.

You don't know the meaning of the word, quit using it. The federal court case that ended bussing was brought on by a black family in Dekalb county GA, they did not want their kid on a bus for 3.5 hours a day, they wanted an end to bussing, were they racist ?