Superintendent Heath Morrison and other CMS leaders proudly reported that there were no issues with transportation on the first day of classes this week, on what was a pretty smooth day overall.
But it seems like the "no issues" designation might depend on who you talk to. Parents reported a range of problems on the district's Facebook page earlier this week, and the last child wasn't delivered off the school bus until after 7:30 p.m. Yes, that's 20 minutes earlier than last year, but it's still pretty late.
The CMS Facebook page became a forum for complaints from parents whose kids were picked up or dropped off late Monday morning. To be sure, a few dozen or so complaints doesn't represent massive problems in a district of 140,000-plus, but it gives a flavor of some issues that arose.
One parent said her child waited on a broken down bus for an hour before she picked him up from school. Others reported delays from a half hour to more than an hour and a half.
The district's social media team advised the parents to give the transportation line a call.
I asked Carol Stamper, CMS director of transportation, about what "no issues" means in the context of the first day of school.
Here's what she said, via email: "It is unrealistic to think we would have no issues on the first day! However, we do consider a successful first day in transportation being one that every student was delivered home safely….and that is what we accomplished!"
She said a number of things could result in a late bus, ranging from longer load times to make sure kids were on the right buses, to new students who weren't on the bus roster, to traffic congestion, to drivers getting used to their routes.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
CMS buses weren't smooth sailing for all on first day
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98 comments:
Mr. Dunn,
If your time as the CO Ed reporter is going to focus on anything you can find to sensationalize or spread negativity about, you will get very old very quickly.
Sincerely,
A Community Member
When you try to fit in so many bus runs in, there are bound to be problems. The late buses are a problem all year, not just on the first day, especially at late bell schools. Those kids sometimes sit for :30 just waiting for the bus to get to their school, then endure long rides home. Just getting a child home safely is not good enough - get them home at a decent hour. Change the bell!
"...we do consider a successful first day in transportation being one that every student was delivered home safely--Carol Stamper". Well duh, I would hope that is the minimum standard. Is delivered by 7:30pm considered 'no issue'? CMS would obviously have been better stating 'few issues', but NO they had to try to sound much better.
Dear "A Community Member" (6:49 AM)
Exactly what planet are you on?
The CO does nothing but report glowing news about CMS having been spoon-fed by the CMS propaganda (PR) machine. Have you never read an Ann Doss Helms column?
Kudos to Dunn for stepping outside the spin machine and finding some truth.
Can someone fix the brakes on the buses? They are so screechingly loud.
Numbers that would be interesting to hear are the number of tardy or absent high school students from first block classes on a daily basis and the number of students who are in attendance first period sleeping during class?
Now those numbers would be astounding to many, if only we could believe what CMS tells us.
HA, ha! I sorry folks but I find it hard to believe if you have any first hand experience with CMS and the revolving door of superintendents that you do not see the effect of the CMS spin machine and the continual promotion of and by the superintendent for his next job. And as well, the growing need to keep promoting CMS as some vibrant urban public school system. City of Charlotte back room deal brokers, business leaders, etc. keep putting this dressed up fake front out there when trying to promote the city.
Luckily, when folks have found they are "forced" to relocate to Charlotte to keep their jobs, they can do enough research to locate outside the county or swing private school tuition in as part of their relocation package.
First day/first week issues are nothing new to this montrous school system. Too bad too many moved here from smaller more community based school systems and now have to live through this uncaring behemoth school system.
I have to admit, my small community based K-12 public charter school with 17 well-behaved 5th grade students feels like Utopia compared to CMS. We have a small fleet of school buses driven by teachers and administrators. Everyone arrived on time and got home on time. School starts at 8:00 and ends at 3:00. Our temporary facilities are a series of trailers, a former Subway restaurant and a bank with a vault but the atmosphere makes up for these things. Next year we'll be in a real school building being built for far less than most school buildings.
We'll be eating lunch by the lake today after Singapore math and a review of Maya, Aztec and Inca Civilizations. I know, pinch me.
Alicia
Utopia, NC
Andrew,
What percentage of CMS students actually ride the buses? I believe a few years ago it was 52%.
They claim bell schedules are determined by the bus schedules, yet if only a little more than half of CMS students are riding the buses it sounds like inefficiencies in the system to me.
Questioning the purpose of this article, other than to highlight the fact that the CMS spin continues.
There are a lot bigger issues going on in CMS right now than first day transportation issues.
Can you dig into some of the other, more pressing concerns?
Interesting.... a teacher who can multitask; Singapore math and send comments online at the same time.
CMS teachers could learn something from you Alicia......
Gee Alicia, it must be utopic if you can get on the internet during school hours.
Bathroom break ladies and gentlemen. My kids don't need an escort. We also read the newspaper.
ahh..
Alicia
Make that two bathroom breaks....when will you go the third time?
This is why children should only attend the schools in their neighborhood/district (exception magnet schools).
Andrew Dunn,
This is all you could come up with for a story? Considering the massive undertaking that CMS transportation is responsible for a few late buses is a huge success. With the amount of magnet schools and children who take the bus just a couple of blocks the real story would have been how the school system should reconsider transportation needs.
Why not do a story on how CMS is instructing their administrators not to suspend students as well as not remove disruptive students from classrooms. This is a topic that directly concerns your readers and deteriorates the level of education that our children will experience.
So far Andrew I'm not impressed.
With all this talk of bell schedules and buses, has CMS ever considered letting families choose which "neighborhood" school their child can attend based on location and family schedules. One should be able to choose from say the 4 nearest schools, and choose the one that works for them as long as they get the child to and from school (if it's not their assigned neighborhood school). This would solve a lot of problems, allow families to have some flexibility and save on bus transportation costs, eliminating many riders from service.
2:34 PM......your suggestion makes waaaaaay too much sense for CMS to consider. They like to build schools in nearby towns (Mint Hill) and send kids from the Plaza there. Nobody that lives in Mint Hill even goes there
I normally remain silent as CMS does its' thing with my children, but can stay silent no longer.
My daughter's classroom teacher just asked parents to "donate" $1,000 for furniture in our Personalized Learning" school so that our children have furniture in their classroom.
2:44, Mint Hill has two high schools. Independence, which is 2.5 miles from town hall, serves Mint Hill kids. It just got an 8 million dollar renovation and will be getting a 2 million dollar vocational program. The town line runs through the school. Rocky River is the other. It is 3 miles from town hall and serves kids north of the school in the very dense Harris boulevard corridor. Comprende?
2:44, Mint Hill has two high schools. Independence, which is 2.5 miles from town hall, serves Mint Hill kids. It just got an 8 million dollar renovation and will be getting a 2 million dollar vocational program. The town line runs through the school. Rocky River is the other. It is 3 miles from town hall and serves kids north of the school in the very dense Harris boulevard corridor. Comprende?
I hope you do not cave and contribute! Same school and I not contributing. Horrible that they are allowed to do this.
MOrrison of Oz is just like every other BROAD flunkie. He will be gone within another 3 years and NC taxpayers will be on the hook for him Million Dollar Pension.
There are so many layers of inept administrators and $100,000 + salaries that it is hard to work up the ladder to him. How many assistant Superintendents and zone suerintendents does it take to buy and install a light bulb ?
Dunn you will never know if you keep listening to the PR smoke that comes out of the Ivory Tower.
And just what is LaTarza Henry doing now to justify making over $100,000 in salary. Has she impacted any student at all ?
3:20
Tell your principal to contact the principal at Coulwood STEM.
Since CMS is eviscerating that school, they should have extra furniture for you to use.
Yep. TWO bathroom breaks between 8:00 AM and 3:00 PM! Imagine that?
In all honesty, I'd be as jubilant as I'm feeling teaching at any NC public school. The charter school I'm at is about as ideal a situation as it gets. However, I felt the same way about my teaching experience at a huge inner city school right outside of Washington DC when I was 26-years-old. I'm just so phenomenally happy and grateful to be back in a school environment full-time again. My great-grandmother was a school teacher, my grandmother was a school teacher, my father was a school teacher before becoming a school superintendent. Teaching is in my DNA. I'd be joyful teaching at any school - really. The best part about being a teacher is LEARNING HOW to teach things that I'm not an expert on. As a specialty area teacher (dance), I was an expert at one thing. Now, I have to be a generalist in a lot of things. I never imagined - in my wildest dreams - how thoroughly FUN it is trying to figure out the best way to communicate place values into the billions to a class of 5th graders! I never particularly liked math in school. Who would have thunk I'd love the subject now? The majority of my class tanked my first math quiz. So, I rebooted. The majority of my students now "get" what I was trying to teach in the first place. Do you have any idea how great this feels? Like, wow.
The Courage to Dream
The Courage to Achieve
I am
A NC Public School Teacher
Alicia
Actually, all you need to do is converge on the Bond Street warehouse and take all the furniture thrown into the dumpsters there that a simple repair would remedy. CMS rarely will pick up used furniture or books as there's no one to pick it up (or that's what Surplus says). Set up some surveillance and see what's being tossed. Better yet, get your pick up trucks and have all that contraband transferred out to Hawk Ridge and raise #$@%^@ with the Area Superintendent, Heath, or Alicia. A little civil parent protest at Hawk Ridge over glued sawdust furniture would be extremely entertaining. You also might tell the powers out there the proposed vendor's product won't make it through the first semester before it sags, separates, or blows out fasteners.
I am a truck driver Alicia and I have better salary and benefits than you.
NC teachers wake up. Run dont walk to the nearest driving school today and get your CDL.
7:16
Actually, my public charter school is house with nothing BUT discarded public school buses, desk chairs, teacher desks, trailers, books, etc...
I'd be delighted to take you on a tour of our remarkable facilities.
This is going to be a fun year.
Alicia
And my charter school has no gumption about putting nincompoops who have no clue what they're talking about in the bank vault for a needed time-out.
My Social Studies textbooks look like they survived the Dresden bombings. Yet, we learn.
Alicia
When will the Observer do a investigative story on Personalized Learning and the waste of resources going on at Hawk Ridge. The last story read like a CMS press release.
Alicia,
Would that be Lake Wobegon?
.
COME-ON FOLKS. WAS IT REALLY THAT BAD?
The first day of school is one of the best days of the year.
The weather was good. Even if the school administrators were too busy to stick their heads out the door to enjoy it, they could at least view it on the new security cameras monitoring the entrances.
Late buses? Parents waiting at bus stops, who had never met other parents, got an extra 15 minutes to get acquainted.
Most football teams still haven’t lost a game. Every school is back to having a school nurse. Some teachers are earning a tiny bit more cash.
As far as I know the only person who had a right to complain was the unfortunate secretary manning the phones in the school office.
Bolyn McClung
Pineville.
.
I usually would leave it alone but I love showing people up. Spin it anyway you want 3:29 but Independence is NOT in Mint Hill...close doesn't cut it. Independence is NOT in Mint Hill (wanted to repeat). Go to Polaris and ID the parcel..you tell me where it is? Go argue with the tax office. Comprede that chief.
Alicia sure likes to defend her little school. Glad she is so happy there.
I am so glad your are back Shamash!
Dr. Morrison and staff,
PLLLLEEEEAAAASSSSEEEE send our South Charlotte elementary school principal to a school where the parents want their children to be educational laboratory rats.
We need someone who understands what's necessary to teach our children the fundamentals, instead of volunteering every year to be project manager for the latest and greatest teaching fad / technique....
9:55...
...mousetraps...
Why don't parents get a say when Hawk Ridge decides to make a radical change. It not like we can opt to go to the neighboring schools if we disagree. And I don't know about the rest of you, but we are not moneybags here despite living in the 28277 zipcode. Don't know where the school going to find it 1000 dollars. They can wring this turnip all they want. Perhaps they should not have chucked all their furniture, they would be have less need for more money now. I feel very violated here.
Anon 12:12,
You do get a say...but you have to speak with your feet!
You can move your child to Union County or Fort Mill public schools, or send your child to one of South Charlotte's many private school options. There are also magnet school and charter school options, as well.
But, if you expect CMS to grant your wishes at your current neighborhood school, ummm, don't hold your breath...
Hawk ridge parents need to fight this by NOT contributing to the furniture drive!!!
The CMS shuffle step continues......
We're now being told that our principal has as much at stake as the rest of us parents since they have as many children at the school as anyone else and then we're being guaranteed the outcome from this new fangled approach to learning that is so new that parents are being shaken down for furniture money, so how in the world can anyone make such guarantees???
Makes me wonder just how committed CMS is to this?? if the school doesn't already have the furniture it needs?
Wiley, I know, I know - mouse traps....
CMS will continue to shake the parental money tree up until the point where money stops falling out of it. Apparently the money continues to fall.....
At CMS, it's all about diversity.
One sided or selective diversity.
It's only going to get worse folks.....
Wiley,
You're right -- it is about diversity.
Why else would per student spending be so lopsided between schools in different areas of the district?
Diversity will be more and more difficult to achieve as the student population tilts towards the group(s) receiving a disproportionate share of CMS' economic pie.
Andrew, could you please request a copy of the Standardized test schedule for 2014-2015 CMS schools and release this info publicly? It would be eye opening for the parents to see this long list.
The Washington Post just released the list publicly for the Miami Dade school system (14-15 school year) and it is stunning, to say the least. How are teachers actually able to teach?
Is it now CMS policy to allow TV's in the elementary school cafeterias?
Anon 4:38,
CMS is doing a study to determine the impact of maximum student screen times during the day and how that might impact EOG test scores, despite the American Pediatric Society's recommendation of just two hours during the entire day.
Stay tuned!!
.
STUDENT SCREEN TIME
ANON 5:00PM must be incorrect about a supposed CMS study on screen times. The statement “maximum student screen times..impact EOG test scores” makes no sense.
Knowing that CMS’ number one mission is student safety, I can image if there were a study at all, the first question would be how screen times affect health…not EOGs. However, if one were looking for a conspiracy theory, a CMS study on screen times would more likely be to determine if computers could safely replace teachers.
If that proved positive, then head to head … or head to monitor competition between teacher and machine would be just around the technological corner.
I can just imagine a computer trying to teach Shakespeare. “To be or not to be.” Just don’t think a computer would get the concept of “to be.”
Bolyn McClung
Pineville
.
7:10 Bolyn, as an educator who previously taught at CMS I believe the screen time point made by 5:00pm was tongue in cheek. It is sad for me to see that students no longer read for pleasure, they are too consumed with social media and technology.
The minds of American youth are becoming vacuous. Their minds are becoming lopsided: too schooled in one type of media, and not well enough acquainted with others. While CMS continues to push technology use in the classroom, it will become a bigger problem especially for our young learners.
Precisely because young people spend so much time with digital media outside of school, schools must offer them a very different kind of education in order to even the cognitive scales. They certainly don't need more of it in school.
Video killed the radio star.
Pay the vet teachers !
Dont pay any teacher.
Education in this country should either be Private School or Home School.
Stop wasting BILLIONS every year just in Charlotte alone.
8:59
I was fortunate to have a number of interesting job prospects all over the board. Without a doubt, I chose the most quirky teaching position I was offered. Another teacher described our school's unofficial mission statement as "pioneering pirate". Our highly successful NC sister charter school has managed to pull over 1,400 students out of surrounding traditional public school systems in less than 9 years. I haven't worked for a charter school long enough to form an opinion on a lot of things. However, I'm certain charter schools in NC are here to stay and will continue to effect and change the educational landscape in NC.
Shamash,
Not so much Lake Wobbegon in terms of the blending of poor rural and wealthy resort demographics - which our EOG/EOC scores reflect - but close enough in terms of my teaching environment which is about as ideal as it gets.
Alicia
On the topic of my unformed opinions related to charters schools...
My 5th grade class of 17 students is actually multi-grade. Think one-room school houses where my great-grandmother and grandmother taught. I have students who were retained from advancing to middle school (EOG scores in the single digits) and students who have skipped a grade (EOG scores in the 97th and 98th percentiles). I'm technically teaching 4th, 5th and 6th graders. I honestly don't know where I stand on the issue of retention and advancement but I'm sure by the end to the year, I'll have formed an opinion based on experience.
Alicia
Lake Norman charter is a highly sought after school in this area of Charlotte-Mecklenburg.
I could be wrong, but I think it's only a matter of time before we see a version of Lake Norman charter in the Ballantyne area. And before y'all chop my head off, most charter schools serve low-income students.
Alicia
Done after this last thought...
I attended a magnet high school founded in 1972 that was going to "fail" because it fell outside of the traditional public school grid. My master's thesis - which I received on a full tuition scholarship plus stipend at George Washington University - was on the topic of art magnet schools.
Yep.
Charter schools? I guess we'll have to wait and see...
Alicia
Forgot.
And for the record, my "number of interesting job prospects" did not include my pre-recorded U-Tube "interview" with Project LIFT. I admit, my "interview" with an "early adopter" computer screen did not go well. Not at all.
Alicia
CMS is too big.
to 4:38 Geez. tvs in the cafeteria. As a parent I would be very concerned about this. What propaganda are they spewing on these tvs? Isn't lunch time for eating and connecting and socializing with friends? We need to have more screens in our childrens faces at lunch now. That is very upsetting. I will be checking my childs school.
9:35,
I remember when my child's elementary school lunchroom used a stop light to signal when the lunchroom's noise level was too high.
That's now gone and they're putting TV screens in now for the kids to watch.
What could the kids possibly need to see on a screen during lunchtime that warrants yet another screen in front of them during the school day?????
SmartBoards, TV in the school's entry way (gone now), BYOT, Personalized Learning and now TVs in the lunchroom.
Alicia,
Once I learned that you are a teacher at Lake Norman charter, I am not suprised that you are very happy. The fact that those kids are even at LNC indicates the children you work with have parents who cares. Despite the fact that you work at a charter school even you must admit, that children who have caring and involved parents are usually going to outperform those children who don't. So give me a break from touting charter schools as the end all be all of public education. Schools are merely a reflection of the community in which they serve!
Alicia,
My apolgies, after correctly reading one of your earlier posts, I realized you do not work at lake Norman Charter. However, I do believe schools are a reflection of the communities in which they serve.
1:15...
If schools are a reflection of the communities they serve, that must mean the politicians and educrats who are elected and hired to manage our school system are grossly underperfoming as bad as the schools.
9:30 am: CMS is waaaaaaay too big!
Alicia
Do yourself and your familiy a favor.
GO DRIVE A TRUCK
Much better salary and benefits!
Ive heard everything now, letting kids watch TV during lunch. Is the principal of the school aware of this and in favor of this?
1:07
No, I do not work for Lake Norman charter. I work for a charter school on a different lake. And I wholeheartedly agree with you as far as parents who care making all the difference in the world. It's this very thing that makes my teaching environment "ideal" and "utopian".
Excerpt of my soliloquy the very first day of school...
"Ladies and gentlemen. Some adult in your life loved you enough to chose to send you here when they had other viable options with fancier things. Therefore, I expect you to honor the adult person in your life who deeply cares about your education by living up to the standards and expectations associated with our school. I will not accept or tolerate disrespectful behavior that dishonors me, other students in this class, or the adult or adults in your life who care about your education".
As I stated, one of the primary reasons I find the charter school I'm working for "as about as idea as it gets" is because I have parents who care - wealthy parents with lots of education and poor parents with barely more than a high school diploma.
Alicia
3:42
My charter school encourages all their teachers and staff members to obtain a bus driver's license which enables us to take as many field trips as we like in buses that other public schools have discarded. That's right. A head administrator had the hood of one school bus up this week in order to fix the engine.
Alicia
Anon 3:42.
So who is the greater danger to society?
A happy school teacher or a disgruntled truck driver?
To some folks, money isn't everything.
For a few years, at least...
Shamash,
Thank you. I truly am happy. I love the teaching profession. Words can not express how I feel standing in front of a room of children ready to take on the world. Teaching is a calling. Teaching is a gift. Teaching is a blessing. I give thanks to God every day for the opportunity to teach.
Alicia
Maybe the TVs in the cafeteria are being used as a sedative for the kids.
You may LOVE teaching.
What about your family ? Having money to pay for the mortgage? Having a salary that can pay for your childrens higher education ? Having adequate benefits to take care of your sick children ? Putting more than beans, rice and tofu on the table to feed your family.
Think about someone other than yourself Alicia.
GO DRIVE A TRUCK
My class sat on the grass and ate lunch overlooking some spectacular scenery today. No TV's. In fact, we don't even have a computer lab.
I know, pinch me.
Alicia
5:51
Thank God you never taught one of my children. I pity those children and parents stuck in your classroom. Perhaps it is YOU who needs to go and drive a truck? May I suggest you do society a favor and get out of the teaching profession. Life's too short. You have the education and where-with-all to be happy doing something else. I believe I stood out in the hot sun holding up a sign in favor of raising NC teacher salaries during Charlotte's "Moral Monday". Where were you?
Alicia
5:51
Perhaps you feel degraded working in a profession that is 90% female? You know, being a man. Ouch. But you know? You kind of deserve it. I don't personally attack people based on their opinions. And yes, I love my job. Put that in your hat and smoke it!
Alicia
Dang.
I choose to make less than a dance teacher teaching 5th grade math and social studies at a NC public school and this is the crap I get?
No wonder colleges are shutting down their education departments.
Alicia
I drive a Truck you Mo Mo's
Do yourself and more importantly your FAMILY a favor and go get your CDL!
Or heck just get into Burger King management just like the former teacher of the year.
Much better salary and benefits package.
Beverly(former teacher)Purdue set teachers in NC back at least a decade. They will NEVER EVER get back their lost salary, benefits package and pension.
An education degree in this state is a half step above a job at Starbucks now.
...over 85% graduation rate....comical.
I'm sure Heath already has his resume reworked to reflect that for his next job.
It really angers me how CMS announced their "new" graduation rate while last year announcing making it easier for kids to get a passing grade just for showing up to class. What a disservice to our community and a huge disservice to these students.
CMS needs to take these kids that they feel deserve a "c" just for signing their name to a test and put them into technical/apprentice type school. Until a high school is created where all these kids are taken out of normal, instructional classes and sent to develop a skill, I know that this graduation rate is a joke. An absolute joke. These administrators should be ashamed of themselves.
The world needs ditch diggers too, unfortunately they are all coming from CMS---to bad it wasn't more plumbers, electricians, woodworkers, mechanics, computer technicians and carpenters.
Maybe they can all become professional athletes too, seeing that CMS school administrators, Athletic directors, Coaches and teaching staff "play" with the numbers and test scores to allow ineligible players to play every season. Must be that funny math they're teaching.
Another MOrrison and BofE Shell Game.
Do you think that graduation rates going up have anything to do withe standards to graduate going down?
Keep patting everyone on the back over at the Ivory Tower and keep that new PR machine blowing smoke Heath of Oz. Anyone with any common sense can see the simple math going on.
Oh yeah, and now no student gets less than a 50 on anything and they can take a test until they get an 84. If the graduation rate EVER goes down after all this nonsense then EVERY administrator in CMeS should be FIRED on the spot.
Heath doesnt have to worry about his resume because it is Broad playbook 101. He will leave in a couple of years with a million dollar pension and a bonus every year.
the Sup Morrison is doing a big disservice to this community by not promoting the trades. Not all kids should go to college, as a district supervisor he should know this first and be more active in acknowleging that fact.
Andrew,
It's been a week since a new blog subject and the natives are restless and I'm weary of Alicia's wonderful life in Never, Never Land, the corrugated cardboard NC US Senate candidates, and the bogus graduation rates. How about a little discourse on the falling reading scores in Heath's village or other recent CMS dirt?
I am scared of these large classroom sizes at CMS! Administrators are putting students and teachers in dangerous situations! Remember you read it here.
He promoted trade schools in Nevada. Now he is to drunk on the Broad punch bowl
Education policy in CMeS is like the weather in Scotland.
If you dont like it wait 10 minutes and it will change.
How about the time that task force about bell schedules is wasting? Nothing will ever change. And I think it is odd that people would want to shorten a school day when NC is practically last in the nation in scores.
I do not believe that staff members or even parents can confirm or agree that the graduation rates have gone up.
9:35 I wouldn't be too sure of that. The later school start time movement is finally gaining momentum. Sleep deprivation is real and the school system is not helping the situation with 7:15am start times. If this is really about what is best for students and the learning and health, then the times should (and will) change.
CMS continues to search for the magic bullet. So many words and a 26 minute video and nothing said last night at my school's Parent meeting. Please stop insulting the parents with your buzz words, jargon and nonsense. The changes are age inappropriate and my child is not going into the workforce tomorrow. Many of your parents and staff feel the same way. Sounds like you're trying to master your own objectives.
Anon 9:36,
Maybe we were at the same "town hall" meeting last night. Scary stuff, to say the least.
Since when does our nine year old daughter and ten year old son know enough to be a "master" of anything in their lives? Now their being asked to be the masters of their own educations??? No homework, and they're now going to work at their own pace.....
My husband and I were left scratching our heads wondering if this is really for real.
@9:36 glad to know I didn't miss any personal learning info at HR this week! Too much silence and too many buzz words. I worry my fifth grader will be behind when he gets to CHMS next fall.
9:36,
I heard way too much talk last night. Just couldn't understand any of it, and why this is happening in our neighborhood school.
CMS is preparing your sons and daughters for their careers as fry cooks.
When the $15.00 per hour minimum wage passes, they'll make $31,200 per year at 40 hours per week handing bags of fast food to you in your car.
What is it starting teachers make?
Hey Wiley, nothing wrong with fry cooks. Maybe more students should be prepared for the real world, something parents and administrators in CMS should be more honest about.
Fellow HR parents - time to order workbooks so we can do real work at home. My child has not done any math so far.
7:09
Dude,
I beleive I worked for the Prince George's County MD Public School System where a student was shot and killed a block from the school I worked at during the height of the crack cocaine epidemic. Former D.C. mayor Marion Barry spearheaded a summer arts program I worked for that's mission was to get teenage gang members off the streets for the summer. I worked with bonafide teenage gang members that the city of Washington DC PAID to show up to take art, music, dance and theatre lessons. The mayor's wife and children attended our first performance entitled, "Stop the Killing!"
Regarding "Never, Never Land". Yes. Compared to my experience in and around our nation's capitol, my current teaching assignment enables me to appreciate things that those who have never taught at places like Project LIFT can never understand. It really is a shame I never made it past Project LIFT's computer screen interview.
Live from Utopia, NC
Alicia
In today's overly obsessed standardized testing world, perhaps it doesn't matter to see a group of teenage gang members willingly perform bad ballet - during the height of the crack cocaine epidemic.
But you know? At least I tried.
Alicia
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