BCPSS School Board Commentary

After attending the BCPSS School Board Meeting on Tuesday, March 13^th, I have been reflecting on the happenings at this meeting as well as the overall productivity of the meeting. The meeting, which started approximately 15 minutes late and lasted approximately 3 hours, was quite different than I expected it to be. Growing up in a small community, I attended our local school board meetings several times as a middle and high school student, and in fact knew most of the board members by name. I was familiar with the process and on goings at these meetings. Therefore, I was quite surprised to notice so many differences at the Baltimore City meeting. To begin, I do realize that Baltimore City is quite large in comparison to my own small district back home, and is thus responsible for so many more people and schools. This being said, I was appalled at the length of the general processes of the school board meeting, and was particularly surprised with the public commentary section.

As I had taken the time to get there early, I was surprised upon my arrival to find all seats filled. In fact, many people were sitting outside of the main room watching the meeting via a television screen. I had gone in thinking that people did not really care about the happenings at these meetings, and was initially filled with hope at seeing so many people. This being said, I was shocked when person after person left the meeting throughout the public commentary section, after they had stated their part. I was surprised at how many different people addressed the board, mentioned that they were not going to bring their ‘dirty laundry’ to the table, and then proceeded to do so. While I do understand the board’s need to communicate with the public by listening to their comments and concerns, I was also surprised at how much time was given to this portion of the meeting. Although each group and/or person is supposed to be allocated a certain number of minutes, very few if any stayed within their time limit, thus extending the meeting far beyond its expected duration.

Finally, I was frustrated toward the end of the meeting as more and more people left and the building cleared out. When the board finally moved on from the public comment section to its next step on the agenda, there were only 16 people left in a now practically empty room. At this time, the board presented the Budget Proposal for 2008, and described its alignment with the Master Plan. The board explained how much money was being allocated to each Goal of the Master Plan, and how the money would be divided within each section. Clearly, the proposed budget will affect every single person involved in Baltimore City schools. Looking around the empty room, I kept thinking that more people should hear this information. Even though people came to voice their own valid concerns, they did not stay to hear anybody else’s, nor did they stay to hear something as important as the budget proposal for the upcoming school year. This only validated my prior thought that many of our priorities are awry.

Although currently the minutes for this meeting have not been updated, I am hoping they will be posted shortly at the following address: http://www.bcps.k12.md.us/School_Board/index.asp. Also, if you are further interested in the budget overview, the board will be adopting this budget proposal during the 3/27 meeting, and then hopefully posting it for the public to view shortly after.

The Brand New Budget

Driving home the past few days, I have been struck by how Congress is debating the exact same issues that we are in our “Urban Reform” class, namely how to ensure the quality of teachers and what measures can be used to determine the level of a school’s achievement. With NCLB up for reauthorization, these are very important issues to be considered, and I am glad that Congress is taking such a long look at them. Unfortunately, from NPR reports it sounds as though the debate is mired in the huge numbers of recommendations from individual legislators, many of whom are proposing 20-80 addenda to the already labyrinth NCLB legislation. Still it is interesting to listen to people who have no experience teaching in public schools debate how we, as teachers, ought to be judged, measured, and qualified.

Judging from the school budget released today, it sounds as though Baltimore is sticking to its guns when it comes to counting teachers as highly-qualified based on their undergraduate degrees, but is becoming more progressive when it comes to giving hiring bonuses in hard to staff areas. You can read the whole article from the Baltimore Sun here, but essentially the city is zeroing in on remaining middle schools, elementary schools that will become K-8s and family involvement. For once, I think BCPSS has its priorities in the right place. It is going to put a lot of strain on the system to convert existing elementary schools into K-8 and they should dedicate as many resources to the project as possible at the outset. As a teacher at a K-8, I know that we could use new, age-appropriate library materials as well as literacy interventions for struggling readers. So, for recognizing where to invest in the future, and hopefully giving its reforms a chance to produce strong results, I applaud BCPSS. May you see these efforts out, give them time to succeed, and work for the remaining students who enroll in your schools. (At present count, only 38% of school-age children living in the city enroll in BCPSS. Now there's some food for thought.)

whats going on in the county

As I opened the Baltimore Sun’s website today I read that there was an audit conducted on Baltimore County Public schools and results revealed that teacher training lacked proper programs protocol. This shortcoming ‘has perpetuated a minority achievement gap that could take 50 years to close’ according the to article. Upon further reading it revealed that the majority of teachers felt uncomfortable implementing computers into their curriculum even though the teacher to computer ratio is 1:6 of the teachers they visited. Clearly my issue from this article, and the cry of every Baltimore City public teacher is, “When will our turn come?” I am unsure as to the auditing process of Baltimore city, and if it has an auditing process. They discuss the disparity between passing scored in Baltimore city as 35.5 percent, but what about my school that can only pass 18% of its students on the HSA in Biology? Reading articles like these somehow angers me because the idea that we get the short end of the stick is thrown in my face. Maybe there are audits in Baltimore city, but it seems to that as soon as the city or an individual school proposes and implements a project it is abandoned after positive results fail to peak in a short amount of time. It is just a frustrating time for me because at this point in time working for my school teachers are expected to do everything without being told anything. Little planning is involved to execute an HSA mastery course after school, while administrators argue over the type of food to serve to the students, rather than determine times, dates, objectives and other logistical needs. As I sit in the conference room, I can see why so many schools lack organization. Time management is a skill to have when running a school, yet administrators allow minutes to pass by without facilitating a conversation or realizing the same point has been made four different ways by four different people. I wonder about this…

It is true that teaching training is an issue, but in BCPSS an audit would simply show that teacher quality is down. There are teachers teaching subjects to which they are not highly qualified or even knowledgeable in, and PIP’s only go as far as a post-observation conference with no improvement plan laid out by the administration. Let’s take the first step in holding administrators accountable for their teachers, and teachers accountable for quality teaching.

discriminating against kids.

A few weeks ago a colleague of mine who teaches at Digital Harbor sent me an interesting article that was written in the Baltimore Sun on February 19th about the school climate. We all know that Baltimore city is going through a restructuring progress especially in the downtown area. It seems to me that the people who live in the area of Digital Harbor do not want the school there, especially while it serves to bring poor Black students from across the city into the affluent neighborhood with its white residents. Even though the school has great things going on inside the building, i see a great potential of those wealthy tax payers finding a way to get rid of the school, so that these children are no longer in the neighborhood. I find it really aggravating when children are being discriminated against. Now of course, if there are trouble makers who are disturbing innocent people, they need to be punished accordingly, but do not blaspheme the name of the who school with slander for the crimes of a few. Digital Harbor is one of the better funded and academically challenging schools in Baltimore City, and the children of this city who desire to learn at that institution should have to privilege of doing so, without the neighborhood looking down on them. It is the same division of class that we are used to seeing. These kids are being labeled and stereotyped and it is disgusting. Just because you see a kid in Khaki pants... how do they know these kids are not from another school. Place the blame where it belongs, but what kind of message is being sent to these kids? those rich, white people do not want those poor Black children in their neighborhood. I think any situation that arises around that school will get blown out of proportion to make the school look bad. For example, in the article one of the neighborhood residents said that the kids approach neighbors in "a threatening way." Just because some clueless white man is scared of a child, does not necessarily make the child a threat. i say if a teen is bothering you, call the police or handle it, but to place the blame on the school is absurd, and it is a tactic to keep the outsiders out of the neighborhood. These children are not stupid, they know when they are being discriminated against. Of course the children need to be taught some maturity and discipline, but shouldn't the neighbors try to help instead of just pointing fingers. Mark my words, i do believe that after enough incidents and complaints, digital harbor will get moved to another cite or completely shut down.

Here is a link to the article from the Sun:
Tensions simmer over school in Federal Hill: Incidents put residents, Digital Harbor students at odds, dredging up suspicions of disrespect, racism

Grades and Accountability

Recently, I was looking back at an article from education magazine that describes the experiences of a history teacher in Washington D.C. In the article, the teacher describes how she discovered her school was changing the grades of students and making up classes in order to make sure students graduate. In the article, she discusses how after failing a student, she was shocked to see her walk at graduation. Shortly after, she began an investigation into the practices of her school. She surveyed her fellow teachers about student failures and checked the school's records to see if they were different. They were. Upon closer inspection, she discovered that school adminsitrators had been creating classes to ensure students earned enough credits to graduate. After bringing this up with the school and alerting the media, this teacher, who taught AP World History, was demoted and despite all the attention this issue recieved, it was still going on.I'm bringing up this article, because as we all know, this is also a serious issue in Baltimore that needs to be addressed. Especially in this current climate, administrators and teachers are under enormous pressure to make sure our students graduate. This has become an issue as it undermines the value of our students' diploma. Last year, I experienced this pressure first hand when one of my students, who was a junior credit-wise, was quickly changed into a senior 3 days before graduation after he completed an online course. This student had been failing my class and had not taken the final exam. I was told by my adminsitrator, the Friday before graduation, that I needed to make sure that this student passed my class, so he could walk. I know I'm not the only one who finds such situations frustrating. It is extremely hard to get students to "buy" into school when they know that the school when they see older siblings/friends get passed along. You have to question, what is a diploma worth when one does not have to master the knowledge it takes to achieve one?Schools, however, continue to practice such policies when it comes to graduation. Right now, BCPSS and individual schools within the system are on the hot seat, because of low graduation rates as well as failure to meet AYP. Schools feel they need to graduate students, so they can keep funding or so that the school will look better. This is a great misuse of accountability. The graduation rates and test scores are tools meant to gauge how well schools are preparing their students, but because so much depends on them, they are viewed as obstacles that need to be hidden and not dealt with. There needs to be an attitude change within the system to get things back on track. Right now, BCPSS is in "cover-your-ass" mode, which I feel is inhibiting a lot of the progress that could be going on. There is distrust and a sense of panic almost as BCPSS justifies its actions to the Maryland State Department of Education. This inhibits quality communication between the two and encourages BCPSS' random and panicky actions to create quick fixes for its problems.I believe that if BCPSS and indivual adminsitrators looked at the real data coming from their schools and not try to hide it behind made up numbers or guesstimations that they would be in a better position to tackle the problems of low graduation rates and test scores. Students of Baltimore City should have their school system support their education, not hinder it. They deserve to have diplomas that mean just as much as other school systems'.

Sex in our schools??

Though the topic may sound mundane to many of my fellow teachers, who walk out of their classrooms and see their students’ sexuality exert itself in forms inappropriate for the hallway, it is also a hot button issue that does not necessarily resonate with other educators, administrators and/or parents involved in the Baltimore City School System. For me, hearing about two children (ages 14 & 15) having sex in the Social Studies bookroom was really a catalyst exploring the expectations we set and the education we provide for our students. When you think about it, it’s a more generic issue—hearing the word “gay” or the word “fag” thrown around as an insult, is likely something most middle and high school teachers in Baltimore City have encountered at some point. This is exactly the lack of education my students represent on a daily basis—although they can be astute and intellectual in the classroom, they change personalities when they encounter something that is not part of their cultural existence thus far.

In response to the portrayed ignorance, my question is-- do we provide adequate education on the issues related to sex and sexuality? Recently, I read an article about revising the sexual education curriculum in Montgomery County to update it so it represents the changing times. Proponents want to have a select group of eighth-graders learn definitions for "homosexual" and "sexual identity," while the high-schoolers will watch a condom demonstration video, talk about anti-gay prejudice, and read and discuss the personal stories of people who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender.

In my opinion, addressing the issues of sex, sexuality and prejudice through education opens the community to communication that would otherwise be deficient. Most of my students have been raised to be extremely religious, sometimes in places where the existence of differences in sexuality is not even acknowledged. I feel that as an educational system, we need to be holistic in the education of our children—informing them about how to be safe and allowing them to develop at an appropriate rate. For me, this also stems from having 9 of the 36 girls I taught during my first semester teaching become pregnant at one point or another during the school year last year.

Teen pregnancy is a huge issue we are faced with in urban (and rural) school systems. Moreover, the lack of respect demonstrated in the hallways—the groping, the language and the heightened sexual aggression show me that there is a larger cultural problem that needs to be addressed and, in my opinion, school is the appropriate place to tackle these issues.

Opponents claim that increased sexual education opens a cultural Pandora’s box, leading to changing students’ sexual orientation from “straight” to “gay,” through conversation. According to the article, opponents also claim “that material about ex-gays should be included… [and] would prefer the topic of sexual orientation be stripped from lessons altogether.” I think that the idea of introducing sexual orientation and having the discussion addressing prejudices actually helps teachers address the need for tolerance and understanding between students.

Bottom line: my kids need to learn about sex and sexuality through education, before they learn about it through experience, in order to be safe and tolerant.

Commentary on the BCPSS School Board

On February 27, 2007, I attended my first BCPSS School Board Meeting. Upon arriving at 6:00 pm I was surprised to find no vacant seats and a group of over forty people assembling outside the conference room to watch the proceedings on a small television screen. The reason for the abnormally large turnout was that the board was scheduled to decide whether or not to close several middle schools (including Lombard, Canton, and Hamilton), and whether or not to consolidate other schools (including Augusta Fells Savage and Harlem Park). Not surprisingly, parents, students, teachers, and concerned community members showed up in droves to voice opposition.

Prior to attending this meeting, my opinion of the BCPSS School Board was rather unenthusiastic. I, like many people who are frustrated with city schools, tended to blame the board for many of the problems that plague our beloved schools. Specifically, I echoed popular sentiments questioning how the board could possibly consider closing and consolidating schools when large class sizes are at the heart of many of our school’s problems.

Attending this meeting changed my opinion of the board. Now don’t get me wrong; I’m not suggesting that the board is flawless and should be without criticism or blame. All I’m saying is that the board is not the evil empire it is often portrayed to be and it should not be made the scapegoat for all of the problems in city schools. Watching the meeting gave me a much greater appreciation for the daunting challenges the board is up against and watching individual members respond to harsh public criticism with respect, humility, and sincerity gave me a much greater sense of respect for the board’s efforts. The fact that the board is made up of volunteers only deepens my admiration for its difficult, often thankless, work.

Although the public should continue to keep a close eye on the school board and offer feedback when appropriate, every one of us involved in the success and failure of Baltimore City schools should share the burden of turning our floundering system around. Pointing fingers without sharing the blame and responsibility will only perpetuate the problems.

Please read the minutes from the aforementioned school board meeting at: http://www.bcps.k12.md.us/School_Board/index.asp

Testing to Graduate

Today an article in the Baltimore Sun chronicled the Maryland school board’s intentions to move forward with the plan to use HSAs as a requirement for high school graduation, but it is willing to consider postponing that requirement for students in special education and students for whom English is a second language.

I support the board’s openness to postponing the requirement for these special student groups. As one of the article’s interviewees notes, it would be unfair to subject students in special education to these tests. Students who are now approaching graduation may not have been in special education settings that would appropriately prepare them for the HSA. Regarding English language learners, I believe that until there are assessments that can accurately assess these students in the tested areas, it is not fair to subject them to these tests either. It does not seem right to me that potentially someone who is just coming into the school as a high school senior, who may have completed grade appropriate coursework in all other areas other than English, would get stuck in the system because they do not yet know the language. This becomes a tricky issue though. Would there be guidelines for these students, where students would (or would not) have to take the test based on how long they had been in the system? Or would there be another test prior to the HSA to determine English competency?

Moreover, I am not sure I even support the idea of tying the diploma to testing in the first place. I agree with the idea that the buck has to stop somewhere, but it doesn’t seem right that that’s only occurring at the end of the educational system. If the state sticks to this idea, we may very well see high school classes filling beyond capacity, as new students continue to come in and the older students get stuck trying to pass the test. Alternatively, students will become discouraged and drop out at even higher rates, thwarting the educational system’s supposed goal of seeing its students through to a diploma.

I have often wondered what would happen if, for just one year, the entire school system declined to take any new students (no new kindergarteners or pre-schoolers for one year), and actually failed everyone who did not make adequate progress that year. Obviously, it wouldn’t necessarily make a difference if it was the same bad teachers in the same bad schools, if that was the problem. But we all have so many stories of students who should have failed—but didn’t—and they are the ones who will fail the HSA in the end.

Another Goverment Report on Education

Jay Mathews, the education columnist for the Washington Post, discusses the recently released report of The Commission on No Child Left Behind, co-chaired by Tommy G. Thompson and Roy E. Barnes. He approaches it with an ironic tone, saying, “Here comes another helpful report from a five-star, blue-ribbon, highly respected, serious-minded, no-nonsense, ground-breaking, cannot-be-ignored, significant national commission.” (Read the piece for his full commentary).

Mathews wonders why public officials are spending so much time and money making and enforcing new laws about education, instead of focusing on learning how and why the good schools are doing well and supporting their efforts. Ultimately, he suggests a little more bottom-up reform (good teachers doing well and getting their colleagues to get on board) and a little less top-down reform—good schools aren't good because of education reform laws.

I agree with Mathews that the educational system doesn’t really seem to need another report telling us some things we already know and suggesting other things that won’t work. I also agree that the effect of bottom-up reform can be very effective—the Hollywood movie teachers offer a warm and fuzzy view of this, and the KIPP schools that were founded by former TFA teachers provide a more systemic example.

Still, I think that the American political system has to do more than sit on the sidelines and offer reports (or as Mathews would have it, offer fewer reports and follow the lead of the teachers). In my HDLD class, we are reading Jean Anyon’s Radical Possibilities (2005). She demonstrates how socioeconomic status and student achievement are directly related, and urges the federal government to take an active role in improving the financial situations of the impoverished. This, she suggests, will result in increased academic success of the children affected by poverty. In one example of how this would work, Anyon cites a study where working parents were provided with relatively small income supplements (about $4,000 a year). Their children’s elementary school achievement improved by about 10 to 15 percent of the average variation in the control groups (Anyon 68). Anyon indicates that even a small financial improvement in the parents’ situation can create a positive effect in their children’s academic achievement.

I believe that the federal government does have the ability and the reponsbility to make effective change in support of school reform and academic achievement for all students—not through more education laws and reports, but through thoughtful, socially conscious, top-down action, such as raising the minimum wage. This, and other proactive policies that help eliminate America’s growing economic disparity, would more truly demonstrate the government’s commitment to school reform and student achievement.

Now the Principals Are Threatening to Quit

According to the February 7th Baltimore Sun article, the principal of the Baltimore Talent Development High School is going to quit if Augusta Fells Savage High School is placed in the same building as his - Harlem Park. A little background in case you don't read the article... As mandated by the State of Maryland, Baltimore City has to close down "x" (I don't know the exact number) square feet of educational space in order to receive a funding increase. One major project in the closure process has been the old Southwestern High School building in West Baltimore. Formerly, four high schools were located in this building, including my own, Vivien T. Thomas. However, after last year my high school as well as the Renaissance Academy relocated to different buildings (we received our own building and Renaissance moved to Booker T.). Remaining are Augustus Fells and the old #412 - now an alternative school. Next year, the School Realignment program has slated Augustus Fells to move to Harlem Park, current home to Talent Development. Talent Development is a semi city-wide school whereby students gain entrance through a lottery process. Right now, TD is making great strides. Essentially, the principal of TD is threatening to quit if AFS moves into their building because he fears that the "atmosphere will be significantly altered." What kind of statement is this? I can't imagine what the students of AFS think of themselves when they see a front page article that says a principal will quit if they're forced to move into his building!

Now, this article brings forth a vast array of issues. However, I'm going to focus on the idea of the realignment being beneficial first. Last year, we moved from the Southwestern building to our own building. For us this was a fantastic move. We got our own new building and it was rehabbed specifically for us (even though I still don't have heat/air or a working doorknob). But, we're the very lucky, extremely few. Everyone else that will be moving will be forced to move into buildings that they will have to share with other high schools. This is an incredible concept to me. I am extremely curious as to the "true" motivations behind this realignment. The plan is terrible overall, and what I see are buildings that have great real estate potential being shut down and sold to private organizations. Is this really for the students? Who's really winning with this whole process?

My next comment has to do with the planning included in this process. Even if the motivations are pure, why is the school system incapable of planning appropriately? At the beginning of this year, our school was maybe 50% ready and moved. Yet, we started the year behind the ball and have not been able to catch up yet. It seems as if the message to the kids is that this year was just a trial run and it more or less a wash... Also, what goes into the planning of combining high schools? The principal of TD may have some valid claims, but what is he saying to the kids of West Baltimore that don't attend his high school? Does he view his school as an oasis amongst the chaos? I feel bad for the whole situation. It doesn't seem like there are any winners here.

My last comment will revolve around the long-term outcomes. Where does the school system see itself in ten years? This is a massive PUBLIC institution, and I have a great deal of trouble finding information about it. As a public entity funded by public tax dollars, shouldn't the process be completely transparent? Everyone who pays property tax is funding this initiative yet it seems like you either have to be behind the curtain or know the man/woman pulling the levers to have any input into the direction of the change. Why are we going year to year without a clear and present long-term goal? If the goal is just to close buildings to receive money, I think we may have misjudged our priorities.

Overall, I think this whole realignment process is doomed to the political wants of vested interests. Very few kids seem to be winning. By going through this process to acquire public funds, we're creating situations whereby a principal of an effective high school is going to the front page of the Maryland section of the Sun to threaten his resignation. We're setting up kids against kids, and schools against schools. Is this really effective change?

An Education Blog for Baltimore?

It will be interesting to see how this works. We are going to use this blog for an Urban School Reform class. In particular, members of the class are going to reflect on how change is or is not playing out here in the fine city of Baltimore, Maryland.

There are many many things to consider. Baltimore is such a small pond. Do we want to keep the site closed to outsiders? I am hoping that the point is to share our ideas with a larger audience, but does this mean we have to censor ourselves so we don't make the wrong people mad? I want this site to be a place teachers can be real about what is happening in their schools - what reform looks like on the ground, not just in policy documents. It should be about what is truly about helping kids versus what is about adults keeping their jobs. I want it to be a place that we can be free to say that there are a lot of very well-intentioned people who are just not very good at knowing what it takes to help kids learn. And that after years of so many things not working, good intentions are not enough.

This should not turn into a place to bash the city schools, however, because there is enough of that and it does little good towards making true change, and because there are also many amazing people who are well-intentioned AND incredibly talented. Part of the task is convincing more of them to stay and embrace the sisyphean challenge of working in education here in Small-ti-more.

This could be a disaster - but it also could be the start of something good.