|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Discussion Topic: Cleveland Right Now
Rick Wasmer added to this discussion on July 16, 2016
|
|
Quote from David Brown's post:
|
|
"My bad Rick. Unfair use of old stats from the 2000s. DPS has improved graduation rates a lot. Now we deal with epic budget shortfalls and mass teacher "sit-outs."
The introduction of charter schools up here is also a hot topic. Some think charter school enrollment will exceed PS enrollment before long."
|
I support teachers, I think they try do do their best in what can be tough situations. If they held sit-outs, I'm sure there were reasons.
|
|
|
|
|
Discussion Topic: Cleveland Right Now
Pat Costilow added to this discussion on July 18, 2016
|
I have a series of scattered thoughts here.
I'm currently in Detroit for work. Well, Troy, a nicer suburb on the north side of the city. Driving through the city to get here is incredible, it's so depressing. I know Cleveland (home) has it's rough areas, but driving through the city end to end, you spend 10 maybe 15 minutes going through them (I'm thinking taking I-90, starting around West Boulevard exit to the east end of Cleveland by the Euclid border, E. 152nd exit), and you have to carve out the fact that you go through a vibrant downtown area for a portion of that.
The entire length of Detroit looks like Mogadishu. I drove through constant ghetto for at least a half an hour. Growing up here has to be an entirely different understanding of the world than what we are, fortunately, familiar with. I am primarily a government minimalist and firmly believe in the principle of equality of opportunity and not result, but I can't say that people growing up in an area like this have the same opportunities that we do. The problem is that the solutions that aim to address this have done little to actually help these areas, in many cases they have increased and entrenched cycles of poverty. To me it comes down to the fact that funds don't change cycles as much as individuals do and our society has become one that is not empathetic, does not aim to find the lowest among us and inspire them and lift them up. The statistical decay and poverty mirrors the moral decay and loss of our sense of communities.
Regarding the teachers. I have long held that unions of public employees do more harm than good. There are plenty of examples of this. My city's teachers are currently on strike (I have heard they might have come to a preliminary agreement). They are, on an average basis, the sixth highest paid district in Ohio. My daughter's second grade teacher made ~$82k in 2013 with just a bachelor's. The WTA has tried to save face by insisting that the issues leading to the strike have not all been financial, but involve matters like planning time, etc. Speaking as somebody that works in public accounting, I find it hard to have sympathy for the idea that planning time has to be worked into the schedule. This calendar year, I have worked hundreds of hours outside of 8-5:30, it's just the reality of my profession. You just do what you have to do to get the job done.
I also think about my own educational background. I went to private schools my whole life and had some outstanding teachers. I still use, at 30, certain note taking and study habits that my 10th grade math teacher taught me. Those teachers make a fraction of what the striking ones in my city do, and they do it without the pension and premium insurance packages. I understand it's the teachers' right to collectively bargain, but it miffs me to see this and then listen to them talk out the other side of their mouths about the nobility of teaching and how much they care for the kids. And don't get me started about the fact that they marched in the 4th of July parade while the District sponsored summer programs were cancelled due to the ongoing strike.
|
|
|
|
|
Discussion Topic: Cleveland Right Now
Michael Rodriguez added to this discussion on July 19, 2016
|
Pat...Are you saying you think public school teachers make too much money?
|
|
|
|
|
Discussion Topic: Cleveland Right Now
David Brown added to this discussion on July 19, 2016
|
Pat, Detroit is depressing. We are dumping money into downtown and midtown as are a lot of private investors who just care about the city. It is looking better. The theory is that the neighborhoods will follow downtown. I hope it works. You can't have a great city without great neighborhoods.
Regarding our public teachers they orchestrate collective "sick outs". Most parents would prefer a traditional strike because parents can plan for those. The sick outs are gamesmanship that hurt everyone.
Teachers worried because charter schools set to eclipse publics within DPS in the next year or two I think.
|
|
|
|
|
Discussion Topic: Cleveland Right Now
Mark Niemann added to this discussion on July 19, 2016
|
|
|
|
Discussion Topic: Cleveland Right Now
Brian Nicola added to this discussion on July 21, 2016
|
Make America Niemann Again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
