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Citizens for transparent and open government.
9-R Administration Building
Durango School Talk
This blog was created as a temporary project of the informal group of parents and community who created Durango School Talk. The lead posts are ours; comments come from readers. Contact us directly at info@durangoschooltalk.org
Durango School Talk's home page is http://durangoschooltalk.org/
We try our best to keep up with all that's happening, but as busy volunteers in the community there is never enough time! Primarily we are: Bliss Bruen, Vickie Gallegos, Enid Brodsky, Norm Gottlieb, Mimi Thurston, Anne Spence.
Guidelines
From Concerned Journalists Be creative, be thoughtful, and don't be afraid to be outspoken. But please, do not be incendiary or use abusive language in your comments.
7 comments:
Thank you for understanding how important it has become for us to be very quiet and just close the doors to our classrooms. We have plenty to do without getting ourselves into difficulties with this administration. The first step in a new direction must be to change the Central Office dynamics. That won't happen until board members get some idea (safely) of what it has been like for the past few years. We're in retreat; our morale is terrible. It doesn't have to be that way. There is definitely hope now for real change. This is a great community; let's move forward together and be very careful about the selection process for all these open slots. We must not jump back into the same fire/frying pan.
'Disclaimer'
This is my opinion; This is only my opinion and does not reflect any one elses...including my faithful companion Winch. This coming from a "somewhat eccentric" as quoted from the Durango Herald.
In what direction has America gone? For the good? We used to be a great nation. We used to build durable goods for the world. We used to be an economic power and a military power. The euro has now surpassed the George Washington and our military is now the worlds policeman. We print money to pay for wars and the profiteers are the oil companies and the munitions manufacturers. Look at the choices for the presidential election coming up in '08. We, the United States of America are at a lack of leadership. I look at the 'leaders of tomorrow', their hat on backwards, their pants around their ankles, their underwear showing, a skate board under one arm and their I-Pod plugged in.
There are 50 states and how many schools? Let the other schools turn out the 'factory workers'. Durango and La Plata County should be turning out tomorrows leaders. Let the teachers teach. There is a lot of creative teaching talent at DHS that is being stifled in the name of CSAP and 'no child left behind'. Our Commander-in-Chief still, after seven years, can't articulate well.
I have to stand behind the school board. It is my opinion that Mike Matheson, after seeing the 'handwritting on the wall', has conducted his own 'closed door' meetings. I am glad to see him resign. It is in the best interest of 9-R, as was Greg Spradling who, again in my opinion was 'offered up' as the 'sacrificial lamb'. I can only hope that Mary Barter and the rest of her cronies (for lack of better term) will be leaving with her.
Again, in my opinion, from a somewhat eccentric former welding instructor that the future of America depends on our youth. Men and women of my age have watched our great nations decline. In my opinion, Mary Barter is going, one way or the other....now she just wants the $$$. Mary Barter was always about the $$$ in my opinion as was Spradling. Spradling was going to retire anyway. It is also my opinion that the 9-R attorney, Reese, has Mary's interests in mind more than the districts.
I, for one, and glad that there are enough members of the board that see the students as our future, and not the Gestapo regime of Mary. I stand behind the board with or without the Heralds 'endorsement'.
Let's get past this, and start looking for a principle and superintedant who ARE, what Greg and Mary were NOT.
If you go to the Colorado Department of Education's website, you can see how we are doing at DHS.
For DHS it says the academic growth of our students is in decline.
I wonder what that means? Decline probably means we are "one of the best ranked school district's in the state" or something.
http://reportcard.cde.state.co.us/
reportcard/CommandHandler.jsp?
cmdSelect=getReportCard&schoolID
=33169&searchYear=2006
http://reportcard.cde.state.co.us/reportcard/CommandHandler.jsp
Try that link but click on Report Card above - you will find a pull down menu with all our districts - I think the point of the previous comment is to make public the kind of data that 9-R selectively mines for making us feel good. I for one do not hold much stock in CSAP scores meaning our schools are good. There are very interesting studies that show a community's economic and social demographics are extraordinarily accurate predictors of the test score results. What would be interesting is to see whether we're right on target, or ahead or behind our predicted results?
I think CSAP scores do have a significant value.
(1) parents can see how the State would grade their children
(2) parents can purchase homes/rent in boundaries or open enroll in areas whose schools are "Excellent"
(3) students get a feel for testing
(4) it's an outside opinion as to where the student actually is in testing
What I think is bad, is that we appear to teach to the test, and from January through March everyone is in a flap. Surely, if what we teach on a regular basis is consistent with CSAP tests, then there is no reason to practice for three months?
The tests are an evaluation to determine if our children have learned what the people in the State of Colorado have deemed important for them to learn.
The link you provided doesn't work (for me!), please could you try posting it again.
Bliss Bruen said...
Mrs. Do Good,
We share a perspective. I hope you will continue to weigh in here and also read the Durango School Talk website for more commentary on NCLB, the implementation of this interesting legislation, and the pros and cons of emphasizing data auditing for accountability -- when we have real teachers and students right in front of us doing much more exciting things.
We need people like you to think hard with others on what we might do in Durango schools to improve the accountability loop. Local control of education is a concept in danger of disappearing. A vaguely defined category called “partially proficient” won’t inspire people with higher expectations.
Locally we have great, well educated advocates for new school models – that include the search for more authentic - alternative – assessments. 9-R’s reliance on its predictable CSAP scores has taken the spotlight off much more interesting work being done in the District. Work that I believe would receive adequate fiscal support if the public were part of the School Board’s Policy Governance monitoring process. That will change, hopefully, in the near future.
With a more confident administration, 9-R could shed this overly defensive posture it adopted a few years ago. When that happens, it could be stunning to see how many in this community who respect and admire dedicated teachers will sit down together in a dialogue to make sure that indeed, 9-R is working effectively. We could one day actually put all the supports (research based teaching methods, professional development, budget, etc.) in place.
Mrs. Do Good and others
By the way I found that by clicking on the "Report Cards" sender above you, I was taken directly to the CDE Report Cards page.
Once there, look for Durango 9-R - or any district you wish, to make comparisions. And please do check out the larger website of durangoschooltalk.org for NCLB discussions and more.
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