For W.E.B. DuBois, it paid to be persistently dangerous
As I report in today's paper, W.E.B. DuBois High in Baltimore has been awarded a $3.7 federal grant to improve mentoring and student work opportunities. It is one of nine "persistently dangerous" high schools nationwide to receive a multi-million-dollar grant from the federal labor department.
No Child Left Behind leaves it to the states to define what it means to be a "persistently dangerous" school. In Maryland in general and Baltimore in particular (where all of Maryland's persistently dangerous schools are located), people complain a lot that the state makes it easier than most for a school to earn the dubious label. There are several downsides to that: Schools have an incentive not to suspend students for violent offenses (here, it's the suspension numbers that count against you). If violent schools do report their numbers accurately, they are rewarded with public humiliation.
In this case, though, it paid to be persistently dangerous. While many schools could use a grant for mentoring and internships, only persistently dangerous schools were eligible to apply.
Categories: Baltimore City, NCLB, School Safety (Or Lack Thereof)
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Comments
Sara, your article is shameful! Have you ever visited W.E.B. DuBois High School? Have you spoken with the school's leadership and or graduates. To be sure, they could provide you with valuable insight about the school. Your journalism has sensationalized or otherwise exploited many of schools challenges. Moreover, you've failed to cite all of the effort that DuBois it's leadership team and stakeholders did in preparing for, completing and winning the grant. To be sure, there are lots of grants out there for schools and it's up to those schools, their leadership and their communities to go after those funds. DuBois HS's leadership and it's stakeholders worked extremely hard in keeping the school safe for students to learn and in winning the grant. I think you could serve the community better by asking DuBois how they were successful in winning the grant and other schools were not. In the venacular of the students, STOP HATIN!!!
Posted by: A Concerned Reader | July 3, 2008 8:51 PM
A Concerned Reader -
I'm not so sure your interpretation of Sara's article is accurate. The point: well done DuBois for being honest about statistics. Here's the link to the grant application synopsis (http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=LyTLcL42rmMm5GlRtBJCQ4N1gbL1hk1mb41vs3QBFGGKLByJGLXB!919315779?oppId=17689&flag2006=true&mode=VIEW). I don't think there was any sensationalism embedded in anything that Sara wrote. In fact, I would praise Sara for bringing this noteworthy event into public discussion. Further... well done, DuBois HS & staff, for being honest and realizing that opportunity comes when we work from an honest foundation - not a fabricated one (i.e. only 2 "persistently dangerous" schools in the system...).
On a somewhat different note, I thought this grant was written by the grant folks at North Ave and not by individuals at the school-site? Anyone know about this? I could be wrong about that.
Anyways, I'm just glad that money is coming in no matter how it gets there.
Posted by: Bill | July 7, 2008 5:50 PM
The grant was completed by the program manager in charge of violence prevention and the grant writers at North Ave., as are nearly all federal grants the school system applies for. The school did not write the grant.
Technically, the applicant is the school system and not the individual school. The BCPSS will use the grant dollars to fund the program outlined in its application to assist DuBois (which was the only school eligible for funds from this grant). Some school districts (like New York)had multiple eligible schools.
Posted by: Michele | July 9, 2008 11:42 AM