Board meeting musings, continued
In case my two entries yesterday about Tuesday night's city school board meeting weren't enough, here are a few interesting things that came up during public comment:
A second-grade teacher from Eutaw-Marshburn Elementary spoke about the windows in her classroom being bolted shut and indoor temperatures exceeding 90 degrees, triggering asthma attacks in some of the children. Dr. Alonso asked Keith Scroggins, the chief operating officer, to rectify the situation immediately, and Scroggins planned to do so. The troubling part is, Scroggins said he's already dropped in at Eutaw-Marshburn twice so far this school year, and no one mentioned the problem in this classroom to him. Until Tuesday night, he knew nothing about it. As it turns out, a complaint had been filed with the school's building supervisor. But with direct access twice to a top system official, why didn't the principal go over that supervisor's head to complain about a safety hazard? This seems like an example of the chain-of-command culture in BCPSS that's going to be hard to change. Scroggins and his deputies have proven they're able to get building problems fixed quickly -- but someone first has to tell them what the problems are.
City Councilman Bill Henry also spoke at Tuesday's meeting. If he were in better shape, he said, he'd get down on his knees and beg the board to reinstate after-school funding that the city cut to Chinquapin Middle School, located in his district. He said he was begging since the problem wasn't one the school system created, but Chinquapin has gotten a rough deal lately on many counts. First, the system placed its new alternative middle school for over-age students in extra space in the Chinquapin building without consulting the community. And now that the building is home to some of the city's most troubled students, it's lost both its after-school program and its status as a Title 1 (aka, high-poverty) school, a designation that brings with it extra federal money.
Of six schools losing their after-school funding from the city, five are getting Title 1 money that could help make up the difference, Alonso said. Chinquapin is the exception.
The Title 1 issue for Chinquapin is the result of not enough students returning family income forms last year to apply for free and reduced-price lunch. Alonso stressed the importance of schools getting students to return these forms now. Those submitted this month will determine Title 1 status and funding for next year. For this year, nothing can be done, even though, as Alonso said, the Chinquapin neighborhood isn't exactly Beverly Hills. He told Henry he doesn't have to beg; the system will be stepping in to help the school.
Finally: a speaker complained that we wait too late to start teaching kids foreign languages. Alonso said he agreed and that will be changing in Baltimore. To be continued...
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Comments
There's nothing wrong with chain-of-command, so long as the chain is followed. My philosophy, which I share with all my counterparts, is that A) everyone has a boss. So you move up if you don't get a definitive answer within a reasonable time period; and B) Always create a documentation trail, so that if you should have to move up to some higher authority, they're not wondering why they're being hit with something that's technically below them.
Foreign language programs do exist at some of the lower grades; Calvin M. Rodwell, for example, teaches Spanish to elementary-level students. And there's the Baltimore International Academy, which is a charter school. They have a foreign language immersion program for the lower grades.
Posted by: Claude | September 11, 2008 7:41 AM
Foreign language instruction at the majority of BCPSS schools (all the way through middle school) is treated as release time for teachers - so more like gym or music or art (all important; please don't misunderstand my comparison) than a true academic endeavor. It is not done in any systematic way that benefits students.
Even at high schools, they are more concerned with meeting the letter of the foreign language graduation requirement than the spirit of teaching languages. So, for example, with block scheduling, students will take one semester of Spanish 1 Fall of one year, and then skip a semester and take Spanish 2 the Fall of the next year. Which makes absolutely no sense if you truly care about students developing true language skills.
Posted by: Michelle | September 11, 2008 2:13 PM
Having served on a College Admissions Committee, I know first hand just how critical foreign language can be in differentiating between two candidates for admission. In BCPSS, we are doing a huge disservice to our students by not offering a systematic set of electives starting in middle schools - foreign language, computer classes, etc.
My students were always in AWE at how fast I can type and that I can speak three languages. Well, I myself learned to type because Computers was a required elective at my middle school when I was a kid and foreign language started in 7th grade for me, also and continued through high school. Year long foreign language classes, taught in the appropriate language!
These goals must be an imperative for BCPSS, otherwise we are further crippling our children in the College Admissions process.
Posted by: Artie | September 12, 2008 9:57 AM