Did anyone else read the New York Times article this past Sunday about the Jonesboro, Georgia teacher who is letting her students pick the books they read in class – within certain limits – instead of assigning the standardized classics?

It’s an article that gets to the heart of many recent conversations about the importance of writing and asks the question, “What is more important: instilling kids with a habit of reading or giving them a solid foundation of classic literature before sending them off into the world?”

An apt question on the eve of a festival o’ books.

I can imagine that there have been endless discussions and seminars by far-smarter educators tackling this very topics, so I do not pretend to be able to argue the educator’s point of view.  But I can craft the argument of a one-time student, who was always told he wasn’t “living up to his potential”.

I’m loving the classics.  And I say so in the clear-and-present-tense, since it’s only now that I’m exploring their true meaning and complexities.  As a student, I read and ignored countless classics dumped on my desk by a more-than-willing English teacher, hoping to relay his/her passion to a group of religiously uninterested students.  But in the past 5 years or so, without the threat of a test or book report just over the horizon, I am finally feel free to enjoy classic novels like Moby Dick, The Merchant of Venice, and All the King’s Men and take from them whatever I please.

These are books that I can only begin to understand at 30.  At 14, 16, 18 years-old, at most I could conceive the plot and, if I was lucky, some of the motivations of a character.  But goodness knows I couldn’t understand the lessons of  “the Boss” and his initial quest for fairness and ultimate corruption or the complexities of Ahab’s obsession with a whale.  Metaphors are so silly to a literal teenager.  So, perhaps letting students choose the Twilight series over Jane Eyre was the answer for me, right?

To employ my favorite word: Maybe.

But I have trouble casting aside the looming retort.  The one that makes the old argument that teaching the classics can instill both a love of them and provide a valuable foundation of life lessons early on.  And these arguments often emerge in the silence of a busy day after finding something entirely profound in the depths of a novel, like Penn Warren’s passing description of a parent’s “blood-lust” or Melville’s ethereal description of a pod of whales just below the water’s surface.  I feel eons behind my former fellow student who somehow could ignore the generational and ageless siren calls of our youth and take in and process these small miracles.

Perhaps it is such a tough question to answer because it’s basis goes well beyond classroom instruction.  Looking more broadly the true question seems to be “Should classic literature serve as a foundation for learning about the world or should our life’s foundation serve to instruct our reading of the classics?”

It’s a complex two-way street that defies resolution in the classroom and beyond.

DHS teacher Chris Billingsley continues to provide us with great coverage from CSD events.  Here’s a report and some pics from CSD’s recent opening day ceremonies at Agnes Scott.

In her remarks, Dr. Edwards urged us to fight for excellence in our schools and public education. Our motivational speaker was Mr. Murray Banks, former teacher, coach and world champion athlete, who received a well deserved standing ovation at the end of his inspiring presentation. CSD business partners, Ricoh, Ra-Lin and Associates, Winter Construction, Collins Cooper Carusi Architects, and Wilson, Morton, and Downs, LLC. sponsored a delicious lunch from Skips Hotdogs in Avondale Estates. Outstanding entertainment was provided by Hotlanta Dixieland Jazz band, “Jazz With A Southern Accent”. Everyone had a good time. This was a great way to start the school year.

More pics after the jump.

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CSD Mom’s blog quotes a message posted on the CSDparents Yahoo Group site from Don Calder that reports the CSD Board voted unanimously in favor of Option 13 last night regarding reconfiguration options.  No real surprise there.

According to the note, Edwards also addressed concerns about leaving Westchester vacant for the time being, explaining that it could be used as a buffer against “extraordinary enrollment increases” (read: annexation).

Also, here are some numbers that were thrown around…

The cost of renovating Fifth Ave is expected to be $8 million. The impact on the operating budget (as of 2013) should be approx $500 to $700K, which may require a millage increase of approx 0.5 to 1.0 mil. Both Dr. Edwards and CSD’s finance rep, Theresa Link, stressed that these are worst-case scenarios, however, and difficult to project.

Hildreth forwards this note from the City Schools of Decatur…

In an effort to inform our CSD parents and community of the discussions related to impending legislation, City Schools of Decatur will be hosting a legislative forum on Thursday, February 26, 2009.

The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Central Office at Westchester, located at 758 Scott Boulevard, Decatur, GA 30030. Members of our legislative delegation will be present at this meeting to discuss various legislative topics and to answer community questions. Panelists include: Angela Palm (GSBA), Representative Stacey Abrams, Representative Stephanie Stuckey Benfield and CSD Board Member John Ahmann. We hope that you will be able to join us for this important panel discussion.

I followed up with Maria at CSD and got this additional bit of info about this session…

The superintendent wanted to hold a forum that would give the community an opportunity to hear from our local representatives about upcoming legislation related to education (this could be any number of topics). The panelists will have an opportunity to speak about legislation that they feel is important to our community and in turn, community members will have the opportunity to ask the panelists questions about legislative topics. The panel will be moderated by CSD board member Mr. John Ahmann.

Oh, if only Sonny would come to town and we could ask him our questions!  Actually that raises an interesting point….Has anyone ever seen Sonny Perdue inside the Decatur city limits?  Has he ever snuck in for some fried chicken at Watershed?  (I wouldn’t think Scott Peacock would be as willing to hand-deliver fried chicken to the Gov as he was for Martha Stewart at the aquarium!)

Like there wasn’t already ENOUGH being presented and voted on at tomorrow’s CSD Board of Ed meeting! (Westchester – 6:30p).

According to this recent AJC article, the superintendent’s proposed budget cuts for the 2009-10 school year focus mainly on jobs “by not hiring, by attrition or by eliminating part-time positions which are typically filled by individuals who are retired.”

According to the article, both the Frasier Center and the popular elementary school foreign language program will be saved, though fees at the Frasier Center must be raised to make the program “self-supporting”.

You can view the full list of proposed cuts, along with their estimated cost HERE.

In an effort to be proactive about potential budget cuts, Decatur is the first school system in the state to prepare a slimmer budget for next year. We still don’t know how big (or small) the cuts will be, but in the overview letter for tomorrow’s meeting, Dr. Edwards estimates they could range between 3%-10%.

After the state board of ed tabled all the significant charter apps last month (sorry Warren County) due to concerns about leadership, Decatur and Marietta didn’t go back to the drawing board, according to the AJC. Instead of caving to criticism that the applications didn’t go far enough to remove the superintendent and school board from the administrative process, both cities just sent along additional letters clarifying their positions.

At this point its a toss up about what the state board of education will do. Strong, vocal support from state officials, including Cathy Cox, lead many to assume that all applications would pass easily last month. In fact, Decatur recently used its assumed status as a first charter school to argue against a bill in the state legislature that gave a state agency authority to create charter districts without consent of local government.

So much for that. Now both cities, which spent more than a year creating and molding their apps, are waiting with baited breath for the state board’s decision. Will the board concede to the cities’ proposed leadership structure or will they remain convinced that the cities haven’t gone far enough to justify charter freedoms?

We’ll know a week from today.

Remember this recent tax hike post that talked about CDS CSD (sorry, I’m a bit dyslexic) raising the millage rate by a point to hire additional staff/faculty?

Well, get ready to be heard.

Shawn points out that public hearings on the proposed increase will take place at Westchester on Monday June 2nd at 9a and 6p and again on June 10th at 5:30p.

This will be the first school millage increase after four straight years of reductions. That old gray real estate market just ain’t what she used to be.

Wow.  I don’t think anyone saw this coming.

Yesterday, after quickly approving the Warren County charter application, the State Board of Ed got stuck on Decatur’s nomination.  According to the Gainesville Times…

“Gainesville City Schools was fourth on the list for a vote, but the board never got to it, after discussing the application of Decatur Schools system at length. Cox recommended Decatur get systemwide charter status, but a charter school study committee recommended it be denied by a vote of 5-0, said committee chair Linda Zechman, who is also a state board of education member.

After lengthy discussion, board members decided to defer a decision on the other school systems because both Cox and state board chair Wanda Barrs had to leave the meeting at 5 p.m.”

As for the reasons it was denied, we look to the AP article on the decision…

“Some board members said they likely won’t approve the other applications even if revisions are made because the districts refuse to accept a fundamental piece of creating a charter school – reducing the role of school boards and superintendents in running schools.

“I really don’t believe power is being given to these schools in these petitions,” board member Mary Sue Polleys said.”

And the AJC...

“[The] Second [application] was supposed to be Decatur, although that’s when the wheels appeared to come of the wagon; because of the months-long review and the recommended approval by Cox, most presumed Decatur’s application would be approved.

But several members specifically voiced displeasure with how Decatur would involve parents and staff in leading individual schools. Decatur plans involved “leadership teams” of parents and community members that would have a bigger say than ever in finance and program decisions. But members said they did not think it was enough.

“Perhaps an interpretation [of the proposal] would be they met minimum requirements,” board member Mary Sue Polleys said. “I don’t believe they are very different than what schools have been doing with site-based management since the 1990s.”

We’ll have to see how far CDS is willing go to get approval.  It sounds like they will have to make some serious modifications on how the school system is led (reducing the power of the school board and superintendent) to get consideration from the board.

They have until next month’s State Board of Ed meeting to make the needed modifications.

Along with May-retta, Gainesville and Warren County schools, Decatur will find out today whether it will be among the first four charter school systems in the country. Prior comments and articles seem to indicate this is all but a done deal, so its relatively safe to assume that we will receive a hearty approval from the state school board.

If approved, major changes for Decatur include “incentive pay” for teachers, academic credits for students based on knowledge and not just class time, and a move toward using national tests (instead of state) to measure academic achievement.

Not surprisingly, the debate surrounding the “leveling” of classes at DHS is quite heated and involved.  Pit a bunch of highly-educated and motivated parents against a school board and you can expect nothing less.

In contrast to yesterday’s posting detailing the reasons and research supporting the elimination of “tracking”, Cherie sent along two detailed messages that oppose the move and challenge the research provided by Principal McKain-Fernandez.  (Both can be read in the continuation at your leisure)

I’m not foolish enough to expound further on this subject from a research perspective.  I’ll let the self-proclaimed Ph.D.s fight this out.  I’ll just say from personal experience there are definite merits on both sides of this argument.  Classes with higher-achieving students were always more interesting and engaging than those without.  But at the same time, classes populated with non-honors students were really uninspiring, soul-sucking experiences.

So, what’s the compromise?

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