Comments on: At Least One School Board Member Has Questions About Proposed Bell Schedule

By: karass

karass — Thu, 12 May 2011 06:05:56 +0000

I couldn’t agree more with the idea of if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. Unfortunately, in my work world, there’s people who make a career out of breaking things and then getting credit for fixing them!

Mr. Jackson is great from what I’ve seen. It’s so important to acknowledge all the great things that happen in CSD because the message should not be that it’s all hopeless, no one can do anything right. Nonetheless, I think CSD missed an opportunity to demonstrate the spirit of the charter, get systematic stakeholde feedback, and involve the SLTs. The Board missed the opportuntity to consider what may have been the most appropriate bell schedule.

Once the new schedule is announced, a flurry of concerned families will be trying to figure out before-care, multiple-child transportation, and bus schedules. So CSD has another opportunity to collect information, show transparency, and demonstrate a consensus approach to developing solutions. I hope it happens. If nothing else, maybe the bus schedules could be displayed in a clear, understandable format and have content that corresponds to actual children, streets, and routes.

By: aggie

aggie — Wed, 11 May 2011 23:06:14 +0000

John ahmann asked if there were any compelling reasons not to table the bell schedule until next month. There was silence, and then Dr. Edwards spoke up. I think that is when she made the comment that they wanted to “get this behind us.”

By: aggie

aggie — Wed, 11 May 2011 23:03:13 +0000

@ Karass:
I’ve been thinking about your comment: “Data and evidence are not their thing. Some of its educational culture, some of it is that educators tend to be more verbally oriented than quantitatively oriented….”
It bothered me and I finally figured out why. There was an excellent example during the meeting of an educator who was quite comfortable with data and evidence. The head counselor at DHS, Ken Jackson, gave a presentation about their work. Among other things, he had a nice explanation of the work the dept. does to prepare kids for life after DHS, including colleges. John Ahmann had some very specific questions pertaining to financial aid, for-profit schools, and college completion rates.
Mr. Jackson managed to answer in such detail that it was evident he had a complete grasp of the problems, pitfalls, strategies, etc. And he did so with self-deprecating humor. Bonus Points!
For example, he talked about GA Perimeter as being a good fit for a motivated kid who wanted to go to GA Tech, but hadn’t been accepted on the 1st try because they automatically qualify, with a certain GPA, after 2 years. He then went on to explain that non-residential schools do have downsides for other students, but some families, for cultural reasons, expect their children to reside at home.
Not to bore you all, but it was a perfect recognition that different people face different situations, and that there are pluses and minues to most solutions.
This made a STARK contrast to the handling of the bell schedule, where information has been withheld, options have not been explored (or if they have nobody knows about it), and the only reason that we’re not employing best practices for DHS is a desire to maximize extra-curricular participation and/or work more creatively to maximize the existing buses.

On an unrelated note, it was pointed out that 99% of DHS kids passed the GA science grad test. Obviously, they are doing some things VERY WELL at DHS. I was taught in basic management that you DON”T MESS UP or tinker with something that is working well.

By: Larkspur

Larkspur — Wed, 11 May 2011 21:07:34 +0000

I am just happy that there is now an official bell schedule and people can work out their own household logistics.

By: TOK

TOK — Wed, 11 May 2011 18:59:34 +0000

Hmm. Now I’m starting to come to this way of thinking too. I understand the desire to get the matter out of the way and not hassle with it any longer, but it’s not a trivial decision. Was there any compelling reason not to look at the possibility of combining the DHS and RMS routes along with the cost, list the plusses and minuses of the options, get some systematic community feedback, and then vote on the options at the next BOE meeting? Would delaying things by yet another month badly jam things up somehow (and not just be annoying)?

By: karass

karass — Wed, 11 May 2011 18:27:56 +0000

The more I read here and on Patch live blogging, the more I realize that what upsets me the most is how this was done, more than the specifics of what bell schedule resulted. One of bell schedule guidelines set by the Board in April was not followed, but only one of the Board members paid attention. The outcome of the DHS SLT meeting about start times was misrepresented. A Board member made a reasonable request to table the motion until another Board member could be present but folks want to “get past this” (as though families can get past whatever decision is made for at least the next year!). Anecdotes and complaints were used instead of a survey which could have easily been administered at the same time as the general satisfaction survey (which is still open for responses or just closed). There’s complaints about how hard it is to be a School Board member–yes! Given the weighty responsibilities and the fact that one runs for office against other good candidates–it should be hard!

This does not feel like the spirit of a charter school system when so many opportunities for collecting feedback in a systematic manner from parents, teachers, and students have been missed over the last several months. The missteps may be inadvertent but they are high schoolish and not professional.

By: aggie

aggie — Wed, 11 May 2011 18:27:42 +0000

TOK + Karass:
There was some nice chat about gathering info, and having a real community discussion and what not. Lovely words. Best intentions.
But, I would bet you that nothing at all is actually going to be done along those lines. Unless they get a lot of parental “push-back.” That seems to be the only thing that they consider a down-side. They wanted to get this business over and done. They will NOT want to revisit.

By: aggie

aggie — Wed, 11 May 2011 18:20:36 +0000

Yes, you ought to be flabbergasted and you ae not at all off base.
The admin couldn’t even give a straight and consistent explanation of how much an extra bus would cost. They couldn’t explain why mileage would increase if a bus was added.
I came away with distinctly unflattering picture.
We pay some of the highest taxes in the state, and this is what we get? An administration that refuses to explore creative solutions to something as simple as a bus schedule in a 4 sq.-mile town. They repeatedly referred to “push-back” experienced some years back to sharing bus routes, as though fear of “push-back” should be a deciding factor.