The new Allentown School Superintendent is reaching out to the parents. He is offering free dinner, baby sitting and a raffle for $20 gift cards to attend one of five open houses in the next two weeks; It's an opportunity to meet him and become a better parent. (Implied, but not stated) In my day parents didn't need to be bribed, but only invited to attend PTA meetings and teacher conferences. I have heard back-channel that he also wants to install free laundromats in the schools, so parents might become more involved.
Perhaps these incentives are necessary to get Allentown's low-income parents into the school buildings. If this is the case, I doubt that their interest will extend to more than the free door prizes. If this is the case, I doubt that Allentown will have any more success with these gimmicks than the other large urban areas.
While the student's parents are being invited for a free meal and gift, the taxpaying homeowners will be receiving their school tax increase.
The school board chose this superintendent for this new route, good luck with that.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteMaybe the gift cards are from the Ecorse School District where Thomas Parker the new superintendent was last employed as superintendent.
Interesting to the note that the same ASD board that hounded a very credible and competent superintendent with all sorts of trumped up allegations replaced him with someone whose district is under investigation by multiple agencies for intentional misrepresentation" of a school improvement grant worth millions,falsification of documentation,conflict of interest, intentional circumventing of procedure, policy and payroll processes and $3,000 dollars worth of those questionable gift cards are missing.
Only in Allentown does this kind of asinine stupidly occur routinely.
scott@7:31, allow me to disassociate myself from your provided background of mr. parker's previous district.
ReplyDeletemy issue is the attempt to educate two generations at the same time. although, i understand that many of the children come from households that are dysfunctional in emphasizing education, i would hope that there are more tricks in mr. parker's bag than these outreach giveaways
Mike,
ReplyDeleteYour take is a good one and I would add this question; what is the lesson being taught by this "free dinner"? That the state provides food? Yes, sadly that along with many other destructive, misguided, but well intended lessons are being taught to the children facing the roughest road in America.
The fact that this school board seems to be totally inept, sometimes vindictive, as well as misguided on how best to help the children is my point. The public needs to know, it won't be reported in our local media. The investigation of the former school district was buried in the call report deep in the article on the new super and brushed off unimportant.
Give the guy a chance and we'll see what happens. Personally, I believe you can change the captain and re-shuffle the deck chairs all you want, but the major problem in the ASD is the lack of parents caring if their kids do homework or not, among other issues that changing the superintendent isn't going to change.
ReplyDeleteMy high school is like a jail with all of the security guards to keep the violence down. The Allentown School District is a major reason why we didn't move to the West End, but chose to live in Upper Perk so my daughter can go to a decent school and have the same type of experience my husband and I did when we went to Trexler and Allen.
scott@7:55, allow me to also "brush off" the investigation in michigan and give mr. parker the benefit of any previous doubts.
ReplyDeletelast evening the molovinsky on allentown sounding board discussed this post. as often is the case, we go beyond what even my audience could handle. we decided that rather than trying to educate the dysfunctional parents, perhaps we should instead separate them from the students, a virtual boarding school model.
MM, I know my comments get deleted right away but there is one question that I have had since a child was in ASD. Why the late start of school in the city without limits 8am was the time when I was there to be in class?
ReplyDeleteWhere can one find the Molovinsky sounding board?
ReplyDeleteDespite all of the administrative changes in the Allentown School District, all the free lunches, all the public relations stunts, there is one change that simply isn't being considered. School Choice.
ReplyDeleteVouchers do one thing: they give poor kids trapped in failing government schools the same option more affluent children have available. With a voucher, they can move to a school that will give them an education. It may involve the family spending money out of pocket for the parent, because vouchers typically are for less than the actual cost of government schooling.
Why aren't they being considered by the ASD? It is all about the money. We've thrown millions at the ASD and hired more and more expensive superintendents and paid union teachers more and more money. How much is this last superintendent costing the taxpayers? I bet he's being paid more than the last forgettable one, I really don't remember the names any more, they come and go so quickly after taking the money the ASD offers them then leave. And what is the result? The ASD is at the bottom of the barrel in terms of schools in the commonwealth, in every possible measurement.
Forgotten in this are the kids. They drop out or are passed upward, given a diploma, and thrown into the workplace or into college. Why not let them get an education with all of the money we pay for the government school bureaucracy ?
Government schools are all about the teacher's union. The 'assembly line' school model is over 100 years old. It has failed, but the union will not give up the status quo.
ReplyDeleteThen every so often, they come up with new and exciting ways to teach math. Like simple addition / multiplication / division really have to be reinvented.
Then there is the Superintendent. In most cities this has to be a black person, with a PhD in education?? What the hell is that? Most don't serve their term, and are given a huge severance.
Government schools have now become indoctrination camps. LBGQT, choosing your gender, telling kids its great to have two daddies. If fairly sure there's also a lot of Progressive thought, whether they know it or not.
My wife has two degrees in Psychology and Human Development. She says a person is pretty well formed by the age of three.
We all know that it's the parents who mostly determine the child's outcome. The school can't substitute for the parents, but they keep trying - this way they will get even more money and power.
If you think you want government run health care, just look what they have done to education.
I forgot to add:
ReplyDelete50% of the adults in Detroit are functionally illiterate.
And half of those people have HS diplomas!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/07/detroit-illiteracy-nearly-half-education_n_858307.html
Don't know what planet Doug is from, but, he sure knows NOTHING about public education. First, there are NO "GOVERNMENT" SCHOOLS. Education is managed at the local level, by local school boards, who hire & fire. Revolving school Superintendents may be a concern, but, that is not something the GOVERNMENT does.....it is the result of decisions by the local board, elected by local citizens.
ReplyDeleteAs for the stupid analogy to "Government run health care" there is no one urging that. What sane people want is single payer health care...like Medicare for all.....like Senator John McCain just received. This is administered via private sector insurance companies, which individuals choose from and select the ones & features they want.
AS far as criticism of the goodies the Superintendent is trying to employ to tempt parents to attend and get hopefully involved more in their kids education.....perhaps it won't work. But, if nothing else has succeeded, at least he is trying something new, and if it helps some kids because their parents got & stay involved, what's the harm?
Local schools are government by a multitude of state and federal regulations and in PA the teachers' union. Your local school boards can affect very little. They have some control on the budget, can hire and fire people(long involved process), and approve curriculum (sort of). That said, in this state most boards are controlled by allies of the teachers union that hold a majority of the seats.That is the case in Allentown.
ReplyDeletethe government controls single payer, we are not the government, the bureaucracy is.
ReplyDeleteAnd the bureaucracy blatantly lies here, there and everywhere.
ReplyDeleteExample A : "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor," said Barack Hussein Obama.
The government = the people. In a democracy, the people elect the government.
ReplyDeleteWho do you propose to "run" Allentown's schools......politicians in Harrisburg? Yes, professional educators, Teachers' unions, etc., have influence. They are the ones most involved in teaching the kids. Who do you propose instead? This right wing tin foil hat talk radio bat sh-t crazy response to every situation....."government conspiracy" is infantile. The man child in the White House and his deplorables are not going to educate our children...they only advocate budgets to decimate education.
If you are so concerned the "government" is destroying public education in Allentown, then stop blaming the "government" and man up....run for the school board and tell us what you would do to solve problems. The new Superintendent might fail like others, but, at least he is telling us, in advance, how and what he is trying to accomplish.
Earth to Trent....I was on the board for 4 years. I am presently a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the ASD and the teachers' union. Apparently you are so well informed you know none of this. No surprise.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI have deleted Trent's comment of 10:21. it contained generalities which didn't pertain to scott's case or allentown. i urge all readers who are former allentonians to limit their comments to allentown specific, and to refrain if not familiar with such. furthermore, allow me to remind readers that comments should address the topic, not the other commenters. i have no interest in hosting liberal vs. conservative debates. please try and keep your comments short, and refrain from using links.
ReplyDeletedespite my 900 rules, your readership and comments are appreciated.