In this article in Sunday's Hickory Daily Record entitled School consolidation raises concerns in community, the issue of Catawba County School Consolidation is discussed. Please go read the article and come back here to comment on where you stand on this issue. I really would like to see a point-counterpoint discussion on this issue so that all sides can air out legitimate advocacy and concerns about the issue.
In the Hounds Opinion - It is high time that the school systems were consolidated. I have heard this issue discussed for well over 30 years. This is about eliminating wasteful redundancy and increasing efficiency. We don't need to be paying for 3 school superintendents, their secretary's, and so on and so forth or have 3 school boards. I am sure that the school board officials are worried about being consolidated to one unit, because they might just lose their position of power. Does that not go back to people just wanting a title?
Is Hickory in Catawba County? Are Newton and Conover in Catawba County? Is this about a fear of losing community identity? The Catawba County School system stretches across all borders of this county, except for two enclaves. The geography certainly hasn't hurt the achievements of the Catawba County's system and I doubt the assimilation of the other two systems would cause any dire results.
The savings in administrative costs alone would save millions. It would also create one large school system, which would carry more weight in Raleigh. It would give the consolidated school board more power and it would also make for more cohesive educational goals. Personally, I hope that this passes.
Have you ever noticed how some leaders, in this community, always want to stick with the status quo, whether things are working or not. Is all they want there little niche of power? We really need to look deeper into the positives that this might bring. Folks, we cannot continue to throw money down the drain. Some people don't seem to care about budgets. Frankly, it is time that certain individuals figure out that education isn't about administration or money. Education needs to be about the kids. Let's do what is best for them.
|
| Join To Get Blog Update Notices |
| Visit the Hickory Hound Group |
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Your last two sentences:
"Education needs to to about the kids. Let's do what is best for them."
From the point of view of an educator I dont see how this change benefits the students in any way. The only motivation for this change would be to save money. One only needs to ask if the amount of money saved is worth the result of making the proposed cut. In this case, the amount of money being discussed is $11.4 million (statewide, not locally), which as stated by an individual in the article "wouldn't even pay for a single school."
Do we have a lot of bad superintendents in this state? I think we probably do. Do superintendents of small school districts get paid too much as teachers get paid too little? I think so. Does that mean our students would be better off to have one superintendent trying to do the work of three? I dont think so.
My conservative political instincts tell me to defend the strength of localized government. This allows for diversity. It's important that schools reflect their local communities.
Current educational theory argues that every student and every community is unique with different kinds of needs. The flexibility to adust to these needs is vital in the success of education. Students in Newton have different needs from students in Viewmont who have different needs from students in Maiden, who have different needs from students in claremont. The more localized our school structure becomes, a higher level of customization and community influence occurs.
For examply, Burke County has a reputation for being EXTREMELY conservative and their school board has been on a roll, banning every book with challenging material. But you know, if that's what the community in Burke County calls for, great. Good for them; but i would not want people from this different point of view dictating how english classes in Hickory look like. I want schools in Burke to look like Burke and I want schools in Hickory to reflect Hickory. We talk about Hickory being helplessly dependent on the clowns in Raleigh, why would we turn over the local power we have to affect our schools? That's not benefiting us or our students.
I do not think the small savings outweigh what we would give up. It seems like the three districts have worked together in practical ways to save money while each retaining their autonomy to create unique schools that cater to their unique students. It's hard for me to see fault in this model. Perhaps if this move would trim Hickory's budget by 10% i would give more thought to the bill. Unafortunately I think this bill is just another example of how too many North Carolinians view education as an expense rather than an investment.
What about money going towards children instead of administration? Bang for the buck and money going towards what education is supposed to be about. Education of the children.
Maybe those few $100,000 could go towards buying school supplies for kids so that teachers aren't having to do so?
I just dont feel that a few more pencils and new blackboards is worth trading in the ability to tailor our schools to the needs of our city. That's just where I fall. If we were talking a TON of money...the kind of money that would allow us to atract the region's best educators to our city/state, I might have a different opinion.
School consolidation is a gain for Raleigh and a loss for Catawba County. The piddling amount of money saved by the elimination is going to be more than offset by the costs. The costs by the way should be compensated by Raleigh if they make us do it but don't hold your breath on that.
It's a loser of an idea for three reasons: First, the technologies employed by the different systems aren't entirely compatible and will cost money to standardize. Secondly, some monies are allocated to the school SYSTEM and not the area. Since we have 3 systems in this area we get three allocations. 2 would be lost each time it happens if we had only one system. Finally, you are living in dreamland if you think any jobs besides the superintendants are cut. All the secretaries, etc will stay and they may even request more since there will be more coodination of schools by the one superintendants office. Raleigh wins, we lose.
Can we not say that about every program. Piddly amounts of money here and there start adding up to the $2 billion shortfall we are now experiencing.
We hear "we can't cut this" and "It's not that much money" about every single program in this state.
I haven't seen data about this and I hesitate to pontificate on it without knowing some hard facts; however, I know Mecklenburg county, the largest school district in the state I believe, has proposed creating sub-disticts each with their own administration in order to handle the enormous region with all its complexities.
If a city school district is effective, the community will be engaged in what the district is doing and go to bat for it.
Even as someone who has taught in Hickory, it's not clear to me what the advantage is of having a City verses County system since it's not clear to me as a teacher or a parent how Hickory schools have used their relatively small size to meet the educational needs of the community.
I'd be surprised if many parents besides those who's kids are in the fabulous orchestra show up and fight for Hickory Public Schools.
That sounds like a feasible idea Ant. That is the kind od innovative thinking that needs to take place instead of keeping in the rut, because it feels comfortable.
Post a Comment