AN OPEN / OPINIONATED LETTER TO MAYOR LOVELY ANN WARREN Dear Mayor Warren, With regard to your declared goal of successfully addressing the socioeconomic rights, needs, and aspirations of ALL Rochesterians, i.e. the two Rochesters --- I am glad to see that you are continuing to maintain interest and involvement in that which was clearly one of the pillars of your campaign, i.e., educational change and improvement. As it relates to realistic possibilities of significantly and permanently bridging / closing the humongous socioeconomic gap and divide between the two Rochesters, I believe you and I probably agree that there is no single area of life that is more critically important than educational improvement, particularly within the Rochester City School District (RCSD). I am writing this, in accordance with the limited information provided in the article at the link below. The reason why I decided to engage in the form of an open letter is because, in my view, the article below lends itself to discussion of numerous important issues concerning the prospect of significant, educational change and improvement, and it struck me as a potential opportunity to (hopefully) initiate a community-wide buzz --- that is, open dialogue regarding ideas about educational improvement, and ideas about how we (parents, students, other family members, Board of Education members and other politicians, activists, educators, and concerned community members in general) might be able to work together to actually achieve significant change and improvement. I also believe the article serves to highlight some serious, potential pitfalls, of which we ought to be acutely cognizant, and very skeptical. Some examples are as follows: According to information in the article, hotel and transportation expenses [for the] two-day Mayors in Education event are being paid by the Gates Foundation. I must be honest and tell you that I believe there is plenty of reason to be very skeptical of Bill Gates, and other big-business magnates who claim to be so concerned about helping to improve urban education. I am not convinced that such people pay for the costs of expenses for Mayors (presumably, from all across the U.S. of A) out of the kindness of their hearts, or for purely philanthropic reasons. Bill Gates, and many other so-called philanthropists are business people first and foremost. As you know, Microsoft and its many subsidiaries SELL lots of computer technology to school districts. They do not do so with intent of incurring financial losses. Their businesses are driven by the profit motive --- period. Also, some of the listed topics that were reportedly covered during the two-day event, absolutely raise red-flags: equity education and the importance of standards as a vehicle for helping minority students become college and career-ready Certainly, we need equity in PUBLIC education, especially as it relates to state and federal resource allocation / distribution, but it is very unclear (to say the least) what the dire need for equity has to do with the so-called importance of standards as a vehicle for helping minority students become college and career-ready. In fact, it is strange, again, to say the least --- that these two categories would be grouped together. In fact, the never-ending, daily discussions about so-called standards really is, in some ways, a major distraction. There is no magic in setting standards. Educational standards have always existed. In the purest sense, an educational standard is simply a measure of acceptable performance. It does not take a rocket scientist to set logical, sensible standards. For example, where RCSD, and urban students in general are concerned, we know that a logical, sensible, standard is that all students will read, write, and do math at or above grade level --- all along the K-12 way (never mind the nonsense about --- by third grade) --- instead, all along the K-12 way. SO, THE ISSUE IS NOT SETTING STANDARDS. Instead, the issue is developing clear, concise, effective methodologies by which standards will be met. Again, educational standards have always existed, and common sense alone dictates that raising standards (in and of itself) without clearly defining specific, concise methodologies for mastering raised-standards --- means nothing --- absolutely nothing. In fact, common sense alone also dictates that if a particular set of standards exists, and if huge numbers of students are not meeting the current standards (as is the case within the RCSD and many other urban school districts across this nation-state) --- raising standards, and doing nothing else of significance --- will absolutely, undoubtedly result in more, and deeper failure. The bottom line is that the discussion needs to be shifted to developing clear, concise, effective methodologies by which standards will be met --- period. how mayors are uniquely positioned to leverage data to maximize student outcomes What??? What in the heck does this mean? It sounds like pure, typical, big-business, widget-oriented, rhetoric. No matter what Gates or anyone else says, there is NO magic data that will maximize student outcomes. Fundamentally, all of the data is clear, and very, very old. The bottom-line question becomes what (specifically) --- in accordance with the very, very old, crystal-clear data --- are decision-makers going to do differently? There really is nothing else to it. public-private partnerships This idea absolutely raises a red-flag --- because all too frequently what this boils down to (for all practical intents and purposes) is pimping, our children and families i.e., public money flowing to private concerns / businesses --- with little or no return. In my humble, but unequivocal view, there are several prerequisite questions, which should be raised and clearly-answered relative to any so-called public-private partnerships, i.e., what (specifically) will the end results / benefits be for RCSD students / families; how many (a specific number) will benefit, and what will the exact costs be to the RCSD? The answers to these question should drive any decision to enter into so-called public-private partnerships, and the RCSD should stand ready and willing to bring legal action if specific outcomes --- spelled out in clear, legal contracts are not achieved --- period. The only listed-topic that makes complete sense is reforming city schools with [broad-based] community coalitions --- composed of parents, students, other family members, Board of Education members and other politicians, activists, educators, and anyone else who is serious about widespread, permanent, fundamental change and improvement. This is, in my humble, but staunch view, as I have advocated for decades, the only viable solution regarding the very old, deep-seated, thoroughly entrenched, urban education crisis, i.e., a broad-based, mass movement --- that is --- substantial numbers of parents, students, other family members, Board of Education members and other politicians, activists, educators, and anyone else who is serious about widespread, permanent, fundamental change and improvement --- working cooperatively, collaboratively, and consistently around clearly defined, agreed-upon, concrete, measurable, goals, strategies, and tactics, which is in essence the definition of movement. So, Mayor Warren, if Mr. Gates and/or others are really willing to support (financially and / or otherwise) efforts to reform city schools with [broad-based] community coalitions --- in my view, its a very good idea to take them up on their offers --- as long as they understand that they are objectively not the ones most qualified to lead. The Struggle Continues... Sincerely, Howard democratandchronicle/story/news/2014/03/14/lovely-warren-rochester-mayors-education/6416479/
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 14:26:40 +0000
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