-2011 school year in the reorganized and consolidated Hickman Mills School District was not a winner. From mom/journalist Crystal Booker writing on the site Mass Appeal News--she reports disorganization with schedules, and a fight at Ruskin between students. KCTV 5 reported on problems with bus schedules and delays getting into the new junior high building. Fox 4 reported on the use of the theme of unity at the high school. There is no doubt, this is going to be tough going, with a lot of pain. The high schoolers are really going to have to step up and act their age instead of their shoe size. Barring a huge influx of new people and money, this is the way it is going to be. Administrators, too, must step up. If, as Ms. Booker writes in her post on Mass Appeal, they were not attired appropriately and didn't plan as they should have--after all, they had all summer!--then maybe we need us some new administrators.As a patron of C-1, a property owner, and a taxpayer, I expect our schools to be run professionally. I'm going to be watching and my expectations are high. In many ways, a community is as good as its schools. Everyone--students, teachers and administrators--needs to take that to heart, and do this right.
Comment I hope carries the day--and the year:
From Sylvia Ross Ruskin 2011, reacting to the Fox 4 story:
with all the negativity being past i would like it to be known that ruskin isnt bad as the media portrays it to be. with alll of it, i feel that combining the schools, gives us a chance to meet new people of our community and become a stronger more powerful district. for anyone who has bad things to say about this idea and new experience you might as well stop. we are intelligent young adults, and we can prove to you all that hickman and ruskin can combining is one heck of a money saver.
4 comments:
T.O.:
I only want to know why was the educational system SO much "simpler" in the 50s and 60s?
And since THAT system wasn't broke, why did people take it upon themselves to "fix" it?
(inquiring minds want to know).
What...A...World!
Have a great weekend.
Bob G:
It does seem as if school has gotten a lot more complicated over the years. I wonder if it is because the schools are being asked and tasked to do more than teach reading, riting and rithmatic? At the same time as schools are asked to do more, the ability to discipline becomes less and less.
It's not easy doing school any more, no sir. Front line staff earn their keep!
Another problem is that the education major does not attract the best and brightest. Statistical analysis of college major GPAs has documented this over and over.
Hopefully, this will settle down and be OK, at the least. However, when the even-more-consolidated KCMSD starts up, we could see similar, only bigger.
Wondering at times
The Observer
WV: (I hadn't signed in yet, so I get one) "goall" Appropriate for a post on education!
Dear Bob and The Observer,
My husband once made a very just observation about public schools. He said that they never educated everybody. That was the point of Brown v. Board of Education.
Brown v. BoE increased their mandate to truly educate everyone. Our communities have never stepped up to the Spirit of the Law in re: Brown v Board. We are reaping what we sowed there and we have a mighty bad harvest.
I salute you for bringing this up. Schools are all-important to reviving our country and its people.
Ann T.
Ann T:
Hmmm, as the saying goes, "Very interesting." It would be interesting to examine the history of public education. We know that schools were segregated purposefully in many areas for a long time. Some segregation was reflective of community segregation (see Boston).
Growing up in Manhattan--NYC, unless you lived in a few select areas, you found the shekels to send your kid to private school. That was as effective as "white flight" in segregating the schools, and certainly segregated them by economic status.
A lot of food for thought here.
Meanwhile, there has been no news of riots at the consolidated high school, Ruskin. The more I think about it, the more I am starting to agree with those who thought starting some new traditions (name, colors, mascot, etc) might not have been a bad idea.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment
The Observer
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