About the Kansas City Public Schools

When I was growing up in New York city, with few exceptions, it was recognized that the public school system was terrible. If you had two nickels to rub together you sent your child to private or parochial school. That was just the way it was. It was something known throughout the entire city--maybe out in Staten Island they felt better about their neighborhood schools, but in the four other boroughs, Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, the general feeling was that the schools run by the city stunk, and you just didn't send your kid there if you could help it. It burned people to pay taxes to run the crappy schools and pay tuition to educate their own kids, but it was one of those things that was just taken as part of the package of living in New York City.

Over the past 30 years, the Kansas City schools have slowly slid into the same abyss. There are so many reasons why the schools have gone into the dumper, but gone there they have. Now, as generations of ill educated people pass by, and education is less and less valued, the schools get worse and worse. What came first? The bad schools? The bad values? What has gone on with the drug trade in our poorer neighborhoods and the lure of easy money? The flight of those who value education more?--first the White Flight driven by prejudice and ignorance, then the flight of Black families that want their kids to be well educated. It gets harder and harder to overcome the poor family/parental support that the kids bring with them to school. Expectations drop. Discipline goes away. Instead of reinforcing school rules, parents threaten the school with lawsuits and blame. All this going on in a nation that is doing less and less manual labor and more and more things that require skills. Things that require the ability to read, do math, comprehend and follow concepts and ideas--basically the skill to be able to think. Both our institutions and our values are failing us here with the result that our abilities are decreasing daily as a nation and people.

You don't have to go to college to be an innovator, but you do have to develop an intellectual curiosity about the world around you, and have some basic and fundamental skills to create something special. That starts younger then college. We are losing those youngsters. It's hurting us already. To really fix it, we have to renounce our anti-intellectual bent, our lack of value of being educated in the family, our blame passing and our lack of expectations. We can work on the institution all day long, and spend lots of money, but these are the things that really need fixing.

Late Night Redistricting Ramblings...

I went to the Southern Communities Coalition meeting tonight. As you might expect, it was a meeting of folks who rejected the Map 1-R redistricting solutions; who saw the map that lopped of the top half of the 6th district west clear to Holmes and sent the north west border clear up to 59th street in spots. South KC residents saw both loss--to the 5th of commercial and civic resources--and threat--from the wishes of the richer and more highly connected Waldo/Brookside area. To many it felt as if the 6th was paying the price for the failings of the 5th and 3rd districts--the districts losing population to both other KCMO areas and other cities in the metro due to high crime and other quality of life issues.

You can't think about redistricting without ending up thinking about race matters and we did end up talking after more explicitly afterwards. I hope to share more later, and some photos taken at the meetings, as well as the "community map."
The citizen's committee meets tomorrow at 3:30 at City Hall to issue its decision. It would be nice for the committee to do the people of south KC the courtesy of passing on the "community map" on to the council as well as the so-called "done deal" map 1-R. We may still end up being sliced up pretty well but at least they will have heard us scream.

Posted using Blogger for iPhone.

Map proposed by a group of 6th district citizens. Other maps can be found in this earlier post.

Redistricting Meeting

The Observer is currently sitting at the Redistricting meeting. It actually has been reasonably mellow to this point but we are getting a few fireworks over the legality of a new map. Carol Coe was also worth a few quotes. There will be more later. The Observer is trying to grasp the actual practical statues of the Voting Rights Act which looms large in this room.

A Crapload of Crap

Wow have we been riding the crap train in Kansas City--and nationally--these last few days newswise. Not one but two (2) incidents of multiple homicide in KCMO--three victims each--over the past few days. Also killings in the Golden Ghetto of JoCo KS. KCMSD losing accreditation. Our big college conference is falling apart-- yes the Big 12 whose championships we often host, who provides the scaffolding for our regional college rivalries--is in serious trouble. Oh yes, our professional sport teams continue to stink, even with the small rays of hope surrounding the Royals.

Nationally we have continued news of a poor economy with the most disheartening being the increasing poverty rate, decreasing middle class and concentration of more wealth among fewer people to the detriment of all-- yes it is a detriment if all the rich do is sit on their money or practice the godless philosophy of Ayn Rand. Politicians and economists are only guessing at what might actually help create the jobs we so desperately need, what would free up private enterprises to decide to hire people. I believe we are in a period of creating an entirely new economic order--doesn't this adjustment period stink? We seriously have to readjust our sights from an economy based on consuming and consumerism to one more inclined to being self sufficient and as self contained as possible, to serving one another, and to feeding into (rather then taking advantage of) hot economies in other parts of the world. There are going to be some hard choices to make, and a lot is against us,

So how is your week so far?

Next for KCMSD: A School Board that Disappears

You might recall that we had a lot of drama last week over the resignation of the superintendent of the KCMSD, John Covington, who resigned to, as it turns out, take a really sweet paying gig up in the Detroit, Michigan area. We all felt a little played, especially those who really stood up for Mr. Covington. I still think that he did something that had to be done--something that was going to be painful and could cost a person a lot of support. When people gave that support, only to have him bail in such a sudden way, I think they felt betrayed. People supported the plan to close schools at some cost to themselves as well, as they were threatening the grifter gravy train that the school district had become.

In addition, a rift in the school board was exposed. Frankly, unless you are a close follower of the goings on at the school board the fact that we all know who these people are is a bad thing. I don't even live in the district and I can name three KCMSD board members without even trying. I think I can only name one Hickman Mills school board member right off the top of my head. I can name the superintendent without even thinking hard--and that is the way it should be. The administration's head is the face of the schools to the community.

So tonight, after meeting together so much their spouses/S.O.s must have been wondering, the KCMSD board found an "interim" superintendent. They will now look for a new one. Also Airick West will step down as board president. I don't know who the lucky soul will be to take that mantel, but I am hoping it is neither Arthur Benson, or Duane Kelly.

KCMSD needs a superintendent who is committed for the long haul, and the contract they offer needs to have disincentives to leaving early. I don't know who is in-house but start there. As much as I would hate to see thriving districts in the metro lose talent, the next place would be to consider a district in the KC metro. Only look outside if none of the above pan out for a candidate. Then the superintendent needs to be the only face of the KCMSD. Names like West, Kelly and Benson should fade into anonymity. It is not a good thing when the school board makes the news for anything other than the operational decisions that it is responsible for under the structure of the district.

The State Needs to Take Over the KCMSD

Well, here we go again. Another superintendent has resigned from the Kansas City Missouri School District. That makes like 25 since I moved here in 1989--more or less.

It is time for the state to take this district over.

Now, I know that strictly speaking, the KCMSD does not involved south Kansas City. Kids living south of 85th street (more or less) go to a mixture of schools--Lee's Summit, Raytown, Hickman Mills, Grandview and Center. They all have their own problems but none is in the rotten condition and carries the rotten history of the KCMSD. However, since schools and how good they are is an integral part of quality of life--part of the equation when considering where to live--we do have to concern ourselves with the state of the KCMSD.

Many people have gotten rich off of all the money poured into the KCMSD. The deseg money, the endless money to run the place--how much of it really went to benefit the kids?

John Covington, love him or hate him, got the district to take the tough medicine of contracting. His plan certainly wasn't perfect--the Southwest school was a disaster and the past year's test scores were not at all good--but the contracting had to be done to eliminate the excess capacity we cannot afford to keep. Now it is time to take the next step: remove the influence of those looking to collect some of the bucks floating around the district and make the place accountable for their actions. State management would also give time for considerations on other changes in the district, such as splitting it into two or more pieces.

KCMO leadership has tried and failed at running this district--let the state of Missouri take a try at it.

Ray-Pec Bus Drama and DUMB Parent!

Last week a bus driver in the Raymore-Peculiar school district had to stop his bus and involve himself with two students on the bus who were fighting. The incident, which involved the driver physically contacting students, has caused some conversation. The event is being investigated by the school district. The video, which is grainy and jumpy, does appear to show the driver putting his hands on a child's shoulders near his neck at one point. The whole scene looks completely out of control. You know it had to be bad for the bus driver to pull over, as these buses are on strict schedules. There is no other video at this point and the bus was not equipped with its own camera.

A mother interviewed by KSHB said the following: "That is horrible. I don't think that school bus driver should be allowed to do that. If there is a problem occurring, don't physically put your hands on anybody, especially somebody else's child. He shouldn't have put his hands on him." In the videotaped interview, she allows that kids can be separated but continues to say that the driver should not touch anyone.

What a fool! I bet her kids are just angels from being handled with soft gloves. How do you propose the driver deal with that out of control mess without occasionally touching the darling children? Keep driving and let the kids beat the sh*t out of each other? Drive with all that distraction and risk a crash? Pull over, call for help from the police and wait, doing nothing, while out of control kids damage each other, the bus, and maybe run out into traffic? Yeah, that'll fly.

Woman, get your head out of your butt, and teach your kids, and all kids to show some respect to others, including adults! In the meantime, bus drivers without chaperones on their buses should probably just drive to the local police station when the little darlings start acting out. Let the cops "touch" them.

Links: KSHB's report, containing the above gem. KMBC's, demonstrating that gossip is still gossip, even with smart phones and KCTV5, showing that KSHB didn't find the only idiot mother.

KMBZ Stiffed at Cosby Panel at Ruskin HS

Display ad announcing the event, as seen in The Call dated week of March 25-31.

As I first reported on Facebook this morning(and please visit the badge and "like" my page if you are on Facebook!), KMBZ radio was shut out of interviewing Bill Cosby at his appearance at Hickman Mills High School this morning. According to Eric Bell, the KMBZ reporter at Ruskin this morning they were all set to do the interview, along with Fox4, when a person described as a local "consultant" stated that KMBZ would not get an interview. When Mr. Cosby stated his wish that no one be excluded, this "consultant" overruled him and stated again that KMBZ would not get an interview opportunity. Mr. Bell later reported overhearing later as he was packing up Mr. Cosby asking why KMBZ was excluded. Mr. Bell said that he did not hear any answer to the question.

Of course, people who were there emailed and whatnot to KMBZ more details about what happened. It turned out that the "consultant" was one Eric Wesson who is a columnist working at the Kansas City Call. He also works with something called "One Goal Consultants." As KMBZ looked further at the situation, it was remembered that KMBZ had done an investigation six years ago and discovered that Mr. Wesson was working both as a journalist covering the political campaign of Emanual Cleaver and as a consultant to the campaign, activity for which he got paid. It was ethically a little skanky and Mr. Wesson found himself with a problem due to KMBZ's reportage.

Now this was an invitation only event and the organizers have the right to limit media. However, Mr. Cosby is a force for good in the Black community and it makes little sense to limit access for the press. Furthermore, you can never have enough publicity. KMBZ would have done a nice puff piece, some interview time with Mr. Cosby that would have made a nice podcast, everybody wins. So there is no benefit to limiting the access by the local media to exclusives and only people with whom you agree. So this was just dumb. KMBZ repeatedly said that it was this one person, Eric Wesson, and not anyone from the Hickman Mills C-1 school district, or Ruskin HS or Mr. Bill Cosby himself. I certainly hope it was not at the direction of any school board members or Hickman Mills Superintendent Marjorie Williams.

Assuming Mr. Wesson was acting on his own, he was being a very bad model for the young people at Ruskin HS. He was being unforgiving, vindictive, petty and angry. He was taking the position of a victim (mean old conservative KMBZ caused me to have the problem!) instead of taking responsibility for his own choices and actions. This is something that should have never happened. It was unprofessional. It was petty. It smacks of the old "victim mentality" that has hurt many in the Black community. It looks too much like choosing who gets to report based on the presumed "position" of the prospective journalist. In the end, it cast a shadow on what should have been nothing but a feel good forum and educational event. And that is a shame.

Link: KMBZ reports on itself!

Ruskin HS Boys Wins District 13 Basketball Championship

The Ruskin Eagles defeated the Rockhurst Hawklets 63-61 in double overtime. They will go on to play in the state playoffs. The next game is 6:30 pm Wednesday, March 2nd at the Independence Event Center against Lee's Summit North. (Go here for the full bracket.)

Congratulations to the Eagles for a hard fought win!

A full write up and a couple of pics can be found here and yet more photos here.

Report: Not Smooth Sailing During First Day of School

It's not coming up much in MSM yet, but apparently the start of the 2010-2011 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.

Mass Appeal News: First Day a Disaster

KCTV 5; Hickman Mills Junior High slowed during first day.

Fox 4: Unity Theme of first Day for New Ruskin High Students

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.

Mayor Funk's Sprint Center Event: FAIL!

There just is not another word for it. The mayor's Town Meeting yesterday--Monday night--on his School's First plan was an epic failure. He had about 250 people in attendance, many of which were children who were invited to come and pick up awards for their work during the just concluded school year. This tiny group was bumping around in the 17,000 seat Sprint Center.

Photo from The Kansas City Star. Free commentary from The Observer

According to blogger PFlow of Mo Rage, this little event set the taxpayers back over $6 K. It was not for lack of publicity, as the Funk was all over TV and radio last week--his housing presser was just one of many public and media appearances for the mayor. There is no support for his Schools First proposal, which will concentrate on infrastructure work around schools and add more police patrols around schools, at a cost of $100 million, to be generated by borrowing and taxing. The proposal did not even crawl out of City Council committee, the KCMSD has had no interest, and the public has zero inclination to vote for more taxes and borrowing for the city.

It more and more appears that Mayor Funkhouser is a lame duck mayor, grasping at straws for a positive legacy. Even though he has not officially declared his intentions to run or not run in the mayor's race for 2011, he is regarded almost universally as "DONE" by most everyone. He has made many missteps, most infamously involving the actions of his wife at City Hall, which resulted in a law suit that cost the city big money. When he came on the scene, he was coming off a fairly successful term as the city auditor, was seen as clean and an outsider who was willing to take on the City Hall establishment. He just squeaked by then councilman Alvin Brooks to gain the mayor's office. However, it appears as if his tin ear for the courtesies and realities of political life and his stubbornness are going to cost him further service as mayor of our city and he seems to be becoming increasingly irrelevant and even silly as his term draws to an end.

PFlow of the Mo Rage blog makes a sensible call for the lame duck mayor to spend the rest of his term and political capital addressing our homicide rate.

Coverage here from the Kansas City Star and The Pitch, with photos showing how empty the place was and how silly the proceedings got.

Reshaping the District

Balloon releasers included faculty, administration, staff and athletes from both schools, along with superintendent Williams and City Councilman Sharp.

With the school year drawing to a close, the last major sporting contest between Ruskin High School and Hickman Mills High School was held today. As the reader may recall, Hickman Mills High School will close at the end of this year. The district decided to have a little bit of ceremony to commemorate the occasion, most memorably a release of orange and blue balloons into the windy sky before the girl's soccer teams took the field. The two school's drum lines played together and apart, there was music and dance, and free refreshments.

The day was windy, but warm and sunny, clear as could be. Aside from an excess of waiting time before the festivities, it appeared that all went well. There appeared to have been one fight but I never saw it, and it didn't seem to last long. (How did I know there was a fight? All the kids in the bleachers ran to the top seats, yelling "Fight, fight!". They weren't there long.) The police presence was obvious, including two mounted officers.

Blue and orange balloons take off into the blue sky carried by the strong wind.

First half play between the two teams.

The girls played a scoreless first half. Hickman Mills scored about midway through the second half. Unfortunately, I could not see the game to its end, and I have not been able to find out if that one goal held up for a win for the Hickman Mills Cougars in the last major team sport contested between two high schools in the Hickman Mills School District.

Update: Hickman Mills High School girls won the game with a final score of 2-0. Always good to go out on a winning note. Other district teams should note that next year's combined team may be pretty good!

All photos by The Observer.

Kansas City Missouri School Board Agrees to Superintendent's Plan

The Kansas City Missouri School Board sucked it up and agreed to the plan developed by Superintendent John Covington to close about half of the KCMOSD buildings. The history behind how they got here, and the possible trips and snares going forward are both deep and complicated. The simple fact is we got too few students going to too many buildings and schools. The district cannot pay for this any more. Some must close.

How did the Kansas City Missouri School District get into this pickle? So many factors: deseg money that gave the district a false sense of financial security, white and middle class black flight to suburban and outlying Kansas City school districts, the natural aging of the population with a consequent reduction in the number of kids. In addition, the school board and school processes became a center of power for some Black leaders, and that power has been abused and used for selfish purposes.

What may happen now? Well, one thing to note is that in April, five school board seats are up for election, and shifts in the office holders could cause the school board to be less cooperative with Superintendent Covington, at best, and at worst, could end up with his eventual outster. And of course, the actual closing process--dealing with personnel and buildings--will be full of details and push and pull. Patronage will be in full display.

These closures must happen. If they do not happen, the district will be a financial shipwreck, and risks full state take over. In fact, in my opinion, if the closings do not happen, the state must come in and take over. Ditto, if the superintendent is removed by political force.

As said previously in this blog, in several entries regarding the Hickman Mills C-1 district, in which the Observer lives, closing schools suck. And you never want it to be your school that closes. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

Yeah, you wanna read the Kansas City Star's coverage--linked right here.

And here's some TV coverage from KSHB--linked here.

An Open Letter to the Students of Ruskin High School

Last Wednesday night, by a 4-3 vote, the Hickman Mills C-1 School Board decided that it would be Hickman Mills High School that would close, and that Ruskin High School would be the school for 11th and 12th grades in the district. The meeting was emotional and contentious at times. After the meeting, there were several media reports voicing worry that the kids in the new combined school would not get along. I think they will get along OK, with no more then the normal school kerfuffles. Here are letters (one this post and one the next post down) that I would write to the respective student bodies.

To Ruskin High students who will be juniors and seniors next (2010-11) year:

There has been a difficult decision made by those in charge of your school. The "other" high school in the district, Hickman Mills High, is going to become the school for the JV set, and you and the juniors and seniors from Hickman Mills High will be going to school together at the Ruskin building this year. You will all be known as Ruskin High School at that time. Nobody wanted this to happen, but even "C" students in remedial math can add these numbers and find that the school district cannot support two high schools at this time.

There has been several stories in the media that indicate that people fear there will be trouble between you and the kids from Hickman Mills when you come together, trouble of a violent nature. I think that these stories are overblown. I think you kids will rise to the occasion, and surprise your elders with how smoothly this goes.

A few words of advice to make sure that indeed, this does indeed go smoothly.

• Remember that disputes do not have to be resolved with physical means. Problems can be talked out with a mediator much of the time. Remember, most of it is small stuff, which, if not allowed to turn into big stuff, will be forgotten in a day's time.
• Think of yourselves as hosts now and you have new guests. Show new people around. Tell them some of the traditions. Open your hearts and make new friends.
• Get respect by giving respect. Treat each other kindly. Remember that there are times for fun, kidding around and snapping on each other, and there are other times to work together and honor each other with the whole heart.
• Remind yourself that this is not easy on the Hickman Mills kids. They've been going to school in one place for 2 or 3 years, and now, they have to go someplace else. They have good memories of Hickman Mills. Many of them will remember with pride they went there. They may show up at school wearing orange, if it's OK with the administration. Be OK with this yourself. They are not trying to insult you or put you down (and even if they are, will it matter one hour from now?), they are remembering and memorializing.

Yes, surprise the naysayers. Show them that the heart of our community, our schools, is fully functional and ready to go. In the process, you will receive the kind of education that is priceless, the kind of education that will serve you where ever you might end up. And you get the other kind too--the reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic education--you'll need to thrive in today's world.

Blessings to you as you pursue your life's path.

The South Kansas City Observer

An Open Letter to the Students of Hickman Mills High School

Dear Hickman Mills High students who will be juniors and seniors next (2010-11) school year:

As you know the people who run the school district have decided to close the Hickman Mills High School, and have all the high school juniors and seniors go to school over at Ruskin High School's building and be called Ruskin High School. The building you now know as school will be used as school for the those in 9th and 10th grades now.

Let's face it, this sucks. There is no putting a pretty face on it. This just sucks. But the numbers are undeniable. Between the downturn in the housing market, and the loss of retail tax revenue, and the decrease in enrollment at the secondary level (that's everyone from 9th grade up), it makes no money sense to keep open two fully equipped high schools. Just because we would like it to be so, does not make it possible for it to be so.

So you all will be going to a new school. The press has been having a field day saying that there will be problems when the the two schools combine--problems of a violent nature. I personally think these problems are overstated. I think they don't give our young people enough credit. Of course, like any grown up, I have a little advice, advice that if you pay even just a little attention to, will help avoid the kind of bad stuff the press is speculating about.

• Treat your new surroundings, and the people you meet with respect. By giving respect, you will get respect back.
• Be open to the overtures of friendship from the kids who have been at Ruskin all along. Remember this is not easy for them either.
• If you do have a conflict, resolve it by means other than physical violence. Don't be afraid to have a third person come in to act as a mediator. Keep perspective, remember most stuff is small stuff, and if it can remain small stuff, it will be forgotten within a day or two.

One thing you still have are all the good memories of life at Hickman Mills High School. You will be the guardians of those memories. Don't use them as a weapon against others, instead treasure them. Surprise all the outsiders who think there will be trouble. Show them that you are far better then that, made of much sterner stuff.

I do hope you get to wear your orange uniform shirts and school gear as part of your uniform during these 1-2 years. Wear them proudly, but not so proudly that you get in a fight about it. If you can't avoid conflict, don't wear it! Learning how to fit in to new places, make new friends and avoid needless conflict is learning that will serve you well your entire life. This learning will also make the regular learning--the reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic--easier and better too.

Blessings to you as you continue the journey of learning and growing up

The South Kansas City Observer

In This Corner...

John Covington, the School Superintendent of the Kansas City, Missouri School District, has proposed the closure of approximately 30 of the school buildings in the KCMOSD, to try to save money. Last night was the first of five public forums on the topic. I am sure that the School Board and the several organizations that have influence over the KCMO schools are also in Covington's ears about this idea. I have always strongly felt that the KCMO schools are a hotbed of patronage jobs, ass kissing and dead administrative weight. The KCMO school board has always been a bunch of weenie yes-people, and organizations such as ACORN and Freedom Inc have had undue influence on the decisions made on behalf of KCMO schools. I think many a superintendent has run head long into this entrenched system and been unable to move it. The system then follows up by working to run the erstwhile reformer out of town. Anyone who is willing to take aim at the bloated system is considered a threat of the highest order. This vision of what is happening came to mind yesterday...

The stage is set, the fighters are in their corners, jumping up and down, chewing on their mouth pieces. The corner men are yelling last minute instructions. The buzz from the crowd is full of anticipation; they've seen this champion before and know that it will be a very difficult fight for the challenger...

Out comes the tuxedo-clad ring announcer--

Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to tonight's championship fight! Tonight we have a classic encounter between a traditional power house--the patronage system of the Kansas City, Missouri school system and John Covington, School Superintendent. Let's meet the fighters!

In this corner, weighing in with a strong reputation and "no patience for foolishness" with victories in Colorado and Alabama in improving school performance and efficiency we have the Kansas City Missouri's new school superintendent John Covvington!

The superintendent emerges from his corner, pounds his gloves, shadow boxes a bit, bounces on his toes...

And in this corner, with a record of victory against 19 superintendents over a 30 year period, awash in desegregation money, rich in jobs for family and friends, well entrenched in a school board that will say "yes" to anything that will increase power and funds, we have the KCMOSD Patronage System!!

The big beast lumbers out of the corner, looks around, looks at John Covington with beady little eyes. The corner men, ACORN and Freedom Inc, also stare at Covington...

It's going to be an interesting fight, folks. As painful as it is, it is the right thing to do. In the 1960s, the KCMO School District enrolled 75,000 students. Today, the enrollment is 17,000. Already 40 schools have closed over the years. For this year, the budget is $40 million in the red. Closing schools will result in the loss of jobs, including 250+ teacher jobs. It will be important to make sure the right schools are closed, but decreasing the size of this school district must be done.

While the KCMO school district serves areas north of 85th street, its progress or not is important to all of Kansas City, since an attractive school district is part of the package that makes people want to live in a given place...

They Retreated, They Made One Decision

It is for sure, announced today by the school board. Hickman Mills C-1 school district will loss one high school, starting the 2010-11 academic year. The plan is to separate by grades, with 10-12 together, 8-9 together and 6-7 together. Which high school will cease to exist and exactly which buildings will be used for what are not yet fully determined. A Boundary Committee meeting is scheduled for February 2nd, and a Town Hall meeting will be scheduled to give the community an opportunity to make their voices heard. The school board, as noted in the Kansas City Star article, is already planning on making changes with the leased offices and the maintainance department facility. One question answered with certainty now. Several more to go, and some community mourning to do as well.

Kansas City Star: Hickman Mills district will consolidate high schools.

KSHB: Hickman Mills Board Approves Consolidation

KCTV: Hickman Mills Approves HS Consolidation Plan

KMBC: Hickman Mills to Consolidate Schools

When Blogging About Current Events...

...you should always know the date. For some reason, I thought the Hickman Mills C-1 school board meeting had already taken place. It actually was last night, Thursday, January 21st. However, it changes nothing about the post. More worries were aired by parents, teachers and students about merging the two high schools at last night's meeting. The board is still retreating this weekend to make the decision. We will still be waiting for the official decision to be announced, probably sometime in February. It will be a decision that no one likes.

News link from KMBC: Hickman Mills School Merger Angers Parents

High School Decision to Come in February

400 people attended the public meeting earlier this month with regard to the potential elimination of one of the high schools in the Hickman Mills C-1 school district here in South Kansas City. I figured this idea would get a few people fired up. There are Facebook groups "Save Ruskin", "Save Hickman Mills" with about 1000 members on each per the KC Star. The decision will probably come about in February's school board meeting, on the 18th, as teacher's contracts must be offered and athletic schedules must be made. Both The Star and The Jackson County Advocate are reporting that the decision may well be made when the school board gets together this weekend to talk about it.

I am not a graduate of either Hickman Mills or Ruskin, but I do know what it is like to have your school threatened with closure. My school in Vermont has experienced the same factors, only smaller: Two town businesses shut down, and enrollment has been declining over the years. (Vermont is actually a very old state population-wise, with a median age in the top five in the US.) If my school were to close, it would hurt, but I also know that it is the right thing to do; carrying the school will burden the people with taxes and hurt the town. For my high school, in my opinion, it is only a matter of time before it is closed. Unfortunately, Hickman Mills C-1 is in the same boat as my hometown school; lower enrollment, closed businesses/decreased income. It looks like the nasty demographic and financial writing is on the wall; one school will close. Which one will close? I have to leave that to the school board; they know more about which school is functioning at a higher level, or would be easier to close, or easier to repurpose, or a thousand other factors that they have to consider. (I would be willing to bet that a few on the school board are thinking to themselves, "I did not sign up for this.") One thing I do know: one group on Facebook is going to be very disappointed after the decision is made.

The Kansas City Star article: "Feelings run deep as district mulls fates of Ruskin, Hickman Mills high schools" Read the comments on the article too. The most intriguing one? The one about marching on the central office to ask about costs. The scariest one? The one speculating that merging the school populations might result in trouble.

About School Closings

Many schools on the Missouri side are closed today due to combination of nasty temperatures and wind chills and icy, snowy side streets. There has been discussion in the community about these school closures and when they should happen. For example, even though the majority of MO side metro districts closed for today, Lee's Summit R-7 decided to stay open and have school. Some felt that this was good and some felt that this was a dangerous and bad decision by the district. It is hard to tell what the Kansas side of the metro will really do with schools as many of them are not yet in session; most are scheduled to start up again Thursday, January 7th.

First, before I air my view on this, a few things I will not do or that will not be a part of the argument, because they just muddy the waters and stir up ill will. 1. I will not compare Kansas City to any place that routinely has this kind of cold snowy weather. So there will be no saying Kansas City is wimpy compared to Chicago, or St. Paul, or Anchorage or Boston or Burlington, Vt. Every region has what it is used to. If this weather was to become routine, that every winter we could count on weather like this showing up, we would start having school more routinely in this type of weather. 2. I will not compare today's school situations with when I was growing up. First, because while I was going to school, I was either living in the most extremely urban environment there is--New York City or I was living in a very rural area which was very lightly populated. In addition to that, I went to a small school. Our bus drivers only had to deal with rural routes in one 36 square mile town, and half of two other 36 square mile towns. In addition, all were experienced drivers with years of experience driving down these rural roads. Conversely, our road crews also had much experience dealing with the roads. (Sidebar: If you ever move to a small town in snow country, and anyone says to you at Town Meeting or similar, "Hey, we need a Road Commissioner; want to run for the office?" Say NO, then RUN--politely of course. Road Commissioner is one of the most thankless posts in the world!) 3. In the 1970s, lawyers and large jury settlements had not yet run amok, and the schools were not quite so litigation conscious. 4. Many fewer kids were driving themselves to school. Basically, you had to be a senior, and better yet, over 18, and surrender your first born to be able to drive to school when I went to school. Nowadays, school parking lots are full of students' cars. Let's face it, most young drivers are dumb as a box of rocks, and even smart ones will make mistakes due to inexperience. Now, having said all that, let's get into this thing.

Some may be under an impression that schools find it easier to cancel. In reality, schools do not want to cancel. They would rather stick to the schedule, and end on time. They have a set number of days they have to be in session. Back in the day, it was 180 days. I don't think it has changed much. Sticking with the schedule is easier than having it get blown up by postponed days. Think how many things are booked literally years in advance. For example, some schools use community churches for their graduation ceremonies. Often they are bigger and more comfortable than any auditorium or gym the school has on campus. But the school must book the date with the church to reserve the space. If school gets too extended into June, this can be a problem. There is also all extracurricular activities, sports, field trips etc. to account for. So schools don't want to cancel. Not to mention that every day students are not in school, two things are happening. One, knowledge is leaking out of their brains at an astounding rate and two, some of the more vulnerable may be finding other things to do beside go to school and continue the habit of not going once the weather clears. It also must be mentioned that for working and single parents, finding some where for the displaced student to go is not always easy, and I would bet that some students not in school are home alone. However balanced against these ideas and the desire of a school to remain in session is the concern for student and staff safety plus keeping ambulance chasing litigation lawyers out of the pockets of the school district. Mainly, this is concentrated around transporting the kids to school, either kids riding in buses or kids driving themselves. The school administrator wants to know: what are the roads like? Can a car drive them? A bus? Or are they in such a shape that only 4x4s are getting through? Are they over the head of green 17 year old drivers taking the wheel in their first winter? A second factor is temperature/wind chill. Kids waiting out at bus stops when typically the daily low temp is achieved can be in danger if the weather is really cold. Also, some kids are poorly parented and supervised and get out of the house in inappropriate clothing, During the current cold spell, I have seen students in sandals, in shorts and young ladies in skirts without hose, tights or leggings. For some, they may not have good coats and mittens. In addition when there are heaps of snow around, and bus stops may be covered, or even plowed over, the kids are not waiting in a safe place, but sometimes out in the street where traffic is moving over streets with less than normal traction.

So, having said all that, I say this: respect the decision made by your school administration to have school or cancel school. If you feel that the decision is not correct, formulate your case why, and take it to the administrator and the school board. Sitting back and being an endless sniping critic does nothing for nobody. Nobody has done anything wrong by canceling school, or having school. The decision and its parameters are unique for each individual school district. For example, to take today's outlier, Lee's Summit R-7: Lee's Summit has their own bus fleet and drivers. They may feel that this gives them better drivers and buses then schools that hire companies to drive the kids. Lee's Summit may feel that most of the bus routes are clear enough for buses to go safely. They may feel that the district's upper middle class demographic will mean that more kids ride to school in their parents' 4x4. My only concern with a district like Lee's Summit having school: The boneheaded inexperienced younger driver. To me, that is when it is time for a parent to step in and say, "Buster, I'll take you to school or you're riding the bus. High morning commute is not the time to be gaining your winter driving experience." If a kid crashes going to school, lawyers could make a case that it is the school's fault for being open. I could make a case that it is the parents' fault for not snatching the keys out of Junior's hands. The same can be said of the inadequately dressed student. It's the school's fault the kid is running around in open toed sandals because they are in session. But it's the parent/guardian's fault for not insuring the kid is dressed properly. So you see how it could go for school administrations. That is why, most of the time, if a school district has any doubt about having school, they cancel school. The district's lawyers are much happier.

Two last notes: I realized that because I was thinking back to my school days, I used the somewhat outdated term "4x4" to refer to vehicles we would generally call "SUV" these days. Second, I always lived 1/4 mile from school, always. Thus, I always had to walk to school. Whether or not the bus was running was a moot point.