From a reader
In my 8 years in Duval, it never seems to matter who takes the "top" positions. They could put my cat in the position, and students would perform how they would with or without the cat. They don't care who is in charge. These obsolete positions are useless and a waste of millions of dollars. They will never solve the real problems, and if Vitti were smart, he would eliminate them. He should talk to the principals himself, or better yet, he should just let principals freedom to enact change within their schools without so much insignificant oversight.
All of the "changes" he is making will not mitigate the issues many of our children face. Until he understands that the real issues are not school-based, he will continue to make decisions that mean nothing. Make some good changes.
1. Limit class size for the most struggling schools.
2. Allow teachers to be leaders in their own schools, not merely peons of the system.
3. Provide more counselors for the most struggling schools; most of our kids want an academic future, but they and their parents don't know the process. We have 4 counselors for 1800 students. That is 450 per counselor, which is insane!
4. Put a social worker and a psychologist in EACH struggling school.
5. Have a graduation coach for each grade level, not just 12th.
6. Revert 8 classes every other day to 4 per semester.
7. Encourage students to participate in after school clubs and provide some supplements for sponsorships.
8. Require every parent to complete OnCourse training, so they can help their children.
9. Take away ISSP and implement detention after school. We have after school buses; we may as well get our money's worth.
10. Provide more, not less security.
11. Eliminate academic coaches and allow experienced teachers to have a planning period off to provide support to those teachers. It would be a fraction of the cost of an academic coach.
12. Eliminate ALL intensive reading classes, and allow ELA teachers to teach double-blocked classes, so ALL students have more time to practice their literacy skills.
Trust me, I have more, and guess what? They don't involve useless people who walk around as if they are actually doing something for students in some abstract way
In my 8 years in Duval, it never seems to matter who takes the "top" positions. They could put my cat in the position, and students would perform how they would with or without the cat. They don't care who is in charge. These obsolete positions are useless and a waste of millions of dollars. They will never solve the real problems, and if Vitti were smart, he would eliminate them. He should talk to the principals himself, or better yet, he should just let principals freedom to enact change within their schools without so much insignificant oversight.
All of the "changes" he is making will not mitigate the issues many of our children face. Until he understands that the real issues are not school-based, he will continue to make decisions that mean nothing. Make some good changes.
1. Limit class size for the most struggling schools.
2. Allow teachers to be leaders in their own schools, not merely peons of the system.
3. Provide more counselors for the most struggling schools; most of our kids want an academic future, but they and their parents don't know the process. We have 4 counselors for 1800 students. That is 450 per counselor, which is insane!
4. Put a social worker and a psychologist in EACH struggling school.
5. Have a graduation coach for each grade level, not just 12th.
6. Revert 8 classes every other day to 4 per semester.
7. Encourage students to participate in after school clubs and provide some supplements for sponsorships.
8. Require every parent to complete OnCourse training, so they can help their children.
9. Take away ISSP and implement detention after school. We have after school buses; we may as well get our money's worth.
10. Provide more, not less security.
11. Eliminate academic coaches and allow experienced teachers to have a planning period off to provide support to those teachers. It would be a fraction of the cost of an academic coach.
12. Eliminate ALL intensive reading classes, and allow ELA teachers to teach double-blocked classes, so ALL students have more time to practice their literacy skills.
Trust me, I have more, and guess what? They don't involve useless people who walk around as if they are actually doing something for students in some abstract way
Marvelous!
ReplyDeleteGood stuff. If they even instituted half of these it would be a giant step in the right direction. I'm guessing they'll institute...none. Who wants to bet? Here's a bet I'll make - Vitti will have moved on in two years. And I'm giving odds.
ReplyDelete