OT: Political, but affects all Mississippians. Clarksdale School Scandal

[curmudgeon]

Every Mississippian should demand that every one involved in this should be fired and lose their education license. The principal should face criminal charges.

Those in education circles shook our head when a third grade teacher with no administrative experience led one of the worst schools in the country from a failing school to an A school in just two years to win a $10 million grant from the government. Now those students are unexpectedly in a new school, and they can't read or do basic math.

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2014/05/13/clarksdale-faces-cheating-allegations/9065667/

[ClancyDawg]

I wouldn't call this political, but it is an outrage. If I'm not mistaken those involved can be criminally prosecuted.

[DawgSaint]

Don't think there is any doubt there was a scam going on! Unreal!

[curmudgeon]

Unfortunately it is political. I'm hearing rumors that MDE may be involved. That $10 mm grant was huge publicity. Normal protocol on that kind of improvement calls for more than "asking the district to conduct an internal review."

This pisses me off, big time.

[BeardoMSU]

Mississippi education really needs an overhaul. Where to? I couldn't tell you, but we're certainly not getting it done - and this is just another page in our pitiful chapter.

[curmudgeon]

Here's the deal, Beardo. I have been in at least one school in every school district in this state except for two. There are great teachers in every building. Great administrators, not so much.

I witnessed an administrator at one Delta school tell a 9th grader to put his damn hand down, he aint going to college, when he raised his hand to ask me a question about college admission. Then you have a Madison Central that has 90 kids make a 30+ on the ACT. You don't hear those stories, you hear ones like this. This school district needs to be an example. If education was truly a priority, this would be all the country was talking about.

Instead, we are more worried about Donald Sterling and Michael Sam.

[Todd4State]

Here's the deal, Beardo. I have been in at least one school in every school district in this state except for two. There are great teachers in every building. Great administrators, not so much.

I witnessed an administrator at one Delta school tell a 9th grader to put his damn hand down, he aint going to college, when he raised his hand to ask me a question about college admission. Then you have a Madison Central that has 90 kids make a 30+ on the ACT. You don't hear those stories, you hear ones like this. This school district needs to be an example. If education was truly a priority, this would be all the country was talking about.

Instead, we are more worried about Donald Sterling and Michael Sam.

And remarkably the only thing the football team can do is run Midline option, FB trap, and FB dive.

[DCdawg]

I agree - it is and should be embarrassing to the education system in MS and across America. Parents, students, and teachers all need to be held accountable in the system.

[Goat Holder]

Better be careful holding anybody here accountable......

THAT'S WAAAYYYYYCIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSS

[Saltydog]

Instead, we are more worried about Donald Sterling and Michael Sam.

Best line of the day, by far......

[Gordon Gekko]

Best line of the day, by far......

I agree, I pretty much quit watching the news because of this. However, last night I started watching a "news" program and they led off with a guy from TMZ with breaking "news" about the altercation between Jay-z and Beyonce's sister. I had to change the channel. No time to focus on education when you have celebrities fighting.

[BeardoMSU]

Here's the deal, Beardo. I have been in at least one school in every school district in this state except for two. There are great teachers in every building. Great administrators, not so much.

I witnessed an administrator at one Delta school tell a 9th grader to put his damn hand down, he aint going to college, when he raised his hand to ask me a question about college admission. Then you have a Madison Central that has 90 kids make a 30+ on the ACT. You don't hear those stories, you hear ones like this. This school district needs to be an example. If education was truly a priority, this would be all the country was talking about.

Instead, we are more worried about Donald Sterling and Michael Sam.

I agree, man. I had some great teachers in middle/high school and I've worked with plenty as well. I've seen too many schools with ex-football coaches as their principal; and all they do is **** things up (there may be an exception to this, but I haven't seen one yet). In all of these occasions, the admin focused on things like uniforms/dress-code and name tags (i.e., zeigen Sie mir Ihre Papiere), mainly because these are the only factors they are mentally equipped to handle. Meanwhile, the other priorities revolve completely around test scores.

[chef dixon]

That video is pretty telling. She isn't selling her story very well in front of the camera. And the clips of them being highly motivated while hosting 106 & Park in the auditorium is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen.

[BeardoMSU]

That video is pretty telling. She isn't selling her story very well in front of the camera. And the clips of them being highly motivated while hosting 106 & Park in the auditorium is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen.

Please....Like Madison Central wouldn't do the exact same thing if it was MTV.

[chef dixon]

Please....Like Madison Central wouldn't do the exact same thing if it was MTV.

Not familiar with Madison schools, but I doubt their principal acts like a hype man.

[sandwolf]

And they wonder why people bitch about paying taxes.

[BeardoMSU]

Not familiar with Madison schools, but I doubt their principal acts like a hype man.

Well, my principal in HS, who is now the superintendent, was a worthless POS, and he was very much like that dude. And for the record, my HS was in one of the best school districts in the state.

[MSUDeltadawg1971]

It will be interesting to see how their scores are this year after testing. Surely the government will have someone there to monitor all the classes.**

[dawgs]

And they wonder why people bitch about paying taxes.

This is absolutely terrible and those responsible should be punished, but the answer isn't to stop paying/cut taxes. The answer is to make smart, intelligent decisions.

[MabenMaroon]

This is absolutely terrible and those responsible should be punished, but the answer isn't to stop paying/cut taxes. The answer is to make smart, intelligent decisions.

Maybe like reducing the number of school districts in the state to less than 10 or 12, what is it now? ... 150 +? Of course that would send the unemployment rate soaring when you cut that many school supe's , asst. supe's, secretaries, and all the other associated overpaid positions with school district administrations. ( My sincerest apologies to those administrators and associated help who are doing outstanding and yeomen like work ). But most are not, mostly products of the good ol' boy system or local politics (popularity contests).

[1bigdawg]

Maybe like reducing the number of school districts in the state to less than 10 or 12, what is it now? ... 150 +?

You are kidding yourself if you think cutting the number of school districts to 10 - 12 would a) cut jobs or b) result in better education. With that few districts you would have more layers of bureaucracy, not less, and that would require more people. More bureaucracy would also not improve education. In fact, politics would still determine who the "super-superintendent" was. One less than competent person in that position would effect 8 - 10% of the State's students. And they would have a huge political group protecting them because of the number of people who work for them.

[Johnson85]

This is absolutely terrible and those responsible should be punished, but the answer isn't to stop paying/cut taxes. The answer is to make smart, intelligent decisions.

Right. It's definitely not the system we have now, with a gov't monopoly, that is the problem. We just need to put better politicians and bureaucrats in charge, which will be easy to do.**

[archdog]

Did you go to horn lake?

[archdog]

I believe its less about the govt running education and more about teaching to a test and parents not being involved.

When the test were established, schools were measured against each other for funds. Sounds simple, but then schools changed their entire curriculum just to meet the test. Problem is it test for the lowest common denominator. Schools have now adopted this low level as their average. Lowering the bar.

As far as parents, most are not engaged in their kids discipline and education. Teachers have to teach their kids morals and discipline instead of just history.

[EAVdog]

It's all a money making scam for the higher ups unfortunately. This case is small potatoes compared to the Atlanta Ga Cheating Scandal. The Superintendent there, Beverly Hall, was brought in because she was a 'turnaround artist' with a reputation for quickly improving test scores. For this she commanded an annual salary of 750,000$'s a year. With 2 Assistants making over 150k each.

The test scores improved greatly, APS won lots of grants, teachers and administration got lots and lots of bonuses.

It was all a lie, they were having parties erasing scantron answers and filling in the right bubbles. A whole generation of kids has ended up "dumb as hell" according to one of the guilty teachers. Bev Hall retired to Hawaii and somehow escaped any scrutiny. Over 30 individuals are being prosecuted. But of course it's become political with all the usual suspects actually standing up for the teachers being caught cheating!

There is no way to fix the Public School System. Charter School are the only work around if you have kids in a bad district unless you want to pony up for private.

[slickdawg]

I believe its less about the govt running education and more about teaching to a test and parents not being involved.

When the test were established, schools were measured against each other for funds. Sounds simple, but then schools changed their entire curriculum just to meet the test.

This is the story in Texas. They had this test every year for every grade called TAKS - Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. The schools quit teaching to learn, they started teaching for the test, which is given every April in an extremely intense environment like the ACT is given. Is that really necessary for 3rd grade kids? Lock them up in a room, they must stay in the room all day, no talking, etc. This is extremely stressful on the kids and the teachers, its very intense. TAKS was replaced a couple of years ago with STARR, same crap with a different name. The test is given over a two day period. There are teachers, child specialists and psychologists expressing concern about this, how harsh it is on the children, causing extreme anxiety and depression.

Last month at my daughters school, after day one of STARR testing, a 6th grade boy went home, went out in the woods a shot himself. The school isn't talking about it and won't release any information on it.

[MadDawg]

Maybe like reducing the number of school districts in the state to less than 10 or 12, what is it now? ... 150 +? Of course that would send the unemployment rate soaring when you cut that many school supe's , asst. supe's, secretaries, and all the other associated overpaid positions with school district administrations. ( My sincerest apologies to those administrators and associated help who are doing outstanding and yeomen like work ). But most are not, mostly products of the good ol' boy system or local politics (popularity contests).

STANDING OVATION!!!!!!!!!!

[MadDawg]

You are kidding yourself if you think cutting the number of school districts to 10 - 12 would a) cut jobs or b) result in better education. With that few districts you would have more layers of bureaucracy, not less, and that would require more people.

I call bullshit on this. We have some school districts in Mississippi that are so small, it is beyond ridiculous to have a superintendent, assistant superintendent, secretaries and support staff to support such a small number of students. I give you Clay County School District. The ENTIRE SCHOOL DISTRICT consists of ONE elementary school with 173 students (that is 2007 numbers, could be different now) and the superintendent makes over $70k. Compare that to Madison County which has OVER 10,000 students! To defend that is unbelievable. Do you know how much money the state could save if they reduced the districts by 50%? About 7.5 million dollars a year. How many teachers could be hired with $7,500,000 a year? Easily 150+. That wouldn't make a difference?

(the savings proposed above ONLY takes into account the superintendent salary - if assistants and support staff were added in, the savings might be double or even more)

[sandwolf]

This is absolutely terrible and those responsible should be punished, but the answer isn't to stop paying/cut taxes. The answer is to make smart, intelligent decisions.

I am not saying that cutting taxes is the answer. I am saying that if the government would use our money effectively, people wouldn't have nearly as much of a problem with paying taxes. But when they take hundreds of billions of our tax dollars and basically flush it down the toilet, and then they turn right around and start talking about how we need to increase taxes and have people pay their fair share, there are going to be a lot of pissed off, resentful tax payers. All in all, I agree that the answer is to make good decisions.......I just don't have any faith in the ability of our politicians (from either party) to do that.

[AROB44]

One of the biggest problems with schools is that they are run by teachers who have been promoted to administration. All the teacher unions want is more $$$$. The education system will never change as long as the teacher unions have control.

[Bully13]

One of the biggest problems with schools is that they are run by teachers who have been promoted to administration. All the teacher unions want is more $$$$. The education system will never change as long as the teacher unions have control.

good point ARO. and to add to that, which will surprise some who are familiar with the political board, some of this has to be blamed on Bush's "no child left behind" law. you simply cannot expect the same results from a public school with affluent well educated parents with one with less educated poor parents. there are always exceptions to the rule. I'm just conveying overall stats. but when you start tossing around cash for improved performances and threatening schools with less funding and punishments for "non improvement" , you are going to get this type of unacceptable cheating. this shit is not isolated to Clarksdale or MS. It's happening all over the country and much of it is due to an ill advised law put into place by Bush. to make it sports related, this shit needs to get fixed so our athletes don't get pushed through and have a hard time qualifying. not to mention all the others who are getting cheated out of quality education.

[Johnson85]

One of the biggest problems with schools is that they are run by teachers who have been promoted to administration. All the teacher unions want is more $$$$. The education system will never change as long as the teacher unions have control.

In some places, but I don't think unions are really the problem in Mississippi.

[curmudgeon]

MAE and MASS have very little pull in Mississippi. Unions aren't the problem here.

I think we could easily cut our 151 school districts (Oktibbeha and Starkville are merging) down to 60 and be more than okay. Bolivar County has six different school districts.

If I were dictator for the day,

I'd take the community college districts, hire the best and brightest to run the district with a staff of about 15 each. Put a curriculum specialist in every school and run payroll and administrative functions through the state. $100 million in savings at least, and much better service.

I'd drop compulsory school attendance being the standard. If a kid doesn't want to go to school, they have two options. The community college trade programs or sit at home waiving all rights to welfare benefits until the age of 25. The schools will be centers for learning and achievement, not babysitters.

This clip would be repeated in EVERY school: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SbkHgx6YIo

No state testing. Its worthless and leads to crap like this. When you tell a teacher that her job depends on the performance of her students on the test, they are tempted to do things like this. All of them are teaching the test instead of the subject.

Those simple things would make education 100 times better in Mississippi, and we haven't really gotten started.

[HereComesTheSpiral]

MAE and MASS have very little pull in Mississippi. Unions aren't the problem here.

I think we could easily cut our 151 school districts (Oktibbeha and Starkville are merging) down to 60 and be more than okay. Bolivar County has six different school districts.

If I were dictator for the day,

I'd take the community college districts, hire the best and brightest to run the district with a staff of about 15 each. Put a curriculum specialist in every school and run payroll and administrative functions through the state. $100 million in savings at least, and much better service.

I'd drop compulsory school attendance being the standard. If a kid doesn't want to go to school, they have two options. The community college trade programs or sit at home waiving all rights to welfare benefits until the age of 25. The schools will be centers for learning and achievement, not babysitters.

This clip would be repeated in EVERY school: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SbkHgx6YIo

No state testing. Its worthless and leads to crap like this. When you tell a teacher that her job depends on the performance of her students on the test, they are tempted to do things like this. All of them are teaching the test instead of the subject.

Those simple things would make education 100 times better in Mississippi, and we haven't really gotten started.

Wasnt some state, maybe connecticut, looking to give students the option to go the trade route starting at 11th grade so they would be ready to enter the work force. Seems like schools should start pushing the trade route heavily to kids in high school so they can explore their options. I know plumbers and welders that make a lot more money than I make.

[drunkernhelldawg]

We're actually doing better than we were before state testing, which isn't saying much I know. There is no doubt that lower achieving students are benefiting from the schools being held accountable for their performance. I think the emphasis that schools are placing on the tests is hurting the educational experience of a lot of students, especially the better students. I'd like to see schools use the tests without beating the whole school community over the head with it constantly. Maybe there should be a law that limits incentives for state test performance. I'd rather see the teaching go on as normal and the test given with much less fanfare than they currently enjoy. For this to happen, the state has to limit the influence of the scores on school grades.