Bard’s president, Leon Botstein, isn’t in the meat business.
Bard College President, Leon Botstein.
You send your kid to a school in NY. It’s a good neighborhood school. You like the school. It has caring and dedicated teachers. It struggles with test scores, but as Eduwonkette has demonstrated, there doesn’t seem to be a correlation between test scores and a positive school environment.
As a result of the latest stupidity from NY’s school chancellor Klein, schools now get a grade, A through F. The grade is mainly based on Regents’ test scores. The school you send your kid to, the one with the good school environment but weak Regents’ test scores, gets a C or a D. Great incentive for the staff (I’m being ironic). Good for the kids too (irony again). And the parents start feeling uneasy (no irony).
But it is a regular school. No famous parents. No influence downtown.
According to the NY Times today, it’s a different story at Bard College’s school. They were going to get a C. But the DOE withheld the grade.
The Times reported that Bard President Leon Botstein appealed directly to Klein:
Mr. Botstein said he respected the chancellor’s need to turn around a failing school system, but urged that he not do it at the expense of innovation and excellence.
“You have a system that is broken and that is failing, and they are desperately trying to improve it. But don’t throw the baby out with the bath water,” he said. “There are a couple of places, and we’re one of them, that really do something different and well.
“Not all plants are weeds,” he said, “so why are you spraying insecticide on the whole thing?”
Oh, do tell.
“They’re in a tough bind, and I have a lot of respect for them,” Botstein said.
“Let’s say we’re a vegetarian restaurant and you’re telling me our meat is not good. I’m telling you we don’t serve meat. We’re not in the meat business.”
Eeesh.
About unions, solidarity and the writers’ strike.
Three over coffee.
It’s a three-day weekend. No school Monday for Veteran’s Day. The front yard is loaded with fallen leaves. The two trees have no more leaves on them. But I’ll rake ‘em up later. Coffee first.
Morton West anti-war students are getting lots of support.
Representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, an anti-war group from Northeastern Illinois University and the Vietnam Veterans Against the War attended the meeting. They praised the students for their actions and said they are protected by their 1st Amendment rights.Disabled Gulf War veteran Cesar Ruvalcaba, dressed in his military uniform, chose to lash out at military recruiters allowed to roam the halls of the school.”Shame on the administrators who think receiving military money from recruiters is more important than the education of their students,” he told the board. “I am 100 percent disabled, and I learned the hard way that education, not carrying a machine gun, is the key to success. It’s those people who are pro-war who would never drop everything and go fight for the red, white and blue. These kids should receive extra credit for speaking up, not expulsion.”
Lobbyist for the tobacco industry and opponent of Mothers Against Drunk Driving is now ready to take on teacher unions.
The Las Vegas Sun reports that at the Conservative Leadership Conference last month, Richard Berman announced a plan to roll out a multimarket media campaign attacking teachers unions as impediments to education reform. With enemies like this, who needs friends?
On strike since October 15, Seneca Valley teachers 15 speak using YouTube.
Local.
- Elgin School District U46 teachers could strike if an agreement is not reached later this month, union officials said Thursday.
- Jerseyville — Teachers from the Jersey Community School District voted Saturday to approve a contract after six months of negotiations.
The teachers have been working without one since school began in late August. The previous contract was for five years.
- While some area school districts have been quick to implement a new state law requiring a “brief period of silence” at the start of the school day, Evanston-Skokie School District 65 plans to act as if the law doesn’t exist.
- The Chicago Public Schools plan for the first time to restrict military recruiters who visit schools, including limiting access to students and banning gifts.
- The president of the Gavin District 37 School Board has been charged with official misconduct and felony theft for allegedly structuring a contract to avoid competitive bidding and stealing about $11,000 from the Lake County Fair Association where she worked, the state’s attorney’s office said Thursday.
- Illinois students who have limited English-language skills will have to take the regular state achievement exams beginning next year, under a recent decision by federal officials.
