Elliot Soloway: Ed-Tech Classroom Climate from Education Week on Vimeo.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
The Pontiac Trust (Emerges)
The Pontiac Trust (Pontiac Youth Assistance (PYA), Boys and Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan-Pontiac Club, Michigan Association for Leadership Development (MALD)
http://thepontiactrust.blogspot.com
http://thepontiactrust.blogspot.com
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The Crucial Role of Design
Commentary
Why We're Still 'At Risk'
The Legacy of Five Faulty Assumptions
Our new president has looked into the abyss of our current economic, energy, environmental, and health-care policies and promises to challenge the fundamental assumptions on which they are based. He admonishes us to join him in thinking and acting boldly.
We can only hope he feels the same way about education policy.
After nearly 25 years of intensive effort, we have failed to fix our ailing public schools and stem the “rising tide of mediocrity” chronicled in 1983 in A Nation at Risk. This is mainly because the report misdiagnosed the problem, and because the major assumptions on which current education policy—and most reform efforts—have been based are either wrong or unrealistic.
Most of the people running our public education systems and leading the reform movement are knowledgeable, dedicated, and experienced. But they are so committed to a strategy of standards-based accountability that different ideas are marginalized or stifled completely.
One could write a book about each of the five major assumptions on which education policy rests, but in this limited space, a few brief paragraphs will have to suffice.
Assumption One: The best way to improve student performance and close achievement gaps is to establish rigorous content standards and a core curriculum for all schools—preferably on a national basis.
Standards-based accountability has been the national school reform strategy for nearly two decades. It is essentially a “get tough” strategy made tougher by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. By all measures, it has not lived up to its promise, and the reason is that it is based on the premise that if we demand high performance and educational excellence, schools, teachers, and students will somehow “just do it.” It is a strategy that basically expects schools to be highly structured institutions with uniform practices and policies, where a common version of education is delivered to all students.
Standardization and uniformity may work with cars and computers, but it doesn’t work with humans. Today’s student body is the most diverse in history. An education system that treats all students alike denies that reality.
The issue is not whether standards are necessary. Schools without standards are unacceptable. Society should indeed hold high expectations for all students, but those expectations should reflect the values of the family and society—doing one’s best, obeying the rules, and mutual respect—and not simply the archaic academic demands of college-admissions offices. We should be preparing young people for life, not just for college.
Standards don’t prepare students for anything; they are a framework of expectations and educational objectives. Without the organization and processes to achieve them, they are worthless. States have devoted nearly 20 years to formulating standards to be accomplished by a conventional school model that is incapable of meeting them. We will make real progress only when we realize that our problem in education is not one of performance but one of design.
Assumption Two: Standardized-test scores are an accurate measure of student learning and should be used to determine promotion and graduation.
The standards-based-accountability strategy, not surprisingly, has led to the alarming overuse of standardized tests, even in the opinion of some test-makers and psychometricians.
Some measures of accountability are necessary in any endeavor that spends public money and is responsible for an important societal mission. But is testing all students virtually every year really necessary to determine whether the system is working effectively and the money spent well? If test scores are the accepted indicator, schools have not been meeting the needs of students for the past couple of decades. So why spend more money and time on constant testing to tell us what we already know—especially when standardized tests do a poor job of measuring real learning, don’t assess most of the characteristics valued by parents and the larger society, and contribute almost nothing to the process of teaching and learning.
If the purpose of standardized testing is to measure student achievement so teachers can help individual students learn better, it fails miserably. Standardized-test scores tend, instead, to say more about a student’s socioeconomic status than about his or her abilities. If testing is to have a positive effect on student achievement, it should be formative testing that is an integral part of classroom teaching and learning.
The most disturbing aspect of today’s standardized testing grows out of the "get tough" strategy’s emphasis on high-risk tests. Using standardized-test scores to determine promotion and graduation is unconscionable. A recent Texas study confirms the negative impact of high-risk testing on students. The report notes that 135,000 high school students drop out each year, and that “the state’s high-stakes accountability system has a direct impact on the severity of the dropout problem.” Teachers complain that they are compelled to devote valuable instructional time to preparing students for the test. They argue that the demand of ubiquitous accountability testing tends to narrow the curriculum. And they say that by teaching to the test, as they are expected to do, they are forced to turn education into a game of Trivial Pursuit.
Except in school, people are judged by their work and their behavior. Few of the business and political leaders who advocate widespread use of standardized testing have taken a standardized test since leaving college. It is probably a safe bet that the majority of them, even after 16 years of formal education, could not pass the tests they require students to pass.
"But I took those courses years ago," they say. "I can’t remember all that stuff." Exactly.
A common justification for standardized testing is that it’s the best proxy for student achievement we have until something better comes along. The performance-based assessment used in many charter schools (and now statewide in Rhode Island and New Hampshire) is better.
Assumption Three: We need to put highly qualified teachers in every classroom to assure educational excellence.
A great idea! If we could do that, we’d be a long way to solving our education problem.
But it won’t happen for decades, if ever.
As a host of studies over the past 25 years have revealed, the teacher pipeline is broken at several points. We don’t attract enough of the brightest young people into teaching; we don’t prepare them well for the job; many find their working conditions and compensation unacceptable; and teachers are not treated as professionals.
Highly effective teachers are more crucial to the success of standards-based accountability than anything else. Without enough of them, the strategy can’t work. As any reasonable person would have anticipated, we missed the NCLB goal of having a highly qualified teacher in every classroom by 2006. Improving teaching is as difficult as improving student achievement.
More accountability is again seen as a major part of the solution: more-rigorous certification, tougher teacher evaluation, and higher teacher pay. But certification guarantees a high-quality teacher about as much as a driver’s license guarantees a good driver. Tougher evaluation would help get rid of ineffective teachers, but it’s hard to see how it would produce more good teachers. Higher pay is fine, but it is no more likely to improve teaching any time soon than raising pilots’ pay would make flying safer.
If we want effective teaching, we should change the ways schools are organized and operated, and shift the teacher’s primary role from an academic instructor to an adviser, someone who helps students manage their own education.
A rational system would redesign itself and make organizational and procedural changes that optimize the positive influence of good teachers and minimize the negatives. Creating opportunities for teachers to work together, to teach in teams, to share in professional development, and to be more involved in educational decisionmaking are ways to bring out the best in teachers.
Again, there are examples on the ground that such an approach works.
Assumption Four: The United States should require all students to take algebra in the 8th grade and higher-order math in high school in order to increase the number of scientists and engineers in this country and thus make us more competitive in the global economy.
This assumption has become almost an obsession in policymaking arenas today. Requiring every student to study higher-order math is a waste of resources and cruel and unusual punishment for legions of students. It diverts attention away from the real problem: our failure to help kids become proficient readers and master basic arithmetic.
The United States must indeed produce more scientists and engineers to compete in a global economy. But it is fallacious to assume that we can accomplish that by requiring every student to take algebra in the 8th grade and higher-order math through high school. It is like believing that by requiring high school students to take a few courses in painting, we will make them all artists.
Most young people who go into science and engineering are well on their way by the time they start high school, because they become hooked on science or math in the early grades and do well in mathematics in elementary and middle school. Some will go on to become scientists and engineers; others will not. To expect otherwise is unreasonable.
If the nation wants more scientists and engineers, then educators need to find ways to awaken and nourish a passion for those subjects well before high school, and then offer students every opportunity to pursue their interest as far as they wish.
Assumption Five: The student-dropout rate can be reduced by ending social promotion, funding dropout-prevention programs, and raising the mandatory attendance age.
Arguably, the dropout rate is the most telling evidence of public school failure. Nearly a third of entering high school freshmen drop out. The percentage is higher for blacks, Hispanics, and English-language learners. And in many urban districts, the dropout rate borders on the horrendous.
Most students drop out of school for legitimate reasons, and trying to talk them out of it with “just stay in” programs, or forcing them to attend for an additional year or two, makes no sense. The “get tough” strategy of high standards, rigorous curricula, and more testing has not lowered the dropout rate and, as the Texas study cited shows, probably increases it.
Dropping out of school is not an impulsive decision. The process begins long before high school, often by the 4th or 5th grade, when courses begin to be content-heavy and students can no longer get by with the ability to “decode” English, but must be able to understand what they read. If scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress are reliable measures, only about a quarter of 4th graders can read proficiently, and the percentage declines in the 8th and 12th grades.
Students who fail early and often come to accept failure as inevitable and are on the path to dropping out as soon as they can. Probably a third of students who plan to drop out have made up their minds by the 8th grade and mark time until they can legally leave school.
To reduce the dropout rate, we must first understand and accept why students choose to leave school. The reasons most often given are boredom, personal or family problems, and inability to understand and do the work required. A smaller percentage of students drop out because they find school to be a waste of time; these often are young people with the ability to succeed in school but who find that what is offered in the classroom doesn’t interest or challenge them. (Some years ago, a survey of students asked what word they would use to define school. “Boring” won hands down.)
The key to graduating is learning; the key to learning is motivation. There are innovative public schools that graduate most of their students because they personalize education, encourage students to pursue their interests and build on that enthusiasm, and offer multiple opportunities to learn instead of a one-size-fits-all education.
President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan should open a second front in this war on mediocrity and failure.
We need to continue making every effort to improve the existing public schools. They will enroll most of our young people for many years to come.
Simultaneously, we should pursue a parallel strategy of creating new, innovative schools and giving them the autonomy and resources to explore new ideas. These new schools can be a much-needed research-and-development sector for the conventional system.
Secretary Duncan should support a national effort patterned after Renaissance 2010, the program he launched in Chicago to replace failing schools with new, diverse models different from conventional schools and from each other.
It is neither wise nor necessary to bet the future on a single reform strategy, especially when hundreds, perhaps thousands, of schools are demonstrating every day that there are other and more successful ways to help children learn and succeed.
But we can pursue two strategies only if we act to assure that the dominant strategy does not smother the fledgling movement in its crib.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Prayers Answered!
Pontiac schools get $18M loan from Fifth Third Bank
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
By DIANA DILLABER MURRAY
Of The Oakland Press
The Pontiac school district will stay afloat due to a loan from the Fifth Third Bank for $18 million against the district’s projected $42 million summer property tax collection.
Felix Chow, interim deputy superintendent of finance at Pontiac schools, had said the district would run out of money shortly after April 30 without a loan to replenish schools that are operating on a $16.7 million cash flow deficit.
The Pontiac Board of Education approved the terms of the loan agreement Monday to obtain the loan to be paid back by Dec. 20. There is no penalty to pay it back early.
The actual amount borrowed by Pontiac schools will be $18.7 million at 6 percent interest, which includes $82,000 in closing costs and attorneys’ fees.
The bank will purchase bonds from Michigan Municipal Bond Authority in Lansing, which will do the actual cash transfer.
The bonds must be sold by the authority before a check will be delivered to the district about one week after the date of sale.
The district also borrowed $8.7 million against its projected state aid earlier this year through the bond authority, which is also handling loans for several other districts borrowing against their state aid.
Chow has personally talked to banks early on to try to get a loan but found it impossible in the tight economy when banks are freezing credit. So the district obtained the help of a financial advisor and the Michigan Municipal Bonding Authority.
At the same time the bank is giving the loan, it is making every effort to ensure its investment is protected.
“Thank you for taking the risk and showing the faith in our ability to pay it back and continuing your relationships with the school district,” Chow told Aron Kominars, vice president and managing director of Fifth Third Bank in Southfield, and Craig S. Kahler, vice president of public finance at Fifth Third Securities in East Lansing, at Monday’s meeting.
“We are proud to be providing the opportunity to present the loan,” Kahler replied. “The markets are very tight. I am proud as a former school district manager ... to bring this to the school district.”
After the board voted, Vice President Gill Garrett told the two bankers, “We do take our partnerships very seriously.”
Tax collections, from the city of Pontiac and the portions of the city of Auburn Hills and Bloomfield Township that are in the Pontiac school district, will go directly into a debt retirement trust account, no later than one day after receiving them.
The property tax revenue can be used for no other purpose until the note and interest is paid in full. Tax funds from the other communities in the district also will go to paying off the note but will not be held in the lock box.
If property taxes paid are not adequate to cover the loan, the bank will have first rights to a portions of the district’s $8,000-per student state aid, except for the outstanding $8.9 million loan. The district cannot borrow any other money until the Fifth Third loan is repaid.
Further, the district agreed to open or transfer all of its existing and future depository accounts, including its general and special fund accounts, with Fifth Third within 10 days.
In addition, the agreement signed by the board promises that the bank will be notified of any event that might affect the repayments, such as a change in the status of the emergency financial manager of the city of Pontiac or if the state should appoint an emergency financial manager for the school district.
Trustees and Chow have said they are working on a five-year plan to eliminate the district’s near $12 million deficit and prevent growing deficits in the future. It must be submitted to and approved by the state after the end of the school year.
Chow said even planned layoffs and closing half the district’s schools next school year will not be enough to offset the deficit, which in the 2009-2010 school year could exceed $22 million if steps are not taken.
Contact staff writer Diana Dillaber Murray at (248) 745-4638 or diana.dillaber@oakpress.com.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
![Relationship What is a relationship, and what special qualities are present in informal education? We suggest that the focus on learning, mutuality and the emotional bond between people are important features of the sorts of relationships that informal educators are involved in.Contents: introduction · relationship for starters · some features of relationships · relationship as a catalyst · relationships that facilitate learning · conclusion · further reading and references · linksThere is, and has been, a lot of talk about relationship in youth work and informal education. Two themes emerge with some regularity. These are:Education for relationship. The ability to develop good and satisfying interpersonal relationships is seen as the main, or a major reason for fostering learning. This has been one of the main themes lying behind many informal educators concern with social education.Education through relationship. Our relationships are a fundamental source of learning. By paying attention to the nature of the relationship between educators and learners, it is argued, we can make a significant difference. In particular, the quality of the relationship deeply influences the hopefulness required to remain curious and open to new experiences, and the capacity to see connections and discover meanings (Salzberger-Wittenberg et al. 1983: ix).Here we are going to explore what we mean by ‘relationship’, some particular features of the relationships involving informal educators, relationship as a catalyst and the facilitative qualities of relationship.Relationship for startersRelationship is one of those words often used, but taken for granted. We ‘know’ what it means. We know relationships are important. We know relationships can be difficult. We know relationships can bring great happiness and sadness. But what actually is a relationship in the context of human behaviour?George Goetschius and Joan Tash (1967: 137), in one of the classic texts of youth work, provide us with a good starting point: ‘A relationship is a connection between two people in which some sort of exchange takes place’. In other words, there is some sort of link between people – and it involves interaction. That connection may be something that we are born into, such as is the case with families, or it might arise out of a particular need. A classic example of the latter can be found in the marketplace. We might want to buy bread, so we look for someone who can sell us it. What is interesting about this is that the two sides have different interests (buying and selling). However, they can come together as their interests are compatible – both can be satisfied. There is advantage to both in the link. We can also see here the nature of the exchange – bread for money. At this sort of level there is at first glance very little emotion involved. As George Goetschius and Joan Tash (1967: 137) again say, a relationship ‘may be verbal, emotional, physical or intellectual, and is often all of these’. They further comment:It may include an exchange of ideas, skills, attitudes or values, or even the exchange of things – money, tools or food. Relationships ‘happen’ at all times, in all places, in all parts of society, and in all phases of the development of individuals. We are involved in relationships all the time.It is important to hold onto an appreciation of relationship as something everyday. However, we also need to recognize just how complex even apparently simple relationships such as buying and selling are. They entail cooperation and trust.Building such cooperation and trust is a fundamental aspect of relationship. We have to work at them. Relationships are things people do, not just have (Duck 1999: 21). This said we should also recognize the contribution of our social instincts. As Matt Ridley (1997: 249) put it, ‘Our minds have been built by selfish genes, but they have been built to be social, trustworthy and cooperative’. He continues:Matt Ridley - The origins of virtureHumans have social instincts. They come into the world equipped with predispositions to learn how to cooperate, to discriminate the trustworthy from the treacherous, to commit themselves to be trustworthy, to earn good reputations, to exchange goods and information, and to divide labour… Far from being a universal feature of animal life, as Kropotkin believed, this instinctive cooperativeness is the very hallmark of humanity and what sets us apart from other animals. (Ridley 1997: 249)To this extent, the cultivation of reciprocity, honesty and trust is less about building alien institutions and structures, than creating the conditions for their emergence. Relationships are strongly influenced by context.Lastly, it is worth making the distinction between personal relationships and social relationships. The former are relationships between two people ‘who cannot be exchanged without changing the nature of the relationship (Duck 1999: 124). An example of this would two people who are ‘best friends’. In contrast, social relationships are where ‘two partners in an interaction could be exchanged and the relationship would be the same’ (op. cit). Here a classic example would be sales assistant and a customer in a shop. Informal educators largely work through personal relationships.Some features of relationshipsFelix P. Biestek (1961) in The Casework Relationship argues that while the many possible interpersonal relationships have similarities, each has its special features. He suggests a number of questions:What is the purpose of the relationship? The purpose will largely determine its nature and qualities. For instance, the purpose of parent-child and the caseworker-client relationships immediately suggest many differences.Are both parties on terms of equality, are the benefits resulting from the relationship mutual? They usually are in a friend-friend relationship but not in the teacher-pupil or leader-follower relationship.Is there an emotional component in the relationship? It is present in the parent-child relationship but absent in the ticket-agent-traveller relationship.Is it a professional relationship, such as physician-patient, or non-professional, as between friend-friend?What is the normal duration of the relationship? The teacher-pupil is temporary; friend-friend may be temporary or permanent; the parent-child relationship is lifelong. (Biestek 1961: 5-6)If we then consider these features with regard to educators (he looks at the casework relationship) then a number of interesting aspects appear. To rephrase Biestek (1961: 6), the educative relationship differs from others on a number of points. It differs from the parent-child relationship in that it is temporary, and the emotional content is not so deep and penetrating. It is unlike a friend-friend relationship in that there is not quite the same degree of mutuality and equality. This is how Biestek op cit. describes it in terms of casework:The caseworker and the client are fundamentally equal as human beings; but in the casework situation the caseworker is the helping person, while the client is the person receiving help.The same applies to educators. While there is some mutuality in the exchange – the educator may learn as well as the ‘learner’ – the fundamental focus of the exchange should be the learning of the student or participant.It is also interesting to look at the emotional content of the exchange. In some teaching situations the interaction may be at an overtly intellectual level; in others an emotional component may be a necessary element for achieving the purpose of the relationship. A common mistake (and one that Biestek falls into) is thinking that teaching and educating are essentially intellectual.Another interesting dynamic arises out the extent to which both parties are active. It could be said, for example, that arguably most doctor-patient relationships are characterized by a fair degree of passivity on the part of the patient. They are the receivers of the doctor’s services. Patients have to cooperate, but it is the skills and medicines of the doctor that do the curing (Biestek 1961: 6). In contrast, Biestek suggests, ‘In casework the client does more than merely cooperate; he is helped to help himself’. Within the literature of lifelong learning and adult education, this theme is reproduced in discussions of self-direction.If we go down Biestek’s list when considering what informal educators do then we might conclude that:The fundamental purpose of the relationship lies in the fostering of learning in the group or the individual that the educator is working with. There are two important elements here as we have seen. First, through the relationships people make they learn about the interests, issues or enthusiasms that have brought them together. For example, an informal educator may encourage a group to take part in an ‘adventure weekend’. As part of that experience the worker may invite them to try canoeing. Because of the relationship they have with the educator, the group is willing to try new activities. The worker may also encourage them to reflect upon the experience and to gain new understandings. Second, a significant part of the learning will be about the experience of relationships themselves. If take our example further, it is quite likely that the educator will ask people to think about the relationships in the group (if they need any encouragement!) – how they work together and treat each other, who takes leadership roles and so on. In other words, people learn about relationship through being in relationship.There is a strong degree of equality and mutuality involved in the relationship – it should be one where people encounter each other as subjects rather than the educator seeking to act upon the other as an object. This is a point that Freire makes with some force. However, we cannot get away with the fact that as educators we do have some areas of expertise. For informal educators this may well be around the process of learning, an appreciation of the nature of human relationships and human flourishing, and in some subject areas. This is not to deny that our partners in the encounter do not also come with expertise and understanding in particular areas. Indeed, it is important to recognize the encounter as an exchange, a dialogue.There is a significant emotional content to the relationship. As Salzberger-Wittenberg et al. (1983) have shown, fundamental emotions are involved in learning and run through the relationships of educators and learners. Learning can be painful as well as exciting. Educators, thus, have a particular role to play in creating environments in which powerful feelings of fear and pain can be contained. Informal educators may well try to create places of sanctuary, spaces where people feel safe. One aspect of this is people having some sense that they are away from the things that cause them pain or concern. Here they need educators and the other people in the setting to treat them with respect, to be tolerant, and to give them room. An important feature of this is for educators to acknowledge people’s pain and difficulties, but not to push and prod. Sanctuary doesn’t involve sweeping issues under the carpet, but rather creating the conditions so that people can talk when they are ready. This often involves educators in treading a fine line between quietness and encouraging conversation. Often powerful feelings are contained because people feel they are with someone who is safe, who will not condemn them for the emotions they are experiencing or the things they have done. This brings us squarely to the person and disposition of the educator. As we will see below when we come to discuss Carl Rogers’ exploration of the core conditions for a helping or learning relationships the ‘realness’, ability to prize and accept, and capacity to appreciate what people may be feeling are of fundamental importance.A further, key, aspect of such helping or learning relationships is the extent to which transference’ may be present. Freud argued that transference lies at the core of the therapeutic relationship but it also can be a significant part of educative relationships. In therapy it entails patients placing ‘the intense feelings associated with parents and other authority figures’ onto the therapist (Tennant 1997: 23-4).We mean a transference of feelings on to the person of the doctor, since we do not believe that the situation in the treatment could justify the development of such feelings. We suspect, upon the contrary, that the whole readiness for these feelings is derived from elsewhere, that they were already present in the patient and, upon the opportunity offered by the analytical treatment, are transferred on to the person of the doctor. (Freud 1973: 494)In other words, in an educative relationship all sorts of things might be ‘placed upon’ educators. They may come to represent in some way someone else who is significant to the experience of the people they are working with. Exploring how people see us educators may well give us some clues about people’s other relationships.We need to attend to our role. Informal educators may be specially trained and paid to work with individuals and groups, or they may be an educator by virtue of the relationships they have. Parents, for example, often teach their children, or join with them in ‘learning’ conversations. This involves them in establishing and maintaining a role as an educator. However, this is often more easily said than achieved. Many professional informal educators, for example, operate in settings where they have to work very hard at being recognized first and foremost as educators. The agency may well employ them as, say, a key worker within a hostel or day centre. As such they may well be drawing upon an understanding of a role derived from social work or care management. Similar conflicts can arise within youth work, community development and other agencies. There is a further struggle in terms of working with the project participant or client. They may well come to the group or the setting not recognizing it as an educational setting. For example, they may have wanted to take part in a particular activity or interest such as a sport or some sort of creative arts. Deepening their abilities in football, say, may well be part of their agenda, but they may well not see the worker in the group as an educator. What we have here is a classic question of role. The educator is seeking to establish themselves in that role – and they need that role to be accepted by others if they are to function.One further thing needs noting here. The behaviour that is directed at us may well derive from the way people see and experience our role, rather than the people we are. In a community group we may get abused because we ask questions about the way money is being handled. These questions can arise directly from our role with the group (as informal educators we are committed to certain values e.g. around justice and truth, and to furthering and deepening associational life). Some of the abuse may come because of the way we ask questions (i.e. the person we are in the situation); sometimes there may be transference (see above); but often it is the role that is the issue.For professional informal educators relationships are mostly temporary. Indeed, they can be very short – just one encounter. However, in some working situations, such as in a school, club or project the relationship may exist over a number of years.Relationship as a catalystHelen Harris Perlman argues that what we call ‘relationship’ is ‘a catalyst, an enabling dynamism in the support, nurture, and freeing of people’s energies and motivations toward solving problems and using help’ (1979: 2). She is guided by two propositions. That:The emotional bond that unifies two (or more) people around some shared concern is charged with enabling, facilitative powers.In an increasing anomic and depersonalised world, there may be potential humanizing value in even brief and task-focused encounters between one person and another. An understanding, emphatic relationship contributes to a person’s sense of inner security and alliance with their peers. (ibid.: 2-3).The fact that someone is prepared to ‘share’ our worries and concerns, to be with us when we are working at something can be very significant. It can reduce the feeling that we are alone and that the tasks we face are so huge. Their pleasure in our achievements or concern for our hurt can motivate us to act. Crucially, their valuing of us as people can help us to discover the worth in ourselves, and the belief that we can change things. Relationships can animate, breathe life into situations.Relationships are obviously not all that we need. It is not at all a substitute for the opportunities and material things people need in order to flourish. But it is an essential accompanying condition, ‘because it is the nourisher and mover of the human being’s wish and will to use the resources provided and the powers within himself to fulfil his personal and social-well-being’ (Perlman 1979: 11).Relationships that facilitate learningCarl Rogers once wrote, ‘The facilitation of significant learning rests upon certain attitudinal qualities that exist in the personal relationship between facilitator and learner’(1990: 305). He highlights three significant qualities or attitudes that facilitate learning:Realness in the facilitator of learning. Perhaps the most basic of these essential attitudes is realness or genuineness. When the facilitator is a real person, being what she is, entering into a relationship with the learner without presenting a front or a façade, she is much more likely to be effective. This means that the feelings that she is experiencing are available to her, available to her awareness, that she is able to live these feelings, be them, and able to communicate if appropriate. It means coming into a direct personal encounter with the learner, meeting her on a person-to-person basis. It means that she is being herself, not denying herself.Prizing, acceptance, trust. There is another attitude that stands out in those who are successful in facilitating learning… I think of it as prizing the learner, prizing her feelings, her opinions, her person. It is a caring for the learner, but a non-possessive caring. It is an acceptance of this other individual as a separate person, having worth in her own right. It is a basic trust - a belief that this other person is somehow fundamentally trustworthy… What we are describing is a prizing of the learner as an imperfect human being with many feelings, many potentialities. The facilitator’s prizing or acceptance of the learner is an operational expression of her essential confidence and trust in the capacity of the human organism.Empathetic understanding. A further element that establishes a climate for self-initiated experiential learning is emphatic understanding. When the teacher has the ability to understand the student’s reactions from the inside, has a sensitive awareness of the way the process of education and learning seems to the student, then again the likelihood of significant learning is increased…. [Students feel deeply appreciative] when they are simply understood – not evaluated, not judged, simply understood from their own point of view, not the teacher’s. (Rogers 1967)As we have discussed elsewhere (see Carl Rogers, the core conditions and informal education) his third condition 'empathetic understanding' does raise a number of problems. Rogers emphasizes achieving a full an understanding of the other person as is possible. Here we might argue that in conversation, the task is not so much to enter and understand the other person, as to work for understanding and commitment. This is not achieved simply by getting into the shoes of another. Conversation involves working to bring together the insights and questions of the different parties; it entails the fusion of a number of perspectives, not the entering into of one (Gadamer 1979: 271-3). However, the core conditions that Carl Rogers identifies are a very helpful starting point for considering the attitude or orientation of informal educators in relationships.ConclusionIn this piece we have seen how relationship is both a medium through which informal educators work, and a state that they want to foster. Being in relationship allows us to flourish. It involves an emotional connection with another and can animate us.Relationship is a human being’s feeling or sense of emotional bonding with another. It leaps into being like an electric current, or it emerges and develops cautiously when emotion is aroused by and invested in someone or something and that someone or something “connects back” responsively. We feel “related” when we feel at one with another (person or object) in some heartfelt way (Perlman 1979: 23)Informal educators should not just be concerned with the way in which one individual relates to another, they should also look to the group and the life of the association. In other words, their concern with relationship isn’t an individual affair. It links to a concern to work so that all may share in a common life. As Richard Bernstein once put it, it is important ‘to try and try again to foster and nurture those forms of communal life in which dialogue, conversation, phronesis, practical discourse, and judgment are concretely embodied in our everyday practices’ (Bernstein 1983: 229).Further reading and referencesBiestek, F. P. (1961) The Casework Relationship, London: Unwin University Books. 149 pages. Classic exploration with an opening chapter on the essence of the casework relationship and then a discussion of what Biestek sees as the seven principles of the casework relationship: individualization, purposeful expression of feelings, controlled emotional involvement, acceptance, non-judgemental attitude, client self-determination, confidentiality.Perlman, H. H. (1979) Relationship. The heart of helping people, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Rogers (1967) ‘The interpersonal relationship in the facilitation of learning’ reprinted in H. Kirschenbaum and V. L. Henderson (eds.) (1990) The Carl Rogers Reader, London: Constable, pages 304-311.Salzberger-Wittenberg, I., Henry, G. and Osborne, E. (1983) The Emotional Experience of Learning and Teaching, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. 155 + xii pages. One of the few books to tackle the subject at any length. Written by a group of writers attached to the Tavistock Clinic, the book examines the nature of the relationship between the student and the teacher and the emotions involved.ReferencesBernstein, R.R. J. (1983) Beyond Objectivism and Relativism. Science, hermeneutics and praxis, Oxford: Blackwell.Buber, M. (1958) I and Thou 2e, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. Translation: R. Gregory Smith.Duck, S. (1999) Relating to Others 2e, Buckingham: Open University Press.Gadamer, H-G. (1979) Truth and Method 2e, London: Sheed and Ward.Goetschius, G. W. and Tash, M. J. (1967) Working with Unattached Youth. Problem, approach, method, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Perlman, H. H. (1979) Relationship. The heart of helping people, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Rogers (1967) ‘The interpersonal relationship in the facilitation of learning’ reprinted in H. Kirschenbaum and V. L. Henderson (eds.) (1990) The Carl Rogers Reader, London: Constable, pages 304-311.Tennant, M. (1997) Psychology and Adult Learning, London: Routledge.Vermes, P. (1988) Buber, London: Peter Halban.How to cite this piece: Smith, M. K. (2001) 'Relationship' in the encyclopaedia of informal education [www.infed.org/biblio/relationship.htm. Last update: October 01, 2008 ].Acknowledgements: the picture of the Amish figurines is by Philip Sasser 2004 and is used under licence from stock.xchng. All rights reseserved.© Mark K. Smith 2001](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgBbrWm7L-aK28VViWt-qMbUSlzbIQ6lVBKKeFFHFkzEtTsgW-6mEPLSaczKjGaiLSYKyVR1m_KNC5Zr3ba2i8MHXAPDW9K5A-QM5istdLR3oJ_PuiLlPHRWxCkTZHP9FB9MUO-ej_VU7T/s1600-h/Sping+Break+at+Timbuktu+2009.jpg){kind=link}
Monday, April 6, 2009
CONGRATULATIONS!
 |
| Robots crash and bang into the corner at Saturday's FIRST Robotics competition at EMU |
Posted: Saturday, 04 April 2009 5:27PM
Pontiac Northern, Milford, Utica Win FIRST Robotics Michigan
A coalition of teams from Pontiac Northern, Milford and Utica high schools won the FIRST Robotics state championship at Eastern Michigan University Saturday afternoon, earning the right to represent the Great Lakes State at the FIRST world championships April 16-18 in Atlanta, Ga.
They bested a coalition of teams from Fremont, Berkley and Grand Rapids Creston high schools.
Around 4,000 students, mentors, teachers, family members and volunters crowded EMU's Convocation Center for the raucous finals, complete with team mascots, flags, slogans, pounding music and big-screen video.
Teams that made the quarterfinals but didn’t advance to the semis were Auburn Hills Notre Dame Prep, Belding, Bloomfield Hills Andover, Bloomfield Hills International Academy, Madison Heights Bishop Foley, Pontiac Oakland County Schools, Romulus, Saginaw Career Complex, Southgate Anderson, Troy, Ypsilanti Willow Run and a combined team of Zeeland East and West high schools.
FIRST, an acronym for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, was established in the late 1980s by inventor Dean Kamen as a way to get American high school students as interested in science and engineering as they are in sports. The robotics competitions borrow a great deal of their style from big-time sporting events, as teams of robots work together to accomplish specific tasks in a game that changes every year.
From Feb. 27 through March 28, FIRST in Michigan operated seven district events to determine which teams would qualify for the state finals. The 2009 season in Michigan has seen an entirely new competition format that is serving as a pilot program for FIRST, with smaller "district" competitions restricted to Michigan teams replacing larger, more involved "regional" events in the state that were open to teams from anywhere. The idea was to cut travel and other expenses for the teams to make FIRST more affordable.
Michigan added 16 new rookie teams this year and how has 134 total, trailing only California in the number of participating schools.
This year's game, called "Lunacy," saw robots designed to pick up and dump 9-inch game balls into goals hitched to their opponents' roobts for points during a two-minute, 15-second match. Additional points are awarded for scoring a special game ball, the Super Cell, in the last 20 seconds of the match. Teams can also score by tossing balls into their opponents' trailers from designated points around the competition floor -- meaning that many teams this year recruited basketball or baseball players who could throw the balls accurately for long distances. A first this year was a low-friction competition floor and low-friction tires, which made the robots slip and slide and piloting more diffiicult.
The state's top 64 teams qualified for a chance to compete in the state championship. A day and a half of seeding matches whittled that down to the top eight teams. Those teams got to choose two alliance partners each -- teams they thought offered robots that could complement their own. Thus, eight three-team alliances competed in best-of-three elimination rounds in quarterfinals and semifinals before a thrilling finals showdown that offered all the drama and surprises of a state championship athletic match.
More at www.firstinmichigan.org.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Financial Update
Pontiac schools may lose millions in grants
Saturday, April 4, 2009
By DIANA DILLABER MURRAYOf The Oakland Press
If the Pontiac school district doesn’t get a new influx of cash soon, summer school may be canceled and millions in Title 1 grant funds might have to be forfeited.
The district’s pursuit of an $18 million loan against summer property taxes has so far been futile.
And much of the federal stimulus package funds that school officials and teachers’ union leaders were hoping would give the district a financial boost may not get as far as school coffers, reported Don Dietz, who is assisting and eventually will replace Felix Chow, interim deputy superintendent for finance.
Assistant Superintendent Linda Paramore called for a special board session for Thursday afternoon to update trustees on the district’s financial status. She and other top officials may go to the state to appeal for help.
“It is absolutely important for this board and the community to realize the critical situation we are in, and it is our responsibility to keep the board up to date on where we are,” Paramore said.
Dietz said the U.S. Senate Fiscal Agency had indicated Pontiac schools would get a total of $27 million to $28 million in federal stimulus dollars. That includes $5.8 million in Title 1 grants that must be used for programs that help at-risk children; $2.7 million earmarked for special education; and $17.3 million in stabilization funds. However, the stabilization funds for which there would be more flexibility in spending may not come in the way everyone expected.
“From what we are hearing, the state will take what they need first,” Dietz said.
The state will likely use it to help offset a cut that was projected in state aid, he said. And because tax revenue has significantly dwindled, it is possible the state may need more to fill the hole. Whatever is left after the state takes what it needs for state school aid, the district will have to apply for in September.
Paramore said funding for summer school is paid out of Title 1 funds that help children at risk of failing. If the district doesn’t have the cash flow to fund the program by the middle of May, “we won’t have it (summer school) because we will have to close the doors.
“Although we are going to go to the state and ask for assistance and help,” everyone has to be clear that everything possible has to be done at the local level, she said.Dietz said, “Two or three years ago, you would have had many potential lenders for such a note.
“We live in a different time and place and the scrutiny over the loans is 20 times what it used to be,” Dietz said, creating a situation that could lead to what he called “a perfect storm.”
“What has happened is the state finances are getting weaker and weaker and weaker. Given the unpredictable factors ... schools are in, the district should use caution in estimating its allocation in the stimulus package,” Dietz said.
Even if the district gets the entire $5.8 million in Title 1 grants and $2.7 million in special education funding, “it will not help the cash flow,” Dietz said.
There are very stringent rules that must be followed. In order to get the millions, the district must spend the money up front first, then get reimbursed with the grant money.
“In a certain sense, this will have a negative impact on your cash flow,” Dietz told the board.
“It all boils down to securing the tax anticipation note ... it will give you some breathing room to pay the bills and spend the dollars and get reimbursed,” Dietz said.
Trustee Robert Bass noted, “it is possible we may not be able to capture much of that because we have to expend it first.”
Chow and Dietz are projecting a near $12 million deficit by June 30. But to assure potential lenders that they will get their loan paid back with interest, the board has signed a resolution guaranteeing all property tax payments from Pontiac and Auburn Hills residents and businesses will go into what Dietz called a “lock box” until enough has been collected to pay off the loan with interest.Chow described a lock box as a special escrow account held by a third party so that no funds could be taken out until November when the revenue would be used to pay off the loan.
Vice President Gill Garrett said he does not believe that the state and federal government will allow the educational system to shut down. He pointed to the steps the board and administration have been taking to address the problem, such as closing half the district’s schools.
Trustee Christopher Northcross said he is hopeful the state will accelerate payments of stimulus funds to the district to help the cash flow situation.
With the cash flow loan being the No. 1 priority, the second major issue affecting the district’s ability to eliminate its deficit and stabilize finances is declining enrollment. He said the Michigan Municipal Education Association’s projects for a decline in enrollment of hundreds more students in the fall.
Trustees agreed with Bass and Garrett that the district needs to “blitz” the community with information about the new programs offered and the improvements planned in order to keep students and bring more back.
Contact staff writer Diana Dillaber Murray at (248) 745-4638 or diana.dillaber@oakpress.com.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
By DIANA DILLABER MURRAYOf The Oakland Press
If the Pontiac school district doesn’t get a new influx of cash soon, summer school may be canceled and millions in Title 1 grant funds might have to be forfeited.
The district’s pursuit of an $18 million loan against summer property taxes has so far been futile.
And much of the federal stimulus package funds that school officials and teachers’ union leaders were hoping would give the district a financial boost may not get as far as school coffers, reported Don Dietz, who is assisting and eventually will replace Felix Chow, interim deputy superintendent for finance.
Assistant Superintendent Linda Paramore called for a special board session for Thursday afternoon to update trustees on the district’s financial status. She and other top officials may go to the state to appeal for help.
“It is absolutely important for this board and the community to realize the critical situation we are in, and it is our responsibility to keep the board up to date on where we are,” Paramore said.
Dietz said the U.S. Senate Fiscal Agency had indicated Pontiac schools would get a total of $27 million to $28 million in federal stimulus dollars. That includes $5.8 million in Title 1 grants that must be used for programs that help at-risk children; $2.7 million earmarked for special education; and $17.3 million in stabilization funds. However, the stabilization funds for which there would be more flexibility in spending may not come in the way everyone expected.
“From what we are hearing, the state will take what they need first,” Dietz said.
The state will likely use it to help offset a cut that was projected in state aid, he said. And because tax revenue has significantly dwindled, it is possible the state may need more to fill the hole. Whatever is left after the state takes what it needs for state school aid, the district will have to apply for in September.
Paramore said funding for summer school is paid out of Title 1 funds that help children at risk of failing. If the district doesn’t have the cash flow to fund the program by the middle of May, “we won’t have it (summer school) because we will have to close the doors.
“Although we are going to go to the state and ask for assistance and help,” everyone has to be clear that everything possible has to be done at the local level, she said.Dietz said, “Two or three years ago, you would have had many potential lenders for such a note.
“We live in a different time and place and the scrutiny over the loans is 20 times what it used to be,” Dietz said, creating a situation that could lead to what he called “a perfect storm.”
“What has happened is the state finances are getting weaker and weaker and weaker. Given the unpredictable factors ... schools are in, the district should use caution in estimating its allocation in the stimulus package,” Dietz said.
Even if the district gets the entire $5.8 million in Title 1 grants and $2.7 million in special education funding, “it will not help the cash flow,” Dietz said.
There are very stringent rules that must be followed. In order to get the millions, the district must spend the money up front first, then get reimbursed with the grant money.
“In a certain sense, this will have a negative impact on your cash flow,” Dietz told the board.
“It all boils down to securing the tax anticipation note ... it will give you some breathing room to pay the bills and spend the dollars and get reimbursed,” Dietz said.
Trustee Robert Bass noted, “it is possible we may not be able to capture much of that because we have to expend it first.”
Chow and Dietz are projecting a near $12 million deficit by June 30. But to assure potential lenders that they will get their loan paid back with interest, the board has signed a resolution guaranteeing all property tax payments from Pontiac and Auburn Hills residents and businesses will go into what Dietz called a “lock box” until enough has been collected to pay off the loan with interest.Chow described a lock box as a special escrow account held by a third party so that no funds could be taken out until November when the revenue would be used to pay off the loan.
Vice President Gill Garrett said he does not believe that the state and federal government will allow the educational system to shut down. He pointed to the steps the board and administration have been taking to address the problem, such as closing half the district’s schools.
Trustee Christopher Northcross said he is hopeful the state will accelerate payments of stimulus funds to the district to help the cash flow situation.
With the cash flow loan being the No. 1 priority, the second major issue affecting the district’s ability to eliminate its deficit and stabilize finances is declining enrollment. He said the Michigan Municipal Education Association’s projects for a decline in enrollment of hundreds more students in the fall.
Trustees agreed with Bass and Garrett that the district needs to “blitz” the community with information about the new programs offered and the improvements planned in order to keep students and bring more back.
Contact staff writer Diana Dillaber Murray at (248) 745-4638 or diana.dillaber@oakpress.com.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Hear! Hear!
Pontiac fortunate to have Paramore
Thursday, March 19, 2009 6:19 AM EDT
By The Oakland Press
Amid all of the dramatic changes that the Pontiac Board of Education has approved and has been overseeing recently, it took some administrative action that might not have gained a lot of notoriety.
However, it was clearly a wise and prudent move.
The board approved a new agreement with acting Superintendent Linda Paramore, as well as several other administrators.
As superintendent, Paramore has been responsible for instituting and overseeing the many actions the board has authorized.
And Paramore deserves credit for doing a stellar job.
She was named the district’s interim chief academic officer in June of 2007 and worked for a year to restructure schools to improve student achievement. She was named interim superintendent in July of 2008 to replace former interim Calvin Cupidore until a new permanent superintendent is hired.
Paramore is a retired curriculum administrator from the Southfield school district and came to Pontiac schools as a consultant through the Oakland Intermediate School District.
Her credentials are impressive.
This is her 41st year in education. She worked for the Detroit Public School System for 27 years, serving first as a teacher and then working her way up to counselor, assistant principal, principal and finally to an assistant to the superintendent.
She then took her skills to the Southfield School District, where she worked for 10 years. She was principal of Levey Middle School during time the school was recognized as a National Blue Ribbon school.
While at Southfield, she became an associate superintendent for instruction.
It’s easy to see why Paramore has been so successful throughout her career and why she has done an excellent job in Pontiac.
Any school district needs a strong administrator as well as a board of education that isn’t afraid to make critical decisions and follow through with them. But with the financial problems in Pontiac, the ability to take a disciplined course of action involves considerable courage from all concerned, particularly because of the pressure from many parents and employees who say they want change and an improved school system but often resist it when they are directly affected.
The board and administration are valiantly moving forward with plans to consolidate the district’s high schools and middle schools, as well as close some buildings because of the school’s declining enrollment and looming $12 million deficit.
In addition to all of this work, the board is restarting an aggressive search for a new superintendent.
They will be following a tight timeline.
Deadline for applications is set for April 6. The board will review applications and check backgrounds of candidates. Consultant Mike Wilmot and the district’s attorney will select the top five April 7.
The first round of interviews will be between April 13 and April 27. Two finalists will be selected and a second round of interviews will be set for the week of May 4.
Trustee visits to the candidates’ school districts will be the week of May 11 and a decision will be made May 18.
One thing is clear, whomever gets the job will have huge shoes to fill in following Paramore. In a very short time, she and the board have accomplished more than was what achieved over the past 20 years by many previous boards and administrators.
Thursday, March 19, 2009 6:19 AM EDT
By The Oakland Press
Amid all of the dramatic changes that the Pontiac Board of Education has approved and has been overseeing recently, it took some administrative action that might not have gained a lot of notoriety.
However, it was clearly a wise and prudent move.
The board approved a new agreement with acting Superintendent Linda Paramore, as well as several other administrators.
As superintendent, Paramore has been responsible for instituting and overseeing the many actions the board has authorized.
And Paramore deserves credit for doing a stellar job.
She was named the district’s interim chief academic officer in June of 2007 and worked for a year to restructure schools to improve student achievement. She was named interim superintendent in July of 2008 to replace former interim Calvin Cupidore until a new permanent superintendent is hired.
Paramore is a retired curriculum administrator from the Southfield school district and came to Pontiac schools as a consultant through the Oakland Intermediate School District.
Her credentials are impressive.
This is her 41st year in education. She worked for the Detroit Public School System for 27 years, serving first as a teacher and then working her way up to counselor, assistant principal, principal and finally to an assistant to the superintendent.
She then took her skills to the Southfield School District, where she worked for 10 years. She was principal of Levey Middle School during time the school was recognized as a National Blue Ribbon school.
While at Southfield, she became an associate superintendent for instruction.
It’s easy to see why Paramore has been so successful throughout her career and why she has done an excellent job in Pontiac.
Any school district needs a strong administrator as well as a board of education that isn’t afraid to make critical decisions and follow through with them. But with the financial problems in Pontiac, the ability to take a disciplined course of action involves considerable courage from all concerned, particularly because of the pressure from many parents and employees who say they want change and an improved school system but often resist it when they are directly affected.
The board and administration are valiantly moving forward with plans to consolidate the district’s high schools and middle schools, as well as close some buildings because of the school’s declining enrollment and looming $12 million deficit.
In addition to all of this work, the board is restarting an aggressive search for a new superintendent.
They will be following a tight timeline.
Deadline for applications is set for April 6. The board will review applications and check backgrounds of candidates. Consultant Mike Wilmot and the district’s attorney will select the top five April 7.
The first round of interviews will be between April 13 and April 27. Two finalists will be selected and a second round of interviews will be set for the week of May 4.
Trustee visits to the candidates’ school districts will be the week of May 11 and a decision will be made May 18.
One thing is clear, whomever gets the job will have huge shoes to fill in following Paramore. In a very short time, she and the board have accomplished more than was what achieved over the past 20 years by many previous boards and administrators.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Putting some Teeth in the PROMISE!
Lawmaker seeks support for Promise Zone
By RANDAL YAKEY
Of The Oakland Press
PONTIAC — An opportunity for a partial or fully paid college education for students of the Pontiac school district is at hand.
Now, it’s up to the surrounding community to help them seize that opportunity.
State Rep. Tim Melton, D-Auburn Hills, told a community forum Monday at City Hall that all the kids who work hard and graduate will be eligible for part or all of their college education to be paid for through the Promise Zone program.
But it won’t be easy.
So, Melton has called upon businesses, educators and citizens to donate time and money to a cause that will benefit the entire Pontiac community.
“We need to tap into our faith-based community,” Melton said. We need to tap into our business community like The Palace of Auburn Hills.”
Melton said he believes the $750,000 to get the program started can be raised and that he has already been getting “generous donations,” but there is still much to be done.
The Michigan Promise Zone Act allows communities to create funding mechanisms to increase college education opportunities for graduates of Michigan’s K-12 school system by providing free college tuition to in-state schools.
Up to 10 Promise Zones will be authorized throughout the state in areas that have a combination of low rates of educational attainment and high rates of poverty and unemployment. Funds must be raised by the community for two years before a percentage of growth in state education tax dollars will be added to the pot to provide scholarships to Pontiac students.
Under the plan, the school board would create a Promise Zone Authority board and appoint nine of the 11 members. The other two would be appointed by the speaker of the House and the leader of the Senate majority. The authority would cover full tuition to any public school in Michigan and a capped amount to any more expensive private Michigan college.
“The business community will benefit because now you have a higher density of post secondary educated kids who they are able to hire,” said Melton. “People always ask me to bring jobs to our community. Well, who are they going to hire? Let’s make sure we are preparing our kids for the jobs in the new economy.”
The Promise Zone Authority board would set the criteria for the scholarships and would be responsible for raising money in the private sector to fund them. No school board members would be on the authority.
In the third year, after two years of fund raising, the state would authorize the district to keep a percentage of funds generated by property tax growth to put toward scholarships. Children in all the cities and townships in the district would benefit, not just those who live in Pontiac. And the fund would reap revenue from growth in property taxes from all the entities in the school district.
Pontiac school district graduates, whether low-income or not, will be eligible for funds that make up the difference between what a student can obtain in scholarships and grants and the full tuition at a public Michigan college or university or a similar capped amount for a private college.
FYI
Call Melton’s office at (888) MELTON-4 or e-mail timmelton@house.mi.gov.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
CHANGE (Unfolding)
Changes coming with new school
By DIANA DILLABER MURRAY
Of The Oakland Press
And that’s not the only major change the high school will undergo during the redesign process, Geralyn Stephens told an audience of about 60 Thursday night at the first of a series of community forums scheduled on the new high school.
“Nobody is going to do it like we are going to do it,” said Stephens, a Wayne State University faculty member, referred to as a ‘turnaround’ consultant. “No one will have the support we are going to have for our students. If you know a high school student, ask them to come back. We are doing things very differently,” she told the audience at the forum hosted by Brenda Causey-Mitchell, director of Title 1 parent programs.
The high school, which will be on the Northern High School site, will feature smaller career and college-focused learning academies and groups inside the main building. Also, every student, teacher, counselor and support staff member will belong to a 150-member team.
If a vote were taken today — based on the vote of 133 students from Pontiac Northern and Central at a special meeting recently — the name of the new school would be North Central High School, with a vote of 78, reported Ramson Seay, CEO of Positive Male Role Models, a leader on a committee to help the transition.
In second place was Pontiac High School, 65; Pontiac Elite High School, 48; and Pontiac United High School, 32.
An even larger majority of students voted for the Phoenix as the mascot, with 97 votes. For colors, 90 of the 133 students liked the combination of purple, black and silver.
Coming in second for mascot were the Panthers, with 40 votes and Jaguars, 33 votes. Second favorite combination of colors were blue and silver, 56 votes; and red, orange and white, a combination of Northern’s and Central’s colors, 43 votes.
Now, Seay said, the community will have the opportunity to submit suggestions in a variety of ways: on Web sites for the school district and the two high schools; on Facebook; and in a suggestion box at Pontiac City Hall, the public library and other places yet to be announced.
Oakland Press readers have been making their suggestions on the Web site at www. theoaklandpress.com. Those suggested names will be turned over to the district as well.
In an effort to initiate excitement and enthusiasm about the project, Seay urged forum audience members to promote their favorites throughout the district because there will be a vote April 1.
At the new school, teachers, counselors and social workers on each team will work together to ensure students’ needs are met and students will be encouraged to make up credits to get back on track at their own grade level.
What Stephens calls the ‘smaller learning communities’ in her design include Ninth Grade Academy, Business Finance and Entrepreneurship Academy, and Arts & Communications Academy, said Stephens.
There will also be several of what she called ‘pathways,’ in which students can focus on such things as law and public safety, scholars program, student-athlete program; and the several career programs provided by Oakland Schools Technical Center Northeast, adjacent to the Northern campus.
All programs will include state required core curriculum, electives and career experiences meant to prepare all students for jobs and/or college in an area in which they indicate interest through an annual state survey.
Many career programs are funded by the state and federal government, not general fund dollars, Stephens said.
There will be student-run stores on campus, where students can use the career skills they are learning in a real work environment.
The fact that the district was forced to close and merge schools, because of a projected $12 million deficit and declining enrollment, actually made it possible to carry out a high school redesign necessary to help children achieve according to No Child Left Behind standards, said acting Superintendent Linda Paramore.
“When we realized we would have to close schools for the next school year, it gave us the opportunity,” she said.
Pontiac high schools have not achieved average yearly progress under No Child Left Behind for five years. One of the options the federal and state law gives districts in that situation is the redesigning to ensure academic achievement.
Seay and his transition team are planning many activities to bring students together over the spring and summer to help make the opening of school a successful one. He, Causey and Paramore urged members of the audience to join the transition team.
Security Chief Darryl Cosby said some of the police authority officers will also provide intervention programs for students, such as conflict resolution.
FYI
The next forums will take place as follows: 6 p.m. Thursday, March 19, at Pontiac Central High School, 300 W. Huron Street; 6 p.m. Thursday, March 26, at the UAW Hall, Local 653, 670 E. Walton Blvd.; 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 30, during the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Call (248) 45I-6897 to join the high school transition committee.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
REFORM tied to the DOLLARS! (MAKES CENTS)
Obama Says Public Schools Must Improve
By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 11, 2009; A01
President Obama sharply criticized the nation's public schools yesterday, calling for changes that would reward good teachers and replace bad ones, increase spending, and establish uniform academic achievement standards in American education.
In a speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Obama called on teachers unions, state officials and parents to end the "relative decline of American education," which he said "is untenable for our economy, unsustainable for our democracy and unacceptable for our children." The speech, delivered in a venue meant to underscore the changing demographics of the nation's public education system and its long-term priorities, sought to bring a bipartisan approach to education reform by spreading blame across party lines for recent failures.
"For decades, Washington has been trapped in the same stale debates that have paralyzed progress and perpetuated our educational decline," Obama said. "Too many supporters of my party have resisted the idea of rewarding excellence in teaching with extra pay, even though it can make a difference in the classroom. Too many in the Republican Party have opposed new investments in early education, despite compelling evidence of its importance."
Obama's speech, his first as president devoted to education, struck a tone of urgency at a time when public education is slated to receive about $100 billion in new federal money under the recently passed economic stimulus package. The money may give Obama and his education secretary, Arne Duncan, more influence in reshaping a public education system traditionally guided by state governments and local school districts.
"The resources come with a bow tied around them that says 'Reform,' " Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, said in a telephone interview. "Our basic premise is that the status quo and political constituencies can no longer determine how we proceed on public education reform in this country."
Although Obama proposed many of the ideas on the campaign trail, he used the speech to link those prescriptions to the future success of the ailing U.S. economy. He encouraged experimentation in the public school system, including proposals to extend the school day -- to bring the United States in line with some Asian countries whose students are scoring higher on tests -- and to eliminate limits on the number of charter schools.
"A number of these things are simply encouragements to the states on matters that the federal government has little authority over," said Jack Jennings, president of the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy. "But with this stimulus money comes the ability to talk more about these issues. And that is very powerful in itself."
The president signaled a willingness to take on influential Democratic constituencies, including teachers unions, which have been skeptical of merit-pay proposals. He said he intends to treat teachers "like the professionals they are while also holding them more accountable."
Good teachers will receive pay raises if students succeed, Obama said, and will "be asked to accept more responsibility for lifting up their schools." But, he said, states and school districts must be "taking steps to move bad teachers out of the classroom."
"If a teacher is given a chance but still does not improve, there is no excuse for that person to continue teaching," he said. "I reject a system that rewards failure and protects a person from its consequences."
Obama's support for ideas such as merit pay and toughened accountability for teachers is similar in tone to proposals placed on the table by D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee in contract negotiations with the Washington Teachers' Union.
Rhee, a Democrat, said last year that voting for Obama was "a very hard decision" because of the party's traditional reluctance to take on influential teachers unions. A spokeswoman said last night that Rhee had no immediate comment on the president's speech.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, a union with more than 1 million members, said in a statement that "as with any public policy, the devil is in the details. And it is important that teachers' voices are heard as we implement the president's vision."
Obama's call for states to adopt uniform academic achievement standards is likely to anger conservatives, who generally favor giving local school districts the authority to design curriculum and grading criteria. To make his point, the president said: "Today's system of 50 different sets of benchmarks for academic success means fourth-grade readers in Mississippi are scoring nearly 70 points lower than students in Wyoming -- and getting the same grade."
To encourage classroom innovation, Obama said, he wants the District and the 26 states that now limit the number of permitted charter schools to lift those caps. Such schools, founded by parents, teachers and civic groups, receive public money but are allowed to experiment broadly with curriculum. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools says 365,000 students are on waiting lists for charter schools.
Obama chose to deliver his remarks at the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, senior administration officials said, to emphasize the growing proportion of Latinos entering the public school system. He said a quarter of kindergartners in public schools are Latino, adding that they "are less likely to be enrolled in early education programs than anyone else." He said the stimulus plan includes $5 billion to expand the Early Head Start and Head Start programs.
The president also noted that Latino students are "dropping out faster than just about anyone else," a national problem that cuts across ethnic lines. He noted that "just 2,000 high schools in cities like Detroit, Los Angeles and Philadelphia produce over 50 percent of America's dropouts."
Regarding higher education, Obama said he plans to expand several federal grant programs, including increasing the maximum amount of a Pell grant and allowing it to rise with inflation, and ending "wasteful student loan subsidies." The goal, he said, is to make college "affordable for 7 million more students."
"So, yes, we need more money. Yes, we need more reform. Yes, we need to hold ourselves accountable for every dollar we spend," Obama said. "But there is one more ingredient I want to talk about. The bottom line is that no government policies will make any difference unless we also hold ourselves more accountable as parents."
Bottom UP!
Ending the ‘Race to the Bottom’
Published: March 11, 2009
There was an impressive breadth of knowledge and a welcome dose of candor in President Obama’s first big speech on education, in which he served up an informed analysis of the educational system from top to bottom. What really mattered was that Mr. Obama did not wring his hands or speak in abstract about states that have failed to raise their educational standards. Instead, he made it clear that he was not afraid to embarrass the laggards — by naming them — and that he would use a $100 billion education stimulus fund to create the changes the country so desperately needs.
"Testing is not the answer, as the most disadvantaged children are then penalized... as their teachers spend the entire year teaching to the test. "
Susan Josephs, Bethel, Conn.
Mr. Obama signaled that he would take the case for reform directly to the voters, instead of limiting the discussion to mandarins, lobbyists and specialists huddled in Washington. Unlike his predecessor, who promised to leave no child behind but did not deliver, this president is clearly ready to use his political clout on education.
Mr. Obama spoke in terms that everyone could understand when he noted that only a third of 13- and 14-year-olds read as well as they should and that this country’s curriculum for eighth graders is two full years behind other top-performing nations. Part of the problem, he said, is that this nation’s schools have recently been engaged in “a race to the bottom” — most states have adopted abysmally low standards and weak tests so that students who are performing poorly in objective terms can look like high achievers come test time.
The nation has a patchwork of standards that vary widely from state to state and a system under which he said “fourth-grade readers in Mississippi are scoring nearly 70 points lower than students in Wyoming — and they’re getting the same grade.” In addition, Mr. Obama said, several states have standards so low that students could end up on par with the bottom 40 percent of students around the globe.
This is a recipe for economic disaster. Mr. Obama and Arne Duncan, the education secretary, have rightly made clear that states that draw money from the stimulus fund will have to create sorely needed data collection systems that show how students are performing over time. They will also need to raise standards and replace weak, fill-in-the-bubble tests with sophisticated examinations that better measure problem-solving and critical thinking.
Mr. Obama understands that standards and tests alone won’t solve this problem. He also called for incentive pay for teachers who work in shortage areas like math and science and merit pay for teachers who are shown to produce the largest achievement gains over time. At the same time, the president called for removing underperforming teachers from the classroom.
In an effort to broaden innovation, the president called for lifting state and city caps on charter schools. This could be a good thing, but only if the new charter schools are run by groups with a proven record of excellence. Once charter schools have opened, it becomes politically difficult to close them, even in cases where they are bad or worse than their traditional counterparts.
The stimulus package can jump-start the reforms that Mr. Obama laid out in his speech. But Congress will need to broaden and sustain those reforms in the upcoming reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. Only Congress can fully replace the race to the bottom with a race to the top.
Published: March 11, 2009
There was an impressive breadth of knowledge and a welcome dose of candor in President Obama’s first big speech on education, in which he served up an informed analysis of the educational system from top to bottom. What really mattered was that Mr. Obama did not wring his hands or speak in abstract about states that have failed to raise their educational standards. Instead, he made it clear that he was not afraid to embarrass the laggards — by naming them — and that he would use a $100 billion education stimulus fund to create the changes the country so desperately needs.
"Testing is not the answer, as the most disadvantaged children are then penalized... as their teachers spend the entire year teaching to the test. "
Susan Josephs, Bethel, Conn.
Mr. Obama signaled that he would take the case for reform directly to the voters, instead of limiting the discussion to mandarins, lobbyists and specialists huddled in Washington. Unlike his predecessor, who promised to leave no child behind but did not deliver, this president is clearly ready to use his political clout on education.
Mr. Obama spoke in terms that everyone could understand when he noted that only a third of 13- and 14-year-olds read as well as they should and that this country’s curriculum for eighth graders is two full years behind other top-performing nations. Part of the problem, he said, is that this nation’s schools have recently been engaged in “a race to the bottom” — most states have adopted abysmally low standards and weak tests so that students who are performing poorly in objective terms can look like high achievers come test time.
The nation has a patchwork of standards that vary widely from state to state and a system under which he said “fourth-grade readers in Mississippi are scoring nearly 70 points lower than students in Wyoming — and they’re getting the same grade.” In addition, Mr. Obama said, several states have standards so low that students could end up on par with the bottom 40 percent of students around the globe.
This is a recipe for economic disaster. Mr. Obama and Arne Duncan, the education secretary, have rightly made clear that states that draw money from the stimulus fund will have to create sorely needed data collection systems that show how students are performing over time. They will also need to raise standards and replace weak, fill-in-the-bubble tests with sophisticated examinations that better measure problem-solving and critical thinking.
Mr. Obama understands that standards and tests alone won’t solve this problem. He also called for incentive pay for teachers who work in shortage areas like math and science and merit pay for teachers who are shown to produce the largest achievement gains over time. At the same time, the president called for removing underperforming teachers from the classroom.
In an effort to broaden innovation, the president called for lifting state and city caps on charter schools. This could be a good thing, but only if the new charter schools are run by groups with a proven record of excellence. Once charter schools have opened, it becomes politically difficult to close them, even in cases where they are bad or worse than their traditional counterparts.
The stimulus package can jump-start the reforms that Mr. Obama laid out in his speech. But Congress will need to broaden and sustain those reforms in the upcoming reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. Only Congress can fully replace the race to the bottom with a race to the top.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Teachers worry
Pontiac teachers worried they won't be called back
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
By DIANA DILLABER MURRAYOf The Oakland Press
The unparalleled decision to lay off all of its union employees in one fell swoop this week in preparation for downsizing has brought national attention to the Pontiac school district.
CNN national correspondent David Mattingly was in Pontiac Tuesday to interview some of the district’s administrators and teachers as part of a series on how communities across the country are dealing with current economic issues.
The Pontiac Board of Education, facing a $12 million deficit projected by the end of the school year, approved the layoff of all union members effective June 30. None of the five teachers interviewed on CNN had received their pink slips by the time of Tuesday’s interviews.
Acting Superintendent Linda Paramore said recall notices should be issued by April 30 to those who will have jobs in the fall, when enrollment is expected to decline another 600 students.
Teachers such as Eloise Williams, department chairwoman of social studies at Northern High School; Mary Jane Riley, Lorretta Robinson and James DuBerg, all social studies teachers at Madison Middle School; and Lance Davis, physical education teacher at Madison and vice president of the teachers union, are worried they won’t be called back. Riley has the longest tenure with 12 years in the district; DuBerg, eight years; Williams, nine years; and Robinson, only one year.
However, they seemed less concerned about the process of layoffs than about problems over the years in maintaining programs.
For example, when the ninthgrade academy was originally planned at Northern two years ago, teachers, social workers and counselors bought into it, took professional development programs and worked over the summer to create a supportive program for incoming students geared to help them be successful in school.
That September, a whole new set of teachers who had not been involved in the planning and training came to work in the academy because of layoffs due to declining enrollment.
Williams is optimistic a high school exception could be negotiated in the teacher contract to protect such programs.
DuBerg said there is one math class at Madison that has had six teachers, including at least one substitute. Davis said there have been at least 50 longtime substitute teachers working in the district instead of full-time certified teachers. Substitutes are paid much less and don’t have the benefits that union members have.
“Morale is bad. It’s been this way for awhile,” DuBerg said, “because we go through training and we start a good new program and six months later they don’t like it” and its dropped. “It’s been like that for eight years.”
Irma Collins, president of the Pontiac Education Association, on Tuesday estimated about 75 of the district’s near 500 teachers will not be called back. She objected to the number of layoffs, saying such drastic action was not necessary.
“It is unheard of to lay off everybody. They didn’t call us in and sit down and say let’s work with each other,” Collins said.Paramore said layoffs are being done this way to make recalls by certification, qualification and seniority to the newly combined schools more efficient.
She said she made every effort to ensure there was communication about the plan with all union presidents and employees so there would be no surprises.
The district is projecting a near-$12 million deficit this fall and $22 million by the next year if nothing is done to stop it. Deputy Superintendent Felix Chow is working on a plan to file with the state to eliminate the deficit in five years.
Buildings are being closed because declining enrollment has left the district using buildings that would accommodate 20,000 students when only 7,200 are enrolled this year.
Collins and other union leaders said they have received notice that the Pontiac school district is supposed to receive $27 million from the stimulus package, $17 million in stabilization funding — more than any other district in Oakland County — to prevent cut backs in teachers.
“The Pontiac school board’s decision to lay off all public school employees is in direct opposition to what President Obama said districts should be doing in his speech this morning before the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce,” said Iris K. Salters, Michigan Education Association president, in a press release Tuesday. She called the action to notify all teachers of layoff effective June 30 “an unnecessary and devastating step.”
Chow said Monday night he has not received confirmation of any amount of money from the stimulus package. And he said he has only been notified that monies will be coming for special education and Title 1 grants for at-risk students.
Pam Farris, president of the 36-member Pontiac Association of School Administrators, told the board Monday night that legal action would be taken if the contract for principals and some central administrators is violated.
“It was just a matter of making a statement that we have an agreement and we expect the board to uphold our agreement. I spoke with Dr. Paramore today and she is in agreement with that.“We are going to the table to collaborate. We will be at table and protect our membership.
The only way we would move toward grievance or legal means is if our contract is actually violated,” Farris said.
Contact staff writer Diana Dillaber Murray at (248) 745-4638 or diana.dillaber@oakpress.com.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Meanwhile.....
President Obama says the decline of education is "unacceptable for our children."
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama began to flesh out the details of one of his signature campaign promises Tuesday, outlining his plan for a major overhaul of the country's education system "from the cradle up through a career."
President Obama says the decline of education is "unacceptable for our children."
"We have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short and other nations outpace us," Obama said in an address to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "The time for finger-pointing is over. The time for holding ourselves accountable is here."
"The relative decline of American education is untenable for our economy, unsustainable for our democracy and unacceptable for our children, and we cannot afford to let it continue," he said.
The president outlined a five-tier reform plan, starting with increased investments in early childhood initiatives.
Obama noted that the recently passed $787 billion stimulus plan includes an additional $5 billion for Head Start, a program to help low-income families.
He highlighted a proposal to offer 55,000 first-time parents "regular visits from trained nurses to help make sure their children are healthy and prepare them for school and life."
He also pledged to boost federal support in the form of "Early Learning Challenge" grants to states that develop plans to strengthen early education programs.
Second, Obama called for an end to "what has become a race to the bottom in our schools" through lower testing standards. Echoing former President Bush's call to end "the soft bigotry of low expectations," Obama said states needed to stop "low-balling expectations" for students.
"The solution to low test scores is not lower standards; it's tougher, clearer standards," he argued.
At the same time, however, he urged states to develop standards "that don't simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble on a test but whether they possess 21st century skills like problem-solving and critical thinking, entrepreneurship and creativity."
To help promote this goal, Obama said he would push for funding in the No Child Left Behind law to be more effectively tied to results. The Education Department, he said, would "back up this commitment to higher standards with a fund to invest in innovation in our school districts."
Obama's third tier focused on teacher training and recruitment. He noted that federal dollars had been set aside in the stimulus plan to help prevent teacher layoffs. He also reiterated a promise to support merit pay, as well as extra pay for math and science teachers with the goal of ending a shortage in both of those subjects.
At the same time, however, the president warned that ineffective teachers should not be allowed to remain on the job.
"If a teacher is given a chance but still does not improve, there is no excuse for that person to continue teaching," he said. "I reject a system that rewards failure and protects a person from its consequences."
Teachers' unions have opposed merit-based pay, arguing that it is unfair because it leads to competition among teachers and because teachers face different challenges depending on where they are located.
Fourth, Obama called for the promotion of educational "innovation and excellence" by renewing his campaign pledge to support charter schools. He called on states to lift caps on the number of allowable charter schools.
He also urged a longer school calendar.
"I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas," Obama said. "But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom."
Obama's final reform initiative focused on higher education. Among other things, the president promised to boost college access by raising the maximum Pell Grant award to $5,550 a year and indexing it above inflation. He also promised to push for a $2,500 a year tuition tax credit for students from working families.
The American Federation of Teachers, a union with 1.4 million members, said Tuesday that it embraces Obama's goals to provide "all Americans with a comprehensive, competitive education that begins in early childhood and extends through their careers."
"We also fully support the president's call for shared responsibility for education -- among public officials, school administrators, parents, students and teachers," the group said in a statement.
"As with any public policy, the devil is in the details, and it is important that teachers' voices are heard as we implement the president's vision."
In promoting his program, the president called for an end to the "partisanship and petty bickering" that many observers believe has typically defined education policy debates in the past.
"We need to move beyond the worn fights of the 20th century if we are going to succeed in the 21st century," he said.
Obama also offered a rebuttal to critics who have accused him of diverting attention to issues such as education and energy at the expense of the deteriorating economy.
"I know there are some who believe we can only handle one challenge at a time," he said. But "we don't have the luxury of choosing between getting our economy moving now and rebuilding it over the long term."
And so it begins.....
Oakland Press
Pontiac schools' union members face layoffs
Pontiac schools' union members face layoffs
PONTIAC — Members of all Pontiac school district unions will be given layoff notices beginning today.
Layoffs will be effective June 30, but the district will notify by April 30 employees who will be returning to work in the fall.
The Pontiac Board of Education approved the layoff of all members of every district union at a meeting Monday night despite threats of legal action by Pam Farris, president of the Pontiac Association of School Administrators and Irma Collins, president of the Pontiac Education Association.
The drastic action was taken to provide an efficient way to call back employees, especially administrators and teachers, according to their certification and qualifications as well as seniority to a district that will be half its size in the fall under a restructuring plan. The district’s two high schools will be merged into one; the three middle schools combined at Madison Middle School; and several elementary schools will close, leaving seven in operation.
The 4-2 vote for the layoffs took place in a board room filled with mostly union employees and followed a report by Deputy Superintendent of Finance Felix Chow on the district’s dire financial condition. Vice President Gill Garrett and Trustee Robert Bass voted against the move, preferring a different process.
Chow said the district has lost 3,400 students in five years and enrollment is projected to drop by several hundred more in the 2009-2010 school year.
The district loses about $8,000 with each child. The board approved an amendment to the 2008-2009 budget to show a deficit of nearly $12 million by the end of June. Chow said spending is currently $16 million in deficit and he is in the difficult process of trying to get more than $20 million to provide cash flow to cover payroll and bills.
Detroit Free Press
Hundreds of Pontiac school employees to be laid off
Some to get callback; aim is to trim deficit
BY KORIE WILKINS • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • March 10, 2009
Pink slips will go out to more than 700 union employees in the Pontiac School District in the coming weeks after the Board of Education approved massive layoffs Monday night in hopes of trimming a projected $11.6-million deficit.
The move, considered unprecedented by some education officials, will affect employees including teachers, support staff and administrators.
District officials say they will have a plan by April 30 on how many staffers will be recalled for jobs in the 2009-10 school year. For those who don't receive callbacks, the layoffs take effect June 30.
"It's not right," said teaching assistant Sheila Williams, who has been with the district for 12 years. "It's a shame. I might not have a future."
The district has been working since October on a massive restructuring that also calls for closing eight schools in the 2009-10 school year, including combining Central and Northern high schools.
It's unknown how much money will be saved and how district officials will decide who gets a callback.
"The financial condition of this district should not be a surprise to anyone," said Interim Superintendent Linda Paramore. "We have difficult decisions to make."
About 50 people were at the Monday's meeting; only a handful spoke. "To lay off all the employees is just stupid," said resident Billie Swazer. "It creates a feeling of chaos. A blanket layoff is not acceptable to the citizens, and I'm not sure why there are not more of us up here."
Doug Pratt, director of communications for the Michigan Education Association, said Monday night that the MEA will monitor the layoffs to make sure the district follows union contracts and acts in the best interest of students.
He said layoffs like this are unprecedented: "It's unfortunate that they chose to take such drastic action."
District officials said the cuts are necessary because the district has been losing students. It has 7,200 students and space for 20,000.
Felix Chow, interim deputy superintendent of business and auxiliary support services, said revenues aren't keeping pace with expenses.
"If we don't act, we could end up like other governmental entities that give up any options," said Board Trustee Christopher Northcross.
Pamela Farris, president of the Pontiac Association of School Administrators, said the union will file grievances and may take legal action.
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