ISD 709 HAS, AS REPORTED HERE EARLIER, BEEN ADDED TO A LAWSUIT…

…as reported here earlier.

This is the Trib’s follow-up.

I have to look somewhat cynically at the evidence the plaintiffs rely on at least for the purposes of this news story:

As one example, the lawsuit points to test scores of students at Myers-Wilkins, a school with a nearly 80 percent low-income population, and compares them to those of Congdon Park Elementary, with a roughly 20 percent low-income population. Congdon Park has a largely white population, while Myers-Wilkins’ enrollment of minority students is just over half.

State standardized test scores at Myers-Wilkins show just over half of its students are proficient in reading and math, while at Congdon Park more than 80 percent of students are proficient in each.

Nearly 70 percent of teachers at Myers-Wilkins have been on staff for more than 10 years and have a master’s degree. At Congdon, 95 percent have been on staff for more than 10 years, with 91 percent holding a master’s degree.

If we had the resources to have a teacher assigned to a single child and then travel to the child’s home through as many as a half a dozen residence changes a year we might come close to keeping that child on track no matter how dysfunctional the home. For some children that is what it would take for them to keep up.

That said, the last paragraph is almost a joke. The statistical difference between the experience and educational attainment of Congdon teaers with their school’s 20% low income students and Myers-Wilkins teachers with their 80% low income students is laughably small. Obviously the Myers-Wilkins teachers are close to their Congdon counterparts in both years worked and master’s degrees.

My experience at Grant School before it merged with Nettleton was that the teachers at Grant liked to teach the underdogs. I’m sure that is still true. In fact, at the moment its the teacher’s at Congdon who are under stress with the DFT attempting to silence a group of them into mouth shut mode by pushing the Administration to investigate them for “insubordination.”

There is an interesting tale to be told here, and guess what? After the union decided to file a “complaint” against me for doing their work for them representing a teacher I got a little saucy and sent its President a letter back explaining their negligence.

There is a considerable learning gap at Myers-Wilkins alright but there’s more to it than this suit says. Tenure is the least of Myers-Wilkins problems.

Considering all the teachers we will have to lay off because of the DFT’s determination not to take $14.2 million bucks for that salvage job Central High I can’t help but wonder what she thinks her role is as the President of the union. Fewer teachers. Now that’s a problem. Thanks Red Plan.

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