Education
We on the right understand, of course, the concept of paying a premium for quality executives and administrators, but there seems to be something of, well, an employer’s vanity in paying our new, relatively young Education Commissioner Deborah Gist substantially more than her predecessor, who had logged nearly two decades in the position: Rhode Island’s…
As I noted during liveblogging last night, Tiverton Guidance Counselor Lynn Nicholas had the following to say at the school committee meeting in November, at which the committee voted to hold off on approving a retroactive teachers’ contract until state numbers came in (stream, download): Before I ask Doug a question, I just need to…
A larger-than-usual crowd is in t Tiverton High School library for the first school committee after the financial town meeting cut the district’s budget by $627,247. A healthy TCC showing; the rest, I assume, are teachers and sympathizers. School Committee Chairman: “Our only priority in dealing with this cut is to protect our students, and…
It was open-mic night at Gorton Jr. High in Warwick last night. The School Committee gave the public a chance to voice their opinion regarding the proposed closing of John Greene school. Several of the issues generated by a meeting earlier in the week were brought up last night. Of particular interest was the appearance…
There will be two public comment sessions regarding the potential closing of an elementary school in Warwick: both will be at Gorton Jr. High and are tonight from 6 to 9 PM and tomorrow from 3-6 PM. I discussed the initial presentation of the consolidation advisory committee last week (and the Warwick Beacon had a…
There are currently 11 charter schools in RI and the cap is 20. Now that a four year moratorium has been lifted, there are technically 8 entities seeking permission to open “new” charter schools (the Paul Cuffee school wants to expand to 9th grade, which is defined as “new”). I say, let them all go…
Warwick School Committee member Patrick Maloney has called attention to a proposed amendment to the “Open Meetings” law. According to House bill H5497 (sponsored by Representatives Hearn, Shallcross Smith, Marcello, Carnevale, and DaSilva): Written public notice shall include, but need not be limited to, posting a copy of the notice at the principal office of…
The decision by Education Secretary Arne Duncan to freeze the admission of students to Washington, D.C.’s voucher program is cause for concern, as editorialized last week by the Washington Post. It’s clear, though, from how the destruction of the program is being orchestrated, that issues such as parents’ needs, student performance and program effectiveness don’t…
Jay Greene writes about the unions declaring war on charter schools (h/t Assigned Reading), but in the midst of his piece is some interesting data. One of the big (usually union) arguments against charter school performance is that those who apply are highly-motivated, self-selected students (or parents) and that, of course, they perform better. Greene…
What kind of a school system would let this sort of thing happen? It’s sure to be the end of quality public education as we know it (emphasis added): Starting this fall, teacher vacancies in four Providence schools — Hope High School, Veazie Street Elementary School, Lauro Elementary School and Perry Middle School — will…