Andy Jones’s a high school teacher in Hawaii. He writes here with profound dismay about the search for a new superintendent for the schools of Hawaii.
He was not sorry to see the current superintendent go. She was an avid supporter of test-based accountability and data-data-data.
“This week we learned that the new superintendent will likely be one of two products of the current educational Big Box: a nationwide collection of individuals with graduate degrees from institutions (many of them recent startups) that support a transformation of public education according to post-traditional business models – what critics refer to as the “corporate educational reform movement.
“This model – one to which Matayoshi adhered and which was largely responsible for facilitating the national failure that was No Child Left Behind (NCLB) – is founded on the idea that, where public education is “broken,” it can be “fixed” through methods that emphasize top-down standardization and systemic compliance.
“That’s precisely the model the state is doing its best to move away from – a desire encapsulated in the Blueprint for Public Education drafted by Governor Ige’s ESSA Task Force, as well as in the Hawaii State Teacher Association’s Schools Our Keiki Deserve report.
“A quick Google search on the proposed candidates leaves little room for optimism that either candidate is prepared or likely to jump start Hawaii schools out of their post-NCLB limbo and into the brighter, more wholesome future envisioned by HSTA and the Governor’s Task Force.”
Jones finds reasons to avoid both candidates when he googles. Both have red flags in their history.
He adds:
“The local educational community has requested candidates with deep teaching experience, extensive personal knowledge of Hawaii and its public school system, a collaborative mindset, and a commitment to teacher empowerment. The board’s selections demonstrate failure to acknowledge the input they solicited on their own survey.
“It may seem hyperbolic to ask for some sort of an explicit mandate for board members to do what is right. But perhaps because board members are appointed rather than elected, they don’t appear to be particularly concerned about holding themselves accountable to community opinion.
“Through the various missteps reported in the media over the past months, it has become clear that an appointed Board is not serving the interests of Hawaii schools and the children they serve.”
“This week we learned that the new superintendent will likely be one of two products of the current educational Big Box: a nationwide collection of individuals with graduate degrees from institutions (many of them recent startups) that support a transformation of public education according to post-traditional business models – what critics refer to as the “corporate educational reform movement.”
We did this for years in our school district and finally, finally gave up on it and promoted from within. We weren’t big enough to attract ed reform “rock stars” of course but we had a whole series of superintendents from somewhere else who would “shake things up” and work magic. My sense was our working class rural district was just a stepping stone to a better assignment.
All it did was create chaos. The low point was a superintendent who came from a private school who didn’t seem to understand that he had to actually COMPROMISE to meet all the varying needs and demands in our district. After him they promoted from within and it works a lot better.
Surveys too often give the impression that those being surveyed are given an opportunity to “put in their two cents.” Unfortunately, whether results are listened to or not depends on who is in charge and whether there was ever any intention to use survey results in decision-making processes.
I don’t think the problem of selection of a superintendent that is not a part of the corporate education reform movement has to do with whether or not the school board is elected or appointed (I prefer more not less democracy and an elected school board).
Many elected school boards just have no knowledge of the corporate education reform movement and often turn to professional search firms that have drunk the Neoliberal education reform Kool-Aid to identify the top contenders for a superintendent position.
http://www.livingindialogue.com/will-corporate-reformers-ever-admit-wrong/
I read about this. A cousin sent the article to me. Bozos are in charge. I am totally upset by the state of Hawai’i hiring people from the mainland who have no clue about the island kids. The mainland folks try to make the local kids in their own image and their images ain’t so good. Sickening.
And btw, the term “Aloha Spirit” is a MARKETING and “branding” ploy for the tourism business. When “Aloha Spirit” was coined, it subjugated the locals. Think about this.
I have more, but enough said.
One last thing, the local kids in Hawai’i, don’t thrive on competition and would rather DIE than compete with each other. The culture of the Hawaiians is to cooperate for the better good. Wish those mainlanders would stop pushing their “unholy” values on Hawai’i. Hawai’i locals have been used over and over again FOR PROFIT, just like the Native Americans. It really is sickening.
Oh, right now luxury condos are being built and goes who these luxury condo are being marketed to and who will benefit? Answer: RICH CHINESE from CHINA. UGH…SICK.
And then there’s Zuckerberg…he dropped his lawsuit and is making nice. I don’t believe him. Zuckerberg is just pulling back and making nice, but in the end he will “screw over” the locals on Kaua’i. SICK.
Have you noticed that none of our political leaders have anything in common with “us”?:
“Barron Trump will attend St. Andrew’s Episcopal, a preparatory school in Potomac, Md”
The next time they’re all sitting around discussing why they’re “out of touch” they might consider the fact that they live NOTHING like the vast, vast majority of the people they supposedly “serve”.
I’m middle aged and I swear it gets worse every year. I once looked up how many Senators who were voting on public schools actually attended a public school. It was TWO on the Democratic side. Two out of something like nine.
They’re like royalty.
I Googled how much the tuition was at St. Andrews’s Episcopal School for Grades 6-8:
$10,040
11 payments of $912. 73
Semester payments: 2 payments of $5020,
Two semester payments of $5020.00. Has 5% discounted rate if paid in full by August 2st.
………
I wonder if this school gives any lessons in ethics, compassion or morality. The rest of the Trump clan doesn’t seem to have any.
That’s actually very low for a private school. The exclusive schools charge far more. Sidwell Friends, for example, charges $40,000. In the Boston area Catholic prep schools charge $16,000 – $20,000 and the students are mostly middle class.
The Trumps just revealed that their son will be attending St. Andrews’ Episcopal School in Potomac, MD, where the tuition is $38,000 a year. That is their right, but he should not pretend that vouchers will allow poor families to go to St. Andrews.
Tuition at St. Andrews is about $40,000 a year.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/05/15/barron-trump-to-attend-private-st-andrews-episcopal-school-in-maryland-this-fall/?utm_term=.93180988426f
I agree. From what I’ve read Trump’s kids attended a private school in NYC for $50,000 a year.
Wonder why this school was chosen.
Many religious schools are subsidized by churches, so what they currently charge is not an accurate indication of the per student cost.
Also, if a large number of students from public schools suddenly decided to go to religious schools, basic supply/ demand theory would say that such schools would increase their tuition and fees.
In fact, the same thing would undoubtedly occur with non-religious private schools. More demand with limited supply means the price goes up across the board when enrollment capacity is limited.
The increase in demand (more people attending college) is one of the main factors involved in the huge increase in college tuition in recent decades.
Ed reform still can’t figure out anything to offer to public school students and parents:
“Now, thanks to the Every Student Succeeds Act, all states have the opportunity to use federal funding to conduct their own assessment audits. These audits can be a tool for states to ensure that all tests provide high-quality feedback to inform instruction and help parents and educators better serve our students.”
Yippee! Assessment audits! I’d crawl over broken glass to vote for that!
Has there ever been a political “movement” that captured most state legislatures and all of DC while offering absolutely nothing to the vast, vast majority of people?
Charters and vouchers get thousands of paid advocates and non-stop cheeleading and the 90% of kids who attend public schools get tests.
It’s a great time to be a US student if you happen to attend a charter or private school. Not so great if you attend an unfashionable public school.
“Invasive Species”
Reformers are like wild bore
That overrun the place
With testing and with Common Core
They really will deface
Here’s ed reform leader Jeb Bush promoting private schools by bashing public schools again:
“But while today parents have the legal right to oversee their children’s education, it is a hollow right for the many who remain stuck in their assigned public school because they lack resources to choose another option that, in many cases, may be a better alternative.”
There hasn’t been a Bush in a public school for at least 3 generations. His belief that all parents believe they are “stuck” in the public schools he seeks to eradicate is not true, but of course he wouldn’t know that, because he lives in a completely different world than ordinary people.
Is there a single person in this movement who EVER advocates on behalf of public school kids? Can Jeb Bush name ONE THING he did to benefit Florida’s public school children? How did the majority of kids become an afterthought?
It must suck to be a public school parent in Florida. The state’s entire power structure is aligned AGAINST your kid’s school. And you’re paying them for this!
https://www.the74million.org/article/jeb-bush-florida-scholarship-special-education