Arkansas Blog

Why not be closer to the capital and influence policy and law makers? UAF is fine becasue it's Walton's backyard, but don't you think King Lu, who wants to be bigger than UAF, made a deal with the devil to get this done?

Charter schools have gobbled up two more of my daughter's favorite teachers at Hall High; they won't return in the fall. (I'm hoping Hall won't lose another one who is well known to this group.) I understand and respect decisions made by teachers in the best interest of their families. I wish them Godspeed.

But as an African-American who has lived in Arkansas for most of my 50-plus years, I will never overlook the fact that local charter schools thrive, in **part**, because *some* white people don't want to be around people like me and my daughter, and *some* don't want to be in a non-charter public school if they have to be around a whole bunch of people like me and my daughter.

Hence, I would never allow my daughter to engage in such a self-deprecating (or self-depreciating, for the grammarians among us) act as enrolling in a charter school. It is true she aspires to attend a top-notch college, but there are some things that must not be exchanged for any benefit. Her mother and I will simply have to redouble our efforts to support and supplement my child's education in her home, and in the summer programs in which she is involved.

To some of us, the nature of "choice" provided by charter schools is evident, if unstated.

call Walker(again)

TAP - Do you think it might have something to do with parents wanting their children to be in an environment of learning instead of an environment of a bunch of chuckleheads that act like idiots and disrupt everyone around them and retard their learning process?

White vs black is not a deciding factor for most people.

Why doesn't anyone get on their soapbox and demand that parents actually raise their children to be respective to authority figures and stop acting like a school is just an air conditioned babysitter and then complain because their kids can't read?

I'm really glad to see what's really important today--5 comments here(with mine) and 9, at last count on the terrible tragedy of no Merle at Riverfarce. Now, beefmon, you sound more like bullshit party line mon today. I've listened to dittoes like you for most of my life(63years so far), and it is always the same vinegar in the same bottle: "not racist, you understand, just want the kinds to learn in a learning environment". Tie that bull in your living room and keep it there.
TAP is right on all counts. The Walton dynasty will own it all, one way or another.

If I were in their shoes and directing my riches to make a difference, I don't think I'd be very attracted to an institution like the LRSD that is led by a dysfunctional board, focused on the wrong issues, and controlled by a self-serving civil rights lawyer and a greedy teacher's union resistant to change and accountability. I'd rather spend my money knowing I was really helping some kids rather than flushing my money down the toilet with the likes of Michael Daughterty.

ARK. BLOG: In the specific, I understand your point. But this isn't a situational issue. It's not about LR at all, at least specifically. It has been the long-standing pattern of Walton spending, including when more acceptable people were in charge there. It's always been about moving people out of the conventional public schools. It began with a push for vouchers. When those wouldn't fly, they invented charter schools, the functional equivalent of private schools in many respects, but better still because the public pays for them even as they erode public school districts. Charter schools need have no demonstrated superior methods or track record to be deemed superior in their eyes. Efficiency, unless your intent was to destroy the system, would say improve some of what you have in place, particularly since much of it demonstrably works as good or better than any charter or private system yet devised. On average, in test after test, there's no discernible difference, except, often, in favor of public schools.

Beefmon,

I do indeed think that some parents just want the best learning environment for their kids. I'll bet you are one such parent, or have been. I didn't mean to indict every parent who selects E-Stem or some other charter school, or private school, for their children.

Yet I do not believe charter schools would exist in Our Town if there were not a deeply imbedded inclination to white flight, documented in the history of our school systems. Some of this white flight is rooted in acceptance of stereotypes, some in submission to fear, some in devolution to disgust over the impact of a few students on the many. Most of it costs the publc, non-charter, schools in tangible and intangible ways.

In any case, her mother and I have raised our child to be respectful to authority figures. Yet, we don't wield any special power over how others raise theirs.

I'll admit I can't read minds. All I have is a personal familiarity with desegregation and racial reaction in LR going back 40 years and an ability to observe with what I hope is a discerning eye.

Without knocking anyone's personal choice, I just don't want to give my daughter over to those who create a haven from schools or classrooms numerically dominated by blacks -- nor turn her over to those who profit from the desire of *others* to avoid such schools or classrooms. To do so would be tacit endorsement of the objectives of *some* who are involved with charter schools. My child needs self-respect more than she needs whatever E-Stem can offer.

Badmouthing the schools or the school boards as the source of the problem fails to address the actual problems and differences that should be taken into consideration. True choice according to one researcher and activist is when all schools are brought up to par.

What is the key difference between public schools and magnets, charters, and private schools? The latter has more parent involvement. In fact, the involvement is pretty well forced involvement. Parents must sign agreements with magnets, charters & private schools to follow certain rules, contribute so much volunteer time, attend conferences, enforce study at home and be on call if their child gets into trouble.

Furthermore, the extent of "normal" homelife for these students of magnet, charter & private schools is significantly greater than that of public schools. Socio-economically, all the numbers favor the students of these schools. Given similar sets of students, data shows that public schoolls perform as well as these other schools. Given students whose parents are more involved and active in their child's education, public schools perform as well as these other schools.

The issue is by no means even that simple. Factors far greater than the view of a single board member or the view of an outsider are causing problems within our education system: white flight, immigration, inaccurate & divisive public perception, social promotion theory, overtesting, complex bureaucratic rules, etc. And, despite those problems, public schools remain the backbone of our education system.

9 out of 10 students in America attend public schools. It is only sensible to do something to help those 9 out of 10 in their own schools other than telling them to all pack up and go to school with the other 10%. It logistically cannot happen. If you want to level the playing field, then I suggest you focus on making parents in those schools as accountable and active as those in the magnet, charter & private schools. Do that and you'll see the American education system improve by leaps and bounds.

Jake,

How do you hold all parents accountable? Until there is an answer to that, those parents who are willing to accept responsibility should be given options.

No matter what type of school one goes to, data shows that the children of repsonsible parents do better. Classes and teachers exist in nearly all public schools that meet the needs of these students. Look at the scholarship lists, achievement lists, honors lists, etc., and all schools are represented.
For too long, the solution has been to run away as if the only answer was to abandon public schools for so-called greener pastures. Success and opportunity are not absent from public schools nor are they guaranteed by attending private schools.
In a discussion over a simiar topic a couple of weeks ago with a school official, I was surprised to learn that parents have more options than they know about or attempt to exercise within the public schools. A diligent and demanding parent can get a lot accomplished for their child even within the public schools.
It's not so much that parents aren't given options, but that they won't take the ones that are there.
You're thinking short term (and I won't say short-sighted, although maybe near-sighted might be better) and I'm thinking long term. I would encourage all to write their representatives and legislators and tell them to enact laws making parents accountable & responsible for the education of their children. We've made everyone accountable but them and they're the golden key that can unlock the door for our childrens' future.

ARK. BLOG: Jake, it occurred to me in the middle of the night that it would be interesting to pick up whatever glorious charter school exists -- eStem, whoever -- and transport them over to the worst public school in town, judged by poverty and test scores. Then say, guys, do your thing!

Do you think the vaunted charter school brilliance would produce significantly different outcomes? Of course not. Because they'd leave behind students placed by motivated parents for a captive audience with far less parental involvement.

Also Jake: Exactly what rules are charter schools loosed from -- as tiresomely repeated in newspaper boilerplate? Nothing much, I'd warrant. Likewise, how rigorous are the required performance objectives, also tiresomely repeated in newspaper boilerplate. Must they really exceed peformance of others, or merely show kids are advancing. Again, given the self-selecting student body of children of interested parents, you'd be surprised if they didn't advance to some degree.

TAP -- exactly right and well put.

It would crack me up to see so many whites back here "uncomfortable" in educational or social situations where they're a numerical minority, if it were funny.

It would crack me up to see how few whiltes and blacks back here have actually had dinner in each other's homes (though God knows it's better than in 1957), except that's not funny either.

When you're from a city like NY or LA, where people of color are the majority -- and even in THOSE places whites are "uncomfortable" for all their seeming surface sophistication -- it would crack me up if it weren't so tragic.

I will say this, though. Whether you live in LA or NY or LR, you always have the choice to live your life as you see fit and live your values for your children. I admire those parents who prefer to send their children to Central or Hall -- especially when those children excel, graduate with honors and go on to successful college careers and adult lives of respect and honor.

I'm friends with a history teacher from NY who taught at UAPB for four years and now lives in Little Rock. "What did you think of Pine Bluff?" I asked her.

Her immediate reply? "It's the perfect example of what happens to a town due to racism."

Good for you, TAP. And good for the white parents I know who completely agree with you about their children's educations.

If the Waltons were sincere in their oh-so-public drive to improve education in Arkansas, they'd pour their considerable wealth into improving teacher salaries for our PUBLIC schools, thus attracting the highest-quality educators and making them available to the broadest population of Arkansas' students . . . rather than what they're actually doing, which is to make a theoretically "superior" education available to some but not all.

I mean, I'm loving Alice's spectacular art collection and museum and all.

But in ten years, how many students are even going to know what a museum IS, much less visit it and actually see the paintings?

And what good is sixty seconds staring at a Van Gogh when they can't even point to Iraq on a map -- or even the State of New York?

Interesting, what the Waltons choose to do with their money.

And what they don't.

Soon, the Waltons will own our state. It isn't about children, isn't it about power?

Well Norma, you might have hit the nail on the head. It is THEIR money. I might not agree with everything that they do, but they have the right to do it.

ARK. BLOG: But must publicly funded agencies be hired as their accomplices?

o Professional development for school staffs<<

Note the first of their goals. Somewhere, between the lines, I smell a No Union message.

Are the unions against professional development, now?

doc,

When you ask, "Are the unions against professional development?" let me turn the question on you:

"Is doc against having a nice piece of pie?"

Go ahead and answer the question. After you do, I'll let you know whether it's cherry pie or cow pie, and whether I'm planning to give it to you on a plate or in your face.

In my experience with Waltonism, it favors the "cow pie in your face" option.

state law mandates professional developnment to remain certified to teach in the public schools. i'm not familiar with such requirements in private schools sinc such schools can hire people who are not certified to teach. i'd suggest you go to the arkansas department of education web site and look up professional development. teacher unions are a bit more than unions in the historical sense of the word: besides pay, working conditions, and pertinent legislation, they provide a variety of professional development courses to help teachers improve their classroom skills and instructional abilities (Paul Greenberg simply spoke in ignorance in his Sunday article in which he accuses teacher unions of not having anything to do with improving education). They have helped implement or been supportive of school improvement plans (including merit pay in someplaces). They've also disagreed with proposals for a variety of reasons.
I won't say that teacher unions have a perfect record, but it is false and misrepresenting to say that they have not had a helping hand in many instances around this nation. It is ignorant and stupid to utter such claims.
yes, there is a strong anti-union message from several agencies, many who promote vouchers, private schools, or charter schools. Unfortunately, ther shrill and strident animosity has been destructive to the betterment of education.