Superintendent Jeff Patterson was one of 20 Ohio superintendents to sign a letter to State of Ohio School Board members, Ohio legislators and the leadership at the Ohio Department of Education calling for changes in a variety of areas, including testing, accountability, leadership and legislation. You can learn more and read the letter and the signees' demands in this cleveland.com article:
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ss ... eache.html
Christine Gordillo
Communications & PR Coordinator
Lakewood City Schools
Supt. Patterson Joins In Call For Changes at Ohio Dept. of Education
Moderator: Jim O'Bryan
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Christine Gordillo
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- Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2005 10:28 pm
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Tim Liston
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Re: Supt. Patterson Joins In Call For Changes at Ohio Dept. of Education
If Supt. Patterson wants K-12 schools to better serve our children, he’d call for the State of Ohio to eliminate Local School Districts entirely and turn over control of schools to the schools themselves and the parents who patronize them. And all the money now received by School Districts, he’d call for that money to be sent to the parents instead…………..
I wonder if LCSD officials believe that our childrens’ nutritional needs would be better served by “Grocery Districts” in which most Lakewood parents were forced to shop. If Lakewood parents could shop only at Giant Eagle, Sapelli’s or Marc’s, but not at Heinen’s, Whole Foods or Walmart.
I wonder if members of the BOE believe that Lakewood residents’ transportation needs would be better served if we could buy cars (but not trucks) only from Ford, but not from GM or Toyota. Or if distant third-parties decided how our transit dollars are spent. (Hint: remember the Circulator?)
I wonder if K-12 school officials think that “Health Care Districts” would better serve the medical needs of Lakewood families. That is, (1) Lakewood families could only obtain low-cost medical care from third-party “health insurers,” (2) those insurers could compete only within a relatively small, government-mandated geographic district, (3) those insurers could authorize only their “preferred” medical providers and exclude others at will, (4) government rules prevented those insurers from offering medical services and pharmaceuticals from other countries, and (5) those insurers didn’t have to tell Lakewood families what their services actually cost? (Spoiler alert: this is not hypothetical).
Do you think LCSD employees are better served by being prevented from seeking medical care from University Hospitals’ main campus without paying 100% of the cost out-of-pocket?
And I can’t help but notice that Christine, who I suspect would earnestly oppose the elimination of School Districts and the hyper-local control of “our schools,” in fact posted the above here on a little-regulated, ungoverned hyper-local news source….
(We all know why school administrators favor the delivery of K-12 education by way of forcible School Districts, right? Hint: my children never attended a K-12 school that had a Superintendent or a Communications Coordinator.)
Our government-run K-12 educational system is a bloated and relatively ineffective mess. I cannot for the life of me understand why most people are so complacent about it, especially parents. While those in charge are handwringing about online vs. paper testing, the U.S. has just fallen to 18th place (out of 18!) in the OECD’s latest PIACC test of literacy, numeracy, and problem solving skills in technology rich environments, right behind 17th-place Poland.
I wonder if the people in Poland are now telling American jokes. “Hey Bartek, did you hear about the American who locked his keys in the car? Ha-ha!” (The PIACC report can be found by clicking here.)
It’s time to stop believing that tweaks like changes to test providers and testing protocols make any difference. It’s time to start talking to friends and family about the failings of our K-12 government schools, and what should be done about it. School District “walls” are usually put in place to keep people IN their “district,” not out. Wake up! If the State of Ohio were to eliminate School Districts, parents could hold schools to account, competition would ensue, schools would become varied and better meet every family’s needs, and within a matter of just a few years new families would move to Ohio in droves.
Enjoy the Spring!
I wonder if LCSD officials believe that our childrens’ nutritional needs would be better served by “Grocery Districts” in which most Lakewood parents were forced to shop. If Lakewood parents could shop only at Giant Eagle, Sapelli’s or Marc’s, but not at Heinen’s, Whole Foods or Walmart.
I wonder if members of the BOE believe that Lakewood residents’ transportation needs would be better served if we could buy cars (but not trucks) only from Ford, but not from GM or Toyota. Or if distant third-parties decided how our transit dollars are spent. (Hint: remember the Circulator?)
I wonder if K-12 school officials think that “Health Care Districts” would better serve the medical needs of Lakewood families. That is, (1) Lakewood families could only obtain low-cost medical care from third-party “health insurers,” (2) those insurers could compete only within a relatively small, government-mandated geographic district, (3) those insurers could authorize only their “preferred” medical providers and exclude others at will, (4) government rules prevented those insurers from offering medical services and pharmaceuticals from other countries, and (5) those insurers didn’t have to tell Lakewood families what their services actually cost? (Spoiler alert: this is not hypothetical).
Do you think LCSD employees are better served by being prevented from seeking medical care from University Hospitals’ main campus without paying 100% of the cost out-of-pocket?
And I can’t help but notice that Christine, who I suspect would earnestly oppose the elimination of School Districts and the hyper-local control of “our schools,” in fact posted the above here on a little-regulated, ungoverned hyper-local news source….
(We all know why school administrators favor the delivery of K-12 education by way of forcible School Districts, right? Hint: my children never attended a K-12 school that had a Superintendent or a Communications Coordinator.)
Our government-run K-12 educational system is a bloated and relatively ineffective mess. I cannot for the life of me understand why most people are so complacent about it, especially parents. While those in charge are handwringing about online vs. paper testing, the U.S. has just fallen to 18th place (out of 18!) in the OECD’s latest PIACC test of literacy, numeracy, and problem solving skills in technology rich environments, right behind 17th-place Poland.
I wonder if the people in Poland are now telling American jokes. “Hey Bartek, did you hear about the American who locked his keys in the car? Ha-ha!” (The PIACC report can be found by clicking here.)
It’s time to stop believing that tweaks like changes to test providers and testing protocols make any difference. It’s time to start talking to friends and family about the failings of our K-12 government schools, and what should be done about it. School District “walls” are usually put in place to keep people IN their “district,” not out. Wake up! If the State of Ohio were to eliminate School Districts, parents could hold schools to account, competition would ensue, schools would become varied and better meet every family’s needs, and within a matter of just a few years new families would move to Ohio in droves.
Enjoy the Spring!