Comments on: Get Mayors in the Schooling Game http://actlocallysf.org/blog/topic/2007/03/27/get-mayors-in-the-schooling-game/ Join the Debate! Read and comment on articles posted on actlocallysf.org. Fri, 16 May 2008 18:58:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.0 by: veronica bykin http://actlocallysf.org/blog/topic/2007/03/27/get-mayors-in-the-schooling-game/#comment-534 Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:27:50 +0000 http://actlocallysf.org/blog/topic/2007/03/27/get-mayors-in-the-schooling-game/#comment-534 There are definitely some advantages which the charter schools have over normal public schools. We have an issue with parents having to drive kids to school because of the ridiculous lottery system which denies many families the convenience of sending their kids to the nearby school. While it is a well-intentioned policy, the result is a lot of stress for parents and many people opting for private school instead of the school they are assigned to. This is the main reason behind the exodus from public schooling and the decline of public schools in the city. The lottery system needs to be changed.<ul><li><label>Overall Rating</label>: 1</li> </ul> There are definitely some advantages which the charter schools have over normal public schools. We have an issue with parents having to drive kids to school because of the ridiculous lottery system which denies many families the convenience of sending their kids to the nearby school. While it is a well-intentioned policy, the result is a lot of stress for parents and many people opting for private school instead of the school they are assigned to. This is the main reason behind the exodus from public schooling and the decline of public schools in the city. The lottery system needs to be changed.
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]]> by: Daniel Long http://actlocallysf.org/blog/topic/2007/03/27/get-mayors-in-the-schooling-game/#comment-235 Wed, 28 Mar 2007 10:23:11 +0000 http://actlocallysf.org/blog/topic/2007/03/27/get-mayors-in-the-schooling-game/#comment-235 Instead of taking care and improve on what's already there (orphans and foster kids instead of newborns, current schools vis a vis new schools, etc.), this is another one of those "let's expand and throw more money at it" discourse. Aside from the fact that pretty much all singles in this city already get taxed for services they do not receive (not unlike the school issue mentioned here), there are a plethora of problems associated with the above article. First, there is already an enormous shortage of competent teachers. Where is the mayor supposed to get more? Second, a higher demand for teachers means higher salaries. In addition to added real estate and its associated costs, this means higher taxes! Third, for reasons completely unclear to me, virtually every child in this city seems to have to be picked up by its parent in an automobile – blocking streets, making inane turns and generally making a serious nuisance of themselves. Don’t these (overweight) kids walk anymore? What are school buses for? If parents and their seriously undersupervised offspring wouldn’t be such an imposition on everyone, I wouldn’t be so bellicose about this. But this article seems to seriously imply (unless I’m missing the irony of it) that not only do we have to deal with grown-ups with lamentable parenting skills, their seriously offensive issue AND higher taxes?! Get out of town!<ul><li><label>Overall Rating</label>: 1</li> </ul> Instead of taking care and improve on what’s already there (orphans and foster kids instead of newborns, current schools vis a vis new schools, etc.), this is another one of those “let’s expand and throw more money at it” discourse.
Aside from the fact that pretty much all singles in this city already get taxed for services they do not receive (not unlike the school issue mentioned here), there are a plethora of problems associated with the above article.
First, there is already an enormous shortage of competent teachers. Where is the mayor supposed to get more?
Second, a higher demand for teachers means higher salaries. In addition to added real estate and its associated costs, this means higher taxes!
Third, for reasons completely unclear to me, virtually every child in this city seems to have to be picked up by its parent in an automobile – blocking streets, making inane turns and generally making a serious nuisance of themselves. Don’t these (overweight) kids walk anymore? What are school buses for?
If parents and their seriously undersupervised offspring wouldn’t be such an imposition on everyone, I wouldn’t be so bellicose about this.
But this article seems to seriously imply (unless I’m missing the irony of it) that not only do we have to deal with grown-ups with lamentable parenting skills, their seriously offensive issue AND higher taxes?!
Get out of town!
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]]> by: Act Locally SF http://actlocallysf.org/blog/topic/2007/03/27/get-mayors-in-the-schooling-game/#comment-231 Tue, 27 Mar 2007 20:06:49 +0000 http://actlocallysf.org/blog/topic/2007/03/27/get-mayors-in-the-schooling-game/#comment-231 [...] What else, we’ve got a new article about city schools and giving the Mayor the ability to open public charter schools — using Indianapolis as an example, by David Harris and Andrew J. Rotherham: …despite the centrality of public schools to a city’s civic health, few mayors have any formal statutory authority over the public schools located in their city, as school systems in most states are run by independent local school boards.  It is a paradox that vexes many mayors. [...]<ul></ul> […] What else, we’ve got a new article about city schools and giving the Mayor the ability to open public charter schools — using Indianapolis as an example, by David Harris and Andrew J. Rotherham: …despite the centrality of public schools to a city’s civic health, few mayors have any formal statutory authority over the public schools located in their city, as school systems in most states are run by independent local school boards.  It is a paradox that vexes many mayors. […]
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