http://www.newsminer.com/news/local...9bbd1d2-b96e-11e3-bd84-001a4bcf6878.html


They actually think the big bosses should have some (minimal) experience in the trenches before they lead those who are there. Sheesh.

The ideal candidate is either someone who has been very successful in the business world or has been a military officer as schools should be run exactly in the same manner. It is also important that he/she come from far enough away from the prospective school (preferably from another state) that he/she possesses no knowledge whatsoever of the local situation. It should also be a requirement that he/she leave for another position after no more than five years, so that all of the chaos and uproar that he/she inflicted upon the district (in order to pad his/her resume) is left behind for those committed to the district to try and live with/straighten out.

You had me going for a moment . . . . . . . BTDT

I'm sure I had a few more years in me until some mili-dude with a stick up his tailpipe decided he knew what was best. . . . kids could not stand him either.

It's not that hard! hint

What's the big deal for the union? Some of the supposed teachers in the teachers' union don't have any real teaching experience even though they have occupied space in classrooms and, sometimes, no experience is better than their experiences. The wrong constituency is sounding off.

I have to wonder sometimes what planet people come from where they see the vast stereotypes they claim as ordinary- not to single any individual out on that. To miss the point of the cited article certainly shows a lack of credible experience or knowledge of such things. But go ahead and focus on the messenger if you must.

Really? We live and die by district-wide (100,000 students, nine 5-A high schools) benchmark and statewide end-of-course test scores around here.

What's on the tests? That's public info.....

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/staar/testquestions/

What's the teacher teaching in any given week? Districts require that teachers have to put that out on their own school web page too, referencing the parts of the syllabus (also public info) covered along with digital copies of all materials given to students and a schedule of when assignments are/were due.

Birdwatcher

Education would be better served if School Board superintendents had NO teaching experience, and no previous association with teachers.
Selecting from the pool of 'educators' is pulling them from a polluted pool.

Go for it

it's no secret that I hate unions.

Folks (teacher unions, unions period) ain't upset about a guy that has never served a single day in uniform being CIC of the world's mightiest military.

So why would their cunnys hurt when superintendents aren't pulled from the teacher pool?


Priorities are a bit [bleep] up in this country.

Never liked or had much use for unions myself- though I do understand the useful purpose they can serve. That said in many places you don't have a choice if you want to work since many schools operate under 'closed shop' rules. (That doesn't exactly endear the unions to those who aren't inclined). Most school districts can only negotiate with a recognized local association (usually union affiliated) anyway so it's no surprise that the deal with superintendents is being opposed by a union association. Suggesting that teachers as a whole are liberal union supporters is akin to saying the military must be pro-Obama since they have done nothing to support his removal. Perhaps our enlisted men/women would be okay with high-ranking officers being hired from IBM or Dunkin' Donuts????

I do agree that priorities in this country are (bleep) up. Sorry the point seems to be getting by some folks.

I am guessing that you are being sarcastic.....

Should a base commander have some back ground in the military? Should a fire chief have some experience as a firefighter and how about the Chief of police? Should he/she have experience as a cop first?

Simple questions and simple answers.

Stop bitching about your school system and get in their, volunteer once a week and be a school supporter.

I did nine more than the 20 needed to retire..... I'm taking a break at the moment. Not bitching about a school system either, just the laws that govern them.

I understand. Too often the uninformed believe that anyone can teach and anyone can supervise a school. Schools are low hanging fruit for the angry, disenfranchised and the uninformed.

When parents get back to supporting the efforts of the school (like what we use to see 30 years ago) we should not expect to see much improvement in student performance.

The first step needs to be Parents being Parents. Once you have achieved a majority there, the other[worthless POS teachers] will be taken care of via enough Parents that actually G A S about what is going on inside the schools.

I am going to agree with you on parents being parents and taking responsibility for their children's behavior. On your 2nd comment I am going out on a limb here and make a guess that you had a bad experience when you were in school! Did some mean old teacher not give you a gold star on your art work when you were in the 2nd grade??


Taking a swipe at teachers/school is easy for the angry old men of the world. When was the last time you volunteered or help out in a 3rd grade classroom? Stop being angry and get involved. Make positive change from the inside rather than stand on the outside and just scream! Spending a few hours a week as a volunteer at your local school will help you curb your pissy attitude and make some good kids happy to!

Education, and anything to do with anything going on in any specific district should be left up to the locals and unions and state and federal government to hell. There is a lot involved with managing any district and it won't necessarily be the same as the district next door to it...

This country has some 2 million 12th graders this year alone that at sometime during the year was homeless, and that number has been increasing some 10-15% each year for quite awhile now. You have students that aren't eating properly, students that need counseling, just to mention a few of the problems facing a district. There's also the problems of lacking supply's, personnel, schools that are falling apart, and new technology proving what was taught in the past not to be necessarily accurate today!

Teachers are constantly having to study and relearn what they are teaching and most take it home with them, if someone comes into a new district to head that district, they should know quite a bit about that district, its people, and their students!

What ever that takes, is best left to the locals and at their discretion.


Phil

Exactly. Bad ones don't last long when parents are connected with or engaged in what their kids are doing in school. Parents are the most important teachers a kid can have.

I reckon you mean discretion? they already been desecrated.

Yup, Thanks!

Phil

I am a happy old man, and I am more than pleased (actually, reponsible) and qualified to take a big swipe at teachers and schools that are lousy - and many are - and it is not always easy to make that swipe. I also am more than pleased to support the excellent efforts in some schools, and do so heavily.

You should never assume that everyone who critiques public education here is an angry blowhard. Some of us have worked in those trenches and have volunteered in schools more than you ever would imagine, and one of the biggest problems extant is that important people - in local districts and nationally - pander to administrators/unions/politically driven board members instead to dealing with the mediocrity and failure realities. If you have known great teaching/learning performance, you can know the opposite. (BTW - not every volunteer in the schools is beneficial to the effort.)

I agree with the need for all parents to take responsibility for the behavior of their children - under ALL circumstances, not simply in school. I also believe just as firmly that all parents should take responsibility for the policies/conditions/and actual quality of teaching done in their kids' schools by being strongly involved with the school boards and demanding excellence in their school systems. Neither of these behaviors seem to happen in many school districts in 2014, but there was a time when they did - and that made a tremendous difference.

It's Walt. He always talks out his ass.

+1

FORE!!!

Yes, REALLY !! Birdie, what you present above is good, and telling, perspective. However, thoroughly mandated curricula, detailed syllabi, specified and standardized testing to rate schools and teachers, etc., etc. are MECHANISMS (and often propaganda) dealing with what is supposed to be done. But, it is not teaching - any kind of teaching, good or bad - and you know that because you are a very good teacher.

None of the mechanisms/standardization, or requirements, or rating reports are responsible for making folks into teachers. I have been fortunate to have known and worked with fabulous teachers. Yes, there are teachers who have been in classrooms for many years and yet have little or no teaching experience, because they actually have taught little, or none. I have seen them in inaction. So has the union.

Yes and please qualify how you are you rate on the big swipe.

Much like dearly departed Gene did for LEO's, you set the efforts of good teachers back significantly by your inability to type a coherent sentence along with your continued swipes at only 1 part of the problem in gov't, it only adds to the impression you give most of us here, of you, as an addled, goofy lil prick.


Do you ever read the stuff you type?

He's stoned immaculate. Libs just open their mouths and stuff comes out.

"qualify how you are you rate" ? Maybe I can write?