Sunday, July 18, 2010

JAMES H. SMITH: When the odds are stacked against our youngest citizens The New Britain Students! - The New Britain Herald (newbritainherald.com)

Posted by Frank Smith at 18.7.10

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

This was an excellent editorial summarizing the status of education and society in New Britain. It was "right on"!

It would be wise in the future not to hold on to a superintendent as long as was done for Doris Kurtz. I believe that a new broom sweeps clean.

Frequently, the BOE should hear from the teachers and the administrators in anonymous surveys. Many BOE members were duped by Kurtz. They needed to hear the truth which most teachers would be afraid to address for fear of a vindictive superintendent.

Yes, some students "survive" and go on to prestigious schools. My educated guess is that they came from a home with two parents who speak English, read to them often as small children and put their academic interests first.

Now that we finally acknowledge just how bad the situation is and has been for a number of years we need to put very strong people on the Search Committee for a new superintendent.

There are those individuals who feel a great need for diversity. That cannot always be achieved. Better to select the brightest and the best. If, then, it turns out to be a diverse committee, all the better.

July 18, 2010 at 10:00 AM
Anonymous said...

This is a perfect example for why not one teacher in New Britain should get a raise, but because they are in a union and have tenure, they will all be rewarded for their dismal performance with huge raises because they can do whatever they want and are not accountable for their actions.

If you want to correct the student performance rate, you first must be able to hold each and every teacher accountable. The first step is no raise--ever--unless they perform. In fact based on this report, they should all be facing pay cuts!

July 18, 2010 at 12:46 PM
Anonymous said...

Vouchers are the answer.

Isn't it about time parents had a choice what school their child attends? Liberals should embrace such a program, because with vouchers, even the poorest parents have a choice. A voucher system puts poor families on par with the richest members of the community, who can afford to send their child to any school they want, but the Democrats are screwing the poor families by denying them such a benefit, all for the sake of paying back radical unions for their support.

If the Democrats were truly the party of the people, they would be fighting with everything they have to give these parents vouchers so they could decide where to send their children, instead of a repressive government bureaucrat making that decision for you.

Mr. Sherwood, WHERE's THE BEEF?

July 18, 2010 at 6:35 PM
Anonymous said...

Where can I get the voucher so I can get my children out of these failed NB schools?

July 18, 2010 at 7:05 PM
Anonymous said...

I used to work with a guy like editor James Smith. In any discussion of controversial issues this guy would listen to everyone's comments and then he would chime in on what his feelings were. He would then choose the salient points he felt were made by those clearly in the majority; then he would make his statement solidifying the majority position even if he didn't believe same. Our hero!

If you are going to rate teachers simply on the performance of those students under their care on standardized tests, that is ridiculous. Until you can "standardize" students, this measurement tool to rate teachers is ineffective.

Union contracts standardize teachers, to wit, all teachers are worth the same salary; this is based on years of service, degree level, etc. If the test scores are in the toliet then all of the teachers stink. If anyone believes that all the teachers in NB are incompetent, nothing will change their mind.

I predict that if you could keep everything at the status quo and replace every teacher next
year's scores would show no difference. Think about it. Ridiculous, maybe.

July 19, 2010 at 7:49 AM
Anonymous said...

Union contracts standardize teachers, to wit, all teachers are worth the same salary; this is based on years of service, degree level, etc. If the test scores are in the toliet then all of the teachers stink. If anyone believes that all the teachers in NB are incompetent, nothing will change their mind.

THE UNION STANDARD IS WONDERFUL! NEW BRITAIN SHOULD BE PROUD TO BE 168TH OUT OF 169 TOWNS. ONLY WILIMANTIC PERFORMED WORSE!

MUST MAKE YOU REALLY PROUD TO BE A UNION MEMBER THAT IS THE 2ND WORST IN THE STATE!

July 19, 2010 at 5:27 PM
Anonymous said...

If the test scores are in the toliet then all of the teachers stink. If anyone believes that all the teachers in NB are incompetent, nothing will change their mind--

Hey Liberal, you don't pay all the teachers the same--that is called socialism. You pay each teacher based on his/her personal performance, so a teacher whose ratings are in the toilet will also have a paycheck in the toilet, while the teachers with good performance will make much more. But that is how the private sector rewards their employees, since they are not controlled by socialists.

July 19, 2010 at 5:29 PM
Anonymous said...

This is why unions are destroying this country. Just like with socialism, there is no incentive to work or to produce anything, in a union there is no incentive to do your job, because no matter how hard you work, you get the same pay as the biggest slug in the agency.

July 19, 2010 at 8:30 PM
Anonymous said...

Editor Smith and other Lib Dems like him are the problem not the solution. Their blind hatred of President Bush, in conjuction with their blind alliegence to President Obama and his socialst policies, are exacty what causes the odds to be stacked against New Britain Students.

July 20, 2010 at 11:51 AM
Anonymous said...

As I said in the lead comment, teachers need to be heard in an anonymous survey. They are the ones that know what is not working and what needs to be done. The BOE members who have the power are clueless and go along with Kurtz.

Ideally, if we could dump the unions,fire the incompetent teachers, get rid of tenure,get rid of binding arbitration, we would make a great start.

July 20, 2010 at 7:19 PM
Anonymous said...

Ideally, if we could dump the unions,fire the incompetent teachers, get rid of tenure,get rid of binding arbitration, we would make a great start.

AMEN

July 20, 2010 at 8:57 PM
Anonymous said...

" Anonymous said...
As I said in the lead comment, teachers need to be heard in an anonymous survey. They are the ones that know what is not working and what needs to be done. The BOE members who have the power are clueless and go along with Kurtz.

Ideally, if we could dump the unions,fire the incompetent teachers, get rid of tenure,get rid of binding arbitration, we would make a great start.

July 20, 2010 7:19 PM"

Ideally, if owner of the Herald, Mike Schroeder would dump Editor James Smith or ship him back to Bristol, The Herald might be an OK paper. Schroeder of course would have to hire a more fair and balanced editor. Smith is unabashed in his dedicated promotion of liberals like Sherwood, Trueworthy, O'Brien and the DTC.

July 21, 2010 at 1:44 PM

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