So, my post on the Broken Arrow school split was seen by a lot of people, and obviously, not everyone agreed. Interestingly, however, a lot of feedback has resulted from people whose response was uninformed and unresearched. I intended to do a longer post, but this one came through Facebook, and I thought I'd address it.
"George. Unfortunately what you think and the politics that play out. Broken Arrow needs at least 2 high schools and possibly 3. I personally among others within the school system tend to agree. Split the schools up including Pride. The system is TOO large and needs to be split up so it will give the others fair share of making the Pride. Two Pride in Broken Arrow is not a BAD thing. Let's face it, Broken Arrow is too BIG for one High School. I'm not the only one that feels this way!!
Never have been a fan of yours even when you worked at US Cellular. To me you were nothing but a trouble maker and I still see this as true. You sir are NOT a team player. You want to create havoc among thE TEAM and others that I know tend to agree. I personally hope that BA is split up in ALL areas including PRIDE."
Part of me gets that this is a bit personal. I am, shall we say, in with a large group of people who do not want to see the schools split. Hence, I am standing with my "team" and assisting them. I admit to being a bit of a troublemaker, but in this case, I have a cause that I am standing up for, and I believe this is the right way to go.
Are there a fair number of people for the split? Oh yes. Plenty. The problem is that many of those opinions ring similar to this one. It isn't a bad thing. More bands are good. The high school is too big. The city can support more than one. In principle, these opinions are not wrong, but we also have to consider the local environment and what we've built so far.
Two Prides? No. It was established right from the start that the Pride as we know it would end. Due to OSSAA regulations, each school would need its own competitive marching band and due to the dilution of talent and smaller base to draw from, the optional extracurricular Pride would need to return to the required presence for all band students. Not everyone wants to be in marching band and enjoy the option. Additionally, they indicated that since it would be required, they would have trouble asking for the presently high fees associated with being in Pride. A reduction in cost is a reduction in everything, and some of the national competitions or traveling they do now would be cut down considerably. When it was required in my time, OBA was pretty much the end of our season with a "big trip" every other year.
The system is too large? That is a matter of perspective. We're actually comparable to Union and Jenks in our high school size. And when it comes to Broken Arrow's size, that matters less than the number of students at the campus. We hurt ourselves considerably when we added in the sophomores to the population and made a large campus overwhelming. We have also established, however, how many students it can hold, so pulling those sophomores back out would leave plenty of growth room.
And there's that "fair share" argument. By having more of the same thing, somehow that gives more students more opportunities. Knowing that the Pride as it is with all of its present opportunities will be gone, that will actually be one less thing available to the students. We also know that there are many, many activities possible at a large high school that a smaller one cannot support, both extracurricular and academic. We have specialty classes for students that help them learn in their desired future fields. One of our favorites to mention is an AP Physics 2 class that has 8 students. It used to have 12 before 4 dropped at semester. It's that hard. That class would not survive a split because it wouldn't have enough people. There is also only one AP Physics teacher. Would the class be limited to only one campus? Would only half the district get AP Physics? Would they have to hire a second special teacher for that with the money we don't have for that purpose? A split would be a really, really expensive endeavor which is bad in the current economic climate for schools.
I am formulating a much larger post addressing a lot of the pro-split opinions I've heard in the past couple of months. This thing isn't dead yet, but I do hope some serious discussion is going to to make the best choice for OUR district. Large high schools work, and they work well. They're all over the country in populations larger than ours, so there's plenty of precedents.
Monday, May 8, 2017
Sunday, May 7, 2017
About Voting
Elections are a thing in the United States and in many other places in the world, but it seems that when voting comes around, there is a minor misconception people get when doubling down to make that decision. Major parties warn you not to "throw away your vote" or in the case of the last presidential election "cast a protest vote." Neither of these is actually possible.
When one votes for something, the intention is that they engage in a conscious decision to put forth their voice to say which of the available choices they think are best. There is, in fact, no way for anyone to throw away their vote (or make a protest vote). Any vote put forth in good faith to make a decision in one's own best interest is a valid decision...whether that decision turns out to be the winning one or not.
My impression of some people is that when they enter into a voting situation, they get caught up in a game mentality. In the musical, Hamilton, some secondary characters are pondering who to vote for in the election of 1800: Adams, Jefferson, or Burr. When Adams is considered, the comment is made "He's gonna lose, that's just defeatist." This comment is right in line ith the idea that voting for someone who can't win is throwing your vote away. The idea of an election or vote of any kind is to determine the desires of the people, not for the people to play a game to guess who is going to win. Sometimes, you'll even hear about those who guessed wrong later. They'll say they voted wrong because their angle lost.
That's not why you vote. There is no prize for picking the winner. Unless you put money on it, but the legality of that is questionable in some areas.
The point of this is that when you vote, you are supposed to go in with the mindset to always make the outcome better, and even if that entails putting your voice behind something you think may lose, that's fine. If you believed in it, you did the right thing.
If everyone in the country stopped guessing the winner and started voting their heart, maybe we'd start making some positive progress.
When one votes for something, the intention is that they engage in a conscious decision to put forth their voice to say which of the available choices they think are best. There is, in fact, no way for anyone to throw away their vote (or make a protest vote). Any vote put forth in good faith to make a decision in one's own best interest is a valid decision...whether that decision turns out to be the winning one or not.
My impression of some people is that when they enter into a voting situation, they get caught up in a game mentality. In the musical, Hamilton, some secondary characters are pondering who to vote for in the election of 1800: Adams, Jefferson, or Burr. When Adams is considered, the comment is made "He's gonna lose, that's just defeatist." This comment is right in line ith the idea that voting for someone who can't win is throwing your vote away. The idea of an election or vote of any kind is to determine the desires of the people, not for the people to play a game to guess who is going to win. Sometimes, you'll even hear about those who guessed wrong later. They'll say they voted wrong because their angle lost.
That's not why you vote. There is no prize for picking the winner. Unless you put money on it, but the legality of that is questionable in some areas.
The point of this is that when you vote, you are supposed to go in with the mindset to always make the outcome better, and even if that entails putting your voice behind something you think may lose, that's fine. If you believed in it, you did the right thing.
If everyone in the country stopped guessing the winner and started voting their heart, maybe we'd start making some positive progress.
Friday, May 5, 2017
The State Of Education Dictates The State Of Everything
I'm just a guy living out here in Broken Arrow with very little knowledge of what goes on in the capital. I don't know the in and outs and nitty-gritty of the numbers or how they come to be so, but at the same time, this is something I trusted you to do. What I have learned is that you suck at it. I've also learned that with the cuts made to the budget in education along with how it has been managed to date even without this crisis, you also have no idea how things work in the real world of people, schools and businesses. You offer breaks to businesses while breaking schools, and that's a risky endeavor for the future of the entire state. You've been putting education in second place for years and driving it to the bottom of the nation, and it's starting to impact your budget. Why are you short on money? Here's the problem when it comes to the construction of an average life versus the mess you've made.
First, we have the problem of teacher pay. Why start there? Because people decide where they work based on a number of factors, but pay is a big part of it. If a teacher can afford to move only a few hours down the road, they can substantially increase their pay. The teachers who can make the move do so. Those that have family or other obligations, a spouse with a better paying job allowing them to support their "teaching habit" stay. Oklahoma is suffering from overcrowding in schools not because of a shortage of classrooms, but a shortage of teachers. It has gotten so bad that we're accepting people who want to help without degrees in teaching and giving them "emergency certifications."
Great schools start with great teachers. How many are you driving to neighboring states or out of the profession entirely by disrepecting their right to a professional wage? Yeah, not a living wage; a professional wage. Teachers need at least a bachelor's degree and they get paid as much as someone on the phone doing customer service. Most professions offer big incentives to people who get Master's or Doctoral degrees, but not education. Most teachers don't bother because it would cost more to get that degree than they could justify it in an insultingly tiny pay increase.
Next, with this little debacle of a lack of money, we are cutting all kinds of stuff to make up for it. Did you cut anything? Have you stopped tkaing your children to activities or extra things? Well, the schools have had to. Some are consolidating together creating more kids in less classrooms, some are cutting programs that aren't even extracurricular, but used as part of the curriculum. The Accelerated Reader program is threatened, and this was something in place to help children know which books are on their level or greater and incentivize them to read more. Some schools are talking about 4 day weeks to save on utilties. Sure, they'll rework the hours to make up the time, but it still translates to less class time. Bus routes are being cut meaning more kids will have more trouble getting to school.
The schools will suffer immesaureably as a result of your inability to take care of them. Guess what comes next? Schools affect many facets of our lives. I recently commented in my own district that people revolve their lives around school districts and where they want their kids to go. Houses are selected based on districts and target schools. Good schools raise property values. Undesirable schools lower them. If you send all of our schols right into the toilet, what's going to happen to the state? People who are not anchored will leave or never come.
This would have a domino effect on businesses you so desperately want to be located in Oklahoma. What if industries recognize that our schools are not supported by our legislature and are suffering? They won't want to come here because they know their employees would not want to come here. By making the schools second rate on your agenda, you are not only hurting our children, you are potentially making the entire state suffer. It may be a doomsday prediction, but if people plan their lives around schools, and businesses plan their future around people, then eventually, your careless neglect of our schools will send the whole state into ruin.
Everything is connected. Poor teacher pay leads to higher classroom ratios which leads to a decline in education quality. Cuts in education funding lead to cuts in school programs and even basic services which leads to further declines in educaiton quality. Poor quality of education leads businesses to reconsider their desire to come to Oklahoma since their employees would want a better education for their children. Decline of industry in Oklahoma means decline in revenues which leads back around to further declines in education.
Schools are the foundation of just about everything we have, not just in the education of our next generation, but in enticing more revenue to come into our state and keeping what we have. If you make education a priority, you will make everything else better. If you don't care, you are elected officials, and we'll keep voting you out until we find someone who does. To any voters reading this, until this problem is solved, we need to start reminding our government who actually has the power of change and start removing them. New blood is clearly required to fix this.
I considered sending this via email, but email is so easy to ignore and delete. Besides, this is not just for those who hold office. We're all in power because in a democratic republic, the people are the voice. Not special interest groups. Not those greasing palms. Not personal agendas or desired legacies. Those of us out here who are suffering and watching our children suffer because you can get your act together and do the job you were elected to do.
It's said you make time for what it important to and the same goes for money. You always prioritize money in the most important things first. You've shown that you find education unimportant.
You may have to put pet projects on hold. You may have to cut something you really wanted. You might have to not give tax breaks and bonuses to certain businesses or industries. You might actually piss some people off, but to redirect money to education is the right thing to do and it will benefit everyone in the long run. ANY cuts to education aren't worth it, and more money needs to be funneled into it. However you screwed up the lottery needs to be put right. If you don't know what to do, start reviewing states sitting at the top of the list of the best schools or at least those doing better than we are. They did something right. Maybe you can emulate them. There are lots of examples. At least 46 or 47 based on the most recent numbers I've found.
We're tired of our schools being at the bottom of the list of quality. We're tired of our teachers being at the bottom of the list in pay. We're doing the best we can with what you give us to work with, but we need you to care. We need you to realize that this needs to be a priority. Not SAY it is a priority and then continue business as usual. Do it.
How will we know when you've done it? When we start moving up the lists. We've been at the bottom for awhile, so clearly this isn't a priority. nothing has convinced you that we are serious. Teacher marches don't convince you. People have called and emailed, and that's not enough. Now look what you've done. A budget shortage. It is starting already. Is that enough? You can't cut education. You've been ruining it for years which is just making everything worse. Keep education at the top of your list of things that need to keep going up and cut other stuff. Once you've fixed education and the money starts rolling in again, you can put the other stuff back.
If education comes first, everything else will follow. If education is last, everything else will suffer.
First, we have the problem of teacher pay. Why start there? Because people decide where they work based on a number of factors, but pay is a big part of it. If a teacher can afford to move only a few hours down the road, they can substantially increase their pay. The teachers who can make the move do so. Those that have family or other obligations, a spouse with a better paying job allowing them to support their "teaching habit" stay. Oklahoma is suffering from overcrowding in schools not because of a shortage of classrooms, but a shortage of teachers. It has gotten so bad that we're accepting people who want to help without degrees in teaching and giving them "emergency certifications."
Great schools start with great teachers. How many are you driving to neighboring states or out of the profession entirely by disrepecting their right to a professional wage? Yeah, not a living wage; a professional wage. Teachers need at least a bachelor's degree and they get paid as much as someone on the phone doing customer service. Most professions offer big incentives to people who get Master's or Doctoral degrees, but not education. Most teachers don't bother because it would cost more to get that degree than they could justify it in an insultingly tiny pay increase.
Next, with this little debacle of a lack of money, we are cutting all kinds of stuff to make up for it. Did you cut anything? Have you stopped tkaing your children to activities or extra things? Well, the schools have had to. Some are consolidating together creating more kids in less classrooms, some are cutting programs that aren't even extracurricular, but used as part of the curriculum. The Accelerated Reader program is threatened, and this was something in place to help children know which books are on their level or greater and incentivize them to read more. Some schools are talking about 4 day weeks to save on utilties. Sure, they'll rework the hours to make up the time, but it still translates to less class time. Bus routes are being cut meaning more kids will have more trouble getting to school.
The schools will suffer immesaureably as a result of your inability to take care of them. Guess what comes next? Schools affect many facets of our lives. I recently commented in my own district that people revolve their lives around school districts and where they want their kids to go. Houses are selected based on districts and target schools. Good schools raise property values. Undesirable schools lower them. If you send all of our schols right into the toilet, what's going to happen to the state? People who are not anchored will leave or never come.
This would have a domino effect on businesses you so desperately want to be located in Oklahoma. What if industries recognize that our schools are not supported by our legislature and are suffering? They won't want to come here because they know their employees would not want to come here. By making the schools second rate on your agenda, you are not only hurting our children, you are potentially making the entire state suffer. It may be a doomsday prediction, but if people plan their lives around schools, and businesses plan their future around people, then eventually, your careless neglect of our schools will send the whole state into ruin.
Everything is connected. Poor teacher pay leads to higher classroom ratios which leads to a decline in education quality. Cuts in education funding lead to cuts in school programs and even basic services which leads to further declines in educaiton quality. Poor quality of education leads businesses to reconsider their desire to come to Oklahoma since their employees would want a better education for their children. Decline of industry in Oklahoma means decline in revenues which leads back around to further declines in education.
Schools are the foundation of just about everything we have, not just in the education of our next generation, but in enticing more revenue to come into our state and keeping what we have. If you make education a priority, you will make everything else better. If you don't care, you are elected officials, and we'll keep voting you out until we find someone who does. To any voters reading this, until this problem is solved, we need to start reminding our government who actually has the power of change and start removing them. New blood is clearly required to fix this.
I considered sending this via email, but email is so easy to ignore and delete. Besides, this is not just for those who hold office. We're all in power because in a democratic republic, the people are the voice. Not special interest groups. Not those greasing palms. Not personal agendas or desired legacies. Those of us out here who are suffering and watching our children suffer because you can get your act together and do the job you were elected to do.
It's said you make time for what it important to and the same goes for money. You always prioritize money in the most important things first. You've shown that you find education unimportant.
You may have to put pet projects on hold. You may have to cut something you really wanted. You might have to not give tax breaks and bonuses to certain businesses or industries. You might actually piss some people off, but to redirect money to education is the right thing to do and it will benefit everyone in the long run. ANY cuts to education aren't worth it, and more money needs to be funneled into it. However you screwed up the lottery needs to be put right. If you don't know what to do, start reviewing states sitting at the top of the list of the best schools or at least those doing better than we are. They did something right. Maybe you can emulate them. There are lots of examples. At least 46 or 47 based on the most recent numbers I've found.
We're tired of our schools being at the bottom of the list of quality. We're tired of our teachers being at the bottom of the list in pay. We're doing the best we can with what you give us to work with, but we need you to care. We need you to realize that this needs to be a priority. Not SAY it is a priority and then continue business as usual. Do it.
How will we know when you've done it? When we start moving up the lists. We've been at the bottom for awhile, so clearly this isn't a priority. nothing has convinced you that we are serious. Teacher marches don't convince you. People have called and emailed, and that's not enough. Now look what you've done. A budget shortage. It is starting already. Is that enough? You can't cut education. You've been ruining it for years which is just making everything worse. Keep education at the top of your list of things that need to keep going up and cut other stuff. Once you've fixed education and the money starts rolling in again, you can put the other stuff back.
If education comes first, everything else will follow. If education is last, everything else will suffer.
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