Comments on: Yes, hello? I’m calling to report what I think is a crime in progress…

By: Sleepless in Bridgeport

Sleepless in Bridgeport — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 14:51:00 +0000

Come on…….you must have stolen Vallas’ play book! He has already done so much damage to Bridgeport.

By: Apartheid First

Apartheid First — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 01:39:00 +0000

I was just reminded that the Hartford Courant welcomes op-ed pieces each week from young adults, often college students. You should try submitting some of this to them. Warning: They are for the most part completely bought and sold on school reform, and they always gave Adamowski tons of positive spin. They absolutely adored him, about as much as now-convicted former mayor Eddie Perez did.

By: Linda174

Linda174 — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:26:00 +0000

Restore sanity and intelligence for this bloviator! Lets all pray for his rehabilitation. Someone please let the goats loose.

By: Apartheid First

Apartheid First — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 23:24:00 +0000

Thank you so much for posting. I know many excellent graduates of Windham High School and many excellent current students. It is insulting to hear the Special Master characterize these students as all “low performing” and in need of improvement. In “reform” circles, administrators and State Boards of Education often exaggerate drop-out rates, test scores, etc. They try to create a market for their dismal, robotic reforms.
The good and best things about Windham High School that you mention *are* being cut. Adamowski is bent on ruining the Windham public schools so as to make room for charters, privateers, Broad-foundation administrators, standardized test regimes, etc, etc. Adamowski, with the blessing of the BoE and the state, is bulldozing these ideas in and ushering the best teachers and students out. Look at what he did in Hartford! The current superintendent, Kishimoto, was his disciple, and she is now under fire for the awful “academy” model Adamowski implemented. Student SAT scores in Hartford are extremely low–these are the students who “grew up” under the Adamowski reign of error.
You are also correct about college readiness. A High School diploma has always been the most important prerequisite for college admission. Schools can do no more, and, unless they are going to finance college for everyone admitted, they cannot require it.

By: KyleL

KyleL — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 17:19:00 +0000

Here’s the thing that I don’t get about this whole situation, I graduated from Windham High School in 2008, and it prepared me very well to pursue a college education. I received two bachelor of science degrees and I am currently pursuing a doctorate degree at UCONN. That was only 4 years ago people, and it’s sad to say that in 4 years the administration has plummeted or destroyed some of the best aspects of Windham High School.
When I attended Windham, I was involved in a whole variety of activities, soccer, DECA, track and field, student council, the national honor society, and a few other activities. I have heard recently that the school has implemented school uniforms, what is that going to do to help a student’s education, except limit the student’s freedom of expression. Yes some outfits are outrageous and trust me I have seen them all, but a simple dress code will do. Another subject that upsets me is that those same programs such as DECA that taught me to interact and balance priorities in a professional manner are being cut or “phased-out” of the education system.
Directly discussing the education “re-structure” is even worse. The removal of honors courses is a huge mistake and under sight by the administration. No matter what the administration may think that integrating the classes will work to bring the struggling students up to the level of more prepared students in the class, this system is bound to fail. With my experience of teaching college-level students I have found that when group work is assigned, there is a direct tendency that when the groups are random that the hard-working students end up doing the majority of the work and the less-motivated students do very little and don’t benefit from these groups at all. When the groups are separated “randomly by me” (when I break them up into groups based on exam scores and don’t tell them) there is a group or two that is better, inherently, but there is much more interaction throughout the different groups because there is no way the non-motivated students could complete the work unless they interact and work on it. So, back to the issue, when the honors classes and level 3, 2, and 1 classes are combined it will not bring the struggling students up, and in fact it will hold the more-prepared students back. There will be no way that the classes could cover enough material nor move at the pace necessary to prepare the students for college or better their education.
I also need to note that not all students will/want to pursue college, so you can’t base an education system based on that fact, that is what honors courses are for and work to achieve that goal. Also, I went into college with 18 college credits that I achieved from Windham’s partnership with UCONN to provide college-level courses in high school as well as AP courses. If Windham’s education system gets any worse these courses might not be able to be offered because the partnering colleges might feel the structure is not up-to-par to offer these credit. I should note that these courses were even more informative and challenging than courses I took freshman year at college.
What the Windham High School administration and Board of Education needs to do it to forget about “restructuring”. The system they had was good, they need to focus on using the system they had and reaching out to more students to motivate them to do well in school. The best way to do this is through their teachers, coaches, and counselors. My high school teachers, coaches, and counselors were ALWAYS supportive and their dedication to helping me learn and succeed is how I got to where I am now. They don’t need “special masters”, numerous secretaries and “administrative staff”, and extra police officers in the school (sure there was a fight or two, but there was less violence and illegal activity in the high school than what I was exposed to freshman year of college). They need change at the bottom levels, they need more teachers, coaches, and counselors; how often does the special master or the administration interact with the students….very little). And honestly while these administrators are getting outrageous salaries to do nothing, the teachers are paid among the lowest in the state. How can you attract new talented teachers and keep the current talented teachers, when their peers in neighboring districts are compensated better and have less of a challenge on their plate (they don’t have a dysfunctional education system to deal with). Thus, they need to offer more incentives to keep the dedicated teachers in the district and attract new bright minds, not offer six-figure salaries for administrators that have little interaction with the students, they just dictate and don’t have a first-hand view like the teachers do.

By: CT Essential Politics – Friday 09.28.12 - CT Devil's Advocate

CT Essential Politics – Friday 09.28.12 - CT Devil's Advocate — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:39:53 +0000

[...] Need A Hand-Out - Jack Cavanaugh, Hearst CT Biden Coming To Kent CT - Amanda Falcone, Courant Windham’s Special Master: Crime In Progress - Jon Pelto, Wait, What? CT’s Barter Economy Chugs Along - Greg Hladky, Hartford Advocate [...]

By: R.L.

R.L. — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 10:42:00 +0000

Ignorance is bliss, huh Rich. Your simpleton plan is flawed, find a new one. Maybe Rush Limbaugh can come up with something for you.

By: Hartford Counselor

Hartford Counselor — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 10:07:00 +0000

Next he will eliminate middle school counselors so families of grade 8 students won’t know about the choices.

By: Rich White

Rich White — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 07:24:00 +0000

Vouchers for public, private, parochial, charter, and alt education!.Restore choice! Promote Freedom! The Free Market!

By: Apartheid First

Apartheid First — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 02:10:00 +0000

There is an agreement but you can’t see it. There is an agreement but it is being revised. There is a report about a school in need of serious repair and remediation, but we are waiting for a report to confirm what we should do. We have a report but it doesn’t say what we want/expect it to say. So we are waiting for another report.
And so it goes. Don Williams, Susan Johnson, Former commissioner George Coleman, Guv Malloy, Stefan Pryor, the CT State BoE: This is what you have wrought. Don Williams, chair of the ed committee in the legislature, don’t you have anything to say? You are up for re-election, as is Susan Johnson, who used to brag about her role in bringing the special master to town. What do you say? How are those magnets your relations attend?