Cape Cod Focus: School Consolidation - How do we offer quality education w/out overrides?
capecoder
· 1 year ago
More partnerships, especially with the many small businesses on the Cape, would provide enrichment opportunities to students with strong academic or vocational interests without putting stress on already overburdened budgets.
Nauset Regional seems to have done a good job with this and could perhaps be an example to other districts.
Some districts are hesitant to work with small businesses because they are concerned about their perception that our resources are too limited to be of much help, but they might be surprised at what we can offer.
For example, my company has a strong relationship with Microsoft. We've been talking with them about grants and programs we hope to offer to an off-Cape regional vocational technical high school on whose advisory board I happen to serve.
My company also has provided scholarships to high school students who wanted to attend Geek Girl Camp, which will be offered again next year. You can check out their website at http://geekgirlcamp.com/ This is a great program which was initiated by Leslie Fishlock, CEO of Genevate, and it's a wonderful example of how the business community can promote technology education.
Any school district who is interested in outreach to businesses is very welcome to contact me at capecoder@capecoder.com
Kayelle
· 1 year ago
One of the issues with regionalization is whether it will be a race to the top or a race to the bottom. Would, for example, combining DY (dismal) with Nauset (quite good) result in Nauset levels of quality for students in Dennis and Yarmouth or would Dennis and Yarmouth use their voting power to instead drag Nauset down to DY levels?
Structural changes might help, but the real issue is an overall lack of respect for education. And it's most certainly not a generational issue. While wealthy second home owners may not want to pay taxes to the local schools, they at least understand the value of education or they wouldn't be able to afford those second homes. I see the least respect for education from parents. I sit in my office and listen to the most horrific ignorant attitudes and just roll my eyes and keep my mouth shut. "Why should I have to pay for the bus? Why can't they just lay off teachers? They make too much money anyway and big classes never hurt me." "Why do they have to have foreign languages, why do you need a foreign language on cape?" (I'll spare you the racist comment about Brasilians that followed that one.) "Why does my daughter need to take algebra, I've never used algebra!" "These kids are getting way to much homework, how is my son supposed to keep his job?"
That attitude goes beyond just funding for the schools. It speaks to the priorities of the community and sends a message to kids about what is important. As a soon to be parent, I want my children to have good schools, but I also want them to grow up understanding the vital importance and value of education, both for economic advancement and for its own sake.
Even the title of the blog post is telling of cape attitudes. How do we offer quality education without overrides. I'm not in favor of blank checks, but it leads one to question whether the issue is saving money or offering better education.
MarieSpadaro
· 1 year ago
Perhaps, before we start asking about whether or not to regionalize, we should ask how we can rebuild faith in and commitment to the very notion of strong public schools. I'm sure I'm not the only alum of a Cape school district who feels more than a little anxiety about the resources available to my child as he enters kindergarten next year. Resarch shows that the most significant variable in school success is the quality of classroom teachers. If our schools have little community support, how will we attract and retain good teachers? As an educational researcher, I know that salary is NOT the only factor that helps schools build outstanding teams--successful schools are those with a clear purpose, supported and reinforced by parents and the larger community.
For those summer residents and second-home owners who say that they've already paid in to the schools, I would suggest that many of us are paying in to Social Security without any real hope that we'll benefit directly. Unless we all recognize our responsibility for creating a vibrant future for the Cape, we have no one to blame but ourselves when the highly-touted "quality of life" that attracts people evaporates.
BillFallon
· 10 months ago
I find regonalizing a great example of an esoteric conversation that is about to meet reality head-on! The esoteric part of the conversation is all about Town identity, Town control, Local autonomy. Reality is going to be Prop 2 1/2, higher taxes, layoffs that cripple quality and basic money management within each town.
It is going to take some very strong minded and clear thinking people to lead the Cape into some sort of regionalization in order to financially survive. The Regional Tech schools structure might help people understand how geographic boundaries can be overcome. By focusing on the details of Nauset combining with D/Y.....I think looses sight of the real problems. Look at the number of private schools that exist on the Cape and the quality of education and experience that is provided there. They exist and flourish because the public school system is perceived to have failed. The private schools are not Town boundary restricted. Local control does not determine the quality of education. The quality of the education will attract interested students/families dispite the physical boundary challenges. Kids choose to sit on buses to travel to Kingston every day! Why? I went to a parochial school as a child. My children did not....why....because the local regional school was far superior to the other available options.
I think that Regionalization will occur because the local financial situation will demand it. You can not lay off enough teachers and close enough schools to save money and still actually educate to a reasonable level. You need to find other more creative solutions to the longer term problems. Attracting and retaining younger families, more affordable housing, more non-tourist based business opportunities are all part and parcel to solving the problem. None of them singularly is the silver bullet. The financial stress that we are all under today could be the impetus to re-look at the alternatives.
All Comments
Nauset Regional seems to have done a good job with this and could perhaps be an example to other districts.
Some districts are hesitant to work with small businesses because they are concerned about their perception that our resources are too limited to be of much help, but they might be surprised at what we can offer.
For example, my company has a strong relationship with Microsoft. We've been talking with them about grants and programs we hope to offer to an off-Cape regional vocational technical high school on whose advisory board I happen to serve.
My company also has provided scholarships to high school students who wanted to attend Geek Girl Camp, which will be offered again next year. You can check out their website at http://geekgirlcamp.com/ This is a great program which was initiated by Leslie Fishlock, CEO of Genevate, and it's a wonderful example of how the business community can promote technology education.
Any school district who is interested in outreach to businesses is very welcome to contact me at capecoder@capecoder.com
Structural changes might help, but the real issue is an overall lack of respect for education. And it's most certainly not a generational issue. While wealthy second home owners may not want to pay taxes to the local schools, they at least understand the value of education or they wouldn't be able to afford those second homes. I see the least respect for education from parents. I sit in my office and listen to the most horrific ignorant attitudes and just roll my eyes and keep my mouth shut. "Why should I have to pay for the bus? Why can't they just lay off teachers? They make too much money anyway and big classes never hurt me." "Why do they have to have foreign languages, why do you need a foreign language on cape?" (I'll spare you the racist comment about Brasilians that followed that one.) "Why does my daughter need to take algebra, I've never used algebra!" "These kids are getting way to much homework, how is my son supposed to keep his job?"
That attitude goes beyond just funding for the schools. It speaks to the priorities of the community and sends a message to kids about what is important. As a soon to be parent, I want my children to have good schools, but I also want them to grow up understanding the vital importance and value of education, both for economic advancement and for its own sake.
Even the title of the blog post is telling of cape attitudes. How do we offer quality education without overrides. I'm not in favor of blank checks, but it leads one to question whether the issue is saving money or offering better education.
For those summer residents and second-home owners who say that they've already paid in to the schools, I would suggest that many of us are paying in to Social Security without any real hope that we'll benefit directly. Unless we all recognize our responsibility for creating a vibrant future for the Cape, we have no one to blame but ourselves when the highly-touted "quality of life" that attracts people evaporates.
It is going to take some very strong minded and clear thinking people to lead the Cape into some sort of regionalization in order to financially survive. The Regional Tech schools structure might help people understand how geographic boundaries can be overcome. By focusing on the details of Nauset combining with D/Y.....I think looses sight of the real problems. Look at the number of private schools that exist on the Cape and the quality of education and experience that is provided there. They exist and flourish because the public school system is perceived to have failed. The private schools are not Town boundary restricted. Local control does not determine the quality of education. The quality of the education will attract interested students/families dispite the physical boundary challenges. Kids choose to sit on buses to travel to Kingston every day! Why? I went to a parochial school as a child. My children did not....why....because the local regional school was far superior to the other available options.
I think that Regionalization will occur because the local financial situation will demand it. You can not lay off enough teachers and close enough schools to save money and still actually educate to a reasonable level. You need to find other more creative solutions to the longer term problems. Attracting and retaining younger families, more affordable housing, more non-tourist based business opportunities are all part and parcel to solving the problem. None of them singularly is the silver bullet. The financial stress that we are all under today could be the impetus to re-look at the alternatives.
Those are my thoughts.
Thanks,
Bill