Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Not to Be Missed
Amid all the talk about a school budget that places an intolerable burden on taxpayers, Lynn Sloneker reveals on her blog Unmuffled that 25 percent of the teachers in the Hudson City School District were paid more than $80,000 last year. Looking at the list of salaries paid to administrators and to 53 of the 200 teachers in the district, it's easy to understand why the HCSD budget is so enormous. What's not easy to understand is why student academic performance is so abyssmal.
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The "why" has nothing to do with money -- at least not at the HCSD: it's about perception. The sad reality is that parents are stretched too thin -- even if they wanted to read to their small children, or work with the older ones on their homework, or set an example by reading rather than watching TV or playing video games -- they can't because both parents (when there are both parents in the home) are working, they're tired and need rest. They're too busy to focus on their kids' schooling -- and this sends the message to the kids that school isn't all that important. Consequently, the kids pay it short shrift, too. The outcome: less than 30% of HCSD high schoolers take the SAT! QED.
ReplyDeleteThis comment comes from Peter Meyer:
ReplyDeleteJohn, my research and experience tells me that we have all the resources we need in HCSD to get the educational job done. Thirty miles to the north Brighter Choice Charter schools are now getting the job done (they now educate over 20% of all Albany public school kids)for mostly poor and mostly minority kids for half the cost of what we spend in Hudson. (Something like 95% poor and 95% minority.) They are now outscoring all Albany public school kids, including those in the white suburbs, by focusing on the important things: academics, academics, academics.
cheers,
peter m.