![[The Brazil Times nameplate]](http://www.thebraziltimes.com/images/nameplate.png)
|
|
Overcast ~ High: 72°F ~ Low: 62°F Monday, May 21, 2012 |
|
The Good I See In the Clay Community Schools CorporationPosted Tuesday, September 16, 2008, at 2:09 PM
Many times, I have brought problems that I see within our school corporation. Yet, like a family, it has many good people and maybe a few "bad" people within it, many successes and a few failures, many things that are going well and a few that we can do better.
Let's explore the positive side. I, for one, am glad that we have these schools and this corporation. I have seen places in this world where "school" bears little resemblance to what we have. There are places, even today, where "school" is a dirt floor hut with a grass roof and no walls. The "teacher" is the one person in the village who can read the two or three books that are available. Attendance is limited by the need for the children to work in the fields to have food. School "security" is provided by everyone watching the tree line, listening for gunfire or the sound of war and knowing where to rendezvous should they need to run to escape. School "supplies" consists of a pointed stick to practice writing on the dirt floor. Students may miles just to be there. We have a lot to be thankful for. We have a lot of dedicated people employee by our schools, we have safe and reasonably secure buildings that are well maintained. They are not falling down. We have chairs and desks, blackboards and whiteboards to write on so all can see, paper, crayons, pencils, pens, and computers to do lessons on. We have fields, equipment, and gyms to play in, cafeterias to eat in, and, libraries. These things, and more, we should be thankful for. Comments Showing comments in chronological order [Show most recent comments first] |
Hot topics Every Day's a Holiday - Data, Scope, and Perspective(0 ~ 7:15 AM, Sep 22)
On People, Permanence, and the Almost Perpetual Nature of a School Corporation
'PORK' and the Fallacy of Community Schools in Indiana in 2010
Professionals, Experts, the Common Man and Government Decisions
Musical Chairs, What a Game!
|
Email link
Read comments (12)
Blog archive
![[Feed icon]](http://www.thebraziltimes.com/images/icons/feed-icon-14x14.png){kind=icon}
Thank you! Yes, we should be happy for what we have. And for all the people that work in our schools... God Bless you all!!!!
I can get aggravated with people at times when they appear not to listen or take action when they should. It is a personal flaw that I actually have improved over the years.
Often times, I have disagreed with our school board. I know that they are good people who have taken a stance to do what they think is best for education here.
They are not the worst that we could have.
Governor Perdue (of Georgia) Removes School Board Members
Governor Sonny Perdue issued an executive order Thursday removing four members of the Clayton County School Board - Michelle Strong, Louise Baines-Hunter, Yolonda Everett and Sandra Scott - who were found by State Administrative Hearing Judge Michael Malihi to have violated their duties under state law. (from http://www.wsbtv.com/download/2008/0827/... Aug 28, 2008
It would appear that political in-fighting turned into outright arguments and even a refusal to sit down in the same room in the Clayton County (Georgia) School District.
Leo... why did you have to throw out a negative on here? I thought this was about the GOOD???
Sassypants
What negative did I "throw out" about CCSC? I did give you an example of a far worse negative than we have seen anywhere in the state and I'm glad that we don't have anywhere the same problem here........LOL!
I didn't say it was a negative about our schools... It was just a negative.
Sassypants:
That's called a comparison. NO school is perfect as made up of humans but our system is FAR from the bottom of the heap in the big picture. We are still like 207th in the Indiana high school ratings however, so some of us just can't quite put on those rose colored glasses and blinders and make believe all is hunky dory.
By the way, Northview had a teacher in service the other afternoon. It served to teach teachers additional effective learning techniques to use with their students. I sat in and learned a lot. The schools must keep working to get better and most educators realize this as if you think you are sitting still at top of the heap, someone is going to climb on your shoulders to get higher. Education is a tool people in the workforce around the world are using to compete for jobs as there are less well paying jobs than there are people in the workforce. If our kids aren't just a bit better than the other kids in the world, they won't get the job. Plain and simple. So when someone says we need to do better, it isn't always saying we are currently doing a bad job. Just that we are in a race and the competition are breathing down our necks and we can't afford to let them pass us!!! Yes it's critical and some have already passed us. This week's huge bank failings have shown that we as a country just aren't the rich nation that we used to be and mistakes have been made in economic judgment with regard to living beyond our means. Education is one thing that can't be taken away from you if economy fails. we need to give these kids the BEST that we can so they will succeed as individuals if the country can't be there to bail them out via welfare, medicaid, Social security, etc in the future. Think of it as an economic and education war. Maybe that will be easier to understand. Have a good day.
Anyone find it ironic that his shortest blog ever is on the positives in our school system.
I do
>>>>>>>>-- Posted by rdevil8 on Thu, Sep 18, 2008, at 7:59 AM
"Anyone find it ironic that his shortest blog ever is on the positives in our school system."
That would be because of my "world view", research into the school corporation, and due, also, to the fact that I wrote and submitted the original article in a bit of a rush.
For the most part, our school corporation is doing what it is supposed to. To some, that may be a "positive", however, I see that as neutral.
My research is not devoted to finding where the corporation has exceeded expectations, I look for the problems that need to be addressed. The administration will be happy to provide anyone with many examples of outstanding performance.
In the short time that I took to prepare the original article, I did not write out everything that is positive that I know.
Things like:
One of our buildings had hail damage last spring and insurance paid us a sum of money to repair it. However, with little additional expense, we replaced it with a roof made of more durable materials that should last ten years longer than the original type.
We have found a way to cover our retirement liability without borrowing money. We have set aside part of the Rainy Day fund for that purpose.
Personally, I have never met an employee in our schools who did not seem to be very concerned about the students and their education. I have not met all of these people and I have heard reports to the contrary, but everyone that I have met has been very professional, helpful, and concerned to a point that I consider to exceed their job description and duties.
This is not everything, just what is on the top of my head at this particular moment………lol.
I think that we are particularly lucky to have such a wonderful school corporation in such a small community. We should count ourselves as fortunate to have administrators, principals, teachers and support staff willing to invest their time to work toward countless efforts to improve our education system. One example in particular is the efforts put forth to defeat the remonstrance. This in itself is what being a selfless person is all about. The people who tried to push the remonstrance through and even those who would not sign because of some very lame excuses, should now be willing to step forward and help contribute in any positve way possible for the sake of our children. I for one applaud anyone who goes to work everyday to better the lives of someone else.
Always been a big believer that charity starts at home. Might think about that Cubbie!
You know, this was supposed to be about the positive aspects of Clay Community Schools.
Now, the petition and remonstrance signature collection process is over, however, the building project faces other hurdles. Questions have already been raised about how the petition advertisements may have crossed a legal line and broken the law.
However, bring that process up was not "in the spirit" or on subject of the beginning article of this discussion except to show that enough people on both sides of the issue cared enough to take a stand.
I see that as a positive. While people may not agree as to what is best, at least they care enough to think about our schools.