"There's No Learning" at John Marshall
The Seattle Times publishes an important, painstakingly documented article this morning about the utter collapse of the Seattle Public Schools' John Marshall Alternative School. At some point, nearly all public school boosters calling for increased annual per-pupil spending righteously cite the added costs supposedly required for all "special needs" or "at-risk" students. Some truly do have developmental disabilities; but many others have been failed by their parents and are themselves semi-literate teen parents, ex-convicts, dropouts or heavy substance abusers. John Marshall's "Seattle progressive" approach: rock-bottom expectations; and ship captain overboard.
It matters greatly that schools help these students reach for success and not repeat the sins of their parents, which cost taxpayers dearly.
But The Times reports on deep dysfunction at John Marshall. Students last week were found watching movies, reading newspapers and in one class, two of three were asleep, despite the presence of a teacher and assistant in the room. Small wonder. Attendance is not taken; only 24 percent of students graduated on time in '04-'05; and only one student martriculated on schedule last school year, The Times reports. One particularly diligent student has pressed concerns to the school and district administration; she reports having a different substitute teacher every day for eight weeks, except for a six-day stretch when she had no teacher at all. Her letters to Seattle Schools HQ were unanswered, according to the paper. Complaints about John Marshall's administration - and lack of leadership from principal Joe Drake - have been lodged going as far back as 1997. The school will mercifully be closed as part of the District's sputtering consolidation plan; Drake calls the move racist.
Yeah, I guess this one really is about race, isn't it? The sad saga of John Marshall Alternative School is only a more dramatic illustration of how Seattle Public Schools regards other minority students, ones not officially classified as "special needs." They are seen as less capable, and are to be baby-sat until graduation. Unless of course they can be ferried across town at taxpayer expense - sometimes explicitly via a race-based policy - to schools with preminantly white student bodies and higher expectations. For those left behind, graduation without actual learning becomes very difficult if state assessment requirements are actually upheld without deadline extensions or cheesy "alternative" tests for students who can't meet baseline real-world standards on reading, writing or math.
But of course, that's not where Washington state is headed.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at December 11, 2006 10:21 AM | Email ThisMy daughter just graduated in June from Salmon Bay Alternative School in Ballard, which provided her an oustanding education and learning experience.
The North End high schools compete for Salmon Bay kids because of their academic skills and the level of social responsibility that they display. It is hardly a coincidence that the K-8 Salmon Bay has one of the highest parent volunteer ratios in the District.
But hey, don't let the facts get in the way of your prejudices. It might disturb the little bash-the-public-schools echo chamber you have going here.
Posted by: ivan on December 11, 2006 01:12 PMThat "echo chamber" is getting rather large don't you think? I mean, it's not exactly like the critique of public schools is limited to this blog or even on-line blogs in general.
Have you read a newspaper lately? Maybe you've heard Bill Gates speak about the lack of readiness of American youth to step into public sector jobs? There's a thousand other places that you can hear about the complete failure of the public schools that are more to the left than the right.
My next door neighbor goes to an alternative school. I've known here for a long time - she was once a pretty good kid. She got sent there after she had a fight with a sibling and ran away for a few months. Now, less than a year after joining that alternative school, she is smoking pot daily, stealing her moms car for joyrides, failing every class, etc.
If we're going to cherry pick specific kids to talk about, there's the anti-thesis to your story, but the bigger issue is there. Public schools are failing kids and we need to do something about it.
Posted by: johnny on December 11, 2006 01:27 PMOh, we're going to do something about it, all right, but I doubt that it will be what you lot want.
Posted by: ivan on December 11, 2006 01:39 PMOf course you're going to do something. You're going to do more of what's been failing the kids for 30+ years (more feel-good BS, lots 'o new spending, even lower standards).
Posted by: Steve (was Steve_Dog) on December 11, 2006 02:00 PMNow my first thought is that this is a kid who has some real problems with her parents and that somewhere along the line the parenting broke down. But I guess I'm just a dumb liberal. I didn't realize the public schools were supposed to fix everything.
Posted by: Steven (not Steve or Steve Dog) on December 11, 2006 02:08 PMNo one is assigned to alternative school; parents have to choose them. To those of you who are woefully ignorant about alternative schools, all I can say is was everyone the same kind of student or learner when you were in school? Nah, I didn't think so. Nova High School, for example, is for high school kids who just don't fit in anywhere and don't feel like being abused their whole high school lives.
Stevorino (not Steve or Steve Dog), that neighbor girl, her problems are teen problems not alternative school ones. You're right; public schools can't fix everything and yet get blamed for plenty.
Posted by: westello on December 11, 2006 02:47 PMNo one is assigned to alternative school; parents have to choose them. To those of you who are woefully ignorant about alternative schools, all I can say is was everyone the same kind of student or learner when you were in school? Nah, I didn't think so. Nova High School, for example, is for high school kids who just don't fit in anywhere and don't feel like being abused their whole high school lives.
Stevorino (not Steve or Steve Dog), that neighbor girl, her problems are teen problems not alternative school ones. You're right; public schools can't fix everything and yet get blamed for plenty.
Posted by: westello on December 11, 2006 02:47 PMGuess it’s better to lump the kids from the productive and enriching alternative schools in with Marshall. That way Marshall’s abominable performance can be hidden through the averaging method.
Worked for me and millions of other educated
folks whose now having to pay for this crap.
Of course there are other circumstances in this - that was kind of my point.
The earlier writer attempted to defend school policies by shining the spotlight on a single student. This isn't a valid point really, as the discussion wasn't about a single student, it was about the system.
I simply threw this one out to say "if we're going to play games, they can be played both ways."
The simple fact is that our states schools are broken and getting more broken by the day. I'm a big believer that when something becomes so broken that even the people at the top give up (as has happened with Seattle schools) it's probably no longer a good idea to trust the system to fix itself.
Handing more money to the people that created this problem isn't the right answer, and the teachers union is about the last voice I'd listen to as all it seems to ever say is "Give us more money but don't ask for accountability."
We really need a return to teaching fundamentals and outside auditing and oversight at this point.
Posted by: johnny on December 12, 2006 01:36 PM