Monroe Schools

"The district recently made $890,000 in budget cuts that includes eliminating four educational aides, three classroom positions by attrition, one assistant principal, two central office positions and not filling a vacant custodial position.

Athletic Director Dave Bauer agreed to take a salary decrease of 17 percent to $65,308 from $78,684 annually, said Broc Bidlack, Monroe Schools director of personnel and business affairs."

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Hmm, when's the last time we read about anyone in MCSD giving up ANYTHING!?  

 

Let me ask you then, why are other districts in the area outperforming ours? I would be interested in any insight you could provide and, in your opinion, what we can and should be doing  to improve the quality of education provided. I look forward to your reply.

 

I would also like to state up front that I am speaking only for myself, as a 5.5 year member of the school board and a parent of 3 kids in MCSD schools for the last 11 years.  I am not speaking on behalf of the rest of the board or on behalf of MCSD.

 

First, I don't believe that other districts in the area are actually outperforming MCSD, if we could compare apples to apples.  Some people will say it is a cop-out, but the absolute truth is that the single most predictive factor of how kids will perform on standardized tests is their socio-economic background.  Generally (of course there are exceptions), if they live in a middle or upper class household, they will tend to score better than if they live in a poor household.  The state report card just tells you the total percentage of kids in each grade who pass each test. On like the 5th page, the report tells you the percentage of students in the district who are on free/reduced lunch, the proxy used for economic disadvantage.  What it doesn't tell you is the percentage of kids from each income level who passed.  Over 70% of MCSD students are economically disadvantaged. None of the surrounding school districts comes even close to this percentage of poor kids.

 

The closest the state report card comes to some type of comparative score that takes into account where the kids started from is the value added measure, which uses a secret formula (not kidding; it is not disclosed to the school districts) to determine whether the students in a district achieved a year's worth of academic growth in one year, or more or less.  2 years ago, MCSD achieved more than a year's growth overall. Last year it met but did not exceed a year's growth overall (some buildings did exceed).  Again, not perfect, we need to repeatedly see more than a year's growth each year to catch up, but if the students who attended MCSD learned a year's worth of academics in a year, I don't think its fair to condemn the schools as terrible, or the worst in the state.

 

Also, MCSD has a higher percentage of students with special needs than surrounding school districts--almost 20%. These kids are expected by the state to pass the standardized test for their grade level. To earn an indicator, 75% of the students in that grade have to pass the test. This is a hard bar to reach if you start with 20% of the kids off the top struggling to overcome a disability, which may range from dyslexia to ADD to severe mental retardation.

 

All that said, it is probably true that MCSD was slow to react to the dramatic change in the demographics of its student body, which went from around 40% free/reduced lunch to over 70% in about 5 years in the early 2000's thanks to the city's Section 8 policy and more students leaving the district. (The students who leave are usually the ones who would have scored better on the tests, no matter what district they were in).  Kids from poorer homes can learn, but it requires a more intensive effort, and the school is put in the position of having to teach many basics, including behavior, that it didn't used to have to teach.  When a child enters kindergarden never having even SEEN a book (no kidding, this happens often), you can appreciate the extra effort it will take to get that child up to grade level.

 

It is also probably true that MCSD was slow to accept the reality of standardized testing and to change the way instruction was delivered.  While I share your view, Tony, that today's standardized tests are a poor measure of academic quality, that is the game mandated by the federal government and if we don't accept the rules, we are going to lose the game.  The state has established content standards for each of the tested subjects as to what students are expected to learn in each grade. This may seem obvious, but we have to teach the students all of that content if we expect them to pass the test. We can't let each teacher teach whatever she wants to in her own classroom.  We need a centralized effort to align the curriculum to the content of the state standards, and then we need to monitor the teachers to make sure they are staying on track and covering all the material. [Vet: like it or not, this requires administrative personnel, even though you believe them all to be completely unnecessary]. We have a lot of kids that move several times during the school year between different schools, so if a teacher at Amanda is covering the material in a different order than a teacher at Creekview, when that kids moves, he is going to cover fractions 2 or 3 times and never long division.  You may not be surprised to learn that many (not all) teachers did not appreciate being told what to teach and when to teach it, and did not appreciate having principals and central office administrators showing up in the classroom to make sure this was happening and to try to suggest alternative  ways the teachers could teach the material if the students didn't learn it the first time through.  All of this has changed, and the central office is working harder to support the teachers on the front line, but it takes time. The fact that some buildings have improved faster than others is something that is being examined. Why? was it the leadership in the buildings, the staff, the makeup of the student body, or a particular program or initiative?  The district has also been slow to teach test taking skills. Some deride this as dumbing down education. But its not fair to the kids to have them take these high-stakes tests and not give them the tools they need. Many kids weren't even told, if you can't finish at least guess. There should be no blank answers. You wouldn't put a basketball team on the court without making sure they knew the rules of the game.

 

I have written a book here, and could go on and on. I'll stop with the comment that education is not passive.  It is not the teachers' job to pour knowledge into an empty vessel.  Learning is interactive, and requires active participation from the students.  Many (not all) students in our district do not put forth the required effort.  I don't know the students in other districts, so I cannot say, but if they are putting forth more effort (due to self motivation, parental involvement, or whatever reason) than Middletown students, then that would account for a difference in results.

 

Ms. Alberico's salary is more in the range of $65,000, not $98,000. And her job involved far more than giving quotes to the Journal (although she does respond to requests from the media almost every single day).  She also is the person who responds to public records requests, is the central point for all questions and complaints from students, parents, community, media, whomever, either finding an answer directly or directing the inquiry to the person with knowledge/responsibility.  Multiple requests every day. She writes newsletters and other communications to parents and taxpayers about what is going on with the public schools.  She keeps the website current. These are just some of her job responsibilities, there are others.  Similarly, someone has to be in charge of technology when you have hardware and software in 12 buildings, internal and external networks.  Both operational software and educational software.  Doesn't maintain itself.

 

I agree with you that even the most effective teacher can't make a child learn. It is a two way street, desire by the student and an emphasis on education in the home can greatly improve this situation. Something else struck me about how students are "mainstreamed" now. In your opinion, is this a detriment to teaching? I've had comments from others that because you have classes with wide disparities in abilities, it causes the entire process to slow down. Back in my day (God I hate that phrase), classes were separated by abilities so that the needs of individual students didn't impede the progress of others. Somehow, that seems to have been interpreted as discrimination instead of what it is, teaching to the abilities of the student. If a student can't read, there's no reason for him to hold an entire class back. Students learn in different ways and if one method is not having good result another can be employed. That option seems to have been eliminated with the current system.

I do find it odd that there are standards for what should be learned. In  certain subjects like math, reading or writing I see the logic but in other subjects like history, science and government you get into the opinion problem. Whose version of history, what constitutes science fact from religious dogma are much trickier areas to determine content. I agree that test-taking skills are essential if the success or failure of the entire district rides on these tests. I never have liked the testing idea as the measure of quality education but as you say, you've got to play the hand that's dealt you.

 

I appreciate your time and the information you've shared. This kind of dialogue is essential to inform and educate the public about our school district and the challenges it faces. My hope is that as a community we can overcome the challenges and have a school system that we all pe proud of.

 

So why does the person posting above talk about sending their child to Fenwick?  The same reason many would -- too many reports of the high school resembling a zoo.  It's one thing if I know there are many kids in that building who don't care about their education...as long as they're not affecting my kids. But when you allow them to poison the environment with outrageous behavior, threats, blatant disrespect and abuse of staff, drugs, incidents requiring police involvement...well now you're making Fenwick or Mid Christian look mighty attractive.

 

Ms. Andrews, I agree with your point that many of the students lost in the 2000's were middle class and up and they normally did well on tests.  Well, your current regime is not helping matters by allowing Vail and the High School to have reputations for lack of order, accountability, etc.  That rep will surely drive more students away.

 

I'm guessing the answer is cost and legality, but can't Verity be turned into a day care for the troubled students that seem to have a future consisting of at best a McD's hat and at worst either a jail bed or a coffin?  If you can thatch your lawn, the remaining grass will flourish.