I saw Scottie at a fast-food drive-thru the other day. He couldn't decide what to order, and was afraid that by making any public declarations, he would be divisive. After all, most folks in line had already had their minds made up. So he just drove away. Yes, this man could represent us in Congress.
So, this is what passes for a newspaper column these days? Wow. Mr. Cook, I hope you at least got dinner and a movie during this date. I fully expected this piece to end with "I'm Weston Wamp, and I approved this message."
Agreed. David Carroll is the best news anchor in town, Paul Barys is the best weather forecaster, and Callie Starnes is the best reporter. As for Mr. Costa at Channel 9, would you like some cheese with your whine? You lost, sir. Work harder and produce better results, and your station might get some attention too.
Thank you Larry Ingle for a great letter on the Free Press editorial page in the Tues. 4/17 paper. Finally, someone tells it like it is about Lee Anderson.
A school of excellence? Their ACT score is the lowest its been in five years, a dismal 14! And their graduation rate is up? So: students are learning less, but getting a diploma anyway. David Cook's article is typical TFP cheerleading, but God help these Howard grads when they get into college. They won't get a high exam score and a degree just for coming to class. David Cook, you told an entertaining story, but not an accurate one.
Momof3: you are to be commended for doing your 18 volunteer hours. And you're right, it isn't very much at all. But when the NP boosters say: "Don't hate...just make all the schools like us," they force everyone else to gag.
Go to the inner city schools. The ones where "bad" teachers get dumped, and every student who walks in the door has to be enrolled: no cherry-picking. Ask those principals and teachers, "why can't you be like Normal Park?" They'll tell you. They can't FIND many of the parents. Some of the children aren't sure who their parents are. They're raised by grandma, an aunt, a neighbor, and they lay their head wherever they can find a place to sleep. And you want to talk parental involvement? 18 hours? Some of those teachers would be thrilled to talk to a parent for 18 seconds. Give me a school in the desert, and if the parents are involved, that school will have good test scores. Or build a palatial school on Lookout Mountain, and if the parents are ignoring their children, those students will struggle.
Plus, do some research, and answer this question: what percentage of the NP student body do teachers take trick-or-treating, buy shoes and coats and Christmas presents for, cart around to after-school events, and play social worker/babysitter for? I'm sure there are some, even at Normal Park. But compare the percentage with East Side and Hardy. It's like night and day. But you want to say "why can't all schools be like us?" And you wonder why you have so many critics and naysayers throughout the county? That's an easy one.
And meece: I've never seen anyone post comments saying that bad teachers should be retained. But School A shouldn't be allowed to choose the best and brightest, while School B shouldn't have to take in the School A "rejects"; not if they're all truly "public schools." What gives School A the right to have its handpicked choice of teachers, if School B has to take whoever is dumped on them? You don't think this has happened? You need to talk to more than one principal.
Nor have I seen anyone endorse the concept of "principals being shifted around quickly." I strongly oppose that. I do find it interesting however, that there's only one principal in Hamilton County who is apparently immune to that treatment. Yet she's the one who knows the secret to turning around bad schools, and has all the answers. But she's your principal, so it's perfectly okay, right?
If lightning struck in North Chattanooga, and NP parents were forced to send their children to Red Bank Middle, I wonder how many would bail, and go to private school? By the way, do some research and find out how many principals have been moved in and out of the revolving door at Red Bank Middle during the past ten years. But...why can't they just do what Normal Park does? And why aren't all those students' parents at school board meetings demanding that?
Let's deal with the fiction posted above: "of course principals "hand pick" teachers - they hire teachers" or they are forced to take in the ones that Mrs. Levine didn't want.
"this approach works for all children, but the problem is that some administrators and teachers have low expectations and standards for their children" Yet you don't want to share Mrs. Levine and her expertise at any other county school. How selfish.
"many administrators will act in ways to alienate parents rather than bringing them in," Oh. You mean when Mrs. Levine and her supporters fought like hell to keep Hill City kids out of their school, repeatedly over the years?
Thanks meece. You make my arguments a heck of a lot better than I do.
Meece: do you hear yourself talking? You want to keep a great principal at your child's school? Really?
Did you ever stop to think that parents at the 75 other schools in Hamilton County might want to do that too? How do you think they feel when their "great" principal is transferred, often against their will? Oh, I forgot. You're Normal Park. You're above all that.
Get off your high horse. Thanks to all sorts of underhanded, backroom manipulation, Normal Park has been able to get away with things other schools can only dream of. And you want that sort of "parental involvement" and so-called diversity throughout the county? Here's a simple solution: ask the parents who are driving their Volvos all the way to Normal Park to stay in their neighborhood schools, so they can make Bess T Shepherd, Rivermont, East Brainerd "as great as Normal Park." Why is that a bad idea?
And cowtow: give any principal in this county the power to hire/fire whoever they want, and chase away troublemaking, underachieving students without any repercussions, and you'll have a pretty darn good school. But that would be kinda hard to do at 75 schools, don't you think? Where do you send the ones you booted out?
I can't understand Meece's reluctance to allow the Normal Park principal to shine in the underperforming schools in the county. Orchard Knob folks are surely trying hard, but there's no comparison in test scores with the mighty Normal Park.
Just about every other school (including Orchard Knob) has a new principal every year or two. Does Mrs. Levine hold some sort of power the principals don't have?
Gerber: Mayfield’s mum and voters are cheated
I saw Scottie at a fast-food drive-thru the other day. He couldn't decide what to order, and was afraid that by making any public declarations, he would be divisive. After all, most folks in line had already had their minds made up. So he just drove away. Yes, this man could represent us in Congress.
David Cook: The meaning of Weston Wamp
So, this is what passes for a newspaper column these days? Wow. Mr. Cook, I hope you at least got dinner and a movie during this date. I fully expected this piece to end with "I'm Weston Wamp, and I approved this message."
Mayfield, reluctant candidate
Wow, you TFP editorial guys are coming down pretty hard on Mayfield. You may want to check your tires before you leave the parking lot today.
Gerber: Accusations swirl after story about meteorologist
Agreed. David Carroll is the best news anchor in town, Paul Barys is the best weather forecaster, and Callie Starnes is the best reporter. As for Mr. Costa at Channel 9, would you like some cheese with your whine? You lost, sir. Work harder and produce better results, and your station might get some attention too.
Cook: ‘The finest person I’ve ever met’
Thank you Larry Ingle for a great letter on the Free Press editorial page in the Tues. 4/17 paper. Finally, someone tells it like it is about Lee Anderson.
Cook: Sit-ins all over again
A school of excellence? Their ACT score is the lowest its been in five years, a dismal 14! And their graduation rate is up? So: students are learning less, but getting a diploma anyway. David Cook's article is typical TFP cheerleading, but God help these Howard grads when they get into college. They won't get a high exam score and a degree just for coming to class. David Cook, you told an entertaining story, but not an accurate one.
Cook: Unintended Normal Park Museum Magnet School punch to gut
Momof3: you are to be commended for doing your 18 volunteer hours. And you're right, it isn't very much at all. But when the NP boosters say: "Don't hate...just make all the schools like us," they force everyone else to gag.
Go to the inner city schools. The ones where "bad" teachers get dumped, and every student who walks in the door has to be enrolled: no cherry-picking. Ask those principals and teachers, "why can't you be like Normal Park?" They'll tell you. They can't FIND many of the parents. Some of the children aren't sure who their parents are. They're raised by grandma, an aunt, a neighbor, and they lay their head wherever they can find a place to sleep. And you want to talk parental involvement? 18 hours? Some of those teachers would be thrilled to talk to a parent for 18 seconds. Give me a school in the desert, and if the parents are involved, that school will have good test scores. Or build a palatial school on Lookout Mountain, and if the parents are ignoring their children, those students will struggle.
Plus, do some research, and answer this question: what percentage of the NP student body do teachers take trick-or-treating, buy shoes and coats and Christmas presents for, cart around to after-school events, and play social worker/babysitter for? I'm sure there are some, even at Normal Park. But compare the percentage with East Side and Hardy. It's like night and day. But you want to say "why can't all schools be like us?" And you wonder why you have so many critics and naysayers throughout the county? That's an easy one.
And meece: I've never seen anyone post comments saying that bad teachers should be retained. But School A shouldn't be allowed to choose the best and brightest, while School B shouldn't have to take in the School A "rejects"; not if they're all truly "public schools." What gives School A the right to have its handpicked choice of teachers, if School B has to take whoever is dumped on them? You don't think this has happened? You need to talk to more than one principal.
Nor have I seen anyone endorse the concept of "principals being shifted around quickly." I strongly oppose that. I do find it interesting however, that there's only one principal in Hamilton County who is apparently immune to that treatment. Yet she's the one who knows the secret to turning around bad schools, and has all the answers. But she's your principal, so it's perfectly okay, right?
If lightning struck in North Chattanooga, and NP parents were forced to send their children to Red Bank Middle, I wonder how many would bail, and go to private school? By the way, do some research and find out how many principals have been moved in and out of the revolving door at Red Bank Middle during the past ten years. But...why can't they just do what Normal Park does? And why aren't all those students' parents at school board meetings demanding that?
Is it really that hard to answer these questions?
Cook: Unintended Normal Park Museum Magnet School punch to gut
Let's deal with the fiction posted above: "of course principals "hand pick" teachers - they hire teachers" or they are forced to take in the ones that Mrs. Levine didn't want.
"this approach works for all children, but the problem is that some administrators and teachers have low expectations and standards for their children" Yet you don't want to share Mrs. Levine and her expertise at any other county school. How selfish.
"many administrators will act in ways to alienate parents rather than bringing them in," Oh. You mean when Mrs. Levine and her supporters fought like hell to keep Hill City kids out of their school, repeatedly over the years?
Thanks meece. You make my arguments a heck of a lot better than I do.
Cook: Unintended Normal Park Museum Magnet School punch to gut
Meece: do you hear yourself talking? You want to keep a great principal at your child's school? Really?
Did you ever stop to think that parents at the 75 other schools in Hamilton County might want to do that too? How do you think they feel when their "great" principal is transferred, often against their will? Oh, I forgot. You're Normal Park. You're above all that.
Get off your high horse. Thanks to all sorts of underhanded, backroom manipulation, Normal Park has been able to get away with things other schools can only dream of. And you want that sort of "parental involvement" and so-called diversity throughout the county? Here's a simple solution: ask the parents who are driving their Volvos all the way to Normal Park to stay in their neighborhood schools, so they can make Bess T Shepherd, Rivermont, East Brainerd "as great as Normal Park." Why is that a bad idea?
And cowtow: give any principal in this county the power to hire/fire whoever they want, and chase away troublemaking, underachieving students without any repercussions, and you'll have a pretty darn good school. But that would be kinda hard to do at 75 schools, don't you think? Where do you send the ones you booted out?
Cook: Unintended Normal Park Museum Magnet School punch to gut
I can't understand Meece's reluctance to allow the Normal Park principal to shine in the underperforming schools in the county. Orchard Knob folks are surely trying hard, but there's no comparison in test scores with the mighty Normal Park.
Just about every other school (including Orchard Knob) has a new principal every year or two. Does Mrs. Levine hold some sort of power the principals don't have?