The League of Women Voters of Norwalk and Red Apples, a education reform-minded community coalition , have organized a debate, specifically on the topic of education, for several local state legislative candidates. A member of the League will serve as moderator.
Here are the details: Thursday, October 28th from 6:30 pm – 9 pm in the Community Room at City Hall, 125 East Avenue.
Here's who's coming: State Senate: Duff (D) & Kassimis (R), State House: 137th--Perone (D) & Romano (R), 142nd--Cafero (R) & Duleep (D) and 143rd-- Reeves (D) & Lavielle (R).
What kind of questions would you ask these folks?
Invitation to Forum[1]
Thursday, October 21, 2010
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I would ask if they would support a measure similar to Detroit's County Prosecutor's that would require parents to attend at least one parent-teacher conference per school year or spend up to three days in jail.
ReplyDeleteThe measure says jail time is just one part of a comprehensive package designed to encourage parent participation and reduce truancy.
I would also ask what their plan would be for the growing problem of parental ambivalence toward class requirements, homework, attendance, and health and hygiene.
I would ask why the Norwalk taxpayer is burdened with paying for so many useless administrators in the Central Orifice.
ReplyDeleteI would love if they spoke about their stanceon the inequalities between the schools (race, PTO's that are involved and raise money while others barely have any funding, parents that are involved etc.). Stress on teachers that are at schools that have a lot more children that are at risk and more workload as a result.
ReplyDeleteHow about equitable funding from the state?
ReplyDeleteWho supports more actual learning time?
Longer days?
Eliminating summer recess?
Profesional devlopment for instructors of tommorows engineers, scientists, doctors, jurist,leaders and yes teachers?
What are the ideas for magnentizing resources to intergrate technologies?
What are each candidates position on supporting arts and sciences programs in public schools? Each candidate respond with 3, clear, concise and specific ideas, that they will pursue to better education and lower, if not eliminate, the shameful achievement gap?
I would ask:
ReplyDeleteWhere are the checks and balances for the money that is under the Board's purview?
-Local funding, when and how is the money spent?
-Grant funding, who is watching that the money is spent legally? It is known that an elementary principal spent grant money to take all of his teachers to lunch on convocation day. This can't be legal!
-Other funds that come to the district, who watches how these funds are delegated?
There needs to be someone outside of the third floor who monitors all this money.
I am saddened to see that someone has likened our problems in school with those of Detroit, which is the murder capital of the United States. We need to be tough on truancy and parental un-involvement, but seriously?
ReplyDeleteHas anyone invited Alex Johnston with ConnCan to attend? If he hasn't been rsvp'd already can we get him? These forums are usually tightly controlled, limiting the questions from the audience. Alex Johnston could help by asking the right questions. Politics aside for a couple hours. This is about our kids, our community and nations survival. Alex could help get past the canned responses and get to the heart of the matter. Conncan.org is on twitter and facebook.
ReplyDeleteDear 10:39
ReplyDeleteAlex Johnston's team helped us come up with the questions. We are hoping he and/or members of his CONNCAN team will be there Thursday night.
Alex Johnston might not be a welcome invitee because he would ask questions whose answers require people to leave their comfort zones. He probably thinks that school systems should exist for the benefit of students. The radical.
ReplyDeleteChecks and balances....
ReplyDeleteFollow the money
I don't think anyone mentioned school as related to a murder problem. What Detroit shares with Norwalk is a serious lack of parental involvement. The schools should not have to shoulder the burden, and the parents need to take more responsibility for their children's success in school. If they neglect this responsibility, I agree that there should be consequences in place.
ReplyDeleteShould there not be consequences for obvious well known faliures in the classroom?
ReplyDeleteAnd where does the responsibilty lay with the students?
There are common denominaters factors.
Poverty, unemployment and the resultant stresses that fracture family units with little if any community support, mental heatlth, job retraining.
And than there is the whole justice and corrections labrynith revolving door of horrors.
To imply any one factor is the sole cause is so, well, neanderthal in thought and indicates a clear lack of understanding, of the depths into the abyss, of which our education challenges have fallen.
The results of the complacencey, we now bear witness, the crippiling domino effects throughout society.
The biggest issue is to get everyone on the same page, from polticians, citizens, parents, teachers and ngo's to DCF,DOE.DMHS and DOC than we have AFT.
The recent trial of convicts released onto the streets with no support, no education, no marketable skills, with bad criminla and credit histories - wreck carnage in quiet small communities as well as large cities should be a shocking wake up call.
We must begin to invest wisely in our most precious resouces, our students, our own people.
Any society that does not take care of its own, is a society that ultimately is unsuatainable.
Its all screwed up that we all, for he most part, agree. The left hand working in unison with the right hand? Well stranger things have been know to happen but reality is there is most likely even more pain and suffering ahead.
What all of us ADULTS are forgetting and in fact not even communicating with is the students themselves.
Last night was billed as the first ever student debate with candidates in CT.
In truth, we did have some local students actually conduct an interview with than Norwalk Mayor DiScalia. The former studio is now the districts food service distribution depot next to Briggs. The student interviewing the Mayor on live TV on the districts equipment? Current Stamford Mayor and former Roton M.S. alumni Michael Pavia.
Is McMahon or N.H.S. on the air yet?
If not, what are the road blocks?
Can't use money as an excuse.
Kids can broadcast live from their phones.
Lets get it going.
Way too many of us supposed adults with, " its not my job", name tags.
What we just cant seem to understand is:
the students future is in all our hands,
the student doesn't understand arbitrated negotiated step increases, cause nor caveat's.
But they certainly are recieving the message
"hey' iz not my job man", iz his/her job.
Is that the message we want to project?
Will we ever make serious progress in educating ourselves and future generations, or is there a hidden element with an evil agenda?
No man is free, if any man is oppressed...
Teach them well, for they are the future.