Firocket1690
Sep 11, 2006, 06:19 PM
Nurnurnur... My school sucks now.
Well, where to begin?
History.
About four years ago, a man had a dream. Dr. John Grieco founded my school - Academies @ Englewood. (A@E) Start a unconventional public high school, and accept bright students, hire advanced teachers, throw a bunch of technology, etc. And base the whole curriculum around advanced courses, majors, and college apps. This ended up with the (keep in mind, this is public) school needing a acceptance test to get into. People from all over the (interdistrict) county would be allowed to come, given they can pass said acceptance test. This also lead to a schedule where students were given their core classes (eng, math, hist, sci) in addition to one 'academy major' or 'career choice' (engineering, IT, law, finance, biomed) blended into their schedule. 3 classes a week, and the rest would be 'frees' Said frees can be used for electives, and whatever, ranging from academics, to arts, to etc. Again, this is more similiar to a college level, and not typical of high schools to do this. Oh, and school hours go from 8 to 4, one hour longer than state requirements for high school. Something about a rigorious education, or whatnot.
Finance.
Four years ago, this 'project' was proposed by Dr. Grieco, and approved by local town (Englewood) as well as some dude from legislature government, and fundedd, starting off with 3 or 4 million. However, the local townsfolk of Englewood are still investing their tax dollars (partially) into this school, and yet their children couldn't pass said acceptance test. I'm not making any assumptions. Dwight Morrow High School is populated by Englewood residents. Dwight Morrow High School has low standards, and overall low academic achievements. Local townfolk get pissed, don't want to admit to having stupid children, and play the race card. (considering 90% of the town is of african american descent) This also leads to less local funding from the town. Lack of funding would lead to more problems in my school. They're already jealous of the fact that we get so much more opportunities than they do. Thus, angry Englewood parents convince the Board of Education (BoE) to integrate the two schools into one, to give equal opportunities for all. As nice as this sounds, this pretty much kills the whole basis on which the school was founded on. *cues first paragraph*
Dwight Morrow.
This was a great school, founded in 1932, named after a great man. It's a shame that it's current state is a little shithole. Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_Morrow_High_School).
Which brings us to today's troubles.
Two years ago, I entered the doors as a freshman engineer student. Every teacher, being an respectable figure, capable of intellectual discussion, tutoring, and dedication (which is more than what I can say for some other teachers) Three teachers with Dr. degrees, and dedicated to stay around to clarify students if necessary/upon request. As of the time of this post, four teachers have left, including Dr. Bernardo, a rather .. good teacher, and friend. As of sometime last year, teachers had their 3 year contract ended. New contract proposal offered no health benefits for anyone, and no raises for the new teachers comming in.
This ended in a teacher protest-Everyone abided verbatim to contract. No extra tutoring, no staying after till 4, no etc. Peers were somewhat smarter than others, and .. obviously handful of asshats, but meh. The few that didn't fit in were 'academically exited' This is how the (first) graduating class of "06 came to have 56 graduates. Dwight Morrow had too many students, and needed more classrooms. Their solution? Take apart the engineering woodshop (in the A@E basement, in our building), and build classrooms, as well as an elevator. Obviously, this peeved quite a bunch of us, and got rid of the hands-on experience of the engineering academy. Oh well? The result was DM students comming onto our campus to use the classrooms in our basement. Quite awkward, considering the hatred between the two schools.
Schedules.
Subcategory of today's troubles, but this is fucking ridiciulous. Schedule organizer Mr. Bernardo was given two choices - upgrade the Dwight Morrow schedule to work with our A@E schedules, and allow their school to have the freedom, and opportunities we have. OR, degrade our schedule to the generic eight class a day that every other high school uses. The former would have worked quite well, but apparantly, that would leave about 200 students runnign around freely around the campus. Students musing around usually isn't a problem, but with four teachers (five, including the common area manager) gone, nobody's around to supervise said students. Oh, and lacking funds to hire more/new people to come by. Thus, the latter was selected. We have a shittified generic high school schedule. Every class, every day, five days a week. That system I mentioned of having core classes 3x a week, and leaving open spaces for electives? GONE. They literally killed the art programs of all sorts (drawing, painting, ink, color, etc) , all subcategories of academic courses (architecture, astronomy, environmental sci, geometry, various litetature courses, etc) as well as the free periods, where people usually procrastinate homework, and etc. No more selecting additional courses of your free will. You take what's required, and six hours of what's required. Weekly. As opposed to three hours of requireds, and organizing your schedule to your liking. This change in scheduling causes troubles on every single level, effectively pissing off everybody in the school. Students don't want the exact schedule five days a week. Teachers are human, and also dislike the verbatim schedule daily. Seeing students daily also means forcing more effort into classwork, due to the lightened load of homework (as opposed to moderate homework every other day) This would also lead to less time for major projects and etc.
Fuck that shit.
For those interested, extended reading:
Wiki: Dwight Morrow High School (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_Morrow_High_School)
Article regarding Englewood Ruling (http://www.edlawcenter.org/ELCPublic/elcnews_050602_EnglewoodRuling.pdf)
Board of Education descision (http://liberty.state.nj.us/njded/legal/sboe/2003/may/sb16-03.pdf#search=%22academies%20englewood%20million%2 2)
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Firocket1690 on 2006-09-11 16:22 ]</font>
Well, where to begin?
History.
About four years ago, a man had a dream. Dr. John Grieco founded my school - Academies @ Englewood. (A@E) Start a unconventional public high school, and accept bright students, hire advanced teachers, throw a bunch of technology, etc. And base the whole curriculum around advanced courses, majors, and college apps. This ended up with the (keep in mind, this is public) school needing a acceptance test to get into. People from all over the (interdistrict) county would be allowed to come, given they can pass said acceptance test. This also lead to a schedule where students were given their core classes (eng, math, hist, sci) in addition to one 'academy major' or 'career choice' (engineering, IT, law, finance, biomed) blended into their schedule. 3 classes a week, and the rest would be 'frees' Said frees can be used for electives, and whatever, ranging from academics, to arts, to etc. Again, this is more similiar to a college level, and not typical of high schools to do this. Oh, and school hours go from 8 to 4, one hour longer than state requirements for high school. Something about a rigorious education, or whatnot.
Finance.
Four years ago, this 'project' was proposed by Dr. Grieco, and approved by local town (Englewood) as well as some dude from legislature government, and fundedd, starting off with 3 or 4 million. However, the local townsfolk of Englewood are still investing their tax dollars (partially) into this school, and yet their children couldn't pass said acceptance test. I'm not making any assumptions. Dwight Morrow High School is populated by Englewood residents. Dwight Morrow High School has low standards, and overall low academic achievements. Local townfolk get pissed, don't want to admit to having stupid children, and play the race card. (considering 90% of the town is of african american descent) This also leads to less local funding from the town. Lack of funding would lead to more problems in my school. They're already jealous of the fact that we get so much more opportunities than they do. Thus, angry Englewood parents convince the Board of Education (BoE) to integrate the two schools into one, to give equal opportunities for all. As nice as this sounds, this pretty much kills the whole basis on which the school was founded on. *cues first paragraph*
Dwight Morrow.
This was a great school, founded in 1932, named after a great man. It's a shame that it's current state is a little shithole. Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_Morrow_High_School).
Which brings us to today's troubles.
Two years ago, I entered the doors as a freshman engineer student. Every teacher, being an respectable figure, capable of intellectual discussion, tutoring, and dedication (which is more than what I can say for some other teachers) Three teachers with Dr. degrees, and dedicated to stay around to clarify students if necessary/upon request. As of the time of this post, four teachers have left, including Dr. Bernardo, a rather .. good teacher, and friend. As of sometime last year, teachers had their 3 year contract ended. New contract proposal offered no health benefits for anyone, and no raises for the new teachers comming in.
This ended in a teacher protest-Everyone abided verbatim to contract. No extra tutoring, no staying after till 4, no etc. Peers were somewhat smarter than others, and .. obviously handful of asshats, but meh. The few that didn't fit in were 'academically exited' This is how the (first) graduating class of "06 came to have 56 graduates. Dwight Morrow had too many students, and needed more classrooms. Their solution? Take apart the engineering woodshop (in the A@E basement, in our building), and build classrooms, as well as an elevator. Obviously, this peeved quite a bunch of us, and got rid of the hands-on experience of the engineering academy. Oh well? The result was DM students comming onto our campus to use the classrooms in our basement. Quite awkward, considering the hatred between the two schools.
Schedules.
Subcategory of today's troubles, but this is fucking ridiciulous. Schedule organizer Mr. Bernardo was given two choices - upgrade the Dwight Morrow schedule to work with our A@E schedules, and allow their school to have the freedom, and opportunities we have. OR, degrade our schedule to the generic eight class a day that every other high school uses. The former would have worked quite well, but apparantly, that would leave about 200 students runnign around freely around the campus. Students musing around usually isn't a problem, but with four teachers (five, including the common area manager) gone, nobody's around to supervise said students. Oh, and lacking funds to hire more/new people to come by. Thus, the latter was selected. We have a shittified generic high school schedule. Every class, every day, five days a week. That system I mentioned of having core classes 3x a week, and leaving open spaces for electives? GONE. They literally killed the art programs of all sorts (drawing, painting, ink, color, etc) , all subcategories of academic courses (architecture, astronomy, environmental sci, geometry, various litetature courses, etc) as well as the free periods, where people usually procrastinate homework, and etc. No more selecting additional courses of your free will. You take what's required, and six hours of what's required. Weekly. As opposed to three hours of requireds, and organizing your schedule to your liking. This change in scheduling causes troubles on every single level, effectively pissing off everybody in the school. Students don't want the exact schedule five days a week. Teachers are human, and also dislike the verbatim schedule daily. Seeing students daily also means forcing more effort into classwork, due to the lightened load of homework (as opposed to moderate homework every other day) This would also lead to less time for major projects and etc.
Fuck that shit.
For those interested, extended reading:
Wiki: Dwight Morrow High School (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_Morrow_High_School)
Article regarding Englewood Ruling (http://www.edlawcenter.org/ELCPublic/elcnews_050602_EnglewoodRuling.pdf)
Board of Education descision (http://liberty.state.nj.us/njded/legal/sboe/2003/may/sb16-03.pdf#search=%22academies%20englewood%20million%2 2)
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Firocket1690 on 2006-09-11 16:22 ]</font>