Comments for Help Wanted at http://www.theind.com , comment 1 to 11 out of 11 comments http://www.theind.com Thu, 23 May 2013 22:50:53 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/8264-help-wanted#comment-17676 lafayette parish school system is not open to change or is it open minded. Hunter Beasley, Scott Richard, Lemoine and others were put to shame by members of Outreach Community Development Corporation which is an organization made up of local attorneys and educators pursuing a charter school in Lafayette Parish. If one was there, they would have seen LPSS at its worst. They were basically doing there best to avoid change at any cost even lying and deceitful behavior. This school system needs progressive minds not the same old good-ole boys that have no solutions to any of our problems in Lafayette. I'm glad he is gone and there are others that need to leave as well. - THETRUTH Fri, 13 May 2011 09:03:28 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/8264-help-wanted#comment-17633 I still don't understand why the search for a new superintendent did not begin 2 years ago. I believe the LPSB will lose a majority of public support (tax issue dies) if a superintendent is hired from within the present (political) system. Please remember, Easton was not the first choice candidate. Two other potential candidates declined the LPSB offer after visiting the LPSS. I was encouraged by Hunter's line of questioning and his direct rebuttal of some of the answers at the last LPSB meeting. We need more of this. I was discouraged by the comments of the "Lemoine lemmings" Greg Awbrey and Rae Trahan. Gary is correct. This is our superintendent to hire. I had an enormous amount of hope for a great amount of change. We won't have either if we allow an "insider" to keep us at status quo. This is our chance to FINALLY get it right. - Pedro Thu, 12 May 2011 13:43:07 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/8264-help-wanted#comment-17600 Education reform is about more than charter schools versus public schools. But, unfortunately, that's where the discussion frequently stops. Our community has never defined our goals for public education. Nor has our School Board. It starts there. Then we have to have a plan to reach the goals with defined responsibilities. Throw in contemporary business management and technology tools (some of which are being implemented now) and mix all that together with a focus on what's best for ALL kids rather than what's best for the adults. For instance, state law allows for waivers of state requirements if it will enhance educational outcomes. Lafayette has never applied for one such waiver. Our kids deserve better. Our teachers deserve better. Our community deserves better. - Gary McGoffin Thu, 12 May 2011 05:52:22 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/8264-help-wanted#comment-17598 For many, too many, years all I heard was that if we could keep our teachers, by increasing their pay, everything would improve, like test scores and graduation rates. Ooops, that hasn't happened... Throw more money at it. That's what I keep hearing the past few years. There is plenty of money in the system now. Not even looking at sales tax, multiply $2400 times the thousands of houses in Laf. parish then multiply that times 10 and you get an idea of how much money the school board has to do its job. I'm not a fan of all the "choice" schools. I think they're a gimick and a waste of money. Build a trade school if you want; one central location. Other than that, that's what universities are for. Its a drain on education's budget. Cut where you can & do what you can with what you have. Its a simple matter of NO NEW TAXES, NO MATTER WHAT!!! - BoFred Thu, 12 May 2011 04:47:31 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/8264-help-wanted#comment-17588 "We don’t need a candidate from within the Lafayette Parish School System" Want to bet? Like the UL President search, this search will also be a con job...to keep the good ole boy network in place. After all, do we want an educated pubic? If they were educated, they would see through the shenanigans of the City Govt, UL, Lafayette Housing...and the list goes on. Also, if we educated all the "at risk", who would we get to mow our lawns, work at Wal-Mart, clean our houses, and do the other menial jobs? - cajun transplant Thu, 12 May 2011 00:00:27 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/8264-help-wanted#comment-17580 Unfortunately, the KIPP charter schools don't offer a sustainable model for us. A study from March 2011 found that KIPP schools receive an average of more than $6,500 per pupil than regular public schools in the same districts (KIPP says that the correct figure is $4,500). They also admit fewer of the students who are more costly to educate -- those with disabilities or who are not native speakers of English. KIPP schools often don't replace students who return to their old public schools in the course of the school year, resulting in a smaller, self-selected group to educate. There's no way our public schools could replicate this model without being willing to change the very meaning of public schooling by excluding certain students. And we're not willing to exclude such students. But we're also not willing to realistically confront what we know, and what research has consistently shown, to be the fundamental problem. We ought to find the courage to face it. The connection between poverty and low school achievement has been consistently documented by countless studies. Poverty is a problem that our society has never successfully tackled and these days, many no longer even want to talk about. We try looking elsewhere for remedies to low achievement, but success is hard to come by because the problems in our schools are a reflection of the inequities of our society. Our public schools are burdened with, and then unfairly blamed for, the effects of poverty within our society. - Layne St.Julien Wed, 11 May 2011 20:50:09 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/8264-help-wanted#comment-17570 My first two children went to ADS which is a private school. They did not receive a good education. I would teach my children as soon as they would come home. My third child is going to a public school and is performing better on standardized tests with less work at home. - Happy with public school parent Wed, 11 May 2011 17:21:34 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/8264-help-wanted#comment-17561 I don't know, Walter. I've seen some a few "at risk" kids in private schools. My mom used to tutor kids at a private school who had learning disabilities, were falling behind, paid no tuition, etc. I think you've got a pretty jaded view of private schools...among other things. I mean, after all, who is more charitable than the church? Nevertheless, putting aside the "fairness" of it all for just a minute, I think it's every bit as valid to look at what works in private schools as it is to embrace what works at charter schools. It would also be more convenient and easier because these private schools are in our community already, have been here long before the public schools, and have a decades/centuries long record of achievement. And they do it in very old buildings, too. - ragin_cajun Wed, 11 May 2011 13:55:40 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/8264-help-wanted#comment-17552 Virtually all private schools, like many charter schools, have selective admissions; they don't HAVE to accept children with learning disabilities, in part because they don't have teachers certified to execute specialized educational plans. They just turn them away and leave them for the public school system. Many private schools don't even require their teachers to be certified. If private schools had to accept every student, like the public school system does, they would probably collapse like a house of cards. That's not to say there aren't good educational models taking place in private schools, but it's in the charter system where we find real-world examples of successfully educating our most at-risk children. The trick is applying those models to a public school system in which EVERY child has a right to an education. - Walter Pierce Wed, 11 May 2011 10:15:00 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/8264-help-wanted#comment-17551 " increasing abandonment of public in favor of private are unacceptable." "Charter schools....should be examined without prejudice and, when a model is shown to be effective, embraced." Just curious....why not examine private schools and embrace what THEY are doing? Private schools are bad, charter schools are good? Why is that? - ragin_cajun Wed, 11 May 2011 09:58:54 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/8264-help-wanted#comment-17545 Thank you, Walter, for hitting the nail on the head. This is the opportunity for our community to set basic goals along with our School Board. We are all just waking up to the cause and effect reality of 30% of our students not graduating from high school. And there is a bigger picture involved. Lafayette and the University are involved in master planning processes. But neither can succeed unless our public school system does as well. Our choice, and I emphasize OUR choice, for the new Superintendent to lead public education in Lafayette is critical. "The Experiment" is a good way to get up to speed very quickly. I've seen it twice. It shows what is starting to happen in Lafayette by showing the cause and effect of underperforming schools and increasing crime. It's more relevent to us than "Waiting for Superman" because it is about Louisiana, it is about us. Now is our chance. - Gary McGoffin Wed, 11 May 2011 07:38:36 +0100