OT: Damn, Are Mississippi Schools really that bad?

[uptowndawg]

Gov. Bryant just declared a state of emergency brought about by lack of student performance and accreditation issues

http://www.governorbryant.com/gover...laiborne-and-leflore-county-school-districts/

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Localized states of emergency for Claiborne and Leflore county schools. Leflore County schools are bad according to the state department of education-- the district and all its schools are rated F. Claiborne County is almost as bad.

There was talk that the Yazoo City District would face this as well but there's going to be local control while the state oversees improvements while the district is without accreditation. The district has until this coming March to remedy its problems.

Edit to add: 40 percent of Mississippi's schools were rated A or B according to the state department of education.

 

[RocketDawg]

Alabama took over the Birmingham schools a couple years ago too, so it's not just in Mississippi.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Exactly and it could be at least partly attributed to budget cuts as Mississippi is one of 34 states to cut education funding since 2008. From today's Daily Journal:

JACKSON – Mississippi had the 10th deepest cuts nationally in education spending since the recession hit in 2008, according to a study by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

According to the study released last week, Mississippi is spending $648 less per pupil, adjusted for inflation, for the current fiscal year than it did in 2008 before the recession hit. Or put another way, the state is spending 13.1 percent less, adjusted for inflation, per student.

 

[thatsbaseball]

Sorry bro but this ain`t a funding problem .

 

[starkvegasdawg]

My mom teaches senior English at leflore county schools. The other day she had them conjugating verbs and reminding them that sentences end in periods.

 

[biteyoudawg]

The problem is that the same damn sorry teachers who can hardly speak the English language, both white and black, are still teaching and most principals have not got balls big enough to document and finally not recommend them back the next year. This is because of lawsuits threatened by the NAACP and other teacher organizations alike. However, I do say that I know MANY great teachers who do teach and will go overboard to help their students on their extra time but if the student doesn't want to learn the teacher can't do a damn thing about it. My hat is off to most teachers but there are some that needed to go many years ago who can't teach ****.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Didn't precisely word my first sentence. I meant to state that could be at least partly attributed to budget cuts. There are, of course, other factors.

 

[thatsbaseball]

My wife taught 30 years and retired. You can`t imagine the pride she has when one of her former students (they were mostly black) sees her today,hugs her and tells how far they`ve gone in life. At the end of her career everything had changed ...... it`s just a long sad story but it`s definitely not about funding.

 

[os62]

The problem is that the same damn sorry teachers who can hardly speak the English language, both white and black, are still teaching and most principals have not got balls big enough to document and finally not recommend them back the next year. This is because of lawsuits threatened by the NAACP and other teacher organizations alike. However, I do say that I know MANY great teachers who do teach and will go overboard to help their students on their extra time but if the student doesn't want to learn the teacher can't do a damn thing about it. My hat is off to most teachers but there are some that needed to go many years ago who can't teach ****.

While I agree that there are bad teachers, I'd argue that isn't the problem. There are many problems:

1. Parenting is at an all-time low. Many more parents now-a-days couldn't care less about their child's behavior or performance in school. Everything is the teacher's fault and not the student's. Its absurd.

2. This generation of kids is exposed to so much crap from tv, music, and internet that it is warping their values. Plus, everything is about the individual. Self-decency has gone by the wayside, and kids no longer find education important because there is all this "other" crap floating out there.

3. LAWSUITS. School districts are terrified about getting sued by parents. And unfortunately, the courts support them more often than not. These kids are NOT innocent as they once were. Hell, I'm 30 and these kids are completely different than me in what they generally believe in and find important. However, the courts think they know no better, even though in most cases they do.

4. I think this is the most important thing IMO: the government is not fixing education by all of their changes. They are making it harder. They believe they are simply raising the bar, but they are neglecting that not all areas of the USA are equal. It's no surprise that the financially "better off" states are also the highest scoring. But back to my original point, Common Core is not going to fix things. No one that I work with believes in it. Hell, the state can't even explain exactly what we are supposed to do with it AND WE HAVE TO COMPLETELY IMPLEMENT IT NEXT YEAR.

Anyways, those are just some of my observations from my 8 years of teaching HS math and coaching football.

 

[SeaDawg.sixpack]

Well, I have to put my two cents in on this one. Up until last year my wife taught in a Mississippi school system for 4 years after having taught in Virginia for 6. Once she got here she was faced with some none supportive administrators, absent parents, and children that just didn't care. She even had a fellow teacher tell her "You can teach these kids like Virginia kids." I got ask the question why the 17ing not? And some might said she wimped out but after seeing her come home every night crying and working even to 10 at night and weekends, I had to tell her to let it go. See what they need is teachers like her that hold kids accountable and not the ones that are unfortunately in our schools and that is teachers just collecting a check, and there are a lot of people that are in the public school system that see teaching as a easy job to get paid and earn a retirement check.

 

[ReadyReady]

Sorry bro but this ain`t a funding problem .

Maybe not, but whatever the problems are (bad teachers, "the formula", "cultural differences", etc.), I wish more people in high places had the balls to dialogue about them publicly rather than just letting them continue. Just way too much at stake here ... not looking forward to a future where college prep is available at only a handful of private schools. As it is, we hear the same talking points on this every damn year and no progress.

I went to an "A district" over a decade ago for the last 6 years of school before college, and it made a world of difference for me. But that same district was also functionally segregated (not suggesting this was intentional) between Honors and "Regular" classes.

It seems obvious, IMO, that this type of disparity across schools/districts/classrooms only stands to make the education situation and many others worse for the entire state in the long run. Still in my opinion here, but it seems like communities/schools could do more about that type of problem than they are now.

Apologies for the soapbox, but looks like I'm not the only one.

 

[thatsbaseball]

If you combine SeaDawg`s and os62`s posts you will have a 100% accurate synopsis of the current educational situation in many Mississippi public schools.

 

[dannyripms]

Yeah that really ticked me off that they lowered the standards to graduate. Now a f is 60 and below. It used to be below a 70. And that's screwing them because in college most programs require an 80 and above. They lower the standards so they can just get them through and make the schools look good because everyone's passing.

 

[ReadyReady]

4. I think this is the most important thing IMO: the government is not fixing education by all of their changes. They are making it harder. They believe they are simply raising the bar, but they are neglecting that not all areas of the USA are equal. It's no surprise that the financially "better off" states are also the highest scoring. But back to my original point, Common Core is not going to fix things. No one that I work with believes in it. Hell, the state can't even explain exactly what we are supposed to do with it AND WE HAVE TO COMPLETELY IMPLEMENT IT NEXT YEAR.

Well said. Have never met an educator that was on board with the Common Core.

 

[mstateglfr]

Yes, yes they are this bad.
No, not all of em, but a crap ton more than there should be.

The state is consistently ranked among the lowest achieving in the nation.

Its a money issue, its a social issue, it's a family issue, it's a government issue.
Its all the above, and it's a shame.

 

[QuaoarsKing]

Yeah that really ticked me off that they lowered the standards to graduate. Now a f is 60 and below. It used to be below a 70. And that's screwing them because in college most programs require an 80 and above. They lower the standards so they can just get them through and make the schools look good because everyone's passing.

Actually, F being 59 and below is pretty standard nationwide. No idea why Mississippi is usually 69 and below is an F (or maybe that's changed since I got out).

And in college an 80 is a B. In general, you need Cs and above (so 70+) in your major, and electives and be Ds (60+) as long as your GPA stays above 2.5.

 

[xxxWalkTheDawg]

If it was a funding problem then there would not have been funds available to pay the Tupelo School superintendent nearly $200,000. If you get a chance, look at the Desoto County School's administrative office directory. There are assistants to assistants.

 

[esplanade91]

I went to Gulfport School District schools (generally considered great schools)... the good teachers were really good but the bad teachers were really bad. Too many teachers who were great at one point or another stayed until their 60's because it was an easy paycheck. Turnover is/was bad... teachers were willing to go elsewhere every year or so because the bad school districts are willing to pay more and they come with lesser expectations...

I had the same algebra teacher my sister who is 10 years older than me had, and while she considers him the guy who inspired her to go to a top 20 college and blah blah blah I considered him the easiest teacher and the guy who gave the least ****. His retirement kicked right after I had him and he left and became a tennis coach at a private school.

As much as we can point towards administrations, the state testing pass/fail score being below average based on other states' pass/fail scores, and teachers not having to worry about keeping their jobs because they're impossible to fire, the budget hurts too. Gulfport cut all teachers' salaries by several thousands of dollars during my time there. My chemistry teacher was also the chemistry teacher at MGCCC during the evenings and she ended up quitting because GHS didn't make it worth her time. She was an incredible teacher. Very rarely do you get people who can take up full time jobs in the chemistry departments of junior colleges who would rather teach at high schools, and GHS had one until they cut her salary and chemistry budget.

Still, even at GHS where the citizens are blessed with casino money and a good pool of tax revenue for education, the front office was **** too. My counselor in 9th grade told me how I could sign up for shop, computer classes, or some other votech and not have to take spanish but I would only be able to go to an in-state school. 9th grade! I didn't know where I wanted to go... I didn't see another counselor until right before I graduated, and one of the schools I applied to not remembering that out-of-state turned me down. A language was a pre-req everywhere but USM, Ole Miss, and MSU. Of course that's probably not what got me turned down, but it was certainly a factor. That still pisses me off even though I graduated from a school I really liked.

We've got to do a better job about who we hire.

It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Charter schools are going to tank this state.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

And if I recall correctly, there were quite a few athletics folks who were very supportive of the change to the 10-point scale because that allowed more Mississippi student-athletes be eligible to compete in NCAA Division I.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

I don't necessarily mean that Funding Issues = Schools Need More Money despite the example I gave yesterday. Funding issues vary from schools and school districts needing more money to that there may be enough money at schools and school districts but it may not be properly allocated.

 

[SuspectZero]

While I agree that there are bad teachers, I'd argue that isn't the problem. There are many problems:

1. Parenting is at an all-time low. Many more parents now-a-days couldn't care less about their child's behavior or performance in school. Everything is the teacher's fault and not the student's. Its absurd.

2. This generation of kids is exposed to so much crap from tv, music, and internet that it is warping their values. Plus, everything is about the individual. Self-decency has gone by the wayside, and kids no longer find education important because there is all this "other" crap floating out there.

3. LAWSUITS. School districts are terrified about getting sued by parents. And unfortunately, the courts support them more often than not. These kids are NOT innocent as they once were. Hell, I'm 30 and these kids are completely different than me in what they generally believe in and find important. However, the courts think they know no better, even though in most cases they do.

4. I think this is the most important thing IMO: the government is not fixing education by all of their changes. They are making it harder. They believe they are simply raising the bar, but they are neglecting that not all areas of the USA are equal. It's no surprise that the financially "better off" states are also the highest scoring. But back to my original point, Common Core is not going to fix things. No one that I work with believes in it. Hell, the state can't even explain exactly what we are supposed to do with it AND WE HAVE TO COMPLETELY IMPLEMENT IT NEXT YEAR.

Anyways, those are just some of my observations from my 8 years of teaching HS math and coaching football.

I agree with everything in this post. My wife has taught elementary school for the last 11 years. Mostly kindergarden, 1st grade and 3rd grade in the states of Mississippi and Florida. According to her, the biggest problem that exist, is the lack of parental involvement. I cannot stress that enough how important that is. She has had parents of students that are failing, tell her that it's not their responsibility to make sure their kid is doing well in school, it's hers and that what she is paid for. The same parent also threatened to whip my wife's *** if her child failed. More recently, a black parent told her child that they didn't have to do anything that that "white *****" told them to because she didn't know what she was doing. Keep in mind, my wife wife graduated college with top honors, she is a National Board Certified Teacher, and has a masters in dyslexia therapy. The list if horrible things goes on and on with regards to parents so I wont bore you with anymore of that.

Lawsuits are another big issue that the school districts are afraid of. Last year my wife caught the same little boy twice, stealing money and other things in the classroom. Both times she wrote him up and sent him to the office. The boy was sent back to the classroom and my wife was called in to confrence with the principle and assistant principle. They told her point blank, that she (or any other teacher) are not allowed to dicipline black students because the state is watching and is coming down hard on schools that have more black dicipline problems than white. To me, that's pretty 17'ed up. The little thief got off scott free.

I could go on and on. I could never do that job. It would make my head explode with all the ********.

 

[was21]

The Common Core approach will eventually equalize all districts in all states. Welcome to Big Brotherville.

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

As the spouse of a teacher, this is 100% spot on.

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

I've never met a teacher who was on board with *any* standards.

No Child Left Behind, Common Core, etc.

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

That will be my wife in about 10 more years. Shoot, we can't go anywhere now where she doesn't get mugged by her former students. She's hard on them and expects a lot from them and they love her for it.

 

[FlabLoser]

Jackson schools are falling off the cliff.

http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2013/09/jackson-public-schools-failure-is-option.html

 

[ShrubDog]

Columbus city schools are next in line.

 

[Seinfeld]

Desoto County got an A+

and I believe that it was the first time that a MS school district with more than 10,000 students achieved that. With that said, I think the recent success of DC has more to do with with good teachers/families getting the 17 out of Memphis and moving across the state line than it has to do with funding or anything else.

My wife teaches in DC and knowing how difficult the situation here, I really feel for the other districts.