Posted in Hudson Valley Schools, JCPS Bus Finder, Sheldon Berman, Student Assignment Plan, Teeny Weeny Bus Schedule on September 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Some schools in JCPS have 18-page bus schedules! King Elementary has a 15-page bus schedule. Have fun checking out some bus schedules and their circuitous bus routes here: JCPS Bus Finder.
Berman came from a school district with a five-page bus schedule for grades 1-12, private and parochial. Here’s the teeny-weeny bus schedule.
JCPS is the 30th largest school district in the United States and this was the best we could do?
Posted in Failing Schools, Forced Busing, Jefferson County Public Schools, Louisville, Student Assignment Plan on September 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Well, I guess we know what Jefferson County public school teachers are doing during their planning periods.
In response to The Courier-Journal’s report today on the woeful lack of progress toward No Child Left Behind standards, it appears that teachers and JCPS employees are slamming Story Chatters who have the nerve to complain about lousy teachers. The unified response is “Blame Uninvolved Parents for the Low Scores, Not JCPS”.
The most cringeworthy posts are from a teacher with the username Kaykat. Just check it out and try limit yourself to a dozen eyerolls. The story is here.
Forced busing is a great way to create barriers for parents who’d like to be involved. So pat yourself on the back, JCPS. Mission accomplished!
Posted in Greg Fischer, KCCT, Louisville, Political Death Watch, Sheldon Berman, Somebody Got Played on September 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Berman to Fisher on Wed 09/22/10 3:23p.m:
“4got to tell u abt KCCT scores. so dont say peep to WLKY! ttyl!”
—–
Fischer was on WLKY last night. I’m so embarrassed for him.
Posted in Failing Schools, Forced Busing, Hal Heiner, Jefferson County Public Schools, Louisville, Who are the marketing geniuses who came up with THAT LINE? on September 23, 2010| 2 Comments »
Heiner just won the election. That breakfast/dinner line is campaign gold.
Click here for the ad that will have yellow-dog Dems voting for a Republican.
He wants merit pay for teachers? The teachers’ union is going to FREAK OUT!
It’s true that the mayor does not play a direct role in this busing scheme. However, he can lean pretty hard on his pals in the state legislature to make things happen.
Keep your fingers crossed.
Posted in JCTA, Jefferson County Public Schools, Sign Me Up To Work 26 Weeks a Year! on September 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Ever wonder what the Board of Education-approved union contract really looks like? Well, a bunch of the pages in the compensation section are inexplicably blank but take a look here anyway.
The best part is Article 27 where the compensation is spelled out. Page 44.
4% annual raises, dude.
Posted in Failing Schools, Forced Busing, I Can't Make This Shit Up, Jefferson County Public Schools, KCCT, Sheldon Berman, Student Assignment Plan on September 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »
September 20, 2010 – The Courier-Journal reported the retirement of Pat Todd, “one of the district’s staunchest advocates for desegregation” who helped create “a voluntary desegregation plan”.
In JCPS-speak, students who participate in a voluntary desegregation plan are spending three leisurely hours a day on a bus taking in the breathtaking scenery along the Watterson, Shawnee or Gene Snyder Expressway.
September 23, 2010 – JCPS allows publication of 2009-10 Kentucky Core Contest Test scores. These scores are so lousy that JCPS’s whole argument that forced busing is a critical asset for boosting academic achievement is now a big, fat joke.
Problem is, nobody is laughing.
JCPS has had the scores for a couple of weeks.
Is Mrs. Todd’s retirement a coincidence?
You decide.
Posted in Failing Schools, Forced Busing, I Can't Make This Shit Up, Jefferson County Public Schools, KCCT, Sheldon Berman, Student Assignment Plan on September 23, 2010| 3 Comments »
The 2009-10 Kentucky Core Content Test scores rolled in a couple of weeks ago and scores are much worse this year than last. Keep in mind that EVERYONE at JCPS received a salary increase . There aren’t many places where you can fail at the sole purpose of your organization’s core mission AND receive a raise – but JCPS is one of those places. They’re supposed to educate our kids but are, instead, in the transportation business and darn proud of it.
Thank you to “Jose” at JCPS who is squandering our tax dollars posting on this blog to correct me on the raise info rather than fulfilling job responsibilities. Point is, “Jose”, you people received a raise when most of you didn’t deserve an increase of one red cent.
Here is a spreadsheet of some handsomely-paid JCPS employees just to hit home how much these folks make. Shocking, isn’t it?! They’ve received two raises since that spreadsheet was released. Whatever happened to pay-for-performance?
Just a few weeks ago, the Board of Education approved the maximum allowable increase of 4% to our property taxes. That’s the third increase in property taxes in three years! Thank you to the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions for pointing that out and making me spit-spray my decaf latte.
The Board also approved spending $10 million for 75 additional buses to accommodate a “new and improved” student assignment plan which is just a lousy euphemism for an expansion of forced busing.
Spend, spend, spend! On buses, bus drivers, fuel, tires, maintenance, paper pushers, bean counters and a $260,000 superintendent. This spending spree isn’t going to stop anytime soon unless you vote out the Board of Education… and I’ll post more on that later.
Anyway, how bad were the scores? In Jefferson County, 79% of schools failed to meet their goals.
28 schools face sanctions for poor performance.
All these failures but JCPS keeps pouring money into forced busing. Why?
Here’s what the Courier-Journal had to say about state legislators like Senators Williams and Seum who are threatening to eliminate forced busing once and for all since the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling against JCPS doesn’t mean squat here in Jefferson County:
“Let no one be fooled,” the [Courier-Journal] editorial says. “Enactment of such a law would erase giant strides that have been made in recent decades in local public education, plunge many schools into mediocrity, and resegregate some schools along racial lines with tragic consequences for thousands of children.”
Superintendent Berman issued swift support of the Courier-Journal’s editorial in his newsletter to parents in the latest JCPS Parent Connection. Read it here.
So much praise to go around. So little performance to show for it.
Education Voodoo 