Wednesday, July 23, 2008
With little more than a month before the start of school, now is not the time to be telling the students of G.L. Wiley Middle School that they have to go elsewhere.
That’s not to say that Waco ISD trustees aren’t doing those same students a service by meeting this week at Wiley to consider the school’s future. This kind of discussion is long overdue.
It’s clear that the status quo is unacceptable at Wiley, whose student body is only slightly over 200. However, the status quo that must end has almost nothing to do with the deficiencies that have drawn the interest of the Texas Education Agency, and they also have almost nothing to do with the teachers and Principal Kermit Ward. They have worked hard to meet challenging objectives, including more parental involvement.
What needs to change is the condition of Wiley’s students not having the same opportunities as elsewhere in the district. Wiley can’t field a football team because of its size, or offer the same performing arts and electives options for the same reasons.
There’s no reason why these students should be penalized, certainly until the future of Wiley is fleshed out. A few years ago when A.J. Moore Academy was in its infancy and some of the students were bound for Waco High or University High, the district made it possible for anyone planning to participate in extracurricular activities or UIL sports to do so at those campuses while attending A.J. Moore.
It would seem that students at Wiley should the option of, say, playing football at another middle school. The same should apply to performing arts Wiley can’t offer.
All of this would serve a stop-gap function until Wiley’s future is decided.
The idea of shutting down a school because of arbitrary state benchmarks is repellent. A school is nothing more than the people and ambitions therein, and an extension of its environs. Shut it down? That’s like shutting down a community.
Outside management? That’s also repellent, and likely of dubious benefit. Waco ISD has tried many combinations of talented educators at Wiley in its slow climb out of academic depths. This year Wiley almost broke through based on state accountability standards. It showed marked improvement but still needs work in science.
The real issue at Wiley has nothing to do with the above numbers. It has to do with student numbers — a too-small student body.
Ideally the district would find a new way to utilize the historic campus, like making it a second magnet middle school or a middle school-senior high affiliated with A.J. Moore, one that works directly with Texas State Technical College in prepping students for technical careers.
Whatever the case, Wiley’s future should be our decision, not that of a state bureaucracy.
Comments
By LARRYE WEAVER
Jul 24, 2008 7:28 AM | Link to this
BLACK EDUCATORS EQUAL ACCESS TO EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL,GOOD COMMUNITY FOCUSING ON VALUES UNBIASED SENTIMENTS IS A FORMULA FOR SUCCESS
By Fred
Jul 23, 2008 5:52 PM | Link to this
Waco schools have gone stright to Hell. Waco Schools.....worst in the State.
By Enlightened
Jul 23, 2008 1:50 PM | Link to this
Its a nice argument, but moot. Every time I hear the voices of Waco, I hear the same inability to grasp reason combined with a tone bent on absolution. The efforts were not good enough. It took five years of underperforming TAKS scores before recommendations were made towards consolidation. Five years - who gets five years in the private sector to turn poor performance around in this day and age? The world is not a vacuum and the expectations of the world are not static. Improvements might have been made, but evidently they are not adequate in terms of expectations and standards that ARE being met elsewhere. The bottom line reflects a state monetary contribution to this school's budget. If the state maintains a standard in order for schools to receive funding, the school needs to do their part and ensure they adhere to meeting minimum requirements. If requirements cannot be met, there is a consequence - unfortunate as it might be, consolidation could actually improve the education of these students - that being a stated goal of our state funded system. If the school doesn't like the system in which accountability is expected, they can always set up private shop. If we chose to send our child to a private school at a personal expense of say $12,000 annually and this same child floundered on the TAKS, or students of this private school consistently returned SAT scores of say 800 combined, it wouldn't take long before the private school was out of business. No parent in their right mind will spend $60,000 over 5 years to have their child score 800 on the SAT. TEA is applying the same approach with the end goal meant to ensure children are prepared. Five years of under performance leaves the door open TOO long in my opinion. Fortunately for these children, the state has a higher standard than the author of this opinion.
By Enlightened
Jul 23, 2008 1:46 PM | Link to this
Its a nice argument, but moot. Every time I hear the voices of Waco, I hear the same inability to grasp reason combined with a tone bent on absolution. The efforts were not good enough. It took five years of underperforming TAKS scores before recommendations were made towards consolidation. Five years - who gets five years in the private sector to turn poor performance around in this day and age? The world is not a vacuum and the expectations of the world are not static. Improvements might have been made, but evidently they are not adequate in terms of expectations and standards that ARE being met elsewhere. The bottom line reflects a state monetary contribution to this school's budget. If the state maintains a standard in order for schools to receive funding, the school needs to do their part and ensure they adhere to meeting minimum requirements. If requirements cannot be met, there is a consequence - unfortunate as it might be, consolidation could actually improve the education of these students - that being a stated goal of our state funded system. If the school doesn't like the system in which accountability is expected, they can always set up private shop. If we chose to send our child to a private school at a personal expense of say $12,000 annually and this same child floundered on the TAKS, or students of this private school consistently returned SAT scores of say 800 combined, it wouldn't take long before the private school was out of business. No parent in their right mind will spend $60,000 over 5 years to have their child score 800 on the SAT. TEA is applying the same approach with the end goal meant to ensure children are prepared. Five years of under performance leaves the door open TOO long in my opinion. Fortunately for these children, the state has a higher standard than the author of this opinion.
By Enlightened
Jul 23, 2008 1:44 PM | Link to this
Its a nice argument, but moot. Every time I hear the voices of Waco, I hear the same inability to grasp reason combined with a tone bent on absolution. The efforts were not good enough. It took five years of underperforming TAKS scores before recommendations were made towards consolidation. Five years - who gets five years in the private sector to turn poor performance around in this day and age? The world is not a vacuum and the expectations of the world are not static. Improvements might have been made, but evidently they are not adequate in terms of expectations and standards that ARE being met elsewhere. The bottom line reflects a state monetary contribution to this school's budget. If the state maintains a standard in order for schools to receive funding, the school needs to do their part and ensure they adhere to meeting minimum requirements. If requirements cannot be met, there is a consequence - unfortunate as it might be, consolidation could actually improve the education of these students - that being a stated goal of our state funded system. If the school doesn't like the system in which accountability is expected, they can always set up private shop. If we chose to send our child to a private school at a personal expense of say $12,000 annually and this same child floundered on the TAKS, or students of this private school consistently returned SAT scores of say 800 combined, it wouldn't take long before the private school was out of business. No parent in their right mind will spend $60,000 over 5 years to have their child score 800 on the SAT. TEA is applying the same approach with the end goal meant to ensure children are prepared. Five years of under performance leaves the door open TOO long in my opinion. Fortunately for these children, the state has a higher standard than the author of this opinion.
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