I promise --- my final -- " off topic " Post . i agree with " buggy one " We can not just " throw money " at the issue of Urban Schools .
Someday if I dare --- I will attempt to start a new " Thread " on the issue of education bang for the buck .
Twenty years ago the Chairman of the company I worked for decided to " take on the education system ". We [ my employer ] asked the City of Buffalo to allow us to take over , subsidize and operate the worse performing K through 6 school in the City .
I was very involved in this effort . There was much resistance by the Buffalo Teachers Union . So we created a special " Board " for this school and a seat went to the long time President of the Union .
We hired a " panel " of PHDs from the School of Education at Columbia University to monitor our activities on a long term and continuing contract .
It is a long and interesting story , as we went along we learned a great deal and constantly adopted and adjusted based on what we learned . We recruited and hired an African American female PHD from Chicago who had earned a stellar reputation for her work as a long time Principal in an Urban elementary school .
The " Bottom Line " of this now 20 Year effort is very positive but it was not an easy undertaking . Today the school is officially a Charter School . It`s operating Cost Per Student is in line with that of the best suburban elementary schools in the region . And most importantly the performance of these inner city students is at a par with the best performing suburban schools .
If anyone might be interested in some of the adjustments we made and more details I will someday try to set up a Thread . This effort got the attention of even the UN and we were given an International Award which was accepted by then Sen. Clinton . CNN produced a Documentary however it was set to air originally on what became the Sunday immediately following 9/11 so it got bumped . [As of course it should have ].
|