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Nothing New

Printed From: MiddletownUSA.com
Category: Middletown City Schools
Forum Name: School Achievements
Forum Description: From Academic results to group and individual achievements
URL: http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6978
Printed Date: Nov 05 2024 at 1:44am


Topic: Nothing New
Posted By: VietVet
Subject: Nothing New
Date Posted: Feb 04 2020 at 9:10am
Looks as if we have the same state testing results we have had for the last decade or two. It also indicates that the recently built elementary schools and the new middle and high school construction hasn't helped the end results and this district has not improved at all. So much for the district taxpayer seeing reasonable expectations for their property tax increases. We can now safely say that we have gotten nothing positive for our money.

The next time this district tries to persuade you to approve their levies whether an operations, new or renewal levy, please remember what you have gotten for all the previous levies you have approved for them and stop this nonsense by turning off the money tap. Send a message that they are not performing to expectations given the money spent for lavish facilities. It hasn't gotten us nothing more than what we had before all the new buildings were built.

Vote no on all monetary support for the Middletown schools. It has been proven they are bottom feeders when compared to other area school districts. Lowest scores in the area and lowest graduation rates around. They have not honored their commitment to improve the results after we approved their fancy new schools. They have had more than enough time to improve the situation. They simply are pathetic. That is a fact.

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I'm so proud of my hometown and what it has become. Recall 'em all. Let's start over.



Replies:
Posted By: buddhalite
Date Posted: Feb 04 2020 at 2:03pm
I have to say - just as a point of argument - all the really bright kids I know around Middletown......don't attend Middletown City Schools.  I would contend that's far more of the issue than anything else.

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"Every government intervention [in the marketplace] creates unintended consequences, which lead to calls for further government interventions." -Ludwig van Mises


Posted By: VietVet
Date Posted: Feb 04 2020 at 7:34pm
Just bothers me that over 80% of our property taxes are going toward a decades old failing, bottom dwelling school district. Don't like our money spent on losing programs in education AND sports. It has always bothered me that the citizens of this town haven't gotten their money's worth for over two decades. It has also been frustrating for me to see the taxpayers constantly voting for levies. Why, given the end result? I also am angered by the apparent non caring attitude of the school superintendent, the administrators and the teachers for decades. If all cared, they would have changed the failed ways they have been using all this time and altered their focus on a more productive method of teaching and student retention. To date, nothing has improved and Middletown remains at the bottom of the ratings. The sports program went south years ago. This city hasn't felt the pride of having a winning sports program for many years. At best, we see teams that are under .500, let alone considering any winning record. We are usually the football doormat in the GMC and close to the bottom each year in basketball and baseball. No one respects our sports programs and see us as an easy win. We are everyone's homecoming game.

The controversy now is with Ed choice. The public schools around here are all angry because they are losing revenue for each student who decides on a charter school education. Simple solution to the public schools problem.......start providing a decent quality education for your students and there will be no reason for losing students. The public school system is their own worst enemy. They are the reason for their revenue losing issues. Until they change to improve education quality, students will leave the district for better results.

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I'm so proud of my hometown and what it has become. Recall 'em all. Let's start over.


Posted By: buddhalite
Date Posted: Feb 05 2020 at 1:31pm
I get it.  I do.

However - as the exodus out of the district occurred - those students (whom I fully believe and have much anecdotal evidence to prove, and could dig up the hard evidence anytime) that leave are the ones who prop up the average.  Upon their exit - the overall averages go down.

Talk to any teacher today who teaches a core subject (think the 3 R's) and they'll tell you many of these kids have no support system at home - no one to push them, no accountability - NO PARENTING - and without that encouragement and expectation there's no need for these kids to do anything but keep the truancy officers at bay.

Couple that with the participation trophy culture where we now have Democrat Presidential Candidates demanding FEDERAL LAW to be rewritten to include a $15/minimum wage - it just exacerbates the problem.

The Japanese have it right.  There's no forcing people into secondary and post-secondary education because they 'need' it - if you're an academic in junior-secondary - you get to keep going to achieve to your ability. 

If you aren't - well that's where trade schools, fine arts academies and the like are afforded to the individuals. By 14, most of their kids are on their way to success as tradespeople.  Amazing!

This country has forced these kids now into a compulsory educational path that extends to 26 years old!  According to the liberals if you don't have a college education you'll never be anything.  That was their way of cornering the market on those who aren't highly educated (i.e. blue-collar workers, many being unionized) and then turning the entire blue-collar middle-class against the upper income class.

Where am I going with this?  The modern Democrats and liberals have been working on this forever - and the degradation of the schools was tantamount to their plan.  

As a Christian - I've always been sort-of opposed to Christian schools. Why?  Because when we started building Christian schools and taking our children away from the public schools - we lost our voice.  And rightly so - you can't have a voice in an institution unless you have some skin in the game.

Therefore we've created (and even secular people have created it too with academies and charter schools and such) a system of public schools that are void of the influence that once made our schools so great.

I'm at a loss when I read your last sentence, 'Until they change to improve education quality...' - what exactly can they change?  Every district is graded the same way - and therefore they've started teaching to the test.  They only focus on getting those kids from one grade level to the next - just to save face.

Here's a great story - and it's all true.  I have a *th grader in the Middletown City School District.  He's a great kid - and a typical kid for his age - a daydreamer, an imaginer, a wanderer and super-inquisitive but he has the attention span of a one-winged gnat.  A conference was called a few weeks ago - because the kid is capable but his grades are suffering because of all of the aforementioned traits.

I told them (teachers and counselor) to let him fail.  He's a typical kid growing up in this world - and he literally thinks the rules don't apply to him and not only that, he's growing up in a pornography fueled, consequence free, participation trophy and $15/hr wage whether earned or not society.  And guess what?  THEY WILL NOT ALLOW HIM TO FAIL!

Why?  Well - the honest to goodness truth is that they get dinged on their professional record and reviews and the like when kids fail!  

When I was a kid - if you didn't do the work - you didn't get the grade.  If you didn't get the grade enough - you failed.  If you failed enough - you didn't advance to the next grade. Your friends passed you by - you were held back from moving from one level and facility to another and lost touch with all your friends and started over.  It was embarrassing and you didn't do it again - I guarantee you.

There's no consequences in this world of public education and until you fix that nothing will change.
There's no confirmation at home by two-income homes (and increasingly one-parent two-income homes).
There's no contemplation of changing teacher/district measurements causing ineffective teaching and learning.
There's no commotion in the community to change as the those who care moved on decades ago.

I'm not entirely sure there is anything that CAN change that would put this back together and allow public education in this country to become what it once was.  When Humpty Dumpty fell - all the King's horses and all the King's men....


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"Every government intervention [in the marketplace] creates unintended consequences, which lead to calls for further government interventions." -Ludwig van Mises


Posted By: spiderjohn
Date Posted: Feb 06 2020 at 6:29pm
Not fixable
And we have a school board member running for the state house?



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