Public Schools Issues

[jencoleslaw]

How do you teach a cat how to plant a tree and to love it.

[Frankie811]

dude, cats are born with an innate sense of appreciation for trees. and firemen. Just like me.

[basachs]

i'd rather my kids be at West Broadway Elementary with its questionable stairs issue than at Springfield St with its documented superfund site issues. If the city is going to close the small, well performing neighborhood schools and send kids to the city built, new, polluted schools, i'd take my kids out of the system entirely. and i suspect i wouldn't be the only parent to do that.

guess its a good thing i just have cats.

[MikeR]

I believe students are as legitimate of a "occupation" as any other when it comes to Occupational Health and Safety.

Even if OSHA itself doesn't come and do the inspection, fire departments use OSHA guidelines for their own fire codes.

[jencoleslaw]

http://www.projo.com/ri/providence/content...A9.1964ba6.html

it seems to me that you cannot overhaul the schools without overhauling the school system, and that includes the teachers union. If assistant principals are still going to complain about patroling KPlaza one hour a month, then it doesn't matter how many schools we tear down, and how many schools we build and how we move children around the city. Deferred maintenance has indeed taken its toll on Providence's education system, but that of is only PART of the problem.

I heard at an unrelated (sort of ) meeting that these consultants recommended building new schools in Providence's parks system....

[riari]

I heard at an unrelated (sort of ) meeting that these consultants recommended building new schools in Providence's parks system....

[yossarian]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Great idea: let's shortchange kids (and city residents) on recreation opportunities and green spaces, so we can build new schools where we still can't "afford" to provide arts and music classes.

Maybe Providence should build schools on the freed up I-195 land, unbuilt Capital Center parcels, surface parking lots and other empty lots downtown, and leave the parks alone.

[jencoleslaw]

The problem is that the city will have to sell the land the old schools are on in order to fund the new school buildings, no matter what they are.

[basachs]

Fire inspector says West Broadway Elementary School could be brought up to code...

http://www.projo.com/ri/providence/content...EU.1c3e115.html

[xine]

btw the "code" being referenced has nothing to do with OSHA - it's NFPA 101, which is a model code adopted by RI as part of the Fire Safety Rules and enforced by the fire marshall's office. NFPA 101 is a building code which roughly parallels the International Building Code, which is enforced by the City of Providence Inspections and Standards. Rhode Island is bizarre in that it has adopted and enforces both, even though they sometimes conflict, to the consternation of many.

The article has it dead right - NFPA is ok with kindergarteners and 1st graders being on a non-grade (upper) level as long as they have their own exit, the rationale being that the big kids will push and trample the little ones in an emergency.

My opinion is that the school board is using the code issue as a scapegoat ...especially seeing as the fire marshall letter explicitly invited the City to apply for a variance which would make the code issue go away with minimal fuss.

[gregw]

My opinion is that the school board is using the code issue as a scapegoat ...especially seeing as the fire marshall letter explicitly invited the City to apply for a variance which would make the code issue go away with minimal fuss.

[basachs]

Brussat weighs in...

http://www.projo.com/opinion/columnists/co...Q0.4e130bb.html

[runawayjim]

Brussat weighs in...

http://www.projo.com/opinion/columnists/co...Q0.4e130bb.html

[matt]

as much as i usually disagree with everything he says... the whole idea of pod learning or whatever they call it reminds me of a failed design of the middle school in my hometown. it was built during this fad of "open learning" or something like that without many walls. it ended up being a problem and they made classrooms out of cubicles basically.

i learned just fine in a single classroom being taught by a single teacher. of course, i went to a private school for almost my whole education.

[basachs]

I do agree with his notion that teaching styles go through so many fads, and very few are implemented fully. The ones that are have a high failure rate.

The DeJong report is all well and good, and there is validity there. Flexibility in the implementation is required though, because in any long term plan there are tons of required changes. The fact that there is such inflexibility from the beginning is troubling.

[jencoleslaw]

800 million dollars. Where is it going to come from?

[runawayjim]

800 million dollars. Where is it going to come from?

[jencoleslaw]

so are you suggesting we just go with the status quo? that just isn't possible. it's the years of neglect and continuing with the status quo that has gotten our schools to where they are now. money has to be spend and then continue to be spent.

my guess is the money will come from bonds.

[runawayjim]

i'm not sure where you get from my post that i believe that nothing should be done. But one of the recommendations in the report, if you read the whole thing, is that the city has got to find the funding for these projects, and to date, i do not think any funding has been lined up, and yet schools are on the chopping block regardless. I think it is terrible PR to trot out the report, get parents and communities all in an uproar before there's even a plan to fund the plan.

[gregw]

Under RI law, 80% of school construction costs (and maybe renovation too) is paid for by the State. The money (both state and municipal) would almost certainly come from bonds.

[basachs]

so should the report have been secret until funding was in place?

i truly doubt they'll start closing schools before they have somewhere to put the kids.

[runawayjim]

Well the vote to decide whether or not to close the West Broadway School is this Monday evening the 26th. Are all the plans in place for every child and where they are going to go? Maybe in theory, certainly not any detailed plan that has been shared with the community.

[basachs]

is the closing retro-active or will it serve out the rest of the school year? i imagine it'd serve the rest of the school year (just another 4 months really). during that time, they'll plan on where they'll be moving the students for next year and i'm sure they'll let parents know where their kids will be going ahead of time.

[runawayjim]

It will serve out the rest of the school year. Thats not really the point though.

[basachs]

school districts close schools all the time and move kids to different schools without problems. while it might be up for vote next week, they won't need a plan (which can take quite a bit of time to figure all the logistics out) until after the school year is over, so long as they give parents ample notice (meaning before august).