Open School Board meetings...

So I went to the Newark Public Schools open board meeting last night. It was an intertesting experience. Getting there was half the battle. Okay, I don't live all that far from Newark, about 15 minutes or so (less than 10 miles) to the north, in Bloomfield. I think. I'm directionally challenged in this state (no mountains for me to judge which way is east or west). But I rarely drive anywhere. I work in NYC and take mass transit 90% of the time, and my wife typically drives the other 10%. I basically only drive to get to my AA meetings, and they are all within a two mile radius of my house. So I drive (with myself behind the wheel) outside my immediate area maybe 6-10 times a year.

I had mapquested how to get to the meeting at Shabazz HS and had directions. Of course I decided not to follow them exactly. I knew where Bloomfield Ave was and knew how to get there, and planned to follow the directions from that point. Well, the route I took didn't allow me to make a left onto Bloomfield. And I did a typical Dr. MS thing. I said, I don't need to turn around, I know how to get back to Bloomfield Ave from where I am.

When will I learn? And that was a rhetorical question!!!

Next thing I knew I was in East Orange. Oops! No problem, I can cut over and be where I should be. Five minutes later I didn't know which way was up or down, let alone N, S, E or W! I kept seeing roads that sounded familiar and following them. Then I was in South Orange. Huh!? Ooooh, that road sounds familiar. Wait, where the heck is Irvington and why am I there?

Finally I saw signs saying "This way to downtown Newark" and stopped panicking. Of course I didn't follow the signs totally. I saw a couple roads that sounded right and followed them. What!? I'm back in Irvington!? Dang it! But finally I got where I was going. The meeting started at 6. I left home at 5:30. I got there at 6:45. Luckily I found a couple of my classmates to sit with. What have we learned from this? Don't let Dr. MS drive anywhere. Ever.

But luckily I didn't miss much of the meeting. Approving the minutes and the beginning of some budgetary stuff. The part I caught was the most exciting thing I've seen since the Iowa professional grass-growing championships. But then they had public commentary, and that made the whole thing worthwhile.

First off, I love people who are passionate about education and what they believe in. And there were several speakers who were certainly passionate about what they were saying. But most of them were not particularly good at arguing their points. Passion is wonderful, but I believe a logical, well-reasoned argument will do you more good than yelling and rousing the crowd will.

Of course I don't really believe the speakers really accomplished anything. I got the distinct impression that the board members were humoring the speakers and couldn't wait for the public comments to be done. The way they seemed to rush through the list of speakers (calling a name, waiting 5 seconds, then saying they were absent) and the patronizing smirks on thier faces at times did not lead me to believe they were taking the speakers concerns seriously at all. There were exceptions to this, one or two board members made comments or asked questions, so at least they seemed to be listening.

The most useful thing for me at the board meeting was hearing, from the students, staff and parents who spoke, what their concerns were about Newark schools. Facilities issues were big. Leaky roofs, mold, mice/bugs, lack of restroom supplies (that was a frequent one) were all topics that were brought up. Several parents commented on how they didn't feel informed by the board on what was going on with their childrens schools. A few people commented on an apparently very unpopular change in the districts free meals program. I don't know the details but several people were very angry about it. And the board is apparently suspending the changed program on 12/1 until further review.. And one teacher commented, rather eloquently, on her belief that teacher evaluations were being used punitively to punish teachers who were speaking out about problems in the district.

Overall the meeting was a good experience for me. I think I learned a lot about the situation I'm going to be going into. I will probably try and attend more of the board meetings in the future.

Spectacular Things, Part One...

For our Urban Education class we were assigned to Read the book Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way, by Brian Schultz. I admit, I actually read it two months ago. I got bored and my class books were sitting there so I pulled out the shortest one (Spectacular Things) to keep me occupied till dinnertime.

I ended up finishing it on the train the next morning. Then I reread it. Finished it the second time on the train ride home. I love this book. Seriously. I would have read it again, but I loaned it to a classmate and by the time I got it back I was swamped with work/school/life.

Anyways, Spectacular Things describes a year in the academic lives of Class 405. Class 405 is a class of 5th graders at Cabrini Green Elementary School in Chicago. Cabrini Green is not a good area. Cops are afraid to go there. Heck, pizza delivery guys are afraid to go there!

Into this environment steps the author, Brian Schultz. As the teacher of Class 405 he initially seems out of place. But he continually tries to relate to his students and hits the jackpot when he introduces them to Project Citizen (http://www.civiced.org/index.php?page=introduction). While asking his students what sort of project they’d like to tackle for Project Citizen, the students of Class 405 overwhelmingly bring up the terrible conditions at their school.

Poor heating and cooling, disgusting bathrooms, cracked windows and a lack of basic facilities most schools take for granted, such as a cafeteria or auditorium, were just some of the problems the students brainstormed with their teacher. And then they set about doing something about it.

But enough of repeating the book. Reading the first few chapters really drove home how bad many students in America have it. Almost everything their school lacked, I took for granted in my schools. And I would be outraged if my son’s school was anything like the school in Cabrini Green. But while I could fairly easily move to a new district, this isn’t a viable option for the majority of residents near schools like Cabrini Green. They've learned to make do with what they have. But, to me, this just leads to a self-perpetuating cycle. They don't (can't) succeed. Why pour resources into a failing school? Next generation doesn't succeed. They struggle to provide the opportunities their kids need to succeed. Do you see where I'm going with this? And the sad thing is occasionally you'll get an exceptional kid who manages to "make it" despite the decjk stacked against him. And then the other kids community are told, "If he succeeded so should you. It's your own faults you're not."

Okay, I digressed. And I'm out of time. I'll try to come back to this later tonight...

Annotated bibliography

So, for our Community Inquiry Project for my urban education class, I decided to look at the prevalence of alcohol and drug use in Newark Public Schools. That topic will likely evolve somewhat as I do additional research into it. This post is an annotated bibliography of an article I found discussing adolescent alcohol use and violence.



Felson, Richard (2008, May) The Influence of Being under the Influence: Alcohol Effects on Adolescent Violence. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 45(2), 119-141.
http://jrc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/45/2/119

This article examines the relationship between intoxication, chronic alcohol use, and violent behavior in an attempt to determine if the link between adolescent violence and alcohol use is causal or spurious. The authors used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to base their conclusions on. There were three basic issues the authors focused on: First, how much of the relationship between frequent alcohol use and violence is due to the causal effects of intoxication, and how much is spurious? Second, whether intoxication has a greater effect on violence among adolescents who already have violent tendencies. And lastly, whether the effects of intoxication depend upon the adolescent’s sex and other social-demographic characteristics.
The authors conclude that the relationship between adolescent violence and alcohol use is mostly spurious, i.e. one does not lead to the other. Drinkers are actually more likely to engage in violence while sober than while drinking. Overall, people who drink are more likely to engage in violence, independent of whether they are drunk of sober at the time.
Additionally, the authors concluded that alcohol has a stronger effect on more violent-prone adolescents, potentially facilitating violent behavior among those who are already inclined to behave that way. The authors also allowed the possibility that alcohol could be used as an excuse for violent behavior.
On the third basic issue, the authors concluded that, in adolescents, there was no evidence that alcohol had a greater effect on boys than girls in relation to violence. They did, however, find both age- and race-related differences. Alcohol had greater effects on older adolescents versus younger, and on White adolescents versus black adolescents.
Overall, I found this to be an interesting article. I wasn’t particularly surprised by any of their findings, because they fit in well with my personal experience and observations. Personally, I believe that certain types of personality defects can manifest through both violent actions as well as self-medication through alcohol. The authors touched upon an overarching link between alcohol and violence, but they stopped short of hypothesizing anything specific.