Editor’s Note: The following ‘Don’t Rush Me? classic was originally printed Jan. 29, 2003. Enjoy.
Now that I’m 40 I guess I look at things differently.
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Last week I was reading about Oakland County’s Intermediate School District in a front page article by the Oakland Press. (For those not in the know, the ISD is under fire for financial manipulations — in particular using funds — around $28 million — slated for special and vocational programs to build buildings and update technology. By the way, the Oakland Intermediate School District is made up of the 28 individual school districts.)
Another sore point for the district is their relationship with the ‘nonprofit? organization called the MINDS Institute. The OP reported that, in two years the school district paid the ‘non-profit? group four million bucks. For that $4 million school districts get to use MINDS Institute programming for ‘free.?
The programming involves audio and visual stuff that MINDS? for-profit affiliate charges other districts across the United States $50,000 to use. Sounds great — others pay $50,000, locally we get it ‘free.? Like I said, I am now firmly ensconced in middle age (if I last until 80), I look at things differently. So, I divided $4 million by the two years and got an answer of $2 million dollars a year Oakland schools have paid MINDS. I then divided the yearly payment of $2 million by the number of school districts and found that each district paid MINDS $71,428.57 a year for the privilege of using the organization’s services for ‘free.?
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I often read and hear that U.S. President Bush’s goal of ‘No Child Left Behind,? while worthy, is nothing more than an unfunded mandate on locals from the feds.
I know there is more to the mandate than meets the eye — more than ‘all children should be able to read by the third grade or else.? I know there are probably a gagillion excuses/reasons why schools cannot teach children to read by the third grade . . but . . . How many kids locally are there that cannot read by the third grade? How many will never be able to read? And, then the question is, ‘Why??
Is it that parents are not helping? Is it a learning disability? Dyslexia? Poor eyesight? Poor hearing? Concerns like this are usually addressed by kindergarten. Kids have vision tests and hearing tests. Individual teachers know which kids are falling behind. These same teachers are currently recommending programs for these children.
The point is, there are programs now, to help our children and for school types to say, ‘E-gads, man. How can you expect us to accomplish this monumental, albeit worthy, hurdle? is disingenuous. Schools have the mechanisms in place now for all kids to read by the third grade. Schools are doing it now. They have the resources now.
And, if a kid can’t read by the third grade, if all else fails, can’t they hold that child back a year?
Instead of bemoaning a worthy goal with negativism, schools should get on board now, take advantage of what they have access to, and live up to the goal . . . and in the case of Oakland County schools, if they need more money, they should use more of their special education resources for special education programs, teachers and para-pros and less for building new buildings.
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As I am now 40, I ask these questions to all districts — How could you have used $71,428.57 a year for the last two years? I know it wasn’t earmarked for it, but could that have helped your special education programs or not? Or, have I missed the point totally and should leave the business of education to those with six-figure incomes and no-termination clauses in their contracts?