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VicMan

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  1. VicMan
    Saavedra decided to call off the plan http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/20...ie_worthing.php
  2. VicMan
    Alright, the Fall 2009 elementary boundaries have been approved: http://www.springisd.org/docs2/ccrd/Map%2008.pdf Also when the time is right new schools should be built to accommodate territory zoned to schools on the other side of the freeway so that kids do not need to be bussed across the freeway.
  3. VicMan
    I wonder if HISD plans to do a Lantrip style partial rebuild or if it plans to bulldoze the entire site.
  4. VicMan
    http://www.houstonisd.org/HISDConnectDS/v/...00052147fa6RCRD HISD is going to close eight campuses and replace them with four new campuses. * Atherton and E.O. Smith K-8 will be consolidated at the Atherton site, with a new campus there * Sherman and Crawford will be consolidated at the Sherman site, with a new campus there * Dogan and Scott will be consolidated at the Scott site, with a new campus there * Lockhart and Turner will be consolidated at the Lockhart site, with a new campus there These will be done by Spring 2011 In addition, Hohl will close and its students will be absorbed by Highland Heights ES and other area schools EDIT: As per significance of Art Deco Lockhart, I retitled this Edit: In July 1983 Lockhart Elementary School was located at 3501 Southmore Blvd.
  5. VicMan
    So what would happen to the students who can't get to any of the schools? Do you believe in mandatory attendance? Or do you feel that school should be optional?
  6. VicMan
    Vines, a lot of public magnet programs (but not all) are solely on a lottery basis and not on an application basis, just like this Milwaukee voucher system. Dogma is not winning people over, Vines. My argument is that the voucher system is not sufficiently an improvement over the magnet/charter system, not really that it is a total failure.
  7. VicMan
    Vines, "because being politically correct or doing what is easy to appease the ignorant is not in my nature especially when it comes at greater cost and difficulty for those that contribute and care the most" isn't how to make public policy decisions. If there is no hard evidence that a school voucher arrangement will work better than a charter school/magnet school arrangement, why should I pay more money for legal fees that are not inevitable? Look, Vines, dogma and anecdotes are not going to make that position a good sell. Firm statistical evidence will do it, and the point of that Milwaukee article is the lack of statistical evidence.
  8. VicMan
    Regarding your charter school stuff: 1. It is illegal to exclude by race 2. Tweak the charter school's marketing and/or remove reverse economic barriers Even though the U.S. Supreme Court said it is constitutional for a school district to have vouchers for religious schools, I would not want my tax money going towards religious schools when there is no benefit over using a religious school instead of a magnet or charter school. I must also add that in 2007, 55% of the children zoned to Jones attended other HISD schools. - The highest such percentage was 58% at the Kashmere High School zone. The lowest was 6% at the Westside High School zone. http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive....id=2007_4442145 You said: "why have the charter schools that still allow for political pandering and graft and corruption and exclusion of certain groups often the groups that have parents that care the most and the students that care the most....it scares you to lose complete control of those young minds doesn't it" - This is a matter of making a set of clear boundaries and ensuring that schools adhere to them. Why not simply improve the charter school system so that corruption is easily vanquished? You said: "why not require a state certification for all teachers in the required subjects" - The State of Texas already has certification rules.
  9. VicMan
    Vines, my point is that what these vouchers are doing could be accomplished with charter schools (internal and state) and with district magnets. You know that charter schools are politically divisive and promoting them will add to legal fees incurred by the state and by other parties. We can do the things these schools do with what we have. Why push a politically, legally, and financially expensive proposal when we have a cheap and easy solution nearby? We already have choice schools which get better motivated students and which improve students' lives.
  10. VicMan
    1. "Politics" is less likely to interfere when a school wins the NCLB Blue Ribbon Award (as Carnegie did) and gets a reputation as one of the best high schools in the City of Houston. In MCTC's case it was never as visible as Carnegie is. It may have had good programs, but it just never got the star power Carnegie got. HISD knows that Carnegie is a goose that lays golden eggs. Also the Carnegie PTO can rally board members in various neighborhoods in favor of its cause. 2. You said: "until the VAST majority of schools have the ability to tell parents their child is not wanted there and they will not be accepted there because of their behavior, lack of ability and caring about education, or the parents lack of involvement the vast majority of schools and students will suffer" - The problem with many zoned schools is precisely that they cannot expel children unless the children commit serious violations. Many of the problems in zoned high schools begin in middle school. 3. You said: "as long as HISD and politics is involved this will be IMPOSSIBLE to accomplish." - Politics is defined by Merriam-Webster as "1 a: the art or science of government b: the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy c: the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a government" - As HISD is the largest school district in terms of student population in Texas (though gentrification is nibbling away at this designation), politics is inevitable. The thing is to make sure that people act with the children in mind. 4. Why don't you propose more state charters? State charters are not affiliated with local school districts, one. Two, state charters are already allowed. Three, state charters act like de facto magnets.
  11. VicMan
    1. The significance was understated, considering the dates and... 2. You said: "as for charter schools why would you bring them up when you seem opposed to the idea of 100% vouchers and a charter school is the closest thing to a voucher school....." - There are two different types of charters, TexasVines * An internal charter is a charter school affiliated with a school district. It follows less rules than a regular school, but it is still tied to the district * A state charter is a charter school that has NO affiliation with the local school district. It answers only to the state * The early college schools and International Studies are all internal charters; they are all affiliated with HISD * Allowing charter schools (already the case) and establishing vouchers that allow students to attend private school (not the case) are two totally different things, TexasVines. Some taxpayers do not want their money going towards private schools. Also the Milwaukee school voucher program has demonstrated that school voucher programs really don't change much: http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0523/p01s03-usgn.html - The article says: "Hers is the sort of story Milwaukee's school-choice advocates cite when touting the oldest and largest voucher program in the country. Now it's expanding, but 16 years after it began, the policy is still controversial and has shown few documented benefits." You said: "and again even tossing in 4 more charter schools only gets you to 22.5% of HISD alternative schools that you have listed that are not affiliated with a regular campus... 7 / (27 + 4) = 22.5% so that tells me still that 77.5% of magnet schools are set up to mask under performance of the main school which is pathetic" - Then doesn't that mean there should be more magnet schools that are not parts of regular campuses? First you stated "according to this HISD website HISD currently has 27 magnet schools INCLUDING STERLING and WORTHING.....so again how many more do they need" (in the Jones thread) and now there's this? In Philadelphia, however, there is a program which has private businesses pay into a private voucher fund for private school voucher students. Vines, if anything I am FOR a privately-funded private school voucher fund - It means that the schools do not have to worry about government interference, and it means that kids get to go to private school for reduced prices.
  12. VicMan
    Huh? Only 3 of 27? And this doesn't count the internal charters that, while not technically designated as "magnets," also attract students. You have East Early College, Challenge Early College, North Houston Early College, and International Studies; all of them opened in the 2000s. Also keep in mind that Carnegie separated from Jones in 2002. There's also H.P. Carter Career Center (why doesn't it have a website?) a really tiny career program - http://dept.houstonisd.org/profiles/Carterco.pdf - I'm not sure if it is a totally separate school or if it is simply a separate program, but it has a campus with a distinct location.
  13. VicMan
    1. In that case, why worry about doing any of that in the first place? Assuming that this is the case, all that is going to happen is that these kids are going to go to Worthing or Sterling instead of Jones. 2. "you will not have any more "only magnet" schools built because that defeats the REAL purpose of the magnet school programs " - What about North Houston Early College (even though it's not technically "a magnet" - but an internal charter) which was founded around 2007? What about Carnegie, which separated in 2002? Now, I am aware that MCTC was merged into Wheatley. But I heard that this in particular was due to "politics." 3. "HISD already has 27 magnet programs if they can't get in kids from other districts (or private schools) now how many more magnet programs do they really need " - First HISD only recently dropped the tuition fees for out of district students who do not have parents working in HISD. Therefore the incentive is very recent. Second I think that HISD should not only establish more magnet programs, that it should also: * Seek to take over North Forest Independent School District * Actively promote the magnet programs in other districts with few or no magnet offerings; no matter how educationally excellent the Pearland ISD schools become, so far there are no "small high schools" for the district and some parents may not want to send Johnny or Suzie to a big high school. 4. You said: "many many many people do not want their kids going to school with free running animals who view school as a play ground and a social wilding experiment with the support of their parent(s)" - Then you should be in favor of this proposal. If you re-read it then there are no attempts whatsoever to mix academically talented students with "free running animals," nor do I understand how you came to that conclusion. If you read the Carnegie Vanguard thread you would see that I was against that particular HISD proposal.
  14. VicMan
    Well, Vines, if HISD was totally never interested in standalone magnets, then HSPVA and DeBakey would have never happened, and Carnegie Vanguard would have never split from Jones High School.
  15. VicMan
    Huh? If anything what HISD is proposing would be close to an attempt to "social engineer" neighborhood kids (as you have said) - And the magnet parents are AGAINST this proposal.
  16. VicMan
    1. You said: "according to this HISD website HISD currently has 27 magnet schools INCLUDING STERLING and WORTHING.....so again how many more do they need" - Technically Sterling + Worthing are combinations of magnet and regular schools. There are separate all-magnet schools. 2. You said: "according to these two very recent stories HISD is struggling to bus kids all over town to try and social engineer failing schools already" - That was the same article, twice. Anyway, HISD should first focus on cutting administrative costs and closing small neighborhood schools. Also HISD could simply put a rule in place saying that if one is too far from the magnet, then he will instead get to take METRO for free or a reduced price. 3. But this is exactly what is happening with the magnet system. 4. You said: "and your last statement proves my point.....most if not all the successful districts in and around Houston have no magnet programs.....yet they are successful.....because the parents of those children have fled the poverty pimp and welfare schools to areas that have wisely found a way to exclude the people that care nothing about their kids or their kids education...." - It's not that the districts found a way to exclude these "people that care nothing about their kids or their kids education" - if that was the case, suburban schools would never change. Have you seen what happened to the Spring Independent School District? Look, the proposal to change Jones is not an attempt to "cater" to neighborhood parents at all. It is not an attempt to "social engineer" kids into being better. It's just a way to attract kids who are already top performing from inside and outside the district.
  17. VicMan
    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headli...ro/6109559.html HISD proposes that Carnegie Vanguard is rebuilt next to Worthing, with the cafeteria and gym shared by the two schools. Worthing would also be rebuilt. Worthing parents are okay with the idea, but many Carnegie Vanguard parents do not like the idea at all and are vehemently against it. Why can't HISD simply rebuild Carnegie where it is and then rebuild Worthing off of 288?
  18. VicMan
    BTW HISD has William A. Lawson Institute for Peace and Prosperity, which is an all boys school.
  19. VicMan
    1. I wasn't saying that HISD should convert every zoned school into a magnet - Just Jones. If you look on a map - Worthing and Sterling are both in-between Jones. The "kids who don't care" could be mostly divided between those two schools, while Jones simply becomes a big magnet complex. 2. You said "then the answer is to shut those schools down that have become under utilized instead of trying to force them to be something they are not and or trying to lure smart kids back to disguise the fact that the school is mostly full of failures " - Erm, Jones High School wouldn't even be what it used to be. There would be no more zoned kids. By converting it into an all-magnet Jones's character would completely change. It would not be tied down to a single attendance area; it would instead be able to attract anyone from around HISD and even some outside of HISD. 3. You said: "and currently there are more females going to college than males so the time of catering to females needs to come to an end....if they want to be equal then they can compete equally" - this is why universities are now taking boys with relatively fewer qualifications and more girls are finding rejection letters. Anyway, I think that zoned gender-segregated schools are wrong, but gender-segregated magnets are alright as long as they are within U.S. federal gender rules. - A boys magnet could be established in another former elementary school, middle school, or high school as a brother school to this one. 4. You said: "lastly I don't think dallas, chicago, or philladelphia are the places that anyone would want to model their public education after unless corruption and failure is your goal" - I wasn't saying "model the entire HISD after these places" - I was saying "model a girls' school after these girls' schools" - In large school districts, schools, not school districts, educate children. 5. You said: "the real answer is of course 100% education vouchers and 100% educational choice so people can live where they want and choose to send their kids to the type of school they desire instead of constantly having to move for the sake of their kids future and their education" Many prestigious private schools may not like that. They may raise tuitions to cancel the effect of the vouchers, or choose to limit the voucher effects. Remember that as of writing the TEA does NOT govern private schools in Texas. Plus the voucher issues are very politically divisive. It is easier, politically and mentally, to simply establish more magnet schools. By the way, Vines, Brazoria County has no small high schools, public or private. Pasadena ISD has no magnet high schools. This means HISD can attract people from northern Brazoria (Pearland, Alvin), the Pasadena ISD parts of Houston, and the City of South Houston to attend HISD magnet schools in southern Houston.
  20. VicMan
    I have an idea: Jones High School should be converted into a magnet school complex. Its population would be redistributed between Worthing and Sterling High Schools. So, what does this mean? First let's look at the enrollment trends of the schools: * Jones: http://www.schooldigger.com/go/TX/schools/...503/school.aspx * Worthing: http://www.schooldigger.com/go/TX/schools/...619/school.aspx * Sterling: http://www.schooldigger.com/go/TX/schools/...592/school.aspx And the attendance boundaries: * Jones: http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/JonesHS.pdf * Worthing: http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolbounda.../WorthingHS.pdf * Sterling: http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolbounda.../SterlingHS.pdf The reason why Jones is between Worthing and Sterling like that is because Jones and Sterling were White schools and Worthing was a Black school (i.e. segregation). So, what could we do with Jones? As a regular school it is in very close proximity to two others and seems kind of redundant. Ah, but the Jones campus and name could live on. HISD has Barbara Jordan, a vocational high school, on the north side. We could turn Jones into a vocational magnet, like Jordan, for students on the south side. That way, people do not have to travel all the way north. Also, because HISD now allows out district kids to go to HISD schools for free, we could see students from Alvin, Pearland, and/or Pasadena ISDs go to this school if HISD successfully markets the school. Jones could also have an all-girls magnet school; in Austin and Dallas there have been all-girls schools established. Houston could do the same. Or Houston could establish a military academy (Philadelphia and Chicago have military academy public schools). Depending on the size of the programs, Jones could have one or more of them.
  21. VicMan
    Wunsche, already open, is a magnet school. The "zoned" schools in SISD are Spring, Dekaney, and Westfield. BTW I think the area south of Cypress Creek that is indicated in the five year plan as being zoned to Spring HS should be zoned to DeKaney HS instead.
  22. VicMan
    Spring ISD is building even more schools. http://www.springisd.org/default.aspx?name=oct08.ground2 - The district broke ground for three elementary schools: * 2200 Wittershaw Drive * 16855 Sugar Pine Drive * 15252 Grand Point Drive All are in the south of the district All three are to open in August 2009 - http://www.springisd.org/default.aspx?name=oct08.boundary Some of the options for the new boundaries are here http://www.springisd.org/default.aspx?name=boundary.feedback - Compare to the current boundary setup here: http://www.springisd.org/docs2/attendance/AllElem.pdf -- All three attendance boundary plans would alter the boundaries of Bammel, Beneke, Clark, Cooper, Heritage, Meyer, Ponderosa, Reynolds, Thompson. Spring ISD also created a five zone high school boundary map projection. By 2015 the district predicts that it will build two new high schools, with one in the south of the district and one in the north of the district: http://www.springisd.org/images/5zone1.jpg -- The district predicts there will be 3,000 students per school http://www.springisd.org/images/5zone2.jpg - A district release about this plan is here http://www.springisd.org/default.aspx?name=feb08.5zone
  23. VicMan
    They might move the J. Will Jones extended day program to Blackshear and/or consolidate it with a different extended day program.
  24. VicMan
    J. Will Jones Elementary School, the last zoned Houston ISD school located in Midtown, will close. Jones will consolidate into Blackshear Elementary School in the Third Ward. http://www.houstonisd.org/HISDConnectDS/v/...nextfmt=default So far HISD has not drawn the new boundary maps. Where should the chunk of Midtown zoned to J. Will Jones be zoned to? (Obviously the chunk of Midtown east of U.S. 59/288 will be zoned to Blackshear) - Gregory Lincoln, Blackshear, or MacGregor? I don't think this will affect Midtown much at all because Midtown is not a family area.
  25. VicMan
    Good point, editor. We need to change our political culture. You know that kind-of-wealthy couple who likes watching The Shining or Ferris Bueller's Day Off at the River Oaks? Get them to ask the local city council member (in a tone between "please do so" and "you won't dare not do so") to propose a bill (of course, you should also send your own letter to your representative).
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