And you thought consolidation was bad...

[R13]

(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) — Kansas City was held up as a national example of bold thinking when it tried to integrate its schools by making them better than the suburban districts where many kids were moving. The result was one school with an Olympic-sized swimming pool and another with recording studios.

Now it's on the brink of bankruptcy and considering another bold move: closing nearly half its schools to stay afloat.

Schools officials say the cuts are necessary to keep the district from plowing through what little is left of the $2 billion it received as part of a groundbreaking desegregation case. (See the top 10 news stories of 2009.)

Buffeted for years by declining enrollment, political squabbling and a revolving door of leadership, the district's fortunes are so bleak that Superintendent John Covington has said diplomas given to many graduates "aren't worth the paper they're printed on."

Kansas City is among the most striking examples of the challenges of saving urban school districts. The city used gobs of cash to improve facilities, but boosting lagging test scores and stemming the exodus of students were more elusive. Like other big-city districts, it finds itself struggling to become more than just the last resort for large pockets of poverty in the urban core.

Some districts like Boston and Cleveland have tried busing in students from other neighborhoods, while others such as Chicago have built magnet schools with specialized facilities and curriculums.

The latest possible solution for Kansas City is the plan Covington submitted to the school board last week that called for closing 29 out of 61 schools to eliminate a projected $50 million budget shortfall. Covington also has said he wants to cut about 700 of the district's 3,000 jobs, including 285 teachers. The school board vote is Wednesday.

The proposal has stunned the community.

"It's crazy," said Donnell Fletcher, the father of two girls, ages 4 and 12. "I just hope that with all the changes that they are planning on making, that the kids are the ones who are the most important and that hopefully they will get the resources and the education they need to be successful."

When Fletcher, 33, was a teenager, he transferred from a posh private school in the city to attend a showpiece of the desegregation plan, a high school with a high-profile fencing program. He, like many, wonders where the money has gone.

This year alone officials expect to overspend the $316 million budget by $15 million and if nothing changes, the district will be in the red by 2011.

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

Kansas City appeared headed for a recovery when a federal judge in 1985 declared the district was unconstitutionally segregated. To boost test scores, integrate the schools and repair decrepit classrooms, the state was ordered to spend about $2 billion to address the problems.

The district went on a buying spree that included a six-lane indoor track and a mock court complete with a judge's chamber and jury deliberation room. But student achievement remained low, and the anticipated flood of students from the suburbs turned out to be more like a trickle. Court supervision of the desegregation case ended in 2003.

Read more: Kansas City Wants to Close Half Its Public Schools - TIME

[simple man]

It might be time to face the fact that everyone isn't going to do well in school, no matter how new or old the building. And the "free" college thing needs to go, just one more place for folks to hang out. The people that teach there could be used elsewhere. If there are no jobs in a field, why use public funds to back loans and grants ? It isn't a good thought, but it isn't any worse than telling people that have paid into SS most of thier lives that it will be broke when they get to their middle 60s. If teachers are being cut all acroos the country, why waste funds educating more teachers , there no jobs?

[sup-rbeast]

(Let me apologize in advance for the length of this post...but I've got some ideas to get out and an artice I want to post. So, to avoid 2 back to back posts, I'm just gonna put it all in one.) You hit the nail right on the head simple man... What education all comes down to is the ability and drive of the student....and to a degree the teacher's ability to present material. A student's home life can be a significant factor as well..but usually if a student has the ability and drive, even a poor home life won't stop them. It may limit their success to a degree, but won't prevent them for succeeding. It doesn't matter if Albert Einstein is teaching science and math and Samuel Clemens is teaching English, some kids aren't going to do very well in those subjects due to either inability or lack of effort. Conversely, it doesn't matter if they held class in a high tech classroom or in the courtyard, the information passed to the students would be no different in either setting. Regardless, the teacher would present the same material...I'd be up to the student to process it and make it part of their memory bank. In our society where everybody gets a trophy for participating, some folks find it hard to lay blame at the feet of the student..but that's where the majority of the blame lies..and has since the inception of education. The difference is that once society didn't look for every reason in the world someone failed a class...they looked at the student who did the failing. This is where No Child Left Behind and the Virginia SOLs go astray. Both point the blame for a student's failure everywhere EXCEPT where the majority of the blame lies...Seems no one anymore can come to grips with the fact that it all begins and ends with the student most of the time. Politicians have no place in education, either...they are programmed to please people, and many have little to no experience in the public school system. They have this ideal notion of what school is and no idea of the realities facing faculty and students in this day and age. Here's another article from CNN that I think highlights the failures of the current system we have in place...again, blame is placed everywhere except where it should be..

Graduates rally for embattled school
By Wayne Drash, CNN
March 10, 2010 4:17 a.m. EST

Central Falls, Rhode Island (CNN) -- Graduates of the nation's most vilified high school descended upon campus Tuesday evening to support the school's fired teachers. They also had a message for President Obama: Don't bash our school.

"He doesn't know us. He doesn't know the teachers. He doesn't know the students," said Nikko Calle, 21, a graduate of Central Falls High School in 2006. "I think it's a real outrage what's happening here."

Nearby, Ashley Delgado, 19, stood on the school's steps clutching a sign that read: "Dear Obama, I supported you, your causes, goals and beliefs. Why aren't you supporting mine?"

A firestorm has erupted in this Democratic stronghold in recent weeks after 93 teachers, support staff and administrators at Central Falls High School were fired for the low performance of the school, which graduated just 48 percent of its seniors last year. The firings will go into effect at the end of the school year. Teachers can re-apply, but no more than 50 percent will get rehired.

Obama weighed in last week, endorsing the actions of the local board. "Our kids get only one chance at an education and we need to get it right," the president said.

Obama's comments further inflamed an already tense environment in this poor Rhode Island enclave, just outside Providence.

"I couldn't believe it," said Delgado, who graduated in 2008. "Ever since the beginning, I thought firing all the teachers was a ridiculous notion."

About 70 young people, most of them graduates of the school and now in college or working, demonstrated peacefully outside the school in the largely Hispanic, working class neighborhood. They expressed outrage and disbelief that the school they attended has become a national pariah.

"We stand together for our teachers and for our school," said Katherine Lopera, 20, a graduate in 2007.

Her classmate, Sindy Alvisures, said, "The teachers are literally like our family. When I went through high school, I went through a lot of personal problems and my teachers were always there for me."

Of the 800 students who currently attend Central Falls, 65 percent are Hispanic; English is a second language for most. Half the students are failing every subject, with 55 percent skilled in reading and 7 percent proficient in math, officials say.

The defenders of the school say improvements have been made, but the stats are skewed against them because the school's population is so transient.

Tuesday's demonstration was to coincide with a board of trustees meeting, where the firings were to be the main topic. However, the meeting was abruptly called off, because the Governor's Commission on Disabilities said the school's auditorium was unfit for people with disabilities.

On the steps outside the school, George McLaughlin shrugged. He cast suspicion on the reason for the meeting's cancellation. "Unless they mean, it's not fit for morally disabled people," he said.

McLaughlin has been a guidance counselor at Central Falls for the last 15 years. His wife is a chemistry teacher. "We will lose all of our income."

He suggested Obama should summon the 93 teachers and administrators for a beer summit. The president "hasn't heard our side of the story," said McLaughlin, a member of the teachers' union. "He hasn't listened to us. He knows nothing about us."

Marcia Reback, president of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers, was less hospitable toward the president.

"We're all taking our bumper stickers for Obama off our cars," Reback said earlier in the day.

She said the union supports school reform. She called for an independent mediator to intervene at Central Falls because tensions have gotten so high between the union and the school administrators who carried out the firings.

"This is unprecedented," Reback said. "I don't think anyone was prepared for this kind of fallout."

School superintendent Fran Gallo said she stands by her decision. She noted the school didn't graduate half its seniors last year. "Somebody hasn't spoken up for them, the other 50 percent," she said.

As darkness fell at the school, the graduates who had come back said the problems at the school have been oversimplified and that the rest of the nation can't understand the importance of the teachers in the tough environment they live.

Nikko Calle said one of the most important men in his life was his creative writing teacher, Michael Occhi. A freshly planted tree stands on the school's lawn to honor the legacy of Occhi. He was killed in an accident by a drunk driver last summer.

Encouraged by his high school teacher, Calle has taken up poetry. "A lot of these teachers here helped me through hard times," he said. "They were always here for me."

Now, many here wonder what the legacy of the school will be next.

[R13]

It might be time to face the fact that everyone isn't going to do well in school, no matter how new or old the building. And the "free" college thing needs to go, just one more place for folks to hang out. The people that teach there could be used elsewhere. If there are no jobs in a field, why use public funds to back loans and grants ? It isn't a good thought, but it isn't any worse than telling people that have paid into SS most of thier lives that it will be broke when they get to their middle 60s. If teachers are being cut all acroos the country, why waste funds educating more teachers , there no jobs?

Yeah, exactly what we need, to cut 'free college'(whatever that is) out. We'll tell all these nursing students to stop 'hanging out' and move it along. Lmao. Financial aid and grants keep this area going, keeps this country going, its the best investment by far the gov. makes, take it away and it crumbles...talk about unemployment being high now. That's purely insane, wow.

[simple man]

Yeah, exactly what we need, to cut 'free college'(whatever that is) out. We'll tell all these nursing students to stop 'hanging out' and move it along. Lmao. Financial aid and grants keep this area going, keeps this country going, its the best investment by far the gov. makes, take it away and it crumbles...talk about unemployment being high now. That's purely insane, wow.

"Financial aid and grants keep this area going, keeps this country going, its the best investment by far the gov. makes"
Guess ya answered your own question, didn't you. (whatever that is) And as for programs like nursing, if the jobs are there educate the ones that want to get the funding, but these grants for folks that go a short while and change their mind , or drop out of college are a waste. I'm for helping folks- but that statement about "free money" grants and such- just proves my point. If that is truly all that keeps this place running, it is time to shutdown and start over.

[R13]

"Financial aid and grants keep this area going, keeps this country going, its the best investment by far the gov. makes"
Guess ya answered your own question, didn't you. (whatever that is) And as for programs like nursing, if the jobs are there educate the ones that want to get the funding, but these grants for folks that go a short while and change their mind , or drop out of college are a waste. I'm for helping folks- but that statement about "free money" grants and such- just proves my point. If that is truly all that keeps this place running, it is time to shutdown and start over.

So we're going to decide who's going to change their mind in a few years? Or we just cut it out because there's some that decide to drop out and let everyone suffer? That's not logical. Finacial aid and grants have funded millions of people and will continue to do so, without it, this country would have failed miserably a long time ago...esp. The past 10 years with tuition rates. People will abuse any program, that doesn't mean the majority should suffer because of them.

[simple man]

So we're going to decide who's going to change their mind in a few years? Or we just cut it out because there's some that decide to drop out and let everyone suffer? That's not logical. Finacial aid and grants have funded millions of people and will continue to do so, without it, this country would have failed miserably a long time ago...esp. The past 10 years with tuition rates. People will abuse any program, that doesn't mean the majority should suffer because of them.

The ones that want to go bad enough will find a way to get by, there too many professional students. And don't kid yourself into thinking college grads are keeping the country alive. However, if we are going to do things this way, where do I sign up for my 12 grand a year I need to go back to school? The system we have discriminates against working families.

[sup-rbeast]

Yeah, exactly what we need, to cut 'free college'(whatever that is) out. We'll tell all these nursing students to stop 'hanging out' and move it along. Lmao. Financial aid and grants keep this area going, keeps this country going, its the best investment by far the gov. makes, take it away and it crumbles...talk about unemployment being high now. That's purely insane, wow.

Sadly, it may come to the government only offering aid to students who plan to obtain a degree in an "area of need"...however the government decides to define that. Really, I don't see a problem with it as long as the government is the one footing the bill. Welcome to the Pre-Clinton way of doing things as far as college goes...at least I think that's where we are headed. I guess we all owe a debt of gratitude to George W. Bush and all of those who elected him...cuz, afterall, without their collective efforts none of this would be made impossible..lol

[sup-rbeast]

The system we have discriminates against working families.

Not really...it gives aid to families whose income would have disqualified them 20 years ago. Especially in Virginia folks shouldn't be disappointed. If a kid takes the AIMS Scholar route they get everything for their first 2 years at a community college paid for except books. IMO, that rewards their efforts in high school. And, if the student does well at the community college, the state will help with a large portion of the cost for the student to continue at a 4 year in-state institution. IMO, that's fair. The government offers the money, but there were never any guarantees that a student would be able to go to their college of choice. But, if the government is footing the bill to an extent, IMO they should be allowed to set a limit on the schools available to use the grants, as long as the schools are of good repute and serve the purpose.

[R13]

The ones that want to go bad enough will find a way to get by, there too many professional students. And don't kid yourself into thinking college grads are keeping the country alive. However, if we are going to do things this way, where do I sign up for my 12 grand a year I need to go back to school? The system we have discriminates against working families.

Yeah, really going to "find a way" when tuition cost have went up faster than healthcare costs. And I shouldn't kid myself? Well silly me for thinking teachers, nurses and countless others who have to have degrees for their profession were the backbone of this country. Years ago you'd have a point, there wasn't as much need for a degree as there is today, but there is now...it's basically necessary and will only become more so as time goes on, instead of cutting it, it needs more funding for the future. And it discriminates against working families? Love to know how, the aid and grants are the best thing to ever happen to working families, so I'm wondering how it discriminates against them.