Tacoma Announces School Closure/Changes (23. February 2010, 19:30 by Derek Young) ~
In what one caller to my cellphone said is A Really Big Deal, the Tacoma School District announced plans to close one middle school and significantly change three others. Hunt Middle School would close. Significant changes would occur at Giaudrone, Stewart and Jason Lee. The effort is intended to qualify the district for federal grants.
Do you have an opinion? The Tacoma School Board will take public comment at its meeting on Thursday.
Link to The News Tribune
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hey didn’t they get a school bond to keep this from happening?
1 | Posted by RR Anderson | Feb 23, 07:44 PM
If you neglect a school long enough, you can use it as a sympathy call for tax payers to be mislead on the ballots. Yay poorly-performing school district #10.
2 | Posted by You're Welcome | Feb 23, 08:46 PM
How are they going to fit those kids at Mason? Why not Grey?
Don’t be surprised if the levy dosen’t pass in the future!
3 | Posted by ronda | Feb 24, 06:22 AM
This is not something that the district is doing because they think it is a great idea….it is something being done to them by Secretary Duncan and the Obama administration. None of this was known prior to the bond or levy.
4 | Posted by Stanford Speck | Feb 24, 12:10 PM
Stanford –
It is not “being done to them.” The school district is asking for the money. They saw an opportunity to apply for extra funding from the Federal Government (distributed through OSPI) to turn around these poorly performing schools. This week the office of the superintendent identified four of tacoma’s schools as performing in the bottom 5% of the entire state, and Dr. Jarvis and the School Board saw the grant money as an opportunity to use these resources and models to make a big change for the better at these schools.
6 | Posted by anonymous | Feb 24, 12:46 PM
Bottom five percent over a period of three years. If we aren’t at bottom yet, surely we can see it from here.
Best of luck to Dr. Jarvis and his disruptive change efforts. At this point, surely disruption is warranted.
7 | Posted by Squid | Feb 24, 01:34 PM
Finally. We can get the change that is needed in many of these programs.
I say “good work” to the school board!
8 | Posted by Thank You | Feb 24, 03:42 PM
How is rearranging the chairs going to save the ship? The problem goes much deeper then the staff or any school. Without the support of the parents and a commitment by the students to learn even a great staff will not improve the rating system set up by No Child Left Behind. Its a rating system we no winners only losers. Closing Hunt is a just a slight of hand trick to get around the system. Close the school, rebuild it and restaff it and the clock starts all over again, you gain a few years before the school fails again. I think the District should tell the Fed’s to keep their money and they need to find a long term solution to the problems.
This is a short sighted solution and the District should know better.
9 | Posted by Red dog | Feb 24, 08:33 PM
I’m ok with firing teachers who can’t make the grade and doing restructuring on schools that are chronically terrible.
If we’re coughing up every last penny in our wallets, we damn well better get competent teachers.
10 | Posted by Thorax O'Tool | Feb 24, 10:25 PM
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