BCPS, Or Why I Moved To Atlanta
Great education is such a necessary role in becoming an independent, free-thinking individual. If you read what I went through last year in the TFA Chronicles, you know that my teaching environment was completely counterproductive to learning. When my principal's response to students playing tag in the freakin' ceiling was "that's just the way kids are," you start to wonder where all this incredible education funding promised by politicians is going. Not Baltimore City Schools, because they're a whopping $58 million in debt. How? No one knows. The previous CEO stepped down last year, and rumblings of scandal and wrongdoings have always been present. To put things in perspective, in 2002, 36 BCPS staff members made six figure salaries. Of course, none of them were teachers or principals. But the ex-CEO's driver made $101,000. Just a few miles away, Baltimore County's superintendent doesn't even have a driver.
According to the Baltimore Sun, 800 people have been laid off already this year, and 1,200 or more will be laid off by March 1 if the system doesn't find a solution. The teachers voted last week on the BCPS-proposed solutions: take a 6.8 percent pay cut, eight furlough days, or neither...and surprise, neither won. Yeah, the system is $58 million in debt from corruption or driver salaries or whatever, and the teachers are the ones losing jobs and money. With a system of 96,000 students, BCPS is doing everything they can to sabotage these kids' chances for success. Forget test scores as a measure of competency - numbers can be faked and assessments can be retaken. At a school board meeting last night, the current CEO cried, a proposal to investigate criminal activity by past administrations was shot down, and police locked the doors due to an enormous crowd of angry demonstrators.
Look, there's no easy solution to this. Fingers will continue to be pointed, excuses will be made, and teachers will continue to be disrespected while thousands of children get an inadequate education. No Child Left Behind? Try 96,000.
Tuesday, February 10 at 9:36 PM
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