He's not behind...the school he came from was much further along than this school is, by at least one grade level. My wife and I actually make him read, then answer a list of questions we come up with once a week as additional work due to the lack of challenging work. We do the same for math as well...he's up to trig now.

I currently have him reading George Orwell's 1984, the same book his oldest sister is reading for her senior English class. I'm keeping him a few chapters behind her so that she's able to help my wife make sure that he's answering some key questions properly...it gives my wife a baseline of his progress. My wife missed her junior and senior years of HS due to her staying home to care for her mother, which was dying of cancer, so she didn't get to do the reading the rest of us did. She earned her GED after her mom passed away, and took some college classes over the years, while she was working full time and raising her kids.

My son's reading comprehension skills are VERY high, as per testing he went through in the 3rd grade. The school he came from wanted to jump him a grade, but his mother wouldn't allow it to happen, claiming that she didn't want him to be teased by the other kids. I personally feel that it was because she was mentally beat down over the years by her dad, and that she didn't want to have anyone smarter than her in her house. Knowing her upbringing and mentality, as well as how she was raised, I expected nothing less from her...no matter how hard I fought her on it.

The district doesn't have the traditional superintendent...everything here is operated by the board with the board president having final say. Only 6 of the 10 members have degrees of higher learning. 2 are housewives, 1 is a police officer and 1 owns the local deli...the remaining 6 are either current or former educators, with only two of them having their master's degree in education and one holds a doctorate degree in education. It's a screwed up system. The Board President would be considered the Superintendent, if you were to compare this board with a traditional board.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

The district furloughed 23 teachers last year due to budget constraints, or so I was told by the Principal. They've had to call on neighboring districts to "borrow" their substitute teachers.

The regular teacher is out on medical leave...she had surgery on her arm, and many weeks of sick days added up over a 23 year career, so she's enjoying her time off.

They ended up hiring the local librarian, who has a teaching degree and is certified to teach English, because they were unable to bring back past teachers or borrow anymore from other districts.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Pay peanuts ~ get monkeys !!
Its not surprising that your son got targeted & they wanted to give him detention.
Classic education bulling. If you pick on us we will pick on your child !!
Maybe your wife or you need to offer yourself as board members.
The P & VP are too busy forwarding their career. They have no interest in the students education.
Each school teaches to the lowest denominator at the school.
A good education in the state systems any where in the world is more luck than anything else.
Most governments see schools as expensive day care though they would never admit it.

__________________
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

The average teacher salary in the district is $55,000 per year, which is hardly peanuts.

I had to explain to my son that the VP has now painted a bull's eye on the back of his head, and that he needs to become invisible to her.

As for becoming a member of the School Board, I'm not interested. I'd rather be the thorn in their side, bringing up issues and pushing the Board to improved education by pouring salt in the wound.

The nice thing about this state is that if I pull my son and put him in a charter school, the district is responsible to pay for the tuition. Every student they lose equates to money lost, and this district already has a high number of students that have entered charter schools and/or cyber school.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

That is less than the starting salary for a first year teacher over here. Best keep it quiet as we dont want all your left overs coming over here !!
Its all a case of supply & demand. There are problems getting good maths & science teachers in country areas here. They can earn much more in industry, only the rubbish graduates become teachers & eventually move on to become VP's & P's.

Very good advice. Insist on no disciplinary meetings with him without a parent present.

A thorn is far more painful when its under their shirt. Over here school board members children get VIP treatment.

Over here they have a census date & the schools funding is based on the enrollments on that date. Many of the well managed schools have a habit of getting some students to leave a week or 2 after that date.

Need to remember that P & VP have no interest in students. They are policy makers. The teachers are told to implement the policy no matter how bad it is.
Chances are there is a VP responsible for staffing, he is the one that needs to find staff & keep within budget.
Publicising poor policy making will get the P's attention. He has little interest in the day to day running of the school & will avoid getting involved.
Dont expect your son to fly with eagles when he is in a pen of turkeys.

__________________
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

Schools in this area started going downhill when they quit busting the youngun's arses for misbehaving.

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Jim

I know what you're saying. My elementary school used to paddle the trouble makers. After the first couple of weeks, there weren't many willing to cross the line...

__________________
1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Check this one out:

young'un cuffed

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Jim

I saw that. I wouldn't have cuffed the kiddo, especially when there's other tools available...like tasers and mace!!

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

I'm currently being lobbied to run for our board. No way. I still earn significant $$ from them, and now they pay me to speak the truth to power. Stay a thorn in their side. See if you can recruit some more thorns. 55K is a decent average salary, but take a look at entry levels and you'll probably see why they have trouble finding quality. Another thing to look at is the salary schedule and see how long, and how many additional hours of course work are necessary to reach that average level.

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You're a daisy if you do.
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84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

Sounds like one viable path for your son is clearly marked!

__________________
Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

1950 170SD
1951 Citroen 11BN
1953 Citroen 11BNF limo
1953 220a project
1959 180D
1960 190D
1960 Borgward Isabella TS 2dr
1983 240D daily driver
1983 380SL
1990 350SDL daily driver alt
3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6

Starting salary of $39k, $55k average, and a high salary of $130K, which only two educators have reached...I believe both of them are the Middle School principal and the HS principal. The teachers receive a defined benefit pension, health insurance (with a small employee premium contribution), professional development reimbursement, 3 paid personal days, 10 sick days which accumulate, 3 paid bereavement days and other benefits. Teachers receive a terminal leave payment which includes payment for unused sick days. Early retirees receive continued health insurance until 65 years old.

Knowing th situation of the area, the money that is spent on the schools, etc...I'd say this is one of the districts where performance based pay should be implemented instead of a wage scale that is based on a union contract. The kids in this district are not succeeding like they should. The district is improving, but still isn't as good as it could be.

I've already brought a few other parents into the battle, so the number of thorns is growing.

__________________
1987 560SL
85,000 miles

'ya think??

Good luck with that.

No kidding...an impossibilty since it would mean a break in the norm, and a ballot to be cast.

Since the squeaky wheel generally is the first to get the grease, I'm building up a team of squeaky wheels to become thorns to the district, demanding proper education for our kids.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Nice, simple idea. Sounds good but has issues. Let's try the idea in another setting. You work in a factory. You are paid based on how many of a product you produce each day that passes inspection. Problem is, you have NO control over the quality of the raw or semi finished parts comming in that you assemble your product from. Sometimes they are all up to incoming specs. Sometimes they are not and you are supposed to fix the issues and then assemble the product. Sometimes there is just no way they incoming parts will function. Oh, and you really are not allowed to discard any. Maybe you can convince the boss to reroute one or two back to the previous step to get them fixed, but you have to spend a lot of your time doing that and still must meet quota everyday to get your pay.
That's the reality of pay for performance for teachers. Can the program be made to work properly? Yes, if the system is designed properly at a high (state) level. Have to redefine what "performance" really is. Here is a start on how to really make it work. At the end of every year (or whenever a child enters the state), you run them through a battery of solid, proven, standardized tests. This is your baseline. Now give them to the proper teacher. If he is reading on a second grade level but is in the 5th grade, we get him in a reading rescue type class to help get the reading up to level. Kid is not going to do well with other 5th grade studies if he can't read on that level. Also we find out why not reading on or above level. Eyesight, dyslexic, bad teachers in previous state?

At end of year, test children again. measure the progress they have made. Find out if anaything held them back during the year. Up half the night each night dealing with drunken parents, babysitting younger siblings, the list of what these kids deal with is horrible. Do a realistic assessment of the kids' progress under particular teacher. Then decide merit pay raise based on overall progress and individual progress. Trouble is, all of that takes time and effort. teachers don't always have the time and administrators don't always want to make the effort. Too easy to just say "we are going to buy the latest new thing program and it will fix all of our problems". Think "the new math", and listem for something called "Springboard", one of the most inflexible programs to come down the pike.

My wife is a 6th grade language arts teacher. She goes nuts trying to teach the kids what they actually need to know (how to write) while using all these programs dejour.