Public School Of Public Schools

In the world of education, we are faced with the task of ensuring every child is given the same opportunities to achieve greatness. Today we will discuss the issue of educational equity in Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), and how the district is trying to make education inclusive for all students. You will also hear ways you and the community can play a part in giving every child, every day the opportunity to be successful. I’m your host Angela Ghafoori and this is episode one of Daily Learning Targets.

The United School District (USD) 475 is located in the small town of Junction City and on the military installation of Fort Riley, Kansas where I lived from June of 2004 to December of 2014. Shortly after receiving my high school diploma in 2012, I applied for the position of Paraprofessional at an Elementary school. I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to gain some experience in this field, since my original goal was to become a special education teacher. However, what I did not anticipated was that this formal organization was plagued by an array of bureaucratic shortcomings that affected the effectiveness and efficiency of the support staff.

San Bernardino City Unified School District houses one of the largest populations for students with moderate to severe disabilities within the Inland Empire. Over the past decade San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD) has sustained an influx of students who qualify for a moderate to severe special day classroom (SDC) setting and special education services. Effectively educating youth with moderate to severe disabilities is not a simplex task, as it requires multifaceted skillsets involving various special education professionals. Developing and executing a service delivery model that targets student’s individual needs, while simultaneously supporting students in strides towards life long goals is crucial. Carmack Elementary is one of fifty-two elementary schools within SBCUSD that only provides educational services to students with moderate to severe disabilities grades kindergarten through sixth. The community surrounding Carmack Elementary has been deemed high-poverty, indicating a vast majority of students who attend Carmack are presumed as low-income status. Lastly, a vast majority of students who attend Carmack Elementary qualify for the free and reduced meal program offered through the district.

In 2006, the Hoke County School District was diligently searching for a leader who could move the school system forward. On July 1, 2006, the Hoke County School Board hired Dr. Williamson as the Hoke County School System’s Superintendent.

With the many diverse characteristics of the Unites States, perhaps the most troubling is the rising gap in the distribution of wealth. As the wealth gap in the United States rises exponentially, the gap in the quality of public schooling rises with it. For a country that prides itself in prestigious outlets of education, the system of public schooling seems to be miserably failing. Public education, a system that some fight to destroy while others fight to preserve, is perhaps the only source of academic opportunity for many individuals living in this country. The fact that someone can live in a certain area and receive a higher quality of public education than someone else living in a different area in the same country—even in the same state—is a problem that should not trouble a ‘progressive’ democratic society. Unfortunately, areas of lower socioeconomic status receive much less funding than areas of higher socioeconomic status, where property taxes account for 45% of funding in public school districts. Naturally, the impoverished residents of poor neighborhoods pay a harsh price in this situation, sending their children to an underfunded school with little to no resources, where sometimes teachers must supply the classroom from their own pocket. As Rogerson and Fernandez note, “a system that allows the accidents of geography and birth to determine the quality of education received by an individual is inimical to the idea of equal opportunity in the marketplace”

Most people believe that students do better in well-funded schools and that public education should provide a level playing field for children. Nearly half of the funding for public schools in the United States, however, is provided through local taxes, generating large differences in funding between wealthy and impoverished communities (National Center for Education Statistics, 2000a). Efforts to reduce these disparities have provoked controversy and resistance. Public school funding the United States comes from federal, state, and local sources, but because nearly half of those funds come from local property taxes, the system generates large funding differences between wealthy and impoverished communities. Such differences exist among states, among school districts within each state, and even among schools within specific districts.

KIPP was founded by Michael Feinburg and David Levin, with only the two of them creativity allowed for an exceptional learning environment. However as KIPP has grown so has the bureaucracy and the management. At KIPP Houston each subject in each grade is taught by one teacher. Each teacher reports to a grade-level chair and a department chair (who is responsible for aligning the curriculum for all grade levels). The next level of management is decided by the individual principals at each school, some schools have have both a Dean of Instruction and a Dean of Students while other schools have combined the duties of these two positions into a single assistant principal position. The top management position at the school is the principal whose unique vision was used to create the school. The principal reports to one of the four Heads of Schools located at Houston’s regional office. The Heads of Schools then report to Superintendent Sehba Ali. As KIPP Houston has grown it has lost some of the creativity which made for a uniquely exceptional learning environment. The bureaucracy associated with the growth has led KIPP to becoming more regionally aligned losing some of the uniqueness embraced by the school

Prosper, Texas is one of the last additions to Collin County and has a current population of over 12,000 residents (Minor, 2010). Prosper’s establishment came about from the merging of two farming settlements in 1902, however the city’s name was not incorporated until 1914 (“History”, n.d.; Minor, 2010). According to the city’s webpage, Prosper is committed to being family-oriented and providing every resident an opportunity to experience quality living while maintaining small town ideals (“About Prosper”, n.d.). The Prosper Independent School District’s (PISD) vision to “reach everyone, everyday” (“REACH Philosophy / REACH”, 2002) mirrors the town’s belief in including everyone. Despite the exceptional growth within the city over the past few years, the school district is determined to meet the needs of its student population. One way in which PISD plans to ensure all of its students receive an equitable education, is through its adoption and implementation of the Response to Intervention (RtI) program.

WHEREAS, James pursued the enhancement of Northampton County Schools, both personally and professionally, as evidenced by his change in position from teacher to principal then as Maintenance and Transportation Director;

The superintendent has a lot of power within the decisions of the school system, but he does need to be approved by the board. The superintendent of Baltimore County is Dallas Dance(Dr.Dance), he's been working as a superintendent for many years. Many people believe that he is not trying to solve this problem, some have protested the board to have him fired. But, Dr.Dance is a big believer in spreading out the diversity of teachers throughout schools. He believes that it could aid many students in and out of the classroom, such as; feeling comfortable in class, being able to express problems they are having

In 1945, a California LULAC Council victoriously sued to merge the Orange County School System, which had been isolated in light of the fact that Mexican youngsters were inadequately dressed and mentally sub-par compared to white kids (Takaki, 378). In 1954, LULAC brought another historical case, Hernandez versus the State of Texas, to challenge the fact that a Mexican American had never been called to jury duty in Texas (Class Lecture, 11/30). The Supreme Court administered this as illegal. In the twentieth century, starting with the 1952 Hernandez v. Texas suit, the case started to turn gradually and unyieldingly (“A Class Apart”). That case prompted the first case contended in the United States Supreme Court by Mexican American lawyers.

In 1910, when this school was first open, many students throughout the United States still attended classes in one-room schoolhouses. Aside from the one-room schoolhouse in Marshwood, Olyphant had progressed beyond that stage. This building was the centerpiece of the Olyphant School District. It had the look of a high school in a major city. At the time all of the streets in downtown Olyphant were paved with red brick. Most of the students lived within walking distance of the school. They were able to walk home to eat lunch. Therefore, no one ever thought of including a cafeteria in the building plans. It was built without a cafeteria or kitchen of any kind.

The LAUSD is the second largest in the nation with more than 640,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, covering over 900 schools, and 187 public charter schools. The LAUSD is committed to equity and access to excellent education and schools for all of its 640,000 students. To realize its mission, the LAUSD identified five strategies including the following: (1) Transform teaching and learning so that it can prepare all youth to graduate college and become workforce ready (2) Ensure there is an effective employee at every level of the organization focused on improving student outcomes (3) Provide a portfolio of high quality schools for youth, families, and communities (4) Ensure a safe, caring, and nurturing environment for all youth (5) Operate on an effective, efficient, and transparent organization in order to assure the public trust (‘District Strategies’, 2015). The LAUSD operates based on the following core beliefs: start with students; families are our partners; success is in the classroom; diversity is our strength; and effective teaching, leadership, and accountability are the keys to our success (‘LAUSD Core Beliefs’, 2015).

Every school district has board meetings throughout the school year. Unfortunately, many parents, community members, & school personnel do not attend such important meetings because they don’t realize or understand the importance of such board meetings or how informative they can be. According to Kankakee School District (2017), the Kankakee School District Board of Education is composed of seven elected members, who were elected by the citizens of Kankakee to serve a four-year term that do not receive no salary for they services, are committed to ensuring a quality of educational excellence that will enhance the opportunities and challenges facing today’s student and additional responsibilities that board members include are selection of the District superintendent, developing general polices according to wishes of the community and requirements of law, hiring school personnel based upon recommendation of the Superintendent and the Assistant Superintendent of Personnel, adopts salary schedules, approves funds to finance school operations, must adopt and review the annual operating budget for the District, and setting the property tax levy to produce adequate funds to meet the District’s financial needs ranks among the responsibilities of the Board of Education (Retrieved from https://www.ksd111.org/domain/68). For this paper, the Kankakee School District board meeting will be used, information learned from board meeting, use of

The meeting began when the school board members entered the large group instruction room and took their seats at a panel table angled to the side of the audience. The school board consists of nine elected members from the community. The members are as follows: Paul Ridley (President), Pat Vigliotta (Vice President), Helen Cumminskey