I found this while surfing the other day; it is a journal with photos written by Mark Hertzberg, photojournalist with the Journal Times. It documents the good ol’ days of Racine Unified (pre-Hicks era) when they used to go to referendum every spring for money (wait, that hasn’t changed).
But was has changed it the way our local businesses view our schools; there was once a time that our business community did not look too highly on our school system. The following excerpt shows how volatile the situation was back in 1999 when RUSD was seeking a $12M referendum:
The president of SC Johnson Wax threw gallons of gasoline on a simmering fire a month ago when he made major speech to the chamber of commerce saying he would reluctantly vote against the proposal because he thought it would be just throwing more money into a bottomless pit.
Which is worse, having the local business community not supporting the schools or having these businesses controlling our schools?
You tell me…
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4 comments:
Which is worse, having the local business community not supporting the schools or having these businesses controlling our schools?
Hmmm... like Pepsi?
The present situation is worse. With big business and big labor in cahoots, regular people don't stand a chance. I believe that at some point the business community will realize that they can not improve Unified. If they were to throw their collective weight behind a more competitive education system, ie vouchers, tax credits for private schools, etc..., we might actually make some real progress.
I think Pepsi is the least of our worries - their products are not available during the school day.
If some kid on the swim team wants a Mountain Dew after practice, and we get money for providing the machine - I just don't see where the controversy is.
Now if you want to take about unhealthy, lets talk about the school lunches...
Denis,
You may be right - the current scenario may be far worse.
But I do think that Unified can improve, I just do not think the current blueprint for success will cut it.
After reviewing the Annual Report, I am convinced that our elementary schools function pretty well, not great, but pretty well.
The dysfunctional schools seem to be the middle and high schools. This is where the competition is needed the most.
I agree with providing a choice, although I am fairly certain that a voucher system (such as Milwaukee has) would not be welcomed in this district. Charter schools (not chartered through RUSD) may be the best place to start. Then, perhaps vouchers can come next - if we can figure it a more equitable way of allocating the state funds.
As you are already aware, I feel equity and access is the voucher system's biggest enemy. I am not against the idea, I just think the implementation would need to be tweaked a litte.
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