As an old joke gos, it takes five Americans to change a light bulb - one to do the job and four managers.
Wojtek
On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 1:18 PM, <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
> Good news for a change. Joanna
> ---------------------------------------
>
> Detroit Public Schools Tries Something New: A School Run by Teachers , July
> 8, 2010, Detroit Free Press
>
> Detroit Public Schools is set to open its first school without a principal
> -- teachers will be running the day-to-day operations and making all
> pertinent decisions.
>
> They won't have to wait for the central office's OK to purchase needed
> items or increase their emphasis on fractions or writing, for instance.
>
> Founded on the belief that those within the building know best what their
> students need, Barbara Jordan Elementary will be the district's first
> teacher-led school, open only to students whose parents agree to be
> involved. State officials know of no teacher-led schools in Michigan.
>
> The Detroit school, for students in kindergarten through fourth grade, is
> modeled after teacher-led schools in Boston, Milwaukee, Denver and Los
> Angeles.
>
> It's too early to know test results, said Michael McLaughlin of the Boston
> Teachers Union School. But he can name one indicator of the Boston school's
> success: "The families in the area, they're clamoring to get into this
> school."
>
> In Detroit, the high-profile experiment in school reform could have
> long-reaching implications, said Keith Johnson, president of the Detroit
> Federation of Teachers.
>
> "It's an unprecedented opportunity," Johnson said. "We cannot fail."
>
> Less bureaucracy at school could make it easier to educate students
>
> Summer has barely begun, but Ann Crowley can't wait for school to open in
> the fall.
>
> The 22-year veteran teacher and administrator is part of a new experiment
> in Detroit Public Schools -- a school run by the teachers.
>
> Her enthusiasm is obvious and contagious.
>
> "I returned to the classroom to better meet the needs of the children,
> right at the ground level," said Crowley, who expects to teach at Barbara
> Jordan Elementary. "That's what this school is all about."
>
> She's part of a DPS group called Detroit Children First, which is made up
> mostly of teachers. It has been asking for a teacher-led school for years.
>
> With the backing of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, it convinced the
> district's emergency financial manager, Robert Bobb, to let it run a school
> that bypasses layers of bureaucracy that can often slow decision-making. It
> is a school where the staff makes all the decisions, from lessons to hiring
> to building repairs…
>
> Read the rest @
> http://www.freep.com/article/20100708/NEWS01/7080367/1320/DPS-A-school-run-by-teachers
>
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