The LUSJ reported that Carbone has annouced her plans to retire at an unspecified date.
If a budget vote and the sports complex wasn’t enough for Lockport City Schools to deal with, there was an announcement made Wednesday night that gives the district another issue to be concerned with.I'm not sure where the "concern" comes in. I wouldn't be surprised if the next 3 superintendents were already lined up in the district. The concern should be if the school district will also seek outside potential canidates to make sure we are getting the best.
Superintendent Terry A. Carbone told Board of Education members Wednesday that she will retire in the near future. A date for Carbone’s departure has not been set....
90 comments:
"The concern should be if the school district will also seek outside potential canidates to make sure we are getting the best."
I am totally in favor of getting the best candidate we can afford... where ever they are from and where ever they choose to live...
I wonder of the people who hated Terri Carbone because she lived outside the District will now scream when we don't hire a "Lockport Person"???
We don't have to hire a Lockport person but we should require they move in to the district when hired.
Why force the best possible candidate to move into the district? My wife is a teacher and I refuse to move into a district that she works in and she will not appy to districts that has this requirement such as Buffalo and Niagara Falls. It just does not make any sense. Is this done in the private sector? Why do this in the public sector? You are going to force candidates to look else because of some residancy requirement and not attract the best possible candidates? What a disservice to the district that would be. Also right now there are questions regarding the legality of forcing employees to live in the district and courts are currently looking into it.
Then perhaps the golf pro should have run for newfane school board. The tax map says he works and owns the course and pays newfane school taxes.Why the double standard, the best person for the job and their address precludes them.This reactionary way of thinking must stop.Yet on the other hand if you have someone who lives in lockport it is much easier for the stalkers of lockport to find you.....with the price of gas and whatnot
Residency requirements are a band-aid solution to the overall problem of the lack of regional planning. It's not only Niagara Falls,Buffalo Etc. Most Towns etc require residency for police force members etc.
If we were all one tax base it would not matter who lived where. But when we are all fighting each other for scraps we do silly things like residency requirements or business handouts for places playing one town against another.
This is good time as any to merge with Newfane, Royhart, Starpoint, Barker, Wilson, lewiston, and nt and consolidate reasources. Maybe not all of those but if we could get maybe only 3 school districts in Niagara county that would be a step in the right direction.
The time for change is now!
Starpoint and Lockport have enough resources that they do not need to merge...
NT is large enough that it can take care of itself...
Lew-Port, Wilson and Barker are too far away... (I certainly do not want to drive my kid to Wilson so she can participate in a school musical... I hated that we had to have the school musical in Starpoint this year, let alone someplace like Wilson or Barker...)
The only serious candidate for merging would be Roy-Hart.
Would the people of Roy-Hart want to attend Lockport Schools? Maybe the people in Gasport would, but what about the people of Middleport? Or the far reaches of Royalton or Hartland?
Some of them may want to merge with Medina... Would the people of Gasport want to be bused all the way to Medina? Are we now talking about dissolving the Roy-Hart district... Has anyone asked them if they want that?
Maybe we can merge SOME things, but maybe the people in those communities would not want to merge with us...
Roy-Hart merged football teams with Barker because neither school was big enough to support a viable football program. But would smaller schools want to come to a big school like Lockport and try and make the football team or participate in the school band? (A kid that is the star QB at Roy-Hart or Barker may not be good enough to even play at Lockport or NT.)
AND... if you think this Athletic Complex was contentious - wait until you start trying to convince people that they have to leave their home school district to attend someplace else!
Talk about an Uproar!
There is nothing saying that there would not be schools in those areas, or teams, etc. An Eastern Niagara School district could have a High school in Newfane, Lockport, etc.
At the top level you have a single layer of administration. Not too much different than the editorial in the Buffalo News today
http://www.buffalonews.com/city/columns/donn-esmonde/article426057.ece
Carbone made 160k to overlook 8.5 schools
Williams makes 220k to overlook 59 schools in Buffalo
72% of the pay to oversee 14% the amount of schools?
Just food for thought.
I think residency gives you a better sense of ownership and do feel it should be a requirement. If we are going to pay someone $175,000 then it shouldn't be a burden for them to move in, given a reasonable amount of time to do it. Don't forget, with so many teachers and administrators losing jobs it's a 'sellers' market, if you don't won't to move here good luck on finding another job.
IMHO, any administrators we hire or promote should be required to move in.
-MJ is right, consolidating districts STAFF doesn't mean consolidating schools. A good example is Ken-Ton, where they have both Ken-East and West high schools.
-Joe O doesn't live it at the golf course so he couldn't run in newfane. He lives on Berkley Ave. I'm sure his reason for running for the board was to make sure nothing else happens to increase traffic on his street.
-This would be a great time to share with Starpoint or Newfane.
But c'mon, be serious. Sharing would only mean administrators, but the district 'scores' would be consolidated. If you were Starpoint would you even consider allowing our ghetto city to influence your high scores?????
Residency requirements are a crock. Show me a single case where it made a difference.
I can wait until I'm dead.
MJ:
Thank you for your thoughtful response... too many responses on this board are insults and taunting.
While I agree that some administration (and some public relations work and some legal work, etc.) can be shared... how thin do you want to spread these people?
What would happen if we all shared ONE Superintendent... and some of the work for Lockport would adversely affect the school district in Roy-Hart or Newfane? Which way would the administrator lean?
If costs need to be trimmed... do we trim the Special Ed program at Lockport or the after-school program in Newfane or the Future Farmers of America program in Roy-Hart? (Just examples, I hope you see what I mean...)
Also... James Williams has a HUGE number of administrators that each make more than $75,000 EACH... and 18 of them are WELL north of $100,000...
http://www.buffalonews.com/city/schools/article363824.ece
He's got a much bigger school district but he also has a much bigger staff... and a lot of them are on the "Friends and Family" program.
In a lot of states, especially those with lower taxes they have county wide school districts and it works. Consolidating doesn't mean taking 4 districts combining and eliminating 3/4's of the administrators necessarily, but you could probably cut half without spreading them thin. When you have 4 people doing the same job in 4 districts I would bet 2 of those people could do all the work for all 4 districts.
And no we will not ship kids from barker or wilson to lockport for school. But boundries could be more flexible so student ratios could be kept more level and consistent across the area at all schools. We could make sure that all students with special needs get the services they need rather than reclassifying them to meet the needs of the district.
We have more district/administrators and more politicians per citizen here in WNY than any where else in the US and you wonder why our taxes are also the highest.
and to ANNON 5/19/11 12:50PM I can't wait either!
you can't wait for 12:50 or for yourself......lol
Ha...I guess I should have said we not I but not me that's for sure, I love life, even in Lockport.
Lockport should post the position with a salary that will attract fine candidates. What the school system needs is a backbone and a person who will hold parents, teachers, and the students accountable for success.
If you drive around the city, or really look at the numbers, it is obvious to see that there is a small population of people that are dragging this place down.
We need to stop being the home of public assistance and start telling everyone that if they do not tow the line in the school system (all parties included) there will be consequences to pay.
Funny a kid can bring a knife to the HS and threaten someone with it and they receive a few days suspension. Yet students drink before the dance (like most people don't ever do that, right?) and they get a heck of a lot more.
The district is a cluster &%$@ and that is because the leader refuses to set the tone.
Please Lockport, pick someone who has balls (yes a man may be a better choice) and who will stand up to the complaining parents/students of this district. They need to be told that ignorance and laziness are not to be tolerated.
She is leaving a big mess and her partner who oversaw the decline in district test scores is not up to the job. Hope the board opens their eyes and takes the time to do a thorough search.
I hope the board appoints her assistant as 'interim' and then works hard to merge with another district! Why hire one now without checking out the prospects, it will cost a ton to get rid of one if a merger is successful.
What merger?
Hire the best don't settle for more of the same.
The district should definitely hire from "outside" the area to get a fresh perspective on things. If they promote from within we will get more of the same mess Carbone left. It was a mistake to hire her in the first place but when everyone else pulled out by default she got the job. Lets take our time and get the right person for the job, our children deserve the best possible person.
Yes, but wouldn't it also be nice if the new superintendent would then move to our area? Say within a specific time frame?
The district is too big to merge with another district.
Carbone was out for herself stayed util she squeezed the last penny out of Lockport but got out with perfect timing--two years of higher taxes, two years of not well thought out reorganization, two years of cutting faculty, five years of protecting and promoting her buddies, five years of negative movement in WNY rankings and each year she told the Board she expected a big raise. Her assistant should be forced to take over over the mess the mess she/they left Thanks TAC--good riddance.
My, my - what a surprise. I love the "unspecified date" bit.
This woman has done very little to better the situation in our schools. No, it's not all her fault, but she sure didn't do what needed to be done when the District started its slide down the rabbit hole.
I'm for an outsider - if we can get one. I agree that residency requirements don't work in most situations, but, this District encompasses a large area with many beautiful subdivisions. A new Superintendent will be able to buy a lovely home in the District. They wouldn't have to live on Genesee Street. Although I suggest they take a ride through there as these are the kids who demand the most attention because their parents sure don't give a shi8.
The loss of the Sports Palace was the hook which will now drag her off the stage.
Williams in Buffalo doesn't even have the smarts to pretend to care about the kids. He is an officious jerk who should have been sent packing years ago. He's out for himself. Period.
There IS a worse Superintendent in Western New York - Williams.
what the heck do you know, how do you even think you have a clue????
Guess that makes Bone second worst of 99 in WNY. The master of disaster.
When's the last time you left Lockport? Have you ever been to Buffalo? Do you read the paper?
Quit with the personal attacks. It's boring.
Why does a board of noneducators get to pick the person to run the district? I teach and I've wondered this for many years now. Lockport needs to get out of the habit of hiring relatives, and friends. Nepatism doesn't work look at our scores.
and we wonder why our test scores go down if we have teachers like you that can't spell or use proper punctuation! LOL
Talking about TAC not having balls, there is a story about her walking the halls recently at the High School with the Principal and a student was wearing a hat and the Principal asked him to remove it. Student said no and kept walking. TAC spoke up and said hey I'm the Superintendent and you need to remove your hat, student said NO, F' you! and continued on his way with both the Principal and Superintendent not doing a damn thing.
no date, no time, nothing to back it up, yeah, that sounds legit.
It happened.
well then, it must have then
I confirmed the TAC story by calling the High School. It happened on 12/7/10 at about 1:45pm. Does that make you feel better?
Of course its just a rumor, Duh!!! But, it is true that many teachers know or believe it to be true and that just shows that the teachers don't respect her and probably the students and parents as well. That is the real point of telling that story.
dija?
Based upon this morning's Buffalo News article it sounds like Mrs. Carbone has planned out a seamless transition so she can assure Lockport residents have more of the same. Higher taxes, continued lower ranking in WNY, more constant re-organization of buildings, less student discipline, more negative staff morale, more taking care of administrative cronies, and more chaos in our buildings. That is what Lockport has to look ahead to if the Board hires another person who has no real stake in how education operates in our city. Hope the people here will insist the school board engage in a real search--imposing a residency requirement on whoever they hire--and not turn to the Bone clone. A lot is a stake based upon what happens next!
wow - it's too bad you can't be taken seriously due to your constant name calling and obvious personal problem with Carbone. Did she not give you the job you wanted or something?
Is the real thing at stake a job you want, is that what you are worried about?
Get some elp, get over your personal mental problems, then come back with an intelligent post!
I am a Lockport homeowner who has had kids in school. I have many friends in the district that are reliable sources and that are disappointed with the direction things have gone over the past several years. I believe that if I am ever going to be able to sell my home in the future at a value close to what I paid for it, that the schools need to reverse the direction we are moving right now. I have no faith that anyone in the district at this time can move us forward as Supt. I am not campaigning for any influential person's candidate just wish to see an open search with residency required--particularly if the person has school age kids. People lead differently when they have "skin in the game."
"Bone Clone" love it! And actually I can speak from experience its not just the people that she didn't give a job to that do not like TAC, in fact most of the teachers do not like her. And what jobs has she given anyone? After her cuts the last 2 years there are only about 10 or less teachers left that she would have involved in the hiring process.
While some of the anonymii seem to think I don't know anything about Buffalo - start with I was born there. You can then move along to growing up in a first ring (at the time) suburb, hockey games twice a week - not to mention Little Brother's games at Nichols, throw in the first 30 odd years of my life in and around Buffalo and you have a Buffalonian.
The only place being a Buffalonian seems to be a handicap is Lockport. Musn't forget law school in Texas - from which I returned to BUFFALO blah, blah, blah... It's very petty.
Before I lived here (which has been 20+ years) the only time I came near Lockport was when The Park Club had a swim meet with Lockport T & C. It's not a handicap - it allows for a more realistic view of the world, especially Western New York.
I just don't get why you feel you have to bash me ad nauseum. It's childish. Would you like a list of all the foreign countries I've visited? I'm not going to do it unless you determine that leaving the country is another handicap when living in Lockport. It will take too long and I don't feel like dragging out my passport.
Patti - I have said before that I think you need some help - in this case no one bashed you, so what the heck are you talking about? You think everyone that says something bad is about you?
anon - ok, you were finally able to make a post without name calling, congratulations!
MJ - isn't it timeto delete the posts with name calling? If people can continue to cal the supt names others can get nasty too!
A "seamless transition" planned by TAC means we will keep going in the wrong direction with no loss of momentum. Is that what the Board wants at this time?
Based u;on your bashing of me re: Mr. Williams and the City of Buffalo - you now appear to be asking MJ to delete your posts. What don't you get? You are inconsequential. Go away.
So now the word is out that the Board is going to give us a "seaamless transition" to an Asst. Supt who has allowed us to slip below twenty other WNY schools and an Asst. Supt who has ruined RBK. Is it wise to move ahead with a seamless transition when you are headed in the wrong direction? Wouldn't it be better to look for change versus more of the same?
Pathetic.
Who has ruined Roy B. Kelly Elementary School in Lockport? What, exactly, has happened there recently?
The principal. Look at test scores since she arrived. And talk to some of the staff.
Bone wants to take care of her buddy before going out the door. Wants to leave two Bone clones in place to cover up the extesnive damage she has done to the city schools.
Board will likely go along because TAC wants to have a seamless transition even as we are heading in wrong direction very fast...Bus. First ranking in WNY has fallen from 37 to 56 under Bone. You like them apples?
Clearly, the Lockport City School District needs new leadership. Will the new school board do the right thing?
There you go again with the name calling, A-hole!
(I guess MJ doesn't care about that anymore)
The real problem with the test scores cannot be fixed without a ton on money being poured in.
The problem is if you look at all the rankings, we are near the bottom in the 'socio-economic' category. That is the one that measures the communities wealth, jobs, amount of soc services used, etc. Let's face it, Lockport is now a ghetto town and the scores our students get will reflect that. We will be rated low like all the other ghetto's such as the Fall's and Buffalo. The soci-economic ratings inversely track the district scores almost perfectly. Nothing you can do about the socio-economic scores except find jobs for people get the social services building out of Lockport so it's not so convenient for them all to move here or hope the genessee St area burns down ! (LOL - thats a joke)
Has anyone of you out there ever seen one of these test? I bet half of you would fail the 3rd grade math & english exams. When you have a classroon full of students whose parents don't take an active roll in there childrens education it makes it very difficult for teachers to motivate students to learn. You can't just blame the Superintendent and teachers for the failure of the education system.
All parents want their children to get a decent education. Schools need to partner with parents if they expect to be succesful. We are at a point where a city that has had a nice mix of population will deteriorate very quickly if we do not improve the education we offer our children. Money is not the driving factor. Leadership has a key role. Mrs. Carbone has not been able to move the district forward. Why the Board would let her impose a seamless transition to her clones is a critical question to ask of the Board. Lots is at stake and we can do better. We need to do better.
But unfortunately it doesn't matter what the board does to try and partner with parents if the parents don't care, as the majority of our low income parents show. I know I could be portrayed as being stereotypical - but I prefer to say I am just stating the truth.
Again, I am not a huge fan of Mrs. Carbone, but our mess is not her fault it's the fault of the city allowing the housing to decline as much as it has and the county having the soc sec office in the middle of the city so all their clients fill up the housing.
Unless the demographics of our city change there is nothing that can be done for the schools.
Well, well, well, that Southern Tier Catholic school, with much lower funding, managed to outscore all the other elementary schools in Western New York in Business First's rankings, including Williamsville and Clarence (home of the wealthy movers and shakers)! Also, bear in mind, the children being educated there are certainly far from being the children of the wealthy and well educated. All children can learn, but, clearly, some teachers, some principals, and some schools can not educate!!!
It doesn't take just rich towns with money, it takes towns with real families and people that work hard no matter how much they make. I'm sure that town you refer to has people like that. Out town is full of welfare people with a totally different set of values than a working town.
Also interesting in those stats is that we are in top 10 for LOWEST administrative costs of all the districts. So, for all those blindly following these tables should we hire more administrators to reverse our rankings?
anom 8:13 - Thats BS, all children can not learn if their parents don't make them! teachers, schools, prinicipals don't have any say in it if a parent doesn't care. If you think otherwise you are dreaming!
One school in Buffalo has a average of 61% absenteeism. Do you think those kids learn anything? Do you think their parents care? Do you think the teachers stand a chance of educating them? We are in the same boat here in Lockport.
@ anon 10:24-According to the most recent statistics available, the median income for a household in the City of Lockport was $35,222, and the median income for a family was $44,614. Males had a median income of $35,197 versus $23,944 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,620. About 11.7% of families and 13.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.9% of those under age 18 and 7.4% of those age 65 or over.
Hmmm, 18.9% of those under 18 years of age were living in poverty. That means over 80% of the children in Lockport were not living in poverty. I'd say poverty is not the problem in Lockport. If anything, it is a cultural and educational failing, which is demonstrated in Lockport's dismal ratings in Business First, which, by the way, uses standardized New York State Tests to determine rankings (no mystery or bias)!
Whoops, I meant @ anon 10:20-According to the most recent statistics available, the median income for a household in the City of Lockport was $35,222, and the median income for a family was $44,614. Males had a median income of $35,197 versus $23,944 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,620. About 11.7% of families and 13.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.9% of those under age 18 and 7.4% of those age 65 or over.
Hmmm, 18.9% of those under 18 years of age were living in poverty. That means over 80% of the children in Lockport were not living in poverty. I'd say poverty is not the problem in Lockport. If anything, it is a cultural and educational failing, which is demonstrated in Lockport's dismal ratings in Business First, which, by the way, uses standardized New York State Tests to determine rankings (no mystery or bias)!
Does anyone really believe Terry Anne's handpicked choices have a prayer of turning around the mess she has made? I heard a Board member had a meeting with the HS faculty and tried to give a rationale for hiring the insiders and was laughed out of the building.
This is critical to the future of the city.
As someone who has not joined the "Blame Carbone Juggernaut", and has been a neutral observer.... I say we have several problems with a lot of blame to go around. Now that all of you geniuses have given your opinion and identified a number of causes for the downward educational spiral around here, do you think maybe we can find a common-ground solution and stop all of this silly finger pointing? This really sounds childish.
Why doesn't Mr. MJ start a topic on " Solving Lockport's Educational Crisis" and see if we just might be able to harvest some constructive suggestions on how to turn this mess around, minus the constant and persistent name calling and blaming that has been so dominant when it comes to this topic.
Anon 11:42, you are so intent on using those statistics then why don't you believe the statistic that Business 1st came out with that said we were in the bottom half of all school districts in WNY for our socio-economic criteria.
These low rankings are definitely parent related, it has nothing to do with teachers, schools or administration. We have some many excellent students here, it's just our kids with parents who don't care drag everything down.
From Business First-
Aim: Find districts where students benefit from the highest standards of living.
Formula: Each district is rated in three categories: (1) share of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, (2) youth poverty rate, and (3) combined wealth ratio, a measure of property and income wealth. The best scores go to districts with high wealth ratios and low percentages for free lunch and poverty.
Source: All raw statistics are from the New York State Education Department and the U.S. Census Bureau, and are the latest comprehensive figures available. Data for all three factors are from 2009.
What a shock..once again we have an anonymous poster who has decided that the "Facts" show the problem is "parent related". Great! Good news!We have identified the problem!
New Blog Rules: You can't talk about a problem unless you talk about the solution!
Excuse me oh great ruler of the blog GIJoe!
I firmly believe the problem is the parent(s) of these kids. We have some great students getting high scores, but the amount of kids who just don't care and their low scores result in our average being bad.
These kids are disrespectful, arrogant and just don't care about an education. I believe it's an environmental thing, their parents aren't educated but are doing just fine on assistance - why do they need anything more than their parents?
As for a solution, truthfully I don't have a clue. The city could get tougher on housing rules and work to eliminate some low income housing, definitely not add any more. The county could move soc services out of here (our test scores did start going down when they moved downtown) eliminate this office and just use the Falls.
At school there is not much that can be done. If you call the parents they don't come in and yell at you about harassing their kids. If you punish them with homework, they don't do it. Detention? That's a laugh.
I admit, I think parenting is the problem - but I don't know the solution.
You're right Anon..you don't have a clue!
but you sound educated..and you sound like you may be an "educator"...If you don't have the answer who does?
Stronger parent responsibility laws?.maybe..
Apparently..one of the things you didn't learn what ever your vocation might be, was how to solve problems. Every problem has a solution... take a shot. Posting on here day after day to defend your philosophy and your policy position on this issue may be good therapy for you, but it resolves nothing...thanks for new Nick-name
I think 9:29 hit the nail on the head, and I also agree you are being a pompous jerk Joe.
The only answer to this is so totally not PC that it won't ever happen. These low life parents need their welfare reduced so much that they have to work. The kids need to be kicked out of school if they don't want to try while they are there.
School should be for those who want to be there and want to learn. Those that don't shouldn't be allowed in the door.
Then you would see test scores soar, teachers could teach and not just be babysitters, kids could learn without the distractions.
I guess in the future kids that want to learn will be going to private schools, which will drag public school scores even lower.
"LOW-life welfare parents"..hmmm..is that code for "black people"? Kick the kids out of school..aren't you the compassionate one...
And you think I'm a pompous jerk??
Why..so we can see test score soar...weeeeeeeeeee
read it carefully... if you notice it is prefaced by the ideas are so totally not PC they they can't happen. And there are plenty of low life white parents out there too. And yes, my not PC idea is not very compassionate but if you dealt with these kids much you would see that no one is going to have a good idea to get these kids to try in school, hence a pie in the sky idea is then dont make them go to school. I'm not a teacher, but I am around these kids and many of them are just plain bad and don't care.
And you are the one saying test scores must go up!
@ anon 9:29- Oh, wonderful solution :-(, just move Social services to Niagara Falls, so all the poor people leave Lockport and flood Niagara Falls. Poor people are in all communities and always will be. Jesus Christ was one of them (carpenter's son) and hung out with lowly and despised tax collectors, fishermen, etc. Perhaps you aren't a Christian...no need to apologize, but you might try a little mere human compassion for your neighbors.
I never said test score should go up...look... whether you're in the public or private sector..you still have a job to do. If I stop doing business with everyone I don't like or thought was an idiot..I wouldn't have much business. Go Watch "To Sir With Love"...you'll feel better.
My point still is... there use to be a time in history when supervisors got satisfaction when they trained an "un-trainable" person or a worthless person went into the Marines and became an outstanding Marine. Yes there are a lot of bad kids, bad adults too, but your view is twisted. I look at a teacher as a "life changer" not a baby sitter. If there are kids in a class that don't care it's still the teachers job to "Teach them". No one ever said life was going to be easy. We have rules in place to deal with every problem imaginable...use the system, that why it's there.
"No Child Left Behind" has been an abject failure. I speak from experience.
DSS MUST do everything it can to "reunite the family." WHY? When you have parents who murder one child but are allowed to see the other 5, or was it 6? "Parents" were in their early 20's and only 3 or so were the "father's" children. Yeah - great parents. Let's make sure the kids go back to them - from Foster Care - whenever they FINALLY get out of jail. At least she shouldn't get pregnant again in State Prison - but, ya never know. They'll ALL be on Welfare again - and we pay $1,000's per month, per child while they're in Foster Care.
The Schools are asylums being run by the inmates. Kid's can beat up teachers yet don't get punished when we would have been tossed out on our ear to have our fathers deal with us which was worse than death for talking back.
Now? No fathers or if they are "my little darling would never do THAT! If you punish him I'll SUE!" Nice. Don't fix the problem by getting rid of the bad kids who prevent the good kids from learning squat. The Schools are out of control and it's largely because the ADMINISTRATION won't do a damn thing out of fear. Their parents are worse. Guess that happens when 16 year olds start having children.
It's not the ADMINISTRATION at fault but it's the stupid money grubbin lawyers who have the administrators running in fear to their lawyers and being told not to rock the boat!
I am not saying it's lawyers fault we have the problem with the kids, that is definitely the parents fault, but the lawyers help propagate the problem.
Is that why the under 20 couwd is having LESS children than ever before Patti? No Child Left Behind is a failure because teachers refuse to take ANY responsability for their performance, more more likely, their lack of it. Quick, hide behind the union! they'll save you as the building burns down around you
"The birth rate for women aged 20–24 years declined to 101.7
births per 1,000 women in 2004, marking another record low."
"The mean age of first-time
mothers was slightly higher in 2002, 25.1 years, compared with 25.0
years in 2001. This is an all-time high for the United States and attests
to the continuing tendency of women to postpone childbearing"
@ 12:59 - first, if anyone wants to bash me - although I can't figure out what, exactly. you're bashing about - YOU must use a "name." I don't care if it's Bingo Bob - you MUST use a consistent name of some sort or I won't bother with you.
For example: GIJoe is just fine - be consistent. Got it now?
I don't know where you got your "fewer children" facts - give me a cite and I'll check it out. I hope it's true. I'd also like to know how many children per Welfare CLIENT vis a vis college educated working women. I reckon the Welfare girl has more, at an earlier age. When I was there the first reason for 16 year olds having children was so they could get their own apartment away from THEIR Moms. They also want unconditional love from SOMEONE so they have a baby.
Moving DSS to Main Street is a disaster for everyone BUT the clients. Sure, they needed to get out of Davison Road - old and getting worse every day. But it was out of the way. Good for us. I just wish they'd gotten the property line set. That proposal was TERRIFIC and would have benefited both the City and the Town. I find it ludicrous that I've known about the "Potter's Field" for 20 years and someone involved in the considered sale to the potential purchaser didn't. Unacceptable.
I think Patti is right, Social Services was better on Davison Rd., over near the Town and Country Club, since the rich are making the poor poorer. In fact, emminent domain should be used to take the Town and Country Club and all the land between it and Eastern Niagara Hospital, raze all the buildings and put up a massive Social Services building/nursing home, since the county closed down Mount View and Fairchild Manor Nursing Home (Lewiston) is closing due to fraud and outright embezzlement from patients, nurses, and patient trust funds, by the owner, Mr. Korn.
Wow, anon 2:49 is right, it does seem as if Niagara county is trying to get rid of all the sick, poor and elderly! :-( The young people are leaving because there are no longer many jobs on which they can live and support families. I was in a coin/antique shop the other day where a young girl (early twenties) traded in some of her jewelry so she could pay her rent!!!
Are all you Anonymous posters related????...here's some names if you need help..Dizzy, Daffy, Loony,
How about Mr. Anonymous, or Ms. Anonymous II...
Are you people serious? are you really to afraid to even slightly identify yourself, or are you just to damn lazy?
Well, Moe-Anonymous, using Patti or Moe-Anonymous is hardly identifying yourself, genius!
Besides, anonymity fosters honest and open discussion of the issues.
Yes, everyone needs to use a name so we know who they are !!! I insist!!!
well genius the purpose is so when you post something people know whom to respond to..hard to do if everyone is Anonymous..get it?
I don't care who you are.
"Anonymity fosters honest and open discussion"
oh you mean like the Ku Klux Klan?
Who cares if one uses Patti, Moe, Moe-Annonymous, or @anon 9:22, as monnikers, I simply respond to the content anyway. Why are some people so hung up on handles, names, avatars, etc?
People start to make judgements, get emotional, and focus on their personal differences, then enmities develop, when people start to separate themselves, whether by: name, nationality, color, creed, political sympathies, economic philosophy, etc.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Is it not better to simply write or speak and view everyone as equal, until the make an obvious fool of themselves, through their own words?
People start to make judgements, get emotional, and focus on their personal differences, then enmities develop, when people start to separate themselves, whether by: name, nationality, color, creed, political sympathies, economic philosophy, etc.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Is it not better to simply write or speak and view everyone as equal, until somoneone makes an obvious fool of themself, through their own words?
Moe has summed it up. I have no idea if Moe is the gentleman's real name - I have no idea if Moe is indeed a man - but it's a way we can at least track who is saying what. This "Anonymous, 12:49 a.m. Thursday, May 26th, 2011" is LUDICROUS!!!
My real name happens to be Patti - I got sick of all the anonymous' and I really don't care who thinks what of me - I was of that opinion for too long and it didn't help me, did it? So why not use my real name.
Now there are some who would be foolish to use their real names if, for example, they work for the City and are bashing the City or a boss within the City. Or a teacher bashing the school board - that sort of thing.I don't care. If I'd done 5% of what I've been told I'd done I'd have led a very interesting life - when I wasn't locked up, of course. It's b.s.
Anonymity fosters lying and saying nasty things about people you don't even know. I'm not ashamed to say what I say because I tell the truth.
And to "Anonymous 6/15/2011 5:21 p.m." anonymity breeds contempt.
Patti, everyone has her/his opinions, but the proverb is supposed to read, "Familiarity Breeds Contempt." :-)
You are correct - I was trying a play on the old "familiarity" line. I guess it was a flop.
I think both "work," actually.
just like that pesky anon voting, amirite
Yep...
You want solutions...Here's my take on the problem, and a proposed solution. The problem with students (and their parents) not valuing their publicly funded education is that they get unlimited chances to earn the credit(s) they need. "Oh I'm going to fail, no big deal, I can just take it again next year" is the attitude many of these kids and their parent(s) display. In my mind the solution is simple...You get one shot on the taxpayers' dime. If you fail to earn the credit, the retake of the course should be on your dime. You want to make parents care more, start charging them $1000 for a course retake for their kid. I bet they'd care a lot more if their kid was failing then. Right now the problem with public education is that it's become an entitlement issue. People feel as if they're entitled to as many shots at a course as they need, all on our dime. To me this solves multiple problems...Our results will get better, we'll save some coin, and maybe even generate some extra revenue for our public schools in these difficult financial times.
oh stop it, you know that if everyone does not win and is told what a good person that they are it will hurt their self esteem
Kind of like every child on every team receiving a trophy no matter where their team landed in the season standings or the child's personal contribution.
When I was swimming (yes, swimming again) we had 1st, 2nd and 3rd ribbons. Period. Our local club also awarded longevity awards once you hit 5 years and up.
I don't think this new "Oh, my Johnny MUST receive a trophy or his self-esteem will be in the toilet" is doing anyone any good - especially the kids. What do they have to strive for? Nothing - it's handed to them. These hand-outs are usually tossed somewhere and lost within a year at most.
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