The Green Bay School District is hardly unique, but this story is a revealing insight into why the cost of public education in Wisconsin is out of control.
Concerns about student misbehavior, safety and poor academic performance at the school came to light in June 2017, when a former teacher resigned during a Green Bay School Board meeting.
She said students physically assaulted peers and staff, vandalized property, carried weapons and used vulgar language.
A Press-Gazette review of police calls and discipline records in the 2015-16 academic year found a disproportionate percentage of black students were being suspended at both Washington and Franklin middle schools. While black students constituted just 13% of Washington’s 904 students that school year, they accounted for nearly 40% of the suspensions.
After staff increases at Washington failed to trigger the desired improvement, the district hired Olson and brought in American Institutes for Research of Washington, D.C., to guide the turnaround effort.
[…]
The Green Bay School District paid AIR nearly $400,000 in the first year and would’ve paid an additional $216,000 this school year.
Based on internal student achievement tests from the last school year, the district anticipates Washington students will show improvement in language arts, while math scores will fall, when scores are reported later this year for the Wisconsin Forward Exam, the state’s standardized student achievement test.
A quick scan off the Green Bay School District’s staff directory shows no fewer than 4 Deans; 65 Principals and Associate Principals; 23 Directors, Executive Directors, & Associate Directors of something education related; an Associate Superintendent and the Superintendent. That’s a full 94 people (at a fully-burdened cost of probably between $14 and $18 million per year) whose job is to wake up every day and figure out how to provide a great education for all of the kids in their charge. These professionals are presumably all trained, certified by the State of Wisconsin, and have centuries of cumulative experience behind them.
Yet what does the district do when faced with a problem? Do they hold the people running the show responsible for the poor performance? Do they gather these immense internal resources together to divine a solution?
No. They hire a consultant for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Once again, the fetish to “do something,” like spend money on a consultant, is preferable to the hard work of getting results.
No suprise when it comes to the godless education factory more bent on being politically correct than enforcing basic decency and discipline.
If this was a privte institution, it would be shut down.
Awful. Just awful.
Green Bay is hardly a hot bed of liberalism, so who are you going to blame?
But at least they teach kids how to spell.
Nord,
Almost every public school administration is a hotbed of liberalism.
Based on facts of this story, except for resigning teacher, this district is clearly run by uber-liberals.
Awful. Just Awful.
You make far too many assumptions based on far too little data. Maybe you should attend a GB school board meeting before get on your high know-it-all horse. Or would that be too much effort?
Nord,
Did you not read this part????
She said students physically assaulted peers and staff, vandalized property, carried weapons and used vulgar language.
A Press-Gazette review of police calls and discipline records in the 2015-16 academic year found a disproportionate percentage of black students were being suspended at both Washington and Franklin middle schools. While black students constituted just 13% of Washington’s 904 students that school year, they accounted for nearly 40% of the suspensions.
This screams soft discipline stink of liberal administrators afraid to be called “racist” in the intersectional victim heirarchy.
Keep defending the failing public school, the last of the good teachers will quit.
Here is your assumptions:
“Almost every public school administration is a hotbed of liberalism”, “Based on facts of this story, except for resigning teacher, this district is clearly run by uber-liberals”.
Nord,
So public schools are a hotbed of conservative administration?
Based on the awful discipline problems, impossible here.
Those are your words, not mine. Here is what I said, “Green Bay is hardly a hot bed of liberalism”.
Nord,
You are slow. I had replied public school administration is usually a hotbed of liberalism. That happens in many conservative communities.
Get nuanced.
Your public school education is showing.
The number of principals and deans are not out of line, especially considering what other Scholl districts have. I assume the directors, and it could be in education, maintenance, transportation etc, so I think most of these positions can be justified.
The problems listed have been going on for decades but they are given different names.
Can the consultants work out, I doubt it but sometimes a blind squirrel gets a nut every once in a while.
Kevin, how can you determine someone’s political affiliation? How exactly are you surveying entire administrations, in order to reach a conclusion like that?
If a conservative runs an ill-disciplined school like this, that would make them an awful conservative. Whereas, liberalsim thrives on letting children run amock.
“That happens in many conservative communities”. And how would you know that? And why would that happen in a SD like Green Bay that undeniably leans conservative?
Perhaps you could share with us all the indisputable data that led you to that conclusion. Thanks.
Nord,
Have you witnessed the West Bend School board discussion here over the years?
The worst policies/decisions are result of liberal members of school board getting elected. It happens in many non-partisan races. Liberals can mask their awful ideology during the election.
k:
The discussion was about the Green Bay SD, not West Bend (see above). Assumptions based on a N of 1 will get you nowhere. And why are those “liberal members of school board getting elected” in conservative places like WB or GB? Or are you making all that up? And now you blame the elected board rather than the voters, unlike how you recently blamed the voters for Gov. Evers. How hypocritical.
School board dysfunction is same nearly everywhere.
Liberals mucking it up.
There is no secret.
“School board dysfunction is same nearly everywhere”.
And you know this how? Have you been involved in the day-to-days activities of all the school boards “nearly everywhere” in the state? Or are you once again making assumptions based solely on your personal biases?
Years of observation being in school choice movement.
There are 421 school districts in WI. How many did you interact with or observe? Do you honestly feel your observation/anecdotal data is significant enough to make the claim, “School board dysfunction is same nearly everywhere”, or are you just making that all up.