February 23, 2005
To Charter or Not To Charter
Due to the Livermore School District's actions last year (closing two highly-rated inoovative schools), Livermore residents will have a new choice next school year. The Livermore Valley Charter School will open its doors for the first time this Fall.
For those people who are not familiar with what a charter school is, it is a publicly funded, government encouraged, alternative to the local public schools. Charter schools tend to be highly successful in inner city areas where the local approach is steeped in old but broken traditions. In today's highly diverse population, where respect is no longer assumed to be taught by the parents, education in a traditional classroom setting often fails. (The reason why this occurs, would fill a book).
Charter schools are run by parents and teachers. There are many different models throughout the country. (More on that in another entry.)
Today, I would like to go into the details about the Livermore Valley Charter School specifically. These details are the reason why I think it will succeed. The Charter school will have smaller classes in every grade, with 20 students in Kindergarten through Fourth Grade and 27 Students in Fifth through Eighth. It will be the first K-8 school in Livermore in my memory. They will have music, science, PE and Spanish in every grade. (This year these things are provided by the regular teacher -except for Spanish, which tends not be taught in the regular classroom.) They will teach using multiple intelligences, differentiated teaching and dynamic grouping - all of which are innovative yet successful methods of meeting each child's needs. Each student will have an ILP (Individual Learning Plan - a plan which is already being used for special education and in some districts GATE students). There is no union to deny the parents the right to help out in any function they desire. (Currently, the office staff may not allow parents to assist them - even though they desparately need help - because the union will not allow a volunteer to take the place that a union paid employee once had.)
These are goals which appeal to me.
Posted by melanie at 10:54 AM | Comments (0)
February 18, 2005
Sunset in Livermore
Posted by melanie at 07:03 PM | Comments (1)
Why I Support Pardee's Plan
I know that for many, any kind of development in North Livermore, is unacceptable. I, however, support Pardee's plan.
"There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch". This expression was written on the blackboard of my class in economics the first day as a Sophomore in highschool. At the time, I had no idea what it meant. Now, however, it is the saying that constantly pops into my head when I think of the whole North Livermore issue. For those who aren't familiar with the saying, it essentially means, that everything has a cost in one way or another. Proponents of keeping North Livermore as some kind of sanctuary or who idealize some sort of agricultural utopia, forget that the land is already owned by someone else. It is not open PUBLIC land. And in this day and age of profit, if the land had any real agricultural value, it would have been used as such continuously.
I mention all this because I feel that the amenities that Pardee has offered in exchange for building homes, are too good to pass up. They have offered an upgraded pad and land for a third highschool (which is currently needed), money for the school district to use in any way they please, a new completed sports park as well as open space. Similar to the South Livermore Plan, it is a well thought out plan that in exchange for being allowed to build a nominal amount of well-designed homes (which are needed), will provide Livermore with the ability to meet current and future community needs.
I encourage those interested in educating themselves on the facts and details of the plan, to go to www.livermoretrails.com and read over the plan themselves. Just consider this: has the building of new homes in South Livermore hurt the character of our town? Or have the new citizens and the money they generated (allowing for more land to be put into agricultural use and other land being used to link Sycamore Grove/Veterans Park and Del Valle) been beneficial to the rest of livermore? I believe the North Livermore Plan as designed and proposed by Pardee homes would bring us similar results.
Posted by melanie at 05:53 PM | Comments (0)
January 13, 2005
Sunny California
Posted by melanie at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)
Education in California
Arnold Schwarzenneger has put out an interesting challenge to the education community. However, his idea of merit based pay for teachers has a few problems. How does one go about deciding who is a good teacher and who is not? Do you let the test scores be the deciding factor? I think not. From personal experience I have found great teachers at underacheiving (lower) performing schools, and bad teachers at great, high performing schools. Would you let parents decide? A very problematic idea. I have heard mixed things from various parents about my daughter's teacher. But I have found that, for her, he is a great teacher. For every teacher out there, you are probably going to find positive and negative opinions about their quality as a teacher. (Although, I will admit that there are a couple cases of teachers who are more than ready to retire and every parent has complained and requested tranfers to alternative classes. Undeniably, in this case, this is a teacher who should not be allowed to continue.) The other problem with basing education funds on teacher merit - how can one judge the quality of education from one district to another, or even one school to another, when the funds provided differ so greatly. In Livermore, at my daughters school, there are 32 students in kindergarten, third and fourth. Every class is as full as the district would allow. Fifth grade has and average of 31, with only first and second grades having 20 students. There are no free periods for these teachers, because they do not have any extra teachers for science, art, music or PE. (For the general population. There are extra teachers who provide resource, and a librarian and technology teacher for limited periods. There is also a roaming mmusic teachers for those few students who have been allowed to take a musical instrument in 4th and 5th. Money for which was provided by the community as a whole - not that which comes into the district.) The next town over - Pleasanton - as plush in the money as we in Livermore are short- have class sizes of 20 in K-3 and the classes at higher grades are not staffed as high. They have money for science, PE, Art, technology etc. Their facilities are beautiful and up to date - not trailer trash. The parent community has the wherewithal to provide extra services to their children if they do begin to fall behind. How can anyone compare these two districts and justify that their teachers are better than ours?
Posted by melanie at 08:51 AM | Comments (0)
Why blog?
My husband thinks that as someone who has made it their business to know what is going on in our town and is, according to him, opionionated, perhaps I ought to share these views with others. I think he means others besides himself. I find the idea of an online journal an interesting concept. But, why not? I do have some strong feelings about certain issues and I wonder if others feel the same. S
Posted by melanie at 08:44 AM | Comments (0)
January 01, 2005
Links
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