Even so, as Many Teachers Don't Feel Valued in Monday's P&C reveals, Superintendent McGinley's district survey of teachers that was supposed to show that the Charleston Teacher Alliance, which took its own survey, is composed of a bunch of complainers and whiners revealed
Of the 2,041 respondents, only 53 percent said they strongly or somewhat agree with the statement: "As a teacher, I feel valued by Charleston County School District." The district employs roughly 3,500 teachers.District administration took the results so seriously, in fact, that it had sat on them since last May, despite many queries from outsiders. (Oh, how familiar it all sounds!)
Another finding:
One such area involved the support staff for schools, such as learning specialists and instructional coordinators, and whether they contributed to improving classroom instruction. Only 59 percent of teachers thought so, while only one-third of those surveyed by the alliance said those positions benefit the classroom.So will McGinley finally rethink some of her bureaucracy from this additional result? Not going to happen.
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The way the superintendent has tried to spin teacher dissatisfaction is part of a pattern. Unfortunately only a few people are seeing it for what it is. Why can't the surveys be compared directly? Did she or her staff write the questions in such a way as to steer the responses? We all know what "push polls" are. Nancy McGinley must also know what they are and how to manipulate them. This is a mere game played by adults with other people's money. But what isn't being considered is the real cost to the students and the toll on the entire educational system this kind of game is taking. Read on....
Some new and potentially very damaging statistics were revealed at the County School Board meeting on Monday night (August 23). It seems that after all the promises and expectations laid out by Dr. McGinley in support of closing five schools in 2008, the reports on the progress of the students involved are now in. In the spring of 2008 she made her case with statistics, of course, concluding that as many as ten failing schools were were doing harm to their students. No one argued that the kids were entitled to a better education than they were getting but it didn't make sense to just close the schools and move the students to other failing schools. She said otherwise. The super fought against her critics who questioned her logic and doubted her promises of better academic results. In the end she got most of what she wanted anyway. Five schools were closed and five others were essentially put on notice they were next. (She's since learned that calling a school "seismically challenged" gives her the power to close a school down without regard to public objections.)
Well folks, the results are in. During the 2009-2010 school year the over 1,000 students impacted by her school closures made little or no progress over their performance of the year before the closures. Academic scores, discipline and attendance records for the individual students most inpacted (or at least those they can track) have shown no significant change as a group. Of course they have access to more stuff (including art and music programs) but overall they have remained stuck in their previous levels when tested. It was interesting to note that there was even a slight decline in some catagories like foreign language enrollment even though it would appear that foreign language offerings should have been more available...but maybe that's another false promise. Curious, but unexplained?
Anyway, McGinley spend millions to close schools saying it was saving money and improving education. Her own statistics show otherwise.
Retired teacher,
Not to worry. I'm sure Diette at the P&C will be all over this!
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