Stuff You May Have Missed
Before Katrina, the New Orleans public school system was a national disaster. Since Katrina, it’s a whole different story.
Overall, reports the New Orleans Times-Picayune, “the quality of education citywide is steadily rising, with the percentage of so-called failing schools dropping from 63 percent in the spring of 2005 to 42 percent this fall.”
This five-part series tells the whole story.
Chat with New Orleans School Superintendent (and former Philly school boss) Paul Vallas here.
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In their current issue, the Philadelphia Notebook, which covers the city’s public schools, has an ominous story that tells what happens when “zero tolerance” policies are taken to the extreme.
The story, by Wendy Harris, begins: “Chalissa Morrison was transferred in February from West Philadelphia High School to Community Education Partners (CEP), Miller campus, without a hearing after school officials found a steak knife in her book bag.
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“Morrison, a mentally gifted student, was put in handcuffs and taken to the 18th Police District, where she sat ‘and cried’ for 14 hours.”
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“’The night before I was going home late from my best friend’s house and she put it in there for my protection,’ Morrison said. She forgot about it when she went to school the next day.
“School personnel immediately called police. Morrison, a mentally gifted student, was put in handcuffs and taken to the 18th Police District, where she sat ‘and cried’ for 14 hours. After her release, she was placed on five days’ suspension. Morrison then returned to West.
“’But while I was in class doing my work, the disciplinary person called me out of class and gave me a letter that said I had to go to CEP,’ she said.
“For five months at the disciplinary school, Morrison rotated between the same four subjects in a setting she described as more like a ‘prison block’ than a learning environment… ”
The rest of this troubling story here.
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Most newspaper columnists ditch their columns once they score a lucrative book or movie deal. Not Steve Lopez, the former Inquirer columnist who now writes for the LA Times. Lopez scored big with “The Soloist,” but continues to find the stories that once helped newspapers feel invaluable.
Here’s one recent Lopez column about a teacher who works for free.
