The Report Card in Free Stamp City
It's again report card time at the Free Stamp City elementary school and little Johnny brings his home. His mother looks at it and sees that her son has flunked again. “Johnny” she says, “this is terrible. You have again failed miserably. Look at these scores! Only 50%! This will not do”.
Another year goes by and it is report card time again. Johnny once more hands his mother his report card. It looks like the same report card as before, Johnny has flunked again. But this time Johnny’s mother is happy. Johnny’s scores have gone up to 55% which his mother perceives as continuous improvement. Johnny’s mother calls Johnny’s father and tells him the good news. Johnny’s father is impressed. He then calls all of Johnny’s relatives; Grandma’s and Grandpa’s, Aunts and Uncles and tells them that they should reward Johnny for his good report card. He tells them that they should send Johnny letters of congratulations stuffed with money because of his continued improvement. “Get the money any way you can”, Johnny’s father says, “Even by taking it from your neighbors.”
So folks, what do you think of the Free Stamp City School District? Would you like to send your kids there? In Free Stamp City, simply improving your failing grade to a higher failing grade is cause for celebration. Notice in Free Stamp City, its state lawmakers have yet to find a way to make school funding constitutional. Until they do, the school district will simply use the same old unconstitutional method.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, this is a parody of Cleveland. The difference is that some media outlets will be the symbolic father spreading the word of the “good report card” to the citizens of Cleveland. The battle cry will resound:
It’s time to start selling a levy/bond issue to the voters. We will make sure we appoint an accountability committee (which will disband soon after it’s formed).
It will be up to the voters again. Unfortunately, many voters will be voting to raise the taxes of those who own property. Many of the voters will not be affected by an increase of property taxes. Many do not own property. Others have been granted tax abatements. Still others, being large corporations making huge amounts of money with their sports arenas and building projects, are also exempt from paying property taxes. These corporate property owners, with the means to afford such luxurious properties, are excused from their civic duties of supporting the Cleveland Schools with their fair share of property taxes. Through strong arm tactics, they threaten to leave the city if they do not get their way.
Efforts will be made again to provide transportation to the polls. There will be public rallies at churches. Fliers will start going out. Unfortunately, many voters who pay property taxes will not know about the rallies or see the fliers. The fliers will be placed in public housing complexes. The message may read:
“Vote for the levy, it won't cost you a penny. It’s good for your children and grandchildren. Section 8 and public housing residents will not be affected.”
On the top of the flier will be a large picture of a penny. (If this sounds familiar, it is because it was printed on a flier used for the city’s last levy attempt).
The sad truth though is that a failing grade is still a failing grade. Scoring anywhere 60% and lower is still a poor report card regardless if the failed grade went up a few percentage points from the previous year. Any school district meeting less than half of the required State education requirements is still unacceptable, yet what can a taxpayer do? How can they hold accountable those spending their tax dollars?
The media continues to be irresponsible by reporting its propaganda stating that Cleveland has received a good report card. Even more disturbing was the recent story in the Plain Dealer a few months ago stating how poorly the Cleveland students did on the new proficiency test. Obviously for the PD it was only a minor set back because the paper is now reporting that the Cleveland school district has received a good news on its report card. In another story months earlier it was reported that someone in the school administration allegedly gave the order to inflate the attendance numbers. At that time, Cleveland had a better attendance rating than some suburban school districts that received an effective grade from the State. With the figures appearing to be altered, why should any citizen believe anything that comes out of Cleveland? Sadly the public seems to have a problem with its short term memory, as those stories have been apparently forgotten.
Continuous improvement does not mean that a school system has received a good report card. Improving a failing grade to a different failing grade is not good. Saying so is nothing more than using smoke and mirrors to hide the reality that the Cleveland Schools are still broken and have still flunked. Cleveland seems to be dysfunctional and in a state of denial.
A true example of a good report card would be a school system whose previous rating of “effective” has risen to “excellent”. This actually happened to a charter school in Cleveland. But the media chose not to report on this accomplishment. More often the big city media quashes the charter school concept.
Perhaps one solution would be for Cleveland to begin its regionalization plan by first annexing the suburbs where some of the letter writers and some of the media’s reporters live; those who report and give their opinions and ideas on how to fix Cleveland and its problems of education and crime from the safety of their suburbs. These idea people would then become part of the solution by becoming residents of Cleveland. Perhaps the Plain Dealer would start the trend by moving its printing operations back into the city and regain its old name again, “The Cleveland Plain Dealer” while paying property taxes.
There is a saying that beating a dead horse does not accomplish anything. Our politicians and media have come up with a new way of handling the dead horse. They have come to Cleveland to dress up the dead horse to make it look better. The truth unfortunately is no matter how pretty they make it, the horse is still dead and it still stinks.
It's again report card time at the Free Stamp City elementary school and little Johnny brings his home. His mother looks at it and sees that her son has flunked again. “Johnny” she says, “this is terrible. You have again failed miserably. Look at these scores! Only 50%! This will not do”.
Another year goes by and it is report card time again. Johnny once more hands his mother his report card. It looks like the same report card as before, Johnny has flunked again. But this time Johnny’s mother is happy. Johnny’s scores have gone up to 55% which his mother perceives as continuous improvement. Johnny’s mother calls Johnny’s father and tells him the good news. Johnny’s father is impressed. He then calls all of Johnny’s relatives; Grandma’s and Grandpa’s, Aunts and Uncles and tells them that they should reward Johnny for his good report card. He tells them that they should send Johnny letters of congratulations stuffed with money because of his continued improvement. “Get the money any way you can”, Johnny’s father says, “Even by taking it from your neighbors.”
So folks, what do you think of the Free Stamp City School District? Would you like to send your kids there? In Free Stamp City, simply improving your failing grade to a higher failing grade is cause for celebration. Notice in Free Stamp City, its state lawmakers have yet to find a way to make school funding constitutional. Until they do, the school district will simply use the same old unconstitutional method.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, this is a parody of Cleveland. The difference is that some media outlets will be the symbolic father spreading the word of the “good report card” to the citizens of Cleveland. The battle cry will resound:
It’s time to start selling a levy/bond issue to the voters. We will make sure we appoint an accountability committee (which will disband soon after it’s formed).
It will be up to the voters again. Unfortunately, many voters will be voting to raise the taxes of those who own property. Many of the voters will not be affected by an increase of property taxes. Many do not own property. Others have been granted tax abatements. Still others, being large corporations making huge amounts of money with their sports arenas and building projects, are also exempt from paying property taxes. These corporate property owners, with the means to afford such luxurious properties, are excused from their civic duties of supporting the Cleveland Schools with their fair share of property taxes. Through strong arm tactics, they threaten to leave the city if they do not get their way.
Efforts will be made again to provide transportation to the polls. There will be public rallies at churches. Fliers will start going out. Unfortunately, many voters who pay property taxes will not know about the rallies or see the fliers. The fliers will be placed in public housing complexes. The message may read:
“Vote for the levy, it won't cost you a penny. It’s good for your children and grandchildren. Section 8 and public housing residents will not be affected.”
On the top of the flier will be a large picture of a penny. (If this sounds familiar, it is because it was printed on a flier used for the city’s last levy attempt).
The sad truth though is that a failing grade is still a failing grade. Scoring anywhere 60% and lower is still a poor report card regardless if the failed grade went up a few percentage points from the previous year. Any school district meeting less than half of the required State education requirements is still unacceptable, yet what can a taxpayer do? How can they hold accountable those spending their tax dollars?
The media continues to be irresponsible by reporting its propaganda stating that Cleveland has received a good report card. Even more disturbing was the recent story in the Plain Dealer a few months ago stating how poorly the Cleveland students did on the new proficiency test. Obviously for the PD it was only a minor set back because the paper is now reporting that the Cleveland school district has received a good news on its report card. In another story months earlier it was reported that someone in the school administration allegedly gave the order to inflate the attendance numbers. At that time, Cleveland had a better attendance rating than some suburban school districts that received an effective grade from the State. With the figures appearing to be altered, why should any citizen believe anything that comes out of Cleveland? Sadly the public seems to have a problem with its short term memory, as those stories have been apparently forgotten.
Continuous improvement does not mean that a school system has received a good report card. Improving a failing grade to a different failing grade is not good. Saying so is nothing more than using smoke and mirrors to hide the reality that the Cleveland Schools are still broken and have still flunked. Cleveland seems to be dysfunctional and in a state of denial.
A true example of a good report card would be a school system whose previous rating of “effective” has risen to “excellent”. This actually happened to a charter school in Cleveland. But the media chose not to report on this accomplishment. More often the big city media quashes the charter school concept.
Perhaps one solution would be for Cleveland to begin its regionalization plan by first annexing the suburbs where some of the letter writers and some of the media’s reporters live; those who report and give their opinions and ideas on how to fix Cleveland and its problems of education and crime from the safety of their suburbs. These idea people would then become part of the solution by becoming residents of Cleveland. Perhaps the Plain Dealer would start the trend by moving its printing operations back into the city and regain its old name again, “The Cleveland Plain Dealer” while paying property taxes.
There is a saying that beating a dead horse does not accomplish anything. Our politicians and media have come up with a new way of handling the dead horse. They have come to Cleveland to dress up the dead horse to make it look better. The truth unfortunately is no matter how pretty they make it, the horse is still dead and it still stinks.
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