I was on the phone talking with Mary when this happened. I was at the crash site the next day and saw no evidence that their brakes were applied. I thought at the site that there is a strong possibility that the 16 year-old driver was texting when it happened. I was told that the event is still under investigation.
The street this happened on has a 30 mph speed limit. Likely going faster than that when he hit the ditch and flipped.
http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewFreeUse.act?fuid=MTMzMzUwNzg%3D
What will be the effect of the accident. The driver will not need to be educated. The two passengers many only be able to function at the level of the mentally handicapped. There will be one funeral and the other two will be society's burden for the rest of their lives.
You really do not care. O' Ya!
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
166 million dollars was spent to build what would become a failing school soon after completed.
HOLIDAY — Anclote High School principal Monica Ilse has no illusions about her school's grade when the announcement comes in early December.
"It is going to be an F," Ilse said matter-of-factly during a recent campus tour. "We've accepted it. We're going to move on. Honestly, that old news."
Students, faculty and staff got the first inkling that the news would not be good for their year-old school back in the summer, with the release of various state and national test results. Among the signals:
• 7 percent of students taking Advanced Placement (AP) exams earned passing scores.
• 36 percent of students taking the FCAT reading exam scored at grade level or better.
• 34 percent of students in the lowest quartile made gains on the FCAT reading exam.
Ilse knew the school would have its struggles. Located in a high-poverty, high-crime area, Anclote High has 70 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Many of the children have family or social issues well beyond schooling that affect their performance.
I recall teaching in Saginaw, MI. It was not uncommon for a high performing student to be threatened with violence if they scored high on an exam. If they wanted to get home without injury, then they had to respond to test questions by answering many questions incorrectly. I don't know if that is behind Anclote's 'F'. It could be that it is known by a large percentage of the students that if they don't study and fail exams that teachers will be blamed and potentially fired.
I doubt if most people care enough about was posted to have gotten to this point. You are a lot like the students in a failing school.
"It is going to be an F," Ilse said matter-of-factly during a recent campus tour. "We've accepted it. We're going to move on. Honestly, that old news."
Students, faculty and staff got the first inkling that the news would not be good for their year-old school back in the summer, with the release of various state and national test results. Among the signals:
• 7 percent of students taking Advanced Placement (AP) exams earned passing scores.
• 36 percent of students taking the FCAT reading exam scored at grade level or better.
• 34 percent of students in the lowest quartile made gains on the FCAT reading exam.
Ilse knew the school would have its struggles. Located in a high-poverty, high-crime area, Anclote High has 70 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Many of the children have family or social issues well beyond schooling that affect their performance.
I recall teaching in Saginaw, MI. It was not uncommon for a high performing student to be threatened with violence if they scored high on an exam. If they wanted to get home without injury, then they had to respond to test questions by answering many questions incorrectly. I don't know if that is behind Anclote's 'F'. It could be that it is known by a large percentage of the students that if they don't study and fail exams that teachers will be blamed and potentially fired.
I doubt if most people care enough about was posted to have gotten to this point. You are a lot like the students in a failing school.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
A Path to School Ruin
source: Diane Ravitch @ the Times
Gov. Rick Scott seems determined to ruin public education in Florida. Not only is he devastating school budgets with multiple-billion-dollar cuts, but he is intent on crushing the morale of the state's teachers. One can't expect to improve the public schools while demeaning the professionals who work in them.
Scott approaches school reform as if public education were a government scam that needs to be privatized and as if teachers are lazy scoundrels who need a swift kick in the pants or the promise of a bonus to motivate them. He has a naive belief in the value of test scores that is not shared by the nation's testing experts. So he is promoting the proliferation of privately managed charter schools to compete with neighborhood public schools, more testing of all subjects and at the same time, tying teachers' compensation and evaluation to there student's test scores.
[It was recently reported on local news that a record number of Florida's teachers are taking early retirement. They are getting out of the profession. I wonder if those that had thought about the profession are not thinking about taking their professional development in a different direction. I look back on what I have done and think that I should have avoided the education profession.]
Will someone read this other than me. I doubt it.
Gov. Rick Scott seems determined to ruin public education in Florida. Not only is he devastating school budgets with multiple-billion-dollar cuts, but he is intent on crushing the morale of the state's teachers. One can't expect to improve the public schools while demeaning the professionals who work in them.
Scott approaches school reform as if public education were a government scam that needs to be privatized and as if teachers are lazy scoundrels who need a swift kick in the pants or the promise of a bonus to motivate them. He has a naive belief in the value of test scores that is not shared by the nation's testing experts. So he is promoting the proliferation of privately managed charter schools to compete with neighborhood public schools, more testing of all subjects and at the same time, tying teachers' compensation and evaluation to there student's test scores.
[It was recently reported on local news that a record number of Florida's teachers are taking early retirement. They are getting out of the profession. I wonder if those that had thought about the profession are not thinking about taking their professional development in a different direction. I look back on what I have done and think that I should have avoided the education profession.]
Will someone read this other than me. I doubt it.