old skool drmmr Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 Aren't high school football coaches occasionally subject to this kind of community and parental pressure? Yes but the difference is that their position as a football coach isn't also a full time faculty teaching position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 Wally's good at finding controversy LOL Not so good at knowing he's in the middle of it.... Thinking of waste in school, my sis in law taught Reading Recovery in upper Dauphin County (won't name the district). Program helps kids with reading problems like dyslexia before it causes them to get really behind the rest of the class. Not cheap during the recovery process but saves in the long run because the kids are able to be more productive the rest of their time in public school (and maybe go to college, pay more taxes, etc). One school board member wanted to cut the program because of (bean counter alert) it uses a high amount of money per student. When Sis-in-law explained what I posted above the response was "But why waste money on dumb kids?". Earth to school board.... dyslexia has nothing to do with intelligence. Not that I think teachers know it all but just cuz youse is on the skool burd don't mean you're that edge-I-ma-cted in learning youngins.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 (edited) the waste is usually in the administrative offices When the usually suspects were running on cut the waste I asked where the waste was at and could have accepted an answer of just about anything except the bus bill. (For everyone else, it's a small district and there are no buses.) What I didn't expect was a nice vocalized pause (what I remember from my HS public speaking class) followed by a nasty response. "....ahhhhh.. Well there HAS to be waste..." Weird part was this happened two elections running... then they quit stopping at our house..... Edited December 12, 2013 by JimF-LowBari 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peel Paint Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 and at those meetings, if they were to be held...and I've seen this happen...you get that one or two people with an agenda that #### everything up for the entire lot. Just recently in my area, a band did a show with Russian music and had a giant russian Flag, hammers, sickles etc...and a community member...not even a parent raised hell and got it on Fox news. There was a thread on here about it. This show was in no way promoting communism for god's sakes. But one community member had a fit, and boom national news. While I more often than not think most of the waste in schools is in the administrative office, from know many teachers these days it seems the biggest challenge in education is the parents. Yeah, I agree; I've seen all this all too often in the midwest as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snaredude08 Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 People in the general area of Lassiter and neighboring schools have a stereotype among everyone else nearby of being rich, self-absorbed snobs... I don't know how true it is, but this certainly doesn't help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2muchcoffeeman Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 Actually, this situation presents several ingredients that, in more capable hands, could have produced some powerful journalism: A prominent music program . . . . . . that has involved untold thousands of local kids and families, ensuring widespread local readership the departure of a legend the arrival of the replacement -- an automatic underdog character, always a strong narrative element (we see this story frame when new football coaches replace a legend) the process used to hire the new director, providing the opportunity for some watchdog/accountability reporting a group of angry and overly vocal parents . . . and their equally vocal children and the greater number of other band kids and parents who are trying to put their heads down and do the best job they can, just like always It's a reporter's gold mine: The inevitability of change. Faded glory. Helicopter parents. Opaque hiring processes. Tax dollars, educational priorities, and accountability to the public. It could be a good, instructive saga, and a heck of a read, to boot. Unfortunately, it all overmatched the reporter at MDJ Online, a suburban news organization. News outfits like this cover news that actually matters to most people -- schools, local crime, etc. -- but typically are staffed by younger journalists still learning to handle complex narratives. Usually they don't get much hands-on editing in these shops. Besides, you may have heard local news is a business that is in rapid decline. This particular story takes the angry parents' point of view as the starting point. It relies too heavily on too few parental voices. It's a victim of careless editing: who's Dr. Hinojosa, anyway? It plunges in with damning quotes from students in the band, when a more seasoned reporter might have used some discretion on behalf of the youngsters, who may not understand the consequences of their words the next time they're in class. Instead, this could have been a strong story about all the angst and anxiety surrounding a major transition in the life of a successful local institution. The reporter made the requisite phone calls and got the expected no-comments, but my suspicion is that there are school-board minutes and other public documents that reveal details about how the new director was recruited and ultimately selected. Equipped with a more neutral story frame instead of a notebook of red-hot quotes from angry parents, the reporter probably could have talked the new director and her principal into an in-depth interview about the role they are playing in this very public transition. Approached with care, they probably would have been willing to discuss the hiring process with detail that the district administration is forbidden to. With this kind of approach, the reporter could have taken a broader overview of the situation as the starting point, not automatically pitting hothead moms and dads against a backwater music teacher. In the process, it could have provided the broader public a good look into the value of good music education. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 It's a victim of careless editing: who'd Dr. Hinojosa, anyway? Nice catch! And fine meta-analysis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdaddy Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 No, I don't think the students have much of a clue. Was I not clear enough for you? I was just trying to give you the chance to back off from making bold, uninformed statements. I think students have a perspective that shouldn't be ignored. They can be perceptive, and they can understand when an instructor is in over his/her head. The article didn't do the students any favors, but that doesn't mean that their assessment is wrong (just because they are kids). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 (edited) I was just trying to give you the chance to back off from making bold, uninformed statements. I think students have a perspective that shouldn't be ignored. They can be perceptive, and they can understand when an instructor is in over his/her head. The article didn't do the students any favors, but that doesn't mean that their assessment is wrong (just because they are kids). Of course kids have a perspective; and if your contention is true then I suppose that this website certainly shows that most kids can and do accurately and fairly evaluate their teachers. Edited December 12, 2013 by Stu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 (edited) You never, ever, want to be the guy that follows The Guy. You want to be the guy that follows the guy that followed The Guy. We probably have another decade ( maybe less ) to see who will be " the guy ( or gal) that follows THE GUY " that has written the music or ran the Corps in a few of our elite DCI Corps. Some of "THE GUYS "have been doing their gig longer than the Lassiter Band legend that retired before this new Band Director was hired and took over the Band there. Imagine you are " the guy " that takes over for George Hopkins at the Cadets, or "The GUY " that takes over for Wayne Downey brass writing and Scott Johnson in Percussion at the Blue Devils, or : THE GUY " that takes over for Michael Klesch in brass arranging at Crown, and so forth.Like you said, when the inevitable retirement happens to these DCI legends, one hopes the next hire realizes that they are the guy ( or the gal ) that followed THE GUY . That person will have our sympathies, no question about it. We can only hope they don't suffer the same response and resistance to change that this new Band Director there is undergoing. Change is never easy, and it appears the Marching Band supporters and boosters there are not handling the changes very well that the Marching Band there is currently undergoing. Edited December 12, 2013 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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