Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Successful_Pen_2387 t1_ivd33hp wrote

> and know throwing money at a school district doesn't mean "better schools". Most of the time the money is spent on absolute bullshit and nothing that actually helps the classroom.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but do you have any examples of what things we're wasting money on. I dont see anything obvious.

27

Economy-Cupcake808 t1_ivd73s3 wrote

No, and that’s part of the problem. There needs to be more budget transparency

26

Organic-Hovercraft-3 OP t1_ivdbdfe wrote

I'll give you multiple real examples I've seen in just the past two years (I've been a teacher 10 plus years)

In my district (NYC DOE) they just spent millions of dollars on testing. We, the teachers, administer these computerized tests to students multiple times a year to "track them". The students do not take the tests seriously because they are not graded. Nothing is done with the results. The tests themselves are not even measuring anything meaningful. AND it takes away from class time where the kids are learning.

Second example -- they bought every teacher an ipad. But they loaded the iPads with all this security software that prevents it from being useful. Teachers cannot download the actual software we use in our classrooms. So every classroom has an iPad in it that none of us can use. It's just an expensive paperweight. Has they told me what I wanted for my classroom I would have purchased a MacBook with the appropriate software.

15

Belindiam t1_ivgiq37 wrote

So you work in NYC? What does that have to do with JCBOE? I am against the tests too and am hopeful that JCBOE will be a little less focused on them now that they are no longer under state control. People here talk about transparency without mentioning that it was the state who was responsible for everything the JCBOE did for years.

2

DontBeEvil1 t1_ive1977 wrote

And how exactly is voting for the Change for Children slate going to fix these things?

−8

DirectorBeneficial48 t1_ivdcd14 wrote

aaaaaah, the NYC teacher knows the inner workings of the JC board. got it.

−13

Organic-Hovercraft-3 OP t1_ivdcnqp wrote

I'm not saying I know the inner workings of this district (sorry if that wasn't clear).

I'm just saying that throwing money doesn't fix anything.

I can also tell from all the edu buzz words written on the campaign flyers for "education matters" that they have no idea what they are talking about

15

DontBeEvil1 t1_ive1e1s wrote

Have you seen the Change For Children flyers? They actually say nothing. So I can't even tell that they don't know what they're talking about...because they're not talking.

4

Jahooodie t1_ivgvc3p wrote

Haha, com'on man. It's a flyer!

I literally have an education matters flyer with a sketchy filter picture of Lefrak with Trump (all helpfully labeled) with a few sentences about he's the worst, and 2 sentences of platitudes that the Education Matters folks will build a bright future & improve accountability.

The Change for Children flyer is a bit less shock, but similarly has a few news lines about taxes and failing students, with a blurb about helping children and taxpaying citizens.

They're more the same in content than different.

3

SyndicalistCPA t1_ivf3ix9 wrote

Not sure why you are being downvoted. She said she would give us two examples and then gave examples of schools in NYC.

5

DontBeEvil1 t1_ive1asf wrote

Exactly. Probably married to a Jersey City Real Estate developer.

−6

The_Nomadic_Nerd t1_ivd6bmd wrote

The admin is bloated and the amount of money increased per student while performance hasn’t improved is all you need. Also the actual infrastructure is shit as the water fountains are spewing bad water so this hasn’t been spent wisely.

Finally, Change for Children wants to increase transparency for how this money is being spent since right now, taxpayers are being left in the dark.

13

Organic-Hovercraft-3 OP t1_ivdbzxz wrote

This is 100% accurate. The superintendents office in my district has a gigantic "team" of people that never set foot inside of a school. Or to be more accurate, they visit schools once or twice a year to put on their show. Nothing meaningful ever comes from their visits. And then they return to their office , far removed from any school building, and collect their six figure salary.

Meanwhile every year we cannot find enough ppl to teach math and science. Every year we are short 1 or 2 teachers. Nobody wants to teach in these schools. The working conditions are difficult, the pay is low, and there is no flexibility for remote work which is very common now in other industries.

16

ApolloRubySky t1_ivjt4x2 wrote

Why you keep talking about NYC DOE when the matter at hand is about JC

1

DontBeEvil1 t1_ive1guj wrote

And you think 2 inexperienced newbies are going to change that overnight? LOL. 🤦

−1

The_Nomadic_Nerd t1_ivekqmt wrote

It would give a majority to people that voted or would vote against future tax increases, so yes the tax hikes would stop quickly.

3

DontBeEvil1 t1_iveslno wrote

1 person voted for tax increases. Not any majority that is currently running, and when she ran, she ran on the other side. You can't predict the future. You have no idea how many of these new people (from either side) will vote, nor how that 1 person will vote, moving forward. And, yet again, taxes aren't the only reason to vote for or against someone for the Board of Education. And yes, taxes will inevitably be raised to fund things...that's how taxes work, and people screaming "bloody taxes," at the BoE aren't the 1at people to be unhappy with the amount of taxes they're paying, the lack of transparency where the money is going and the perceived lack of improvement to infrastructure.

−2