[Vision2020] School Levy Unfair to Poorer Students

Sun Nov 11 21:03:29 PST 2007

The thing is, Debi, I'm afraid Donovan has stumbled across the most phenomenally amazing secret in the MSD locker.  

Yes, it's true.  All of the students at Moscow High School (as well as the junior high and the four elementaries, which he didn't include in his argument) are doing, and will do, spectacularly well in life.  Born -- every single one of 'em -- into the nurturing wombs of loving families with abundant finances and generous exposure to art and culture, Moscow kids are so utterly privileged that only a small -- nay, insignificant -- fraction are ensconced in the last-ditch environs of the alt school.  To a one, every single other student is well-adjusted, ambitious, infinitely able to choose from the best of life's offerings, and irretrievably on a path gilded with nothing but ease and success.  Not a one of 'em, bless their little hearts, needs a thing from any one of us.  And thank God!  This bleeding-heart hooey about schoolchildren and schools dealing with the effects of drugs, broken homes, poverty, domestic violence and emotional famine, not to mention the draconian implementation of NCLB, legislative disregard for education, and unstable school financing, is just a smokescreen for the unbridled greed of those who choose to begin their professional careers in a field that pays, at the beginning, less than $30,000 a year.  I mean, they're in it for the money, obviously -- it's not like the public schools benefit any of us in any way, and it's not like there are any other, more lucrative, careers.

Sigh.

Look.  I've tried reason, rational thinking, and facts.  I don't like to use sarcasm against people.  But to suggest that the only troubled kids in MSD are at the alt school, and that the funding allocations are evidence for a conspiracy against non-college bound students, is absurd.  And, frankly, as close-minded as it is hard-hearted.  Every student, period, without exception, deserves the very best the schools and community can offer.   I have a college degree.  I have a son in college.  My husband did not go to college, not a single day.  And yet it's his success in business, not to mention his intrinsic smarts, that allows me (by the grace of God) to spend hours a day not working, but writing things like this.  Denying necessary funding to the schools is not the way to advocate for one child, much less a category of student -- as if students could be neatly pegged into categories anyway.  

This involves people.  Real children.  And the passage of this levy is necessary.  I'll be writing more on "God's will" in regard to levy votes as a counter to Wilson's claiming divine affirmation, if not reward, in the result of last week's and this week's elections.  For now, suffice to say that while school levies are an imperfect method of providing for "least among you" between 5 and 21, it's the best way we have now, and I believe that Moscow is the kind of place that will vote again for its own children.

keely

From: debismith at moscow.com
To: donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com; areaman at moscow.com; vision2020 at moscow.com
Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2007 20:33:33 -0800
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] School Levy Unfair to Poorer Students

So, Donovan, how does the Alt school, as part of 
Moscow school district, benefit if the levy fails?
Enlighten please?
Debi R-S

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: 
  Donovan Arnold 
  To: Dan Carscallen ; vision2020 at moscow.com 
  Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2007 6:28 
  PM
  Subject: Re: [Vision2020] School Levy 
  Unfair to Poorer Students

  I don't believe I said it wasn't. The question is why is the money we 
  give to MSD not divided to give all children an equal shake? 

  Best,

  Donovan

Dan Carscallen <areaman at moscow.com> 
  wrote:

    Paradise 
    Creek Alt school is part of the 
    Moscow 
    School 
    District, last 
    time I heard.

    DC

    -----Original 
    Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com 
    [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] On 
    Behalf Of Donovan Arnold
Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2007 5:38 
    PM
To: 
    vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] School Levy 
    Unfair to Poorer Students

    I believe that the current school levy 
    funding ignoring vocational students needs is highly discriminatory. If 
    you don't agree me, perhaps these statistics will change your mind. 

    Who in your opinion needs more support 
    from the community?:

    Paradise Creek Regional Alt 
    School

    Rank 
    #102

    Total Students(2005 - 2006*): 
    32
Fulltime teachers: 1.5
Student/Teacher Ratio: 21.3
Eligible for 
    discounted/free lunch: 16 ( 50 %)

    Am. Indian/Alaska Native: 1 ( 3 
    %)
Asian/Pacific Islander: 0 ( 0 %)
Hispanic: 2 ( 6 %)
African 
    American: 1 ( 3 %)
White: 28 ( 88 %)
Unspecified: 0 ( 0 
    %)

    OR
    Moscow Senior High 
    School

    Ranks 11th in state 

    Total Students(2005 - 2006*): 
    603
Fulltime teachers: 34.5
Student/Teacher Ratio: 17.5
Eligible 
    for discounted/free lunch: 102 ( 17 %)

    Am. Indian/Alaska Native: 10 ( 2 
    %)
Asian/Pacific Islander: 16 ( 3 %)
Hispanic: 18 ( 3 %)
African 
    American: 10 ( 2 %)
White: 549 ( 91 %)
Unspecified: 0 ( 0 
    %)

    It seems like it is a common pattern to 
    better fund those with the greatest advantage to began with. Why is it too 
    much to ask that the MSD promise to allocate more funding so the kids that 
    cannot afford lunch get the same opportunities in a public education system 
    as kids that can afford to buy lunch 
    everyday?

    Best,

    Donovan
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