2009-03-19 6:00 pm
Locations
Libbey High School41° 38' 6.3852" N, 83° 34' 7.4964" W
Meeting Location41° 38' 44.1996" N, 83° 33' 15.5088" W
There will be a meeting March 19 at 6 PM at Jones Middle School (corner of Collingwood and Gunckel) on the status and apparent tearing down of Libbey High School.
I think it is news to anyone that the "decision was made several years ago" to tear it down according to what Chuck Cornwell, Chairman of the Libbey High School Hall of Fame Committee read.
Read more at:
http://www.toledofreepress.com/2009/03/19/meeting-set-to-discuss-demolit...
I spent my first five years at Libbey, and if there were ever a place that needs the wrecking ball and a fresh start for the students that attend there, this is the place. I mean, what are they down to over there? 400 maybe 500 students. The small schools were merely a stop gap, and now that the money is gone ( I believe) there is no reason to keep a school that size open for that amount of students. I have been saying since the building plan began that once it was close to conclusion they would shutter Libbey and begin the process of redistricting TPS. It isn't going to make a lot of people very happy, but I think overall it is best for TPS and the students.
A school's success is not dependent upon a building - never has been and never will be.
Libbey does not need a wrecking ball so that the students can get a "fresh start".
The problems will remain regardless of where these students end up.
I personally have been following the building program since the beginning. Frankly, many good suggestions were made by me and others again and again, but the good folks that led TPS when most of these decisions were made, most long gone, never wanted to listen. If they are listening, we TOLD YOU SO!
I have written from the beginning that Libbey would not be renovated or rebuilt and would be closed at the end or before the building program was completed.
The budget is going to require some cuts. Two schools, Spring and King were closed in 2006 for budget reasons. In reality they were just being rebuilt and are now coming on line this summer. Some schools have to close just to accommodate these schools opening.
Then there is the capacity issue - overcapacity in all learning communities except Waite.
If you go to TPSINFO.COM, you can get information on enrollment by learning community (raw data - no analysis) and TPS presentations.
are you? When I said the building needs a wrecking ball and the kids a fresh start, I wasn't talking about the building itself, I was talking about the school as a whole. Unlike you, I was actually in the building and taught there for 5 years, so therefore, also unlike you, I actually know what I am talking about. The whole building from top to bottom is a joke, and I am not talking about the structure that resides at 1250 Western Ave. Once this group is broken up and the students can go to new schools and get a new beginning with a dedicated staff, it will be for the better. Now go ahead and make up some statistics or some pithy dialogue to argue with me.
Oh, and as for :
"I have written from the beginning that Libbey would not be renovated or rebuilt and would be closed at the end or before the building program was completed."
Way to copy exactly what I said in the posting before yours....lol...
can you please explain to me how a new building will improve teaching? to me, a good teacher can teach where ever. a new building and technology is just a tool. it's not the building that makes a good teacher, it's their dedication and love for their job, but what do i know? :)
"Once this group is broken up and the students can go to new schools and get a new beginning with a dedicated staff, it will be for the better........ "
are you saying it's because of the kids? why isn't there dedicated staff there now? don't ALL kids that go to tps deserve dedicated staff? what role do the teachers play in helping the kids succeed, or is that the building and student's responsibility?
steve, i always enjoy reading your posts. agree with what you are saying, but i know i don't have to tell you, some people will never see the facts in front of tem. thank you for your post, i'll check out the link. :)
I am a teacher for the district also, and I am fortunate to have the technology already that our new building will have. I can tell you that the technology DOES make me a better teacher, because I can present a math lesson in such a way that the kids are much more interested than I have ever seen them before in a classroom. I can copy and paste in microsoft paint to have them compare graphs of two functions. I can drag a line over a picture of a graph to apply the vertical line test and hear my students comment how "cool that is." I engage my students by walking around AND teaching at the same time by using an airliner to project what I am teaching. I can use my "clickers" to interact with students so much that they waited after the bell to find out if their answer was correct, even though lunch was next. I have absent students that I can review the notes with, because I can save my notes and print them off.
The students of today are not like the students of prior days. They are adapted to a world of technology and texting so much that showing them something they consider "cool" may be the only way to engage them. I know the visuals I can provide through a projector are many times more effective than the old chalk board/overhead approach.
Even though I have considered myself a great math teacher prior to adapting this technolgy, I definitely consider myself a more effective one.
technology is good, as long as it's a tool, and not replacing teaching. :)
i'm taking a crappy math class right now, and the dvd that came with the book sucks! it's like it's trying to replace my instructor, who often refers us back to the dvd. i'm glad i paid good money for the class. it's sounds like your students are very fortunate to have you as a teacher. "good" math teachers seem like they are hard to come by, which is sad given how important it is. i remember the guy i had in high school, he would write, "duh" or "hello?" on my paper when i got the problem wrong. it still bugs me he said that. thanks for your post. :)
I have not been posting much so I just checked the track feature and was going back to read the posts.
Interesting way to continue a discussion. No I was not dense - I actually was disagreeing with you that dismantling the school was necessarily the correct course of action. Perhaps you missed this statement, "The problems will remain regardless of where these students end up." That should have been a giveaway that I got your point and I was disagreeing.
Okay, you were there and are the expert. I don't think we need anymore discussion as you have the solutions. Congrats.
To the Libbey staff and students, a TPS teacher who worked at your school thinks the best solution to the problem is for all you to go away.
steve,
after checking out tpsinfo.com i'm wondering what will happen if the governor gets his way and reforms funding for public schools? where are all the kids going to go if many charter schools close, and the new buildings are over crowded as it is? will there be another building campaign? we will be so over taxed as it is. i can't see how another campaign would pass, assuming the state has money to kick in. how are the teachers supposed to teach if they have 50 or more kids in their class? (it's a good thing many people are for closing down charter schools.) i can't see how it will benefit the kids if this passes. is ANYONE putting the needs of the kids first????????????????
As you probably saw, a state legislator sued the governor to get information. On this plan, it is difficult to assess.
I'm of the opinion that the cost of education will go up significantly and the governor is not providing the funds to support the changes. I also believe it will end up requiring additional local monies. The total share of education funding locally may go down, but the total dollars locally will go up.
There is actually significant overcapacity in TPS except on the east side. The real problem is not that TPS does not have the building space, but will be the funds to keep them open. Budget constraints will require teachers to be laid off. Much of this problem came about during the last contract when significant dollars were paid out for a promise made by Sanders on a pay increase. The money was put into the salary base instead of paid as a lump sum. This approach will come back to haunt TPS and require more layoffs.
I don't see a new levy passing for operations or buildings for the foreseeable future. The cost per student continues to climb but the results are not obvious.