School Board Decision 2000

Updated 16 Oct 2006

The Fiscal Extravagance of Carpenter & Bradley

In 1994 Carpenter & Bradley took on longtime incumbents Keeley and Powers for their budget defeat in 1993, the decision to privatize the cafeteria and custodial services, and for failing to communicate with the community. Improving the quality of education was no part of their platforms. Keeley and Powers made a fatal political mistake in trying to catch up 11% of deferred inflationary increases all in one year. Consequently, they lost the 1994 election.
But, the Keeley/Powers record on cost control is much better than the Carpenter/Bradley record, as this chart demonstrates. While Keeley/Powers increased per-pupil expenditures by 24% in the face of 22% inflation, Carpenter/Bradley have out spent them, raising per-pupil spending by 26% with only 14% inflation. That's nearly twice the rate of inflation. When the expense of the building bond is added, per pupil spending soars to a 37% increase over six years with a mere 14% COLA increase for social security recipients. And the increases have just begun. Mr. Marcelle recently warned there are big building-project related expenses lined up for next year's budget. Carpenter/Bradley have learned to take a little extra from voters in each election, rather than all at once. For this bit of wisdom they claim the accolade of fiscal conservatives, even though they fully intended to outspend the prior Keeley/Powers board. It’s nonsense. While they point to lower than average increases compared to other school districts, they neglect to tell voters that the school districts with large increases are experiencing growth in student populations and economic growth that lowers state aid, while our condition remains stagnant with 3.7% fewer students than two years ago. Some schools are struggling with 90+year-old buildings, wide-scale poverty, large special education populations, and staggering numbers of students who speak English as a second language. Of course they need more money compared to our relatively fortunate circumstances. In 1994, Carpenter said that the board’s decision to hire private companies for cafeteria services and some custodial services prompted him to run. He said the school district should continue to provide such services with its own employees. He stated that he didn’t think privatization would save as much money as predicted. Carpenter was a school bus driver in the same year. While I agree that bus drivers should be district employees, six years after he was elected, privatization is essentially unchanged and Carpenter has failed to deliver on his signature issue. In fact, some of our bus driving positions are contracted out. In 1994, Bradley claimed the board failed to communicate with the public. She wanted the School Board to hold more question and answer sessions with the public. "Usually residents can only talk at the beginning of a meeting and must wait until everyone has spoken before officials answer any questions they pose." Six years after Bradley has taken over, you can wait until the end of the meeting and no matter what questions residents ask, they will not be answered at a Board meeting. The Carpenter/Bradley rule is, "Questions from the public are not answered in Board meetings," even though the Keeley/Powers board frequently answered resident questions from the chair. Communications are far worse now than in 1994. Many people who want to serve on district committees, and who are invited by the Superintendent and Board members to serve, are never told what time the committees meet, so they are never called to serve. You don't have to take my word on it. You can read commentaries 1 and 2 in School Talk (which, by the way, both Carpenter and Bradley have praised). In characteristic fashion, Bradley has good ideas but fails to follow through.


On Dropouts and Technology
Board President John Carpenter on Scotia-Glenville Dropouts: "How much time and effort are we going to spend on students who don't want to come to school?" Carpenter asked without much sympathy at a recent Board meeting.
Jerry: Our dropout rate is twice that of similar schools. (See chart.) Welfare and job training programs cost thousands more than high school diplomas. Jails and prisons cost even more. True enough, most dropouts lead fulfilling and productive lives. Yet, as an attorney, I prosecuted too many of them for shootings, sexual assaults, burglaries, and thousands of dollars in thefts and property damage. Dropouts frequently turn to a life of drugs and crime. We can do much better with dropouts without spending more money, but we have to get at root causes. Carpenter's record shows that he has given up, or worse, he's ineffective.
Board Member Karen Bradley on Technology: "Everything is always behind on technology." Joe Kavanaugh, Chair of the Technology Committee, agrees with her. Karen has complained about the school's website for years. According to Mr. Kavanaugh, despite our $304,900 Technology Referendum, in just two years "we have lost the momentum" for integrating technology with the curriculum. We had to forego $30,000 in 100% reimbursable aid for software because we are not in a position to use the money.
Jerry: I agree with President Clinton that the digital divide must be closed. The only way we are going to cheaply, significantly and quickly improve our technological services, including refurbishing computers for the poor, is to substantially increase our volunteers. We need better ways for recruiting, retaining, and rewarding the student and community volunteers who will bring our website and technological services up to the high quality enjoyed by many of our nation's students. There is no reason for not getting this done right, and done now.

Why do Carpenter and Bradley want a 3rd term?

Bradley: "I want to see [the building project] through to completion. I . . . feel I can continue to make a contribution."

Carpenter: "I'd really like to stick with [the building project] and see it through to completion."
The Scotia-Glenville Journal, April 7, 2000

That's it? That's the main reason? Personally, I have reviewed the same public information they have and listened to the same public presentations. Plus, I serve on 5 committees that create the information the board reviews. Time and again Bradley has said, "You probably know more about the building project than we do." She's right.

The building project is just one piece of what needs to be done.

I agree with Kurt Ahnert that the Board needs to spend more time creating resources and policies that add value to education.

I agree with Pam Carbone that we have to do a better job giving teachers the tools and supplies they need in the classroom.

I agree with Joe Benny that the behind-the-scenes budget process needs to be made more reliable, more responsive, and more creative.

I agree with Dan Magruder that the Board needs to be fair in allocating funds to each building.

I agree with Margaret Smith that the Board needs to show it is responsive to parents and the community.

The problem is that Carpenter and Bradley haven't gotten the job done. And new classrooms have nothing to do with most of the problems.

Some assignments, tests, and instruction have been watered down. We offer pleasure reading for excellent Junior High readers in the face of difficult Regents standards, and Disney cartoons for 8th graders in English. We read stories to our 11th graders. We'll even substitute movie watching for subject content. Math computational skills are marginalized, and you should take a few minutes to compare our English curriculum with the Regents standards.

Parents wonder when the spelling mistakes will be corrected; when the grammar will be taught. Everyone gets a gold star, to the tune of 55% of 7th graders being on the honor roll. Yet, our school consistently turns in average state performance compared to similar schools. SAT scores are falling. The dropout rate is twice that of similar schools (which artificially inflates our performance rating).

One has to wonder who is fooling whom? In the absence of accurate grades, parents never get the alert signal that their children need to be doing better than they are. Everything is fine until one day, suddenly and without warning, you find your child in a remedial reading class.

There are reasons why our secondary schools have not been National Blue Ribbon School winners for more than a decade. There are reasons for our average-compared-to-similar-school performance. We do not have to go tilting at statistical windmills to find them. They lie plainly in view.

Although we don't need to be telling parents what to do, we do need to inspire them to be involved in the education of their children, and involved in quality assurance. We need to find a better fit between school life and family life. Our district needs to make a concerted effort to send a consistent message to parents that their participation is indispensable to the best success of their children.

But our district locks parents out of classrooms. It forbids their participation in curricular decisions. It tells parents not to be involved with homework. Parents can't easily find out about and join school committees. (See parent comments 1 and 2). School clubs, like last year's very successful Junior High Moot Court Team, are canceled because we aren't organized well enough to find sponsors for them.

So, even though the message should be, "You are your child's most important teacher," something gets lost in the translation, and many parents receive the message to, "just drop your kids off and leave it to the professionals. We'll let you know how things turn out."

No school, not even a school full of talented and dedicated teachers, can compensate for the lack of homes where parents provide solid learning environments that stimulate curiosity, confidence, and educational conversation. As soon as parents drop out of the education of their children, the chances for a good education start to plummet. The district has to pay more attention to the mixed messages it sends that reduce parent participation in the education of their own children. There are many ways for schools to do a better job with parental involvement.

Meticulous attention to basic subjects and broad outreach to parents are key to restoring our school to its former state of nationally recognized academic excellence. If the main goal of Carpenter and Bradley is to "see the building project through to completion," they can join building committees, where they'll have more real control. A school board seat can be used with far more effectiveness and initiative than Carpenter and Bradley have shown.




Parent Friendly Schools
In addition all the issues I've discussed on this site, and the mission statement I favor for the Junior High, as well as the entire school, I strongly advocate the creation of Parent Friendly Schools. Parents should be made more welcome in our schools and on our committees. I favor piloting a volunteer program, with evening hours and telephone access to make parent-school partnerships convenient and efficient. Parents should not have to file Freedom of Information requests to view the text materials and video tapes from any class. These should be provided quickly and informally upon oral request. Parents should be welcomed into our classrooms as they are all over the country. Nothing improves education like actively involved parents. School committee meetings involving parents have to be held when it is convenient for them to attend. Parents must be notified of meeting times and cancellations. (Even though I, and every administrator in the district, have email access, committees on which I serve have canceled without sending any kind of notice to me.) Parents are entitled to same-day return of telephone calls, or at least a call telling them when they can expect a return call. Parents have to be given the authority to opt their children out of occasional homework assignments that conflict with important family obligations, and the ability of children to go to bed on time and to have nightly sit-down meals with the family. Studies show that much of learning occurs during sleep. Students must sleep at least six hours per night. Studies also show that students who eat with their parents are less prone to violence, drug and alcohol use, and to drop out of school. And, the correlation between violence and dropouts is higher than the correlation between smoking and lung cancer! Teachers cannot do the education job alone. Creating parent friendly schools will go a long way toward improving academic results at Scotia-Glenville.
	Teenagers want more family time, yet Bradley doesn't trust parents to do their job. Neither Bradley nor Carpenter trust parents enough to allow them to visit classrooms without causing disruptions. They do no approve of parent visits to classrooms. Schools all over the country encourage parents to visit classrooms. Our own Jr. High manual authorizes the practice (though it apparently doesn't permit it for parents qua parents). It even states the procedure for minimizing disruptions. I wonder if it would be too disruptive for parents to sit in 8th grade English classes while the students watch a Disney cartoon over 3 days, which they have done? It's time to take this pathetic attitude of banning parents from classroom out of service! The rule has nothing to do with disruption and everything to do with rationalizing privilege.

School Initiatives

Jerry is currently serving on 8 school committees, covering topics from building construction at the middle and high schools, to district-wide committees on homework and pre-kindergarten policy. He has regularly attended school board meetings, read all public documents provided to board members, and conducted a 30-year review of school district records. His experience in college teaching, research, economics and law make him the most highly qualified candidate for improving education and controlling costs.

Click here to see more biographic information.

Job #1–Improving Education . . .

Refine the curriculum into a coherent whole.

1. Reintegrate more of the basics of grammar and math skills into the curriculum.

Voting Is Crucial

1. The School Board has a big impact on property taxes.
2. If you don't vote, Teacher Unions control election outcomes.
3. Your vote counts for more in local elections.
4. Voting is quick and easy (call 382-1222 for absentee ballots).
5. Public education is our most important responsibility.
6. No one is more committed to excellence at reasonable prices.
7. Six years is long enough for Carpenter to prove his point.

2. Follow through with basic skills like journal writing in every succeeding year.

3. Require learning initiatives to contribute to the improvement of the overall curriculum.

4. Cut out Disney cartoons and recreational reading for middle schoolers who need more challenging work. (Yes, we show Disney cartoons in 8th grade English, and kids can read Star Trek books in class.)

Other core initiatives:

5. Increase online library resources through a consortium of local school and public libraries.

6. Increase opportunities and recognition for student/parent/community volunteering.

7. Restore integrity to school publications.

8. Create the most informative and useful school-owned website in our area.

9. Integrate student/parent skills and interests into homework.

10. Restore the representative function of School Board trusteeship through greater use of surveys and direct communications. (Three school surveys are available online at http://myshortpencil.com/surveys. Those without home Internet access can quickly and easily take the surveys at any public library. If you would like the surveys mailed to you, please write to Jerry Moore, 122 Jay St., Scotia, NY 12302.)

11. Increase to 50% the number of students prepared to take Algebra in the 8th grade.

12. Continually promote the desire within each student to always put forth his or her best effort.

13. Adopt board policies that welcome parents and community members into our schools.

14. Integrate U.S. Surgeon General recommended cardiovascular workouts into the Phys. Ed. program.

15. Follow Athletic Director Tom Bried's recommendation to improve the athletic programs we have, rather than expand program offerings.

Job #2–Controlling Costs . . .

16. Turn the lobbying power of myshortpencil.com to the state and federal governments to relax unfunded mandates, and increase our share of funding from sources like grants and the state lottery.

17. Re-examine the plan to install and operate air-conditioning units in the gymnasiums, auditorium, and libraries of the building project.

18. Hold salary and benefit increases to 2.7% for the teachers' contract to be negotiated next year, spending most of the increases to improve pay on the lower steps, and to create incentives for teachers who miss fewer than 5 days of teaching during the school year. Current salaries range from $31,898 to $66,212 with full benefits and job protection for 180 days teaching.

19. Develop a recession-protection clause for employee contracts to protect taxpayers against catastrophic school tax bills during times of extreme and widespread economic hardship.

20. Eliminate $3,200 School Board Member Conventions that bring home a mere 108 pages of instruction and include $245 meals at Pastabilities. One or two representatives can go in place of all seven.

21. Promote the use and growth of safe businesses within our school district to improve employment opportunities, increase the tax base and reduce property taxes.

Q. I'm in favor of your election and I'm indifferent about Bradley and Carpenter. How can I cast my vote to give you the best chance of winning?

A. You should cast one of your two school board member votes for Jerry. You should let your other vote go without using it. This gives Jerry the best chance of winning. Thanks for asking.

Over the past 6 years . . .

Social Security Cost of Living Increases = 14%

School Budget Increases=37%

If academic performance matched budget increases, no one could complain. But . . .

SAT scores are falling compared to national averages. That means, on average, students can't win the biggest scholarships at the best universities. Compared to similar New York Schools, our school routinely turns in average numbers.

There are too many days of movies and recreational reading, especially since rec. reading has no proven benefits. In the Junior High, for example, about one-tenth of English is spent on pleasure reading, where students sit quietly in class and read the book of their choice. Instead of reading classics like Animal Farm, students are reading Star Trek novels. Instead of learning how to think about the books they read, 8th grade students spend days watching cartoons like Walt Disney's Hercules. In one High School English Class the teacher spent about 2 weeks reading aloud 65 pages of A Tale of Two Cities to a class of juniors.

(For information on the cost of education and teacher salaries, please click here.)

Like our much higher-than-national-average car insurance rates, at some point someone has to ask, "Can't we do a better job?"

I agree with Vice President Al Gore: "More money is only part of the solution. We also need to demand more from our students, our teachers and our schools."