Growing up in Brooklyn in the 50’s, there were two givens:
First of all, no matter what your religion of birth was, your “real” religion was the football Giants! and
Secondly, whether you believed in heaven or hell, you were sure that you knew exactly where Jimmy Brown and rest of his hated Cleveland Browns were going. Even Lebron left that town.
So last month, it shocked me to read about something so revolutionary, so extraordinary, and, yes, so fabulous, that came out of Cleveland. I must now, despite my ancient feelings, give credit to that city.
We all know two facts.
1- There is no possible way that educational problems can ever be solved by the government, the teachers unions, the tax payers and children’s advocates all agreeing. And
2- Cleveland, could not possibly be any part of the solution.
After all, Cleveland has:
1- 44,000 students and 3,000 teachers.
2- It is routinely among the lowest ranking urban school-districts in every national survey.
3- More than one-third of its schools receive the state’s lowest academic ranking.
4- Its graduation rate is only 63 percent
5- And 28,000 of their students have, over the past several years, actually transferred to other school systems.
But, you won’t believe what happened.
John Kasich, the Republican governor , the Democratic mayor of Cleveland, and the local teacher’s union, all have come together with a solution on how to improve the quality of their teachers.
They actually agreed to overhaul how teachers are hired, fired and paid.
Do you believe it ? Suggest you sit down before you read the plan.
1- Teacher’s pay will be linked, in part, to student test scores.
2- Laying off teachers will be based on performance instead of seniority. Finally.
There is much more to their plan, but, only time will tell if those involved will wiggle their way out of their commitments. But, for the first time within memory children’s education came first.
Dr. Stephen Morris.
North Hills
