There are at least a couple of toys from our household – a board game and
a stuffed animal or two – buried deep in that pile of garbage at the Central
Landfill in Johnston.
They were sent there long before their time, but for good reason.
My wife is the disciplinarian in our house. Terri deserves credit for discovering a while back that when it comes to disciplining children, talk is cheap. Repeated warnings go just so far.
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Finally, when one of our three little ones pushed too far, screamed or whined for too long, Terri brought the hammer down. She took a favorite toy or game and threw it away. She didn’t threaten to throw it away. She walked into the offending child’s room, grabbed the toy or game and tossed it in the garbage. It did not get untied the next morning and cleaned off. There was no change of heart trip to KB Toys.
The toy or game stayed in that garbage bag until the next Friday morning, when it was picked up and carted off to Johnston.
Terri has only had to bring the hammer down a few times over the past year. It works. It changes behavior, immediately. There’s usually one last scream and a few uncontrollable sniffles. And then, it is over.
Speaking of whining, that’s what we heard last week from some school superintendents after news that 14 public schools here were performing so poorly that parents of children in them could demand in January that their children either be moved into better performing schools or be provided tutors.
It is all a part of the “No Child Left Behind” bill that President George W. Bush signed into law this past January.
It’s a terrific law because it protects those who need protection the most. And, most importantly, it’s got teeth to it.
School choice is among the requirements of the law. It states that low-performing Title I schools that do not make progress on statewide test scores for two consecutive years must offer school choice. Title I is a designation for schools where a high percentage of students qualify for free or reduced lunch programs.
This is a law designed to reach out to schools in poorer neighborhoods and hold them accountable. It is a very real attempt to ensure equal educational opportunities for all.
Last week’s news that 14 schools were falling under the penalties of the law caused a stir, particularly in Providence and Central Falls.
In the capital city, all six middle schools were designated as low performing and not improving. In Central Falls, the middle school that received that same designation is the only middle school in the district. This will make school choice difficult. The districts may have to bring in trailers or find a way to pay for widespread tutoring services.
The biggest argument coming from the school superintendents appears to be that they didn’t expect to have to comply with the law so quickly. They thought that because Rhode Island had not started ranking its schools until last winter, it would receive some temporary reprieve. But the U.S. Department of Education is turning a deaf ear to that argument – demanding that the Rhode Island schools act now, not later.
That’s refreshing to hear. Students at Calcutt Middle School in Central Falls, Veazie Street School in Providence, Oakland Beach Elementary School in Warwick, Coleman Elementary School in Woonsocket and all of the other low performing, not improving schools deserve attention now.
And the argument that this is all so sudden rings hollow.
The “No Child Left Behind” bill signed by President Bush is nearly a year old. And calls for real education reform in Rhode Island are not new.
In his annual address to the General Assembly in May of 2001, Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Peter McWalters addressed that very issue; “If a poor-performing school, with increasing support and engagement from the district and the state, continues to flounder or decline, we will act. If faced with a district or school unable or unwilling to make adequate progress, we will act… and we will make use of all the tools at our disposal, up to and including closing a school.”
Recent months have seen improvements at several Rhode Island schools, in several different communities. Children are reportedly reading more. In general, mathematics scores are up. And SAT scores are also rising.
But to bask in those positive developments at the expense of glaring problems in our urban elementary schools would be unfair to so many children, and now thankfully, against the law.
It’s a good thing that the federal government is bringing its own hammer down on the public education system. In the long run, everyone – most importantly, the children – will be better off.
After all, talk is cheap. And repeated warnings go just so far.
