Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Kumon; POB's Summer School":
While I cannot speak for all schools in the district, I can say with no hesitation that Stratford Road is a very poorly run school that offers a substandard academic education which is by no means consistent with the high taxes we pay. Part of it definitely stems from its leadership, part of it the teachers.
Just a speculation here. Is it possible that the reason fewer resources go to Stratford is because much of their funding goes toward the special ed population at the expense of other necessities? This is not to say that students with special needs should not get the best of everything. I just wonder if Stratford is overcompensating one at the expense of the other.
Whatever the reasoning is for all this, there is something about this school, the principal, the lack of uniformity (a term I've seen repeated on this blog many times), the minimalist attitude toward instruction, the horribly low expectations and limited teacher accountability, the test scores, etc that seems extremely suspect to me. Curious if anyone else has noticed this.
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As a Stratford parent, I agree with the overall poor rating for Stratford. In fairness there are some teachers that are fabulous (and everyone knows who they are and wants their kids in those classes). Only a rare kid lucks out every year. If your kid has 1 bad year it really puts them at a disadvantage. Our taxes are too high for any of our kids to be having bad years. The principal should be making sure this isn't happening. I don't think money is going to spec ed at the expense of the other kids. It's been brought up that Stratford kids don't get the workbooks that other kids in our district get. Whatever they are using instead isn't working out well. The principal should be half as concerned as the parents are about this. Instead she sends home a letter telling US not to give our kids anxiety about state tests that SHE did not make sure they were prepared for (they have not been). Notice the test prep every single day since we came back from spring vacation? Who's creating the anxiety here? And it's not review - test prep should be review - a lot of it is new. As someone else wrote CRAM CRAM CRAM.
ReplyDeleteMy son went to Stratford and I thought his teachers for the most part were excellent. I never felt that the Special Ed program was taking anything away from the other students.
ReplyDeleteWhy would Stratford not be getting the same workbooks as every other elementary school in the district? They must be putting the money toward something else. It just does not make sense. There's a weak link somewhere. Where is it? It may not be the special ed program. That's only speculated because it is known for its special ed program. The inequity seems very suspect.
ReplyDeleteMy friends at Old Beth get workbooks in 4th grade social studies and Stratford uses xeroxes.
ReplyDeleteTo the parent whose child loved Stratford Rd., how long ago was that? Also, did your son have all the teachers everyone wants? If so, that would be why you report a positive experience. We have had both positive experiences and absolutely awful ones; it depends on the teachers. This includes, of course, those teachers who are remedial, OT, Speech, AIS, etc. Again, the good ones know who they are, take pride in their work and know how to help each kid. Thank you to those teachers (some of whom have been transferred to other schools in our district). The lack of uniformity and lack of texts exists in Stratford. This lack of uniformity exists from classroom to classroom at Stratford. If you have teacher X for first grade, your child gets books to read on his level. It's the luck of the draw. Reading is done in some classes and not in others. Whatever happened to author studies? One 4th grade class does it, another does not. What is up with that? Principal needs to look at what is being done (not done) in classes and start using her authority. Get books. Order them. Other principals do. Also, look at what material is covered each month. Is NYS curriculum being followed? Where are gaps? Fill them in. Be accountable. Our kids can only learn what is taught.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it has nothing to do with special ed. The principal of the school is pissed that she lost "Investigations" and is in over her head. She cannot even run the school from a managerial point of view, forget about academically. Is it a coincidence that Ronelle Herschkowitz gets rave reviews from the children and parents of Parkway and that these problems don't exist there?
ReplyDeleteEither the Stratford principal believes that uniformity exists in all classrooms in her building, is afraid to rock the boat with her teachers, does not understand what academic freedom means, does not see this as detrimental to the children or simply does not care.
ReplyDeleteAny which way, she does not have a strong handle on how to work with parents, both in communication and in evaluating their complaints.
It might be unattainable to keep everyone happy all the time but there is a way to demonstrate effort in this regard. If this were the case, at the least, we'd be able to respect her for trying. Such a shame that this is the situation.
The inequities at Stratford are obvious to the parents and even the kids. I think the Stratford principal doesn't care. Why should she? She has tenure and it would cost a lot of money to get rid of her. There is no one above her managing what she does so she does the least possible and its fine because no one is holding her accountable. The school district is OK with mediocre results. The bar is set low in this district and even lower at Stratford. The principal could make all the difference for Stratford kids and she's a zero.
ReplyDeleteI liked our Superintendent better when he was "acting". He doesn't act anymore. Another screw-up of the BOE. If he was doing his job, a certain principal would be doing hers. It's interesting that he dropped out of site after the "acting" title was dropped. He just doesn't care.
ReplyDeleteHe was a bad actor also. While he was interim, an all-out search should have been going on - not the assumption that we would continue with him.
ReplyDelete