Obama Wants 5,000 Failing Schools Closed

Troubled Schools Would Reopen With New Principals And Teachers In Next 5 Years

(AP)  President Barack Obama wants to see 5,000 failing schools close and reopen with new principals and teachers over the next five years.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan says kids have only one shot at a good education. He said Monday that chronically underperforming schools need a new start.

Mr. Obama doesn't have authority to close schools himself. That power rests with local school districts and states.

Duncan said the idea is to be "more targeted and more strategic."

"We really want to put a laser-like focus on those schools that have historically under-performed," Duncan said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The administration's goal is for the lowest-performing 1,000 schools - about 1 percent of schools nationwide - to close and reopen each year for the next five years.

But the president will have unprecedented money to offer schools from a federal school-turnaround fund. And states have an incentive to act in the federal economic stimulus law, because they must help failing schools improve to be eligible for the dollars.

Combined with the budget plan released last week, Mr. Obama could have as much as $5 billion to facilitate school turnarounds, which could translate to $1 million for every school that is closed and reopened.

The federal school turnaround program gets about $500 million a year, and the stimulus legislation boosted funding to $3.5 billion. Mr. Obama's budget would add another $1.5 billion by shifting dollars away from traditional formula programs.

The plan for failing schools is part of an effort to fundamentally change perceptions about what works in education.

The president has already channeled an unprecedented amount into the traditional formula-driven infrastructure that funds elementary, middle and high schools in his economic stimulus law.

But Mr. Obama also plans big boosts for newer and, some argue, untested ideas, plowing more money into school-turnaround programs as well as merit pay for teachers.

"Here's a chance to do something dramatically different," Duncan told the AP. "I don't want to lose that opportunity."

[TxRancher1951]

My guess is B. Bernice Young Elementary School won't be 1 of the 5000 public schools Obama plans to close because they fail to make his grades.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aqMTD5UFmU

Remember when we used to have local Independent School Districts?

[taryder]

Take a look at Chicago's inner city schools!! Boy, THAT! sure worked. Seattle has been closing schools left and right, and this whole city is beginning to look like the only ones who should be living here are the elitist rich people and the developers! It figures Obama's answer would be to CLOSE SCHOOLS! I suppose the kids can pull themselves up by their bootstraps (and take responsibility) like GWB proposed. Is this MORE of the SAME, or what!

[cleolady1]

WHY CLOSE SCHOOLS? WHY NOT FIGURE OUT WHY THESE SCHOOLS ARE FAILING, IS IT BECAUSE OF THE FACULTY, IS THEIR A LANGUAGE BARRIER, IS IT THE PARENTS, ETC, ETC. CLOSING SCHOOLS ONLY OVERCROWDS SCHOOLS, I WOULD VENTURE TO GUESS THAT THERE ARE MORE KIDS ENTERING THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM THAN LEAVING. REMEMBER, KIDS HAVE TO BE BUSSED, MORE GAS, MORE BUSSES, MORE BUS DRIVERS AND BUS ATTENDENTS ETC, ETC, REMEMBER THE BUDGET!

I HAVEN'T SEEN NOT A ONE SCHOOL CLOSED WHICH WAS PROPOSED IN THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND PROGRAM, THESE KIDS ARE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO TO AN 'A' SCHOOL BUT THE 'F' SCHOOL REMAINS OPEN.

THERE IS ANOTHER PROBLEM HERE: THE TESTING OF THE KIDS STARTING AT 3RD GRADE, IF THEY DO NOT PASS THE STATE TEST THEY ARE NOT PASSED TO THE 4TH GRADE, SO HERE YOU HAVE A 9 YEAR OLD STILL IN 3RD GRADE BECAUSE OF THE TEST, THE CHILD IS SUPPOSE TO BE IN LETS SAY THE 5TH GRADE. NOW, LET ME ASK YOU HOW LONG DO YOU THINK THIS CHILD IS GOING TO CONTINUE TO GO TO SCHOOL TO THIS 3 RD GRADE CLASS. (IT'S EMBARASSING FOR THE CHILD)THIS TEST IS CREATING DROP-OUTS AND POTENTIAL CRIMINALS...

[Hollengirl]

President Obama is only closing these Schools, until qualified Teachers/Principal's are hired. In the meantime these kids will be placed into other Schools in those areas. I would think this is what Parents would want when they find out their children's School is a failing one. PLease give our President a chance to makes necessary changes in our Country, after the travesty of the last eight years...

[ladypirate2]

If they close these schools what are they going to do with the children? Where are they going? This will only add to the over crowded classroom problem that we already have. Also it is silly to have to bus a child all the way across town when there is a school in his neighborhood! We all know the problems involved in busing children. It doesn't work!

[souljam76]

Let us hope Every single school has recycling programs & hope every student learnes about many types or recycling & getting encouraged

[denziel56]

ok , lets let him try this approach ! but as we all know or maybe most of us that teaching kids starts at home with the parents. educating students with no support from their parents is a total failure for them and there kids,they will not move on through life with any goals or ambitions for success .educating the parents should come first and not left to teachers for babysitting kids that do not want to learn, as i have seen on early posts that you guys are fighting over big ears ? *** ? i believe this could lead to a better product of education and hope we taxpayers are not going to build 5000 day care faculties ! for children with no parental guidance or a will to learn the basics skills necessary to lead a productive life as an adult. the press elected obama with the help of the people, i was not one of them, but i'm giving him my blessing to push forward on education as this truly is our future , and not an issue over how bad teachers are in classes across the United States right now as we blog ! us baby boomers will need these kids to grow up and lead this nation into the future and not fail and leave us deserted on the road. so here is some food for the vultures to post on! tell me i'm wrong and i'll tell you to kiss my a## !

[erasmus111]

Ok, what metal has he proven?

Posted by klingon69 at 4:19 AM : May 12, 2009

Oh, go back into your smoke filled haze, your son must be waiting for you there by now. : )

[leeanna59]

Let's hope this closing of 5,000 schools isn't like closing Gitmo, where he has no clue about what to do with the people, in this case the children, at these schools....another plan, he forgot to think out.....done for show
Posted by Joe-NY-5

I was wondering how many unemployed school administrators are there out there who are lined up and waiting to take the principal jobs? If he closes the schools every year if they are failing to re-staff with new administrators and teachers who meet the competency requirements, do the previous teachers and administrators get put on an employable list forever? Is there a plan for re-training and utilizing the people who will be kicked out of the 5000 schools? Where do the new administrators and teachers come from? What happens when the economy recovers and highly trained people are anxious to take jobs in business where they can actually make a liveable income? Or will the business climate have been so socialized by then that it won't make a difference because incomes will be standardized across the board that it won't matter if one is a doctor, lawyer, principal, teacher, or CEO? Socialism is apparently on its way full force.

[walt1944]

The former-Great Emperor Bush II is dismayed that Obama intends on closing 5,000 failing schools and reopen then with in the 5 years as "renovated" schools.

The former-Great Emperor babbles that at least with his "No Kid Left Behind" program more children went through school! Its irrelevant that those kids who went through school turned out not knowing what the 3 "R's" stand for, and turned out being just as dumb or dumber than the Great Emperor was!

What matters is that at least, in his eyes, one program out of the many he pushed for worked, even if it turned out kids know nothing!!!

HAIL OBAMA!!!!

[flolake]

" President Barack Obama wants to see 5,000 failing schools close and reopen with new principals and teachers over the next five years."

Stellar idea! And I do hope that all those replaced will not be reassigned to other schools to poison them as well...

[tommynutz]

So he is going to close the schools in crime ridden ghettos where the kids might as well be raping the principal, so when they close and re-open, they can what, rape the new principal?

A new principal is not the solution to the crime problem in America Mr. Big Ears.

[klingon69]

Listen carefully, hold him accountable and Obama will prove his metal just has he has in every difficult situation so far. Too many of you want to label, simplify, generalize, compartmentalize and degrade. Given the opportunity to succeed, it very well might, if only you cynics who are in the way, would relax and exam before you condemn.
Posted by excoachken at 3:26 PM : May 11, 2009

Ok, what metal has he proven?

[mollydtt]

For the person that was sure that busing students from failing schools to exemplary schools would fix the problem--it doesn't.

Sending kids from homes where parents don't encourage attendance, or study skills, or really valuing education---that just goes with them to the other schools.

Honestly, my daughter attended our closest elementary school, where a big chunk of kids couldn't speak English, and many were on reduced lunch programs---yet the school was terrific---and the teachers, families and students got everything out of the classes that they possibly could.

The difference was that the families really got involved and they all worked together.

But, alas, some schools ended up closed, because of poor attendance and the inability to learn enough to pass TAKS tests. By the way, TAKS tests only test the minimum. They aren't hard to pass. The kids that fail those tests don't come to class, so you really can't blame the teachers.

When kids from poor performing schools start attending other schools, the distance alone is enough to keep parents from being involved in the new school, so involvement is even less.

[democracy1]

In my original post, I was asking whether or not you deal with people as individuals or as stereotypes, in response to YOUR post.
posted by democracy1

-Ever heard of principles? Liberals don't have any. So they can accordingly be all grouped into one group. There are no foundational principles in liberalism, just a bunch of gray areas and lies. To answer you other question, I deal with people as individuals every day of my life, do you?

Now what foundational principles do YOU stand on that allow you to make proper discernments on people and situations in your daily life?
Posted by Fighting4Freedom at 9:12 PM : May 11, 2009

This was meant for "Culture_Warrior". But I'll pose the same response to you.

You STILL haven't answered my original question. You just changed the subject to suit your purposes and then started asking your OWN questions. Why you expect me to answer when you don't is beyond belief.

NICE try.

[clancy49]

Close the schools down? Who will suffer? The children. Stop blaming the Principles and Teachers, start looking at the real problem. It is the breaking down of the family and community because of American oppression of the working poor. It is a moral breakdown of the family because this society no longer has strong moral principles and accepts responsibility. There lies the issue. Change the educational system to match this no responsibility world. Stop the marketing and enticing of things for kids. Change the educational system for training in a different world. Don't stop the kids from learning and taking away their schools. Look at the real problem, don't drop blame.

[kesac4650]

Removing the lowest performing schools from dragging our children down would be one of the best things to ever happen in America. It would make Teddy Kennedy's No Child Left Behind worthwhile after all.

[erasmus111]

Ya, lotta deadbeat teachers who think that working in the school syatem is like a government job, they come up with ridlicious stuff to teach kids just to pass the time of day so they can still collect their paychecks and get their summer vacation,, its just ridlicious,, some don't even take their position as teachers serious anymore,,

Posted by jetranger7 at 10:18 PM : May 11, 2009

There are SOME lousy teachers out there, but they aren't all bad. And the good ones are still on the job, even when they go home. I don't know about in the U.S., but some teachers will even use their own money to buy things for the classrooms.

You couldn't pay me enough money to be a teacher, now. With all the drugs and violence, kids raised by lousy parents, nope, there is no way I would want that job.

[jetranger7]

Ya, lotta deadbeat teachers who think that working in the school syatem is like a government job, they come up with ridlicious stuff to teach kids just to pass the time of day so they can still collect their paychecks and get their summer vacation,, its just ridlicious,, some don't even take their position as teachers serious anymore,, they don't care about teaching anything really useful so when you get out of school you can put it to use in a real job market,, some are to preoccupied with their own personel agendas, and trying to force it down students throats,, that has nothing to do with education, I once had a teacher insist the whole class study for 8 weeks Romeo & Juliet and Shakesphere,, and then wanted us to do an essay on it afterwards,, I refused to participate in it and stood up in class and told her so and why - your here to teach us something we can use in a real Job, in the real world so we can support ourselves and sustain ourselves in the future, not once have I ever seen a job application ask anybody if they know about Shakesphere or Romeo - Juliet,, I'm not doing this,, for 8 weeks,, well she flunked me, and I quit and went to work fulltime in a city public works dept. and was there for 5 years till I found something else - now I'm a diesel mechanic, and now I also have over 30 years of work history behind me too,, I see what many of these schools are turning out these days even colleges- just watch the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and his Jay Walking episodes, where he asks people General knowledgeable questions,, and most are Clueless about everyday normal things - its just sickining and disgusting people are so dumb and pathetically stupid and these are the ones that went to college and are supposed to be educated,,,!!!!!!!!!!!! Then again, look at Corporate America and how stupid they've become - and thats the Top Ceo's and upper Management !!!!

[guest173]

I am all for closing bad schools down and getting those teachers and principals out. I went to many different schools in several different countries, and ended up in a horrible dump of a school in Las Vegas many years ago. It really made me hate school for many years, when before I loved school and was even a Student of the Year in Korea before then. I dropped out of high school from my PTSD (but have since gone to college, thankfully college is much better than American public schools). A big part of the problem was teachers who ignored students, both the bullies and victims and expected the police to do all the work when it came to interacting with the students. You don't need police to just do your job and pay attention. The teachers seemed to expect the students to be dumb and ran away into their offices. They should have been interacting with the students and teaching them, not running away and barely doing their jobs.