Laurel Parts Ways with HC

[proudscfan]

@Simmonj.......relax. The recruiting part is a dead horse. We all know that. What competition between schools? There should not be a competition between the home schools in sussex county and ST. ST is set up as a trade school. Students that do not want to go to college but want to learn a trade have an option to attend ST. That is what the school is set up for. It was not set up to be an open high school or a high school to prep you for a four year college. But it has morphed into that over the years without an elected school board to oversee the way things are run. By the way, it would be nice if all schools could spend as much per student as ST does. Make the playing field even.

 

[Simmonj4618]

@proudscfan ... I understand where you’re coming from but your post just reinforced the crux of my statements. It all boils down to competition, as adults we compete for jobs, business compete for customers and yes schools compete for the best students. If not you end up like some urban cities who's most productive residents flee (i.e. Detroit). This is reality, maybe it's not fair but this is the way it is and has always been.

Yes ST morphed into something different than their original purpose, OK so what have the local districts done to stay competitive or evolve? I know there other overlapping social economic factors but we can only control what we can control. I've seen local school not try or just have total apathy sometimes to the things they can control such as hiring competent coaches, opening the fields up to youth teams or have open gyms over the summer. I not saying all schools don't do this but you get it.

If you’re not competing or being competitive it just teaches students that they can just sit back and collect their welfare checks and section 8 vouchers and schools can offer the basic level education because there's no need to be competitive. By the way it would nice if I made the same as my boss.

 

[proudscfan]

Actually I haven't reinforced your statements. I understand what you are saying. We all understand and thrive on competition. There are many things that go on at ST that are just wrong. Some I went into and some I would rather not. That is what I was refering to.

 

[GateKeeperRefugee]

I wish this concern about vo-techs/privates/charters/recruiting was so prevalent when public schools were going down the toilet, but hey. Cook on.

 

[Wolverine52]

Part of the issues in public school was poor legislation. If you know a teacher that's been around for awhile (15-20 years) they all seem to echo the same concerns:

- New testing regulations don't allow teachers to "teach"
- No follow-through; legislation gets put in place and changes in 3-5 years regularly
- Too much energy and resources go to special education (time/manpower/regulations)
- Boxed, rollout teaching strategy systems created and implemented to target struggling students

Public schools are at the mercy of the state and the feds, and are held hostage by a growing culture of complacency and entitlement. It's not that hard to see why education is a dying major in colleges across the nation. You are asked to fix issues that you didn't create nor have enough control over to actually make a difference consistently without undermining people in kids lives' outside of school (families, advocates etc...)

 

[Simmonj4618]

100% spot on Wolverine52

 

[Downstatecredit]

I think it's pretty obvious that I've been against how "technical schools" have impacted our area (SC). However, all of these issues are barking up the wrong tree. The real issue has nothing to do with athletics. I enjoy technical schools being competitive on the field. The problem is in the classroom. When a school tries to sell that they are superior academically, yet only have a hand full of AP classes, it's sending the wrong message. Student's who want to go to college after high school that aren't pursuing a trades degree are in the wrong place. I had a conversation personally with a current teacher in a trade school in our area and they said they lack students. I asked them how this could be with a technical school five miles away. He stated to me that they don't push what they are there for, instead, they have other pathways that students flood to that have nothing to do with what a technical school stands for. These schools have lost their way. They advertise something that they are not and they are what they shouldn't be. They're selling a false product. I have no objection with having these schools, our society needs electricians, carpenters, plumbers, mechanics, and what technical schools represent. However, it's hard to sell to a parent that classes at this school aren't geared toward a four year degree or more in college, but this is what they sell instead. There's nothing wrong with that, most of the careers I stated tend to make a higher salary than a lot of jobs that require degrees. It just doesn't sound appealing to parents and it most likely causes a drop in enrollment. I believe someone felt that this was hampering their style and wanted to change that. This is the result.

 

[Ikeyfbst2]

@proudscfan ... I understand where you’re coming from but your post just reinforced the crux of my statements. It all boils down to competition, as adults we compete for jobs, business compete for customers and yes schools compete for the best students. If not you end up like some urban cities who's most productive residents flee (i.e. Detroit). This is reality, maybe it's not fair but this is the way it is and has always been.

Yes ST morphed into something different than their original purpose, OK so what have the local districts done to stay competitive or evolve? I know there other overlapping social economic factors but we can only control what we can control. I've seen local school not try or just have total apathy sometimes to the things they can control such as hiring competent coaches, opening the fields up to youth teams or have open gyms over the summer. I not saying all schools don't do this but you get it.

If you’re not competing or being competitive it just teaches students that they can just sit back and collect their welfare checks and section 8 vouchers and schools can offer the basic level education because there's no need to be competitive. By the way it would nice if I made the same as my boss.

You are comparing apples and oranges. All Sussex Tech needs to do to get more money is ask the legislature. The legislature then passes this cost on to County residents, without referendum. This creates a disparity in the allocation of funding. This is the key problem in the system, this is why the educational funding model needs to be addressed statewide.

Imagine the uproar if the legislature had called Sussex Tech on their overcrowding issue last year. Imagine if the had been told NO, you are the ones that overreached, you fix the problem. Don't kid yourself, the first finger of blame would have been pointed at the legislature. The politicians knew the risk and caved. So spare me the competition reference until all districts are allowed to do so on equal terms.