tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7719550.post2397483360083205510..comments2023-11-13T04:55:40.769-05:00Comments on Tuttle SVC: I Leave CommentsTom Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08577165613934129833noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7719550.post-40614083678520391662013-06-14T08:09:48.188-04:002013-06-14T08:09:48.188-04:00I accidentally deleted a comment by Mike:
So this...I accidentally deleted a comment by Mike:<br /><br />So this is weird and I vaguely remember reading it:<br /><br />"School Supt. Tom Brady first recommended shutting down both the schools, due to declining enrollment and the need for costly improvements. Estimates for the renovations topped $35 million at Perry alone."<br /><br />http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/providence/local-wpri-perry-middle-school-feinstein-high-closing-down-20100426<br /><br />And then:<br /><br />"Through the lease, Achievement First would rent the building [Perry] for one dollar per year for a period of 20 years. The public charter school will oversee a $10 million renovation of the building at no cost to the City."<br /><br />http://council.providenceri.com/ward7/igliozzi-council-approves-leasing-perry-middle-school-use-mayoral-academy<br /><br />I've seen renovation cost projections run wild (see Little Compton, now) but this seems, well, like a coverup. <br /><br />I also went back and read your old pieces from 2011, which were compelling- particularly the Krieger back-and-forth- but ultimately uninformative. This continues to make absolutely no sense to me. <br /><br />Maybe it was a three-pronged: Gist in her Time 100 mode, legitimate concerns about declining enrollment, and a hunger for SIG. None stands on its own as a plausible explanation, though, especially after achievement skyrocketed. Maybe they were in over their heads? <br /><br />Krieger seemed clueless. <br /><br />Brady was an original champion of UP, an organization designed to innovate within labor-management constraints. Seems like Feinstein already had the feel of what they wanted in an UP school.<br /><br />What a weird story. <br />Tom Hoffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08577165613934129833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7719550.post-59676921053729552362013-06-13T20:09:26.331-04:002013-06-13T20:09:26.331-04:00Also, this was the first round of PLA, and RI &quo...Also, this was the first round of PLA, and RI "raced" to be the first in the country to implement it, by a considerable margin, including pushing out the announcements before the new test scores came out -- but probably after they had them. <br /><br />They didn't disclose the original formula, and I thought about requesting it as an open record, but ultimately, the wording of the regulation seems to allow them to name any school with a four year graduation rate under a certain level to be named PLA, so you couldn't "win" by challenging the calculation.Tom Hoffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08577165613934129833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7719550.post-6030198437451381532013-06-13T20:05:51.610-04:002013-06-13T20:05:51.610-04:00Well... I'd agree that it just doesn't mak...Well... I'd agree that it just doesn't make any sense. It didn't at the time, and it doesn't now. <br /><br />Brady didn't shut it down because it was unionized, but because it was different and autonomous, and the big push was for uniformity.<br /><br />There is really no question that Gist would have praised Feinstein and Hope if they'd been charters. Maybe it would have been enough if they had been HER turnarounds.<br /><br />But yes! <i>Why didn't they just take credit for the success stories?</i> It is bizarre, really.Tom Hoffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08577165613934129833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7719550.post-61662331993207192672013-06-13T19:54:15.782-04:002013-06-13T19:54:15.782-04:00Still not a 100% sure what Brady and Gist's in...Still not a 100% sure what Brady and Gist's incentives were for closing those schools down. <br /><br />If I'm reading correctly, you're attributing the cause of the closures to the teachers being unionized?<br /><br />This strikes me as arbitrary. Wouldn't the commissioner want a traditional public school success story?<br /><br />And there was a formula for persistently low achieving, right? <br /><br />Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06589679895658059154noreply@blogger.com