Thursday, March 13, 2008

Friend$ of Metro $chools

The only thing this coalition will do well is pick the pockets of taxpayers.

Friends of Metro Schools — a coalition founded by Stand for Children Nashville, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Interdenominational Ministers’ Fellowship (IMF) — launches today, with a pledge to strive to organize Nashvillians into advocating for public schools to Metro leaders.

The new organization plans to reach out to interested individuals with information about the funding process, as it unfolds, for Metro Nashville Public Schools. Those who are contacted will also receive information about how to get in touch with officials making funding decisions. (No hyperlink thanks to the City Paper's new and improved e-paper. "Coalition has lesson plan to boost funds for Metro schools", City Paper, 3/13/08 page 3.)
I'm not looking for an organization that will advocate for the schools. How about actually advocating for the children? Looks like the only effort to hold MNPS accountable for the more than half a BILLION dollars they're already spending is the Save Our Students group who are actually pointing out that it's not the money. Other districts are doing better with less. Why can't we? Throwing money at the problem is easy...let me know when someone actually gets a copy of the MNPS check register and starts running those numbers. Then we'll have a better idea of just where it's really going. It's not making it to the classroom...that's for certain. What makes Friends of Metro Schools thinks what they'll raise will get there?

2 comments:

m kennedy said...

That is getting to the essence of it... are you for school systems or for school children?

Wendy said...

From my conversations with Stand for Children, they are advocating for the students, teachers, principals or also collective called "schools". They also support the MAC program and other interventions to keep children in the classroom/school. I may be totally misinformed, but my understanding is that some of these in-school "alternatives" to out-of-school suspentions cost us less than the ALCs. And, I haven't read in the newspaper where a MAC student attacked a teacher and sent her to the hospital.

I did tell Francie, Rep for SFC that there are so many advocate organizations that it is hard for me...and the citizens to dicifer who does what; there is plenty of over-lap.

Some things I strongly disagree with SFC and think that it is too much for us to take on a community; for example free college education for the first two years and manditory pre-K.

As far as asking for money, it's the squeaky wheel that gets the oil and for so long some schools haven't had an advocate to squeak and we have the current situation...Litton. I'm not going to silence Kathy or Francie, instead I'm going to ask them to squeak on.

It's a mixed bag, but one that I'm willing to keep the conversation open for the sake of my sons, the other students, and our community.