"We have lost our ambition, our imagination, and our willingness to do the things that built the Golden Gate Bridge" - Barack Obama (aka President Malaise)
Pitch in with the Prince William Young Republicans and help defeat Obama in 2012!
Milt Johns Shoots Back
By Greg L | 17 July 2008 | Prince William County | 29 Comments
School Board Chairman Milt Johns rose to the defense of the school system after the Manassas Journal-Messenger published a somewhat bizarre editorial cartoon implying that the school system was failing. Hopefully this will set the record straight. While I have my complaints about the schools from time to time, the system is fundamentally sound and delivering tremendous value for our children.
It is hard to understand the motivation for the “Only in P.W. County” editorial cartoon of July 11. I do not have a problem with anyone expressing an opinion, which is the purpose of an editorial cartoon.
However, I must take issue with the false and misleading information included in the text of the cartoon. It is all the more puzzling that the editorial staff did not bother to check the facts purported in the cartoon, and even more puzzling that the cartoon would be based (apparently) on an article that ran recently in The Washington Post.
Far from having the lowest “SAT and test scores” in Virginia, Prince William County Public Schools compare quite favorably with other Virginia school divisions. PWCS is not the lowest in Virginia any subject area, grade, or school.
Perhaps more importantly, preliminary 2007-08 SOL results indicate sustained student improvement with significant increases, especially at the middle-school level. The PWCS instructional program is strong, aligned with the standards and supports increased student achievement.
Two years ago, the School Board and Superintendent Steve Walts recognized the need to strengthen SAT preparation in PWCS. Under Dr. Walts’ leadership, the School Division began providing all students in grades 9 through 12 with the College Board’s Official SAT Online Course at no cost.
We give all tenth and eleventh grade students the opportunity to take the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) for free. In addition, we offer school-based preparation courses.
At the same time that the School Division is addressing student performance on SATs, we have been encouraging many more students to take these tests than in years past.
As those who have children in Prince William County Public Schools know, our students are thriving and learning in safe environments under the nurturing eye of dedicated teachers, administrators and support staff.
MILTON C. JOHNS
Chairman, Prince William County School Board
Gainesville
To the extent that our schools are having difficulty, we might want to consider the tremendous challenges they are involuntarily confronted with. When we have over twelve thousand ESOL students in the system and overcrowding in most schools in the system, it’s a wonder that we’re seeing any improvement at all. Overall, the teachers and staff of the PWCPS are definitely exceeding the mark.
The opinions expressed here are solely the views of the author, and not representative of the position of any organization, political party, doughnut shop, knitting guild, or waste recycling facility, but may be correctly attributed to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. If anything in the above article has offended you, please click here to receive an immediate apology.
You can follow the discussion through the Comments feed. You can also pingback or trackback from your own site.
29 Comments
Views: 1527
Loading ...
The cartoon was totally inaccurate, if it had said “..lowest test scores in northern Virginia…” it would have been correct.
BTW, PWC schools have always been the lowest in NOVA in standardized test scores…for decades.
12,000 ESOL students? Where’s that statistic come from? What’s that cost us per year? Anyone know? Is Dolph out there?
PWC schools were overcrowded when I graduated back in 1991 - and there seems to be very little done to relieve that in the nearly 20 years since. Why hasn’t PWC built more schools?
Why should we build more schools, Brentsville, when they just get filled with illegals’ anchor babies?
Wasn’t Battlefield built since you graduated? It looks like it’s over capacity, now. I saw four large trailer/classrooms delivered there a few days ago.
Schools in PWC were overcrowded nearly fourty years
ago with double sessions and year round classes in many
areas. This isn’t something new.
Those “anchor babies” are US citizens if they’re born here. That’s in the constitution isn’t it? So yeah, we should build more schools since we need to educate our citizens.
Let Arlington and Fairfax do it.
Arlington and Fairfax didn’t overstress the infrastructure of the western part of the county, the PWC BOCS did. Legal/Illegal isn’t the issue at Brentsville and/or Battlefield, shortsighted supervisors intent on seizing monetary proffers or pleasing certain development groups is the issue.
From what I remember, there have been three new high schools opened since I graduated from Stonewall Jackson in 2000. If we need more new schools after that to handle overcrowding I guess that also shows how many people apparently want to live in Prince William County. We did get an excellence award back when I was in high school for the county schools.
Why should Arlington and Fairfax be burdened with the bad decisions of the over-zealous pro-growth supervisors that PWC had in the 90’s? Prince William county created its own overgrowth problem, and Prince William needs to own up to responsibility for that.
Brentsville Graduate said on 17 Jul 2008 at 11:41 am:
“Those “anchor babies” are US citizens if they’re born here. That’s in the constitution isn’t it? So yeah, we should build more schools since we need to educate our citizens.”
They may be citizens but their parents aren’t. So, I guess they can come back when they reach the age of consent in their ancestral homelands, then come back. By then, we won’t need the schools. Fortunately, many of them will not register with the American consulates in their ancestral homelands, and they will lose their citizenship.
Dr. Walts and the school board made the budget decision a couple of years ago to push the new Bristow Kettle Run high school back a year. So those of us in Bristow will have to wait an extra year to get our kids out of crowded classrooms. The supervisors from 2000-2006 didn’t help either, as they were the ones saying yes to every stupid project that came down the pike. If we weren’t in such a housing mess now, the schools would really be in trouble with even more overcrowding. This has almost been a bit of a breather.
What I want to know is why the schools didn’t find a site in 2000-2002, when it was obvious we were in a housing boom and that people were flooding into the western end of the county? They had to know right then that Battlefield wouldn’t be enough. The county tax coffers were ripe with money and they get a big chunk of that. Why didn’t they buy the land back then and the school would have already been open by now?
Also, Brentsville is overcrowded, but they are #1 in both SAT scores and SOL scores so the staff should be commended for accomplishing that despite 600 extra kids and the trailer village that they attend classes in.
We should cut funding to county schooling and rely more heavily on parents, churches, or corporations to teach our children.
Current educational salaries are sufficient if not high. Administrative costs are very high and need to be cut.
We need to stop treating education as something the county is required to provide and as something that each child/parent should earn.
Uh, “Anchor Baby,” I might agree with some of what you propose, but if you want to “stop treating education as something the county is required to provide,” you’re going to have to change the Virginia Constitution.
Of course, what we should do is to “stop treating education as something the county is required to provide” in a government-controlled school, and enact vouchers for parents and children to exercise real educational choice. That would solve many of the problems you identify, as well as a myriad of others. My two children are educated at a private school in PWC at a cost for both which is less than the per pupil expenditures in the County’s government schools. Our government schools are overbureaucratized to a fare-thee-well, and surely should be reduced.
“Why didn’t they buy the land back then and the school would have already been open by now?”
Because the School Board and School’s Planning Office refuse to stick a crowbar in their wallet and use their capital funds to purchase land. Rather, they extort it out of developers by bartering their support for a chunk of “free” land, regardless whether the property fits their geographic requirements. (see: Silver Lake and Gainesville Middle Schools) A better example is the new Gravely school, mere blocks from Alvey but without an access route that isn’t shared by Alvey because construction of the access road is tied to the developer (Toll Brothers) reaching a threshold number of building permits. Spare me the maganamity of Toll Bros., if they were as public spirited as some would lead you to believe, they would have just built the damn road. The School Board and particularly the School’s Planning Office are just as guilty as the BOCS for the mess the county is in.
inon:
I hate to burst your bubble, but staff and teachers have very little to do with SAT scores, performance, etc. It’s ethnic makeup. Everybody knows but nobody wants to admit that Hispanics and African Americans pull down all measures of academic performance.
As a 15 year veteran educator, and current educator in PWCS, your statement is dead wrong. Having spent 12 years teaching in a 99% white environment in rural Pennsylvania, I can tell you that ethnic makeup has absolutely nothing to do with academic performance.
There are many more similarities, than differences, between the poor rural white students and the poor African American and Hispanic students. Most of these similarities pertain to their socioeconomic status of these children. Therein lies the causes for low academic performance. Academic performance here in PWC, as well as across the country are only going to improve when we look at solutions to the many problems faced by these children.
I would advise Lefty and other readers to look beyond the skin color and ethnic background of our county’s children. I am proud to send my children to PWCS because so many of the schools are so diverse, which is where the true strength of the school system lies. I am fortunate enough in my job to deal with high performing children everyday from all ethnic backgrounds.
Lastly, not that the number is relevant, but 12,000 ESOL students is grossly incorrect.
Anchor Baby,
Have you ever been a public school teacher before?
DG,
No, but salaries are public record.
Don’t get me wrong you won’t get rich doing it but I don’t think teachers ever go into that field for ‘the money’.
Does that mean that teachers that go into the field for the love of educating children should be taken advantage of? Talk to any school teacher (especially in elementary schools), and they will tell you of the hours they spend on a nightly basis grading papers and preparing lesson plans when they are off the clock. Lots come in on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays to work. Each year, the state and county or city raises the stakes by requiring more (higher scores, “highly qualified” training, countless new iniatives, etc.) from educators. It is highly stressful to be a teacher in this day and age.
Teachers in the area can barely handle the cost of living on their own salaries. Even if they are combining salaries with a spouse, so much of their life is taken up by work that they will not get paid for. And you want people to consider giving them LESS? Yikes!
I should also mention that while you can get a very small tax credit for buying school supplies, each year teachers spend tons of their hard earn pay for classroom materials.
Times are tight and that reflected in this year’s teacher’s raises. Socioeconomic factors may contribute to low scores but good teachers also contribute to high scores.
Funny how few, if any, addressed what this blog was really about…the offensive cartoon. Milt stated it clear as day and that is when more people are exposed to the testing, then you will have the initial drop in scores. Skin color has nothing at all to do with low scores, it’s economics.
While the rich and upper-middle class can send their children to SAT prep courses (which were offered for free when I went to High School), the poor or lower-middle class cannot. When a child has both parents working 2 or more jobs, and is working part time themselves, they do not have the proper study habits to effectively achieve the higher scores required on the Standardized tests. Now, that does NOT mean that they CANNOT do well, just that it is more difficult.
Now add to the mix those minorities whose primary language at the home is other than English, and a higher score is even more difficult to achieve. Then add to that mix those parents who are here illegally and stress is added to the child so that when they sit down to take a test, in a foreign language, in a country they may or may not want to be in, scores will not be up-to-par.
We can all talk about how WONDERFUL it was in the past and how our education was MUCH superior (which it was) than today’s, but what does that REALLY solve??? What is needed is solutions and frankly, that does NOT start at the school, nor does it fall solely in the hands of the School Board or School Superintendant…it starts at home.
Economics has a lot to do with low test scores, but so does parental expectations and discipline.
Arlington County is a very good example of this at work.
Take a look at the SOL data for LOW INCOME students who are all in the SAME SCHOOL - and what do you see …
Asians score very high — 95%+ pass rate
Caucasians score about 90% pass rate
Hispanics (English speaking) score about 80% pass rate
and
African Americans score about 65 - 70% pass rate.
Word is going around that the superintendent is resigning. WHOO!!
inon:
The Superintendent and School Board actually have very little control over the budget. When you say they pushed back the timeline for Kettle Run by a year, it was actually the Board of County Supervisors (BOCS) that forced that decision. The Superintendent and School Board can only create a budget that spends what they are allocated by the BOCS. In the budget cycle you’re referencing, the BOCS cuts to the property tax rates coupled with the decline in property values left the school system with some tough choices. Pushing back capital improvement projects was one those.
If you want to point fingers, start with the people who *really* control the purse strings. Start with the BOCS.
—–
As for the issue at hand, the MJM editorial cartoon was a cheap shot. Prince William County Schools actually do very well, especially considering the hand they’ve been dealt by the BOCS in terms of adequately funding education.
John Light and I agree (yikes!) on at least one point–the quality of the education our children receive is not solely the responsibility of the school system. The leading indicator of student performance is not SOL scores, SAT scores, or any other standardized test. The best indicator of how well a student will perform is the level of parental involvement in that child’s education.
PW: See, even a Democrat can be right at least once - lmao, welcome to the RIGHT side
Milton Johns needs to resign immediately. It’s bad enough that test scores in Prince William County are dreadful or that Walts with his lack of academic background and comical Ed.D. was hired. The failure of Johns and the school board to apologize publicly for allowing someone known to condone child molestation to serve previously as superintendent is reprehensible.
PWCS need to be taken over and run by the state, given the inability of Prince William County to create a school system that is not intellectually and ethically offensive.
I know that well intentioned people such as Kelly, Walts, and Johns try to do their best, but they’re just not intellectually equipped to do a competent job.