Seattle School Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson has proposed closing seven school buildings, completely eliminating five programs, relocating all or part of nine, and creating one new Northend school in a plan that is sure to be at least as disruptive and unpopular as the previous round of closures, but politically, far more likely to proceed unchanged.
Buildings Closed
Genesee Hill Elementary
Lowell Elementary (APP)
Mann (NOVA Alternative High School)
Old Hay (Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center)
Pinehurst – (Alternative School #1)
TT Minor Elementary
Van Asselt Elementary
Programs Eliminated
African American Academy
Alternative School #1
Arbor Heights Elementary
Meany Middle School
TT Minor Elementary
Programs Created
Decatur K-5 (formerly Thornton Creek)
Programs Relocated
Lowell APP to Hawthorne and Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall EBOC to Bailey Gatzert
NOVA from Mann to Meany
SBOC from Old Hay to Meany
Pathfinder K-8 from Genesee to Arbor Heights
Summit K-12 from Jane Addams to Rainier Beach
Thornton Creek to Jane Addams (expands to K-8)
TT Minor K-3 Montessori to Leshi
Van Asselt to African American Academy
I’m not sure how many students will have their education disrupted by these closures and relocations, but the numbers are obviously huge. Still, I wonder if these closures will generate the kind of effective opposition on the part of parents that I was a part of in 2006? Goodloe-Johnson is simply a stronger and more forceful administrator than her predecessor Raj Manhas, as evidenced by her decision to personally lead the closure process rather than hiding behind a citizens committee, and she’s yet to burn through her political capital with school board or her public good will. Furthermore, the relatively condensed nature of the process leaves affected school communities much less time to organize amongst and between themselves.
But I also think a sense of resignation has settled in over many Seattle schools families, or at the very least, a profound sense of fatigue, that should work to Goodloe-Johnson’s advantage. Most of the programs on the list have been targeted before, and so last night’s announcement was more a confirmation of the inevitable than a shock. At some point, it’s just no longer worth the fight.
I know from personal experience. In 2006, I fought hard to save my daughter’s school, Graham Hill Elementary, and although we succeeded, and have since been vindicated with academic awards and bulging enrollment, I couldn’t help but come away more than little soured from what was an unnecessarily bitter and divisive battle.
As I predicted at the start of the previous closure process, many families responded by moving their children outside the district, and that’s exactly what we did. My daughter now attends middle school on Mercer Island, where her mother moved in the wake of the closure fight. I’m not proud of the move, and I would have prefered my daughter remain in city, but given the choice between Aki Kurose, my neighborhood middle school, and Islander Middle School, it wasn’t a hard decision.
Still, it’ll be interesting to see how this round of closures turns out. In moving and splitting Lowell, Goodloe-Johnson has picked a fight with some of the district’s most affluent and connected parents, so there’s little chance these families will simply roll over. And while closing the chronically under-enrolled African American Academy makes a ton of sense on paper (its large facility accounts for the bulk of the excess capacity in the the Southeast quadrant), this alternative program has many passionate proponents, and a dedicated, if small, community of families.
I’ve never been convinced that large numbers of school closings either improves education or saves all that much money in the operating budget, especially when you factor in the number of students who end up leaving the district and taking their state and federal subsidies with them… students who are often the least expensive to educate. But in these tough economic times, there is little doubt that we will continue on this downward spiral for the forseeable future.
I’ve never been convinced that large numbers of school closings either improves education or saves all that much money in the operating budget, especially when you factor in the number of students who end up leaving the district and taking their state and federal subsidies with them
——————————–
Here’s what the Seattle Times reports:
“The district has estimated it would have to reduce its expenses by $24 million for the 2009-10 school year. But the district’s Chief Finance and Operations Officer Don Kennedy said Tuesday possible cuts in state funding could potentially double that.
“The district estimates it will save $300,000-$600,000 a year from closing an elementary school, and $600,000-$1.2 million from a middle school. Precise numbers are still in the works.”
From: http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....es26m.html
I’m not sure what choice they have in view of these numbers. Do you have data for this:
“when you factor in the number of students who end up leaving the district and taking their state and federal subsidies with them”
?
What’s wrong with Aki Kurose? You wanted your daughter to be raised in an diverse, urban environment. Was Aki Kurose a little too urban for you?
BTW, you made the right choice. I doubt your daughter is being bullied and harassed because of the color of her skin on Mercer Island.
Not that I expect Seattle Public Schools to do anything so coherent, but if we’re…uh “consolidating facilities” I’d like to hope they’re mostly closing older buildings that cost more to heat and maintain.
There appear to be a few programs that are getting “chicken closures” i. e. being relocated from one end of the city to another, no doubt with the expectation that most of the participants will drop out.
I sat through this 4+ meeting. I also served, during the last round of closures, on the Closure and Consolidation Committee. And, I get that we have too many buildings for too few students. But there is a lot to disagree with on this list and once again, staff, not the Board, is making the calls. To their credit, the Board is asking hard questions but the staff is manipulating data to get what they want. The Board should not fall for it nor stand for it.
Dr. Goodloe-Johnson seemed to try to blame “choice” for our situation. That may be part of it but the real problem lies, based on their own criteria, on lack of basic maintenance. Plain and simple, and noted in the State Auditor’s recent report, this district has NOT kept up on basic maintenance. We are drowning in backlogged maintenance and the district simply has to close buildings to get them out of the way (and likely sell some of them).
She may be using up her public goodwill, Goldy.
Staff showed numbers for cost savings for elementary, middle and high school but neglected to tell the Board how much savings has been realized since the last closures (but no one asked). It’s an easy question to answer.
-The question was asked why not move Center School to co-house with RBHS? We are paying around $100,000 a year to lease it at Seattle Center (about $80,000 to lease plus utilities/cleaning). Dr. G-J said we probably couldn’t break our lease but I doubt the City would hold us to it. That is a better pairing than with Summit and would allow growth for both programs. Why, if we are in such financial straits, are we paying to lease space?
-Dr. G-J seemed to imply that RBHS and Cleveland couldn’t be co-house because of the gang issue (even though that would make sense to close the excess high school capacity). So how come it’s okay to put Summit K-12 in there?
At this point, the people or group behind the Mumbai killings haven’t been identified. I predict their religion is Islam.
re 5: Undisclosed sources say the attackers were most likely NOT Neo-Enlightenment Deists.
The religion of peace strikes again.
Texas Dad Kills Daughter, Wife, Dog in Murder-Suicide
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,457610,00.html
Man kills wife, then himself on the North Side
http://www.dispatch.com/live/c.....ml?sid=101
Renton man kills estranged wife, then himself
seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/388298_renton19.html
Silver Lake man kills 2 children, self; estranged wife wounded
http://www.latimes.com/news/lo.....9711.story
At this point, the men behind the killings haven’t been identified. I predict their religion is Christian. The religion of peace strikes again.
—
Troll, please go hang out more in the free republic site. They are more your people.
Wow, you showed me. Equating Muslim terrorists singling out people for their nationality, to men killing their wives.
Liberal kook.
I WAS RIGHT! MUSLIMS CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY!!!
Wow, what are the odds that it was Muslims?
I personally think both Oregon and Washington state need to consider a statewide consolidation of schools and related school districts, such as what my home state, Indiana, did in the very late 1950s through the early 1960s. It was painful as hell and pretty much was the death warrant of the governor at the time, but it forced folks to sit and think long and hard about the desire to have specific programs in place versus the costs of said programs.
The education needs of this state are currently being reviewed with the introduction of the bipartisan Basic Education Plan requested by Governor Gregoire. The harder decision will be how to pay for these desired goals and keep some relative sort of equity in funding between relatively well-off and not so well-off school districts while still allowing for some sort of local control.
And I suspect one result will more facility consolidation, coordinated between the school districts and the state.
If the parents of kids in Seattle public schools want more varied choices in public education, they’re going to have to be willing to sell the need to the state, the Feds and to their local voter base. It’s going to cost money and it’s going to need to show proof of concept, and I don’t see enough effort being made to get specific pitches funded. “No!” is easy – “Yes, and here’s why, and here’s how we fund it” is harder.
Goldy,
What is worse .. there is a bizarre, I suggest racist, pattern in the closures. Successful schools and programs, Meany, APP, are either being closed, broken up or moved and largely moved to Rainier Beach.
The intent of this is obvious. The District is determnined, despite the influx of up to 100,000 new middle class and upper class families, to focus its resources on what it euphemistcally calles “people of color” when it really means those folks, of any color, who can not afford to move to Mercer Island or put their kids in private schools.
APP is a good example. This is an internationally known successful program that really does attract kids to Seattle. While funded from mainstream funds, parental involvement, intellectual support from the UW, etc. have created a track record of kids who perform every other secondary school in this state, including the private schools.
So what now? First, they conducted a hoaked up, clearly falde “study” with not effort to evaluate outcomes and assertions based on rumors that no one could confirm, Now this small program is being rewarded for success by being broken in two, to assure it will NOT have adequate resources, and moved in part to Rainier Beach.
There is no proper way of hiding the overt racism of this action. Despite efforts by parents and teachers, the District has obstructed efforts to recruit black students and now they are cutting the program’s neck.
There is a Yiddish expression … FEH!
#5: It looks like an Al-Quida like group.
News reports say that a terrorist group has conducted large-scale attacks in Mumbai against a major tourist hotel, restaurant, police station, and train station, using automatic weapons and grenades. They were reported to be targeting those carrying U.S. and British passports. At least 80 are dead, about 250 injured, The number of hostages is unkown.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27928718/
Sounds like they are well-organized, well-funded, well-armed, and there are quite a few of them.
This isn’t open tread time…TROLL…
Start your OWN blog if you want to pontificate.
@14 You are correct. Concerning this topic, I said what I had to say in @2.
Good.
Then go away…quit hijacking threads with your moronic comments.
Hey RudaASS: Happy Thanksgiving and a big FUCK YOU too.
Using Coleman Young – dead black mayor from Deeeeeeeetroit said:
“Swearing is an art form. You can express yourself much more exactly, much more succinctly, with properly used curse words.”
Closing the African American Academy?
Is she also closing the:
White American Academy
Chinese American Academy
Mexican American Academy
Korean American Academy
Japanese American Academy
Polish American Academy
Spanish American Academy
French American Academy
Muslim American Academy
Atheist American Academy
or maybe she plans to use the money for
Hugo Chavez Academy – Oops funded by Sean Penn
David Goldstein Blogging Academy
Lee Superior Drugs Academy
yelling loser boy idiot Academy
rhp6033 Forgetfulness Academy
Don Joe Only My Facts Are Right Academy
Broadway Joe Gambling Academy
RudeaASS Dense as Spent Uranium Academy
… … … … … …
This list keeps on growing
Well happy turkey day to the puddybitch…
..nice they named the day after him,
huh?
Nice batch of dumbass inanities, as usual.
How bout closing the “Thread Crappin’ Moron Academy”.
Goldy–
Good…
Most of this should have been done over a year ago.
Better late than never.
Time to cut costs like Obama & Gregoire are telling us.
C’mon Goldy, be a TEAM PLAYER…not a selfish, what’s the word????????????????????
BASTARD!
The cyniklown forgets that unlike his…Goldy’s parents are married.
This might be the dumb question of the day, but I’m not familiar with the the issue:
Do the cost savings quoted by the school district factor in any reductions in revenue that might occur?
SeattleJew:
Outcome based education? What you say?
RudeaASS, the original test tube baby: “Janitor in a Drum!”
Stupes:
Is that all you got?
Go back to hiding under the bed from the radical feminists with Limbaugh blasting from the earbuds.
yelling loser boy idiot Academy
rhp6033 Forgetfulness Academy
Don Joe Only My Facts Are Right Academy
Broadway Joe Gambling Academy
RudeaASS Dense as Spent Uranium Academy
——
Ha. Speaking of Don Joe, at least in my mind, he bears a striking resemblance to Darryl, blog-wise that is.
yelling loser boy: More than you have any day of the week. Facts loser boy.
Now go back and crawl under your SEIU wife’s apron.
Good idiot boy.
Damn, I think I just read something very similar to something screamed by Obama against Bush.
“As they think about this Thanksgiving shopping weekend, and as they think about the Christmas season that is coming up, I hope that everybody understands that — that we are going to be able to get through these difficult times, but we’re just going to have to make some good choices.” Barack Obama
Didn’t Obama criticized President Bush during the campaign for asking people to shop after the September 11th attacks, rather than asking them to make sacrifices.
Hmmm… No wundir the nutsroot peeps are apoplectic.
Wow Obama sure is hiring a whole bunch of out of work Clintonites.
Is this Hilary being the puppeteer after all?
Puddy …
The super duper expert, world class educator who did the study somehow never managed to interview a single kid who had completed the program, gathered NO stats on any outcome .. not even grade scores no boards or admits to college! Her excuse, believe it or not was that the District did not have the database resources for her to ask those questions!
Instead her official report relates anonymous rumors about racism and says the program is not doing things she thinks are important because ???
I spoke with this person and was horrified that she is a Prof of Education.
To make matters worse, the District has always dissed APP for not recruiting students with enough low albedo to qualify as POC. Of course when we did that ourselves, successfully, they reprimanded us for GASP going to baptist churches to encourage AA kids to think about learning!
So they hired to low albedo Caribbean folks who clearly had anti Euro AND anti AA prejudices. These “recruiters” oproceeded to bad mouth the program!
When I complained that this was racism, I was told by the Curriculum Czar that “There are no bright black kidsm I was wasting my time.”
So now all the impressive programs are being moved to the part of the city with the worst schools and the longest commutes from the the most rapidly growing and affluent areas of the District.
I am not sure if this kind of racism decorates itself in hooded sheets but the smell of bigotry and commitment to educational abuse of bright kids is overwhelming!
I want to take my Obama cutout and stick it inb the Board’s faces. I wonder if they have noted where he went to high school?
schools don’t perform? not worth the pricetag?
close ’em
@32,
Succinctly put! Nice job.
28 – Facts huh? What good did right wing bullshit do for you Stupes? All the Limbaugh and Murdoch lovin’? Where did it get you?
Poor Stupes.. All you wanted for Thanksgiving was to gloat over a right wing victory. And all you got was — turkey!
Turkey for a turkey!
h/t to Flip Wilson
Chump!!!
LMAO!!!!
And come in first place in the great race to the bottom?
I’m not trying to defend under performing schools or arguing to keep excess capacity in the system and I know jack-shit nothing about the Seattle Schools.
I do know that balance sheets are called balance sheet because there are two sides to them: Assets on the left; liabilities on the right. While the school district must cut its liabilities it should also be looking at ways to increase its revenue (assets).
Why not look at taking steps to draw students into the district and increase revenue Instead of taking ones that will push students out of the district shrinking revenues?
@30 Puddy the skeptic
Gee, you mean he is hiring talented people who have actually served in government and shown they can do their jobs?
What a concept!
Imagine a cabinet meeting where Secty Gates, Secty Rodham, Natl Security Adviser Jones actually KNOW something about foreign policy! SCARY HUNH!
Of ocurse he could hire a shyster from Texas to run the Justice Dept and a senile bombast from the Reagan era to run Defense and an expert oin soviet communism as national security adviser and a hedge fund manager as Secty of the Treasury and then get a creationist as science adviser and … oh well, you must know where this is going.
Heck man, it must be hard on you knowing our president is smarter than you, able to leap tall metaphors in a single bound, faster than a speed reader, and able to throw hoops from the side line! Oh yeh, he also believes in such far left values as hard work educational achievement, not fighting a way you can not win, ….
OH and did I mention he is a committed Christian who can discuss Niebuhr and the sermon on the mount?
Of course, I know you are mourning the failure to erect some broad from a hick town in Alaska who was told she had the support of God by a man who should know since he had been driving evil witches out of their homes in Kenya for a decade! Or was this an effort to erect the weaponry of a bunch of left overs from the Raygun years of such glorious victories as bribing Iran to keep the hostages o he could win, turning tail in Lebanon, and conquering a smll defenseless island in the Caribbean to make it safe for stupid white kids who could not get into UW schools?
Dear righties who think they know about business and capitalism the approach taken in comment #35 is a the true capitalist, pro-business way of looking at at this.
@33
#32 Is trying to save his way into bankruptcy. Why not invest (not just taking cash here) in the under performing school and turn it into a good school?
If closing a school means that kids go from walking and biking to school to being bussed that’s going to jack your transportation budget.
$4.00 a gallon diesel will be back and you might miss that neighborhood school when it happens.
So ya, close down that “under performing” school, you stick the kids on buses (remeber that trans-po budget!) to take them to a better school and suddenly that good school goes from 26 kids a class to 33 kids a class. Next thing you know the parents that liked their good school with 26 kids a class move to the burbs where they can get their kid back into a class with 26 kids in it.
On the bright side, you just solved your over crowding issues.
On the dark side:
http://tinyurl.com/5t7684
It’s something to think about anyway.
@35 michael
The District does NOT make more money by getting more students. Unfortunately the idea of choice e and charter schools has not caught on here either. So the turkey gets carved up, eaten by the rich kids who can go to private schools,m and them that is left get thin soup.
SeattleJew@31: so sad isn’t it?
Well I wonder if the Curriculum Czar was headless lucy with that “There are no bright black kids” comment.
Amazing.
I bet the Curriculum Czar voted all Donkey on their ballot too and had Barack Obama for preznit.
moronic yelling loser boy: Those words are from Limbaugh? Or are they from some 1 Billion Million times more intelligent than you?
I am amazed you are married. I wonder what that SEIU wife saw in you because it surely wasn’t mental acumen!
Imagine a cabinet meeting where Secty Gates, Secty Rodham, Natl Security Adviser Jones actually KNOW something about foreign policy!
SCARY HUNH!
———–
Well, yes . . . once you consider that not that long ago that “Secty Rodham” was hammered time and again by Obama and the liberal blogosphere including HA for her terrible judgment on Iraq. But that was then . . .
@39
Thanks.
But, if I lived in Seattle my first question (Again, I don’t know jack about how school systems work) would be:
Rather than trying to close schools because they don’t have enough students, why not try to bring people into the district (added tax revenue) and fill those schools (added 2 bucks a day per student, or whatever the state doles out)?
Is that a reasonable, workable question? And that really is a question, there’s nothing hidden in it.
Too bad about Meany Middle School. What an adorable group of well-behaved kids.
Do these well-meaning liberal white parents who are having their kids attend Seattle Public Schools know how much harassment and bullying some of their kids are going through? I think it’s cruel to put a kid through that.
SeattleJew: Being a man of many degrees, I know you are smarter than that dig comment above. Remember SJ I didn’t like MCCain. So did many other conservatives. He lost more conservative votes than Bush did in 2004.
yelling loser boy
LMAO? This is LMAO
SeattleJew would get it.
@46
Nice!
A lot of my family are Seventh Day Adventist; I always threaten to cook up a ham when they’re coming over.
Michael, for some odd reason, SPS has never tried to attract back the roughly 25% of students in private schools. We could get some of them back because some leave for brand name (Lakeside, Bush, etc.), some are homeschooled (forget it), religious (ditto) but some just don’t know about or fear public schools. Those people could be attracted back but no real marketing gets done.
We lose money for every student who leaves our system. Vouchers will not help. Charters are a mixed bag and we are smart not to go there. What we need is a valid revenue source (the basic education cost number hasn’t been reviewed in this state since 1976). We need to attract more students back to our system. That is the easiest and most basic way to get more revenue into the schools.
Folks, public education is the backbone of this country. Ignore that at your own risk. All the vouchers and charters in the world won’t change that. Want to make this world better (or at least have your social security paid for)? Support public schools.
@48
Thanks!
It sounds like this needs to get hammered home:
So I have an academy now? I’m soooo honored.
So what about the Puddy Homophobic Terrorist – American Academy?
FYVM
46 – You and SJ are tight!
No wonder.
http://effinunsound.com/?p=910#comments
LMAO!!! You’re such a freaking loser!!
@44 Troll Moron
Maybe you should have gone through some bullying – it would have made you tougher instead of the wipeass you are. Now go fly away, you and your tiny intellect bother us and you pollute this blog with your ignorance and your racist diatribes.
This is LMAO: SJ would get this too:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11.....140965.htm
Even as he ungracefully exits, Bush is still an incompetent fool. Thank G-d there will be a smart adult in the white house who is hiring real people with experience – not nutcases and sycophants like Gonzalez. Remember when he tried to get Harriet Miers on the Supreme court? Or Brownie at FEMA?
What a bunch of incompetents!
Yo Stupes –
The Chimp you voted for twice just did good and pardoned John Forte.
Some people say it was Carly Simon who persuaded monkey-face. Others say fellow musician Orrin Hatch.
I say the chief of the primate gang took Kanye West’s words to heart.
What say you?
yelling loser boy – I say nuthin. I don’t take orders from HAs clueless idiot.
Did you fergit dat?
Michael@47: I get that all the time.
yelling loser boy, Thanks for the Leeisms.
The issue about ridicule is certain people can’t deal. Like you.
oh btw LMAO
Someone told me that was you little goil!
I say nuthin.
Fine with me Stupes. You were doing good for a while but now you’re back with little farts of that same old boring right wing gas.
Ahhh. It was good while it lasted.
Go ahead. Bring it on. Everyone knows it’s that right wing bullshit you subscribe to that went EPIC FAIL on Nov 4.
That is, everyone with half a brain.
Everybody is an expert on education but nobody seems to have an idea to correct the situation.
If it were Graham Hill and his kid still there, Goldy would be in their fighting again. But it’s not.
Something has to be done.
As for private schools, if parents think that’s the only answer, so be it. They can stay there. It’s their money.
Goodloe-Johnson is at least doing something. I hope it works.
It is astounding that Puddy does not even realize what a joke he has become.
He is now a caricature of a badly drawn stereotype of stupid.
59 Goodlpe-Johnson is cooking the stew until what is left is a sticky goo on the bottom of the pan. She has openly declared her loyalty ot the idea of a District that serves those who can not get out of it.
@43 Michael
\
Sorry but it does not work that way. The District gets a fixed amount per kid. Adding kids does not add net dollars.
If 35% of the children in Seattle come from financially and socially disadvantaged homes and all kids in Seattle go to the same schools, then these 35% are a “special” problem and there will be a gap that needs to be fixed.
However, if the other 65% are driven out of the SPS, the 35% become the majority and the gap magically didappears!
Put another (less obviously negative) way, by driving Goldy’s daughter out of the schools, SPS can focus its attention on the kids who need their help!
The logic is horrible, but that is the way many educators think.
@45 Puddykitty
I know that you did not like McCain BUT I also see that the remnant of the republican party is so contaminated by extremists that it no longer can produce the sort of obvious competence shown not only by That Obe but by the Generals, Colonels, and Captains siging on gto his new army.
Hell, I will go further since I think I DO know your true conservatism. BHO is far closer to what you call conservatism than Is Palin, Romney, Guiliani, Dobson, Gingrich, etc. That One is in many ways a worthy successor to the only previous president whose academic qualities outshine his … Jefferson!
I will go one step further, Obama is not Jefferson but hec omes a lot closer to Jefferson in many ways than any current Republican does. He shares with Jefferson a commitment to the American ideals of education and opportunity. He shares the architect of Monticello’s faith in intellect and science.
Have you read the post I made on BHO’s view of Jesus? He talks about Jesus in way very,very close to the way Jefferson talked … as a teacher, a role model.
We are very lucky.
@48 westello
I obviously agree that fixing the tax system is a necessity.
I do not agree that charter schools are a bad idea. Anything that fosters competition should be a good idea. If we let parents and teachers work together in Seattle some schools would excell as they have elsewhere. Thise school,s then become magnets for parents and kids who want success just as Lakeside, Northwestr, Seattle Prep, Bush .today are magnets amongst those who can afford them.
The sad truth of charters schools is that not all parents give a fuck about their kids education. So, in an inhomogeneous District lie Seattle successful charter schools will make other schools look bad. This already happens in Seattle and the sad truth is that the District ofteh solves this “problem” by dissing the successful schools.
and she’s yet to burn through her political capital with school board or her public good will.
Disagree with that. She’s already on a lot of parents’ sh*t list.
Curriculum changes in my youngest’s alternative school were unwelcome to say the least.
This is my kid’s last year in elementary. We’re getting out on a bittersweet note.
@62
Huh?
If you have a school that has a budget shortfall because it is under-enrolled you can’t makeup that shortfall by increasing the enrollment?
It cost the same amount to hire a teacher and keep the lights and heat on for 15 kids as it does for 26.
Each kid costs the school less.
Michael @ 35,
Assets on the left, liabilities and equity on the right. I’ve always felt the most significant part of the balance sheet is the equity section. After all, that shows exactly the historical value of what the owners truly own. The assets just show what the company has to employ to generate revenues and run the business.
Which brings up my second point: revenues are not assets. Their job is to eventually translate into cash flow, which is what a business is in business for – to turn assets into cash, use the cash to build shareholder wealth and continue/grow the business.
As a financial analyst, I like to set the record straight when I get a chance.
throwing good money after bad is not the way to make a bad situation any better.
cutting losses and trying a different approach may be better rather than continuing down a sinkhole
@67
Thanks!
All my blathering on is really aimed at two ideas:
1) Maybe schools should look at cutting costs AND raising revenue (starting special programs to draw kids and families into the district and so on) as the solution to their ills.
2) Sometimes cost cutting can be short sighted.
michale @ 69,
Agreed!
First off, for god’s sake Goldy, delete all the offtopic crap on this thread, please.
This closure list is disgusting. It is filled with alternative programs… you know, the programs that keep a portion of the population in SPS instead of in private schools. The proposed “move” of the Summit program is a lie. They have no itention of doing anything other than destroying the program. If they wanted to move the program to Meany or the TT minor building, that would make sense – central locations for an all city school. Proposing that the Summit program move to the farthest reaches of outer mongolia to share a building with the most violence prone high school north of Los Angeles is insulting and will not fly.
This proposal to close schools makes very little sense. It is clearly a proposal to try to kill off Summit K-12 by relocating it into a troubled high school building (RBHS) as far away as possible. It also shows intention to game the WASL for failing schools Marshall and Hawthorne by adding 1/2 the APP elementary students to each, which will bring their score up to state averages – ignoring completely the damage that will be done to the education of those APP students. Finally, it abandons the special education program at Lowell and provides no viable future for these students. This is a poorly thought out and educationally harmful proposal which saves far less money than other better alternatives could. Grade this a D effort at best.