The Standard Times - April 8, 2013
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130408/OPINION/304080309/
Robert Massoud lives in New Bedford.
Relevant Quotes: (Please follow the link above to read the complete article.)
I can't imagine anyone — including every single member of the innovation school planning teams — is opposed to providing the same services to every single student in the New Bedford school system. The problem is that change of that magnitude is rarely — if ever — successful.
A "yes" vote should come with a clear mandate that both schools produce clear, accurate and timely reports on their progress, and that the future of each school — and whether their models can influence all of New Bedford schools — is based on those results.
A "no" vote sends the opposite message; that we are not willing to try something that might make a difference because we can't have an impact on everyone at the same time. Is that the message we want to send to our children? That if they can't fix everything, don't even bother trying?
One final thought: It seems the catch-phrase of the opponents of the innovation schools is that accepting the proposals will establish a culture of "haves and have-nots." But isn't that exactly what we have today, and have had for way too long? A system where barely 50 percent of the students who attend our schools "have" a diploma, and the rest of the nearly 50 percent "have not."
