Category: Wichita and Kansas schools
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More Kansas National Education Association candidate questions
The “Kansas Political Action Committee,” a group associated with the Kansas National Education Association (KNEA, the teachers union) has a questionnaire it asks candidates for the Kansas legislature to complete. After reading a few of these questions, it became clear to me that the questions are formulated to advance the interests of the teachers union…
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Another Wichita School Bond Issue Cartoon
Helen Cochran of Citizens for Better Education has released another political cartoon whose topic is the Wichita school bond issue. Click here to go to CBE’s website and see this cartoon. The others are there, too.
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Wichita School Bond at the Football Game: The Video
Friday night a friend and I attended the Wichita Heights at Northwest high school football game. We found out it’s pretty hard to get into the game without being exposed to a variety of “informational” presentations regarding the bond issue. I use the term informational in quotes because these presentations are made in a way…
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Flunked the Movie Coming to Wichita!
Up through 4th grade, American students are above-average when tested against students of other nations. After that, they begin a steady decline to the point where, by the 12th grade, American students are down near the bottom. Something is wrong in American education. Flunked went out and found some teachers who are doing something about…
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Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture: Wichita School District’s Favorite Architect Has Hand in Everything
Recently I obtained the contract for the construction of Stucky Middle School for USD 259, the Wichita public school district. Something I observed is that Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture was not the architect. Instead, it was Gossen Livingston Associates, Inc. Gossen Livingston was one of the hosts for the kickoff of the “Yes For…
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Wichita School Bond: Where Will the 25% Come From?
One of the things Wichita school bond supporters use to make their case for the passage of the bond issue is that Wichitans won’t have to pay for all of it. Wichita school district bond educational materials say the State of Kansas will pay $92.5 million plus corresponding interest. That’s 25%, and district officials wear…
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Will Wichita Schools Consider Merit Pay?
The St. Petersburg Times reports on some finding from a study of teacher merit pay in Florida. The result? From the article Teachers’ income doesn’t reflect results: “The findings, in fact, suggest that quality has little to do with how schools pay the 30,000 teachers in the Tampa Bay area. What rules the day is…
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Why Are Old Wichita Schools Bad?
One of the things I hear repeated endlessly is how old are some of the Wichita school facilities. Some are over 70 years old, school officials say. What’s funny is that many people consider old buildings to be well-constructed. Their architecture is called “vintage,” and many people consider these buildings desirable. I was in Madison,…
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Helen Cochran Speech on Wichita School Bond Issue
On Monday September 15, 2008, Helen Cochran of Citizens for Better Education spoke to a Wichita civic group. Here’s part one of her talk: The link to part two of Helen’s speech is here.
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Wichita School Bond Presentation by Helen Cochran
On September 15, 2008, Helen Cochran of Citizens for Better Education gave a talk before a Wichita civic group. Her talk was fabulous. Here are some highlights: Helen (like myself) has tried to get test scores from USD 259 (Wichita public school district), but it’s a difficult process. There’s always a delay or reason why…
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Records Requests Sent Today
Today, I’ve made two records requests under the Kansas Open Records Act. The first, to USD 259, the Wichita public school district, is this: All correspondence between USD 259 and Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture and its representatives from July 1, 2007 to the present. I ask for both written and electronic correspondence such as…