Tag: Wichita and Kansas schools
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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…
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Wichita Eagle’s Richard Crowson: Cartoonist for the Teachers Union
In 2006, Wichita Eagle editorial Cartoonist Richard Crowson received an award from the Kansas teachers union. He’s a “friend of education.” Really. I wonder if Crowson realizes the harm that teachers unions cause? I wonder if he know that teachers unions try to block every attempt at meaningful reform?
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Is Richard Crowson Cartooning For or Against the Wichita School Bond Issue?
A recent Richard Crowson cartoon drums up support for a proposed bond issue for USD 259, the Wichita school district, by noting the cost is only 11 cents a day. And, he notes, test scores are up in many schools. I don’t know if this is an argument for or against the bond issue. If…
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Mark McCormick’s Wichita School Bond Bias
Writing from Scottsdale, Arizona Today’s Mark McCormick column in the Wichita Eagle (Opponents of school bond skip specifics) provides an example of this columnist’s bias, and how this bias leads to his rapidly losing credibility among Wichitans. Bias is okay for a columnist. Everyone is entitled to a point of view. After reading a few…
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Wichita School Safe Rooms: At No Cost?
Writing from Scottsdale, Arizona At the September 8, 2008 meeting of the board of USD 259, the Wichita public school district, safe rooms were on the agenda. A few things I learned: It appears that it was by serendipity that the district discovered that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would help pay for the…
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Ohio School Choice Improves Public Schools
The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice has produced the report Promising Start — An Empirical Analysis of How EdChoice Vouchers Affect Ohio Public Schools, which finds these results: This study finds that the EdChoice program produced academic improvements in voucher-eligible public schools. … This study adds to a large body of empirical research that consistently…