Just three weeks after passing the uniform policy because of the sharply increasing gang problem, insisting that uniforms were necessary to ensure the safety of our students, the school board had the nerve to issue the following press release:
The School District of Osceola County, FL
Blaine A. Muse, Superintendent
Press Release
May 7, 2008 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Dana Schafer, Director of Community Relations -- 407-870-4007 or 407-908-8811 (cell)
New State Report Confirms Osceola Schools Are Among The Safest Places To Learn
According to the 2006-2007 School Environmental Safety Incident Report (SESIR) recently released by the Florida Department of Education, the Osceola County School District was five times lower than the state average of the number of incidents of crime, violence, and disruptive behaviors taking place on campuses. Osceola County schools had 6.44 incidents per 1,000 students, while the state average was 30.78 per 1,000 students. As such, Osceola County ranked 4th out of all 67 counties in Florida for the fewest incidents on campuses for the 2006-2007 school year, following only Liberty, Pinellas, and Holmes Counties. Osceola leads all other Central Florida School Districts in the fewest number of incidents per 1,000 students.The number of incidents per 1,000 students for the Osceola School District has drastically decreased over a eight-year period from 116.72 in 1999-2000 to 6.44 in 2006-2007. Last year alone, the district saw a decrease in incidents in such categories as harassment, fighting, weapons possession, and alcohol/tobacco/drugs. The district is continuing to work on decreasing the number of disruptions on campus, including gang-related activity.
"These decreases in the number of incidents that we've seen on our campuses speak volumes to the importance placed on student safety," said Superintendent Blaine Muse. "Our schools continue to work hard to deal immediately with any situations that may arise, and to encourage students to make positive behavior choices through such programs as the Positive Behavior Support Program." The district also credits New Beginnings Education Complex, Zenith Middle School which focuses on improving achievement levels for overage middle school students, and numerous Alternative Programs for responding to the individual needs of students.
In January 2008, the Osceola School District and a number of community partners were awarded over $8 million for a four-year grant from the Federal Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative to reduce youth violence, to increase mental health services, and to create a safe environment for all children in Osceola County's schools. "The Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant will help us continue to reduce barriers to learning, and to teach our children positive social skills that will accompany them throughout their lives, enabling them to make wise choices," said Chuck Butler, Assistant Superintendent for School Services and Grant Administrator.
The School Environmental Safety Incident Reporting (SESIR) system, used by all Florida school districts, collects data on 22 incidents of crime, violence, and disruptive behaviors that occur on school grounds, on school transportation, and at off-campus, school-sponsored events, during any 24-hour period, 365 days per year. Incidents are reported by schools to the districts which, in turn, provide the data to the Florida Department of Education.
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I'm willing to bet that any further improvement in discipline in our county will be attributed solely to the uniform policy, not the $8M Federal Safe Schools grant.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Outrage Grows as Jay Wheeler Opposes Uniform Subsidies
During the debate over mandatory school uniforms in Osceola County, one of the concerns has been how to pay for uniforms for families in need. The School Board's final policy pushes that responsibility down to the individual school principals. But School Board member Jay Wheeler, who was instrumental in getting the uniform policy approved, has a different idea.
"Parents already have to buy their children clothes. Thus I will not support underwriting anyone. Everyone can afford Wal Mart, and if they can't they need to think about turning off their Cable TV, or stop buying alcohol, or cigarettes, and spend their money on their children."
Reactions to Wheeler's comments range from outrage to disgust. "I can't believe he would print that," says one Osceola parent. "Many families in our county are struggling to make ends meet, and to characterize these hard-working parents as wasting money on alcohol and
cigarettes is just heartless. He owes every person in this county an apology!" Some parents are now calling for Wheeler's resignation.
Check out this video of Wheeler trying to defend his insensitive remarks. You can also check out WFTV's full story.
The worst thing to me is that, instead of apologizing for his remarks, Wheeler rationalizes them by saying, "Everyone's entitled to their opinion."
"Parents already have to buy their children clothes. Thus I will not support underwriting anyone. Everyone can afford Wal Mart, and if they can't they need to think about turning off their Cable TV, or stop buying alcohol, or cigarettes, and spend their money on their children."
Reactions to Wheeler's comments range from outrage to disgust. "I can't believe he would print that," says one Osceola parent. "Many families in our county are struggling to make ends meet, and to characterize these hard-working parents as wasting money on alcohol and
cigarettes is just heartless. He owes every person in this county an apology!" Some parents are now calling for Wheeler's resignation.
Check out this video of Wheeler trying to defend his insensitive remarks. You can also check out WFTV's full story.
The worst thing to me is that, instead of apologizing for his remarks, Wheeler rationalizes them by saying, "Everyone's entitled to their opinion."
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
We Lost the First Round
By a vote of 3-2, the Osceola County School Board voted to implement a mandatory uniform policy in all public schools K-12. Fearing the impact on an already overworked administration facing severe budget cuts, several board members pushed for a compromise position of only requiring uniforms for K-8, but Jay Wheeler refused to compromise. Tom Greer and David Stone voted against the uniform policy.
There were 35 speakers at the meeting (maybe 60% against uniforms and 40% pro). Most impressive were several groups of students (including my own 9-year old
) who spoke very well and made good arguments. Of course, all the students who spoke were against uniforms.
Keep an eye out here for more details of the meeting, and where we go from here. (Hint: we will not go quietly into the night!)
There were 35 speakers at the meeting (maybe 60% against uniforms and 40% pro). Most impressive were several groups of students (including my own 9-year old
) who spoke very well and made good arguments. Of course, all the students who spoke were against uniforms.Keep an eye out here for more details of the meeting, and where we go from here. (Hint: we will not go quietly into the night!)
Monday, April 14, 2008
Public Hearing on Tuesday, April 15
REMINDER
The Osceola County School Board's Public Hearing on Mandatory School Uniforms is this Tuesday, April 15, at 7:00 PM in the Administrative Center Board Room, located at 817 Bill Beck Blvd., Kissimmee. This may be our last chance to sway the school board and get them to see reason.
If you can at all make it, please attend, even if you don't wish to speak.
The Osceola County School Board's Public Hearing on Mandatory School Uniforms is this Tuesday, April 15, at 7:00 PM in the Administrative Center Board Room, located at 817 Bill Beck Blvd., Kissimmee. This may be our last chance to sway the school board and get them to see reason.
If you can at all make it, please attend, even if you don't wish to speak.
Eat for Success
The following satire was written by Terry Beale when DeKalb county was looking to implement a mandatory uniform policy called "Dress for Success." I think it does an excellent job of pointing out the flaws in the pro-uniform arguments. Used with permission.
Eat For Success
by TCBeale
Once upon a time, a school system in KeDalb County decided to improve education by imposing mandatory apples.
The administration knew that apples are healthful and that healthy children generally do better in school. They used their Common Sense to postulate that children who ate an apple a day would have less absenteeism and be more attentive and thus the county’s test scores would rise. So they formulated their Eat For Success initiative to require each child in the county to bring an apple to school each day and charged the teachers with ensuring that those apples were eaten.
Someone pointed out that requiring families to supply an apple each day could be construed as a fee for public education and the county would therefore have to provide apples at no charge for underprivileged families. The administration, in all its wisdom, said "OK, we won’t require an apple. We will require an apple, a pear, OR a peach. Each school may choose two of these fruits and each student shall bring one of its Official School Fruits. That way, we’re offering a choice so we do not need to supply free fruit."
And it was so.
Some families liked the mandatory fruit. They were generally families who ate apples (or pears or peaches) anyway and who bought into the administration’s claim that requiring this on a county-wide basis would increase test scores. Other families were unhappy for a variety of reasons and requested to opt-out of the policy. One girl had braces and could not eat apples, pears, or peaches, but the administration would not let her eat bananas. One boy had digestive problems and was subject to diarrhea when he ate fruit but the administration refused to consider vitamin supplements. One family owned a vineyard so could get grapes free but the administration would not allow the substitution. Some children just plain did not like the Official School Fruits, and those children were scorned as trouble-making deviants. One by one concerns and objections were expressed, but the administration refused to back down, saying that the program would not be successful unless ALL children ate an apple, a pear, or a peach every school day.
It was suggested that the school system could achieve its objectives better by teaching the children nutrition, but the administration thought that would put too much burden on the teachers.
A nutritionist stepped forward to state that, from a nutritional point of view, there was no evidence to support the theory that a mandatory Fruit Policy would increase test scores, but the administration preferred to rely on anecdote and personal opinions.
A concerned citizens group pointed out that it is not the role of the school board to dictate nutritional policy—that was a parental right and responsibility. The administration blew a raspberry in response.
Meanwhile, the families who supported mandatory apples were getting upset because they didn’t realize that they were allowed to provide their children with the Official School Fruit even without the Eat For Success policy. Somehow they got the impression that if any students were permitted to forego the approved mandatory fruit, their own ability to get their own children to eat apples would be compromised. So they said "Hey, if it’s good enough for me, it’s good enough for you! Get over it and eat an apple!" And they tried to argue their point:
"It’s easier to throw an apple in their lunchbox than to have to decide what to feed them each morning!"
"Apples are cheaper than "Lunchables," so I save money!"
"If you require your kids to eat apples, then they will be too full to eat gummy worms and other food that is obscenely jiggly."
The citizens against mandatory apples shook their heads sadly and despaired for their school system and their fellow parents who had good intentions but who couldn’t see the forest for the apple trees.
Eat For Success
by TCBeale
Once upon a time, a school system in KeDalb County decided to improve education by imposing mandatory apples.
The administration knew that apples are healthful and that healthy children generally do better in school. They used their Common Sense to postulate that children who ate an apple a day would have less absenteeism and be more attentive and thus the county’s test scores would rise. So they formulated their Eat For Success initiative to require each child in the county to bring an apple to school each day and charged the teachers with ensuring that those apples were eaten.
Someone pointed out that requiring families to supply an apple each day could be construed as a fee for public education and the county would therefore have to provide apples at no charge for underprivileged families. The administration, in all its wisdom, said "OK, we won’t require an apple. We will require an apple, a pear, OR a peach. Each school may choose two of these fruits and each student shall bring one of its Official School Fruits. That way, we’re offering a choice so we do not need to supply free fruit."
And it was so.
Some families liked the mandatory fruit. They were generally families who ate apples (or pears or peaches) anyway and who bought into the administration’s claim that requiring this on a county-wide basis would increase test scores. Other families were unhappy for a variety of reasons and requested to opt-out of the policy. One girl had braces and could not eat apples, pears, or peaches, but the administration would not let her eat bananas. One boy had digestive problems and was subject to diarrhea when he ate fruit but the administration refused to consider vitamin supplements. One family owned a vineyard so could get grapes free but the administration would not allow the substitution. Some children just plain did not like the Official School Fruits, and those children were scorned as trouble-making deviants. One by one concerns and objections were expressed, but the administration refused to back down, saying that the program would not be successful unless ALL children ate an apple, a pear, or a peach every school day.
It was suggested that the school system could achieve its objectives better by teaching the children nutrition, but the administration thought that would put too much burden on the teachers.
A nutritionist stepped forward to state that, from a nutritional point of view, there was no evidence to support the theory that a mandatory Fruit Policy would increase test scores, but the administration preferred to rely on anecdote and personal opinions.
A concerned citizens group pointed out that it is not the role of the school board to dictate nutritional policy—that was a parental right and responsibility. The administration blew a raspberry in response.
Meanwhile, the families who supported mandatory apples were getting upset because they didn’t realize that they were allowed to provide their children with the Official School Fruit even without the Eat For Success policy. Somehow they got the impression that if any students were permitted to forego the approved mandatory fruit, their own ability to get their own children to eat apples would be compromised. So they said "Hey, if it’s good enough for me, it’s good enough for you! Get over it and eat an apple!" And they tried to argue their point:
"It’s easier to throw an apple in their lunchbox than to have to decide what to feed them each morning!"
"Apples are cheaper than "Lunchables," so I save money!"
"If you require your kids to eat apples, then they will be too full to eat gummy worms and other food that is obscenely jiggly."
The citizens against mandatory apples shook their heads sadly and despaired for their school system and their fellow parents who had good intentions but who couldn’t see the forest for the apple trees.
Monday, April 7, 2008
The Definitive Book on School Uniforms
Over the past week, I've been reading "The School Uniform Movement and What It Tells Us About American Education" by David L. Brunsma. Dr. Brunsma, along with Kerry Rockquemore, conducted the first empirical study the effect of school uniforms on academics and discipline in 1998. In his latest book, he extends his study and reviews different variables to determine their impact on school safety and in creating a learning environment.
Some of his findings:
About the only impact that uniforms had was a "solidly negative impact on aggregate achievement in high schools."
In other words, uniforms had no benefits whatsoever, but high schools that had implemented uniforms had noticeably worse academic achievement.
On the subject of dress codes, Dr. Brunsma found that the answer was "a loud and clear 'clarify and enforce existing dress code policies!'"
I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the impact uniform policies will have on our school system. I will try to summarize further findings from the book in future posts.
And remember, please sign our petition if you have not already done so. Thanks!
Some of his findings:
- Uniforms do not significantly impact tenth- or eighth-grade attendance, behavior, or drug use.
- Uniforms have no significant impact on eighth- or tenth-graders' self-concepts.
- Uniforms have no significant impact on eighth- or tenth-graders' locus of control.
About the only impact that uniforms had was a "solidly negative impact on aggregate achievement in high schools."
In other words, uniforms had no benefits whatsoever, but high schools that had implemented uniforms had noticeably worse academic achievement.
On the subject of dress codes, Dr. Brunsma found that the answer was "a loud and clear 'clarify and enforce existing dress code policies!'"
I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the impact uniform policies will have on our school system. I will try to summarize further findings from the book in future posts.
And remember, please sign our petition if you have not already done so. Thanks!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Broward County Relaxes Uniform Policy
It appears that our school board is once again living in the past. While they rush headlong down the path to mandatory school uniforms, other Florida counties that have experimented with uniforms are already abandoning them after studies showed that the uniforms did not "keep students safe or improve their behavior or performance in class."
Check out this article about Broward County's school board voting 7-2 to adopt an opt-out policy that will allow parents to exempt their children from their three-year-old uniform policy.
Broward County is just the latest, however. Almost four years ago, Palm Beach County relaxed its uniform requirements. According to an article in the Sun-Sentinel:
"School uniforms, touted as a solution to discipline problems and low test scores, are falling out of favor in Palm Beach County as parents and administrators discover student skills can improve when they wear plain old T-shirts and jeans.
Several elementary school principals have abandoned the effort to get students to wear the golf-style shirts and khaki shorts they started recommending about five years ago. Their schools' academic performance, as measured by state standardized exams, has progressed without strict dress-code compliance.
Since academic improvement is the school system's primary focus, they wonder if spending time enforcing uniform policies distracts from their main mission.
"We haven't had a whole lot of success with it," said Michael Riley, principal of Lantana Elementary School, which has gotten an A grade from the state for the past two years after three C's and a D in 1999. "Interest has dwindled over the years. I don't see it on the school district level as a priority."
Check out this article about Broward County's school board voting 7-2 to adopt an opt-out policy that will allow parents to exempt their children from their three-year-old uniform policy.
Broward County is just the latest, however. Almost four years ago, Palm Beach County relaxed its uniform requirements. According to an article in the Sun-Sentinel:
"School uniforms, touted as a solution to discipline problems and low test scores, are falling out of favor in Palm Beach County as parents and administrators discover student skills can improve when they wear plain old T-shirts and jeans.
Several elementary school principals have abandoned the effort to get students to wear the golf-style shirts and khaki shorts they started recommending about five years ago. Their schools' academic performance, as measured by state standardized exams, has progressed without strict dress-code compliance.
Since academic improvement is the school system's primary focus, they wonder if spending time enforcing uniform policies distracts from their main mission.
"We haven't had a whole lot of success with it," said Michael Riley, principal of Lantana Elementary School, which has gotten an A grade from the state for the past two years after three C's and a D in 1999. "Interest has dwindled over the years. I don't see it on the school district level as a priority."
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