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What's your opinion on mayoral control of city schools?


MTR Admiralty

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This issue has been hotly debated by many in the city. Albany gave Bloomberg full control (but temporary) of the city's educational system. Many parents are infuriated with this concept, particularly because of the cell phone ban.

 

Bloomberg's handling of schools did bring success. Grades have been improving since his control. His handling though has been marred with the cell phone ban and closing of certain schools. My junior high school (JHS 56), for example, was closed right after our year. Three small schools are in its place.

 

What's your opinion? Should Bloomberg be continue to have mayoral control over the city's schools? Or should he lose this privilege?

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He was the mayor before Bloomberg, but you mentioned that Albany has temporarily given Bloomberg control over the schools. I think my question should have been worded "who was in control of the schools before Bloomberg was temporarily granted the privilege?"

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Giuliani.
Wrong, back before it became the Department of Education, it was the Board of Education which was controlled by a Board. As a current Department of Education employee, I would say the current administration of Joel Klein and the Mayor is fine. The cell phone ban is a ban with legitamate reasons. Cell phones have no place in schools. they are a distraction and interfere with the learning process of not only the student with the phone but of those around said student.
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Wrong, back before it became the Department of Education, it was the Board of Education which was controlled by a Board. As a current Department of Education employee, I would say the current administration of Joel Klein and the Mayor is fine. The cell phone ban is a ban with legitamate reasons. Cell phones have no place in schools. they are a distraction and interfere with the learning process of not only the student with the phone but of those around said student.

 

I said Giuliani because I thought he said mayor. But yes, prior to 2002, there was the Board of Ed.

I agree that the cell phone ban is with legitimate reasons, but think of this though. What kind of world are we living today? I mean, if your school is across the street from you, then honestly, there's no reason for you to have a phone. Take my school for instance. Bronx Science. 70% of the students live in Queens. 90% of the students live beyond 2 miles away from the school. Cell phones are supposed to be emergency devices. Like if something goes on in transit, students are able to call their parents. We had a bomb scare two months ago, some of us were able to contact our parents to inform them what happened. It's not just us. Many students in Stuy, Tech or Hunter live far from their schools.

Phones can't be used inside school, but having an aggressive campaign to seize and rid phones from all students is fairly wrong.

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*sigh* kids these days. Back before cellphones were invented kids went to school just fine, there was no chaos in the world. If and when they needed to contact their parents they have the main office or use this thing called a payphone that 8gasp8 made phone calls too! can you believe that? Like I said, no need for cellphones. Most if not all subway stations have a payphone.

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*sigh* kids these days. Back before cellphones were invented kids went to school just fine, there was no chaos in the world. If and when they needed to contact their parents they have the main office or use this thing called a payphone that 8gasp8 made phone calls too! can you believe that? Like I said, no need for cellphones. Most if not all subway stations have a payphone.

We now live in a world of terror threats and stuff. And a good amount of those payphones in the subway don't work at all. Some of the kids use school buses, you don't expect a phone to be on the bus. I remember when I was in junior high, I was yelled at for making a call through school telephones.

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we survived back then without them and you kids can do the same. All this is doing is softening our youth and making them dependent on things, soon they wont want to walk to school cause they might get a boo-boo.

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we survived back then without them and you kids can do the same. All this is doing is softening our youth and making them dependent on things, soon they wont want to walk to school cause they might get a boo-boo.

We always hear the "then and now" story. That is not new to us.

I have to tell you this:

My best friend, Jordin Kelley, forgot his phone. The afternoon he passed away, his mother called me on his cell, asking me if I seen him. I told his mother that I didn't see him that day in school. Supposedly, he was going to Staten Island, but something happened to him in transit. If he had his phone with him, at least his mother would know where he would be before his passing away.

I'm not trying to say that that stuff happens to us everyday. But place yourself in a parent's shoes. If you happen to send your kid miles and miles without a communications device, would you be worried?

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I think mayoral control benefitted the city's education system. Although it has been somewhat controversial, the one benefit I've seen was the creation of the Impact School's List. Having been in a impact school, I can tell you that it wasn't fun at all. Back in 2004, Norman Thomas HS brought in 765 incoming freshmen. Out of 765 students, only 345 actually applied to the school. Come January 2005, the school was placed on the impact school list.

 

Although more school safety agents were brought in, peer mediation was the real cause of NTHS getting out of the list.

 

MTR, I agree with you about the whole cell phone issue. Although I think its justified to ban them in city schools. I understand it cause massive amounts of backlash from parents and students. The cell phone ban didn't prevent people from bringing them in regardless if the school has metal detectors or not. Hell, I had to walk through a metal detector every day at NTHS. I'll admit, I did sneak in my cell phone in during the later half of my senior year.

 

MTR, my mom graduated from JHS 56. I also know plenty of my cousins went there as well.

I fully agree on what you said. The educational standards have been increased and graduation rates around the city have generally increased. If schools are not performing well, they are given a second chance or get closed down. Small schools were designed to provide students with a smaller environment so that they could know staff members and other students better. That was a good concept.

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Cell phones should be turned off in class, and between classes put on vibe only. I think some families like to have a line open just in case of emergencies, especially after 9/11.

 

- A

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*sigh* kids these days. Back before cellphones were invented kids went to school just fine, there was no chaos in the world. If and when they needed to contact their parents they have the main office or use this thing called a payphone that 8gasp8 made phone calls too! can you believe that? Like I said, no need for cellphones. Most if not all subway stations have a payphone.

 

But also, keep in mind, before cellphones, kids didn't travel long distances to get to school. I went to school in Manhattan, and I'm from the Bronx. If something happened to the bus or the train, a cell phone was a good way to let my parents know that I was all right. Pay phones are difficult to find and not always reliable.

 

I see your point, Julio, yes you survived without a phone, and generations before all of us did. But that was a different time, and a very anachronistic way of thinking. Children have to adjust to the times as well. Think also: pay phones aren't well maintained--because many, many adults have cell phones.

 

Cell phones, however, should be turned off and put away in class. But not banned completely.

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I agree with Bloomberg on the cell phone ban, even though I strongly dislike him. I blame the media for all the concentration of cell phones and kids' behavior with them. Everywhere you go you see kids centered around their phones like they're their key to survival. Everyone's chatting and talking and not paying any attention to anything important like school. All of this is somewhat out of the BOE's control though.

 

I would ban them, but then as said before many kids have to travel long distances to get to school now, especially high schools, which is why I really dislike the high school application process. There are very few specialized and 'good' schools, which makes the distances HUGE, like from Floral Park all the way to Stuyvesant on public transportation. Sure, there are other choices like going to your zoned school, however the opportunities you will receive are unequal as compared to a specialized school, and it's made out to seem that if you go to a 'bad' high school, you won't be successful. And while you have to make these important choices, you are only 12 or 13 years old. I don't know how I got to this from Bloomberg, but in my opinion the whole system sucks.

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*sigh* kids these days. Back before cellphones were invented kids went to school just fine, there was no chaos in the world. If and when they needed to contact their parents they have the main office or use this thing called a payphone that 8gasp8 made phone calls too! can you believe that? Like I said, no need for cellphones. Most if not all subway stations have a payphone.

 

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we survived back then without them and you kids can do the same. All this is doing is softening our youth and making them dependent on things, soon they wont want to walk to school cause they might get a boo-boo.

 

Payphones aren't near as reliable now, as they used to be when "we" went to school... What I mean by that is, you come up upon so many that are defunct, and/or the booths w/i them that reek of piss... It's enough to deter adults, let alone children from using the damned things.....

 

BUT.... I do totally agree w/ you, that kids in this day & age are heavily reliant on (getting) cellphones... Roku used the word survival... That speaks volumes if we live in a world where children need cellphones to survive... To me, it's nothing more than an excuse for these kids to text/call each other about random nonsense throughout the day - this includes on the bus/train ride to school, DURING school, and the bus/train ride going home....

It's one thing for a teacher/principal/ or whatever other faculty member w/i a school to call a parent of a child when something serious happens to said child during the school day... It is quite another to call "ma" just to let them know you are okay just because you have a cell phone.....

 

It is softening our children... and in that 2nd post of yours, that's how things are in suburbia - the average surburban kid either has mommy or daddy drive them to school, or they hop on the short bus to get there.... I sincerely hope it never gets to the point where the vast majority of kids that live w/i walking distance of their schools here in the city, has to have someone drive them there, while enabling them w/ a cellphone on top of that....

 

I hate to sound callous, but let's get real here... If a kidnapper, rapist, or w/e type of shady character happens to lurk upon & abduct someone's child, no cellphone is going to deter that person from snatching that child...

 

Again, the "safety" issue is nothin more than an excuse for kids nowadays to possess a cellphone to engage in the very activities I spoke of in the 2nd paragraph of this post... And these kids know it too ! They're not as naive as they want us adults to think they are....

 

While it is unfortunate that there are so few "standardized" high schools, and the # of high schools here in the city are being broken up into smaller schools (that's another thing that's wrong w/ the system... the idea of decreasing the student-teacher ratio... but yet, they don't wanna pay these teachers anything), kids in NYC now are traveling much longer distances to get to school... I'm not oblivious to that... But at the same token, IMO, it was a just & rational decision by Bloomberg in banning cellphones from city schools....

 

But place yourself in a parent's shoes. If you happen to send your kid miles and miles without a communications device, would you be worried?
I'll gladly answer that...

 

Yes, just like any other caring parent would worry about their child(ren) - celly or no celly.... sending them a greater distance to a school then they would normally have to, wouldn't... or shouldn't increase the level/magnitude of worry... If a parent is THAT worried about sending their kid too far away, well then guess what... That kid doesn't need to go to said school if a parent is that petrified of their child's safety.

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*sigh* kids these days. Back before cellphones were invented kids went to school just fine, there was no chaos in the world. If and when they needed to contact their parents they have the main office or use this thing called a payphone that 8gasp8 made phone calls too! can you believe that? Like I said, no need for cellphones. Most if not all subway stations have a payphone.

 

who want to use dirty pay phones?and half of the pay phones don't even work....I think the kids should bring in their cell phones.If the teacher see it take alway!I mean come on....I still see kids in school with their cell phones anyway.

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Mayor Bloomberg is a power hungry person. He wants to be the ruler of New York City. I was a former NYC teacher. Before the mayor took over, the school system was fine. Kids were learning spelling, basic reading and writing skills. Now the school system are Romper Rooms filled with all kinds of junk and you can't breath. If a principal doesn't like you, they get rid of teachers, no matter how good you are. That's what happened to me. Protect kids, protect teachers. All the kids are learning nowadays, is how to take a test. The mayor wants to show to the country that NYC scored high, and yet they are forgetting the basics of educatiing our children.

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