KC Schools, A Case Study in Liberal Stupidity

american thinker ^ | 3-10-10 | Randall Hoven

[WOBBLY BOB]

The AP reports that the Kansas City school system is closing 29 of its 61 schools due to budget problems -- a $50 million shortfall. The AP quotes KC Councilwoman Sharon Sanders Brooks on the background of the story.

[WOBBLY BOB]

"Kansas City spent as much as $11,700 per pupil -- more money per pupil, on a cost of living adjusted basis, than any other of the 280 largest districts in the country. The money bought higher teachers' salaries, 15 new schools, and such amenities as an Olympic-sized swimming pool with an underwater viewing room, television and animation studios, a robotics lab, a 25-acre wildlife sanctuary, a zoo, a model United Nations with simultaneous translation capability, and field trips to Mexico and Senegal. The student-teacher ratio was 12 or 13 to 1, the lowest of any major school district in the country."

[misterrob]

Anything having to do with science and technology is fine....

The rest?

Pfffft

[henkster]

And what were their graduation rates and average SAT scores?

[softwarecreator]

Olympic-sized swimming pool with an underwater viewing room, television and animation studios, a robotics lab, a 25-acre wildlife sanctuary, a zoo, a model United Nations with simultaneous translation capability, and field trips to Mexico and Senegal

What in the heck does ANY of this have to do with education?

[WOBBLY BOB]

I bet they graduated a lot of future marine biologists.

[rockrr]

Providing an essential lesson in not how to budget your money LOL...

[mbynack]

Anything having to do with science and technology is fine....

The rest?

Pfffft

But - it's for the children. Don't you think that children have the right to an olympic size swimming pool with a viewing window. Would you deny these children a zoo and field trips to Senegal? You are a cruel and heartless conservative. /sarcasm

[pabianice]

A federal judge ordered KC to spend two billion dollars on new schools since “the black pupils were being discriminated against by the poor school quality.” Twenty-five years later, KC is bankrupt, tax-payers have fled, and school success rates have fallen ever further. Job #1 should be removing these Leftist judges.

[freespirited]

60 minutes did a story on this years ago (that would be quite a few, as I have been boycotting the show for a long time). IIRC test scores did not budge after the infusion of a billion dollars into the school system.

Yet the belief that more taxpayer money can alleviate poor performance lives on. Maybe if they had spent a trillion it would have worked. (/s)

[traintown57]

Olympic-sized swimming pool with an underwater viewing room, television and animation studios, a robotics lab, a 25-acre wildlife sanctuary, a zoo, a model United Nations with simultaneous translation capability, and field trips to Mexico and Senegal

When you give tennagers so many toys and extra-curricular activities, how many will choose to study?

[dirtboy]

Job #1 should be removing these Leftist judges.

The laws of economics are removing the end results of their rulings.

[AlaskaErik]

What in the heck does ANY of this have to do with education?

It's all about indoctrination, not education.

[CholeraJoe]

If they only had more money, they could have had a world class Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender education center, a Native American sweat lodge, complete with magic mushroom garden, and a 4 acre biosphere with hydroponic vegetable garden. Those would have saved the day.

[henkster]

Now that you mention it, I recall the story too. To some extent, my initial comment was rhetorical. I knew that the scores were not great. But I do recall that KC thought they could improve education by throwing tax dollars down the hole.

[misterrob]

Take a field trip to the museum, historical sites or to places like farms, businesses and factories.

Or, take them to a jail and tell them what happens when you don’t stay in school and get a job.

That’s a worthwhile trip

[poobear]

If you caught a screen shot of the panel of losers on the School Board you wouldn’t be surprised. They’ll retire with full Pensions and blame whitey for leaving Kansas City for their demise.

Next...

[Clock King]

What in the heck does ANY of this have to do with education?

Nothing. What it does is give a government leech a permanent job as a "coordinator", along with a small staff. Read Ayn Rand, the Fountainhead. She described how this works even back in the 1920's.

[WOBBLY BOB]

NO school is complete without that,but watch out in your sweat lodges. We had a MN new-age,pretend indian,moonbat die in one -—

http://wcco.com/local/sweat.lodge.ceremony.2.1255446.html

[WOBBLY BOB]

Take a field trip to the museum, historical sites or to places like farms, businesses and factories.

a nice history lesson to show kids what America was like when we had a private sector.

[goat granny]

I don't know if this is the school system some judge took over in Kansas and dictated to them to build a specific school in the inner city because they had inferior schools than the rest of the district....it was part of an law suit and the judge ruled that segregation was why the schools were bad...He ruled that the super school was to be built and further that the citizens were to be taxes to build this school...it cost hundreds of millions of dollars and for years the judge would not allow the school boards to run the system....(hope this makes sense) but the law suit goes back over 1 1/2 decades...The school had state of the art everything

The swimming pool etc was built due to the ruling of the nutcase judge and pseudo segregation...When finished it did not improve anything, and its almost like this particular judge just wanted to punish and at the time I thought "how can a judge dictate type of school and taxes". It stunk to high heaven......