David A. Hancock
Chesterland
Hancock teaches science at Heights High School.
Teacher Says Many of His Students Learn and Excel
To the editor:
I must respond to Frank. E. Wrenick’s letter (The Sun Press, Feb. 18, “Nonteaching Teacher is Wasting CH-UH Tax Money”). First, I did not write the headline “Kids Who Choose Not to Learn May Have Right Idea.” Second, I quoted Herbert Kohl from his book, I Won’t Learn from You. There should have been quotation marks around the paragraph that Wrenick is referring to as my personal opinion (“Learning how to not-learn is an intellectual and social challenge …”). Student apathy and indifference is at an all-time high by my observations (and many others).
I do promote unguided inquiry and indirect teaching. I manage, counsel, guide, and instruct/teach my students in that order generally. I invite Wrenick to visit our nature / natural history museum classroom anytime. I do not think I am doing a disservice to my students (ask them) or to the citizens of Cleveland Heights and University Heights. I simply manage students without coercion.
I feel very fortunate in receiving many, many letters and cards from former students and parents thanking and praising me for being a positive role model and educational leader. In my thirty years of teaching, I have done my best to practice the words of William Arthur Ward: “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” I am doing what I am paid to do—manage, counsel, guide, and teach (inspire).
David A. Hancock
Chesterland
Leave No Child Behind
The positive connection and correlation between funding and excellence in education is often debated.
However, as reported in the Review of Education Research in “The Effect of School Resources on Student Learning and Achievement,” a group of researchers from the University of Chicago who analyzed thirty-two studies on this issue concluded that higher per-pupil expenditures; parent involvement and support; more educated and experienced teachers, administrators, and support staff as well as smaller classes, all directly a result of higher funding, are strongly related to improved student learning.
As a resident of Chester since 1972 and with two daughters, 1992 and 1996 West G. graduates, who received an excellent education, I will vote yes for our renewal levy—renewing support and confidence with our school system and the education services provided for our children.
It’s a fact that our school grades reflect our community grades (i.e., our schools succeed primarily because of the conditions and culture in our community).
All this reminds me of a poster on a bulletin board outside of an office at a local college: “It will be a great day when our public schools get all the money they need, and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber.”
Let us remember the wit and wisdom of Mark Twain: “The greatness of the nation lies in our public schools.”
A yes vote means leaving no child behind. Yes, we can continue with “Excellence through tradition and innovation.”
David A. Hancock
Chester
School-Funding Reality
Why is the Cleveland Metropolitan School District having so many financial problems? The answer to this question should be examined from a business approach.
In a business setting—and make no mistakes, that’s exactly where a school system is—the bottom line is the main determination of success or failure. In using this approach, the income statement is the first item to be reviewed. The amount of income determines whether a business lives or dies. And further, what is done with that income will also have an impact.
However, the Cleveland School District has very little control over the income it receives. Unfortunately, it is at the mercy of the government bureaucracy, to wit: Gov. John Kasich’s lower taxes for the rich (to the detriment of all other budgets); the state legislature, which approved the governor’s budget; Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson; the City Council; and last but not least, the voters who put all the aforementioned into office.
If the Cleveland School District had some control over the income, there might be some reasonable cause to blame them for poor management, but their only action can be a reaction to the financial starvation diet that is denying it the funds necessary to function in a more effective manner. And a fiscal plan is viable only so long as the rules are stable and do not change. Unfortunately, the rules are always changing, and the school district has to deal with the consequences.
Governor Kasich seems to think that the key to balancing the budget for the state of Ohio is to cut services to those programs that need governmental help the most. His Darwinian approach is out of touch with reality. If he were to tax those entities that can afford it, the approach would be more viable rather than watching a necessary public institution fail, condemning that institution, and then, with the voucher program, diverting money to the charter schools.
The mayor and the City Council have also contributed to the reduction of funding for the schools. In order to lure more businesses to Cleveland, the Cleveland City Government has utilized property tax abatements. These abatements have been given to most of the more successful businesses.
The solution to the problem is to find another source of revenue to fund the schools. The property-tax system has already been declared illegal by the Ohio State Supreme Court. For that reason alone, Cleveland should investigate another method for funding the schools. How about an additional 1 percent income tax to be used exclusively for the schools?
This method of funding would be preferable to cutting expenses by gutting the system of any teachers with experience and/or
