On
School Performance, It is Time London Lengthened its Stride
Jake Skinner Trustee Candidate Wards 7, 8, 9, 10, 13
It is time London woke up to its school
performance problem. In the last five
years, London public schools have not improved and compared to neighbouring
municipalities ranks worse than one would expect (see Jakeskinner.ca/issues). In 2013, London elementary schools scored 5.1
out of a possible 10 points on provincial tests and our high schools scored a
6.0. Recent provincial test results
confirm we are not improving or getting worse (see http://www.am980.ca/2014/09/17/27937/). We can do better, our children deserve better. As a candidate for TVDSB Trustee in wards 7,
8, 9, 10, and 13 I have a plan to move education in London forward.
There are a number of important issues
facing our board at this time, like the prospect of new school closures; but we
cannot allow ourselves to be distracted from the task of ensuring high student
achievement and well-being. Nor is it
productive to dismiss the value of provincial test results by suggesting they
tell only part of the story. Provincial
testing is important and is the measure used across the province to gauge
whether our children are gaining the skills they will need to succeed in the
21st Century; which is increasingly knowledge-based
and global in competition. There is an
ancient law which says that we will reap what we sow; our future success
depends on the skills we pass on to our children through our education system
today, and we must give serious heed to whether we are giving them the skills
to succeed or not. This is why I am
calling for us to lengthen our stride when it comes to school performance.
If elected, here is what I plan to do:
1.
Promote strong and effective Principal leadership. Principals can do this by being firm and
purposeful, being collaborative as leaders, exhibiting instructional
leadership, monitoring staff performance frequently, and maintaining and recruiting
talented staff.
2.
Promote a pervasive focus on instruction and learning. This means keeping academics the priority and
maximizing learning time.
3.
Promote a safe and positive school climate and culture. This means creating a shared vision, an
orderly and supportive environment, and emphasizing positive reinforcement to
build a positive pupil culture.
4.
Create high (and appropriate) expectations for all. This goes for both staff and students.
5.
Use student achievement data to monitor progress at all levels. This will be used at the student, classroom,
and school levels.
6.
Build effective teaching. This
means maximizing class time, providing a broad, balanced, relevant and
stimulating curriculum, and setting high standards for teaching.
7.
Involve parents in productive and appropriate ways. Parents, teachers, and students form a
partnership, not an adversarial relationship.
8.
And above all, I will promote a positive attitude towards student
achievement. It is vital we dismiss doubt and adopt the
unwavering belief that pupils can achieve high standards given sufficient time
and high quality support; that teachers can teach to high standards, with the
right example, conditions, and help; that our expectations for achievement
should be high and that early intervention can rescue students who may not be
reaching their potential; and that past failures can be replaced by future
success as we learn and grow together.
I am a PhD candidate in local government at
Western with a Master's Degree in American Studies and a Bachelor's Degree in
Political Science. I am a former
Regional Planning Commissioner and homebuilder of ten years. I am a teacher and most importantly I am a
parent. My wife Vanessa and I are the
proud parents of six remarkable children.
I know that we are capable of more and it is time to raise the bar and
reach our true potential when it comes to giving our children the skills they
will need to succeed in the 21st Century.
Voters can get in touch with me in these
ways:
Website: www.JakeSkinner.ca
Email: info@JakeSkinner.ca
Cell/Text: 226-700-7095
Twitter: @JakeSkinnerPhDc
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/JakeSkinner
4 comments:
Unfortunately, the bizarre electoral system for the two district school boards is a convoluted dog's breakfast, thanks to changes rammed through by the PC government of Premier Mike Harris in the mid-to-late 1990s.
The school board set-up needs a complete overhaul by the province to make it more comprehensible and relevant. As it is, it's a disgrace to meaningful democracy.
I'm waiting for the brave soul who sees through these pan-provincial tests of our school children. I strenuously objected the first year the Harris gov't.foisted these tests on my kids, and told the creator of the mathematics aspect what I thought of it 17 years ago. They discriminated against schools with high numbers of kids from other countries, and whose first language isn't English, and more importantly, put unnecessary stress on them. And two decades later, it's the same damnable biased, useless waste of time and money for some over-simplistic notion that children, and their teachers, are undifferentiated cardboard cutouts . But they're not, are they? Kids and teachers have unique gifts and needs. Reverse American-warped Ontario schooling and give education back to students and teachers.
There were a lot of platitudes and a plan that oversteps the bounds of what a trustee's power can achieve. The things that concern me is his support for the value of testing and dismissal of those who question that value. Also on his website he cites the Fraser Institute's rankings as a basis for his policies. In a role like trustee I think it is more important to see who the candidate is going to listen to, rather evaluating a long list of diffuse "hurrah" words.
I'm wondering whether Jake Skinner is ever going to be forthright with the people who have now elected him about why he (his wife) "homeschools" all of his school-age children. He has declined to justify keeping two of the children out of the public school system for alleged medical reasons, and has said only that it is inconvenient to put the other two in the system. I am suspecting quite different reasons ... and I would like to know what curriculum his children are taught.
I'm also wondering whether the London electorate understands that it has elected someone who publicly cheered the candidacy of John McCain and Sarah Palin in the 2008 US election (while he was living, being elected to public office and presumably voting in Nevada):
http://archive.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2008/Sep-17-Wed-2008/opinion/23945409.html
I wonder also whether they are aware of the depths of his religious fundamentalism (and hostility to the gay and lesbian students in the system), since not many people would recognize his use of the term "same-sex attraction" in one of his election survey responses as the code used by people who promote "conversion therapy" for gay and lesbian adults and youth:
http://www.womenandpolitics.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Combined-2014-Trustee-Surveys2.pdf
And of course, as G. Babbitt said, I wonder about anyone who uses the dishonest Fraser Institute as a source for policy. (The Fraser Institute study Skinner quoted in his campaign materials compared outcomes between public and private schools, when we all know that private schools can skim the cream while public schools must serve all comers.)
I wonder why no one, in particular the media, saw fit to do the minimal research and to ask for a little daylight on these questions.
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