MS 344 (NYC): How can this be?

American Thinker  @amthinker  tweeted a story today from the New York Post. The Post reports that MS344--the Academy for Collaborative Education (ACE/MS344)--a middle school in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, is so chaotic that the state wants to close it. However, the United Federation of Teachers is fighting the closure. They did the same when the school was first announced for closure in 2009. A search of the UFT website finally exposed this article where the suit was explained: schools on the list (a total of 22) have not received promised help from the Dept. of Education. The DOE's "Proposed Closure Scenario" disputes that, listing nine specific means of assistance given; grants, training for teachers, and assistance for the school's principal Ms. Shaw were some of the ways the DOE tried to help the Academy.

ACE opened in the fall of 2006 full of promise. "ACE was launched just four years ago with high hopes. The Department of Education promised to give students 'intensive mathematics and technology programs' -- and to get them into the city's most competitive high schools" according to the October 2010 Post article below. This review seems to indicate the school is home to less than half the expected enrollment and mentions the decision to close as of April 2011.

Just how bad is the school? Here's today's article from the Post. The embedded video (which includes profanity) shows students refusing to go to class, followed by a classroom apparently vandalized when left empty for just a few minutes.  Things don't seem to have changed since October 2010 when this story appeared in the Post. When the student results from ACE are compared with peer schools (40 other schools with similar socioeconomic demographics, ELL and special needs populations) ACE/MS344 "has the lousiest scores." After earning a D in the 08-09 results, the school progressed to an F on the 09-10 Dept. of Education progress report, including an F in two of the three major categories of evaluation.



The Quality Review Report from the NYC Dept. of Education mentioned in February 2009 (during Principal Shaw's first year)  that "Poor student behavior is a major concern at the school that interrupts classroom
instruction." While some characteristics were listed as "underdeveloped with proficient tendencies", the school received an overall evaluation of underdeveloped--the lowest possible level.

The August 2009 "Persistently Dangerous Schools" list includes "JS344": Academy of Collaborative Education. One 7th grader is quoted by the Post as saying that the police "come almost every day."


How good is the school? Here is a school-produced video log from the school, with several videos from April of this year. A teacher apparently teaches "cooking" skills to a small group of kids, and they seem to love her. Someone (perhaps the same teacher) allows a student to interview others about the all-important state tests. One student says she wants to do well so that the school won't have to close.

The "Learning Environment Survey" from 2009-2010 shows a great deal of improvement from 08-09 to 09-10. A majority of students feel safe, inspired to learn, and believe their teachers know their names. Parents are 97% satisfied with the education their children received in that school year. Examining the data as responses to individual questions tells us that 14% of students don't feel safe in their classrooms and that 24% do not feel safe in hallways, locker rooms, and other common areas. A shocking 90% of students say that other students get into fights some of the time, most of the time, or all of the time. Perhaps most telling: only 29% of students agree that students show respect to their teachers.

In the end, though, the students deserve a safe place to learn with trained teachers who care about the students. This graphic compares ACE/MS344 with another school that has some classrooms in the same building. Democracy Prep is the city's #1 charter school. How do they compare?

Student backgrounds matter in education, yet these two schools (and the 41 schools in the peer group ACE is considered as similar to) show that ACE isn't helping its students as much as other schools are. Kids are not prepared for the elite high schools--perhaps not for any high school.

Teachers impact the quality of education, and while some good teachers may be on staff at ACE, things are not improving. The students are not respectful (by the students' own admission) and they may not have the most updated technology. However, kids can learn without fancy technology. Administrators direct the school, and manage every part of it. Is Ms. Shaw the problem? She certainly hasn't helped; the Post mentions claims Shaw hired friends and family members to work with her, and that she has mistreated her teaching staff overtly and also by failing to support them.

Is the UFT the problem? While the union has "met with the MS344 staff" this year, nothing has changed for the students or the teachers. Perhaps the blame should fall on the parents, who may have sent children to school unprepared for learning, or unwilling to be respectful. The UFT blames the government, and probably some parents share that sentiment.

Everyone can share the blame, or no one, yet the ACE children who didn't know how to read fluently in 2009 still can't read fluently. The children who struggled to learn 6th grade math last year likely struggled this year through 7th grade math. What hope do they have for success in the fall of 2011?

Their best hope at this point is another school. MS344 should never have been allowed to reach the depths it reached; having done so, the effort to bring change will cost too much. The cost of bringing change to ACE/MS344 is irreparable harm to the futures of the 50+ kids who just finished what should be the last year of the Academy for Collaborative Learning's existence.

One Nation Under God, Indivisible

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands: one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Someone at @NBC_Sports decided to create a video montage to "salute our great nation???" and present it to open NBC's broadcast one day during the PGA's U.S. Open Championship, held this year at ??? in Washington D.C. Within the first minute of the broadcast, viewers noticed something about the montage. I admittedly first learned of the montage on Twitter, which sometimes is first to broadcast breaking news for better or worse.


The first YouTube video of the U.S. Open montage--the one I watched even during the U.S. Open broadcast--has since been removed by the user. However, I captured it before that occurred.

This video includes the first half of the montage and the on-air comments offered by announcer Dan Hicks later in the broadcast.

I had a few interesting exchanges on Twitter with folks who claimed that they are offended by the inclusion of the words "under God" within the Pledge of Allegiance. I won't recount those exchanges here. During those exchanges, I collected some research on the Pledge of Allegiance to help me better explain my thoughts. With July 4th coming soon, the announced drawdown of troops in Afghanistan, and the daily efforts of those who seem to hate America and all for which she stands, I've been thinking about the Pledge of Allegiance. So here, in a semi-chronological order, is a (selected) series of articles and videos related to the Pledge of Allegiance. This is not intended to be a comprehensive list; rather, it is what is most familiar and most surprising. 

• The original pledge was written in 1892 by a socialist (or perhaps Baptist, or both) minister, Francis Bellamy. He wrote the pledge in such a way that citizens of any country could  proudly speak it: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." 
• In 1923 "my Flag" became "the flag of the United States" and in 1924 the two words "of America" were added. These changes took place as part of the first and second National Flag Conferences.  
• In 1940, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) determined in MINERSVILLE SCHOOL DIST. v. GOBITIS that two children (by then teens) expelled "f"or their refusal to yield to the compulsion of a law which commands their participation in a school ceremony contrary to their religious convictions " did not experience a violation of their religious freedoms. In delivering the Court's opinion, Justice Frankfurter wrote: "The preciousness of the family relation, the authority and independence which give dignity to parenthood, indeed the enjoyment of all freedom, presuppose the kind of ordered society which is summarized by our flag. A society which is dedicated to the preservation of these ultimate values of civilization may in self-protection utilize the educational process for inculcating those almost unconscious feelings which bind men together in a comprehending loyalty, whatever may be their lesser differences and difficulties. That is to say, the process may be utilized so long as men's right to believe as they please, to win others to their way of belief, and their right to assemble in their chosen places of worship for the devotional ceremonies of their faith, are all fully respected. "
• In 1942, the US Flag Code adopted specific language about the pledge. Congress made this sentence the official national pledge:  

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

• SCOTUS in 1943 reversed the declarations of Gobitis in West Virginia St. Board of Education v. Barnette. Justice Jackson wrote for the court's opinion: " Any spark of love for country which may be generated in a child or his associates by forcing him to make what is to him an empty gesture and recite words wrung from him contrary to his religious beliefs is overshadowed by the desirability of preserving freedom of conscience to the full. It is in that freedom and the example of persuasion, not in force and compulsion, that the real unity of America lies. " 
• In 1954, Eisenhower signed into law (on Flag Day) the bill which added "under God" immediately following the words "one nation".  The site usflag.org states: "Then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, 'In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource in peace and war.' " The Pledge of Allegiance is properly written and spoken as "...one nation under God, indivisible..." (which is the five-word phrase left out the second time in NBC's montage).
• The phrase "under God" was taken from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. (Though some written versions of Lincoln's speech at the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, PA do not include the phrase, the phrase is included in the last sentence of the only copy Lincoln is known to have personally signed.)
• I could find very little (see "Limits on Pledge of Allegiance") about a case involving a San Diego CA school district where a teacher sent a student to the office for failing to participate in the daily routine of standing and chorally reciting the Pledge of Allegiance one spring morning in 1998. Brief unsourced sentences similar to the site above, reprinted several places, echo the resolution given in "Limits...". A search of ACLU's website for the phrase "Pledge of Allegiance" indicates that the ACLU has been involved in several incidents related to the pledge, but nothing specific about the 1998 suit.
• Dr. Pepper (and later Pepsi and Coke) faced accusations in late 2001/early 2002 of omitting "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, even though "more than 90% of the words (of the Pledge) were not included."
• In 2002 a federal appeals court ruled that the phrase "one nation under God" violated the separation of church and state. Dr. Michael Newdow filed the original suit on behalf of his elementary-aged daughter. A spokesman for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State was quoted in the article: '''They didn't strike down the Pledge of Allegiance. All they said is Congress made a mistake when they added God to the pledge.''
• In 2004, SCOTUS reversed the appellate decision, based on the fact that Newdow did not have "right to sue as next friend" (Dr. Newdow possessed no legal standing, even though he had at times been given joint physical custody of his daughter.)
• In 2010 the same federal appeals court in San Francisco who had ruled the phrase "one nation under God" to be unconstitutional ruled against a group led by Dr. Newdow. The court found recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance to be patriotic, not religious.
• Florida's state law regarding student participation in the patriotic exercise of the Pledge of Allegiance was partially discounted by a circuit court ruling: students must be allowed to sit if they choose. Many local districts amended their policies to reflect the ruling. Also, see embedded memo here.  
• Illinois 2010: a debate moderator from the League of Women Voters was "forced" to say the pledge at a political debate. One week later: Pledge 2, League of Women Voters 0.
• In June 2011 Dr. Newdow (as "Freedom from Religion Foundation") again faced SCOTUS in appeal of an appellate court ruling. New Hampshire schools require time be set aside daily for students to "voluntarily recite the Pledge (of Allegiance). Dr. Newdow and another family filed suit, and appealed decisions, based on their beliefs that "atheists are the nation's 'most disenfranchised religious minority' and were deserving of the high court's protection." SCOTUS declined without comment as the appellate court had declared unanimously "The New Hampshire School Patriot Act's primary effect is not the advancement of religion, but the advancement of patriotism through a pledge to the flag as a symbol of the nation." 
• State law requires at least some students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in as many as 7 states (though students/parents may opt out in each of these states except DE and KS).This site offers similar information in text format.

 In closing, I offer this from Red Skelton, who explained the Pledge of Allegiance in the words of one of his teachers from elementary school. As the video concludes, he makes these statements: "Since I was a small boy, two states have been added to our nation, and two words have been added to the Pledge of Allegiance   "under God.  " Wouldn't it be a pity if someone said,  "That's a prayer  " and that would be eliminated from schools, too?  " 

Yes, Mr. Skelton, it would indeed.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.