Education ideas, odds and ends

(Suggestions)

Require Public school principals to accept nominations for a board made up only of parents/custodians of his/her school’s students (tried and working in Australia) and organize an election at the end of each school term-one parental vote per pupil in attendance at that school the following year.  The principal and the subsequently elected board determine a budget based on needed materials and resources, and elect a representative to hold an office on the District School board for that year.  That way each school is represented equally on the Board.

Omaha Public School District has been unduly burdened. Keep schools along the Dodge Street Corridor in OPS but other districts can help with administration. For instance, South High attendance area can merge with the Bellevue District, Bryan can merge with Ralston or Papillion, Northwest can merge with Elkhorn and North can merge with District 66, as an example. Elaborate and expensive solutions like the Learning Community are not working.

I recommend a return to the Spalding Method of teaching reading which involves saying, hearing, writing (penmanship) and seeing words and phonic patterns to build a list of spelling words that are understood by the child including how to form those words on paper, read them, spell them, listen, define them and say them.  As their ‘individual’ book of sounds and words grows, "reader texts" may not be required as children may select topics of interest from their classroom's books or public library books. Students are better able to think independently and contribute to current community ideas when they've been taught to read effectively whereas in contrast, 47% of the adults in Detroit are functionally illiterate today.

Offer a boost to Secondary education by offering within the College of Arts and Science, a minor in secondary education. Upon graduation with a major in their field, be it Biology, Math, Chemistry or a Foreign language and student teaching under their belt, the graduate is qualified to teach in a secondary school, Junior or Senior high school, in Nebraska and benefit from reduced tuition at any Nebraska University, to complete an Arts and Science Masters and/or Doctorate.  Students benefit from the quality knowledge in their field and the enthusiasm of an engaged instructor.