Schools of Choice

This letter appeared in the W.B. Eccentric 2/15/07 . The headline was theirs.

SAY NO TO CHOICE
The headline "Shadowy bloggers" in the Feb. 8 Eccentric was a bit loaded. Perhaps the people who wouldn't give their names have children in the schools and fear reprisals. That is certainly a valid concern in a school district run by Dr. Gary Faber and his sidekick Steve Wasko. Well, my two children have graduated, and I will go on the record, as I have in the past: Faber and Wasko frame the debate over Students of Choice as reality and facts vs. emotions. But it's really their version of reality and cherry-picked facts vs. parents' concerns over how money is spent and money-raising schemes that may do more harm than good. So here are some "reality checks" as to how money is being misspent and certain facts ignored or twisted.
No. 1 -- School administrators are in general overpaid. I know, a lot of them are doctors, as they possess a doctorate in education, but don't let that title intimidate you. In my opinion, based on being a math professor (with a Ph.D.) for the last 40 years, the typical D.Ed. dissertation in most areas is long on information and jargon, and short on originality or rigorous research. As for Steve Wasko, who denigrated the validity of blogs as over-the-fence gossip, I'm not sure what his credentials are for his 100K-plus salary. He came here as the PR man after working for the Detroit school board. He is an affable person, I must admit.
No. 2 -- The district has a big propaganda machine at its disposal, unlike most individuals. During school elections, (whose timing was manipulated in the Good Old Days), campaigning is sometimes done under the guise of "informing." I might add that I was an active supporter of the school board and the superintendent until recent years.
No. 3 -- "Curricular reform" costs money, but it is often unnecessary, and may sometimes actually be harmful. Witness the "math wars" of the last decade, in which the math educators recently raised the white flag. I will never forget Faber telling scientists and engineers at board meetings that he knew better than they what math courses best prepared kids for college, quoting "research" and "futurists." Such hubris! Such chutzpah!
So what can we do in our school district to save money? For a start, cut administrators' salaries, and do away with make-work studies, mindless curricular reform and other bureaucratic "black holes."What we don't need is more Students of Choice, including radio commercials featuring Dr. Faber. Choice causes more problems than it solves in a district with our demographics.

Greg Bachelis
West Bloomfield