By roni

August 27, 2007 10:02 PM | Link to this

The new week will be “First Day of School-Part Three”.I hope that we can get through a whole week without closing. The kids are not learning by being out of school. I hope that the new school board will address this issue. Also, Dr.Mack may have the opportunity to be a “light for another district”. I would like to see someone hired as superintendent within the district rather than from the outside. If our board members are local,then the superintendent should be local.

By ryan

August 26, 2007 10:03 PM | Link to this

barb, i think you are correct. we primarily moved to oakwood because the school system is highly rated. part of this is the teachers, but the majority is the expectations we the parents have. when the overwhelming majority of households have at least a bachelor’s degree, the expectations for our children are higher than they might otherwise be. dayton teachers are fine teachers. their problem is the quality of family life, lack of preparedness of the student entering school, and to an extent, thestudent’s economic situation. dayton schools will never improve if the majority of parents do not place a higher value on their children’s education.

By Barb

August 26, 2007 11:40 AM | Link to this

Congrats to Oakwood on their test scores. Someone posed a very interesting question if you uprooted Oakwood students and put them in DPS buildings and uprooted DPS students and put them in Oakwood buildings would the Oakwood students fail and DPS pass? My guess would be that economics and parental involvement make the big difference here not so much the school system.

By Rachael

August 26, 2007 11:18 AM | Link to this

Ryan, there is a mandated minimum number of days, but I don’t think there is a maximum. Maybe Scott can clarify?

By ryan

August 26, 2007 10:02 AM | Link to this

laura, believe me, our children in oakwood were just fine. we as parents are always making sure that our children are safe and getting the best education possible. but to be fair, by friday most of the classrooms had a/c. i believe the gymnasiums did not. remember that oakwood is a public school and is mandated to have a certain amount of school days. otherwise, i would have no problem with my children having a longer school year.

By Laura

August 25, 2007 11:26 AM | Link to this

K: If that wasn’t supposed to be a joke, why doesn’t Oakwood have a longer school year and longer day? If I lived in Oakwood, I would have gone in to check the conditions of the classrooms and decided whether to keep my kids home or pick them up early. It doesn’t speak well, in my opinion, for Oakwood to take a “holier (or heartier) than thou” attitude with regard to keeping school open. I don’t believe the students could have possibly acquired much knowledge on those days.

By Mary

August 24, 2007 4:05 PM | Link to this

I am wondering if the older brick Oakwood buildings and mature landscaping are also better at handling the heat. Maybe the classrooms are also more open (I have never been in them). Maybe there is more asphalt and other materials around Dayton’s buidings that alter the heat transfer and absorption of building materials. Interestingly, I just read in some health books that air conditioning depletes negative ions in the air. Negative ions, such as bodies of water generate, like Nigara Falls, supposedly improve a sense of well being. However, we have the air conditioning on in our house.

By k

August 24, 2007 1:56 PM | Link to this

Oakwood schools stayed open because every day of education is important.

By Laura

August 23, 2007 10:25 PM | Link to this

I don’t know anyone who has been reimbursed for a fan. I have always purchased my own and so has everyone I know. As far as the a/c units in the closed buildings, some of them are still sitting in the windows. Drive by some of them. I would take a guess and bet they just bulldoze them with the rest of the building. When teachers at a school I previously worked at asked about purchasing their own a/c units they were not allowed unless they let the board pick them out, pay for the districts workers to install them and then donate them to the district. As far as the expensive water from Coke, I have never seen them pass that out. It has always been generic. Of course, I haven’t seen any for a few years.

By Caroline

August 23, 2007 8:36 PM | Link to this

In many buildings, teachers are not allowed to have window units—even if the purchase and install them theirselves. The Board has been known to come to buildings to have them removed! Believe me, many teachers would have window units in their rooms if the Board would allow it. It would be worth the $$’s.

By deedee

August 23, 2007 7:21 PM | Link to this

Cec, you are lucky that 1/2 of the rooms in your building are air conditioned. In my building NO classrooms have a.c., only the main office. I am sweating by the time I get to my classroom at 7:15, just walking through the halls. Opening the windows and running 5 fans (I bought 4 of them myself) does not cool it at all. And without exhaust fans in the halls, the building will not cool off for a while, no matter what the outside temperature is. So when the schools open next week because the heat warning is over, just remember that we will still be sweltering in over 90 degree heat in the buildings. I would love to know where the window units from the closed buildings went, because they are not cooling any DPS students. They are probably sitting in some warehouse, unused.

By cec

August 23, 2007 6:54 PM | Link to this

HOT! HOT! HOT! I work as a volunteer in one of the dayton school buildings and let me say that i’m glad that D.r Mack closed schools. Just walking through the halls in the school i work at, it can be already over 90 before the school opens at 9:15 and some of the rooms are close if not over 100. Some of the staff even out of their own pockets have purchased fans, one of the staff members has 10 fans and still waiting on a a.c. unit and our building still plan on being open for 3+ years. Yes I know that i have spoken out in the past about school closing because of heat, but the school i was in as a kid (greenmont) wasn’t this hot during the summer plus we didn’t start as early. the building i’m at only 1/2 the rooms have a.c. if that. so what happened to all the a.c. units that were in the other buildings that were torn down? or the big fans? the Plasas are so hot opening the doors to alow air in don’t help. at this momment the principals are to worried about the pre- o.a.t. testing plus the teachers getting water for the kids. How much is the district spending on bottled water? Last year i heard that the district was charged $1. per bottle when i myself can go to Sam’s and get 36 bottles for $.10. Is this what the district call a deal or because the contract they have with COKE? Know wonder the operateing cost has gone up. So when are we (as taxpayers) going to finally say “stat with your means!” CUT THE PORKBELLY SPENDING! cancell these contracts and go with the deals. wWe get these booklets in the mail with sales on stuff for the kids. such as ribbons for acheivement the district has a contract with one company that would charge 3X what i could get specialty ribbons for through a nother company, so i saved the principal $1500. last year. it is things like this that the district need to look at before they sign a contract with a company willing to screw the school district on their ablity on making a buck. OR does someone in the district have a conflict of intrest??? it’s happened before.

By lou

August 23, 2007 6:53 PM | Link to this

I went into school today to work on lesson plan and I was really suprised at how many of us were there. The building were really hot with all the lights out. I stayed about 1 hr. I brought the rest home to work on. For those that think teachers don’t put in many hours this is just an example of what we DO do for the students, not because we have to, but because we need to.