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Quick Hits 12-22-09

by Bill Dusty

HUGHES CHARTER SCHOOL EARNED WHAT’S COMING
Sometimes trouble just falls into your lap without any notice and without any cause. Other times trouble happens because you acted in such a way as to ensure you got slapped.

Such is the case with the Robert Hughes Academy Charter School, which recently received the news that the state’s Education Commissioner, Mitchell D. Chester, will be taking steps towards ending that school’s charter.

According to the school’s supporters (few as they are), closing the school would only hurt the children attending classes there. But that’s certainly not the case in light of the state’s findings regarding widespread cheating on the part of staff members at the school. If anything, it is the Academy that has hurt the children. The best thing that could happen in this scenario, then, is for those kids to go to school somewhere else.

That’s a hard line to take, but the staff at Hughes were asking for it when they allegedly opted to take the easy route to increasing MCAS scores at their school. They couldn’t teach the children any better, so they tinkered with testing scores instead.

Charter schools overall are quality alternatives to the city’s own struggling school system, but only so long as they are every bit as accountable. By letting Hughes off the hook, the state would only be pandering to a corrupted system whose only real goal appears to be the lining of the pockets of those with financial interests in the school’s continued operation. Certainly the children attending the school would be no better off.

And yet even in taking a hard-line approach, there may still be one way for the Hughes Academy to survive the current crisis: The charter school could commit administrative suicide.

Terminate the employment of every staff member at Hughes. Insist that all current Board members at Hughes resign their position. Have the state undertake a complete financial audit of Hughes – from payroll to the cost of toilet paper.

Then, and only then, should any consideration towards saving Hughes be made.

I understand that there are still good people at Hughes, both staffers and Board members. But the school has been struggling for much of its time in operation, and its leadership has been ineffective in preventing the current dismal state of affairs.

If they are not willing to step aside for the betterment of the children they keep telling us they care so much about, then the best thing that could happen to the Hughes Academy is for it to close.

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SPRINGFIELD SUCKS?
A recent letter writer to The Republican lamented how far down Springfield has come in recent years, saying he’s finally had enough and is packing it in.

In his letter, Rob Madrid blamed Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno for the city’s current ruinous state, saying, “it is unfortunate that Mr. Sarno was recently re-elected.” Madrid wrote that crime has gotten entirely out of control in the past two years, and – after his own apartment suffered two break-ins – he’s decided it’s time to get out of town.

Madrid is right when he asserts that Springfield is in a serious state of decline. But blaming a mayor with only two years under his belt for an economic nosedive that began in the 1970s and accelerated out of control in the 1990s is being a bit short-sighted, at best.

Springfield’s disaster is not one man’s doing – sometimes it takes a team to get things done. Hell, not even the crooks who swindled the city out of millions through the years can be held solely responsible for the catastrophe that is Springfield.

It’s been said (by me) that capitalism will work regardless of the corruption, incompetence, and irresponsibility that surrounds it. Like a good AK-47, it operates just as well whether squeaky clean or mired in mud. (Which is also why the federal “stimulus plan” is a total taxpayer ripoff, since the economy will eventually right itself regardless. But that’s another story…)

Socialism on the other hand – that economic ideal that every devout left-winger strives for – needs to be set in a completely pristine, insulated environment in order to survive. There cannot be any corruption. There cannot be any incompetence. It must also be surrounded by a healthy capitalist parent infrastructure, there to provide the necessary funds in order to keep Big Brother’s programs going.

That’s how snobby Europe works. That’s how Communist China was able to come on as an economic power the last twenty years, after it transformed selected territories and cities into “Special Economic Zones,” exempt from the strict communist rules that govern the rest of the otherwise impoverished country.

Unfortunately for Springfield, there has been no “healthy capitalist parent infrastructure” to protect it from years of socialist policies that have essentially bankrupted the city. Once the bleeding hearts decided Big Business was the enemy, the people were doomed. When you have a 25% city-wide poverty rate (hovering at 50% in the city’s worst neighborhoods), you are going to have a corresponding high level of crime. More poverty, more crime. I know that sounds mean, but that’s the way it is.

So what does the city do about it? Why, it raises the tax rate on homeowners and businesses and gives the green light to build more low-income housing projects. Nice. And don’t kid yourself by thinking things would be different under any other mayor. This stuff’s been going on for decades. It’s not about a person, it’s about a culture.

Springfield’s ills are the result of failed economic designs and programs that are repeatedly put in place, time after time, and always with the mindset that, even though they’ve never worked in the past, this time, for sure, they will work. I was actually told that by one city leader about three years ago, who told me that the only reason the city’s economic programs always failed before was because the “wrong people” were managing them. This time, he assured me, they will work.

It’s three years later. They still haven’t worked.

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For those of you who frequent the Intruder, you’ve probably noticed a marked slow-down in posts around here. For the past few weeks I’ve been concentrating on my studies at STCC, as well as developing my skills on a suite of design applications I purchased back in November that will hopefully be a part of my new career in the future. With the fall semester finally over, I should have a bit more time to concentrate on writing, but I’ll also still be spending a considerable amount of time practicing up on multimedia, which is what my degree is all about. (I’ll also be working on a re-design of the Keep Springfield Beautiful website in the next few weeks.)

Knowing from last spring how much time school can take up, I originally had planned on shelving the Intruder this past October (there were other considerations, but that was high among them). Things kind of turned in a different direction, however, over the summer and into September, and – after having spent a huge chunk of time redesigning the Intruder – I opted to keep it open.

It’s been a struggle. I not only write at the Intruder, but I also do all the graphics and photography, etc., there as well (which I’ve also had to neglect because of time constraints). Plus I’ve been writing occasionally for Masslive, which is fun. This coming spring semester will be no easier for me (it may even be harder), with five classes – each with an accompanying lab. That’s a full schedule. I may or may not keep the Intruder going during that time. I do, however, plan to continue writing at Masslive (where there are no website upkeep responsibilities!). So, if you stop by the Intruder and don’t see anything new here, take a quick trip over to my profile over at Masslive to see if I’ve posted there.

As always, thanks for reading.
- Bill D.

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Posted by Bill Dusty on Dec 22nd, 2009 and filed under Feature Stories, Latest Posts, Quick Hits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.