WARdynski's Pinnacle Plan "So Many, Many, Many, Things Wrong Here" Redux

The New Jim Crow

Let's recap;  The Huntsville City School Board voted to close the Fletcher E. Seldon Alternative School and send the district's most troubled students  (i.e. black/brown/poor) to a private, residential, drug treatment center under the guise it was more cost effective.
Not.
Not only do the facts not fit the ahem narrative, parent's/taxpayers aren't aware of the Pinnacle policy until it's too late to do anything about it.

Ain't that a dip?

The following questions and concerns were presented to, and ignored by the Huntsville City Schools Board of Education regarding the true cost for Pinnacle.

1.  The cost for the Pinnacle program is more than was represented in board meeting because it was not made known to the public that the amount per student in the contract was only for the remainder of this school year and NOT the entire school academic school year.

2. AND … if Seldon Center teachers will still be working in the system, how is Pinnacle saving money if they are still paying salaries for those teachers?  Especially when their salaries were included in the cost per student projection that was told to the public?

3.  The superintendent has the option to select students to go to the Pinnacle program.  This is a selective referral.

4.  Pinnacle has the option to determine eligibility for the program or DENY a student’s entrance into the program.  This leaves room for SELECTIVITY.

5.  The staff still does not represent a diverse population even though they said they would adjust that at a prior board meeting.

6.  The student population still represents a majority white privileged population.  Approx. 90% 

7.  Members of the Pinnacle staff call the Seldon Center seeking advice for how to handle particular student behavior.   They are having trouble controlling many of the children.  Example: how does Seldon Center staff make the students behave during lunch period?

8.  HCS provides lunches to Pinnacle.  HOW IS THIS SAVING HCS MONEY?

9.  Huntsville City Schools is expected to provide Pinnacle special education services.  They do not have a person on their staff to handle IEPs ( Individualized Educational Instruction) for each sped student. WHY ARE WE PROVIDING STAFF? HOW IS THIS SAVING MONEY? 

10. Pinnacle’s TRAINED therapists have a hard time adjusting student behavior to their pre-established profiles to identify and control behavior. 

11. The student who participated in the pilot program admitted that they were put in time out as a consequence for behavior and, himself considered this form of punishment as a joke.  Even they say that the staff cannot control the students.   Especially the black students.  ASK HOW MANY STUDENTS HAVE BEEN PUT OUT OF THE PROGRAM AND WHAT COLOR THEY WERE!

12. Students are expected to sit at a computer for eight hours and do online courses.  Kids fall asleep at the computers.

13. Huntsville City Schools is rumored to have purchased the building from Scott McClain Realty for Pinnacle.  Pinnacle was originally located on Governors Drive in a small building and claimed that they had the facility they needed to accommodate students.

So now that we know, what can/are we the tax payers going to do about it?  Our money and the future of our children is at stake.  

Today's Must Reads

The NAACP's Failing of Our Black Children

Institutional Racism in America; the 21st Century Jim Crow