Atlanta Gives Interim Chief a Year to Clean up Cheating Scandal

I would suggest to fire all the people involved in the scandal as well as any "educational consultant". There must be some good people there as teachers. Give them training that is relevant in their teaching fields, so they are current and knowledgeable. Give them books to read about effectiveness, don't just come to them with stories about "research based" teaching skills. Provide them with technology so they can manage their classrooms, deliver their instruction, and assess their students effectively; but thoroughly teach them how to use it for that purpose. Let each department to organize by themselves as effective teams to accomplish the schools' mission. They are not imbeciles.

Make it clear in your schools that each an every one working there has value, the principal and the teacher, the clerk, the custodian, and the security officer. They are all human beings, they are all rational and free; no one is entitled to oppress anyone else and everyone has the same obligation to do his/her duty to the best of his/her abilities.

Above all, strike down the yoke: Make them feel they don't have to bow to principals and superintendents: We should take the word "boss" as in "He is the boss." off the American dictionary, because this word has its origin in the sin of slavery and has a connotation of servitude.

Make the parents aware that, if they want results, they must do their share also. No more overprotecting their kids. They want their kids to be successful they must teach them virtue and allow the school to teach them what they cannot learn at home, and enforce discipline. No more "I have a bad day today."; no more trying to be the class entertainer; no more "this is boring"; and no more profanity. The school is a place were students must attend with a conviction that it is their duty to collaborate with their teachers and peers; that it is a safe place for them to read, meditate and reflect on the issues that are affecting their fellow citizens, so they are prepared to face the challenges of their life time. Let them know that this is not all about them, it is about us! Just think of those mothers that are right now weeping because they have lost their children in Afghanistan this week. Are those kids giving up everything so that yours can play video-games all day after school?

Dexter of AZ 9:50AM July 09, 2011