I have no special insight — and I actually thought the 2005 CMS bond was going to pass — but the $516 million bond headed for the ballot in November feels like 50-50 deal at this moment.
The simple fact remains that Peter Gorman has done little to reform CMS and the window for doing so is fast closing. There are also mounting warning signs that CMS is not slowing down its spend-spend-spend ways. The 10 percent cost escalation built into this bond package shows that. There still remains great fear that CMS will take the money from the bonds and spend it anyway it wants to without regard to where schools are actually needed.
Teachers remain highly skeptical of the changes Gorman has made. The “learning communities” are stocked with unimpressive bureaucrats — or so teachers report. As a result, the chances that the “decentralization” will actually wind up empowering teachers in the classroom seems slim.
As for the discipline changes backed by Gorman, the incentives seem all wrong. Teachers predict that it will be harder to get a disruptive student sent to Derita now that the placement there will be for a whole year. Principals will instead be steered by the Ed Center — and the learning communicrats — to use the suspension centers, which teachers describe as a revolving door with no clear rules or regulations on their use.
In sum, the first couple months of the school year will go a long way toward setting public opinion on CMS’ current path.
