Poverty, Declining Enrollment Impact Education, Says Humboldt’s School Supe
Humboldt County Superintendent of Schools Michael Davies-Hughes
Humboldt County’s schools superintendent has told the Board of Supervisors that the majority of local students live in poverty and declining enrollment undermines staffing and sustainability.
At their April 14 meeting, supervisors were updated on the strengths and challenges of the school system by county Superintendent of Schools Michael Davies-Hughes.
Davies-Hughes said “a major lens for everything that we do in schools is socioeconomic need” and a significant factor is the 60 percent poverty rate among families of students.
The county’s successes include a 92 percent high school graduation rate, which is higher than the state rate of 87.5 percent.
But declining enrollment is an ongoing challenge because state funding is based on average daily attendance.
“In Humboldt County, our enrollment has been declining since the late 1990s and interestingly, our student enrollment in 2026 is about the same as it was 45 years ago in 1981,” said Davies-Hughes. “So if we have less students attending, then we have less funds to support our schools, which has implications for staffing stability and program offerings and long-term stability.”
The impacts include last February’s closure of the Agnes J. Johnson Charter School in Weott and last June’s consolidation of the Greenpoint School District in Redwood Valley with the Blue Lake Elementary School District.
Charter school attendance is increasing but overall attendance is in decline, Davies-Hughes said.
Absenteeism is also concerning, with the percentage of students missing 10 or more school days per year at 25.5 percent.
“So over a quarter of our students are chronically absent, compared with 19.4 percent statewide,” said Davies-Hughes. “That’s lost instructional time and a signal that students and families need stronger support.”
There’s also a higher percentage of students with disabilities, at 17.5 percent compared to 13 percent statewide.
“That means we need staffing, expertise, and consistent services that are hard to maintain in a rural setting,” Davies-Hughes said.
He added there’s “increasing” need for student mental health support.
“We’ve seen that across the board and schools are often the place where students and families show up first,” he said.
Recruitment and retention of administrative staff and teachers is a “critical constraint,” he continued, as “teachers and administrators are hard to hire and even harder to keep without the right conditions and supports.”
Summarizing, he said the “bottom line here is that students’ needs are increasing while the capacity is under strain.”
Some opportunities are opening up as well. Davies-Hughes described AI as “a practical tool to help educators work smarter, personalize learning, and improve operations if we implement it responsibly and with training.”
There’s also been an expansion of career and technical education.
Supervisor Michelle Bushnell said conditions in Southern Humboldt are uniquely challenging due to the decline of the area’s anchor industry.
Thanking Davies-Hughes for the help provided during the closure of the Agnes J. Johnson school, Bushnell said assistance is especially needed in the area as it has “seen the cannabis culture really decline.”
She added, “The schools are really impacted by that and it’s been a painful process for the community to realize that those little niche areas where they had a lot of financial support and a lot of attendance just isn’t happening any longer.”
Asked about student transportation challenges, Davies-Hughes said some students attend school through inter-district transfer agreements.
He said school transportation may not be provided to families living outside of district boundaries and if they’re among the 60 percent in poverty, “They’re going to have some transportation challenges that other families may not.”
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Public schools are full of shit like this:
Woke School Book Stores Exposed: Scholastic Publishing Pro-Trans, ‘Anti-Racist’ Books for Ten-Year-Oldshttps://www.b reitba rt.co m/clips/2026/04/18/woke-school-book-stores-exposed-scholastic-publishing-pro-trans-anti-racist-books-for-ten-year-olds/
no wonder parents are using private schools and home schooling.
You are suffering the effects ofbigotry and misinformation. Seek help
fine insult me, but you cant put up true fact to dispute my post.
It’s a link to a YouTube video. And one posted by Breitbart no less.
If you want to debate something, you’ve got to give us something less cockamamie than that.
so its not real? Or you dont like the info, so you discredit it in any way you can? Or its Trumps fault?
Post a link to a credible source so we can have an honest discussion.
No, I’m not going to watch a YouTube video put out by Prager U and shared on Breitbart.
You embarrass yourself by even admitting you get your information from such a source?
They’re about as believable as a fair carnie trying to tell you everyone wins at the ring toss game; more for show than anything.
Is this one real enough?
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/teaching-tools/book-lists/19-inspiring-lgbtqia–books.html
Thank goodness Scholastic publishes these 19 books for students with 2 moms, 2 dads, or lgbtqia sibling/family member. Really. You think 19 books, out of the 1000s of books published by Scholastic since 1926, is a massively outrageous crusade to indoctrinate kids? Scholastic publishes 600 new titles every year, and you think 19 books are gonna do it? I’d be more concerned about the free books Dolly Parton is handing out…she’s been a longtime supporter of lgbtqia people. But you know what she always says – “Don’t be a dumbass.”
All together, no. But if you intentionally picked ONLY those 19 and formed your curriculum around them, then yes. Nobody is going to read 600 titles of anything in one year of schooling. You can read a dozen though quite easily. And if they’re handpicked for you?
So is your issue just the fact that books exist that focus on non heterosexual relationships? Or do you have some specific issues with some of those specific books?
Well, obviously the one claiming that George is “actually” Melissa, not that George feels his personality doesn’t fit society’s expectation for boys, but that he actually needs medical intervention and an injunction on everyone in his world to change their definitions of natural reality… yeah, that one bothers me. To sell that kind of damaging nonsense to impressionable and often vulnerable, confused children is reprehensible.
But no, my posting the link is merely to say that people can’t dismiss an argument just because they don’t like a weak link.
Mr. Clark should have taken the ten seconds or so it took me to google “Scholastic books for young adults on trans issues” or whatever, and he wouldn’t have used sources that became targets of ridicule.
That schools are facing so many real problems, yet some people jump immediately to imaginary transphobic conspiracies, is part of the reason we are having a hard time solving these issues.
“Despite record education funding, student outcomes have barely budged. While there is plenty of blame to go around, Reason Foundation’s data reveal structural problems with how K-12 dollars are spent. For starters, California’s public schools are a textbook case of mission creep. From 2002 to 2023, enrollment fell by 317,253 students while the number of non-teachers—including counselors, psychologists, social workers, administrators, and instructional aides—increased by 74,428.
There are fewer kids and more staff because public schools are increasingly focused on things like “whole child” development and content about everything from climate change to ethnic studies, which takes time away from core classes like math, English language arts, and science.
For example, California is spending $4 billion on community schools that provide both students and their families with healthcare, mental health support, legal clinics, and other services. These things aren’t bad, but it doesn’t make sense to turn public schools into social service hubs when nearly 46% of 8th-graders can’t do basic math and districts like Los Angeles Unified can’t cover their bills.
Teacher pension debt is also diverting resources from classrooms. In 2023, California’s public schools spent $4,900 per student on pension benefits, which include pension costs, health insurance, workers’ compensation, and other expenses. These costs have increased by a massive 134.9% since 2002, when schools spent $2,086 per student in real terms.”
https://reason.org/commentary/southern-california-school-districts-spend-big-but-student-outcomes-have-barely-budged/
At least you’re touching on some real issues here– albeit mixes in with some nonissues.
Keep in mind that when kids read a book by an African author, or write an essay about an African American public figure, they are still reading and writing.
Similarly, climate change is generally discussed in upper grades where they study, yes, science.
Community schools also serve as a benefit to public education.
Homelessness, abusive parents, and poverty greatly impact some students’ ability to participate in a general education classroom at their neighborhood school.
Providing services, and sometimes a separate location for these kids to study, improves the quality of education provided not just to them, but to the other students in regular classrooms.
I absolutely agree that that high-paid jobs such as vice-principals, psychologists, and program directors siphons money away from other services that provide more bang for their buck. Every administrative post takes up the same amount for funding as three or four classroom aides. And, unlike administrators, aides actually provide direct instruction to kids in classrooms.
Schools are facing myriad issues, and these will take a lot of hard work and serious discussion to resolve. But what will not help is the paranoia around “wokeness.”
The problem is that too many are not reading anything because they can’t read.
This is also true. And a lot of that is on parents.
All kids should start kindergarten knowing their numbers and letters.
Far too many parents leave this to teachers. And, given the incredible amount of time teachers spend dealing with behavior issues that are also largely the result of parenting failures, it makes for a very difficult job.
Parents are also responsible for teaching Civility to their kids.
A recently retired CA junior high teacher friend of mine has mentioned such; the social hub thing. They feel it can take away parenting responsibilities and institutionalizes those in schools. That is, public babysitters. No, those things aren’t bad, but they felt it adds responsibilities that aren’t theirs. They want to educate, not raise your kids. Also mentioned is that turning schools into quasi-daycares can allow some parents to shirk on their responsibilities of parenting, so it’s not just school programs, it can be the parents themselves.
Breitbart is a strongly partisan source, so I’d want to verify that claim with a more neutral outlet before accepting it.
Again! I was a volunteer in a first grade classroom for 6 years. I saw first hand what some of these posters are trying to tell you. Trying to shame sources, parents, and facts that come out about this subject does not try to solve what this article is about.
Have some Koolaid with that too.
Fix your links, man. Quit adding spaces. What are you trying to hide by doing that?
It’s my understanding that he has to break links, a single space will do, because Kym won’t publish working links to his crap sources.
Since Mr. Clark can’t tell the difference between Prager U and the WSJ, he breaks them all.
I know it’s intentional. And I won’t bother on my end to glue them back together to go look either.
Sad. So sad people cannot connect the dots as to how this has happened.
This guy will find out.
htt ps://w ww.face book.com/reel/928449710005755
Naw, grifters and frauds loathe true 4th pilar journalism.
IMHO:
>”Charter school attendance is increasing but overall attendance is in decline, Davies-Hughes said.”
—
Public Education is not doing it’s job. Newsom’s kids go to private schools, with reports highlighting the eldest child’s attendance at the high-cost, private Branson School.
That is a Newsomite victory.
—
>”Absenteeism is also concerning, with the percentage of students missing 10 or more school days per year at 25.5 percent.”
Who wants to go to a Learing Center ?
—
>”Summarizing, he said the “bottom line here is that students’ needs are increasing while the capacity is under strain.”
Hint: The number of district administrators in U.S. public schools has grown 87.6% between 2000 and 2019 compared to student growth at 7.6% and teacher growth at 8.7%. Resources are diverted to support an increasing number of administrators.
So, what are all the extra ‘administrators’ doing. They have buildings full of ’em.
—
>”There’s also been an expansion of career and technical education.”
NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN DROPPED. ‘Everybody goes to college… NOPE’.
—
Davies-Hughes said “a major lens for everything that we do in schools is socioeconomic need” and a significant factor is the 60 percent poverty rate among families of students.
Hint: No jobs here. Surviving on grant monies, welfare, govt jobs, dope export, and declining retirement income.
—
He said school transportation may not be provided to families living outside of district boundaries and if they’re among the 60 percent in poverty, “They’re going to have some transportation challenges that other families may not.”
Again a Newsomite victory !
—
Go figure.
Even at a financial loss parents are opting to homeschool or charter their kids because the public school environment is frankly toxic and incompetent. The teachers unions protect bad teachers and administrators. It’s hard to get schools to change staff and many schools take on an increasingly toxic environment when bad teachers are protected and children and families are not supported. Reports and complaints are ignored. The economy in California is increasingly harder for families to feel supported and accepted when basic necessities are too high and families are left struggling or the ones who can flee the state for greener affordable pastures. They want this to happen. California is not conducive to healthy societies when it’s too hard for families to prosper. No one wants to struggle.
Thank you for sharing the administrator hiring increase figures, Mr. Bozo. I used to have a chart that showed this significant increase of both university and hospital administrators with their attendant large salaries that contribute to raised tuition and health costs.
IMHO , you need to do more research. Career Technical Education (CTE) is what former Gov. Schwarzenegger called vocational classes. Ag, accounting, wood shop, metal shop, journalism, computer science, web(site) design, entrepreneurship, healthcare occupations, and digital media production are all CTE classes, meaning that students are learning skills that directly lead to employment. Many CTE classes help students that plan to go to college, but the biggest majority of CTE students go to job specific training and/or straight to work.
All of these classes can help students find work that will allow them to stay here in Humboldt and raise their families here.
One of the real problems is that these classes are expensive to operate. They require significantly more expensive classroom materials – think welding gases, rods and Miller welders, think auto diagnostic tools, tire balancers and auto lifts, think higher end computers, think incubators, think color printing, think incubators and grow lights, and so on. Not only that, you need highly skilled teachers, where the difference between their industry wage and what they could make as teachers here in Humboldt, means that only the independently wealthy could possibly make it as teachers (or they’re being financially irresponsible).
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++!
Dad was an Electronics Engineer. He made a good salary. Bought a new house in upper class neighborhood in Berkeley Hills. Next door neighbor owned a Machine Shop. Neighbor across the street was a high school metal shop teacher — teachers made good salaries in those days, 1960s & 1970s…
And then … NAFTA. And Asian sweatshops. No more real jobs for Americans, all shipped overseas to create global climate crisis from excess shipping and plastic overload. Hope you’re not ordering your Kinetic glitter from China!
We keep losing students but they keep hiring more admin for 100k plus. Makes no sense.
Unions
Ah no.
In fact the teacher and school employee unions do all they can to make sure communities know how much money is spent on Admins (superintendents & principals & staff) instead of people who are directly in contact with students.
Counselors usually have a load of 300-400 students, that they’re supposed to mentor and support as they plan for their future after high school. They also are responsible for the emotional well-being of the same students – think about how many of those students might be in crisis at any given time . Do the math, and you can see how strained those services are. Counselors are an admin role, but they are in direct contact with students every day.
In years past, the Superintendent of the Southern Humboldt unified school district was paid a statewide average salary, given a cell phone and either a vehicle or paid mileage even while bus drivers, aides, school secretaries, and teachers had wages and salaries that were literally some of the lowest in the state. No joke. And the SoHum district had for years a superintendent who was not even licensed for the position.
Many school districts hire a lawyer for thousands of dollars during negotiations, because the superintendent can’t function without one… and yet the the employee side of the union negotiations is staffed by their peers who literally volunteer for the role with a union representative.
I have a Sacramento who just went through the trauma of striking for almost 2 weeks, to force their school district to maintain class sizes at 33 students, to limit special ed classes to 20 students, keep their shop classes (CTE). 68% of their teachers with less than 5 years experience were holding 2nd jobs.
To their credit, the Humboldt County Office of Education goes after every grant dollar they can. But don’t blame the school employee unions for excessive non-contact staff hiring and high superintendent/principal salaries.
Educators across the board (TK-University) consistently are in battle against the trend of administrative bloat and greed. You’ll be hard pressed to find any sort of union that advocates for worker’s bosses and middlemen paperpushers to get pay raises and more hires.
Poverty is a predictable outcome when business and industry is driven off and roads are closed to mo\dern trucking. The school system should teach more about economics and less about political indoctrination and protest parties.
https://www.youtube.com/@classicallearner5177
Check out this guy.
Easy to rely on a sound bite like that, Ernie, but when was the last time you sat in a classroom? Really. Any grade, k-12. Is it political indoctrination when teachers are asking kids to respect each other, and are asking them to model what respectful behavior looks like? Is it political indoctrination when teachers are sharing new facts and asking uncomfortable questions to encourage kids to think critically?
Today’s classrooms are a very different place from what you or I experienced. During my daughter’s 12 school years here in SoHum/Humboldt county, she had classmates with 2 moms, classmates with 2 dads, classmates with divorced parents and classmates with never married parents, and classmates who didn’t have a dad/mom, but were raised by single parents or grandparents or siblings or friends. Adopted classmates and IVF classmates, adopted classmates from other countries, foster classmates in good and bad situations and classmates with incarcerated parents. Also classmates that were homeless (houseless) and classmates living with people in addiction. Two classmates had cancer, one survived. She had Christian, Islamic, Hindu, BaHai, and Jewish classmates. She had classmates that didn’t speak English at first, but knew other languages well (one classmate from Garberville could speak read and write in 4 other languages, but struggled with English at times because it’s rules always had exceptions.
Teachers are in the classroom because they want to teach, and they had solid role models that inspired them. Are they all great? Heck no. But I betcha for every one that needed to be fired, there are 5-10 great ones making a difference in that same student’s life. As bigoted and evil as my 3rd grade teacher was, or obnoxiously Christian as my 6th grade teacher was, my high school physics and math teachers (No Turkeys/No Whiners) convinced me that while I was a thinker and that I was a problem solver, I didn’t need voice every thought, and certainly not every thought was the gem that I thought it was.
You missed my point,but that’s okay. Thanks for the informative comment. I am well aware of the messed up society that we live in. As a “thinker and a problem solver”, do you know where we went wrong?
I meant to ask if you knew that 5 credits of Civics & 5 credits of Economics are required for CA high school graduates? Senior year courses, but if you recall from scenes like that in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” many kids are paying no attention to the content.
Personally, I think that communities across the US made a huge mistake by not funding CTE classes, beginning as early as the 1980s. My physics teacher encouraged me to take wood-shop, to help me understand what it meant to go through the design and build process, important for any engineer. Yet I was only 1 of 5 freshman in a class of 200+ engineers at my university who had taken shop classes in high schools. So many high schools everywhere no longer offer any kind of shop class, let alone accounting, home ec or culinary classes. And yet these are the very classes that teach the skills that lead to jobs that you can raise a family on. For example, Humboldt State/CPH and many of the other CSUs no longer offer industrial arts or industrial technology degrees, and yet those are the degrees that underpinned the CTE (shop) programs. Nowadays schools are hoping to recruit teachers from industry, paying much lower wages as “intern positions” while they acquire licenses and preparation for dealing with young people. Wealthier schools offer signing bonuses. Really.
My other diagnosis/recommendation has to do with managing screen time. TV, cell phones, tablets and computers. When families can prioritize reading and communicating, doing things together like making meals or other home chores, and interpersonal activities like playing board games or making music or fixing things or playing sports – those students have a leg up on their peers. They are learning how to learn, and they are learning how to be part of a team. Screen time takes away from all that, but it is incredibly hard to regulate screen time for kids. Before I retired, I sometimes dealt with parents that couldn’t put their phones down – their students sure didn’t want to either.
Thank you for the teacher’s perspective. You are right that there should be more industrial arts classes.
My whole life was built around fixing and building things. I got good grades in all those classes. A+ in auto shop, wood shop, and an A+++ in architectural and mechanical draughting. However, I got failing grades in english composition. (No Surprise)
I am fortunate to excel in the things that interest me, and not be bothered by the things that don’t. I became a contractor. My wife and I built our own house, from the ground up. I worked in refrigeration, heating and Air conditioning in major stores and restaurants.
I have A squared plus B squared equals C squared embroidered on my pajamas, and I use it, and my calculator every day.
As I look around me, I see the major failure of some of society is to not ever grow up and become adults. And… too many agencies that coddle to that failure.
“As I look around me, I see the major failure of some of society is to not ever grow up and become adults. And… too many agencies that coddle to that failure.”
FACTS
Statewide problem. California Public Grade School enrollment has declined each year for the last 7 years. There are now 488,000 12th graders and only 384,000 1st graders, a 20% decline. Young families cannot make a go of it and leave. Sonoma County Schools are closing. Recent headline from Santa Rosa Press Democrat regarding the North Bay Region (Napa and Sonoma Counties): “Local Exodus Limits Rebound.” The high cost of living in California is driving people away statewide. This loss of students is a huge problem, as California does not accept a lot of out of state credentials and licenses to work in California. This is a huge barrier to those who leave and want to come back and work later on in life.
Declined student census and increased administrative costs.
I think sometimes the simplest explanation is the best. This state has become an unlivable socialist shit show and people are fleeing. Many parents don’t trust sending their children to government schools where they will likely be subjected to social norms the parent doesn’t agree with or approve of. It’s called Occam’s razor.
Occam’s Razor suggests that the simplest solution is often right.
Yet you’re digging up imaginary conspiracies.
Relax, schools aren’t indoctrinating with radical ideas.
Any parent who doesn’t approve of encouraging kids to be decent people really needs to reevaluate their own principles.
IMHO:
Partly true… when 40 years ago, the schools removed ‘Actions have Consequences’ from their operating ‘manual’… things really started to head downhill.
Now those lackadaisical kids are parents.
Their kids don’t wanna go to school… oh well.
Hey, let’s have another hit…
Didn’t we have some lively discussions about public schools allowing the drag show people to do school presentations? It was not imaginary.
Are you referring to the person who read a book to kids in a school library?
No, that wasn’t imaginary. But the controversy about it was.
Why don’t drag queens ever read to the elderly in care homes?
link(s) please…
Stop trying to make “fetch” happen.
Except for this I’ll ignore the alien order attempt at gaslighting…
Please notice at the top of the page “Please improve the conversation by disagreeing thoughtfully and backing your claims with facts”
You wrote “Why don’t drag queens ever read to the elderly in care homes?” I’m asking for factual evidence showing it doesn’t happen. What is your point exactly, in making that statement?
Um, you are asking for proof of something that didn’t happen …
How about you show us a picture of it indeed happening.
Eh. Leave that for when they’re older. But there were “cultural appropriation” assemblies, per what my own kids and others told me. As in they were told things like cornrow braids in hair wasn’t appropriate if you weren’t African American. Never mind girls on the wrestling team (not limited to ethnicity) often did that just so it doesn’t get pulled out in a match. That and tight braids are not limited to any specific group historically, yet that’s what EHS spent entire days of making kids part of a captive audience for.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-parents-school-books-gender/
Supreme Court sides with parents who objected to kids’ books on gender identity, sexuality
Washington — The Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of a group of Maryland parents who challenged their school district’s decision to deny them the ability to opt their elementary-aged children out of instruction featuring storybooks that address gender identity and sexual orientation.
The high court said in a 6-3 decision in the case of Mahmoud v. Taylor that the government burdens parents’ religious exercise when it requires their children to participate in instruction that violates the families’ religious beliefs.
Honestly, it isn’t a religious belief to believe that overt books – such as “This B00k is G@y” – are not okay to have in a children’s library. “The J0y of S3x” ought not to be in a children’s library either.
I have to wonder if the attendance numbers are in any way directly proportional to the number of uneducated/apathetic/lazy parents add/or drug use in the home???
Hmmm…Not sure this guy knows anything about poverty. So wrong to have him tell us anything about “poverty”. He takes almost $200,000 each year of our tax money for himself…
As of 2022, the Superintendent of the Humboldt County Office of Education (HCOE), Michael Davies-Hughes, earned a regular salary of approximately . This position often sees salaries within a range of to over , depending on experience, tenure, and specific district, as seen in other local executive roles. EDJOIN
+3
Declining enrollment and that’s even with trying to sue the charter schools out of existence on claims of poaching and federal funding being diverted. I hope it was worth it, as those efforts seem to have been directed as the $30 million spent to rebuild EHS football field and gym. Test scores and still remain in the dumpster however.
Ever wonder why we don’t hear from teachers on RHBB? They’re too busy grading papers and working their asses off!
At the no king protest or getting hair dyed purple.
Yeah, that is what I was thinking. This problem has been going on for years and where have the teachers been? Not one peep. Time for them to stand up as the groundswell needed to finally fix this problem instead of focusing on other issues. I remember all the propositions on the ballots needing more money. They got it under the it’s for the children line. As this article points out, look where that has gotten us. Time for them to challenge the unions and the higher ups. That would actually be for the children.
Do you expect PG&E employees to solve the problems with the high cost of energy? Are your local water district employees expected to solve issues of water supply and water quality?
Teachers do speak up, and they go to district board meetings. But like most of us, in addition to their full time teaching job, they have other responsibilities. They have families. They might be out there coaching other people’s children, or refereeing, or driving to and from games/rehearsals/event. Teachers grade papers while they go to meetings and wait to speak for 2minutes. Or plan for the next day/next week/next month. Teachers also volunteer for phone banks, and talk with neighbors and friends. Some teachers have 2nd jobs, or help care for their grandchildren, or care for pets/foster pets. Some teachers volunteer with the Timber Heritage Association because they love trains or they spend all their free time playing music or running because they run marathons. Some teachers help plan community events or take kids on field trips.
We were parents that attended board meetings and the group that attended were either ignored or lied to. Their time would better be spent in front of the court house in front of people with signs instead of a board meeting. Need to start showing the public what is going on and ask for their help. They are talking to a brick wall going in front of the board and should know that by now. Parents have been brought down to nothing trying to get the school board to act which is why parents give up. They also don’t want their kids to get caught in the middle.
On their 3 month summer vacation?! Or those multiple week-long breaks? But yeah- my argument is mostly against overpaid administrators… The teachers are out in the trenches actually working with the kids
The school vacations are just as valued by the teachers as the students. Although, it was only when I had 10 years of teaching under my belt that I stopped grading or doing school work during the school vacations. As for the 3 month summer break? Not ever. Mid June-mid August, 8 weeks, occasionally 9 weeks every 8 years. My child just laughs when someone says how lucky they were to have a parent with all that vacation time.
“Social Promotion” should be included in any discussion of current public education. Moving forward kids who can’t read (or who can read but can’t understand content) and/or don’t know or understand math facts is how kids get to high school with the skills of 4th graders. It’s not the kids’ fault. Adults are entirely in control of standards and practices.
Sparing a student the potential embarrassment of being held back is not worth the very likely outcome of a lifetime of under-education and potential resultant negative ripples.
I agree with you.
Only 22% of 12th graders are proficient in maths and only 35% are proficient in reading,
https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/reading/2024/g12/ yet over 90% will graduate.
Students, beginning at early ages should be placed in classes that are appropriate for their level.
Readers can work on more advanced reading, while those who still struggle with letter-sound correlation can be in classes that help them with that.
Come high school, there needs to be greater emphasis on job-training programs for kids who are so far behind that university is not likely to be in their future.
Blue-collar work is both noble and necessary. We need to stop shaming kids into thinking that without college they are a failure, and we need to stop trying to cram all kids through the same college-bound cookie cutter.
My junior high and high school had fully equipped wood and metal shops.
And Homemaking classes with fully equipped kitchens.
Many students learned math and reading skills in those classes, plus the Civility that goes along with the Trades.
YES! There is a job for everyone, even in a capitalist society. Not everyone will go to college and that’s okay. Everyone has their strengths and place within society. I know a blind lady who loves her job at the customer service desk of a grocery store.
Wishing you and everyone else could be the fly on the wall for the meetings with parents about this very decision. Even now, 5 years into retirement I still get flack from some parents and the child themselves (now grown) for being the teacher not willing to go with social promotion. Really. I just shake my head and go on with the day.
“Even now, 5 years into retirement I still get flack from some parents and the child themselves (now grown)…”
Entirely your choice to continue tolerating their chosen behavior. In doing so, there is, of course, a payoff of one sort or another to you somewhere in all of it.
I suggest keeping the kids in school and stop encouraging them to protest during school hours at the courthouse jail. While some of them might have a future in the jail, due to many factors, it would be best to keep them away from there during school hours.
Kids who leave class are always gonna get cuts. That’s the natural consequence. Not sure what you think actually happens in class these days. Teachers are still working with the remaining students and won’t be running after “escapees” . They report them as being gone and then they have to move on.
Yes, many parents have decided it is best to home school. I can not blame them for thinking that if they don’t want their kids to be “transed” behind their backs and taken away by the State. It is a real thing that happens in schools in California.
I’m not adverse to it, but homeschooling is successful when the parents are also capable of teaching at a college-prep level. If little Johnny can’t to math beyond 6th grade level, that’s not going to help him become an engineer later. He’ll barely be able to count change back to a customer. There needs to be skills taught and tested for. Also, these homeschooled Jane and John Does will need at the very least a GED if they’re applying to become state certified workers in many industries. For example, they won’t be a medical tech of any sort if they do not have a high school diploma or GED. You won’t even get to apply without such. This says nothing of the social interactions with peers that are not learned by being at home all the time.
Some parents might brush up while going through the home school curriculum. I don’t know what to say really. The kids are not getting the best education in the schools either when the teachers are more focused on protesting, gender identity, and sexual orientation instead of math, science, civics, history, and language.
I can only hope you read my response to Ernie.
Homeschooling and charter schools are always a choice, but both of those options require a lot more parent involvement. Many charter schools fail because parents aren’t willing to step up and do the extras that often happen in the regular public school classrooms. Homeschooling means that the parent is stepping up to manage the 8 hours of education that occurs in a regular school setting. It’s way more than brushing up. Homeschooling is what happened during the pandemic and we know how well that worked out.
I retired as a high school CTE teacher, but I was in no way ready for or capable of helping my child learn to read without the help of their teachers. I give full credit to their preschool and elementary teachers for being an early reader, and for learning to play well with others, when I spent a lot of time in my elementary years in the office on the bad kid bench (yes, that’s what we called it.). My child attended a charter school for grades 1-6, and grades 9-12, and I volunteered a lot during those charter school years, even while working full time as a teacher. And no, our school vacations never aligned except for grades 7-8.
I would honestly prefer if the schools were cleaned up and children were in real schools.
I think they should start the day with the Pledge of Allegiance.
I think the teachers need to shut up about their personal lives in the classrooms, stop promoting sexualites, and cheerleading for child gender transitions.
I would want to insist that the teachers focus on the curriculum. Deviating from the curriculum would be a teacher’s demerit and if it continues a firing offense.
I would want make it a rule that violence is not acceptable and that there is a standard of behavior in the classroom. Students who can not respect the class, their teacher, and disrupt the class will be removed from the classroom.
I would want to give girls their bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, and sports back. Girls have a right to expect that Title 9 means the right to sex based spaces and sports without hassle, harassment, threats, or violence.
I would have testing standards that teachers absolutely need to meet to be in a class room and I would make it clear what they are there to teach math/history/civics/science/shop/gym/etc and where the yellow lines are in regards to personal sharing with the students.
I think if these were the standards the parents would be happy to send their kids to the school. Since they are not I don’t see it is any worse for a parent to homeschool and brush up as they go along. There is a curriculum for homeschooling and some on line classes to help with the lessons and subjects.
I did read your comment to Ernie. Again, lots of these problems were created in California by Progressives. I am against surrogacy and I see it as human trafficking and baby buying. No, I don’t care WHO is doing it.
I don’t think the state should allow illegal alien kids to enroll in our schools at all.
Retired principals and retired shop teachers alike have told me Prop 13 lead to the drop-off in funding for CTE classes, and delayed a lot of other school maintenance problems such as inadequate bathrooms, old style open bay showers and locker rooms. Not sure you can lay that at the Progressives’ door.
School districts approve textbooks and curriculum; the CA Department of Education mandates standards that students are expected to reach; and teachers are expected to follow it all. In fact many schools require benchmark testing beyond the state mandated testing, because multiple classes of the same subject or grade levels are taught by different teachers, and there needs to be consistency and coherence across the classrooms and between grade levels.( I am most familiar with public high schools.)
Teachers are required to meet strict credential (licensing) requirements in CA – schools can request waivers for up to 5 or 7 years, usually to allow a new hire to complete the licensing. If your student has a teacher without a valid license or one in process, I encourage you to challenge your school admin and school district about that. Ditto if the teacher is not professional in demeanor and conduct. The process for complaints is literally posted in school main offices and classrooms alike. Having been involved in the hiring and firing process for teachers, I will agree it’s not easy and it shouldn’t be.
When it comes to violence and disruption in the classroom, I agree with you 100%. In reality, schools rarely have the staff or the organization to manage disruption and violence that occurs. Again funding but also process: why is the child being evicted, and what happens when they leave – fairness matters for all students. I know that healthy schools work hard to make every classroom a safe and respectful environment, but it is a complex task that is at best a work in process.
As for all the social changes that have happened over the years, I will agree to disagree with you. The good ol days were not good for everyone, that much I accept as fact, while you may not. The girls bathrooms and locker rooms that I have seen as a teacher and parent in Humboldt have had privacy stalls in place, where shared space was only at the sink and mirrors and benches. I don’t know the facts about sports and conference rules so I can’t comment on that.
You know what would really suck at school? It would suck for a girl to have to clean up because she just got her first period at the sinks while teen boys watched. That would really suck. I don’t think the administration cares about female student’s right to privacy at all.
The good ol days were not good for everyone…
And now they are good for no one. Progress!
Punishing children and society for actions taken by their parents?
I don’t think they should be enrolled. That isn’t punishment.
Because education is optional? Does society benefit from having non educated people as members?
They can go home and go to the schools that speak their languages. The parents abused them by dragging them here.
I found it humorous that this article was in the “cannabis catch”, until I read to the end… I thought it was miscategorized.
The last thing was about transportation for students who attend schools out of their district.
If parents and children are choosing to attend different schools simply for personal reasons, that is one thing. But if students need to travel because there is no school, or the assigned school is not safe, as was recently suggested in this newspaper about Hoopa, then the school board should accommodate those students with a mixture of school busses that serve their area, with a planned transfer point to county busses. Furthermore, free bus vouchers should be provided to those students.
Consolidating schools seems to be inevitable. We had a baby boom almost a century ago which required a lot of focus on kids, including building new schools. But the era of the baby boom is over. We no longer need that many schools. It is only logical that some schools close.
The article also slipped in the fact that charter schools have increased enrollment. Why? They should be studied and possibly emulated if they are a superior model.
I LIKE THAT SUPERVISOR . He is trying to raise the alarm. Of coarse nobody will listen. It is that poor education that led humboldt to the predicament it’s in. And you guys should have realized 20 yrs ago that humboldt is supported by pot growers. NOT THE GREEN RUSHERS, the mom and pop growers, the ones you threw under the bus while rewarding the big obnoxious grows that not even the pot growers wanted around. Enjoy the poverty that you worked so hard to get.
This is what happens when you send abatement letters out to everyone in the county.