olddude, tulsa (9/20/2009 7:46:05 AM)

I think he is doing a great job,a recent servey shows that oklahoma children are the last in every catagory,they answered that Micheal Jackson wrote the bill of rights.

getreal, (9/20/2009 8:30:07 AM)

I am all in favor with performance based compensation for teachers with one major change; parent(s) of students of each teacher subjected to perfomance based must attend 4 required parent teacher meetings per year. Parents are to respond to teacher inquiries, sign progress reports, mandatory drug testing and provide action plans for poor performing students. Teachers should be allowed to drop students that act out in class whose parent(s) will not assist or be provided security in the classroom. Teachers are not babysitters or law enforcement. Classromms are suppose to be learning centers, not Moss Correctional.

When these procedures are in place and working, put teachers' feet to the fire.

olddude, tulsa (9/20/2009 8:39:28 AM)

getreal, good comments.

tulsan09, Tulsa (9/20/2009 9:04:15 AM)

I would give him a B+. Lots of good changes on the horizon, which take time. He's on the right track. One huge area of weakness remains is turning the Education Service Center into a real SERVICE center. It still takes days and even weeks to get those people to respond to needs in the schools. Completely unacceptable.

owen, Tulsa (9/20/2009 9:42:16 AM)

getreal and Responsible Parent both have some great ideas. Parental involvement is one of the main reasons that private schools and home schooling work so well.

SC, (9/20/2009 9:44:13 AM)

Clean up the service center. Too many FUMU's work there-and everyone knows it. If you are an administrator, and you can't make it at the high school level, have no fear they will move you up and give you a higher salary. And that is how the service center became bloated and was turned into the disservice center. If administrators are incompetent at the school level, they are even worse at higher level. At that level these people just sit around think of things for teachers to do in order to justify their jobs.

Charley, (9/20/2009 9:59:02 AM)

GETREAL has some good ideas, parents should be held responsible for their child's actions & reactions.

Maybe a parent who gets a $500 (or more) fine for their child's non-social actions or reactions, would see the bad light that is starting to brighten in their child's life.

Teenagers that are becoming incorrigible should be sent to Sheriff Joe Arpaio or sent off to the military. Lessons about social interface need to be learned real early in life, or the life will be fraught with all sorts of trials & failures.

Our teachers should be given every means for controlling the classroom, even if means severe punishment for the unruly kids. Take away their toys, cars, money, cell phones & hang-out time, until they get the point.

Dr Ballard's grades should be a reflection of the success of our kids, in our schools. If they fail, he fails.

P.S. Batty Andrews doesn't get it. Liberal policies & rules for learning kids create monsters...

Mar, Tulsa (9/20/2009 10:06:30 AM)

I agree with getreal and Responsible Parent, good common sense.

Herbert Rogers, Jenks (9/20/2009 11:19:12 AM)

Dear Charley:
"Betty" actually D O E S get-it! She is WAY beyond us!
Don't you see, that's why the (World) saved Betty's comment to the very last? This is my 10th year, "Subbing" for TPS...and I can say, with evidence, the only "Lord" our kids know...is "Lord Vader" . If, perhaps you doubt my words, go to the Service Center and sign-up for Substituting. Then come and talk to me.

Thunder196, Tulsa (9/20/2009 9:43:11 PM)

I'm glad he's getting good support from people. He seems to have such good ideas, when are our elected officials going to get behind education and help Ballard make things happen.