Ithaca (MI) Public Schools superintendent asks Gov. Snyder to 'make my school a prison'

[Bozita]

Source: Bay City Times

Ithaca Public Schools superintendent asks Gov. Snyder to 'make my school a prison'
Published: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 9:00 AM Updated: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 10:43 AM
By Brandon Howell | The Bay City Times

Ithaca Public Schools Superintendent Nathan Bootz has a unique idea to help his district weather challenging financial times for public schools.

In a letter to the editor of the Gratiot County Herald, Bootz suggests turning his district into a prison.

The letter was picked up and reblogged by several sites around the Internet.

Addressing the letter to Gov. Rick Snyder, Bootz takes a critical perspective on the correctional system in Michigan:

Read more: http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2011/05/ithaca_public_schools_superint.html

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Here's the letter:
http://gcherald.com/letterseditor/letters-to-the-editor-may-12-2011-issue.shtml

Dear Governor Snyder,

In these tough economic times, schools are hurting. And yes, everyone in Michigan is hurting right now financially, but why aren’t we protecting schools? Schools are the one place on Earth that people look to to “fix” what is wrong with society by educating our youth and preparing them to take on the issues that society has created.

One solution I believe we must do is take a look at our corrections system in Michigan. We rank nationally at the top in the number of people we incarcerate. We also spend the most money per prisoner annually than any other state in the union. Now, I like to be at the top of lists, but this is one ranking that I don’t believe Michigan wants to be on top of.

Consider the life of a Michigan prisoner. They get three square meals a day. Access to free health care. Internet. Cable television. Access to a library. A weight room. Computer lab. They can earn a degree. A roof over their heads. Clothing. Everything we just listed we DO NOT provide to our school children.

This is why I’m proposing to make my school a prison. The State of Michigan spends annually somewhere between $30,000 and $40,000 per prisoner, yet we are struggling to provide schools with $7,000 per student. I guess we need to treat our students like they are prisoners, with equal funding. Please give my students three meals a day. Please give my children access to free health care. Please provide my school district Internet access and computers. Please put books in my library. Please give my students a weight room so we can be big and strong. We provide all of these things to prisoners because they have constitutional rights. What about the rights of youth, our future?!

Please provide for my students in my school district the same way we provide for a prisoner. It’s the least we can do to prepare our students for the future...by giving our schools the resources necessary to keep our students OUT of prison.

Respectfully submitted,

Nathan Bootz
Superintendent
Ithaca Public Schools

[PDJane]

1. I like it. I agree.

One spends money on either the children, or the end of the result of a lifetime of deprivation.

[bertman]

2. Great idea, Supt. Bootz!! The only problem is that when the prisoners graduate from

their 'school' they won't have any jobs to go to.

But I thank you for bringing up the criminally insane way that our school systems are treated while pumping BILLIONS into the prison industry.

REC.

[radhika]

4. But HS Grads in MI have the same problem.... n/t

[Wait Wut]

3. Wow.

Can we clone this guy and make him the superintendent of all school districts? The ones we have in Arizona are nothing but assholes that enable local government to financially rape the children while building more prisons and creating more laws that make it a felony to friggin' breathe. But, you can carry a gun any damned place you want to.

This is a fantastic letter and I thank you for sharing. I'll be sharing it with many, many others including my teacher friends.

[Pab Sungenis]

5. I'd rather spend $30,000 on each kid for 12 years

than for 18 to life.

[provis99]

6. what an Asshole!

If he hasn't been fired by now, he deserves to be.

[GillesDeleuze]

7. read it first.

[provis99]

8. I did. The jerk should be fired on the spot.

It was highly unprofessional, and frankly it uses schools as a prop for his smarmy political agenda.

[Matt_in_STL]

9. I really don't think you read it

The superintendent is pointing out that more money is spent on prisoners than on schoolchildren. His satirical solution is turning his school into a prison so that his children get the same benefits that the prisoners have. Just as Jonathan Swift doesn't really want us to eat children, this man does not really want his school to be turned into a prison.

[provis99]

10. quit insulting me. I read the fucking article already.

this guy is in a non-political bureaucratic position, and he's abusing his post to make a cheesy political point. Completely unethical. Just because he's attacking a Republican, doesn't make his abuse of position any better.

[Fearless]

11. I don't know about you but I'd want someone that cares about my children in charge...

:shrug:

[Matt_in_STL]

13. I agree

This superintendent has pointed out that we spend a woefully small amount on our schoolchildren while spending a much larger amount on prisoners, pointing out that those very prisoners have the same opportunities we have trouble providing our children. He shows that we obviously have our priorities backwards and he does it in a very intelligent and thought provoking way.

[truthisfreedom]

12. I like his point, and I think he's right.

And I think you're out of line.

[DRex]

16. Abuse of position?

lol, you're reaching. Let the guy write a letter to his governor, for fuck sake.

[provis99]

18. he's not writing as a private citizen.

He clearly indicated he was using his position of superintendent to make a political point. The moron should be fired.

Would you be happy if a superintendent wrote a letter on Stormfront, praising segregated schools, and signed the letter "Superintendent, Ithaca Public Schools"?

Just because he took a political position that you happen to like doesn't mean he didn't abuse his position.

[Fearless]

22. Using your position to note hypocrisy is not abuse.

Maybe you don't like him because it can come across as snark, but that isn't grounds for removal.

[DRex]

29. I didn't know superintendants weren't allowed to write to the gov....

Do you know any such thing? That you aren't allowed to lobby the governor for more funding from your school district?

But the 'equivalence' that you draw is not equivalent at all. Asking for more funding is not the same as being pro-segregation. I wouldn't be happy if he had written that letter, but he didn't, so who cares?

[NashVegas]

41. Heaven ForFuckingBid We Should Have Public Servants Who Want to Do the Right Thing

And have the balls to stand up.

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[knitter4democracy]

19. Superintendent is a very political position.

They're voted in by the school board, and if the voters don't like him/her, they pressure the board to fire him/her. School board members have lost in elections because of supers.

[provis99]

20. superintendents are not elected by voters

from your line of reasoning, you might as well argue that teaching is a very political position, too.

[Fearless]

21. To be fair... teaching is a political position.

Of course you're talking local politics not state or federal.

[provis99]

23. In that case,

Republicans would be perfectly justified in firing all liberal teachers,and replacing them with conservatives, because after all, its a political position.

[knitter4democracy]

25. They try and often succeed.

I've seen it happen in more conservative areas, and I have personally lost out on a teaching job because I wasn't conservative enough.

[Fearless]

30. Absolutely.

You're hired if and only if you fit the superintendent's POV (or principal, depending on hiring practices). And then there's the Scopes Trial as the most famous example of politics playing a role in teacher's jobs.

[TheMadMonk]

34. Only if YOU are an authoritarian type (Republican in this generation)...

...who believes there is nothing wrong in doing exactly as you "believe is correct" with no regards for the impact on others.

Democracy's greatest strength and greatest weakness, is that it must "entertain" the elements of its own destruction, whilst allowing those elements to refuse to entertain the true tennets of democracy.

[knitter4democracy]

24. It is a political position.

Tick off the wrong parent, and you're toast.

[Wednesdays]

27. Whoa. Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed today?

:shrug:

[Tempest]

28. No shit

Instead of admitting the guy has a good point, he's doubling down on looking foolish.

[Occulus]

31. I think you read INTO it. I don't think you read it, and if you did,

you obviously didn't THINK about what you read.

He's basically baldly stating that Michigan prisoners receive better facilities than Michigan schoolchildren.

He is right.

[slay]

33. Never heard of sarcasm?

mark twain maybe? lighten up dude. guy is making his point in a way that YOU don't approve of. obviously he doesn't REALLY want his school turned into a prison. well, you have the right to be offended. and totally wrong in your interpretation of the whole article IMO. if you don't get it - well - it's your loss i guess. :shrug:

[Chorophyll]

36. WTF? Are you kidding?

His "cheesy political point?" Have you not noticed that public schools and their funding have been politicized for DECADES, usually by people who want to destroy them?

[placton]

39. insulting you?

wow - tell me how you plan to vote next election?

[Jakes Progress]

48. Here. Let me explain this to you.

See. The superintendent doesn't really want the schools the be turned into prisons. What he is trying to do is get the attention of bureaucrats and politicians by making an absurdist comparison to how we treat prisoners and how we treat students. He has a most valid point. Do you think the letter would have garnered as much attention if he had simply asked for more funding for schools? Maybe it was hard for some to understand. I hope my explanation will help you.

I might ask why you think asking for money to educate children is a "cheesy political point"? Would it have not been political if the governor had been a Democrat? How is it abusing his position to seek adequate funding for schools? Would you have reacted less ignorantly if the wirer were in a political bureaucratic position rather than a non-political bureaucratic position?

Could it possibly be that you knee-jerked a reply and then had to come us with a defense of an indefensible post?

[TheMadMonk]

32. Fergedit. The "average American" does not understand satire.

And if after several minutes of careful one sylable explanations you do manage to get the point across, the "average American" will NOT thank you for making him realise he's an idiot.

I also call your attention to sarcasm impairment, hyperbole blindness and the irony blinkered.

[dionysus]

44. how the *hell* did you take that away from the article?

:rofl:

[Jakes Progress]

49. He didn't read anything but the headline.

[ScreamingMeemie]

53. I have to agree. And then, when called on it, made up a self-righteous response.

A silly, self-righteous response.

[snooper2]

47. It's 100% fucking percent spot on...

What's your real issue with it?

[Stuckinthebush]

14. Why?

Clearly he isn't serious. He is stating facts in a provocative manner. The state pays $7000 per student and $40000 per prisoner. Priorities are screwed up is what he's saying.

I'm not seeing the political angle here either. There is nothing partisan about the letter.

[Angry Dragon]

42. .................

:thumbsdown:

[truth2power]

45. With all due respect...

do you have trouble with reading comprehension? Do you understand irony or satire?

Just asking. :shrug:

[cheapdate]

15. He sure isn't talking about prison in Tennessee.

I don't know what prison is like in Michigan, but it sounds a whole lot more pleasant than in Tennessee. I do understand his point, though.

[jwirr]

17. Kids could have release time to visit their homes and do their chores.

A novel idea.

[Heywood J]

26. It's been done.

It's all right, children, just ignore the murderer.

[KurtNYC]

35. He needed help with that letter (if it IS a real letter)

He displays terrible grammar and punctuation. Ironic and sad; possibly a hoax.

[xxqqqzme]

50. LTTE in a Michigan

paper is a hoax? Did you bother w/ the link?. Somebody pissing in bowlfuls of cornflakes this morning. Glad I had oatmeal.

[KurtNYC]

51. I was trying to give him the benefit of doubt. IMHO it makes a poor

case for education when the Superintendent takes a very public stand and in the process puts his own lack of education and standards on display.

[Doctor_J]

37. As soon as the schools are all "privatized", costs will skyrocket

Once all of the schools become for-profit, the cost per student will likely triple. The quality will be worse, of course, but you can bet the owners will rob the "customers" blind.

[saras]

38. Because it's sensible, it would fail

He goes out of his way NOT to be political, with an issue that clearly IS a partisan political issue, and shouldn't be. Kudos to him for that.

If the economics are anywhere near close, he's right - it's a bad investment spending on prisons and not schools (yes, OF COURSE, there's better solutions, but they all require the absence of stupid people, which he's working on)

No, the problem is that the right-wing nutjobs will listen, extract from his joke the message "we need armed guards, tasers, tear gas, and strip searches for our schoolkids", take it seriously, and run with it while they have the power.

[shawn703]

40. Not a very good analogy

While I do agree with the point that there should be increased spending on public education, comparing it to the prison system doesn't really work very well.

Take the high number he used - $40,000 per prisoner. Prisoners are in prison for 8766 hours a year. That's about $4.56 an hour per prisoner.

Kids are in public school in Michigan for 1098 hours a year. That's about $6.38 an hour per child.


Need to be careful when making comparisons like this, jackasses like Snyder might take this to mean schools should be able to get by on $4.56 an hour per student if prisons can do it.

[barbtries]

46. sounds good

i wonder how much of the $40k per year per prisoner is transferred directly into the pockets of some corporate ceo.

[Ilsa]

52. I think some kids would do better in a boarding school away from their

severely dysfunctional families. Constant support, a disciplined life, mentoring, etc might save some of the kids with behavior problems related to their family issues or just bad parenting.