What Happens When the CHAIRMAN of the Escambia County Board of Education (Who’s a Bit of a Whang-Doodle in Any Event) Not Only STEPS on the Third Rail of Education…
…but reaches into the tracks and grasps it firmly unto his heaving bosom before having an editorial printed in the local fishwrap EXRESSING said opinion?
Too early to tell yet, but GOD BLESS HIM FOR IT.
We need to hold parents accountable for their children’s education
At a recent meeting of the Escambia County School Board, several speakers said we had “failed” Lincoln Park Elementary. Astonishingly, several district officials nodded in apparent agreement with this censure of our teachers!
Instead of rebuking these slanders, the obsequious response from many district officials was to bow to the crowd, bemoaning time-lines established by state and federal law that force districts to intervene when individual schools repeatedly fail. “It’s the legislature’s fault, not ours,” was the answer.
Here’s the truth. The U.S. Congress and the Florida Legislature did not arbitrarily decide to tinker with local school boards. They stepped in when they heard repeated pleas demanding a fix for chronically failing schools that local districts did not, in many cases, have the guts to fix themselves.
Where was the righteous indignation for allowing some kids to remain trapped in horrible schools for decades?
So now we’re legally forced to take action locally on Lincoln Park, and take action we will.
In the meantime, it’s appropriate and necessary to address some of the vitriol that was spewed at good, hard-working teachers and employees by a vocal minority of people who want to assign blame for the failures to which they themselves are contributing.
As elected officials, we’re held accountable by voters.
We hold teachers accountable, we no longer give tenure for new hires and we’re evaluating teachers more rigorously than ever.
We hold students accountable; they’re graded on performance.
We need to hold parents accountable!
…The politically correct nihilists complain that the issue is poverty.
Yes, poverty is a troubling issue, but as chronicled in the Economist in the June 1 edition, there is a marked difference between poverty in the developed world vis-à-vis the 1.1 billion humans worldwide subsisting on less than $1.25 per day.
In America, being poor in many instances equates to not working, collecting government assistance payments, living in subsidized air-conditioned housing, enjoying cable TV, food stamps and the latest smart phone….
Read the whole thing. Online the comments are overwhelming supportive, although I’m sure ~ because the focus of his ire needs activists to inform them of the opinion ~ there will soon be the requisite “racist”, “unfeeling” and “hater” spews coming along shortly.
Life, People, Politics | tree hugging sister | 
June 24, 2013 9:31 am
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Back when I was in high school, I dated a young lady whose father was a teacher in the L.A. school system. I asked him what he thought about busing (the new fix for poor inner-city kid performance). He said it was hard enough to get inner-city parents to come to s parent teacher meeting when the school was just a few blocks away, nevermind 15 miles away in Westchester. And, yeah, “inner-city” is code…
That said, I’d be willing to bet that many parents have abrogated their parenting duties to the schools…
Zoinks! What a h8tr!
And ironically, the kids in those “living on $1.25 a day” countries? If they were given the chance to go to school, they’d walk 10 miles or more a day to do it. And study by the light of streetlights at night if their family didn’t have electricity.