Herked un Fonics Werks Fer Me

Well, well, well I have certainly struck a nerve! The GW/Central office gremlins have had their feathers ruffled. It seems like a lot of closet English teachers or frustrated proofreaders have decided to attack the blog. Well go ahead and attack the messenger but believe the message. I will be the last person to claim to be an English expert. I bow to the mensa scholars. I will be more careful in the future. So pull back your swords all you William of Malmesbury scholars, I will check my English Grammar for Dummies book more frequently. By the way if you want to read something that totally slaughters the English language try reading some memos from the GW administration. A valid question can be directed to the DPS central office. What exactly is an “Overachieving School District” ? Does that phrase even make sense?

The second comment was very defensive about GW. I have never said that GW did not have fine teachers, wonderful athletic teams, and some smart kids. My comments have always been directed at the administration of the school and at the central office level. These are the people that make life so difficult for the fine teachers, wonderful athletic teams and the smart kids. Their failure to plan, evaluate, and carry out any administrative task is what is so frustrating. I would never attack any of the teachers who must put up with the incompetent behavior on a daily basis. They are the only ones holding the place together. And please, do not throw the Wachovia cup up as a defense. Look at the criteria for that award. Mostly fluff, no stuff.

One comment addressed the issue of senior and juniors leaving the campus for lunch. I still feel, as many others do, that this is an extremely dangerous policy. I have checked with state level personnel and to their knowledge no other district in Virginia permits such a practice. One particular state education official commented as to why anyone would want to allow such a practice that opens the district to liability issues! Why not just send students off on field trips by themselves? No, teachers SUPERVISE students when they leave campus and never leave them out of their direct control. This is pure common sense. To allow a student to leave campus during the school day unsupervised is asking for an incident. To extend this bad practice to juniors is ludicrous. As is always the case in DPS decisions nothing will change until a tragedy occurs.

The commenter also needs a little history lesson. The practice of allowing seniors to leave campus did originate years ago because of the lack of sufficient lunch facilities. However this was when GW had a population of almost 2,400 students. With GW now at about 1,100 students the scheduled lunch periods could indeed be handled by the current facilities. Hey, I was asked for a suggestion so there it is. If the brain trust in the GW office can’t figure out a schedule then they need to go back to Administration 101.

No one disputes the fact that GW is a great asset for Danville however the facts indicate that the district lacks firm leadership both on the school level and the central office level. The “brain drain” from DPS over the last four years is astonishing. More talented and smart administrators have left in the last four years then the other ten years combined. Doesn’t that raise a red flag to the school board or are they still all hiding under a rock. The average years of administrative experience in the DPS system is in the single digits.

This trend is to blame for the flurry of ill conceived, ridiculous, dimwitted, and generally illogical decisions by school administrators that have been palmed off as “school based decisions”. Yeah they may be school based but when will a superintendent or school board step up to the plate and say just say NO! I really thought that was their job but I may be wrong.

As the debate heats up about state money the important question comes to mind. Has Danville been spending their money wisely? In this blog numerous costly blunders have already been discussed. They range from the foolish to the down right ridiculous. Lets then look at an independent examination of cost efficiency. Is DPS using the funds allotted wisely?

To explore this questions, the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute evaluated Virginia Department of Education data using a cost-efficiency assessment methodology developed by Connecticut’s Yankee Institute for Public Policy Studies. First, the percentage of a district’s students who attained the state’s Standard of Learning goals in English and mathematics was averaged to determine a school district’s Goal Attainment
Average. Each district’s per-pupil spending was then divided by its Goal Attainment Average to determine its Cost Benefit Value.

In this study Danville fell into the Poor Achievement Category with a Goal Attainment Average between seventy four and eighty percent. Danville was identified as a Poor Price Group (higher costs) with a Cost Benefit Value of $109.90. This is the unit cost to produce a single average percentage point of student English and mathematics achievement. To put it in perspective Pittsylvania County falls into Good Achievement Category with a Goal Attainment Average between eighty point five to eighty seven percent. Pittsylvania was identified as a Best Price Group (lowest cost) with a Cost Benefit Value of $90.87. Add to these figures the fact that Danville spends $8,678 per student compared to the Pittsylvania County cost of $7,527 per student and you can see what district uses its money more wisely.

Now here is the big issue. Where does DPS cut six to seven million dollars from their budget? Let’s try something radical. Let’s ask the teachers, parents, and the public where they feel the cuts should come from. What programs, personnel, or policies could be eliminated without drastically affecting the students in the schools? Send your replies to savetheschools2@aol.com and I will discuss the best ones. Also knowing the vindictive nature of DPS so called leaders I will not reveal your name or school. Again, forget the messenger but listen to the message.