A Letter From Mr. Burns

My routine walk to the mailbox today was met with this letter from Mr. Del Burns, the Superintendent of the Wake County Public School System: "Wake County Schools is continuing in Title 1 District Improvement because the school district has missed Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) targets in reading and math in elementary, middle, and high schools for at least two years in a row." Thank you, Mr. Burns for this marvelous piece of information.

Our county can be lauded the nation over for busing kids out of their neighborhoods. Our school board can spend our tax dollars in the name of building new schools so we can buy more buses to haul more students all over the county. We can fill our once-hallowed halls of learning with local law enforcement because there are gangs and fights and disorder in many of our high schools. But, sadly we can't meet standards for reading and math.

Perhaps it is time to take a new look at education in Wake County. While diversity efforts can be applauded, what good does it do to create a blended masterpiece, if we can't read the name of the artist at the bottom of the painting? While percentages of diverse demographics can be pointed to as a job well done, what good is that job if the numbers can't be added? Are the goals of success in education and in opportunity mutually exclusive?

Some would respond with the notion that the standards of No Child Left Behind are too stringent. Backgrounds, home-life, and different growth rates within student groups are factors in how students score on standardized tests. Teaching with the goal of passing the test is questionable at best. But there is no doubt that expecting progress is a much better motivational tool for students, than implying that they can’t succeed therefore we need to lower the standards for them.

Title I schools receive federal dollars because 40 percent of students come from low-income households. But as Title 1 money is being directed to help kids do better by paying for tutoring, etc., it seems that opportunity is somewhat available for success. Oddly enough however, sanctions for not succeeding under NCLB include an option whereby students can transfer out of an under-performing school. Won’t that make our masterpiece less-blended?

What may be deemed in 2009 as an old-fashioned notion could be a major part of the solution. A return to parental involvement in the education of our children, as well as in the schools themselves is tantamount to helping our kids succeed, not just in meeting NCLB standards, but in life. Wake County needs to re-think its priorities. I’d much rather Mr. Burns send me a letter gloating about how he has led our school system into greatness. I think he’d rather write that letter, too. Here’s to hearing from you soon, Mr. Burns.