Cheryl McAllister did a nice job of explaining the bigger picture with the math situation at LHS in her letter to the editor for the Democrat-Herald.
The math issue is actually secondary to the bigger issue of communication with and from the district. Once again they got it wrong.
This district likes to pretend that each person with a complaint is "just one disgruntled person" not a representative of others, nor the tip of an iceberg.
When they can say... "Only a few complaints were made" after a meeting where maybe 5 people spoke but 100 were vigourously nodding their heads... it makes it hard to believe that they really want to hear anything.
The parents wanted a forum. The district wanted an opportunity to portray their detractors as uncontrollable, overly-emotional, uninformed people. The district won.
If this had been an arm wrestling match the district would have had Arnold Scwartzenegger as their "facilitator" and they would have been requiring the community to have their arms strapped down to the table. The community would have complained, but the district could still say, "we offered them the opportunity, and they chose not to take it."
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2 comments:
Here is an important comment I found on the other blog RE the math meeting: We all need to read this.
"I am a parent who chose to stay, even though I felt like leaving. The small group forums have great potential, but when a parent has to ASK for someone to take notes, and notes are not correlated and thematically categorized, and re-presented to those participating, IT LACKS ANYTHING TO MAKE THESE CONCERNS AN INSTRUMENT FOR CHANGE. As a parent with a GRADUATE degree, I felt betrayed by what could have been a great process....if this is the way the high school conducts small groups, no wonder they are in so much trouble.
On another note, I am dismayed that you think parents came there to see someone loose their job...whoever you are writing this, it is clear you are a school employee that thinks you are so much more competent that all us other "HICK" in Lebanon. One word of advice....why didn't you fix the problem earlier if your so smart?"
As a parent who left the meeting, I was stunned to read how the small groups were actually conducted. Obviously not by anyone who actually planned to seriously consider parental concerns of ideas since no one even planned to take notes!
My, oh my, what a wonderful day... (NOT)!
Thanks for writing this.
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