Say What?

I have a confession to make. I am less than thrilled with School District #51. Let’s get real. The emperor is nekkid. With CSAP scores stagnant at below mediocre levels (say what you will about standardized testing, but they are all we have available as a snap shot of achievement), less than favorable staff line-ups of late, and rumors within the district of shake-ups to come, I’d be looking at the Seattle area too. Shake-ups are good. I think Tim Mills is a nice guy, but I won’t be joining Harry Butler in his prayers to have him to stay. I think there are some very good teachers and I think there are some very not-so-good ones. Ditto with administration at any given school. But it seems to me that over the last ten years the district had gotten a little bit more, shall we say complacent, with each passing year. Plus, I don’t understand what they’re saying half the time. I consider myself a person with above average intelligence. (It’s true - I scored in the top 15% of the nation on an IQ test!) But when I get stuff like this in the mail - I am perplexed, confused, irritated and frustrated. I’ve got five bucks of my own money to the first person who can correctly interpret for me what it means. (Click on the thumb nails to enlarge them to a font size you can read.) And given that in my opinion it’s pretty typical of the communication we get from the school district, when we get any, it’s no wonder Johnny is proficient at a third grade level when he graduates.