Most people don't realize that school really doesn't end until the end of July. This week we will close out summer school. Summer school is not just an opportunity for students to catch up, but it is also an opportunity for teachers to earn more money. You can earn almost $4000 for twenty-two days of work. That comes to $175 a day and they still can't get people to work.
The sad legacy of President Bush is everywhere. He campaigned that he ended social promotion in Texas schools, but If you ask me it is alive and well. Basically, student's who came to school for 180 days and did absolutely nothing can come to summer school for twenty days and pass. That is correct! In actuality the students only have to come to summer school for 18 days because they are allowed to miss two days. So,180 days is replaced by 18 days. Oh, they give the children a released version (the year before) of the state mandated test and pretend that the children have to pass the test, but that isn't true. All they have to do is come everyday for 18 days and they will be passed on. President Bush has left us a culture of no accountability for children. Noone in this business wants to hold children accountable for anything. In summer school a student cursed a teacher out and the student was allowed to remain in school. Everything is the teacher's fault. No doubt the administrator blamed the teacher for being cursed out. If the children don't come to school, it's the teacher's fault. If the children don't do their work, it's the teacher's fault. If the children don't do their homework, it's the teacher's fault. If the children don't behave, it's the teacher's fault. It's insane and people wonder why our system is a mess. At dismissal time you can stand on the corner and watch hundreds of students leave school every afternoon without one book. Three local highschools are in the process of being reconstituted. State law says that after two consecutive years of a school being rated as low performing the school district must make everyone in the school reapply for their jobs. This includes the administration. However, state law puts no demands on students or their parents. Our education system will never improve until we have rasonable expectations and we hold everyone accountable. Thank you President Bush- everything's just the way you left it-a big mess.