Boca Raton High School just received an A from the state, which is great news. The school had been C-rated in the past, improving to B ratings in 2003 and 2004, but diagnostic tests led the school to expect an F rating this year. So what happened?
According to Principal Geoff McKee,
prayer did it. That's right folks. It wasn't study, it wasn't diligent and hard-working teachers--it was prayer.
McKee, 42, believes the widespread prayer efforts achieved a miracle for the formerly C-rated school, which got B's in 2003 and 2004 before its A school year. He said the school district had anticipated a D for Boca High last year after students took diagnostic exams designed to predict scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests later in the year.
Upon hearing that news, McKee said he called on the local branch of an international Christian group, Moms In Touch, to pray for students to do well on the exams, and the group complied.
"There was a lot of prayer for the school and staff to achieve their God-given potential," said Moms In Touch member Lori Degler, whose two children attend Boca High. "We give credit to hard work, but it's spurred on by the spirit of the Lord."
Moms In Touch was not the only group to pray for Boca High. McKee said churches, local and national Christian radio stations and campus groups also voiced their support.
"I never felt so bathed in prayer as I did last year," McKee said. "The outcome would have been different. It wouldn't have been as great a year."
So tell your kids they don't have to study anymore--just get some folks to pray for them and they'll be golden. </snark>
I'm an instructor at a university in Boca, and I'll undoubtedly get some of these students in the next couple of years, and this peeves me to no end. These kids--assuming the scores weren't rigged a la Houston--busted their asses, these teachers busted their asses, and instead of getting the credit they deserve, they get told that their effort was not the important part, that a bunch of people praying for them were far more important to their success than anything else.
I wouldn't want to be a teacher there right now, because I'd be more than tempted to smack that principal upside the head and demand an apology to my students.