Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Yearbook “report card” pans administrators, students
It seems more than a few DDN readers got a chuckle out of Tuesday’s story of a Wayne High School teacher and yearbook moderator who gave low marks to administrators and students in Huber Heights via a yearbook parting shot.
A 30-year teaching veteran who retired at the end of the last school year created a page in the yearbook with a mock “report card” that graded the administration an F for “Failure to support staff, inconsistant (sic) lack of preparation, make Wayne a place people want to escape rather then a place they feel respected and safe.”
She also gave students a C, noting “improvement needed, lack of effort, do not pay attention, more study time needed.”
Many of our online readers saw humor in the story, pushing it up among our most viewed stories of the day at DDN.com yesterday. But I’ve got a serious question for you:
Is this story really that surprising?
In Huber Heights, where nerves are still a little frayed from a recent strike by teachers and support staff, it’s generating a lot of talk. And it’s a big problem for the district, which was not amused by the report card. They can’t just tear the page out because the back side carries a tribute to students who died in a car accident last year. They’re trying to come up with a way to cover the page. That is a costly, distracting hassle.
But are the teacher’s report card comments really that different from what other teachers said during the strike? A yearbook probably isn’t the proper forum to air complaints. That’s certainly the district’s view.
The report card noticeably assigns no blame to teachers for the district’s problems. During the strike, some in the community put all the blame on the teachers. The divisions there run pretty deep.
Perhaps it’s a sign that teachers, administrators and the community in Huber Heights need to find a way to begin a conversation about the schools to try to understand what it might take to get them all on the same page?
(Image credit: www.studentsfirst.us)
Mom and dad made me cheat
The latest Carnival of Education has some good stuff this week. My favorite post in this week’s compilation of the best education blogging was from one of my favorite teacher bloggers, Mrs. Cornelius, who writes about cheating and a complaint from some kids that they HAVE to cheat on the busy work because their parents are making them take so many tough classes.
I’m also included in the Ed Carnival for a post that asks, “what if Harvard dumped the SAT?” You can find me in this week’s Carnival of Ohio Politics, too, for a post about the education debate by the candidates for Ohio governor.
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