Good Morning again, Brian:
First for the benefit of anyone unaware:
The word "SEEMS" is, in English grammar, considered to be a weasel word, allowing the writer to disclaim what is written or claimed. Weasel words attempt to get people to think something alleged is stated as a fact, rather than being the opinion that an allegation really states. In grading essays, weasel words are one of the first thing we teacher-types try to weasel out.
Therefore stating that I "seem to continue to duck, bob, and weave", might be your opinion, but you dare not claim that as fact and you certainly know it.
I have given my clearly expressed professionally determined facts AND opinions here. You can certainly remark on those, but if you use weasel words, I will catch them, and in terms that I am sure that you understand sir, I will offer them into evidence.
I'm no lawyer, but I did take a wee bit of law in college. Amazing what you can learn.
Partial disclosure regarding possible ducking, bobbing, and weaving on my part: I SEEM to recall bobbing for apples at a birthday party, and I really SEEMED to enjoy watching Kung Fu on TV.
Let's cut to the chase here.
Would I vote for you if you were to run for school board? I think I WOULD!
We very much NEED people like you to question, opine, and to help make sure that the District's" I's" are dotted and "T's" crossed. There are however a few things that you would discover.
1) School Board salaries are abysmal, particularly when you take into consideration the long hours and the extra time spent dealing with people day and night, visiting schools, encouraging students, preparing for meetings, etc. It looks so easy from the outside. Some might even call it a thankless job, but it is an extremely rewarding one for those who love kids and schools.
2) Due to Federal and State mandates, there are so many areas where a local school board's hands are tied. As you so very well point out, our school board is fully accountable to State and Federal laws, rules, regulations, guidelines, and so forth. So many times, a local board's hands are fully tied, as are the hands of local teachers, staff, etc. all of which leads to my final point here:
With our local hands tied so often these days, figuratively at least, who then is REALLY is to blame if we receive a C or D or F or whatever? Going back to my point about test creation, should my students be blamed if I give them a test that I know they'll all fail?
Truth be told, any day of the week, I could have designed a test that my students would all fail, all pass, or neatly bell curve. I therefore could literally have determined grades by whatever subjective rubric I designed, should I have wanted to do so.
Of course, coming out of Special Education, we had Individualized Education Plans tailored to each student. Perhaps ALL students need those, but I digress here.
The key, and the difficulty is to come up with truly objective rubrics, and with human beings and what they bring to the table of life, that is a very difficult thing to do.
I would invite you to think about that one very seriously for a moment, if you will.
Indeed then, perhaps we need to better define FAILURE and who or what is REALLY failing here.
Good debate Brian. Why not run for school board? I wish you would...
Back to the banjo...and our EXCELLENT Lakewood Schools!