After reading the recent report card with explanations from the Lakota school district it instantly reminded me of a kid who had been goofing off that was expected to get straight “A’s” who needed to pad the results with explanations to justify too many “B’s” and a “C” in the outcome. Like the unwitting teenagers they instruct, Lakota blamed their bad grades on the conditions the grades were formulated. A teenage student might declare that their grades would have been better if only they had more time to study, or had better tools to study with. Lakota, as a district declared that they could have done better, especially in performance if voters would have just passed their last levy. Superintendent Mantia in a report seen below did exactly that blaming the poor grade in “performance” on having to make budget reductions. Here’s what she said, “Our performance index went down after years of increases. The performance index measures the achievement of all students regardless of their level of proficiency. That’s one sign that the budget reductions we’ve had to make are affecting all students.”
No wonder with that attitude the report card came in with much lower grades than was expected. Lakota plans to get “A’s” by throwing money at the teachers so that they can have more “resources” to teach children. If Lakota dosen’t have the money they plan to do just as they’ve shown here, let their letter grade drop so to motivate their parents into buying them “better books,” a new computer, and other resources so that the student can get an “A.” Rather than attack the cultural aspects of the letter grade as a student might buckle down to improve, Mantia immediately relegates her terminology toward the unsaid implications of the 2013 levy attempt which intends to raise taxes to throw money at their teacher base with an upcoming contract in 2014. Mantia said a lot of things in her released statement on the report card for Lakota. Her full report can be seen below:
A Letter from Superintendent Dr. Karen Mantia
Ohio’s New School District Report Cards
Spoken like a true levy addict. When Mantia says, “increased resources in these high priority learning areas” she means that Lakota needs a levy passage so that she can lead her school district to improved grades. It is equivalent to the teenage student who tells their parents that if they received a new computer, they’d have a better time at their studies and their grades would improve. Of course everyone outside the school knows better than that. They know that hard work and determination are what will improve those test scores—and leadership starting with Mantia. But, when students see that the head of their school is blaming the mediocre report card grades on lost resources due to levy failures, then they will use the same excuse on their own report cards. Education starts from the top, and Mantia just taught all of Lakota how to use excuses when the results are not favorable. That is the reason for the poor “performance.” It has nothing to do with money—but everything to do with attitude. When Lakota had the previous grading system they essentially gained their Excellent with Distinction rating the way a mediocre student typically got an “A” in their class, by sucking up and becoming a teacher’s pet. Excellent with Distinction rankings were mostly issued on the bases of political ass kissing, more than actual measured results. This new system driven by public demanding actual measurements makes that ass kissing much more difficult—which it should be. It will take more than money to improve the grades at Lakota. It takes leadership from the top, and based on Mantia’s comments, that leadership is not there. She intends to fail if the levy doesn’t pass in 2013. If Lakota gets the money, she will pull whatever political strings she needs to in order to improve those grades in the future. But if Lakota does not pass her levy, she has already planted the seeds that failure will continue. They will continue because as a former teacher, she is aligned with her labor, and has their interests first, and she is making excuses for them which sends the message that the criteria for success is less about hard work, and more about getting what you want out of the deal. Students are watching, and they know what everyone else knows, that the carefully worded statement from Lakota’s superintendent is simply a fancy way to demand more financial resources. And that is not the way to lead an institution of any kind to improvements. It becomes clear quickly why Lakota is dropping in their rating, and it has nothing to do with money—but everything to do with the leadership. If Mantia wants to know why she received four “B’s” and one “C” on the Lakota report card she only has to look to one place—the mirror. Rich Hoffman Give yourself the gift of ADVENTURE. CLICK HERE!  |
The Overmanwarrior 