tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4474615509140782195.post993985320627874288..comments2011-07-28T13:13:55.850-04:00Comments on School Board Soundings: From the Desk of Jeff Michael, Vice President of Swanton BOEC Irmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09116521556035875671noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4474615509140782195.post-55314534910057375002008-09-06T11:02:00.000-04:002008-09-06T11:02:00.000-04:00In response to Mr. Michael,I said I was not going ...In response to Mr. Michael,<BR/>I said I was not going to do this anymore—but here I go again. You make it very hard to keep quiet.<BR/>First, how do you justify that the responsibility of the State Report Card falls fully on the teachers. As an example, say a school system, oh let’s call them Evergreen, had an Excellent rating last year and the school board was happy and gave all of their teachers a $300.00 stipend. But this year, let’s say that there rating dropped to an Effective. All of the teachers are the same, taught the same way and did all of the same things. Do they then not get that same $300.00 because the school system dropped on certain indicators? The students changed, the teachers did not. Why would it be the teacher’s fault that they dropped from Excellent to Effective? Please don’t reply by saying that they slacked off because they felt too confident or something like that. That would attack our integrity.<BR/>Another example. In my subject, I do not have standardized tests. My kids are judged, whether rightly or wrongly, by their performance at competitions. Some years we do extremely well, some years not. Am I a better teacher on the years that we are ranked one of the best bands in the state? If so, I would appreciate some input on what I am doing differently on the years that we do not make it to the state level.<BR/>And finally, how do you determine what teachers effect what test scores. Let’s take the lowest score from last year’s eighth grade class. Was is that teacher’s fault that the majority of those students did not pass the test. I have never seen that teacher at work in their classroom; I bet you have not either, yet according to you, that teacher is responsible for the failed test score. And if that teacher is responsible, which I debate, why did that person get promoted. You contradict yourself.<BR/>Many factors go into the test scores, and there are more indicators on the State report card other than those test scores. We need to look at the whole picture.<BR/><BR/>As far as returning the tax payer’s money, I know of many people who voted yes on the last income tax levy because they wanted to see the money used for the school. They don’t want their money back. They want to see programs restored. I’m not sure why you think that by storing up all of that money you are doing a good thing.Pam Kazmierczakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02725473244564572083noreply@blogger.com