It takes a village to destroy kids' potential

With endless reports that our public education system is in meltdown, you'd think some serious concern would be seen to change the dismal forecast for your kids in the Coeur d'Alene public schools.

In spite of many hard-working teachers, their unions and school board continue to stiff-arm rather than embrace improvements. We have heard their union representatives voicing "serious concerns" about Common Core - reminiscent of the drum beat used to undermine No Child Left Behind. Our Coeur d'Alene school district continues to do again this year what didn't work last year - while using anecdotal data to claim that it is "the" best school district in Idaho. That is quite a claim, considering Idaho's public schools rank 48th out of 50 systems in America, and, that 60 percent of our sixth-graders do not read at grade level, ranking our schools as 50th out of 50 states. Surely, our crackerjack teachers (and, yes, there are many - especially in the lower grades) surely hate the reputation and overall results of their system, but are overwhelmed with the continued pursuit of inadequacy by this district.

Common Core "could" be a catalyst for improvement - a potential great solution for serious rigor shortcomings. Idaho, however, was one of the states that diluted stringent No Child Left Behind standards, and can be expected to do the same with Common Core. In addition, Common Core doesn't address adequate discipline (bullying), student and teacher dress, teacher competency and preparation, solutions to parent un-involvement, or, local and political support for desperately needed reforms.

Our state senator, John Goedde (chair of the Senate Education Committee), in concert with the editor of The Coeur d'Alene Press, Mike Patrick, were given the potential improvements listed above, and, after admitting to the serious deficiencies associated with our public schools, both opted not to promote the need for these nor any reforms that impact the Coeur d'Alene schools - or the state's public schools. One has to conclude that newspaper sales and political longevity take priority over your kids' futures. If these two can't be relied upon - a politician who is the "chair" of the Senate Education Committee, and our newspaper editor - who should be relied upon to pursue the best interests of our city?

Indeed, "It takes a Village" of cooperative "leaders" to dig our way out of mediocrity. Conversely, it also takes many facets of a community: school district, superintendent, politicians, and newspaper, to guarantee that the tradition of unaccountability is maintained by our public schools.

Today, a larger and larger percentage of our parents choose to home school their children or to have them attend charter schools, and that is inexcusable. Idaho's reputation as "logger haven" - apparently worthy of poor education for all but 20-30 percent of our Gifted And Talented Education (GATE) and Advanced Placement (AP) kids - has never worked for Coeur d'Alene. Today, only 10 percent of Idaho citizens end up with a college degree. Surely, that is a direct result of public schools like Coeur d'Alene's. This certainly explains why Idaho has "the" lowest salaries in the nation.

Coeur d'Alene and your kids are owed FAR better effort and results. Demand vast improvement. Your kids' futures are at stake.

Ronald Deady is a Kootenai County resident who taught in public high schools for five years. Email Deady30758@aol.com