Posted on 12/29/2005 10:47:52 AM PST by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton
By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton
This article is in response to the ‘Missing in Action’ column from Maggie O’Neill published in the Nevada Appeal on December 26th, 2005 entitled: ‘Trust the Teachers.’ Obviously, this article was not posted online out of fear of rebuttal from bloggers such as myself. Well, Maggie, I would not want to deprive you of a parent’s insight or a fair review. However, you have magnanimously deprived Joe Enge of an unbiased review and instead have decided to push the Teachers’ Union party line so to speak… Bravo! But at least, we can see where you stand.
When you state that the School Board Meeting was not a ‘merry’ affair earlier this month, you are definitely correct. From that point forward, however, your review is anything but fair and balanced. Saying your overview is skewed is being kind. Here are a few points I would like you to ponder:
• First, the reporter received the exams in question from Chuck Muth at the December 6th Education Forum at Carson Middle School. The December 13th School Board Meeting was not your first time seeing them. These tests are public property and parents and the public have a right to see their content (even if the grammar and content of most of them was shameful).
• Second, only two of the nine exams really covered early American history - not four. Only the loosest interpretation of "cover" would give you four, if you accept the few token questions present in the other two.
• Third, Joe Enge is the teacher they are referring to as being "two months behind" for covering the earlier periods of US History in his 1st semester exam.
• Fourth, has anyone heard of not covering the 1st quarter material in a 1st semester final exam as stated by Karen Simms? I've never seen it practiced at Carson High or anywhere else in my experience.
• Fifth, has Fred Perdomo ever heard of lesson plans or a syllabus to verify what teachers are teaching? Is it really that difficult?
When you tell us to ‘Trust the Teachers,’ I say to you: ‘give us a curriculum and results we can trust.’ Your arrogance and deliberate attempt to avoid the truth in these matters is staggering.
The parents in Carson City are hard-working people who love their children more than anything else. Usually, both parents have to work to ensure they can give their children the best education possible. Certainly, most parents cannot afford private school or the luxury of a purchased curriculum and one parent staying home to educate their children (although more and more parents are cutting back on their lifestyles to help their children have a good education and to ensure they are not exposed to enforced agendas). They must entrust their beloved little ones to the public school system and have faith that their children will be taught a wide range of subjects correctly and thoroughly. Sadly, our school systems and many teachers have let us down and Carson High is a good example of that. Instead of working with the parents and a notable teacher (Joe Enge), who just wants to teach US History in its entirety, the Teachers’ Union, the School Board and the School District Superintendent are more interested in putting Joe Enge in his place; displaying what they perceive as power and status; and teaching whatever touchy-feely curriculum they feel they can implement and parents who get in their way be damned.
The School Board Meeting earlier this month was nothing less than a travesty. The ‘Open Meeting Law’ was liberally called upon to squelch parents and concerned citizens who dared to object to the School Board’s policies and to state their opinions concerning the Superintendent’s review. Most abhorrent was John McKenna telling a 73-year-old great grandmother that she should “act like one.” Between sneering, lecturing, sleeping and disparaging the concerned speakers, the School Board had a full agenda on their hands. Even their pathetic attempt to ‘stack’ the room basically backfired on them. It was a disgraceful display of elitism by the School Board and I would encourage every parent out there to remember that this next year is an election year. We need to vote these individuals out for the sake of our children and their education. We need honest individuals who put the needs of the students first before their own agendas and who believe in transparency for parents and the general community.
All schools, all colleges, have 2 great functions: to confer, & to conceal, valuable knowledge.
Mark Twain - 1908
Good luck in the next School Board election.
Congressman Billybob
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