HOW GOOD A JOB IS THE PLAINVIEW SCHOOL district doing educating our students? 

     Not very well if you listen to only one side of the ongoing argument, which is all we’ve really heard.   And that’s only the case if you are willing to judge based on anecdotal evidence from a small number of complaining parents who’ve been allowed to hide behind their anonymous comments printed in the Plainview Daily Herald. 

     Well, you say, what about the poor ratings of our school by the Texas Education Agency?  Doesn’t that count for something? 

     Maybe.  Maybe not.

     The issue of quality education in a large and diverse school district like ours is a complex one. Many factors—some beyond the control of the administration or the school board—can contribute to a district-wide poor rating. Diagnosing the problem is not as easy as pointing a finger at the administration or the trustees or the teachers. It’s just not that simple.

     Judging effectiveness is complex and problematic and will always involve a wider range of measures than examinations and test results—one of those measures being old-fashioned common sense.

     We all know teachers at all levels in our system who are outstanding in their fields of study and in their ability to teach and who care deeply about our children. Doesn’t that count for something? I think it does.

     The district is graduating college-ready seniors year after year. They are admitted to colleges of their choice and go on to graduate and professional schools. Doesn’t that count for something? I think it does.

     Superintendent Ron Miller and High School principal Lisa Kersh have remained silent in the face of  accusations made by parents.  That’s as it should be. They would be well-advised to continue to avoid any public comments that could be identifiably traceable to any student, even if the student’s parent or guardian should first publically identify the student.  They would violate state and federal law to do otherwise.

     This should be Mr. Rascon’s final term as school board president.  He has obviously not had any success at bringing a badly divided board together—though I don’t know of any evidence that it’s been his fault.  It’s  an honor to be president,  but the office is not one that should be held onto, or sought after, as a position of power. In fact the president has no more authority than any other trustee.  He helps the superintendent formulate the board agendas and presides at the meetings.  That’s basically it.  The board should pass the honor around and give others a chance to serve.

     Trustee Brandon Brownlee scheduled a public forum for next week in order to give his constituents an opportunity to express their opinions about school district issues, but then—and wisely, I might add—he changed his mind and cancelled the meeting, saying he would reschedule it with the permission, and hopefully the cooperation, of the whole school board, which he hopes  to obtain at its next meeting.

     I hope that he will reconsider the timing of such action.  We are into a long hot summer.  Teachers are on vacation and  other school personnel, as well as parents of students, are going and coming.  Fall—after school is well underway—would be a better time.     

     I’m a skeptic by nature, and yet I believe that in short time many of what presently seem to be hot-button issues mainly can be resolved.  No one should transfer their children or move their families into another school district solely over a flap like this.  To those of you who are genuinely concerned about your children’s welfare, I say give it a year before you make the decision to move them to another school district.

     On the other hand if you’re a parent who’s already made that call because you sincerely believe it’s in the best interest of your child, or if you’ve just got a mad-on at PISD that you can’t get over—whichever—I  say  best wishes and good luck to you.

Paul