Low scores force popular Longview principal to quit

harelesswonder63 said on February 22, 2010 at 12:04 AM

How sad that the WASL has become the only tool for grading students, teachers and administrators. I remember when teaching was fun and kids learned and enjoyed school. Have we set kids up to fail with the WASL.? We have certainly taught our students and teachers what real stress is all about..surely there must be a better way to decrease anxiety for everyone.

harelesswonder63 said on February 21, 2010 at 11:58 PM

I have to agree with the person who said "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him water ski". After being an educator nearly 35 years I can tell you when children come from homes where very little English is spoken and a neighborhood that revels in poverty, drugs and crime, it is darn tough to raise the scores on the WASL. I do believe this principal and his teachers are doing their best. Perhaps sending a portion of the students at Monticello to Cascade Middle School and send a portion of Cascade students to Monticello. The same could be done with Mt. Solo Middle school and then lets see if there is any improvement.. Shake up the students, Teachers are often moved from one building to another, why is not moving the student population around not an option., or has that even been considered. How about taking a district office administrator and put them at Monticello, so they can get a real feel for the situation. Then you would have a change in administrators.

skippypotpiebaby said on February 21, 2010 at 5:27 PM

Come on this is Longview not tacoma or Gig Harbor

vickied said on February 21, 2010 at 11:23 AM

I'd like to back up my son and make sure he's doing his assignments if the school will help ME with that situation! It's his responsibility.. yes.. but "I" would like to know what the assignments are too, so I can support what the teachers and faculty are doing as well as a parent, and enforce some positive reinforcement in my child and encourage him to get the assignments done. I don't think a principle is at fault totally for low test scores.. we need to find out WHY they kids are scoring low.. where is the actual missing link in all this? My son is ADHD.. and it's not an excuse but he needs to be constantly reminded and I don't expect anyone at the school to do it. I also know that alot of kids group together and they all seem to think the world is after them for some reason or another. So, it's a mix of alot of issues. I'm saddened to see too many kids drop out, but I think it's wrong to just fire principals for this. Something in our state has a glitch in our education system.

bazwest said on February 20, 2010 at 5:31 PM

This story presents more evidence of the great slide to mediocrity in our public school system. The problems are systematic... The union contributes by protecting bad teachers and tying pay to seniority instead of competence. The state contributes by not properly funding schools across the state and by not setting performance standards for teachers. The state also contributes by requiring professional people to debase themselves and obtain a full state teaching certificate in order to teach. The state also contributes by limiting competition in education and not allowing the growth of privatization of schools through chartering. School boards and principles contribute when they throw up their hands and believe that they can't influence nor motivate their school to improve. Parents and communities contribute by not taking an interest in the development of their children and the next generation and turn their children's learning entirely over to public schools.

aziza said on February 20, 2010 at 2:02 PM

phaedrus? This principal is at fault only because he didn't use the TItle 1 monies- you know, he actually was saving us taxpayers! (Has to do with the amount of free and reduced lunches in the district.) Therefore the school, because it qualified for the Title 1 funds, would have been recognized as a struggling school. He would still have a job AND a little more funding to assist the students/ staff. You don't use the funds, you don't get the grace. Then he falls under the NCLB guidelines that state he must lose his job. Has nothing to do with the actual scores, has everything to with Title 1 monies. If the school received Title 1- and the scores came out the same, it wouldn't have come to him losing his job.

carlconstantine said on February 20, 2010 at 1:08 PM

Wow. They are blaming school officials for lazy kids? This is really something... Kids can't work and earn good grades, but they know all the words to the latest pop tunes and they know how to operate complicated electronic devices and play video games that require skill. Give them a school test and they flunk it... Who would have thunk it?

billiameveryman said on February 20, 2010 at 12:36 PM

Students are planning a walk-out in protest? Maybe they should have schedule routine "study-ins" to keep it from happening?

phaedrus said on February 20, 2010 at 10:45 AM

There are any number of great examples where a smart principal goes into a poorly performing school and turns it around. This guy has had more than his fair share of time to show he can do it. Maybe if he spent a little less time on his personal popularity and a little more time pushing the parents, teachers, and, students alike his performance would have been better. At the end of the day, it's the person in charge who is to blame for any failure. And to blame the kids is just ludicrous. Who's in charge, the adults or the children. If the children are in charge then it is clearly a failure of the principal. I'm sure he's a real nice guy, but he wasn't hired to be nice guy, he was hired to do a job, and that job isn't being done.

millkirk said on February 20, 2010 at 9:58 AM

My wife teaches in high school to 9th graders. I help her with entering grades from time to time on the computer. I see grades for the same kids over and over. No participation in assingments and failing in tests that they know prior to the exams what the questions are going to be so that they can prepare and study for them. What more can you do do to help them. She simply tells me that they say they don't care if they have to repeat classes or even gradutate. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it water ski. She tells me, out of frustration, that these kids lack motivation for a whole lot of legitmate situations that teachers cannot always fix. It takes a "village" to raise a child.

bigdaddyof4 said on February 20, 2010 at 9:06 AM

I'm with jazzysport on this. Throwing more money at it does nothing when parents, teachers and administrators continue to make excuses for failure. For too many years now, we as a nation have taught our children how to make excuses for failure instead of accepting responsibility for them. This next generation will get their rear ends slaughtered in the free market world if we don't turn this around.. And to the comment from a relative above about the failing student who got a pass because of being a good athlete. Tell his folks to do what I did with all 4 of my athlete children. Good grades = access to sports and other activities. Bad grades = no access to sports and other activities. And stick to it, even though other parents might not. It works!

cvn65 said on February 20, 2010 at 7:30 AM

Let the man stay. Good grief he retires at the end of the 2010-11 school year. Besides he's not the only one at fault. Teachers, parents, students, and the district admin all share the blame.

whidbeylm said on February 20, 2010 at 6:31 AM

This is the just the tip of the ice berg, many more schools principal and teachers being ax by the WASL and the under funded 'no child left behind act' alot of the blame is with the parents not being involve with their children and blame the schools for their child failure.

nickc said on February 19, 2010 at 11:08 PM

This is all because of the no child left behind act. great job bush or should I say bad job. ya lets take money away from schools when they preform bad instead of put money into them to help them preform better. The main reason schools get bad performance is because of one of two reasons or both 1. The kids don't want to learn or band teachers. If the kids don't want to learn there are to reasons for that and it could be one or the other or both. The teachers are not sowing the kids the reason and impact what they are now learning will have on there lives or the teachers just don't care. I think I have made my point. Lets start putting more money into the education of are children and there future be fore we become a third world country

jazzysport said on February 19, 2010 at 10:12 PM

sammipoo. tweak the testing to fit the school. you do not understand that our kids are competing against every kid in the world. I am sick of excuses by Americans for why they can't do something. Can't pass the Wasl throw it out. The world doesn't give a rats you know what whether your kid fails or not. American kids are failing and their parents are failing and the world does not care about our excuses for why we can't compete anymore. The real fact of why jobs are being lost is not only is it cheaper to go oversees you also get a more educated, responsible worker. That is fact. Whinning Americans are being left behind and all they can do is complain that it is someone elses fault or the tests fault for them failing in life. WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!!! we are FAILING. FAILING AS A PEOPLE. FAILING AS A NATION. our kids can't even find the home state on a map for crying out loud. Our country no longer values being smart. We call smart kids nerds or tools or other things. NO MORE EXCUSES!!!!!!

vor66 said on February 19, 2010 at 10:02 PM

It's all good, puppy dog tails and rainbows. Maybe people in Longview are just dumb, the principal's getting a bad rap!! Lets not go to school for a week or two, that'll help him get his job back!! We be thinkers in Longview!!

justthinkin said on February 19, 2010 at 7:09 PM

Good old "Willful Abuse of Students by Legislators" (WASL) strikes again. I can't tell you just how glad I am that my kids are OUT of the public school system. It becomes more of a nightmare every year!! To fault one person for low scores on a test that is so flawed is pure insanity.

shorewalker1 said on February 19, 2010 at 6:42 PM

Poverty strikes again - this school is 66.7% free and reduced lunch - the data suggests that the problem is not the principal but rather the community being served.

contraryjim said on February 19, 2010 at 5:25 PM

What can a principal do? He/she is powerless before the teacher's union. Federal rules don't help. The answer is more charter/voucher schools to give parents/students choice.

fogetaboutit63 said on February 19, 2010 at 4:51 PM

Schools are cut throat and the worse place to send our children. I worked in a school district for 5 years and I know! If u thought clicks and bullies were bad when u went to school, after 5 years let me tell u it comes from the top!! And there is absolutely no support system for employees! I tell everyone the reason Y I left there was because I was granted a parole. LOL

vickied said on February 19, 2010 at 4:50 PM

Some schools are just letting the high school students continue to fail.. and going through the grades and not helping or advising the parents of any help to keep the student from failing. They just kept repeating this WASL stuff.. over and over again.. drilling it in, and soon the students get bored. My son wasn't passing and our high school told us almost too late then it was OH WELL, nothing we can do. By that time, my son was giving up on school and wanted to drop out. He was behind, he knew it, and got no support from the school, and the school wouldn't help ME to help HIM. We need to rethink the WASL's... My son is working on his HS diploma in Calif right now lo and behold.. he passed the CAHSEE with flying colors in one shot! What is wrong with THIS picture??? hrmmm.. gee I wonder? Why be forced to continue to take the WASL if you passed it already? It's not the principal's fault.. our state needs to rethink our education system and pronto!

polka_dots said on February 19, 2010 at 4:23 PM

I hate hearing stories like this. I'm currently in school to become a teacher (elementary), and I don't believe that letting go off teachers and administors will solve the problem of low test scores. First of all, tests like the WASL (and the new MSP) can be a good indicator for schools and districts to see how their students are performing. However, low test scores don't automatically mean that the school has bad teachers and administrators. Sure, there are bad teachers and administrators out there, but test scores do NOT determine that! When schools have low test scores, there usually isn't as much parent involvement in that area and the students don't get that extra reinforcement outside of the classroom. Also, just because a school doesn't meet standards for multiple years doesn't mean progress isn't being made. Most of these teachers and principals are working their butts off, and aren't as lucky as wealthier districts to have a big group of students already above grade level.

aziza said on February 19, 2010 at 3:57 PM

NCLB is alive and well and at work here. Expect more from other schools/ districts. Expect good teachers to go next and schools to close and transportation costs to go up. (If a school has failed, the district MUST bus kids to a non failing school.) Funny thing is that the majority schools have been put on the fail list. NCLB, the non funded paraquat of education.

alicynx said on February 19, 2010 at 3:45 PM

If you don't have any way to gauge success, you cannot properly run the system. I don't have experience with the WASL (being an Oregonian), but if a school is consistently churning out kids that cannot pass the comprehension assessments, then something needs to be done to correct it. Our schools today are consistently giving diplomas to and advancing kids that don't have the basic knowledge they need to move forward and become productive members of society, and something really needs to be done about that. While I agree that it is the responsibility of educators and parents to ensure that children are getting the education they need, the educator spends more time with the child in a setting designed for the purpose and as such has a bigger onus to see it sink in. They spend far more waking hours with these kids than the parents. If they need a better toolkit, let the administrators know!

plastic1967 said on February 19, 2010 at 3:31 PM

I used to live out there and I don't think it's the principles fault. A lot of blame goes towards the kids. In Rhode Island there is a high school that has a 52% failure rate. All teachers are getting fired at the end of the year because of this. Why? Because a lot of kids don't care about school. My nephew is in his second year of high school and has been on academic probation since his first report card. And those read missing assignments, incomplete work, does not do home work, etc. But because he plays high school football. He thinks he does not have to do good in school. And his dad, grandma, and myself tell him that with out getting good grades. He will go no place in life.

sammipoo said on February 19, 2010 at 2:47 PM

The WASL was originally designed to help the teachers see how the students were being taught. It was meant to be a guideline. Now it has become a teaching tool. Our children must pass the WASL in order to graduate. What happened to the teachers teaching? Now they have to teach according to the WASL GUIDELINES! If the teacher sways from this then the child fails. What has the child learned? Only the WASL information. What does the child know? Only the WASL information. My oldest daughter is on her way to becoming a teacher. She has fought long and hard to get the WASL thrown out. To make this Principal quit is a disgrace to what he holds dear, the children. Just because the test scores are low doesnt mean it is his fault!! Maybe they should tweek the testing to accomadate the particular school and students. Maybe the students need to be taught the guidelines in a way they can LEARN it. It is not the principals fault.. Lets look at how they are taught.

emily_litella said on February 19, 2010 at 2:23 PM

So is this a good man who's hands are tied by stupidity AKA, WASL?