It is interesting that the Board members of the Fairfield- Suisun School District are writing articles for the Daily Republic. This usually means an initiative is about to start that will need the public on their side to get done. It will be interesting to see what they need from the public. Since they are speaking up in defense of the District, I want to raise some issues that I feel could make the District better.
Susan Heumphreus recently wrote an article in support of the District teachers. The article was a noble effort, and I applauded the attempt, but let’s be honest, the teachers of this District are like the employees of any organization, there are great employees, mediocre employees, and employees that need to find a new career. I feel that the real issue is the lack of recognition and support for each of these groups. The great teachers and the poor teachers are all treated the same. We need to demand that the administration of each school in the District take the time and make the effort to be objective and supportive of all of the staffs. Reward the good, train, and improve the mediocre, and remove the poor performances. It seems this is what an administrator should be doing. We need to demand that the District actually does their job. I know a number of Administrators feel that they would be wasting time because they won’t be supported by the District if they try to make changes that needs to be made. The District must demand and support a strong accountability program.
Chuck Woods recently wrote about how great the District’s High Schools are, and I agree with his premise. The High Schools do have great programs, great classes, and great extracurricular activities. My concern is that with all this available we are still only graduating less that 45% of our students who are ready to move on to a State University. In point of fact, in 2006-2007 43.5% of the graduates of Rodriquez High, 30.1% of the graduates at Armijo High School and 37.7% of Fairfield High students completed the classes needed to attend California State Schools. Why is this happening?
After over 15 years in the District as a parent and an activist I feel that one of the things that would help to raise these numbers is to spend the time and effort to develop counseling programs that can help and reach out to all students. I have heard from a number of students that they didn’t know the classes that they needed to go to a State College, and therefore ended up at a Community College. Nothing wrong with a Community College, but they could have moved on to a State school and streamlined their education, saving time and money. If we had Counselors who could pair up with students in Middle School and mentor them through High School, they would then have the info and could make better decisions.
The District wants us to be proud of our schools, and they have improved a great deal from the past, but we need to dig down, look at the numbers beneath the façade, and continue to prod the District to do better.
GOOD LUCK
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