I’m warning readers right up front that this is not going to be a positive post. I’ve struggled with how to post about this topic, I’ve avoided it, but it’s all that’s on my mind this week. It’s much of what’s on most administrators’ minds, if they’ll admit it or not.
Business First ranks the school districts in 8 counties, then the individual schools. I haven’t even seen the high school ranking yet, but history will show me I’ve no reason for optimism. That and the fact that our district fell overall doesn’t indicate I’ll have much reason to celebrate.
I was up this morning at 4:30 checking the stinking website to see if the high school rankings were out there. They only give partial information in the on-line reports prior to Friday’s publication, and that’s not the bottom 20 where we’ll most likely sit, it’s the top 20. I’ve no idea what our “number” is, our ranking. As they say, “it ain’t gonna be pretty.”
Please don’t post a comment telling me that it’s skewed or based on socio-economic status. Don’t tell me it doesn’t matter. Please. I’m not comparing us to Williamsville. I’m comparing us to other similar schools and we’re still falling short.
I’m frustrated, ticked off, exasperated, disappointed, and NOT in a positive frame of mind about this ranking. This feels like the ultimate judgment of everything we do and it really fries me. I KNOW we are doing tremendous things in G-Town, I’m not delusional or full of political crap. I live G-Town, all day, every day, 10-12 hours per day. I KNOW what kind of effort is going into our curriculum and instruction, into our kids.
I literally cannot think of one thing that I’ve asked our faculty, staff, or students to do that they’ve not done. And I’m an idea girl, I read and research while others are watching CSI. I hold full responsibility for our building. We have made significant improvements, and yes Jennifer, I remember that many either haven’t been in action long enough or even yet, but when will we see the results? Readers will just have to take my word on the improvements or read through my posts on this blog for the detail.
I want every educator, in every district ranked above ours, to stop and realize that you are welcome to come and visit any time you like, I’ll take any suggestion that makes sense for our kids, we work as hard or harder than any one of you, and we have a rock solid school. Don’t you dare judge us based on a Business First ranking until you’ve come here and walked in our shoes. And don’t even consider judging my kids as less than yours. Not for one moment. At least not to me.
You cannot imagine what it feels like to work this hard and make such little progress. And don’t give me any cliches about working smarter or anything like it.
I promise to be back as G-Town’s #1 cheerleader tomorrow, but for today, read how this part of it honestly feels too.