Something cannot be right! I just found out one of our elementary schools is so bad, students are allowed to get vouchers to transfer out of the school. Now this.....
From the Bedford Times Register --
According to Margaret Bierman, Bedford Schools communications coordinator, 50 seniors took the OGT in March because they had not passed one or more parts of the test previously. Of those 50 students, 17 passed all five parts of the test after taking it in March.
Of the 33 students who did not pass the test, Bierman said 20 of them can still walk across the graduation stage with their classmates on June 8 at Severance Hall but they will not receive their diplomas until a later date, when they have passed all of the tests.
"The district required them to meet certain criteria such as passing other classes and not having any suspensions," Bierman said. "But they have to promise to go to intervention classes in the summer and take the test again."
Bierman said there are about 240 students in the senior class.
She said all of the 33 students have the option of taking the intervention class in the summer and retaking the test.
Bierman said there would be a short graduation during a Board of Education meeting for students who pass the test in the summer, but did not walk with the rest of their class in June.
Previously, students were required to pass the Ohio Proficiency Test to graduate, but Bierman said she thinks the new test might be more challenging.
"First of all, the new test is harder," Bierman said. "And students started taking the proficiency tests in ninth grade whereas the OGT isn't taken until 10th grade. Also, students have only two chances a year to take the OGT compared to the three times a year they had a chance to take the proficiency tests." More....
Hmmm..... This is even more strange, our school board members are usually flapping their gums in this paper about some effectively useless "do-good" deed or program they are doing. This ranges from their views on things such as uniforms, dress code, No cell phones, hiring of a fired area football coach or to belittle and attack residents, but NOTHING on something of this importance.
Why is Bierman giving out the bad news? No comments from our school board? Where Oh Where, can they be?
We have a budget of around $50 million dollars. Bedford School Board Member Joe Mestnick has repeatedly stated we are a "wealthy district" so these failures can't be because they need more money.
Is the silence because they are embarrassed by their failures or because they know their lies and spin cannot fix this one?
I choose the latter!
I came across this article while researching the percentage of failures in America on the OGT, and I have to disagree with the prospect that the school board is trying to lie to the community. I feel that failures of these 33 students cannot be blamed on the school board, but on the students themselves. The teachers and faculty of a school cannot tie students to a chair and force education down their throats, there has to be some willingness in a student to learn or they simply will not, no matter what anyone tries to do. In any school, there are always students who simply refuse to learn, instead of focusing on the failures of these 33, why not focus on the successful passage of the other 207 students, and congratulate the school for is impeccable job taking the eagerness in those students, and molding it into an expansive education.
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