Fixing the High School.

Knox High School, it’s broken. How could it be fixed? Fixes must come from the top; that’s the School Board. However, it is dubious that our School Board is even aware of the extent to which Knox High School is malfunctioning. For years the board has been given fictitious management reports. The fundamental challenge for every board that oversees a large and complex enterprise is to get accurate reports from your management. The information flowing to the School Board is carefully managed. Of course management panders to the biases and ignorance of the board members. When one Board Member has a big interest is cheerleading, you can be sure that there will be a steady diet of positive cheerleading reports. When Board Members are interested in doing insurance business with the school corporation, they will be kept happy. If a School Board Member’s wife needs a job, the administration will find a place. No Board Member wants to rock the boat because they are having such a nice smooth ride. This insures a happy and stupid Board of Trustees. And this is exactly what we have.

So the most important element in fixing the school is to shake up the School Board. This is the voter’s responsibility. Given that there are years remaining on the elected terms of the School Board, the changes needed seem both distant and problematic. Quite frankly, it is a distressing situation. The only hope is that the Board really cares about what is going on at the school and wants make things better. And, happily, that happens to be a legitimate hope because I believe that the School Board truly wants to do a good job. Feel-good reports and pandering to their narrow interests have sidetracked them, but that can change.

What the Board needs to do: The Board needs to educate themselves as to what constitutes excellence in education. Then they need to establish clear goals for the administration. So as not to be too vague, let me put this more concretely. There are 2 big problems, the dropout rate and the graduate’s pursuit and success at attaining a college education.

The Board needs to address the dropout rate by demanding clear and honest reporting on the actual extent of the problem. Then the Board needs to demand the development of programs that will reduce the dropout rate. Then the Board needs to see genuine improvement. If the present administration is not capable of improving the dropout situation, they will need to seek out different administrators. We will need to see different sorts of academic and consoling programs in the high school. The reasons for dropping out will need to be addressed and not, like today, by a shrug and a “good bye, good riddance”.

The Board also needs to address the SAT score/pursuit of a college education problem. The same logical approach needs to be taken as with the dropout problem. Administration needs to be focused on the problem. In some ways the problems are identical. Improving the quality of education will eliminate some of the dropouts. However, there will need to be two very different approaches to truly get some real improvement. Improving SAT scores will mean that the classrooms need to change in ways that are different from what is needed for reducing the dropout rate. A traditional high quality academic environment is appropriate for improving college attendance and SATs. There will need to be some non-traditional programs for retaining the dropouts.
As I re-read my effort above I kind of feel like puking. The stuff of this blog is truly a clutch of clichéd claptrap. It is however a necessary foundation for what is to follow. So please bear with me. In any case, I don’t think that we can really go wrong trying to underestimate the intelligence of the School Board. I promise that my next blog on this subject will be more worthy of my readers. Please stay tuned for “Caste and Class in the Classroom” and “Treating Teachers like Crap”.