No, we don’t hate the children
Get ready for the insults and caterwauling if you dare to speak out against the current school board proposal to spend another 16.5 million dollars.
Why do you hate the children? Why do you not want them to have all these new shiny objects? We don’t hate the children, we have children of our own, grandchildren too. We would much rather you “educate” them first.
Sure it’s nice to have all these shiny new amenities, but how much of that goes toward academics? The answer, not so much. Basically it’s for bragging rights for school board members who’ll get their names on a shiny bronze plaque somewhere near the entry way of the newest shiny building.
Let’s have a look at the latest test scores and progress of the R-II schools shall we?
Taken from Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) Data
All Grades English Language Arts Proficiency 2023
R-2: 38.9%
State: 43.6%
All Grades Math Proficiency 2023
R-2: 33.9
State: 43.6%
All Grades Math Proficiency 2023
R-2: 33.9
State - 40.5%
All Grades Science Proficiency 2023
R-2: 35.4%
State: 37.7%
All Grades Social Studies Proficiency 2023
R-2: 16.7%
State: 39.3%
Graduation Rate 2023
R-2: 92.31 %
State: 89.29%
Room for improvement? You be the judge. Please explain how a new performing arts center, new turf and lights for the football field, new bleachers in the gym, a new floor in the middle school gym, and an enlarged improved teacher’s lounge in the Gerald elementary school will help improve the academics of the district?
Perhaps increasing teacher salaries and demanding academic results and rewarding outstanding teachers with merit raises would be a better use of taxpayer funds.
No, we don’t hate the kids, far from it! We love them and want to see them succeed in life and a great education is the best way to assure that result.
Insulting those of us who question the wisdom of adding another $16.5 million dollar tax burden to already overburdened taxpayers doesn’t help raise test scores. It may make you feel better sitting in theater seating watching the annual school play but how did that improve math and science scores?
We‘re not monsters, we don’t hate the kids, we just have a different set of priorities than bragging to surrounding districts about all of our “new” stuff. We would rather be bragging about our kids having the highest test scores.
John Adams
