STP! Stop, think, and praise.

As I look back on my decision to run for another four-year term as your school board member I remember how difficult that decision was. Serving as a school board member, many will say, is a thankless job. I don't find that to be true however, and I freely admit that I enjoy the stops in the grocery store, or in other venues, when folks thank me for my service, and talk about how pleased they are with one aspect or another of the changes we have made! I smile as they say to me that they are sure it is "a thankless job" even as they thank me.

The truth is that working together, we have achieved so much in this community. As the only candidate still running who was endorsed by Community Action for Public Education (CAPE), I remember all too well the conditions we found in a school system that had been neglected by far too many in this community. Schools were crumbling all around us, and there had been no new schools built for thirty years or so. Buildings at Lee High and Woodlawn and other sites had been condemned, but not removed. All roofs leaked every time it rained. Working together with the community we identified well over a billion dollars worth of immediate needs in the physical condition of the schools. The job is not done…. But so much HAS been done!

More importantly, the community had, in fact, nearly given up on their schools. No new taxes had been passed in many, many years, and teachers were being paid significantly less than those in many other districts, and in fact they had been furloughed for three days when a previous board ran out of money! Today, our teachers are paid competitive salaries, and we don't worry about covering up equipment in all the schools when it rains. The citizens in our community have passed tax renewals and new taxes with large margins, and new schools and buildings are going up around the district, on time and under budget. The long running desegregation lawsuit, which began before I was born, is over, and there is no forced bussing at all in Baton Rouge. None. Although I am still amazed to see uninformed people saying that we should end bussing in Baton Rouge! Should all students be forced to walk to school?

During my 16 years on the school board time I have remained true to the principles that CAPE espoused. In spite of the constant bashing of our schools, we have come so very far in the last 16 years. As a community, we sometimes have short memories, especially in the midst of an election when it seems every new candidate wants to show just how bad things are. Some of the things you will never hear from challengers include those items just mentioned, such as new schools, an end to forced bussing, and other things I have referred to in some of my other posts on here. Things such as the cooperation of the School System with the EBR Fire Department, the EBR Library, BREC (all of whom share facilities and land with us all over the parish, something that did not happen before) are forgotten in the unceasing desire, it seems to heap more abuse on our schools.

In spite of pullouts, including two areas that included some of our highest performing schools before they left the system, we have continuously improved on the scores for every subgroup in the parish. By subgroup, I mean different groups of students whether by race or ethnicity, or by other characteristics such as whether or not the student qualifies (based on family income) for free of reduced meal prices. For example, our EBR school system was just recognized as having the ninth highest on-time graduation rates for Black males large districts across the country. I am still amazed that some will take that fact, and turn it on its head and complain that the rate is far too low! (By the way, I agree that the rate is too low… but with an important caveat! Can't we at least take a moment to recognize that every district in the country is having problems increasing the graduation rate for this group of students, and your neighbors and friends, the teachers in our schools, are doing better than almost every other district in the country!) For students who are white, EBR ranks 5th out of all the districts in the state for their achievement, and for students who do not qualify for free or reduced price meals, our students rank 6th out of all districts in the state.

In another study, the researchers at Education Week, the premier weekly that focuses on pre-K through high school issues, calculated the "predicted" graduation rates for districts across the country, based in part on risk factors outside of school control, so called "out of school factors," and then compared the predictions with the actual graduation rates. Again, East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools were ranked 31st in the entire country out of all the large school systems! No one that I know of us is saying that we have reached the mountaintop…that we can now rest, for the job is done! However, can we not take a moment to thank teachers for the progress they have made? Against incredible odds, and in spite of all the bashing they take?

Intellectual honesty is something I often talk and write about. I ask each of us to set aside our prejudices, our preconceived notions about ideology and what "we believe," and actually look at some of the data and research out there. It might just cause us to pause the next time we have a knee-jerk reaction about "our failing school system." I admitted that I enjoy receiving a "thank you" every now and then… but I would be happier still if this community thanked our teachers for their efforts, each and every day, to educate ALL students who walk (or roll) through the doors of OUR schools. To the teachers and staff of OUR schools, THANK YOU!