McHenry County Blog

Like I said, we, the taxpayers, have paid people like Mr. Johnson to do nothing....they are not informed about their own test scores, they are not informed of what vendors are in their school buildings, they are not informed of students' suicides at the school during school hours, they are not informed about the origins of curriculum that was trash canned twenty years ago in California because of low test scores, they are not informed about simple common sense procedures and policy regarding personal information about students being shared with outside entities, they are not informed about the methods and actions of teachers in the classroom and on the school bus towards some students....BUT, they are informed about the teacher's contracts, the supposed need for referendums, the supposed need for more money to build on to the schools, the actual supposed head count of students actually enrolled in their schools....and the supposed percentage of those kids who are "special education needs" kids...
Yes...they have only OUR KIDS NEEDS on their minds...
 

So,(District 158 Administrators and Lonnnnng Term Board Members), what ave you done for "Me" lately? - is the question D158 residents, parents, students, (taxpayers all) should be asking today.

This quote and other content says a great deal:

"Johnson said that previously the curriculum had not been aligned with the state standards on the ACT.

He also noted that the ACT format is different from those which students face in tests in high school."

While the public has been force fed the happy dappy self-praise about the District with regard to employees, management, finances, and education - it seems well paid administrators and long term board members haven't been doing what the public assumed they were doing.

Principal Dave Johnson has been on board for 10 - 12 years as the D158 high school principal. Terry Awrey (Asst. Supt.) was over curriculum at one point and has been employed in D158 since 1985.

Only NOW, in 2007 - after a decade plus of kids/graduates have moved on with others still moving through the system, do "we" now hear that the kids don't even know how to deal with the ACT test FORMAT?

and

that the curriculum has been lacking in major areas?

Another question might be - where was the giant public announcement that five consecutive years (dealing only with THIS period) of Math ACT scores were awful and that it was of major concern? Oh, heck, where was the apology?

Yet - their contracts and those of others in-the-know were repeatedly renewed, raises given, benefits given and praise bestowed.....courtesy of Lonnnnng term board members who are either their friends, weren't paying much attention to "little things" like SCORES, or who chose not to make hard choices - like demanding better of the people they paid so well or replacing those employees or others with new hires more suited to the District's needs.

District 158 taxpayers/parents should be beyond the melting point and demanding that people who aren't doing the job - paid or volunteer - step aside immediately.

As the "employer" "we", the taxpayers, paid for much better. "We" should get an apology AND a refund.
 

Didn't Awrey make reports that all curriculum had been aligned? so what support did admin central office give the schools for curriculum? Are teachers teaching?
Will they just teach to the test now? Will the kids suffer in later life choices? who is minding the store?

more to question
 

In 2001, I stood before the whole school board, Mr. Swanson, and guests and requested that the school board and administrators review their curriculum. That was five years ago. It concerned me that there were major gaps in the curriculum and the teaching process. For instance, in the reading curriculum in junior high at the time, many of the students were not able to wade through a third grade level paragraph. When I raised concern at the principal's office about this, I was told, "well, many of these students are transfer students from other districts that are behind." I didn't buy that baloney. I took it to the board....and Mr. Swanson deferred my request to Terry Awery to "call me".....I am still waiting for that phone call.....I had in my hand at the time evidence from the California school system that showed beyond a doubt that test scores plummeted when using the same curriculum that D158 was currently using. They had tossed it out years earlier. It was discovered that much of the "methods" being embraced by our school district, like "whole language" and "everyday math" was not ever endorsed by educational people at all, but was in fact, written and theorized by graduate students who were writing their thesis, and using kids in the class room as their "test rats"...some school districts actually bought this nonsense...and none was ever proven to be a solid teaching tool...NO KIDDING. I guess it is no wonder I am still waiting for a phone call....it would look rather sheepish for them, the annointed ones, to admit to a lowly taxpayer that she actually knew more about their curriculum than they did!
 

I think that I was at that meeting and remember your questions.
Well maybe Awrey is busy fielding transportation calls....

your point is well made. And the experts in 158 should be able to discuss this issue with you without being defensive. However, I think that they are not sure of what they have been doing (or not doing) so ......
Why can't the administration be effective with what has been done with curriculum, or maybe they just do not know how to do it.
Maybe time to get staff in the jobs that know how to implement, and perform, and not just be homegrown vegetables..