Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ Those who read the Rowan Free Press since we started in 2012 were not shocked when they learned last Thursday’s about the Rowan-Salisbury School System’s performance assessments. Since 2012 we were telling everyone that the Rowan-Salisbury School System were average schools out in the county and really pretty awful inside the city of Salisbury. Since 2012 we dutifully put up various state education report cards that demonstrated schools inside of Salisbury’s boundaries were at the bottom of the K through 12 education heap. Many of you recall the outcomes of Salisbury’s ABC Report Card, the State READY Report, and last Thursday’s State Education School Performance Assessments. If you haven’t seen the upgraded spread sheet version of the State Education Performance Assessments, you would do well to note what is occurring in Salisbury:
I know quite a few parents who would not consider sending their sons and daughters to public schools inside of Salisbury not only because of their substandard academics, but also because of qualities not caught on the various test scores on school performance. It is well known that Salisbury’s middle schools and its high school are troubled with gang activity, drugs, discipline problems, and lockdowns. Last year a Salisbury High School student was the victim of a shooting in a gang related incident, but fortunately returned to school within a week’s time. Drugs, gangs, and discipline challenges do not lend themselves to a good learning environment.
In some ways it is fortunate that Salisbury’s public school performance was revealed with the February 5th release of the Rowan-Salisbury Schools state education school performance assessments. The D-rated schools are acknowledged and caring parents may be able to find better options for their children elsewhere. Anyone familiar with how impoverished urban schools make comebacks from illiteracy and substandard education understands it is an extremely difficult road back often with many years of hit or miss experimenting. In fact very rarely do urban schools suffering from major illiteracy ever get back on track. Many of these schools shut their doors. Schools who pull themselves out of major illiteracy are the exception.
One approach that never helps school systems anywhere is a lack of transparency or covering up bad situations with publicity and positive spin. For several years more than a few Salisbury citizens watched the injudicious use of “smoke Screening”, touting championship golf and tennis teams, giving out awards and creating an “all is well” appearance when it was not. Avoiding talk of ABC Report Cards or State READY Reports with their very revealing composite scores kept the public in the dark. Hiding important facts ensures that much needed solutions can not be put in place. It’s difficult to correct educational missteps when the public is kept in the dark. Whether its schools, crime, poverty, drug epidemics, or stymied economic development, the public needs to know.
I have little time for those who only want to cover things up through “positive avoidance” and keep a failed status quo going. It would be great report a major turnaround in the public schools inside of Salisbury. Such turnarounds in poverty ridden environments are uncommon, but they occasionally do happen. Here is some stimulating reading about the turnaround in one such school district in Union City, N.J.:
http://www.njea.org/news-and-publications/njea-review/may-2013/slow-and-steady
http://www.edutopia.org/remarkable-transformation
