One bad decision is enough
At a time when the Des Moines Public School District has been repeatedly criticized, school board members made another unfortunate decision that will set students back even further. They should avoid making yet another.
Dismissing school 90 minutes early every Wednesday next year to provide an additional 24 hours of “professional development time” will prove to be horrendous. The goal of all educators should be to educate, and we fail to see how removing students from the classroom will help accomplish that. If teachers really need another 90 minutes a week, they should find it somewhere other than instructional time. This is not a budget cut, but yet another accommodation for teachers who are contracted to work 195 days a year. We know some board members struggled with this decision, and they should have. Now they need to set the struggle aside and make sure they don’t make another disastrous decision, which leads us to our next issue.
While some states are increasing graduation requirements, the Des Moines School District is considering decreasing its. No matter how the drop-out rate is sliced or diced, it is disappointing. At least one solution the board is considering to help “fix” the problem is to make graduation easier for students, offering a fast-track diploma that requires only 19 credits rather than the current 23. Despite the Iowa Department of Education discouraging fast-track diplomas, Supt. Nancy Sebring said students “would meet all state and district requirements as well as the entrance criteria at Iowa’s three state universities.” This mini-diploma is similar to what neighboring districts like West Des Moines, Johnston and Urbandale currently offer, so some rationalize it as the right thing to do. Wrong. The program does make sense for students who may be behind in credits due to a major illness or crises in the family, but it should be used sparingly. If the goal is simply to improve the numbers, why not shoot for 100 percent graduation and provide all students a high school diploma whether they attend class or not? That’s ridiculous, we know, but so is this so-called “solution” to drop-out rates. Don’t let one bad decision lead to another. CV
