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Thursday
March 28th, 2024
L&T Opinions Page

LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Starley Craig, Liberal

 

I’m hoping some parents still have a copy of the Feb. 15 newspaper so they can read the article on the school district’s review of early literary skills.

It’s pretty discouraging. Actually, 80 percent of the students have no skills at all, which means if you lined up 100 kids, 80 of them — actually 530 of 656 — could not read the title of the book they were holding. This is after USD No. 480 spent more than $1 million on guaranteed programs to prevent this sort of thing last year.

In the article, the school stated they were counting on “phonological awareness to identify students with very low ability.” They got it wrong as “phonological awareness,” which they already tried, is the rhythm and musicality of a language that you may be unfamiliar with. It is not phonics.

The program — cost is not given — “provides teachers with explicit lessons taught on a 10-day rotation” — and on and on.

Let me give you the definition of phonology. It’s the study of the way a language sounds — smooth, jerky, threatening, etc. to a listener probably unfamiliar with the language.

Even simpler — Let’s say you have a class of students and you play a recording of Richard Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.” Then you play a recording of 50 Cent or Snoop Dogg. The kids can tell the difference. But it does not teach them to play a musical instrument or read music.

Phonological instruction is like that. What did the program cost?

I also see where USD No. 480 is shelling out $508,000 for a company — and they are experts at moving money from a taxpayer to their own pockets as they’ve whipped this turkey on 1,000 schools.

What’s $508,000 times 200? Not bad.

It’s the same old “aligning our academic, operational and technical structure to build our capacity to achieve sustainable results.” 

What?

Now what did that just say other than, “Give us half a million dollars and we’ll, by God, do marvelous things (and give you a six-inch thick notebook).” You bet.

All money into education is taxpayer money. All of it. All of it.

How long, parents, are you going to tolerate a school system whose motto must be, “We’ll buy anything,” or, “Results don’t mean a thing.”

Abraham Lincoln did his learning and writing on the back of a shovel with chalk. Eighty percent of our kids can’t recognize a shovel or spell it or use it.

Board, open up some forums for the general public and quit hiding behind your, “We will answer no questions,” or resign.

 

LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Reita Isaacs, Liberal

 

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