The proficiency rates for students in White Bear Lake Area Schools are continuing to get worse under the current administration. We are no longer one of the better districts in our state or even our area. We have reached the point where the majority of 5th grade students are not proficient in math. Many would have you believe that the answer is simply to give the schools more money, but that would be throwing good money after bad.
When faced with budget cuts, our school board cut classroom teachers and extended the distance students walk to school. Trimming equity programs or administrative positions weren’t even considered. Instead, they reaffirmed their commitment to an ideology that doesn’t have any measurable outcomes.
A quality education can overcome many of the barriers students may otherwise face. We need to get back to the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic without the distractions of social-emotional learning. Leave mental health treatment to those that have formal training. Teachers don’t need more on their plates, and parents don’t want classroom therapists.
Instead of isolating our students from the world, we need to bring back volunteers and put a bigger emphasis on interventional methods. We can’t keep pushing kids forward pretending they didn’t have over two years of sub-par learning. Let me be clear that I am not blaming teachers as a whole. The blame rests on the school board, the union, and the administration. Our kids deserve better.
