Good morning!  Well, the election is finally over and I am sure all of you are glad.  I want to thank all of our schools who served as polling places in the election and their principals, faculty, and staff.  I know that this is a burden, but the County Elections Office relies so much on schools to be voting sites that it is very difficult to say no.  In addition, many people are used to voting at their neighborhood school and changing polling places would make it difficult for many people.  I want to thank Jacquelyn Callanen, Elections Administrator for Bexar County, and her office for working so closely with us in arranging the voting sites.  Thanks to George Torres, Deputy Superintendent for Business and Financial Services, and his secretary Susan Moye for all the work they do in coordinating things between the Elections Office and the schools.  I know that this makes it difficult on these sites because of parking and other logistics, but I am proud that we can cooperate and help our county in the important election process.  Thanks to all for assisting in making our democracy work!

On Saturday we had our final school dedication of the 2008-09 school year with the dedication of Evelyn Scarborough Elementary School.  Ms. Scarborough was a longtime special education counselor and coordinator in Northside.  She was the kind of counselor who literally was available to students, teachers, and parents at any time.  Her devotion to special education students is still tangible today in programs like On Job Training and the Early Childhood Collaboration, which she helped develop.  She spent more than 45 years in education, and 32 of them were in Northside.  Congratulations to Principal Jeannine Keairnes, Vice Principal Leah Salas, the faculty, and staff on the dedication and opening of this school.  The dedication program with the students was great!  We are proud to have Evelyn Scarborough Elementary School as our 62^nd elementary school, and we welcome them to the Northside family.

Congratulations to O’Connor High School band for making the finals of the UIL State Marching Band Contest.  I did go and watch them march in the Preliminaries and they did a great job.  They did not make the final ten that performed Tuesday night, but I am very proud of them and this accomplishment this year.  Congratulations to Roland Sandoval, the other directors, and the students for this great accomplishment!

Now that the election is over I am hopeful that the Congress and our new President can begin to address the re-authorization of NCLB.  I know that there are so many pressing issues facing our country that the re-authorization of NCLB may not be at the top of the list.  Yet, something must be done to address the unfairness and problems associated with the law and the manner in which the U.S. Department of Education and TEA have implemented the law.

In a previous Monday Message I talked about the fact that six schools in Northside did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) because of the area of Special Education/Math.  I emphasized that this occurred because of the inconsistencies between the Individual Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and NCLB.  The inconsistency occurs when an ARD Committee makes a determination of the appropriate individualized education program (IEP) yet the state via TAKS requires many of these students to be tested with the TAKS-M (TAKS Modified) which is a grade level test.  In addition they cap the number of students who can be counted as “passers” at 2% so those students who exceed the 2% in terms of numbers taking the TAKS-M are counted as “failures” even though they passed the test.  You can’t get much more ludicrous than this!  I have emphasized that we need to do what is best in terms of the educational program for a special education student, and our special education teachers and regular teachers are doing a great job meeting the individualized education program of our special education students.  Yet, it is the law and the way it is being implemented that is the issue!

I would like to mention some statistics in terms of AYP.  32.5% of districts in the state did not meet AYP, but Northside did.  14.2% of the campuses in the state did not meet AYP, and of this 14.2%, 5.9% were middle schools, and 6.5% were high schools.  In Northside we had four high schools and two middle schools not meet AYP.  Most of the districts and campuses statewide that did not meet AYP did not meet it because of the area Special Education/Math.  This is because of the things I mentioned above and in a previous Monday Message.

In special education reading across the state the percentage meeting standard dropped from 77% in 2006-07 to 62% in 2007-08.  In special education math the percentage meeting standard dropped from 74% in 2006-07 to 50% in 2007-08.  Again, it is not the fault of the special education students or their teachers.  It is the fault of the increasing standard that must be met in terms of passing for reading and math, and the cap that is placed on the TAKS-M which is a grade level test.  In Northside special education reading the percentage meeting standard dropped from 81% in 2006-07 to 71% in 2007-08.  In Northside special education math the percentage meeting standard dropped from 72% to 61% from 2006-07 to 2007-08.  I want to point out that Northside special education has a 71% pass rate in reading compared to 62% for the state, and in special education math we have a 61% pass rate compared to 50% for the state.  Even though we are exceeding the state’s passing percentage, the law and the fact we are required to test these students on grade level when their instruction according to their IEP is below grade level simply sets schools up for not meeting AYP.  There is no question that increasing the passing standard each year until 100% of all students no matter which sub-group they are in pass the test simply sets all school districts and campuses up for failure in not meeting AYP.

Also, because of the 2% cap we had 581 “artificial failures,” or in other words special education students in reading who passed the test but were counted as failures.  Actually 82% of special education students in reading passed the test rather than 71% which was allowed to count because of the cap.  In special education math we had 220 “artificial failures” which means we would actually have had a 66% pass rate rather than a 61% pass rate.  Because of all this convoluted testing and counting system, out of 32 school districts in the Texas School Alliance, 17 districts did not meet AYP.  Fortunately, Northside did meet AYP this year, but no doubt it will at some point catch up with us.

I say all this because we must see change in the law and implementation rules of NCLB.  I am sure most of you participated in the election process, but I ask you not to stop with just casting your vote.  Call and write your Congressional Representatives and our two Senators in Congress and let them know that what we are being required to do, and the rules that are set out are (1) wrong for kids and (2) simply set schools up for failure.  Many people tell me, and I don’t want to believe it, that one of the intents of NCLB was to make public schools look like failures.  But as I have said, I think the intent of the law was right in making schools focus on the success of every student, but how it has been implemented and the requirements on school districts are wrong and create a conflict between IDEA and NCLB.  Re-authorization may not be at the top of the list for our new President and Congress, but I hope they will address the concerns as quickly as possible because it is affecting kids and schools as they strive for success.

“We Believe” in our schools, our teachers, our students, and public education which strives to help every child be successful.  We don’t believe in a flawed law and process that sets students and schools up for failure.

Have a great week!