IS IT TRUE: March 5, 2012
IS IT TRUE that Evansville’s Signature High School is in the news again for academic excellence?…that this time it is not for being named a TOP TEN high school in the nation?…that this time it is for setting an Indiana state record for the percentage of graduating seniors who pass an Advanced Placement test?…that 90% of the 61 seniors passed one of these tests that often result in college credit being granted to the student who passes the test?…that passing one AP exam that is recognized with 3 credits by a university saves that child or their parents between $500 and $5,000 depending on what college the kid goes to?…that the performance and ranking (7th in the United States) of Signature High School should be a badge of honor that everyone in Evansville wears proudly?…that just as we all rallied around to cheer on the Mater Dei girls basketball team to a state championship we should celebrate the academic achievements of Signature School?…that the following link is to the national rankings?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/features/2011/americas-best-high-schools.html
IS IT TRUE that this Olympic level of academic performance from this downtown public high school does not seem to please everyone?…that there are many people in Evansville and especially within the ranks of teachers and administrators at the other public schools who openly detest Signature School?…that envy really does make for some strange statements?…that when educators start speaking poorly of academic achievement that it is time to shuffle the deck at the old schoolhouse?…that there is a valid point to be made regarding the admission process stacking the deck in Signature’s favor but there is some process in place that always seems to produce winners in wrestling at Mater Dei, football at Reitz, and basketball at Bosse?…that good programs attract good students and the same is true for Signature?…that any teacher or even private citizen of the Evansville community that denigrates the Signature School for excellence needs to have their priorities questioned and maybe even need their mouth washed out with soap?…that it is not a fluke that is able to maintain a national ranking for academic performance in Evansville, it is a process?…that the next highest ranked school in Indiana is ranked #153 and that only 5 make the top 500?…that if you want to use that phrase “it’s a good place to raise kids†as a business attraction tool for the area, that Signature School validates that claim to the kind of people that Evansville needs to attract and retain?
IS IT TRUE that the ball field idea for the Roberts Stadium location is eliciting the same negative reactions from the public at $8 Million that it did when it was $18 Million?…that even if a genie could grant the CVB and the former Mayor three wishes and go “poof there are ball fields for free†that a very large number of the people of Evansville would be opposed to them?…that the real ruckus that drives the opposition is the “magic of place†that Wesselman Woods has always had right in the middle of an urban setting?…that it is time for these ball fields that are harder to kill than Gregory Rasputin need to find another home and leave Roberts to the committee and Mayor Winnecke?…that the parrots singing the ball fields praises are beginning to sound like “the song that never ends†from Romper Room?…that Miss Peggy would be saying “Romper Stomper Bomper Boo, What does it take to get through to you” to the proponents of these ballfields.
Amen.
Here’s the way I see it:
All of the students at Signature School are students that would have gone to one of the 5 EVSC or 2 Catholic schools. For the most part, the students at Sig are the best and brightest. So to make a sports analogy, Signature School is really an all-star team for academics. So what you’re doing is taking the top kids away from their respective schools and putting them together at Signature School, they should do better than the other schools. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that these kids are being challenged and are doing well, and these kids accomplishments should be celebrated. But to compare Signature School to the other 7 area schools is not fair, and that’s where the “not seeming to please everyone”, as you put it, comes from. It would be like taking the McDonald’s All-American HS team and comparing them to the teams whose rosters were raided to make the team. What makes teachers and administrators “detest” Signature school is the fact that they are directly compared to the teachers at Sig. I’m not putting down the teachers at Signature School (some of them were my teachers in high school), but there are many public and parochial school teachers who could get the same results if they were given a classroom full of top shelf students. But people look at the results from Sig and the results from the other schools and say “why can’t your class do that?”, when the playing field is not level. If we would look at Signature School for what it is, an academic all-star team, and stop comparing the other 7 schools, their teachers and administrators to them, I think the debate would calm down. I could go on, but I would be interested to see what others think about this.
Amen! I believe you have hit the nail square on the head.
I am unsure if the Sig has teachers working there and at a “home” school also, such as North, Bosse, Reitz, Harrison, or Central. If that is not the case then it is a waste of a quality teacher for a select few students who meet the unspoken requirements of the Sig. A waste not in the quality that they are teaching the Sig students, but the waste of talents not being shared with more students. If they are only teaching at the Sig it seems it may be a waste of our tax dollars with student to teacher ratios. If I pay John X dollars to teach 15 students at Sig school, then what should I pay Sue for teaching 25 students at Central. The same wage or do I adjust the teacher’s wage based on the number of students they teach.
If a teacher teaches less hours or to less students you would think a wage or benefit may be adjusted. I will assume that has been done, but we know what assuming can do. If they do have a home school that they also teach in, then we may assume the teacher is given some travel time to go between the Sig and the home school. Who pays for that? (loss of productive teaching time) Is there an adjustment in pay based on actual number of hours taught in the classroom.
If there are no home schools for these teachers to teach in regular classrooms, it would seem to me that a teacher of this quality could be utilized much more efficiently in a regular classroom on a daily basis.
With the past great (sarcasm) EVSC Superintendents one would have thought between the two new Schools (technology – most logical, and North HS) they would have incorporated enough classrooms for the Sig students to be encompassed in either one. Therefore, the elimination of a building in the EVSC and reduction of some unneeded staff hires. It seems each new superintendent has grand ideas for our tax dollars. It also seems the best way to advance a new breed of principals and administrators is by creating a new school or position within the EVSC. Grant it I am aware that some of those positions are needed to help teach the other teachers new and improved forms of teaching skills (former principal Gray at Cedar Hall was ideal in this situation, but it is a shame she doesn’t have the student contact anymore)
just a few thoughts. (let the pile on begin)
Do we not pay basketball coaches extra to make sure that their class of 12 players is trained to play their best every game. Why not provide the same advantages for academically gifted kids. After all it is the academically gifted who we hope to come back to Evansville and create jobs for the ball players when age has diminished their physical advantages.
I agree with that Joe. I would also agree to provide the same extra pay to teachers who would be willing to dedicate the same time a coach does to their players. The gifted teachers could offer extra coursework to these gifted kids outside of the regular school day as an athlete does. It is not only the gifted students who are business owners. Many a student athlete has excelled off the field of play. I know there is an ad campaign about these student athletes who are not turning pro in their chosen sport, but in there chosen classroom field.
Sometimes the students that are good at sport are also academically gifted. We should indulge both of their talents with the best training possible.
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