
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.