Asking an educator to explain your child’s dismal academic achievement when that educator has been focusing in class on almost anything other than academics, is bound to yield few answers and even less satisfaction. There are few things more frustrating than demanding answers to unanswerable questions. How else can one reconcile descriptors like “hopeful,” “positive” and “proud” with the daily reality that is driving teachers and other staff to seek out alternate career paths in record numbers, and leading parents to keep their children home for instruction, desperately trying to protect the next generation from the predatory climate that pervades much of mid-to-large city public education? ![]() However, there were a smattering of answers that indicated the respondent was either unaware of, or indifferent to, the plummeting test scores, the skyrocketing absenteeism and increasing violence among students in the district. These joined other negative replies, like “concerned,” “struggling” and “worried.” Words like “disappointed” and “frustrated” topped the list of responses from participants asked to describe the district in a single word. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the responses in the current survey indicated not only a lack of confidence in the outgoing administration, but more distressingly, a complete misapprehension on the part of both teachers and parents of the purpose of public schools. Logan, whose tenure was marked by a combative, dismissive attitude toward parents and other community members, oversaw the most rapid decline in academic achievement and attendance in OPS history, while simultaneously ushering in the most violent and destructive school environment ever seen in this city. ![]() The Omaha survey was conducted at the behest of the school board in an attempt to identify the weaknesses in the district in the wake of Superintendent Cheryl Logan’s resignation and the board’s search for a replacement. The survey responses of roughly 2,000 parents and staff of Omaha Public Schools distressingly reveals a problem plaguing the nation: people really don’t understand the purpose of public schools. ![]() With a deep-seated love of freedom, strong faith, and an abiding reverence for the principles of our founding, he unapologetically His work has been featured by the late Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and others in the conservative movement. Joe Herring is an independent investigative journalist, an Army veteran and a proud husband, father and grandfather.
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