[rob62521]

Pennywise, a lot of what you say makes sense, but the legislators want the teachers to prove their are doing their jobs by these standardized tests. When you have a kindergartener coming in to school who is already two years below in vocabulary, there is no miracle cure of getting them caught up other than the teacher trying to do his or her job. Very few of the people I work with are lazy; but they cannot in a few hours a day "fix" a kid who gets nothing at home or during the summers. We have special summer school classes that help the kids, but some parents don't want their kids to work during the summer. You daughter is so fortunate to have someone who was willing to expect something and you found ways for her to achieve it. Your note did not offend me, but wish we had more parent who were willing to get involved. As a public school employee, we have to live by the guideliness the legislators give us -- we can't deny anyone an education, even if they don't want it. We can't just suspend or expel children just be cause they are disruptive. Most teachers would love that because then they could concentrate on the children who are there to learn the fundamentals of reading, math, writing, and thinking skills.