Good Money After Bad?

We understand that the Lake Forest High School Board District 115 plans to vote to put a $105.6 million bond referendum on the April ballot at its next board meeting on December 6^th.

ParentsCare will help share the voices pro and con concerning this referendum over the next several months. Still, at this time, we deem it important to view this massive taxpayer request in the context of recent student academic performance scores at the high school.

Over the last two weeks, ParentsCare publicized the current state of academic proficiency at our local public schools.  In case you missed it, here are the aggregate numbers for students NOT at grade level at our High School:

ParentsCare believes it unacceptable that 38% of high school students are not academically grade-level proficient. We've repeatedly called on the respective school boards to set clear performance benchmark goals for each of the next five years. Setting clear goals drives focus and brings accountability. For example, the High School Board might adopt and articulate the below goals and then work with administrators and teachers to develop and execute a focused plan to meet them:

Sample Goals

We know school board members and administrators know how to set goals and develop plans to achieve them because they have focused a tremendous amount of time, care, and effort on developing their capital bond referendum campaign.  

We’d like to see them adopt a similarly serious approach toward setting and achieving academic performance benchmarks for our children. 

As of Wednesday morning, the School Board has not yet published the December 6^th meeting agenda on their website. We think it would be a tremendous disappointment and a horrible way to begin their campaign for community support of this bond if the Board glosses over or ignores the urgent issue of student performance at its next meeting. 

Do you agree, Parents? Please reply with your thoughts, or better yet, share them at the School Board meeting on December 6th.