Not that there is any Deep Libertarian Significance to this story, but no opportunity should be missed to revel in the humiliation of a bureaucrat.
Superintendent of Schools Wilfredo T. Laboy, who recently put two dozen teachers on unpaid leave for failing a basic English proficiency test, has himself flunked a required literacy test three times, The Eagle-Tribune reported Sunday.
. . .
Laboy, who receives a 3 percent pay hike this month that will raise his salary to $156,560, recently put 24 teachers on unpaid administrative leave because they failed a basic English test, which has been required since voters passed a law last fall requiring English-only classrooms.
[State Education Commissioner David P.] Driscoll said he is willing to give Laboy more time to prepare for another retest.
”He’s not a native language speaker, so a formal test is something he needs to prepare for,” Driscoll said. ”It doesn’t mean anything now. It will mean more as time goes on because there’s an expectation that he’ll pass.’
I suspect the really scary part of this is that the Lawrence school district had 24 teachers who lack basic English proficiency. The other scary part is that the failure on multiple occasions to demonstrate basic language skills “doesn’t mean anything” if the individual in question is already enfolded in the forgiving arms of the civil service.
That’s a good salary for a poor reader. Britain’s Chief Inspector of Schools gets only a little more.
Anyone know how big a Massachusetts school district is? (And how one applies to run one? — My spelling’s only slightly dodgy.)
My cousin used to live in Lawrence, MA. He moved because of the school system. Said his kids weren’t learning anything because they (his kids) only spoke English. When he first told me some of the teachers weren’t fluent in English I didn’t believe him. Couldn’t believe a public (taxpayer supplied)
school in the US had teachers that didn’t speak English very well. Lawrence lost its accreditation a while back. I think it was reinstated, but not sure.
Interesting thing is if you look at the number of people who supported the ‘English Only’ ballot initiative in Mass., the majority of Lawrence voters voted yes. They are also one of the few systems working to implement some of the ‘English Only’ requirements (but not all the requirements).
The parents, most of whom are not native English speakers, want their children to learn English so they can get good jobs and get out of the Spanish ghetto. It’s the educrats who have been against the ‘English Only’. They want to keep all the extra jobs that are required for bilingual.
The educrats pretend they are just serving the needs of their community. However, when the community tells them they want all English, the educrats state the voters didn’t understand all the implications of that vote.
One has to be pleased for the kids they’re learning English now. And that most of the teachers are passing the tests.
We had a touch of the same idiocy here, but it hasn’t got very far. Probably because we’re more mixed up. Almost nowhere (a handful of schools in Tower Hamlets with Bangladeshi majorities, perhaps) have there been high enough concentrations of children whose home language is the same non-English language.
The practical difficulty and cost of mother-tongue instruction in a dozen languages that are spread around everywhere has been mostly too much even for the most determined of Authorities. Yet.
(Clearly they’ll prefer it to teaching modern languages, or even English, properly to everyone when they get the chance. So much more difficult to spot if you’re doing a lousy job in this. If you fail your largely poverty-stricken charges, they will be unlikely to complain. Or at least not complain and be understood.)
FYI Guy,
Massachusetts school districts are coterminous with municipal boundaries and, unlike in some states, an integral part of the local government, i.e., the school board is (theoretically) answerable to the City Council/Town Board of Selectmen.
Was it Lawrence or Lynn that was the first municipality in over 200 years to go into state receivership? You know you’re almost metaphysically incompetent when being run by the Massachusetts Legislature (oh, excuse me, The Great and General Court of the Commonwealth) is actually an improvement.
I think it was Lynn that went into state receivership first.
Don’t know how Lynn compares with Lawrence, but based on my cousin’s experience it seems the problem was not very much basic teaching was taking place.
When my cousin finally realized what was happening and moved, his children had to repeat a grade in their new school. They were behind even after being kept back.
This is the educrats fault, not the parents really. The parents want their children to learn and do well but the educrats keep insisting they need all these additional programs that do nothing to enhance basic skills. I finally realized the educrats want to keep their community ignorant and dependant. It keeps the educrats employed and allows them to lobby for more money for more programs.
Heard on the radio this morning, if Laboy fails “one or two more times” to pass the English exam, his job will be in jeopardy. Woo! There’s accountability for you.
That gives him until around December. He ought to be able to pass the damned thing in Urdu with five months warning.