Used Car Salesman to Wind in the Sails-Day Three

Our school did not make AYP for two years in a row and so the district had to send home "school Choice" letters to all of our parents giving them the option of transferring to one of the other schools in the district. This has been a difficult two days of parent meetings and phone calls. Parents are rightly concerned as I would be if I received such a letter. The frustrating part is that there is so much more going on than what is touted by this letter.

Mind you, the only two areas where we did not make AYP were with our Hispanic students in Math and our English Language Learners in Reading. Even still, we only missed the target by 4% and 1% respectively.

Even with our challenging population we are achieving in the 80's and 90's for AYP and this letter and the doubts it puts in parent's minds is very unnerving to me. I felt like a used car salesman as I tried to educate our parents about the letter and about what we do at Johnson.

Do you get the used car feeling because you as a person feel desperate to achieve something or because the audience makes you feel as if you are full of crap? Perhaps it is a bit of both.

I am mostly frustrated because my teachers work so hard with every single student in the building and they are achieving at great rates and this type of letter and regulation can take the wind right out of their sails.

I guess I better start blowing...