Well, at least the Committee chuckled at Ian’s jokes – most of the audience, with sour pusses on their collective visage, was not amused. Why? Given that one was Laurie Melanson (Superintendent SAU 23/Haverhill and with whom I had a light “jousting match” before the meeting).
SideNote: She made it clear that she felt that all of the standardized tests that are mandated SHOULD be part of their grades.
Essentially, because these tests are “unhooked” from student grades, they don’t take them seriously enough – like why should those that will be going into the trades or the military care about how they do on the State mandated SAT. And because they don’t take it seriously, they don’t do as well as they should. And then the District loses money. It’s always about the money, as she also complained about how the State isn’t giving them enough money. There’s never enough money, is there?
Another was Barrett Christina (Exec. Dir of the NHSBA, who face bounced between angry or grimaced the entire time Ian was speaking; I was highly amused by both). Anyways, enjoy Ian’s testimony – he always makes my head hurt because he always comes at things from unexpected angles and forces me to think. Hard.
Unfortunately, I don’t think Melanson, Christina, or several others thought much at all on his words. That’s why we’re going bankrupt.
On another note, GraniteGrok definitely needs to figure out how to cover more of these hearings.
