“Bellows Falls Union High School Principal Kelly O’Ryan told the school’s budget committee this week that seven freshmen out of a classroom of 14 students were reading at a first-grade or elementary school level.”
It’s not that only half of the high school students can read to grade level. It’s that half of them can only read to a first-grade level.
Also please note that this academic warning was raised by the school principal at a BFUHS ‘budget’ meeting. In other words, it’s a precursor to justify Gov. Scott’s recent warning that the State education budget, which is already at a $23,856 per student cost, will increase 18.5% for next year and equal $28,270 per student.
“BFUHS Director Deborah Wright of Rockingham said the news from O’Ryan about the reading levels was “very upsetting” and the first time the school board had heard about lagging reading scores.”
Either school board member Wright can’t read either, or she’s lying.
“Apparently, there’s a lot we don’t know,” said Wright.
She said she had questions on whether those seven freshmen with the low reading abilities came from the local schools or somewhere else.
Wright and Terry said the low reading scores come at a pivotal time in negotiations, as the unionized teachers have asked for what was termed “a substantial increase.”
If this dystopia isn’t halted now, the only remedy will be a major socio-economic disaster… sooner rather than later.
