The Monitoreditorial on Aug. 19 about the Franklin school system and its relationship with the city council left out the part that defines the basis of a good school.
It is not throwing more money at the problem. It is not restoring staffing to previous levels. It is not overlooking the present management and fiscal administration policies and implementation.
The basis of a good school is measuring how well graduates are able to matriculate to the next step academically or vocationally.
For students, this means the ability to express themselves verbally and in writing, especially in applying for employment, college or the military.
Further, if we look at secondary school as a place where you acquire tools and develop the skills that lead to successful integration into the social fabric of society, then we must not only teach with emphasis on developing cognitive ability but also have an environment with structure that imposes consequences for inappropriate behavior.
How else should you prepare a child to become an adult?
We as citizens need to know how effective the school system has been with the money it has collected from us to date. To suggest that we divert more money from the taxpayers’ contribution to city services to the school system is a continuation of a growing and presently unmanageable structural deficit.
What is needed is not a lot of hand-wringing about waiting for either the taxpayers or some state or federal agency to provide more money.
It troubles me personally that yet another ad hoc committee is formed but no questions are asked about why the superintendent wasn’t communicating with all the agencies at the city, state and federal level to show results and negotiate support.
Not a small matter is the scattering of students to other school districts, which reveals a failure in proving the value of what had been offered in Franklin.
One potential place to look for more money is the consolidation of the financial management of the schools and the city, with the savings used to restore teaching staff.
The prospects of finding new money are slim, so the emphasis has to be on being lean but not mean.
I’d be very interested in hearing what others might add in regard to potential areas of improvement, because at the end of the day we are in this together.
(Bill Doherty lives in Franklin.)