One of the most over-used, BS arguments for “more money” for education is this notion that there isn’t enough money for schoolbooks. And aside from University Chancellor Jim Rogers, one of the loudest, most vociferous complainers about an alleged lack of money for education has been Washoe County school superintendent Paul Dugan. Now let’s see what happens when you put these two together.
Which do you think is more important for the education of our kids: Low-level, unnecessary school bureaucrats and mid-level “administrators” who spend no time in classrooms teaching kids . . . or schoolbooks? Well, if you’re a parent and taxpayer, you probably think textbooks are more important to a child’s education. Silly goose.
“To be honest,” Dugan tells the Reno Gazette-Journal in the paper today, “if we are put in a choice of cutting textbooks or (job) positions, I’d rather cut textbooks.”
So there you go. We now know exactly how screwed up the priorities are for school officials like Paul Dugan. And the fact that the school chief felt it necessary to qualify his opinion in this matter with “To be honest” can only lead one to assume that many of his other statements about the lack of money for education in the past have been…well, less than honest.
Posted on June 22nd, 2008 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada
This morning’s Reno Gazette-Journal had a story that referred to George Hardaway, a local educator who is retiring this month as the “assistant principal of attendance at Wooster High School.”
Mr. Hardaway taught a summer school course I took in the late 1970s. He’s an excellent teacher, and I wish him well in his retirement. But “assistant principal of attendance”??? Can someone explain what responsibilities this position has that require it to be filled at the assistant principal level? Or why this position is more important than textbooks?