Some Parents Left Behind

The No Child Left Behind Act requires a certain level of reading and math proficiency for a school to avoid sanctions. The Sequoia Union High School district recently announced that one of their high schools--Menlo-Atherton--failed to meet the requirements. Sanctions involve ceding control over the school to federal authority as a charter school. The school district has come up with a plan to put $900,000 into a program intended to raise test scores.

Menlo-Atherton has a problem similar to many California schools in that they have a solid base of high achieving students as well as a large immigrant population struggling to catch up. The school is two distinct schools under one roof. So you'd think everyone would see the effort to improve student ability as a good thing. Apparently not. Some parents and administrators fear that the law is too strict and it wasn't meant for this kind of school. It's not something I've studied and that may well be the case, but I find it surprising that the PADN couldn't find ONE parent to voice an opinion supporting the decision to help their child. NOT ONE?