By Ros Poplar
As parents and grandparents in Shenandoah County we all want the very best for our children as they prepare to become adults and assume their role as contributing members of our society. In addition to parental supervision and mentorship, one of the best indicators of future success of our children is the educational performance of their respective primary and secondary schools. Strong schools produce young adults who excel at life, while weak schools cannot provide students essential life skills.
Unfortunately, Shenandoah County schools as a whole has not broken the cycle of mediocrity that has been perpetuated in our schools for several generations. While some students have succeeded, many others have fallen behind. Based on the Virginia Departments of Education’s own statistics the performance of our schools is not up to par and well below the state average. A
The most recent indicators of student performance were released on August 26th where VDOE released the division-by-division Standards of Learning or SOL scores – a critical measure of our individual students performance while at the same time these numbers are in effect a “report card” on the Shenandoah County school system.
The numbers were down across the state, and Shenandoah County’s numbers fell dramatically. For reading (for all students), the Shenandoah County pass rate fell from 67% in 2019 to 44% in 2021 and math and science fell even more dramatically from 76%-46% in math and from 77%-44% in science. While the Shenandoah County School Board was focused on such issues as name change and transgender bathrooms that do not have a direct impact on education, our children have fallen behind their peers. The formative years of a child’s life are the most crucial and this lost time can never be made up or regained. We as parents cannot let this happen again.
To remedy this situation the Coalition for Better Schools looks forward to working with the newly appointed Superintendent of Schools, newly elected school board members, and teachers. Let us ensure our teachers receive the basic tools required – both adequate and accountable funding to provide a laser focus on the basics of education.
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