More than just numbers

To the editor: There have been many letters in the paper recently concerning the Delaware Valley School District with people supporting various candidates, usually with incumbent school board candidates versus Taxpayer’s United candidates. I would like to ask people to start thinking about these candidates from a different perspective. Ultimately, these candidates are running to make changes that will affect children. When people throw around numbers that tell the percentage of children “passing” state standards on the PSSA testing, they always forget that those numbers represent real children and their numbers are important. If you just report that more than 80% of DV students were proficient on these tests, you must also look at the almost 20% that were not. When a district has more than 5,700 students those 20% represent large numbers. In grades 3 through 8 and grade 11, there were 3001 students tested in 06-07. There were also an additional 355 children with Individual Education Plans (Special Education Students). Of these 3356 students, 640 were not proficient in math and 598 were not proficient in reading. If we look at the 426 students in this year’s senior class who took the test last year, plus the 53 IEP students in that class, we see that 167 students were not proficient in math and 126 were not proficient in reading. We still need to do a better job. While DV scores better than the state average, it is not good enough yet. We should be asking for school board candidates who want better programs that will make sure that all members of our senior class graduate with the tools to go to college, get a job, buy a home, and raise a family. Instead we have candidates talking about taxes, buying land, building schools, and adding bleachers and tennis courts. While these are important, nothing is as important as the 150+ students who will graduate this year unprepared for life’s journey “in an ever-changing global society” (DV mission statement). School Board candidates, John Wroblewski and Diane French, have continually expressed concerns about these children. They will demand that reading and math programs exist that make real changes. The other candidates - Casey, Schor, Coletta, Kupillas, and Wladar - are too busy discussing taxes, land, and bleachers. Be cautious when you vote and make sure that you are voting for candidates that will consider the real needs of the children in our schools. Mary G. Gordon Milford