Recently the “powers that be” have been touting a plan for replacing Hammond High School. Presenting a plan, seeking public input, and then making a decision is fine and the way it should be done, but not in Hammond.
Here they are determined that the school will be built according to this plan, public opinion be damned.
One of the things that really bother me about the sales pitch is that the new building is being presented as a cure for all that ails Hammond High. One “fact” casually tossed around is that there is a study that shows new buildings increase test scores by 18%. Yet the professional bureaucrats ignore the evidence presented in their own system. All of the construction that has been done in the schools hasn’t raised test scores in Hammond one iota.
Do we really need architectural award-winning monuments to the power of bureaucracy? Or would a “plain jane” building work just as well, and cost less?
One of the real problems in the School City of Hammond is leadership, or more precisely, the lack of leadership. The current professional bureaucrats seem to spend more time trying to minimize their failures than they do trying to find solutions. The tenure of the current chief bureaucrat has been an unmitigated disaster for the SCH and our children. Seemingly the attitude is one of minimal expectations. A child from a low-income, or a non-english speaking home isn’t expected to do well, so no effort is expended to get the child to excel, just get him to the minimum seems to be the game plan.
It is time to do a nationwide search for a new head of the Hammond schools, one that will not be happy with minor tweaks of the status-quo, but will restore a sense of high expectations.
Let's dump the insider bureaucrats and find some real leadership.
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