A local bureaucrat is never so innovative as when she is figuring out how to meet the letter of a federal mandate while completely defeating its purpose. Such is the folly of this New York high school's recent effort to meet the accountability standards of the No Child Left Behind Act by "encouraging" its poor performing students to drop out.
It's unfortunate that the absence of real competition in schooling encourages educator behavior reminiscent of a John Hughes film. New York spends $10,000 or more per student. I'll bet a private school somewhere would be happy to take on Ms. Garcia for that amount.
Posted by Marie Gryphon on August 1, 2003