Submitted by KM Hills.
Is the Clover Park School District (CPSD) in the best hands? One only needs to try to access the District website to get a clear answer, NO! On the morning of Wed June 9th I Googled and attempted to access the District website but got a “This Site Can’t Be Reached” message. After being hacked in late May it appears the CPSD has yet to recover.
As we always hear the buck stops at the top; right Pres. Marty Schafer? All organizations reach a point when change is needed and the CPSD Board is ripe for needed change. There are many metrics one could use to see that the District is struggling to meet their own Mission Statement, to educate. (I would quote the Mission Statement here but . . . the website is down.)
However, the most important metric of student success, is not being met. As noted in previous submissions the Office of Public Instruction notes that CPSD test scores are among the bottom in Pierce County.
Again, remember the buck stops at the top. Pres. Marty Schafer has served the District long enough, so please remember to vote when the time comes, and let’s have the buck stops at a new top. Our students deserve better!
Indeed: time for a change! Marty Schafer has been on the Board and presided over the Board as President during the District’s precipitous plunge in academic standing over the last 5+ years. By any measure the current Board and Schafer in particular have been failures when it comes to actual District academic performance. Schafer crows in his Voter’s Pamphlet statement that “Our graduation rates have increased to 89%.” Clover Park High School, as one example, has only about 61.2% attendance; 54.1% proficiency in English Language Arts (ELA); 17% in math; 18.4% in science (OSPI figures) and yet mysteriously manages to graduate 85% of its students. The question that must be asked: what is the District actually graduating? Answer: students that are unprepared for adult life beyond high school. This is no great accomplishment. Graduation rates in this case mean nothing except a manipulated number to justify this Board’s incompetence.
Schafer also crows that “As Board President, we were WSSDA School Board of the Year in 2019 and School Board of Distinction 5 times.” Yes, perhaps the Clover Park School Board is to be commended for following state school board directives but for what purpose if academic performance continues to fail? Despite all of these failures Schafer and Board have chosen to broach the topics of “systemic racism”, “equity, inclusion and diversity” (elements of Critical Race Theory (CRT)) as promulgated by the Superintendent in a public letter of 20 April 2021: and I thought it was the Board that was responsible for policy matters and public interface! This is a further distraction from the Board’s failures and detraction from the school district’s primary function: education rather than indoctrination. CRT isn’t what’s wrong with the District and certainly isn’t a solution to the problem of academic failure. Rather it is a smoke screen behind which Schafer, Board, Superintendent and staff can hide. Time for a change? Indeed.
There was an earlier press release that CPSD had a new (temporary?) website. https://cpsd.cloverpark.k12.wa.us/ Is this what you were looking for?
Same OLD complainers who for some reason would rather bitch than file for the School Board.
Same OLD Complainers who for some reason won’ file for election to the board
Mr. Hammer –
While I am not young anymore I hope I have not reached the designation of “OLD” yet, although my kids may agree with you. As you may know with years comes wisdom and mine tells me that certain board members have served long enough. What you see as a “Complainer” I see as a concerned community member who wants better for CPSD students.
You may not realize, but to unseat an incumbent board member you must live within the boundaries for that specific seat. If there was a way to run without moving I would be interested but the only thing I hate worse than painting is moving. So, I voice my concerns in hopes to persuade others. It is good to see other active community members like yourself sharing opposing views.
I’m sad that our numbers are so low. We moved here in 1963 and CP was 5th in the nation. We are nowhere near that anymore. We lose good teachers because we jump to complaining parents instead of holding students to the rules. We don’t hold the administration to the rules either (old story). I would like to see us back to our standards.
A way to fix it. https://electdavidanderson.com
As a 2 time elected board member in University Place I knew it would always take 2 other like minded members to make any change. You can’t “FIX” it with one member.
We win one position, there will be a second to motions made by Paul Wagemann resulting then in informed debate. We win two seats – and Jeff Brown is an excellent candidate – then there will be a new majority to return the CPSD Board to its one-and-only purpose: not presiding over, but pursuing after the academic and occupational success of students.