Clover Park School District announcement.
Clover Park School District (CPSD) Superintendent Ron Banner received an Award of Merit from the Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA) at a regional meeting on June 2.
Banner was honored for his leadership in developing a districtwide equity policy. The policy development was a seven-month process that included multiple school board reviews, meetings with stakeholder groups and input from more than 80 stakeholders throughout the district and community. Professional development on equity was also implemented districtwide.
One WASA Award of Merit per region is awarded annually to nominees who show effective leadership at the regional level and have made a significant contribution to WASA through his/her work in the field of education in Washington.
Eric Warn says
No surprise here. Ron Banner is an exceptionally good administrator who is making a big difference in our community.
John Arbeeny says
And yet Banner has presided over the Clover Park School District’s decline academically since he became Superintendent. How do you correlate this “award” with the FACT that so many District schools are at the very bottom of all Washington schools? It’s an award for EDI NOT the District’s academic achievement.
Example: Tyee Park Elementary is at 1.4 percentile academically…………98.6% of all State elementary schools out perform it academically. And that’s not the only school under 10 percentile academically. That “achievement” isn’t worthy of an award; it’s a scandal.
By the way, of those 80+ EDI stakeholders nearly 50% were District employees (like they’re going to disagree with Banner) and as much as another 30% individuals (city council members, college leadership and their EDI staff and EDI contractors) who were claimed as “community members” but had vested interests in EDI. Parents made up less than 10% of stake holders. This entire EDI formulation was a sham from its inception and engineered by Banner and his staff to side step any real stakeholder participation. For that you get an award.
Greg Rediske says
You are a bitter man, John Arbeeny. Apparently the WASA does not agree with your dismissiveness.
John Arbeeny says
How about instead of insulting the messenger you deal with the message? This has nothing to do with “bitterness” but rather the FACTS regarding the performance of Clover Park School District generally and its schools specifically. Schools don’t exist simply for the implementation of programs or administrative functioning. They exist to educate our students and prepare them for life after graduation. A bitter one liner from you just reveals the shallowness of your understanding of the real issues. That’s all you have.
Joyce Loveday says
Congratulations, Superintendent Banner! The award is well-deserved. I appreciate your unwaivering focus on creating an inclusive environment that supports and strengthens the young people of our community. Thank you for your tremendous commitment to and genuine care for students in the Clover Park School District.
Jim says
I taught 4th- and 5th-graders for 24 years in the Clover Park School District. I truly believe that standardized test are but one measure of success in preparing children for the future. It appears that the award was given for his leadership in developing and implementing a district-wide equity policy. I commend Superintendent Banner for his recognition for such by WASA.
John Arbeeny says
May I ask what elementary school you taught in and what years? Are you aware of current school academic rankings and where your school(s) stand? Standardized tests aren’t the only metric for student success but are one of the most objective measures of learning and thus accountability. If a student cannot compute 2+2=4 then it is arguable whether they have been educated despite other metrics as in EDI which are far more subjective and success (and accountability) difficult to assess. Ignorance while feeling good about yourself isn’t an education worth having.
The entire EDI process had to use a “stacked deck” of District employees and vested EDI interests to get it off the ground. It was deceptive and dishonest to call the founding group “stakeholders” when to a great extent the real stakeholders, parents, were shut out of the process. You can’t justify using ignoble means to obtain alleged noble goals without degrading the value of those goals. The end does not justify the means: it’s the other way round.
Michael D. says
This is a well deserved recognition for Superintendent Banner by his peers. Those who understand the unique challenges many of our students face on their path to graduation appreciate the value of a district-wide equity policy. Equity comes from building a strong sense of community where we support all students, meet them where they are and move them forward to a meaningful diploma. I understand the amount of scholarships our graduates have received this year is outstanding.
John Arbeeny says
“…..we support all students, meet them where they are and move them forward to a meaningful diploma.” While I agree with these sentiments I have some questions.
If we support “all students” why is there a racial component to EDI, culturally responsive discipline, and other related programs and policy? Why is it needed and if not, eliminated? I think that would go a long way to gain community acceptance but that means bringing the public into the process before, not after, it is formed.
What exactly were the scholarships you mentioned based upon? I’d suggest they are based upon hard objective data such as GPA, credits and yes, standardized testing (SAT). I doubt they are based upon EDI, SEL, Comprehensive Sex Education or any of the other social engineering courses found in most schools today. If they were, what objective metrics were used by which to measure their success? There are none and with that no accountability for achieving success. Neat way to side step the District’s purpose for being: education vs. indoctrination. In the meantime academic competence is declining.
How about the majority of students that will not go to or finish their college education? What is the District doing about that? Not much from what I can see. So you see there are a lot of issues far beyond EDI that need to be addressed while in the meantime they are ignored in favor of things that are nowhere near as important.
Brian Borgelt says
The Bible has a story about the Tower of Babel, where everyone was suddenly made to speak a different language.
From that point they could no longer build the thing.
Whether you believe the story or not, it’s a good parable for our time.
As an employer for several decades, I figure I had around 200 employees in that time span.
If someone wanted to do things their way when they felt like it, rather than as the situation required, they were replaced with someone who was willing and able to contribute positively to the mission.
Equity and inclusion centered around that mission.
Diversity was nothing more and nothing less than the personal traits that made up the team.
Arbitrary standards and race-based justice are mere excuses for failure.
As a nation we are being divided by those who claim to be doing otherwise.
Those who seek to divide have mastered the inversion of reality – replacing it with narrative and perception – mind games.
It’s no wonder these progressive agendas come with the legalization of powerful mind-altering drugs.
These same run-amok progressives are hell-bent on dismantling our “Constitution”and “Bill of Rights” – the only things that give us ability to be an individual.
So are these the “enemies foreign and domestic” that our oath to the Constitution speaks of, or are these the “useful idiots” that Stalin spoke of as he murdered tens of millions of his own countrymen?
We have one opportunity to get a unified message to our kids as they sit in those classrooms, about the unique privilege it is to be an American citizen.
Who is doing the opposite of that and why?