Being up on the Pedestal only makes it Farther to Fall

Having helped build the pedestal from which Peggy Petrilli fell, the Herald-Leader would like us to learn an object lesson from the whole affair. It's a lesson many school administrators tried to teach H-L from the start - only to have their motives questioned. But now, H-L would like us to chalk it all up to a life lesson. But whatever we do - don't blame Stu.

I'm going to chat through this one, from the Herald-Leader:

No magic beans in education
Petrilli case should be object lesson

Everyone wanted to believe in the miracle-working principal.

Visiting dignitaries and aspiring politicians flocked to the scene of Principal Peggy Petrilli's successes at Lexington's Northern Elementary School and later at the Booker T. Washington Academy.

The visitors basked in the notion that all it takes to overcome obstacles of entrenched poverty, racial bias and disability is a strong leader.

In fact, that's exactly what it takes. But that's not all it takes. It also takes a strong faculty and lots of hard work. It takes more support for additional instruction. It even has implications for better health care and affordable housing. It takes a comprehensive approach. It going to cost us to do this right.

In that whole process a strong leader at every school is necessary, but not sufficient.

H-L suggests that anyone who would promise us success on leadership alone is like the man who sold Jack the magic beans. But has H-L forgotten who promised us the beans were magic?

Now we know that the successes, the meteoric rise in test scores, weren't what they seemed.

The saddest thing about the allegations of cheating and abuse of power against Petrilli is that they will discredit educators' genuine accomplishments, including her own.

And they will fuel cynicism -- about public education in general and the accountability system that has powered improvements in Kentucky's schools in particular.

We can already hear the detractors, condemning the entire Kentucky Education Reform Act for the actions of one person.

H-L shouldn't worry too much about that. No matter what educators do there will be detractors who condemn KERA. They were there from the start. They will be there as long as self-interest outweighs the common good. Some will be around as long as their bosses continue to pay them to dredge up whatever negative news can be found to undermine public confidence in the schools ability to help advance our economy. But as far as the usual KERA critics are concerned, if they condemn reform because of one person - it's not Petrilli. They are much more suspect of Silberman in this one.

But consider an alternative view: The willingness of Superintendent Stu Silberman and his administration to lay bare this embarrassing episode shows that the district is interested in honest progress, not just pumping up test scores at any cost.

I'd really like to believe that...and perhaps its true. But it would be more convincing if Silberman's directors would stay out of the test booklets and the rhetoric was toned down.

In Fayette County and around Kentucky, many schools are overcoming obstacles of
poverty, bias and disability without cheating. They're making steady, solid progress by teaching the same solid core curriculum to every child. And while their test scores may not skyrocket in a single year, they're getting there all the same.

True. And this is how it should be done. In nature, it seems like everything that grows fast, dies fast. In the school business, allowing the faculty the time it needs to adjust to and fully integrate changes in the program is crucial. Forcing massive changes down teachers' throats this year, only to cram something else down there next year, is not how one builds a professional faculty. Education as a field, has rightly been criticized for jumping on whatever bandwagon passes by.

Also, consider that the concerns raised by parents and staff at Booker T. Washington, where most of the students are black, and by community members were taken seriously and exhaustively investigated. Bravo to those who had the courage to step forward.

But no thanks for the ugly emails suggestive of a vendetta.

After discovering that numerous students were moved back a grade just so they could score higher on a less-advanced test, the district examined records from other schools for similar patterns and found none.

This would seem to be the weakest point in Petrilli's defense. In my opinion, it's indefensible.

And the district deserves credit for investigating all other schools to assure that similar patterns did not exist. It is the most convincing factor when it comes to assuring the public that the gamesmanship that happened at BTWA had not become a district-wide practice.

Petrilli, who claims she was the target of complaints because she's white, maintains she did nothing wrong and was forced to resign. She is suing the district for discrimination.

Sources close to district leadership tell KSN&C that this defense came with her new attorney, J. Dale Golden. A white principal sues a white superintendent citing racial discrimination based on the superintendent's deference to complaints from black parents - in part fueled by his lack of deference to black parents who allegedly preferred a black principal from the start.?!

Petrilli's original attorney dropped her case, sources say, when presented with the evidence revealed in the district's report.

The most amazing thing about all this is how eager everyone was to be gulled, to believe that all it takes is the right principal for kids who have almost no advantages to suddenly knock the lid off standardized tests.

People want to believe that because if all it takes is leadership, then schools don't need more money or teachers or days of instruction or better-trained teachers.

And kids can do just fine without preschool or routine medical and dental care.

Teachers and principals do work miracles every day, but they're the slow kind, not the overnight variety.

True. But if that was a confession, it falls short.

No one was more eager to be gulled than the editorial board at the Herald-leader. In my meeting with them as a candidate for the board of education it could not have been more clear that what H-L was going to support were moderately qualified, but mailable candidates who would not rock the boat. H-L helped spread the news of the magic beans and didn't want anyone to get in the way of the narrative. They wanted to print the legend.

H-L claims it has learned a lesson from setting Petrilli up on that pedestal. Now they are fighting to keep Silberman up there.

The truth is that both Silberman and Petrilli are zealous, hard-working individuals who were very focused on achieving results according to the only acceptable measure of a school district's success in Kentucky today - test scores. Both have been effective in their own ways, but the district says Petrilli went overboard. If the allegations are true, she did.

Putting Silberman up on that same pedestal is wrong. Not that he isn't deserving of praise for his dedication and hard work; he impresses me as a good man, but he should not be confused with a savior.

If the Herald-Leader wants to help the public improve the schools, perhaps they should tell the story of how difficult this work really is, and resist the temptation to join the politicians in the easy speak that promises much while ignoring reality.