The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writers:
Our Back to Basics team (Jasin, Morgan, Pemberton) started this campaign because of concerns over the general direction of the Catalina Foothills School District, and we have expressed those concerns partly by sharing the poor math and reading proficiencies as published by the AZ Department of Education.
Our opponents have stated that our figures for students who are "not proficient" are incorrect and are providing different numbers. Since we initially publicized our numbers, the AZ Department of Education has released newer ones that are slightly different and are marginally better. The larger difference, however, lies in the interpretation. There are four categories when ranking proficiencies: minimally proficient, partially proficient, proficient, and highly proficient. We have included both "minimally proficient" and "partially proficient" students in the "not proficient" category because that is what the ADE graphs clearly indicate. Our inference is that anything less than proficient is not acceptable. Our opponents have decided that “partially proficient” means proficient. Decide for yourself which interpretation is more honest and accurate.
Our opponents claim that CFHS “is rated by U.S. News and World Report as Arizona’s #1 comprehensive, non-selective high school”, which sounds impressive, except that it also ranks Arizona schools at No. 47 in the country. Additionally, it gives CFHS a College Readiness Index Rating of 48.2 out of 100. There is plenty of evidence to indicate that there are deficiencies. We are not asserting that our high school, or the school district in general, is terrible, but that we believe CFSD is not performing to its potential.
It appears that this started when the vision of our school district shifted from academic excellence to a social, emotional, and political agenda. Further, we believe that using the pandemic to excuse this loss of learning and performance is not justified. While the testing scores have unquestionably been affected by the pandemic response, the decline started before the pandemic. There is a pattern. Keep in mind, it was not the pandemic that caused this problem; it was the school district’s reaction to it. For more details about this, please visit our website at https://btb.school
When the board ceases to pursue educational excellence and instead pursues ideological and other non-educational goals, falling results are inevitable. Worst of all, those results will disproportionately harm those children who are already at the greatest risk of doing poorly.
We agree with our opponents on one thing at least: The choice is clear. There is our opponents’ view, which involves pursuing a specific ideological agenda, or there is our view, which is to restore focus on the basics: reading, writing, math, science, civics, the arts, and history. There are so many things that that our school district accomplishes well. Our goal is to help set a direction that emphasizes basic education and moves away from the social and political issues that are better taught at home or elsewhere.
