Tuesday, May 23, 2006

MCCSC disappointing under Maloy

The Herald-Times had some very interesting statistics in the paper yesterday regarding the performance of the previous MCCSC superintendent, John Coomer, and the present MCCSC Superintendent, John Maloy. The most striking was graduation rates. Graduation rates had been improving in Coomer's last three years, From 84.6% in 1999-2000 to 85.3%, and 89.5% the next two school years.

While Maloy started out at an impressive 93.2% in 2002-2003, the graduation rate dropped to 86.7% and then to 81.4% for the 2004-2005 academic year. The progress that was being made under the Coomer administration has been reversed.

SAT scores have also presented cause for concern. Coomer's last three years saw the scores go from 1055 to 1061 and 1074, while Maloy's first three years saw SAT scores go from 1077 to 1088 and 1074. What is interesting here is the difference between the MCCSC scores and the state average. The gap was increasing during the last three years of Coomer's term, from 56 points to 61 points and then to 73 points. Under Maloy, the gap between the state average and MCCSC scores went from 73 points to 81 points before dropping to 62 points.

Maloy and School Board president Sue Wanzer were on the AM 1370 Afternoon Edition yesterday to discuss the statistics. Maloy made the point that MCCSC operates in the light and is very open to the public. I was quite amused by this statement, given the dishonest "passive consent" system the MCCSC planned to use for a "sex survey" that was spiked by parents and concerned citizens. (See previous articles from April 9, April 13, April 14, April 21, May 3, and May 4 of 2005.) An school system dedicated to transparency would not have even considered a "passive consent" system, nor would they have excluded parents and concerned citizens from a meeting where Planned Parenthood presented propaganda to teenagers.

These issues will be something that school board candidates, especially incumbents, will have to address in the coming election. Dr. William Scott put together a very detailed report on the performance of MCCSC Schools, which he hopes to publish on the Internet soon. If and when this happens, I will link to the report here.