11/16/2024: Politics At Home

Bringing the spirit of government accountability and responsibility to the front lines

Today is Saturday, November 16, 2024.  

It is the 321st day of the year.

45 days remain.

GOOD MORNING!

After spending the last few weeks focusing on national elections, a local issue, a microcosm of everything wrong with national politics, reveals the petty prejudices of small-time bureaucrats protecting the smallest fiefdoms of power. Nationally, these problems manifest in the abstract, mere data points in seas of statistics wielded to make political points, depending on how one chooses to interpret them. But for Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, young children tangibly suffer.  

Photo by Feliphe Schiarolli on Unsplash

Pandemic-era education losses still linger in American public schools. In Fond du Lac, standardized reading and math scores for middle school-aged kids lag numbers from 2019, by more than 7 points. Fifth graders have fared better, showing a marginal improvement – but the recovery data remains thin, and the learning gains do not carry forward as they progress through the school system. 

Some blame the pandemic, some blame parents, and many blame the teachers. Stories abound of educators ditching their classrooms just a few weeks into the school year. Everyone is frustrated, and the person responsible for leading the charge and fixing the problem, Superintendent Jeffrey Fleig, only points fingers elsewhere.