Ignorance Is Bliss

So the holier than thou, selective scofflaws on the Evanston-Skokie District 65 School Board have decided to ignore a law of the state of Illinois. (How do you like your nanny state now?) Tribune:

The loophole means educators must comply with a law that is poorly defined, leaving teachers open to lawsuits and students vulnerable to teachers who might use the moment to promote prayer, said state Sen. Jeff Schoenberg (D-Evanston).

On Oct. 18, Schoenberg sent letters to 17 school systems in his legislative district, which stretches from northern Chicago to Glencoe, calling on school districts to apply for a waiver on grounds that the law represents "undue interference in the ability of teachers to manage their own classrooms."

"Right now school districts across the state lack formal guidelines for how to follow this new law," Schoenberg said. "[Legislators] deliberately wrote the bill so that it was not directly part of the school code so there's no [possibility to seek a waiver]."

(Sen. Schoenberg, master of the universe, who's mismanaged the mess in Springfield, apparently advocates ignoring the law as well, or is ignorant of it.)

So, Evanston-Skokie teachers and school board, maybe your students will say to you---ignorance is bliss, we can just ignore you too.

And the rest of us might say to their silly, strutting pronoucements-- silence is golden.

P.S. But what about tolerance, hmm? (Hint, it's not just Christians who might want to pray during the day.)

P. P.S. Or maybe y'all can join us in the school choice movement, the ultimate in diversity:

Caroline Grannan, a public school advocate and super-involved parent, lobbied hard to wear down the San Francisco school district back in 1996 and get her son William, then an incoming kindergartner, out of his assigned neighborhood school, Miraloma Elementary, and into a “more desirable” alternative school called Lakeshore. In 1996 Miraloma had low test scores and a low-income student body bused in from other neighborhoods; its middle-class neighbors shunned it. Lakeshore had a better reputation and higher student performance.

Once, Grannan remembers, it was conventional wisdom in San Francisco that there were only five decent public schools in the city; if you couldn’t get your child into one of them, it was time to move to the suburbs or to find a private academy. But a lot has changed since 1996. Today Grannan could send her child to any school within the city. What’s more, she would happily send her kids to Miraloma, one of many elementary schools in San Francisco that now attract eager middle-class clients. Miraloma has a new principal with a parent-friendly attitude, has begun to raise its test scores, and is more diversified. Families now feel secure taking advantage of Miraloma’s longstanding positive attributes, including its small size and its sheltered and attractive setting.