Mindless P's and Q's Can Spell Disaster

School Administrator, Nov, 1999

Left Up in the Air

When the Minisink Valley Central Schools in New York's Hudson Valley revamped its student transportation from a single trip into two separate bus runs, the district referred to the new system as "double-tiered busing."

That really ticked off one parent, who fired off a missive to Harvey Hilburgh, who was superintendent at the time. Thinking the district was rolling out a fleet of London-style double-decker vehicles, the mother said she feared her young daughter would catch a cold riding aboard the open-air top tier.

"We were reminded," says Hilburgh, that our choice of words is very important.

Bad Timing

In the middle of a communitywide literacy campaign, the San Diego Public Schools sent out final report cards with spelling errors to all 60,000 secondary school students.

The note from Superintendent Alan Bersin to parents on the cards emphasizes "student acheivement" (sic) and "apporpriate (sic) progress."

(Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune)

An F for Test Prep

With so much riding on the high-stakes student testing in Kentucky, you would think someone in the state agency would do a thorough proofreading before the exam was printed and distributed.

Sadly, students found four errors on the opening day of testing last year, including the omission of four consecutive pages of the 8th-grade social studies test and missing grids on the answer sheets of two math tests. On the writing prompt section for grades 4, 7 and 11, students were supposed to pick from 18 choices but had only 12 bubbles to fill in.

Perhaps Kentucky officials were testing to see whether anyone was paying attention.

(Source: Lexington Herald-Leader) A Hasty Headline

Sometimes school boards just can't get anything right.

Above a correction notice published in the monthly newsletter of the Associated School Boards of South Dakota was this headline: "Opps! We Goofed!"

Honest Humor

We rather liked the refreshingly honest approach of Debbie Morgan, an editor in the Fort Wayne, Ind., school district.

In a recent newsletter, Morgan plugs her district's home page on the Internet this way: "OK, it's the same bland design, but there's excitement in the words."

A Fitting Name

The principal of Edison Middle School in Los Angeles has the peffect name to inspire obedient behavior in her students: I.M. Good.

Red-Faced Moment

Readers were quick to notify the newspaper staff of the New York State School Boards Association of the error printed atop page one of the association's semi-monthly newspaper. The headline over the lead story trumpeted an improvement" (sic) in student performance.

The newspaper published a front-page "Oops" admission in the next issue, though the editor noted privately that a board member who took particular umbrage at the published mistake had misspellings in his own complaint to the newspaper staff.

A Word on Good Grammar

When it comes to student use of improper English grammar, the Prince George's County, Md., school board has spurned a "zero tolerance" policy.

The board defeated a member's hard-line proposal that would have required teachers to correct students every time they uttered a wrong word or ungrammatical phrase, whether in classrooms, hallways or cafeterias.

Instead, the school board adopted a measure that says improper grammar should be corrected "through the most appropriate means."

Warm Welcome Home

A few years back, Don Quimby, superintendent in Parkston, S.D., and his wife Margaret were driving into her hometown of Aberdeen, S.D., to celebrate his 50th birthday and their 27th wedding anniversary.

Quimby says he was taken aback when he spotted the prominent message on the marquee at the town's Dairy Queen: "DQ is 50 this year!"

The Scoreboard's His Key Concern

When school reopens each fall, Al Reaves has more than the typical superintendent work load to contend with. He doubles as the varsity football coach at Putnam County High School in Eatonton, Ga., a position he has held for 13 years.

Reaves doesn't take an extra stipend for his sideline duties, though the after-school job offers $7,500. He calls his sideline work "my escape from this job."

County superintendent since 1993, Reaves admits that he has some mighty long days during the fall season, but notes, "It's the worry that jill kill you."