On January 8, 2002 President Bush signed the "No Child Left Behind" law in effort to increase the testing scores of high school students nation wide. When Obama became president in 2008, he moved this law to one of his top priorities. In the past three years the ACT scores at Sparta High have been stagnant, but just below the average. In addition, the WKCT (required for all tenth graders) scores have been increasing but they are still not high enough.
Starting February 1, the entire faculty will no longer reply to the Sparta High School Administration. They will still be paid until June 1st, but all the faculty at Sparta high will be replaced by certified teachers all over the nation that have been hired by the US Government. "The Students are our future and we need to take this seriously," said Jon Jones from the US Department of Education.
Sparta High is not the only school where these changes are being made. This unilateral change is also occurring in California, Michigan, Rhode Island, North Carolina, and Florida. Jones wanted to ensure that these changes are not going to bring an increase to the tax payer dollars. "These actions are all funded by the government," Said Jones.
He goes on to explain that this change is in need of effect now and we can not wait any longer. "The present is now. We have a hard time waiting because when we wait, we will only be that far behind. We can't wait anymore," said Jones.
There are many changes that are going to be made to the typical school day in order to help raise the testing scores. "The school day will start at 7:45 as always, but we will end our day at 5:00," said Jones. This day will include more classes in Mathematics, Science, and Reading (the classes in which we are currently struggling.) In addition to the lengthened school day, the school year will also be lengthened. "Our school year will officially end on June 1st, but if no progress is made by then, we will receive a ten day leave and resume school on June 11," said Jones.
Jones, as well as the US Government, is aware that students are not going to like these changes and are going to be tempted to skip school. "The government is bringing in an additional five police offers from around the nation to come in and enforce the law," said Jones. Jones goes on to explain that these new officers will be tracking down students who skip, parents who are uncooperative, and employers of parents with secondary students.
The school will also be adding an infirmary in the school for students who are sick. Jones explains that all students must be in school wether they are sick or not.
The changes in effort to increase scores will not only effect the hours of the school day, but they will also effect the elective classes and co-curricular activities. "Effective February 1, we will no longer be issuing work permits, and all extra curricular activities such as sports and music will be terminated," said Jones. There is a chance that these co-curricular activities will be brought back into the school but only if the scoring needs are met.
"We understand these changes are drastic, but we believe the outcome will be nothing but positive,"said Jones.
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