A few days ago I ended up noticing something a little funny when going through the various feeds I subscribe to. This random oddity caught my attention and led to a neat little game of trying to figure out what’s going on in the local school system. I’ve written quite a bit about the topic–mainly on facebook–and have been going back and forth with (I’m assuming) the school system’s chief IT person. Anyway, as this has been a fun little trip, and it still raises a few questions on the time line of when things were published, I thought I’d post the stuff here. Why? I dunno. I just want to. Plus, as with most of my ramblings, I might want to go back someday and read over what I’ve written. Blah. Anyway, here’s how it started:
The following was originally posted at: http://www.facebook.com/notes/jeremiah-hall-palmer/harrison-county-schools-have-failed-in-a-certain-area-and-are-covering-it-up/10150395630796849
Harrison County Schools have failed in a certain area, and are covering it up!
I subscribe to a ton of feeds to get my news and tech fix–it’s also how I try to keep myself in the loop when it comes to things going on up on the hill.
Today, I found myself with a little bit of time and went thumbing through my subscriptions via my phone and found a gem from the school board; Andy Dotson, Superintendent of Harrison County Schools, had posted that our district was now in “corrective action” due to having fallen behind in a few key areas. As this was a point of interest for me, I decided to give it the ol’ share, and post it to facebook. Little did I know that I wasn’t sharing a darned thing–the original post had since been deleted.
Later, I found myself with some time in front of the computer. As many of us do, I ended up finding my way onto facebook and looking at my own profile–vanity, thy name is Jeremy. Then I noticed something odd. My comment that I had attached to that shared blog link was only the comment. There wasn’t a link. That signaled to me that the post had gone missing. So, I went back to my RSS reader–this time via PC–and found the article I had read before. Yep, there it was. A quick click in the feed to be transported to the original post, and; “Sorry, but the page you requested cannot be found.”
So, it was deleted, eh?
Curiosity got the better of me and I went to the Board’s facebook page. What did my eyes see there? Why a status and link boasting of how well we are doing!
…okay, so am I going nuts? I just read that we are falling behind, yet I see in big, bright, cheerful letters that we are improving!
…back to the post I had initially read. Didn’t Andy say something about us being able to find the reports online? Ah, yes he did! A quick google and search of the Kentucky Department of Education’s site-map led me to an Excel spreadsheet, where–Yes!–it shows Harrison County failing!
…so, what’s up with this? Where did the original post go? And why is the school board boasting of our success elsewhere?
…something stinks here. I want to know why.
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You can find the current boasts of success (unless they too get removed) at:
The spreadsheet I found is available at:
…and the original post from Andy Dotson (which was at: as archived by Google Reader follows:
Dear Parent/Guardian,
As part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, states must use academic assessments and other indicators to annually review the progress of each district to determine whether the district makes Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in reading and mathematics.
Harrison County has been identified for corrective action due to a few of our schools having deficiencies in some of the sub-population groups. Harrison County reached seven of the thirteen targets. Under federal law, a district that does not meet AYP for two consecutive years is identified for district improvement. This is Harrison County’s first year of corrective action. The complete NCLB data is available on the Kentucky Department of Education’s website under NCLB Reports on the Quick Links.
Harrison County has revised our Comprehensive District Improvement Plan and is working on our Corrective Action Plan. The purpose of the plan is to improve student achievement throughout the district.
If you have any questions about what Harrison County is doing to improve teaching and learning in every school, please call Harrison County’s Title I Coordinator, Dee Gee Fischer, at 234-7110.Sincerely,
Andy Dotson
Superintendent
Later, I added this comment to the preceding post:
…there’s a conversation going on here:
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=292341860788941&id=296254501606¬if_t=share_reply
Harrison County Schools are (is?) claiming that the Commissioner stated that NCLB is invalid, thus what I read doesn’t apply. I’ve not found such a statement.
Meanwhile, the conversation on the Board’s fan page went like this:
Harrison County Schools
Did you know that Harrison County Schools now rank 52nd out of 174 districts statewide? Check it out!
Thursday at 2:54pmJeremiah Hall Palmer …but i just read this statement from the Superintendent:
“Harrison County has been identified for corrective action due to a few of our schools having deficiencies in some of the sub-population groups. Harrison County reached seven of the thirteen targets.”
…the quote originated from the Board of Education’s blog — post has since been removed)
Yesterday at 3:10pmJeremiah Hall Palmer …a printout of the text I read can be viewed here:
23 hours agoHarrison County Schools That info came from NCLB. The Commissioner of Education has released a press release that states NCLB is no longer valid.
22 hours agoJeremiah Hall Palmer …unless I’m mistaken, what I’ve found doesn’t necessarily say that. I’ve found a few articles which state that Kentucky and several other states have petitioned for NCLB waivers (Cappiello, 2011; Katayama, 2011; Huffington Post, 2011).
I’m likely overlooking something, but I’ve yet to find an article stating that these waivers have been approved. In fact, I read that these waivers aren’t to be reviewed until December. (Kentucky Department of Education, 2011)
So, it’s my understanding that while according to the standards Kentucky wishes to apply we are doing fairly well and deserve the pep-talk and pat on the back that you’ve linked to. Still, we need to recognize that with regard to minorities we are struggling–an issue that a good portion of the Commonwealth is facing.
The point I’m trying to make is that Dotson’s statement addressing Harrison County’s failures according to NCLB were correct and needs to be shared, as well as the claims of how Harrison County is improving in other key areas. Perhaps revision rather than redaction of Dotson’s post would have given a better impression. Admitting the failure, specifying the demographic, stating how the rest of the Commonwealth is facing similar issues and outlining what the Commonwealth and Harrison County are wishing to do in identifying and correcting these issues may have left a better impression.
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Works Cited
Cappiello, J. “Ky. ed chief: State will reapply for NCLB waiver.” Houston Chronicle. September 23, 2011. Retrieved November 19, 2011 from
Huffington Post. “No Child Left Behind Waivers: 11 States Seek Relief From Federal Education Law” November 15, 2011. Retrieved November 19, 2011 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/15/no-child-left-behind-waiv_n_1095306.html
Katayama, D. “Kentucky Submits Waiver Application for NCLB on Monday.” WFPL News. November 14, 2011. Retrieved November 19, 2011 from
Kentucky Department of Education. “Final NCLB Flexibility Application Submitted.” November 14, 2011. Retrieved November 19, 2011 from
5 hours agoHarrison County Schools Please visit our district site at http://www.harrison.kyschools.us/ and click on the 2011 NCLB Update link.
59 minutes ago
I went back to the District website, and, sure enough, there was a link to the information. I had missed it! Grrr!
…but, I figured I might as well double-check things and see what my cache showed. And while I was at it, why not Google’s cache?
So, I checked my cache, which had a last access/mod date of yesterday evening. There was the link. Crud. But the link pointed to a document with a different filename! My cached version went to NCLB_AYP_11_16_11.pdf. The current version linked to nclb_update_11_11.pdf. That difference got me to digging further… Google’s cache linked to NCLB_Status_Letter_10_26_10.pdf. Huh? What’s up with all this?
The differences between all the cached versions are as follows:
Google’s cached version, which was pulled on November 14, 2011 and shows a revision date of November 11, 2011, gave a link to Superintendent Dotson’s letter (from October 26th of last year) regarding the AYP issues. We had only met 12/13 requirements. This document is dated October 28, 2010.
My cached version, which reflected the updates as of last night (November 18, 2011), gave a link to Dotson’s letter (in PDF form, appearing on District letterhead) as I had read it in my feed–the same letter I included above. This document is dated November 16, 2011.
The current (as of this writing) version is a three page document. Page one displays the text that appears on the page originally linked to by the District/Board facebook fan page. Page two displays quotes from Kentucky Department of Education’s Commissioner, Terry Holiday. These quotes come from a statement which was issued in September of this year, prior to KDE’s application for NCLB waiver. Page three of the document is another copy of Dotson’s letter. This document is dated November 17, 2011.
As far as dates go, I have no clue as to what is going on. It appears that what I see this afternoon was created two days ago, but not posted until today. Backdating of system clocks?
Anyway, the current version pretty much gives what I had requested this morning–sing praise of what we’ve done, show where Kentucky is wanting to change how we’re graded and admit we failed by the standards currently being applied.
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