Curt the Cardinal forced to retire! (gasp)They say in sports that what you are defines who you are. Recognizing both the overabundance of "Cardinals" as state sports mascots, and their own special skill set, district administration appears to be working out a plan to establish a new team mascot and logo for Sun Prairie sports.
What does this district excel in? Why cherry picking, of course. And thus it seems clear that we are destined to become the Sun Prairie Cherry Pickers. Complete with a new mascot: Cherry Chip!
We have only our elected school board members -- and we need FOUR of those--- who have the power to stop the cherry picking and return Curt the Cardinal to his rightful throne. Do we have a majority of 4 board members who can and will step up, with their big boy (and girl) pants and publicly vow to end the cherry picking and right this listing district?
And while we're at it, why don't we change the Mission Statement to clearly reflect that we require ---DESERVE--- to have all the facts regarding the data used to make decisions. All data is filtered to some extent (MLB for example, filters baseball stats to include those with only a certain number of at bats. Otherwise, the guy that had a hit in his only at bat would win the batting title). But the difference is, that MLB clearly discloses how data has been filtered...and why.
The Sun Prairie school district, on the other hand, filters data until the result proves the case that it wants to make. Our most recent example had Athletics Director Jim McClowry filtering hockey fee data for the Big 8 Conference. For hockey, the big 8 includes 8 teams, 3 of which are Madison teams, which all have the same fees and is a perennially cash-strapped district. Then there's Janesville, which has been hit harder by the recession than most other locales. Way to make your average hockey fee soar through the roof, Jim! If one looks at similar sized (to Sun Prairie) school districts, quite the different picture emerges. Of course that picture doesn't allow Mr. McClowry to tax the hockey players of this community in order to support his plan to add freshman boys and girls soccer teams this year.
Hmm...isn't it supposed to be a plan supported and approved by the SCHOOL BOARD? It seems clear that McClowry is NOT a hockey fan.
Remember what Donnie Osmond used to sing.... "One bad apple won't spoil the whole darn bunch..."
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