Deadline: A date or time when something must be finished : the last day, hour, or minute that something will be accepted.

A recent communique from the New York State Department of Education reports that the Rochester City School District Office of School Innovation was two days late with their submission of the 2013-14 District Comprehensive Improvement Plan.

Further inquiry found that there would be no repercussions from Commissioner King for having submitted the information past the deadline.

It is this lack of accountability by the State that allows for the incompetent and inefficient management of elected and appointed administrators in our district that creates and maintains the failure of our current system of education to successfully prepare our children for their future.

Commissioner King has no problem holding teachers accountable for student failure.

Teachers are evaluated on their ability to instruct students by means of arbitrary standardized tests, yet educational leaders, making twice their salary, are allowed to, without consequence, submit incomplete and incomprehensible plans of improvement and ignore deadlines.

These same incompetent individuals are responsible for assessing and accepting the individual School Comprehensive Education Plans of all Priority and Focus schools within the district.

This is the type of top down, organizational mayhem that perpetuates failure in our district and across the State.

The Board of Education and the Superintendent, in accepting the inefficient and ineffective operation of the Office of School Innovation is also accepting the failure of our students.

Individual schools are expected to align their goals with a DCIP that is virtually non-existent, leading to the RCSD being a focus district.

To spend $360,000 in educational dollars to contract with private corporations that provide consultation on how to properly manage their responsibilities as educational leaders is irresponsible.

It is more prudent to elect and hire educational leadership that is capable and will hold all others accountable for the efficient and effective execution of their duties.

Adults are a child’s role model. Our children deserve educational leadership that models integrity, respect, and pride in a job well done.

Join the Movement to Save Our Children!