true

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/01/opinion/01ravitch.html?_r=2&ref=opinion

New York Times article

This article came across my e-mail a few days ago.  The opinions of this author are quite accurate.  I have seen this firsthand.  Depending on how you use the statistics, I have either been at a failing school or an amazing school for the last few years.  Now that we have faced the restaffing option, my guess is that the powers that be (ie. the government who passed this terrible law) will use the stats to show off the successes of this school.
Unfortunately, much damage was done in the process.  If you have never watched a career that has spanned decades be ripped out of someone's hands, you may not know the devastation it causes.  I just watched that very thing become a key component in the unthinkable -suicide.
The schools will continue to be as good as the support at home behind the students who walk through the door.  That is the simple truth.