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Editor, News-Register:
Ohio County Schools has a new toy. He's called "Jerome the Drone." Jerome is flying all around the county filming beautiful welcome-back-to-school videos, which make for marvelous social media content. Jerome is new and shiny. He's part of the in-crowd and hangs with the cool kids.
Jerome has an old friend who is not as popular with the educrats and only makes an appearance once a year. The administration would prefer not to talk about her. She is not as attractive as Jerome despite her once-a-year makeover. Frankly, no amount of lipstick can help the old gal. She is "Celeste the Test." She is the annual standardized test results.
At the last Ohio County Schools board meeting, more thought and effort was put into Jerome the Drone's unveiling than Celeste the Test's results. It's hard to blame the administrators. Jerome is fun; he brings a smile to your face. Celeste is a downer. Who wants to talk about the fact that the math proficiency rate at your only high school is 24 percent. No one does, so they didn't. In fact, not a single second of discussion was devoted to the high school test scores. The only actual scores mentioned at the meeting were the best three at individual schools. The other 37 test scores from around the county were kept secret -- although school officials did say you could look them up online. I suggest you don't. More Jerome videos please.
The good news about Celeste, according to the central office administration, is that she is turning the corner. Celeste the Test had it rough during the pandemic, but she is starting to get her pre-Covid looks and confidence back. The administration predicted with a little self-care, Celeste the Test's math proficiency scores can get back to the pre-Covid rates of 44 percent countywide and 26 percent at Wheeling Park. Those were the good old days.
David Delk
Wheeling