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With apologies to Paul Harvey and his radio program which was widely popular in our high school mechanical drawing class, and reportedly throughout the U.S,. two recent news items are applicable to the upcoming LPOSD school board election.

An exploration of www.niche.com will uncover an article titled “2017 Best Public High Schools in America” in which Sandpoint High School is ranked as the 23rd best in Idaho, behind one in Moscow and Coeur d’Alene and Bonner County’s very own Bird Charter School.

At www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/idaho, is an article titled “2017 Rankings”, by state. For Idaho, Sandpoint High School is ranked No. 2. A pleasant discovery. Lest anyone overplay the ranking and brag about such an accomplishment, it is important to drill down further to two other very important details. In the “College Readiness Index”, SHS is given a meager 26.0. This means that more than two-thirds of students are not prepared for college-level classes. In a table indicating Math Proficiency, SHS is merely 48 percent. These deeper insights seriously weaken the value of the No. 2 rank.

Some current administrators with the LPOSD, and SHS, might praise the No. 2 rank and conveniently cover-up the rest of the story — and criticize people “who are not from here” who want to see the students do better. If the “children are our future” is to be believed, provincialism needs to be rejected and new blood needs to help the students excel in the 21st century.

JEREMY CONLIN

Cocolalla