When I was a student, I was blessed with terrific teachers. Oh, of course there’s a bad apple or two in every bushel, but for the most part, the educators who taught me were dedicated, capable, and above all, qualified for the task.

One of the most depressing things I’ve noticed in public schools today is the declining facility our teachers seem to have with the English language. Alexis used to bring home notes from her teachers which were rife with spelling errors, improper usage, and incorrect grammar. It’s not encouraging when the person teaching your child to spell cannot herself spell even simple words properly.

Today, some further e-mails from Principal Randy Bynum (see yesterday’s blog) were released to accompany those already made public. One of them was a statement from Bynum, apparently addressed to the entire faculty at Pebblebrook. This is an e-mail that Bynum should have fully expected to go public. In his position, I would have gone over that statement with a fine-toothed comb. I would want to be sure the grammar and usage were impeccable, as one would expect from a man charged with managing educators.

With that in mind, let’s have a look at Mr. Bynum’s best work. We’ll treat this as a sort of pop quiz. At the end of each paragraph, we’ll tally the correct and incorrect sentences for grading purposes.*

Today many of you will read or hear about the article concerning the school newspaper. As you read it many of you will form opinions and take sides. That is your right, especially those of you who have invested so much in this school. However I ask that you keep keep your focus on why we are really here and that is to facilitate student achievement. As I have said before nattering nabobs of negativity, regardless of how they are cloaked, cannot stop us on our journey to excellence.

Commas are missing after “it” in the second sentence, “here” in the fourth sentence, and “before” in the fifth. I would like to take points away for the phrase “nattering nabobs of negativity”, but it’s not wrong. It’s just extremely silly. 2 of 5 sentences are correct so far.

We are losing three teacher allotments next year. In addition the pupil-teacher ratio is rising. That means less tachers and larger class sizes. There was a choice to be mad with regards to what classes to keep and what to dissolve. The classes that were looked at were new classes first. They were Graphic Arts, Cosmetology, and the Journalism classes. Of these three Journalism served the least number of students by far. I then decided to move it to an afterschool activity. This didn’t seem like a stretch since it only produced 3 to 4 issues this year whereas the Sprayberry paper publishes every two weeks.

“Tachers”? It could be a typo. “A choice to be mad”? Freudian. “With regards”? Wrong. The fifth sentence is a nightmare of structural errors. A comma is missing after “three” in the sixth sentence. “Afterschool” is not a word. A comma is missing after “year” in the last sentence. 7 of 15 sentences are correct so far.

With regrads to the quality and balance of the paper, yes i did have concerns as many of you did. The bottom line is that course listings at any school are reviewed for quality, student interest, and graduation/college requirements.

“Regrads”? It’s the wrong word, AND it’s misspelled. A comma is missing after “yes”. “I” is not capitalized. 8 of 17 sentences are correct so far.

This year we have moved mountains in so many ways. The agenda of a few can not overshadow the herculean efforts demonstrated in our successful test scores, the accolades students have received , the facility upgrades we have received, or the heart and soul pored into this school by the committed professionals here.

“Pored” is a word but not the correct one. 9 of 19 sentences are correct so far.

I told the MDJ reporter the essence of what I’ve said here. He chose to take another road. I only take the high road, especially when it has to do with what is in the best interest of Pebblebrook. I ask ,sncerely and heartfelt, that rather than be angry at anyone that has tried to tarnish the great year the Pebblebrook School Community has had, you stay professional, focused, and committed to Soaring to Success!

Thank you for all you do for our students, school, and community.

“Sincerely” is misspelled. “Heartfelt” is not an adverb, and therefore cannot modify the verb “ask”. 13 of 24 sentences were correctly written.

Dividing 13 by 24 gives us Mr. Bynum’s final grade: 54.2%. That’s not very impressive for a man of his experience and position, is it?

Yesterday, the Cobb County School Board took the only action they felt to be appropriate given Bynum’s qualifications, experience, and recent decisions.

He’s being promoted to area superintendent.

No, I am not joking.

* I fully expect my own writing to be similarly critiqued. Turnabout is fair play. However, it would be prudent to bear in mind that I’ve never claimed to be qualified as an educator.

UPDATE: May 25, 2005
A recent comment on the Speaking Underground blog, apparently written by a Pebblebrook staff member, indicates that the information about Bynum’s promotion may have been somewhat inaccurate. According to the unidentified staff member, who was present when the announcement was made, Bynum is being placed as an Assistant Area Supervisor.

We all know how bureaucracies function. It’s entirely possible that this will be a position where he’ll be able to do less damage than he could as a principal. At the very least he’ll be out of direct contact with students. This could be good news.

UPDATE: June 10, 2008

Recently, I have twice found myself thinking about this issue.  I have wondered about what happened to BrookSpeak as well as about the fate of journalism at Pebblebrook in general.

On November 11 of 2007, I sent an e-mail to Jonathan Stroud, who represented the voice of reason in this conflict between the rights of the students and the whims of an egotistical administrator.  In that e-mail, I asked if the newspaper still existed, if there had been any improvement in the administration’s attitude toward the paper with Bynum’s departure, and whether the journalism class had been reinstated.  I stressed carefully that any reply I received would be off the record.  Mr. Stroud received the e-mail, I believe, because there were hits on my blog that same afternoon from his school system that I could not otherwise explain.  Unfortunately, he either chose not to reply or was prevented from replying.

If anyone has current information about the current status of the BrookSpeak newspaper or the journalism course at Pebblebrook High School, please consider bringing me up to date.  I will keep sources anonymous if they so desire, or I will even forego publication of any information you provide, if you so desire.  I would simply like to know what the outcome was.  Thanks.