BARBER BULLETIN
FEBRUARY 11-15 Creating Joyful Leaders and Learners
"NO DENTIST LEFT BEHIND" A parody of school systems written by a retired superintendent in SC
My dentist is great! He sends me reminders so I don't forget checkups. He uses the latest techniques based on research. He never hurts me, and I've got all my teeth, so when I ran into him the other day, I was eager to see if he'd heard about the new state program. I knew he'd think it was great.
"Did you hear about the new state program to measure the effectiveness of dentists with their young patients?" I said.
"No," he said. He didn't seem too thrilled. "How will they do that?"
"It's quite simple," I said. "They will just count the number of cavities each patient has at age 10, 14 and 18 and average that to determine a dentist's rating. Dentists will be rated as Excellent, Good, Average, Below Average and Unsatisfactory. That way parents will know which are the best dentists. It will also encourage the less effective dentists to get better," I said. "Poor dentists who don't improve could lose their licenses to practice in South Carolina."
"Cavities are the bottom line, and you can't argue with the bottom line. It's an absolute measure."
"That's terrible," he said.
"What? That's not a good attitude," I said. "Don't you think we should try to improve children's dental health in this state?"
"Sure I do," he said, "but that's not a fair way to determine who is practicing good dentistry."
"Why not?" I said. "It makes perfect sense to me."
"Well, it's so obvious," he said. "Don't you see that dentists don't all work with the same clientele; so much depends on things we can't control?
"For example," he said, "I work in a rural area with a high percentage of patients from deprived homes, while some of my colleagues work in upper-middle class neighborhoods. Many of the parents I work with don't bring their children to see me until there is some kind of problem and I don't get to do much preventive work. "Also," he said, "many of the parents I serve let their kids eat way too much candy from a young age, unlike more educated parents who understand the relationship between sugar and decay.
"To top it all off," he added, "so many of my clients have well water which is untreated and has no fluoride in it. Do you have any idea how much difference early use of fluoride can make?"
"It sounds like you're making excuses," I said. I couldn't believe my dentist would be so defensive. He does a great job.
"I am not!" he said. "My best patients are as good as anyone's, my work is as good as anyone's, but my average cavity count is going to be higher than a lot of other dentists because I chose to work where I am needed most."
"Don't get touchy," I said.
"Touchy?" he said. His face had turned red, and from the way he was clenching and unclenching his jaws, I was afraid he was going to damage his teeth. "Try furious. In a system like this, I will end up being rated average, below average or worse.
"My more educated patients who see these ratings may believe this so-called rating actually is a measure of my ability and proficiency as a dentist. They may leave me, and I'll be left with only the most needy patients. And my cavity average score will get even worse.
"On top of that, how will I attract good dental hygienists and other excellent dentists to my practice if it is labeled below average?"
"I think you're over-reacting," I said. "'Complaining, excuse making and stonewalling won't improve dental health '... I am quoting that from a leading member of the DOC," I noted.
"What's the DOC?" he said.
"It's the Dental Oversight Committee," I said, "a group made up of mostly lay-persons to make sure dentistry in this state gets improved."
"Spare me," he said. "I can't believe this. Reasonable people won't buy it," he said hopefully.
The program sounded reasonable to me, so I asked, "How else would you measure good dentistry?"
"Come watch me work," he said. "Observe my processes."
"That's too complicated and time consuming," I said. "Cavities are the bottom line, and you can't argue with the bottom line. It's an absolute measure."
"No one would ever think of doing that to schools."
—dentist
"That's what I'm afraid my patients and prospective patients will think. This can't be happening," he said despairingly.
"Now, now," I said, "don't despair. The state will help you some."
"How?" he said.
"If you're rated poorly, they'll send a dentist who is rated excellent to help straighten you out," I said brightly.
"You mean," he said, "they will send a dentist with a wealthy clientele to show me how to work on severe juvenile dental problems with which I have probably had much more experience? Big help."
"There you go again," I said. "You aren't acting professionally at all."
"You don't get it," he said. "Doing this would be like grading schools and teachers on an average score on a test of children's progress without regard to influences outside the school — the home, the community served and stuff like that. Why would they do something so unfair to dentists? No one would ever think of doing that to schools."
I just shook my head sadly, but he had brightened. "I'm going to write my representatives and senator," he said. "I'll use the school analogy — surely they'll see my point."
He walked off with that look of hope mixed with fear and suppressed anger that I see in the mirror so often lately.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH REMINDER
Meet Ashton Struthers
WHO LOVES A GOOD COMPETITION? GAME ON!
Please work with your grade level team to complete as many missions as possible this week.
You may look anywhere in the building to complete the missions. However, you can NOT use your own grade level projects as evidence.
You have until Thursday at 6:00 pm to complete the game.
Prizes will be given for the winning team! If we have multiple teams finish, extra points will be given for creativity. Only ONE team will win! :)
Please download the GooseChase app on your device.
We're playing as teams in 4 separate games.
After downloading the app, enter the code for your grade level:
-PM, K, 4K: YKG11X
- LM, 1st, 2nd, 3rd: N4EV37
- UM, 4th, 5th: NQKX14
- Global, SPED, Admin: 2VEXDL
Good luck and happy hunting!!
Looking for 99 or more BRIGHT IDEAS! Submit your ideas and it might be funded!
Teachers and Staff,
Sometimes big ideas live in small spaces. We’re interested in how to grow great ideas across different school and job sites and celebrate what makes our district premier! Our goal is to have 99 (or more) bright ideas by February 22.
What are you doing in your classroom, office or job role that is innovative? Ideas can be in the area of school schedules, work environments, communications, teacher retention, virtual education, new disruptive technologies, passion projects, or changing the world.
Visit RICHLAND2.BRIGHTIDEA.COM/99BRIGHTIDEAS TODAY, submit your bright idea and watch it grow! You can submit ideas individually or team up to submit an idea. Encourage your colleagues to vote on your idea! All Richland Two employees are invited to participate.
CONSIDER THIS:
TEAM UP WITH A MEMBER OF THE ADMIN TEAM TO ASSIST YOU!
A LOOK AT OUR WEEK:
SCHOOL BUS DRIVER APPRECIATION WEEK
3:30pm Action Teams meet
Tuesday:
No schoolwide events are scheduled
Kindergarten: Lunch N Learn
Wednesday:
K.Barber at Key Leaders
4th graders attend Philharmonic
3:30pm Parrot Prep Academy
Thursday: VALENTINES DAY (Wear jeans and red/pink if you'd like!)
Child Development field study
Our staff is sweet! Massages held in the BrainForest with candy bar!
Savage, Smith, and Hinks at PDS conference
Bookman at SCIRA
DID YOU COMPLETE THE GOOGLE CHASE COMPETITION WITH YOUR GRADE LEVEL?
Friday:
8:30am Covey Clubs
11:30am Early Dismissal for Students
1pm Staff synergy in cafeteria
Bookman at SCIRA
Savage, Smith, and Hinks at PDS conference