Monett officials blast No Child Left Behind

By pure coincidence, I just read Monett Times Managing Editor Murray Bishoff's article on Monett reaction to its failure to meet No Child Left Behind requirements just after I completed my weekly Newton County News column, which dealt with the utter absurdity of the law.
The Monett district, like Joplin, Neosho, Carthage, Webb City, Carl Junction, Springfield, and most of the larger school districts in the area, failed to meet No Child Left Behind's AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) requirements, simply because "disabled students" failed to improve their scores, though every other subgroup improved its scores, including the district's sizable Hispanic population, many of whom have learned English as a second language, and students who are eligible for free or reduced price lunches.
In Joplin, it turns out, we failed to make it in that same area, in every other area we made the mark, but now, Joplin, Monett, and the other school districts have to send out letters telling all parents that their children are in schools that did not meet federal guidelines. If this is not a sign that many of those who devised this law are trying to tear down the fabric of public schools, I don't know what is.
Every school district will eventually have to send out these letters since these students have handicaps that make it nearly impossible for them to learn at the same rate as other students, though they can learn and many do succeed.
It is expected that next year, as the No Child Left Behind barriers are once again moved upward that nearly every school in the state of Missouri will be classified as failing.
As the headline to the Monett Times story, so accurately puts it: No Child Left Behind is ridiculous.