Quantcast

Editorial: F

By The Times-Ledger

The excuses flow like water. Unnamed district superintendents say they didn't get the money that they need to buy books until the last week of August. In at least one case, the person responsible for ordering the books did not return until September.

That begs the question: what was everyone thinking about in June? Certainly the principals and district supervisors knew then how many children would be returning and how many books would be needed. It is not surprising that the wheels turn slowly at 110 Livingston St.. They always have. But why didn't someone sound an alarm? The chancellor has said that his door is always open. By July didn't someone see that there was a disaster in the making? In the junior high schools and high schools of New York there is zero tolerance for students who show up for class unprepared. Shouldn't there also be zero tolerance for principals and other administrators who are unprepared for the students they are paid to serve?

The quality of the textbooks used throughout the New York City School system has long been a problem. Students are lucky if their social studies books were published in the