In response to Don Roberts’ Aug. 27 column, “Augusta city politics in flux.”

The Augusta school board, or at least the majority of its members, are not interested in rocking the boat or improving anything in the school system. Many members of the school board are more concerned about being liked and making friends than they are the education of our children. What I find particularly offensive in Roberts’ column is the assertion that “the current team of administrators — superintendent, principals and dedicated teachers — are worthy of solid community support.” I ask why?

From The No Child Left Behind Report (NCLB) from 2015- 2016:

• 52 percent of fifth-graders met the state English standard.

• 62 percent met the state science standard.

• 30 percent met the state math standard.

In comparison, 36 percent of Cony High School students met the state English standard, 39 percent met the science standard, and 12 percent met the math standard,

Besides the fact that one would expect 100 percent of our children to meet the standards, it seems that the longer you remain in the Augusta school system the worse you do.

If we accept the idea that intellectual ability is fairly consistent in an individual then why are our children doing worse the longer they are in the Augusta school system?

It would be a pleasant surprise if the school board and the Cony administration would actually work together to address these issues, but I would not expect anything will change until parents demand a quality education for our children.

Nothing will change until parents stand up. If parents are not willing to do that, then I suggest you move to a school system where the focus is providing a quality education to all students instead of playing nicely in the sandbox.

You can view the NCLB report by choosing the District Report Card at www.augustaschools.org/nclb_report_card.php.

Kathleen Mahoney

Augusta