Louisiana School Leader Testifies Against Accountability and Misspells Accountability

You can’t make this stuff up. Earlier today, Principal Kelli Oertling, who oversees education for hundreds of students at Lakewood Elementary in St. Charles Parish, testified before the K-12 Education Study Group at the Louisiana State Capitol to oppose the adoption of new state accountability standards for public schools.

“We are leading the state in literacy,” argued Principal Oertling, who also happens to be married to St. Charles Parish School Superintendent Ken Oertling.

Despite Principal Oertling’s audacious claims, data from the Louisiana Department of Education (LDE) reveals only 48% of students in grades 3rd- 8th in St. Charles Parish are achieving at the Proficiency/ Mastery Level in English and Language Arts.

Making matters worse is LDE data that shows 54% of all K-12 students in St. Charles Parish are not on grade level. That’s 54% of ALL students!

In an ironic twist of fate, the absurdity of Oertling’s testimony was underscored by the fact that she misspelled accountability in the headline of her presentation to the education study group.

Can you imagine a scenario that more perfectly illustrates the myriad of ways our current public education system is not working than this one?