Audits challenge us to do better

The recent audit conducted by the National Council on Teacher Quality was an exercise entered into collaboratively with an understanding that the study would provide Springfield Public Schools with an honest look at practices such as recruiting, hiring, evaluations and compensation.

The results of the study have given us pause to better understand our strengths and opportunities for improvement. I was disappointed by the coverage of the report as it appeared in The Republican. Instead of focusing on the value of the lessons learned from the report and how its findings will help us drive improvements, it focused on the negative, in my opinion. Please know that if we felt there was no room for improvement, an audit would not have been necessary at all.

While we may not be able to adopt every recommendation made in the report, it certainly does provide us with an objective view and our labor-management team is committed to moving beyond the status quo... That, to me, is good news.