Carmel Schools Experience and Involvement:

By Richard C. Kreitman

We are proud to have our two sons in Carmel District schools, and for them and all our children I have been actively involved for the past 10 years working for educational improvement in our schools.

From 2002 through 2009 I attended nearly every public meeting of the Carmel Unified School District Board of Education, observing, taking careful notes, participating in discussions, sometimes as a member of the community and at other times as a representative of a working committee. From 2002 to 2004, as an active and vocal citizen participant at these meetings, I regularly presented the Board and administration with analyses of how our students were doing academically compared to their peers around the state. I brought early attention to the unfortunate reality that the actual academic achievement and performance of our students, particularly in our secondary schools, fell far short of our community's perceptions, our exceptional level of resources, our expectations as parents, and, most important, our children's abilities. Being the first to report all this did not make me popular at the time. Unfortunately, subsequent events proved my predictions to be accurate: by 2004 both Carmel Middle School and Carmel High School had fallen into the lowest deciles of academic performance relative to their peer schools around the state.

The good news is that the Board and District administration had already begun to take strong action to address the issues and from that low point in 2004 things have improved dramatically. By 2009 both the Middle School and High School had risen to 10/10 ratings - the highest possible - which is an extraordinary turnaround and entirely due to the hard work of the many people in the District, most particularly our excellent teachers.

The challenge now is to maintain this academic excellence in the face of rising enrollments and tighter finances, while also maintaining our equally excellent programs in music and the performing arts, athletics, ROP, fine arts, the Habitat, Robotics, Mock Trial, etc. It is this combination of academics and all the rest that put our schools among the very best in the State.