Roses raspberries

North County Times – Escondido,CA,USA
A rose to the city of Encinitas for its decision to go live with its
televised city council meetings. We recently gave the city a hard time for
not being as …

The ‘Mr. Feel Good’ award – A raspberry to Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews, for concocting a school-ranking formula for Newsweek magazine that reeks of social promotion and the soft bigotry of no expectations.

Specifically, the formula divides the number of Advanced Placement tests given at a school by the number of graduating seniors. According to Mathews,

Oceanside High, which has an Academic Performance Index score about 100 points below the state target, is among the top 5 percent of American schools because its Advanced Placement courses are open to all students, not just the ones who belong there. Oceanside High now gives 800 AP tests each year —- more than triple the number it offered before it opened enrollment to all students. Mathews didn’t factor in performance because it’s his belief that the experience of having taken an AP class is more important than the grade given. Remember, kids, it’s not how well you do in class that matters, it’s how good you feel about it.

The ‘Cup o’ Corporate Conscience’ award

A rose to the developers of a Starbucks at Cassidy Street and South Coast Highway in Oceanside for their decision to incorporate a makeshift memorial to fallen service members into the design of their new store or to support a larger memorial at another site. In 2003, a local couple began hanging faux dog tags to represent every service member killed in Iraq on the fence surrounding an abandoned gas station where the new Starbucks will stand. Whether the world needs another Starbucks is a question we’ll let consumers answer, but it’s nice to know that this one will serve a little respect for the fallen with every cup of coffee.

The ‘And the Hits Just Keep On Coming’ award

A raspberry to the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District for claiming on an award application to the National Association of Counties that its Web site targeting children received 2,000 hits per month. The district won the award, but it turns out that the number of hits was exaggerated by a factor of 40. The association decided to let the award stand , but the incident raises questions not only about the pollution district’s integrity but its use of resources. Is it really worth creating and maintaining a Web site that gets only 50 lousy hits a month? The district recently predicted that San Diego will meet federal rules regulating ozone by the summer of 2008. Let’s hope it wasn’t making that up, too.

The ‘Extended Family’ award

A rose to Gerald and Jane Brunzie for their volunteer work at Lake Elementary School in Oceanside. Known to the students as Grandma and Grandpa, the San Marcos couple devote 20 hours a week to helping fourth- and fifth-graders with math. While there are other volunteers, few devote as much time as do the Brunzies. The kids get the help they need and the Brunzies get scores of adopted grandchildren. The Brunzies give a whole new meaning to the Golden Years.

The ‘Wednesday Night Live’ award

A rose to the city of Encinitas for its decision to go live with its televised city council meetings. We recently gave the city a hard time for not being as accessible to the public as it should be, in part because of its practice of rebroadcasting its council meetings. The council also deserves credit for acknowledging the need for streaming Internet coverage of its meetings as well. The first live cable broadcast will be June 13. So set aside time for some must-see TV. Given the contentiousness of Encinitas politics, this could be better than “Survivor.”