Two yeas and a nay for the Blue Valley School District

There are a few things I’m certain about in my life. For example, I know my dog thinks I’m the most amazing bi-pedal mammal on the planet. Another thing I’m beyond confident about is that the Blue Valley School District will rejoice when I no longer have a child in their system.

It’s not that I’m a complainer or high-maintenance or delusional about my child’s grades or any other such nonsense. It’s because I feel it’s a public service to point out when the district has gone goofy.

So, as not to be categorized as a whiner, I’m going to give Blue Valley two big shout outs and one — Are. You. Kidding. Me.?

Shout out number one goes to the person or persons at the high school level who decided that homecoming had gotten out of control and “reimagined” the event.

Currenty, homecoming is a cha-ching extravaganza of new dresses, new suits, flowers, etc. At least one high school was brave enough to change their homecoming theme to famous couples.

This allowed kids to be creative and put together costumes from stuff they already owned or could get at a thrift store. It also made going without a date less awkward.

Friends could show up as Marge and Homer Simpson or even go in a group as the Three Stooges.

Shout out number two is for the geniuses who did the math and realized Blue Valley district seniors were getting the shaft by putting the class rank on the transcripts for college application. Here’s the hard truth. You can have a 3.8 at a Blue Valley school and not even make the cut for the top third of your class.

Yes, there are that many academic wunderkinds in the district. By not putting the rank on the transcripts smart kids who may have gotten a B in a couple of AP classes are not automatically cut from certain colleges’ application process because of their class rank.

Now for my grievance which is a great big WTH on the new teacher/parent/student computer interface called Canvas.

At back-to-school night the “evil” Canvas was the talk of the evening. In almost every class, parents asked teachers for insight about why a change was made when the current way to check grades, communicate with teachers and do all the other on line stuff was working just fine.

The teachers, like politicians behind in the polls, adroitly side-stepped the question.

The hostility is rising. On almost any school night in the past month I see at least a couple of Facebook posts from moms losing it over Canvas.

Seriously, what’s up with “21st century technology” that floods your inbox with class minutia and yet you have to channel the spirit of Steve Jobs to put money on your kid’s lunch account?

It’s not that I don’t comprehend that district’s need to keep their tech interfaces with parents current. I’m not a Luddite.

I just updated my iPhone to iOS 11, so I’ve got that going for me. But there should be some rhyme and reason as to why we have to make the change. At the very least, an effort should have been made to sell us on it.

We’re Blue Valley parents: Woo us with, “It’s going to help our kids get into a top-tier college” and then you’ve got us right where you want us: doing whatever you say.

This story was originally published September 28, 2017 at 11:50 AM with the headline "Two yeas and a nay for the Blue Valley School District."