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For kids, the school year passes slowly, but for parents, school years pass all too quickly. One day you put your daughter on the bus for her first day of kindergarten, and before you know it sheòòò½ÊÓƵ™s off to her first day of middle school. All too soon, sheòòò½ÊÓƵ™s graduating from high school. Then she puts her son on the bus for his first day of kindergarten, and she herself realizes that the years pass quickly.

West Virginiaòòò½ÊÓƵ™s public schools face many challenges, and people are quick to point them out. Every year, it seems, another report surfaces that indicates the stateòòò½ÊÓƵ™s education system lags behind that of other states. Itòòò½ÊÓƵ™s easy to measure the empirical data of schoolsòòò½ÊÓƵ™ inputs (money) and outputs (graduation rates and test scores), but itòòò½ÊÓƵ™s not so easy to measure data that canòòò½ÊÓƵ™t be put into numbers. How much effort do teachers and students themselves put into the learning process? Fortunately, despite the obstacles there are teachers and administrators who do their best to help kids despite the outside pressures these pliable young minds face.

School years pass quickly, and young minds often arenòòò½ÊÓƵ™t mature enough to take advantage of what their schools offer. Itòòò½ÊÓƵ™s up to adults at home and at school to encourage kids to learn.

Schools offer so much more now than they did a generation or two ago. Theyòòò½ÊÓƵ™re also hobbled by problems studentsòòò½ÊÓƵ™ parents and grandparents didnòòò½ÊÓƵ™t face or maybe refused to face. The fact schools keep naloxone on hand to help in case of drug overdoses is one of those problems.

Public schools are large bureaucratic operations that are micromanaged by state legislators and by federal agencies that use the power of the purse to enforce their preferences and their own congressional or presidential agendas. òòò½ÊÓƵ Newtonòòò½ÊÓƵ™s laws tell us, it takes more force to change the acceleration of a massive object than it does for a smaller one. (See, kids, what you learn in science class can apply to the political world as well.)

Amid these endless tugs of war among various interest groups, some parents are reacting by homeschooling their children or putting them in private schools. If public schools want these children back, itòòò½ÊÓƵ™s up to them to improve and show they are the best option available. It can be a hard sell, but in the end everyone benefits. That sales effort begins today.