Educators: Do they or don’t they know what works?

And, when will they ever get on the same page?

If students’ lives were not being ruined by the controversy, some of the nonsense coming from Thursday’s Leadership West Louisville lunch forum about the educational genocide in that city’s schools would be hilarious.

During the meeting, while talking about what is needed to turn Louisville’s Persistently Low-Achieving Schools around, Jefferson County Superintendent Donna Hargens declared, “We know what works.”

In Friday’s coverage of the event, the Courier-Journal quotes Jefferson County Teachers Association president Brent McKim saying:

“We all want to find the silver bullet that works. But we haven’t quite found it yet. But we’re all committed to not stopping until we do.”

McKim’s comment to the Courier that “state law forbids a union contract from interfering with written reform plans at persistently low-achieving schools” also disagrees sharply with comments from Commissioner Terry Holliday that provided specific examples where the union contract was used to block needed reform activities.

No wonder there has been so little progress. The union remains on a totally different page from everyone else.

In fairness to the students, the Kentucky Department of Education may have to step in to run some of these schools. And, since union leader McKim has now stated the union contract cannot get in the way of that process, maybe something good will finally happen for kids in Kentucky’s biggest city.