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sorry for those folks at the DE. They're food people and getting \tray more grief than they
deserve." Other participants focused their attention on the performance of a lenislature that
..-
[hey vien.cd as "in~enSili\~e lo the needs of teachers." One teacher stated, '&I think their
uisl;ltul.e) credibility is had. They'lle carried too many messages to us and then reneged."
(1%
her added. "Make niandates clear. Figure out what you want before you hare us scurry
around trying lo do aqhat we think you want only to have you change your mind. It is very
lj-Llstrating." DeSoto (2000) suggests that this is not a new phenomenon in implementation, in
fact, it is often the case that "formal laws don't coincide with hoar things actually work" (p.
92). An elementary principal asked only that legislators concern themselves with "what they
\!.ant as 3 result. He further requested that policy makers "set the vision" for what they want
and "put some accountability ivith it. Then get the hell out of the way!"
01zc. si:c 1~1oc.s 11ot)~fit all. The "one size fits all" mentality of HF 2273 uras an
:lnathenia to small Ion-a school districts. They feared efforts had gone into conducting
~.or~irililnil!. riicc~ing\ 10 \CI [he prioritie\ for [he di\trict had all gone for naught. "It's (HF
2271 1 nor :I ni:~pic pill.
;I n1:lndare. a piece of lepislation." argued one curriculum director.
Sllc conrinucd. ..]I I;I~C\ ~op]e and it laker rime ro do ivhat they \van[ us to do. You can'tjust
~KLI\ on :~c;~demic\. J'OLI h;l\.e 10 I ~ot at the a.hole child." \Vith an already existing belief in
the \.:~luc of e\*erv cllild ;~nd kno\r.ledge of the .'extra baggage" so many of their students
hroughl (0 \chool. [he\e dis[ric[.; did not need legislators man!. miles a\va?. telling them how to
hc\l cducatc lllcir di\lricras cllildwn.
A sllid:lnce clNlnsel0r n\kcd
lepisla~ors ',take into ;lcc@ilnt stlldent~ havin~ more
Prohlerns [h:ln c\.er hcft,rc.'. She identified posiri~e early childhood experiences and
impr~,\lccl p;lrcnling skill dcl.elopnlm[ ;IS bisgrr concerns for the slate than issues of declining