The only word to describe the Sept. 5 story about Montello School is unfortunate.

No aspect of it deserved front-page treatment, especially with the headline “Montello under fire” and an oversized picture of a mother and daughter above the phrase, “I don’t want her going to a failing school.”

Although I understand a mother wanting the best for her child, publicly calling Montello a failing school is a great injustice. Since Karen Lane’s daughter never attended Montello, she doesn’t know what her daughter is missing.

It’s unfortunate No Child Left Behind is so onerous, and calculations so dubious, that there are about 40 ways a school can not make “annual yearly progress.” If any subset of the population doesn’t meet the standard, the entire school is considered not making its annual yearly progress.

It’s unfortunate the paper thought this story was important enough for prime billing, without explaining how a school meets or fails its annual yearly progress. Even if it doesn’t make progress, calling the school a failure is a disservice to current staff, and all who have preceded it.

For those of us who spend time at Montello, we know it excels at engaging children. I applaud the teachers, the parents and the students who work hard everyday to gain a quality education. For parents who are sending their children to Pettingill School instead, please know it isn’t school scores that make a school great.

It’s the educators working with parents, on behalf of children.

Peter E. Geiger, Lewiston