If we had an 85 percent
graduation rate and we were inching up toward 90 percent, if we didn't have the worst SAT scores among 50 upstate school districts, if we didn't have a Syracuse Teachers Union survey — the results of
which revealed that 300 teachers reported being assaulted on the job and more than half feel threatened on the job, and 21 percent of their new teachers teaching from zero to five years leave in addition to more
seasoned veteran teachers — we wouldn't need such bold decisive action, but we're not in that category.