By  Colton Elsen  |  Sep 26, 2026     SaveTheTrimesters.org

Superintendent Tyson Eslinger has been one of the biggest pushes behind changing Council Grove High School from trimesters to semesters. We’ve heard the arguments that semesters will supposedly help academics, give students more opportunities, and fix some of the problems with our current schedule. But I think there’s a pretty simple question we need to ask: Why should we trust that our superintendent knows what’s best for our schedule when the school district he previously led had some pretty concerning test results while using a semester schedule?

Before coming to Council Grove, Superintendent Eslinger was the superintendent of Deerfield USD 216. In 2023, only 19% of students were proficient in ELA (58% at grade level) and 0% were proficient in math (27% at grade level). In 2024, ELA proficiency was 7% (28% at grade level) and math proficiency was 0% (21% at grade level). Those numbers don't automatically mean Superintendent Eslinger caused those results. There are a lot of factors that affect test scores, and it wouldn't be fair to put an entire district's performance on one person. But if we're being asked to trust his judgment on a major change to our high school schedule, shouldn't we be allowed to look at the results from the district he previously led?

Especially when Council Grove has been getting strong results under the trimester system. In 2024, Council Grove ranked 7th (top 3%) in Kansas in math and 46th (top 18%) in ELA among the Kansas schools in the data we've examined. Our students are succeeding under the schedule we have now. So why should we change it?

If trimesters are the problem, show us the data. If semesters are going to improve our academics, show us the evidence. And if we're being told that our small class sizes are because of trimesters, let's see the complete numbers and exactly how those numbers were calculated.

This isn't about attacking our superintendent. It's about asking a fair question when someone is heavily advocating for a major change. What makes us confident that this change will actually make Council Grove better? We shouldn't change something that is working simply because we're told something else might work better. Our students deserve evidence, not assumptions.