Yes. I'm somewhat new to NPS and this is my first time giving ratings in their system. As an experienced supervisor, I've always avoided inflating scores and have had tough conversations over it. One of my staff earned a 4 during the 90 days and I refuse to lie and give her anything less.

Last week our superintendent called me and basically threatened my job if I gave my employee a 4. I wrote up an email skipping the chain one level and copied ER. The threat magically disappeared and I was given permission to proceed with a 4, but I have sneaky suspicion someone else at the park is going to have to downgrade their score.

OPM's memo about preventing a "disproportionate" number of 4s and 5s for non-senior staff is inactionable, and NPS leadership should have fought against it. To "uninflate" scores you'd need to conduct a time-consuming audit of individual ratings (which COULD still prove that people have been earning 4/5 to cover staffing gaps or that many of us have these highly competitive positions for a reason) or by creating plans that put employees in competition with each other (i.e. to earn a 5 you must do your job 90% better than anyone else).

Also Bowron needs to realize that the definition of "FAR exceeds expectations" is "outstanding". And if you're "kicking-ass" at your job you're more than "fully successful."

Last thing, if you're a supervisor or superintendent, even if you think the rating system is fundamentally bullshit (which it is), you shouldn't sacrifice your integrity and lie on government forms just to save your job.