There is a lot of
discussion about our public schools these days.
Most of the public conversations are centered around the ideas put
forward by school "reformers".
These focus on test scores, accountability for educators/schools and
school budgets. As a result they usually
seem to miss the human element of our schools.
Yet, the fact of the matter is that this missing element in the discussions
is the key component to our efforts to educate the youth in our communities. Education is not done in an assembly line
manner, but rather is shaped by the individual involved in ways that many
outside of our schools fail to understand.
Over the past couple of
years I've been able to be a part of many informal discussions about public
education and what is important in our schools.
These face to face conversations between people from different parts of
the educational community show a very different reality than the one that is
presented in many public forums and the media.
What emerges from these discussions is a sense of shared purpose and
commitment to making our public schools work.
Instead of focusing on what is wrong with our schools, they often look
for ways of improving schools by adding to what is working, and supporting the
educators who work on a daily basis with students and families.
Another thing missing from
the public discussions about public education are the voices of the educators
in the schools. When these voices are
heard they are too frequently responding to attacks and criticisms. Instead of voicing the positives and offering
hope for the future of public education, educator's comments often are
defensive in nature. The tone of the
debate has been established by those who seek to dismantle our public education
system. The result is that many
educators feel attacked, powerless and voiceless. The good things that happen in schools are
washed away by a tide of negative press, vicious attacks and data designed to
damage the credibility of educators.
Public educators and those
who support public education need to change the debate. We need to engage the community in
discussions, not based on the assumption that our schools are "bad",
"broken" or "failing", but on the premise that we have the
ability and dedication to help public education fulfill its tremendous
potential. Public schools are unique in
their mandate to educate all children and to bring entire communities
together. In order for this to happen we
must establish open, honest communication between the different parts of our
community and break down the barriers that exist between groups. Groups who view themselves as separate, but
which in reality could be united through dialog around education.
In the conversations that
I've been a part of, one thing consistently comes to the surface as an issue of
concern. Communication between schools,
families and the community is inconsistent and confusing. People don't understand what is going on in
schools, and they don't know where to turn to in order to get clear, accurate
information. The media parrots test
scores and quotes from the same sources.
School district communications often are confusing due to "eduspeak"
and frequently changing numbers and initiatives. Educators struggle to share information with
families for many different reasons as well.
The end results are confusion and divisions where clarity and solidarity
are needed.
I'm often asked,
"What do the educators think?" or, "What do educators need/want
from us (parents, community, etc.)"
These are difficult questions because of the wide diversity in schools,
classrooms, students, families and educators.
There are as many answers to these questions as there are
educators. Yet, there are some
consistent themes that emerge as one continues to have conversations with
educators.
It was a little over a
year ago that I completed a series of conversations with every staff member in
my school. I sat down and listened to
what they had to say and shared this information in a couple of posts. The stories that I heard were uplifting and
troubling at the same time. They painted
a picture of a school staff that was struggling to stay afloat in a sea of
negativity. The struggles and challenges
were offset by a sense of commitment and hope as educators did their best in a
difficult environment. The staff in my
building spoke about many issues that I summarized under these general
headings:
-Concern about the
political situation in Wisconsin.
-Concern about the future
of public education in Madison,
and across the state/nation.
-We support and need our
union to protect our voices in the education debate.
-We feel stretched,
overworked, over-managed, and disrespected.
-Education
"reforms" aren't what's best for our students.
-We are challenged by the
increasingly diverse student body and the increasing needs of our students and
families.
-Educator needs and
student needs are intertwined.
-We care for our fellow
educators.
So, what is the status of
educators in my school building a year later?
Educators approach our jobs with the understanding that education is a
work in progress. We look for growth and
positive change as we evaluate and assess our students, our professional growth
and our school climate. Educators are
eternal optimists, always believing in the power of education and the promise
that our students have, not matter what the challenges.
However, the constant
struggle and perpetual criticism of our schools and our profession is clearly
taking a toll on morale in our schools.
The reality is that many of the same feelings and challenges from a year
ago are still with us, and the concerns about these issues has increased. This becomes clear when one looks at the
concerns, hopes and goals that staff at my school offered this year.
Our personal financial situations are becoming more
challenging. Educators are feeling the pinch as our
contributions to our pensions have increased and wages have stagnated. I know that there are those who still harbor
jealousy towards the "extravagant" contracts and
"luxurious" benefits that educators receive. When the prospect of educator wage increases
of 1.5% was suggested, the outcry from anti-educator forces was immediate and
misleading. The argument that educators
shouldn't get raises because of the "built in raises" that are part
of our salary schedule was raised. Yet,
part of our "raises" are based on continuing education credits that
we must pay for. My wife and I recently
shelled out a significant sum of money for university credits needed to keep
our certification. The "raise"
that we receive for this payment will not cover the costs incurred for a
significant amount of time.
The reality is that many
educators are barely scraping by. As a
union representative in my building I've had several interactions with
educators who are facing difficult financial circumstances as a result of the
recent changes brought on by Act 10. We
do what we can to help these individuals and their families, but it is
heartbreaking to see hard-working educators facing financial disaster because
of legislation passed to directly harm a specific group of employees.
Educators pay and benefits
reflect the status of education in Wisconsin
today. Politicians and other leaders
give it lip-service, but don't put their money where their mouths are. Children and families in our public schools
suffer as well, as educators can no longer afford to purchase supplies and other
items for families in need. This is
especially troubling because Act 10 was supposed to eliminate the budget woes
of our local schools, and yet we are seeing more and more districts across the
state continue to struggle financially even after the "tools" to
correct the problems became available.
We are also concerned
about future costs of health insurance.
Over the past two years we've seen changes in our insurance plans and a
decrease in the coverage that many of us need.
Thanks to Act 10 and the state's reduction in aid to school districts,
health insurance costs could be a potentially devastating new cost that may
drive some quality educators out of the profession.
Our workload is increasing. Class
sizes, caseloads and additional duties are another concern of teachers at my
school. It isn't enough that we are
required to develop, learn and implement new curriculum, but we are also
required to complete additional paperwork and perform additional duties during
the school day. These changes in our
workload limit the time that we have to communicate with families, develop
relationships with students and prepare engaging and innovative lessons.
Few people realize just
what an educator's day looks like.
Because of the nature of our jobs we are often required to be actively
engaged with students for more than 3 hours at a time. This means no bathroom breaks, no time to
check/send emails or communicate information to families or other staff, and no
time to prepare our classroom for new activities. Our classrooms are not just places for
reading, writing and math, but are also science labs, conflict resolution
centers, cafeterias, recreation centers, computer labs and countless other
things.
We face more demands on
our time from many sources. The time
that we have to plan and communicate with fellow educators is taken up by
mandated professional development. Often
these sessions are geared towards promoting a new initiative that we may have
serious questions about. We are also
seeing an increase in the number of committees that seek to involve educators
in the discussion about our goals and objectives. However, we sometimes find that these
committees are designed to get "buy in" for policies and not to
increase dialog or shape the path of our schools.
The public is given
information collected from educators, but this is not always accurate
information that represents a majority of educator's opinions. Take "Ready Set Goal" Conferences
for example. These conferences are held
at the beginning of a school year and are designed to open the door for
communication between schools and families.
Over the years the school district has tried to change the format and
has even created forms that we are mandated to use. There is nothing less inviting to many
families than to sit down with their child's educator for the first time and
see a form, in triplicate no less, ready to be filled in and signed. Now, these conferences become a bargaining
chip in negotiations that make it seem like educator's raises and benefits will
prevent them from occurring. A very
divisive situation for our school communities.
Educator expertise and knowledge isn't respected or
heard. We are directed to implement numerous new
initiatives given to us from "above".
Yet, many of us question the effectiveness or educational validity of
these "reforms". We find ourselves losing control of out curriculum
and our methods of teaching.
Standardized curricula, assessments and rigid pedagogy are replacing
flexible teaching methods geared towards specific learners and using resources
particular to an individual school. That
this is being done in order to improve student achievement troubles us and
makes us wonder if we are teaching for the purpose of collecting data, or to
truly educate creative thinkers for the future.
We are held accountable in the wrong ways for the
wrong reasons. Staff at my school is very concerned about issues
of educator evaluations and merit pay that are closely tied to student
standardized test scores. We find
ourselves forced to implement untested and potentially damaging Common Core Standards
in order to protect our jobs, not because we believe they are best for student
learning. In many ways our school
district is governed as much by fear as by educational goals, or hope for the
future. We find ourselves dreading the
next press release slamming our district while ignoring positive efforts being
made to address student achievement and engagement.
What do we want?
The biggest thing we want
is to have a voice in all aspects of our educational system. This means that we can continue to have the
ability to bargain new contracts and to have a say in how and what we teach our
students. We want to hold on to our
retirement benefits and the seniority system.
As system that, while not perfect, provides stability to our workplaces
and has as much merit as any other proposed system. We enjoy the protection and stability that
our contracts and grievance procedures give us.
These systems allow for us to express our opinions and at the same time
hold us accountable to a high standard of performance.
We want to create a
collaborative atmosphere where educators, families, and community members can
dialog openly and honestly about important issues. We need time to create the trust necessary
for these conversations to occur. These
conversations must include all staff and members of all the different groups
that have a stake in our public schools.
Communication between all members of the educational community is vital
to creating an environment where all students have the opportunity to succeed
and all voices are valued.
This is especially true in
our schools where the quick pace of change has left educators confused and
frustrated. We find ourselves lost in a
maze of new policies and initiatives that serve to increase our stress and make
the families we work with anxious about the quality of their child's
education. We need time as professionals
to digest what has been fed to us and decide what morsels have educational
"nutritional" value and what ones need to be removed from our
"diet". Many of us feel like
we are losing our way and need time to reassess where we are and where we are
headed as educational communities.
We continue to care deeply about each other, our
students, their families and our community.
Not a day goes by, but that
some evidence of the incredible depth of caring is displayed by the educators I
work with. Whether this is making meals
for colleagues experiencing life changes, or helping a student's family move
into a new apartment, the real commitment of our staff to all members of the
community are readily found. While the
media and education "reformers" may try and label us "lazy"
and "uncaring" those who encounter an educator know the real truth
about the devotion of educators to their profession and their community.
What needs to happen is
for the rest of the community and the political leadership of our state to
recognize the merits of our professional public educators and the value of our
public education system. We must work
together to make sure that our system isn't too damaged before the pendulum
swings back in a more positive direction.
