Up to two
weeks ago, I began to watch on social media as fellow parents and teachers
geared up for Red for Ed Day that happened on Tuesday this week. I read all the
posts and listened. My heart swelled at the love and support I was witnessing.
However, I found myself having a nagging feeling that I could not formulate
into words until today.
I love
most and respect all of the teachers I had in my life, and I feel the same way
about my kids’ teachers today. I do feel like they deserve better support and a
better system. This, I can get on board with 100%, and I understand that this
is largely why so many people chose to speak up during those weeks. That is
easy. I know many people wore red on Tuesday, and many even wore it to
Indianapolis to stand in the cold (which is less easy). I fully understand the
fight for changing the weight of standardized testing and other intense
benchmarks, too. There is too much pressure to teach to a test. This, I fully
understand and appreciate because I can feel those effects at home, too.
What nags
at me is this: when all these people (parents and teachers alike) go back home
to their respective school districts (or that were so vocal on social media and
wore red at home), are they going to pay attention to for whom they are voting
when it comes to electing school board members in their local districts? Are
they going to choose a candidate because they recognize a name instead of
investigating the candidate’s qualifications—like whether or not the candidate
would make decisions that are in the best interest of students and teachers?
Are they even going to vote at all? Are they going to question things when
their schools have more administrators than needed (or administrators who are
grossly unqualified for their positions because they got their jobs because
they know someone)? Are they going to question things when the teachers and
students are not receiving textbooks and other basic supporting materials when
textbook/classroom fees have been billed and collected? Are they going to speak
up when they experience poorly managed technology in the hands of students? (I
may be projecting on some of these.)
The
reason Indiana started to “fix” education years back is because too many
schools were having too many local-level administrators making big bad
decisions (like building fancy auditoriums and gyms instead of paying teachers
more, and adding assistants to the assistants because buddies needed jobs,
too), and the spending got out of control. (I am paraphrasing an interview I
remember reading with Mitch Daniels, here.) We can ask (or demand) them to give
money to public education again, sure (and it would be great if they did—that I
can agree on, too), but once they do, we’d better be good stewards of that
funding, and make sure we are all watching where it goes. Can you look at your
school district administrations right now and feel comfortable about how the
money is being allocated? Do you even know how to find out where the money is
going? If you don’t, isn’t that unsettling? It should be. How many
administrators does your district have? How many are actually needed? Where are
the "Office Space" Bobs that come in and ask these people what they
actually do?
This is
more complicated than just pleading to the Indiana government for more funding
and more relaxed standards. Everyone knows (and, I think, understands) this.
However, It has to be addressed at the district level, too. This is an
important step that cannot be forgotten, and I have not seen anyone say
anything about it (except, it was mentioned in a poorly written NWI Times
editorial that honked everyone off, which was understandable, since they
neglected the importance of the rest of the fight that was more than just
government funding).
The fact
that it has not come up at all scares me. It scares me because people have no
problem getting mad and standing up for what is right when the demons are state
legislators (which I can fully appreciate and support. I am not decrying that),
but when a large part of the problem happens to be people they know (and like,
even) in their own districts who are part of the problem, fear and/or apathy
sets in. This is not unique to your own district. It is everywhere. It is still
rampant. The funding was removed to stop this behavior at the administrator
level (again, paraphrasing), but it has not stopped it. So, the problem is just
worse, now. Less funding, same corruption = dollars not being spent on students
or teachers.
Government
funding cannot fix it all. Fight for it and all those changes for standardized
testing and other state-wide policies, yes. Absolutely. (Because funding for
public schools should be better than it is in Indiana, and the standards and
benchmarks are too plentiful.) But, please, please, please fight the fight at
home, too. Have ongoing conversations between parents and teachers and even
potential candidates for school board, if you can, offline to try to understand
what is really going on (teachers cannot and will not talk on social media or
email about school district issues—there is too much risk). Watch some school
board meetings online if you can't attend (if your school district does
that).
I would
argue the fight at home would be more productive in the short term. It is important
to get good local school board candidates and administrators in place, and that
takes so much time because of terms, elections, and contracts. Once all of that
is settled, when the long-term (funding and changed standards) kicks in, it
should be a smooth transition into excellence. If the funding and changes never
come, at least you can feel like you have tried hard and helped put the right
people in place that are going to do the best that they can with what they have
available. That's still worth it.
It will
take time, though. It is going to require years of everyone paying attention;
having open, honest, and hard conversations; and focusing the rage to all of
the proper parties. Vote for your state government officials, too. Don’t forget
to show up (but study first!) for that.
