Reflections on Red for Ed

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.