Given the economic disaster happening worldwide, I wonder if maybe all
the voters who never show up will decide that perhaps it is about time
they do. It has been a long time since I retired from serving 15 years
on the Warren School Board. Only one time in the last 35 years do I
recall that the voters cut the budget. They cut $25K and it was a slap
on the wrist. They wanted to send a message. It was a very, tiny
message.
Years ago most voters stayed for the school meeting. They cared about
how much money was being spent. Most voters trusted that they wouldn't
be asked for more than was needed by their fellow townspeople serving
on the board. Times have changed. Only a handful of voters without
children, or grandchildren, in the school, and/or without personal
financial gain, are in attendance now. The rest have very personal
reasons for wanting the budget to pass unchallenged and unchanged.
Their interests do not include whether or not any of us can afford the
tax request they make and, interestingly, they don't care if all the
money being spent is really, measurably, making a hill of beans
difference educationally.
I find it ironic that most of the people I know, who wouldn't allow
themselves to be "snowed" by anyone, allow the least objective group
there is to decide how much money they should spend on education. It is
also ironic that most of those same people learned more in less time,
and without all the bells and whistles everybody wants today.
It should also be noted that the people reporting test scores can have
a field day making the statistics represent the facts any which way is
convenient. They can also change the tests given so we can't make any
meaningful comparisons. Just how many students do we have that are
below above average? Anybody know? I expect all students to reach
average and 90 percent of those to be above and beyond. I don't believe
that is an unreasonable expectation given that we spend as much as any
high end private school and our teachers have degrees beyond what is
necessary for teaching the material being taught. So what gives? How is
it that any child leaves Harwood unable to read, write, or compute? I
find it hard to believe that I am the only person here who finds these
statistics nauseating. Eleventh-graders not reading! Fumbling in math!
Unable to write!
Perhaps I think differently than most. You tell me. I read "A Nation At
Risk" 30-some years ago. The federal Department of Education predicted
we would be behind the eight-ball now if we didn't make sweeping
changes then. Well, here we are. Ironically, it is educators and
parents who put up the biggest barriers against change, even knowing
those changes will improve the chances for a better education for
children.
Everyone puts themselves first, don't kid yourself. If parents and
teachers didn't, children would go to school with the understanding
that it is their job to learn and we would have a completely different
school day and yearly calendar. If teachers didn't, children wouldn't
be out of their classrooms as much as they are. If principals and
superintendents didn't, they would be using the best of the best
curriculums in every school and we'd be able to replace teachers based
on performance and not some mumbo jumbo evaluation they've created for
themselves that allows an ineffective teacher to remain for years
working on improvements. Principals and teachers want the respect they
deserve but are not willing to change the system they work under. The
notion that educators are on the same level as doctors, lawyers,
business owners, judges, and other professionals who work until the job
gets done and don't automatically get salary increases for breathing,
or paid to learn more, or work only 190 days a year (if that!!) is
absurd.
They don't have to worry about employees, overhead, tax laws, or even
failure to produce anything. They don't have to have insurance against
malpractice. Who sues an educator for not doing the job they got paid
to do and didn't? We need people who are willing to make changes and
board members willing to demand them.
Our system is very broken and it needs all the voters to fix it.
Parents and educators won't fix it. I hope people participated Town
Meeting Day. Just don't complain if you do nothing!
Stager lives in Warren.
