How To Elicit Change

I should probably start this post with a bit of a disclaimer because, although all of my posts are obviously written from my personal perspective, they are usually written about specific information I have obtained or learned which I feel may be of interest or which I feel should be brought to the public’s attention.  This post is my personal opinion – my own rant, if you will – regarding the changes which I feel need to occur before any real improvements can be made in our district and in public schools throughout the country.

I recently complained to a School Committee member that serious changes need to take place in our schools, starting with the union contracts, and he responded “. . . you have to start going after the MTA state-wide and other teachers’ unions across the country.  No one is going to listen to you at the local level to effect the change that should take place. You need a bigger audience.”

This was an interesting response from an elected official elected to “listen to [voters] at the local level to effect the change that should take place“.  Starting at the local level is the only place we have any control.

Everyone is afraid to rattle the MTA’s cage!  There is momentum in this country right now to make changes to the way our public schools are being run and the way that teachers’ unions have held our schools hostage for the better part of the last forty years.  Our schools are failing to keep up with the world’s standards.  We are failing our children.  And our towns and cities cannot sustain the unreasonable contracts into which the schools continue to enter with the unions.

I contend that “No Child Left Behind” was a great concept which failed horribly in actuality.  I believe that it has succeeded only in homogenizing the performance of all of our children.  We have come to see our schools as “successful” if they meet the standard of beige mediocrity.  Rather than providing the necessary attention to assist those students who struggle to progress and meet minimal standards – we have sacrificed the students who have the potential to lead, achieve greatness and exceed all standards.  We have tied the anchors of the under-achieving students to the kite tails of the students who have the potential to excel.  The resources of our schools are slanted towards the under-achieving students and, as a result, parents are removing the children who excel and placing them in environments which have proven records of excellence.

There is a reason that so many charter schools are achieving more success than many of our public schools.  The concept – and this is just crazy, I know – is that if they don’t perform adequately, their charter is revoked.  So they function to perform with excellence.  They are not unionized and, as such, their teachers are also motivated to excel.  And guess what?  I’ve never heard one report that any teacher of a charter school was required to work in sweat shop conditions!  That’s because there are labor laws that adequately apply and protect ALL employees in our country.

Tenure – or “professional status,” as it is called here/now – is a concept which has long since outlived its usefulness.  It serves no purpose beyond protecting under-performing, ineffective teachers.

It is blatantly clear and obvious to every single person in this country who functions professionally outside of a union – as a civilian, if you will – that the solution to where we have run our schools off in the ditch could not possibly be more simple: merit-based schools, merit-based pay for employees who compete for positions, obtain positions and maintain positions based on performance.

It really is that simple.  Give teachers a reason to be motivated, a reason to inspire their students, a reason to work harder than the next guy – and we will find that we have schools capable of achieving excellence.

In other words, hold teachers and administrators accountable for the jobs they were hired to perform.

It isn’t rocket science.  In fact, if it were, we wouldn’t be in the sad situation we are in with our public schools, because we expect our rockets to actually take off and fly.  And we wouldn’t dream of hiring and keeping rocket scientists who no longer have the drive, desire or ability to get the rockets off the ground.  And we certainly would not, under any circumstances, give them “step increases” each year just because another year has passed – even though the rocket they built fell out of the sky and killed the astronauts inside!

Interesting Info on Empty Seat Stats

http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2010/10/20/tally_of_vacant_seats_in_boston_public_schools_not_complete/?s_campaign=8315

This is an interesting article published in The Boston Globe which voices so many of the concerns we are facing in our district as well.

Enrollment drops every year, we pay tuition to other schools for those kids and no one seems to feel the need to pinpoint why parents are putting their kids in other schools.

If a local business owner began to lose customers to its competitors, that business owner would surely contact his or her previously loyal customers and solicit their return or, at the very least, determine the cause for taking their business elsewhere so that it could be corrected.

Our School Committee should be requiring the Superintendent to provide this data each year.  The district knows where these students are going because we must pay tuition to their new school and, surely, the students’ records and transcripts must be requested to be sent to the new school.  That is the opportunity to gain the insight necessary to make some serious determinations about where our district is falling short enough for parents to pull their children out of the district.

Another issue of lack of accountability.

If enrollment is simply continuing to decline each year, then teacher head count should reflect a similar decline.

In the 8/16 School Committee packet is the DY District Facilities Study:

Click to access 8-16-10SCPacket.pdf

This study addresses many of the issues raised in the Globe article.

Something DYHS does very well

As frustrating as it is to wade through the less than impressive MCAS results and enrollment numbers and as aggravating as it is to struggle through the budget situation year after year in our district, I have felt intensely inclined of late to bring positive attention to something that our district does very, very well.

My son is a senior at DY High School and is one of the 25% who intends to matriculate to a four-year college next year.  For other parents who have recently gone through or are currently going through the process of college visits, applications, the Common App, the FAFSA, and all the other necessary processes in order to make this happen – you likely already know how stressful it can be.

There are a tremendous number of variables which complicate the process – none the least of which are our own children in many cases!  After all, they are seniors and they are wrapping up their childhoods (or so they think) and they are often working and social and facing their own challenges in any number of ways.

The guidance department at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School is exemplary.  They are mentors, dictators, therapists, parents, voices of reason; they play bad cop or good cop (whichever is needed at the time), they bring good news and bad news (and both with equal diplomacy), they are life coaches, advisers, experts in everything, liaisons for every parent and every child to everyone else (as needed – be it colleges, teachers, administrators).  They are amazing.

They are on top of all the deadlines (and there are MANY) and if they don’t know an answer off the top of their heads, they will get the answer in 24 hours.  They are the best college prep tech support in the world!

My son’s guidance counselor is Nicole D’Errico.  I really only came to know her last year when my son asked me to intervene for him on an issue with the Core Plus Math teaching method (an issue for another blog, to be sure), and I was pleasantly surprised to find that she truly appeared to be genuine in her goal to be in my son’s corner.  She seemed truly sincere in her desire to champion his cause and best interests.

This year, Nicole has been invaluable to me and to my son.  And I know from listening to other parents and students speak, that they value the other guidance counselors as much as I do Ms. D’Errico.  These are unsung heroes and they deserve to be highlighted and applauded for all that they do.

For theirs is the commitment and compassion given each day for the students in their charge which we, as parents and as voters, wish for in every adult who is employed to teach, inspire and guide our children.

Kudos to you, Nicole D’Errico, Dale Fornoff and (I think) Annette Bowes.  There are definitely other members in the guidance department (Joshua Clarkin, the Freshman Counselor, and Patricia Fruggiero, “School to Career”) and I’m sure they are equally effective.  Your impact, your guidance, your concern, your patience and your unwavering commitment are invaluable and you should be recognized for such!

Thank you for all that you do and for that you are to your students and their [frazzled] parents.