Editorials
Editorials
Parents and other taxpayers often underestimate the long term impact of school board decisions not only on the quality of education children receive but on the viability of each community within a district. School governance is a political process where the will of the majority vote prevails. The courage, foundation, insight, perseverance and perspective of individual board members has little collective impact unless they represent the majority of the board.
As districts face economic downturns, shrinking enrollments, and budget constraints along with increased expectations, the voters need to carefully scrutinize this year’s board candidates. Whom do these candidates intend to represent and what are the their positions on the many challenges and opportunities facing their district?
School districts function more effectively when board leadership and administrative management roles are well defined and differentiated through a contemporary governance model that recognizes the expanded statutory powers of the board.
A district cannot maximize its potential to provide an effective educational program for children without ongoing public support and ownership of the process. We have to put the public back into public education by encouraging people to not only be informed voters but to be active participants in monitoring and contributing to the decision making process. Engaging the public is a slow, noisy, inefficient process but the benefits to children and the satisfaction and support generated by community ownership far exceed any efficiencies of autocratic control.
If board leadership fails to engage the components of a district’s diversity, a sense of public alienation, frustration and apathy toward school governance can develop. The impact of a disengaged community means that boards feel little pressure to be accountable or responsive. Boards that operate out of public view may become lazy, ill informed and easily manipulated. Lazy boards also tend to delegate away their leadership responsibilities. Voids in board leadership
create a vacuum which is typically filled by administration and related special interests. Subservient boards often exhibit several common characteristics in addition to experiencing difficulty in generating support for educational initiatives. Public apathy can lead to board candidates that are “recruited” and often unopposed. New board members may be identified as district employees. Administrators and business managers become depicted in local publications as “board members”. Boards no longer control their agendas. Boards tend to withdraw from public interaction, create their own subculture and be perceived as representatives of administration.
Boards who have lost their sense of direction may join administrations in “retreats” out of public view to determine what is best for the public. Board members may tend not to have an opinion until they have checked with administration. Boards may even tend to adopt rules that refer all public questions to past meeting minutes or the administrator. Boards may become conditioned into thinking they must always appear united as a single voice. Such boards no longer focus on
open interactive communication with the taxpayers and instead focus on “educating” the public as to the “appropriate” point of view. The big picture for the district is drawn and viewed by a very exclusive audience. Some district residents may even be defined as “unqualified” to serve on a school board or various committees.
In districts where public apathy has allowed boards to abdicate their responsibility, less and less meeting time is spent on how to most effectively impact on meeting the needs of children. Instead, these boards tend to focus on efficiency factors such as cost/student, mil rates, economies of scale, “saving” money, reducing staff positions, equal doses for all, conformity, uniformity, allowable debt loads, economic comparison between districts, administrative efficiencies and the like.
Boards that have lost their direction tend to spend inordinate amounts of time on minutia detail but rarely address issues of expectations, accountability, student outcomes and in-depth budget analysis. District citizenry should also be concerned if board members are seated at scantily advertised board meetings with their backs to the audience as if to signal a displeasure with meddling intruders. The public is much more sophisticated than previously given credit for and is becoming increasingly reluctant to blindly turn the education of its children or the allocation of its limited resources over to a process without assurance of accountability, responsiveness and representation.
School board members have a public responsibility to: * Act in a trusteeship role as district employer and not as district employees. * Make decisions which serve the best interests of children and community based on a broad foundation of factual research driven evidence. Board decision making should not be based on a singular resource. * Provide leadership, vision and direction for the district. Effective boards realize that their role is to direct and delegate and not to react and ratify. Boards must understand that their function is distinctly different from that of administration. The administrators role is to carry out the directives and policies of the board and to manage the daily operations of the district. * Build public trust by demonstrating the capacity to first and foremost focus its energies on student outcomes and to place into perspective the issues that really impact on the development of the child. * Interactively communicate with the public and staff on issues of concern and encourage public input into the governance process.
* Create expectations for student outcomes and employee performance and to assure that an effective process of assessment and accountability is in place. Boards must also exhibit the capacity to enforce consequences for unacceptable performance. * Review district programs based on student outcomes and contemporary relevance.
* Exhibit a conversant awareness of evolving advancements in educational program delivery initiatives and methodologies. * Encourage and support progressive educational delivery programs and staff development initiatives that best meet student needs. * Provide budget direction, approve and monitor budgets that accentuate the greatest value to the district’s children and taxpayers. Assure that appropriate resources are allocated to maintaining and improving facilities. (Deferred maintenance equals building neglect.) * Exhibit the capacity for self improvement and an ongoing assessment of board performance. * Recognize and reward exemplary performanc. * Assure that district employees are compatible with district needs and expectations. * Encourage initiatives that engage parents as co-educators of young children. * Encourage partnerships and collaborative initiatives between institutions and agencies which share educational common interests. * Recognize the importance of family and local community in providing the young child with a sense of place and a sense of belonging. * Recognize that without quality teachers and appropriate allocations of resources to support their endeavors that little else really matters. * Recognize the contributions of all district employees and endeavor to appropriately award them.
On April 2, voters need to select board candidates who will be more focused on charting the course and steering the vessel than re-arranging the deck chairs.
D. L. Amundson, Town of Curran, February 5, 2002
At the June School Board Meeting one veteran member expressed concern that new board members were causing too much time to be spent on policy issues. Another veteran board member indicated that if people do not like the way things are being been done, they can change it during the next election.
School governance is a statutory responsibility of the Board of Education. Policy making, evaluation and accountability are among its most important functions. Policy making sets goals and guidelines for the district and provides direction for the administration to follow.
The content of board meeting agendas in our district is currently under the discretion and control of the district administrator. (Ref. School Board Policy 171.2 available on the district website.)
The four veteran board members voted down a revised policy proposal which would have assured that items of concern identified by board members would automatically be placed on future agendas for consideration. The proposed revision did not limit or inhibit the district administrator from placing any and all items deemed appropriate on the agenda.
It seems very inappropriate that a district employee who is neither elected nor a board member to be delegated the authority to control the board through its agenda.
When a board of education negates its responsibility to direct and drive the educational process, it is in essence authoritatively impotent.
The many issues and challenges facing the educational outcomes of our district’s children would be more effectively addressed and public trust and confidence in the process would be further advanced by a clarification of the roles and responsibilities that distinguish between governance and administration.
D. L. Amundson, Town of Curran, June 30, 2000
Attempts to distort or obfuscate the factual data and statements of another have a self diminishing effect. John Stauber, who co-authored Trust us, We’re Experts stated “Propaganda exists to protect the powerful against democracy.”
The March 7 letters to the editor by ex-board members serve to remind us that school board positions, which can impact on district dynamics, culture and focus, will be determined in the spring election in addition to important referendum initiatives. All School District taxpayers need to be informed and vote their choices on April 3.
To effectively represent its constituents and to advance student success, the board should reserve its right to control a portion of meeting agendas.
The board must accept a role in directing and driving the process through its leadership, vision and planning capacity. Boards gain credibility by deliberate engagement and interactive communications on issues of concern with staff, parents and the diversity of other community segments.
An effort should be made to improve the visibility and involvement in a comprehensive on-going needs assessment process to identify the spectrum of interactive factors that impact on student achievement and develop strategies to address those needs. A few of the factors which impact on student outcomes beyond quality teachers, contemporary instructional strategies and curriculum would include: parent involvement as co-educators, school climate, management models, staff development, student assessment, facility improvement, etc.
The public needs to be confident that staffing, programming, instructional resources, technology, supplies, equipment and maintenance needs are adequately being met
Nationwide, districts are discovering that their constituency, as part of the information age has become quite sophisticated. School improvement initiatives must represent long range planning, alternative analysis and grass roots ownership. Educators are also challenged to anticipate the impact of rapidly emerging technologically enhanced instructional delivery methodology into the planning process.
The day of centralized planning and tactics to “expeditiously educate the public” on any type of initiative has slipped into the sunset and is being replaced by a collaborative model in which the “big picture” is available on everyone’s screen. The class size reduction initiatives in lower elementary grades represent a very effective concept to get children off to a good start and I am proud to have been one of its early advocates.
Keep in perspective that our community has many great kids, quality teachers, instructional support and a level of parent and community involvement which assures that
positive experiences occur daily for many children.
D. L. Amundson, Town of Curran, March 14, 2001
Will Your School Board Pass The Test?
Graduating seniors will soon be held to a standard of accountability each year by being required to take an exam that will demonstrate proficiency. School boards annually authorize the expenditures of millions of dollars and make decisions that have major ramifications on the quality of education of children. Thus, it stands to reason that boards should be held to an annual standard of accountability by their constituents.
The state statutes define the roles and responsibilities of a school board in establishing district policy, providing direction, leadership and vision, assuring high levels of accountability and to hire and fire administrators. As a district employee, the administrator is responsible to the board, follows its directives and manages the day to day operations of the system.
If the distinction between the board and administration responsibilities is not adhered to or if boards allow themselves to become subservient to administrators, then the ability of a district to accomplish its mission and to generate future support for public education is placed in serious jeopardy.
The following questions which can be answered by a simple yes or no will provide insightfor the board and district residents.
1. Is academic achievement the highest visible priority of the district as perceived by its citizens?
2. Are continuing and on going citizen committees that voluntarily represent the diversity and expertise of the district populace in place and empowered to review and make recommendations on issues of educational expectations, assessment of effectiveness anddistrict needs?
3. Is the school board widely recognized for its extensive and comprehensive efforts to promote parent and other citizen involvement in school improvement initiatives and planning?
4. Does the school board insist on integrating a broad base of input from contemporary university studies, leading educational authorities, parents, community and staff whenever applicable in the decision making process?
5. Do board members individually schedule well publicized regular meetings with their area constituents to promote and encourage opportunities for interaction on educational concerns, issues and initiatives?
6. Does the school board go beyond the minimal legal requirements for meeting notification and publicize all meetings, regular or special along with complete and accurate agendas in the media to allow the public to participate, react to and witness the public’s business being conducted in public?
7. Are the district’s school board meetings well attended by the public, televised, and is the vast majority of time focused on issues of student achievement, curriculum development, evaluation and monitoring, staff and administrative accountability and innovative concepts in program delivery and student learning?
8. Does the district actively encourage citizens to be candidates for school board through the media, in candidate recruitment forums and in making literature available on school board duties and responsibilities?
9. Are there typically several candidates seeking each school board position at election time?
10. Are potential school board candidates strongly encouraged to attend board meetings months before they seek election?
11. Does the board actively support the concept that parents must be integral partners with the school district in the co-education of their young children?
12. Is school district decision making done with the public not for the public?
13. Does each school in the district have in place a well established parent - teacher program, parent - teacher advisory councils and site based management initiatives?
14. Does the district budget building process include the board and an empowered on-going committee?
15. Do district surveys attempt to identify district strengths, weaknesses and recommendations?
16. Does the board appear to place a higher priority on improving student reading levels and student achievement, increasing student - parent satisfaction with the system and reducing behavioral and delinquency problems than on new school building construction?
17. Are the important student issues such as all day - everyday kindergarten, reduced K-3 class sizes and adequate funding for elementary instructional materials being resolved before approving administrative compensation packages that may encumber district resources for over a decade into the future?
18. Do survey results receive serious consideration even if they are contrary to administrative wishes?
19. Does school district communications emphasize a two way process?
20. Are Wisconsin State Assessment System test scores presented to the public in a clear and candid manner without clever and obfuscated interpretation?
21. Are minority groups properly represented and involved in issues that concern them?
22. Does the district leadership explore and debate considerations to innovations such as accelerated learning, ability grouping and charter schools?
23. Do members of the board of education spend several days per year visiting classes to gain a better perspective of the challenges facing children and teachers?
24. Does the district provide a parent resource center and extended library hours to provide assistance to children and to better accommodate many parents?
25. Is the district involved in developing early childhood learning programs, parenting programs and resources to young parents?
26. Does the district closely monitor and quickly provide remediation to children showing signs of falling behind?
27. Does the district sponsor regular forums for the community that utilize external sources and consultants that bring new perspectives on school management, programming, instructional strategies and learning theory?
28. Does the board spend at least one meeting per year reviewing the best practices of national and internationally recognized schools?
29. Does the board promote direct and open communications with teachers and support staff?
30. Does the district encourage and have in place a district wide PTA organization with state and national affiliation which can provide interactive and supporting resources for school improvement?
31. Do you feel your child or children are placed in an educational atmosphere that allows them to be recognized as unique and important individuals?
32. Is district planning on facility improvement initiatives so well thought out that consistency occurs from one year to the next?
33. Do district citizens feel that their input on school issues is well received by the board and administrator and that this body does not appear to be manipulating or conspiring against the public?
It is my impression that if citizens have to answer NO to many of these questions, then your district may face some formidable challenges that may need to be addressed by extensive adjustments in leadership and philosophy.
D. L. Amundson, Town of Curran , 1999
What is best for your children? Parents, grandparents and guardians, take note of important but little publicized issues which have again resurfaced before the school board. All day everyday kindergarten, SAGE (class size reduction in K-3) and replacement of neighborhood K-5 schools with administratively advocated “grade level centers” are currently the hot board issues.
Three years ago, contrary to a community’s wishes, a well supported functional neighborhood school with eight
classrooms, a gym and large playground was closed and sold netting less than 3 days of the administrator’s salary. This has resulted in less room in the remaining district elementary schools to implement SAGE and ADED Kindergarten despite declining enrollments. Subsequently the public has rejected several referendums. The importance of ADED Kindergarten and SAGE programs to get children off to a good start is well documented and supported by parents, teachers and legislatures.
The administration has been promoting a scheme which they have coined “grade level centers” to continue the elimination of the K-5 neighborhood school concept by promoting the segregation of little children into separate schools according to their age. Their proposed plan is to bus all of the district’s kindergartners and 1st graders to Forrest Street, all 2nd and 3rd graders to Third Street and all 4th and 5th graders to Gebhardt. Each child would be subject to the transition trauma of adjusting to a different school every two years.
The advantages the administration is touting for grade level centers include the following efficiency factors: Reducing the number of teachers; “saving money”; less travel time for shared teachers; uniformity and conformity in curriculum and instruction; eliminating inequities in student diversity; putting a balanced number of minority and poor children in every class; less money could be spent on instructional resources; and ease for administration to balance classes.
The overwhelming majority of the state and nation’s public schools have six or more grades per elementary building which suggests that the grade level center concept is an unproven experiment. Do you remember the “open classroom concept”?
While no arrangement is perfect, the advantages of K-5 schools are very real. Research has shown that the greater the number of elementary grades in a building, the higher the level of student achievement, social development, desirable behavior and positive attitude toward lifelong learning. Young children thrive best in a small school family like nurturing atmosphere. Starting school can be traumatic and young children need to be provided with stability and the security of familiar faces, siblings and neighborhood friends. Children work harder and achieve more when parents are involved in their education. Having young siblings in the same building improves the opportunity for parents to participate in their school functions and simplifies transportation and scheduling issues. When neighborhood schools are dissolved, parent involvement and community volunteerism are diminished.
When young children see the accomplishments of older children, they set goals and learning assumes a purpose. Older children experience mentoring and leadership benefits. In the real world our lives are enriched daily by interactions in our neighborhoods that extends from infants to centenarians. How are the lives of little children enriched during their most formative, creative and impressionable years by amassing them into large homogenous age groups and isolating them from the rest of the elementary school culture?
It is important to remember that schools exist for children and their parents. Decisions once made are difficult to change and will affect your children’s education and neighborhood for years to come. Draw your own conclusions, inform your board representatives of your concerns and attend the school board meeting on February 18.
At a meeting, two years ago, a board member stated that “grade level centers” were a dead issue..........
They’re baaaack!!!
Audrey Hoff Amundson, Hixton, February, 2002
The Case For Neighborhood Schools
The overwhelming class arrangement of elementary schools in this state and nation are K - 5, K - 6 or K - 8. The grade level configuration as proposed by the board, administration and a few teachers is extremely rare.
Two important concepts to keep in mind as you review this article:
A. Grade Level Centers are a form of consolidation. When young children of a particular grade are removed from their neighborhood schools and relocated as an entire cluster under a roof somewhere else, this is consolidation, pure and simple.
B. Grade Level Centers in the minds of children spell bigness. Instead of being one first grader in a group of 40 or 50 peers, that child is now one first grader in a group of 120 - 150. This size peer group is intimidating even to many adults, much less little elementary children.
Educational authorities have long recognized that the early learning years are critical in a child’s development. A young child’s introduction to the formal lifelong learning process should be initiated in the least stressful environment possible. You want the best teacher and a classroom atmosphere that is so nurturing and exciting that your child can hardly wait to get to school each day.
Transportation trauma is a major issue. If a young child is almost paralyzed with fear about changing buses, being intimidated on the bus, subjected to abuse and is concerned about their personal safety, then the child will be detracted and school will no longer be fun.
Children need to feel safe and secure. They need familiar surroundings and as much stability as possible. Children should feel that their homes, parents and neighbors are nearby. Young children have a better chance for success in small classes located in small schools.
Researcher Craig Howley has cited studies that analyze grade level configuration for eighth graders and found that students achieve best in a K - 8 setting. He emphasized that small schools are more effective in educating young children. He suggests that school reformers should be moving toward smaller schools with greater community involvement.
Howley also found that educators and administrators often ignore educational research, citing several excuses. He found that in times of crisis, parents and other community will quickly become very knowledgeable of educational literature and trends. His research led him to conclude that consolidation does not provide a better learning environment or cause higher levels of student achievement. Dr. Howley also found that the lower the socio-economic status of a community the more critical it is to have small schools. He concluded that the resurgence of home schooling and exodus to private schools has been caused by schools getting too large, impersonal, ineffective, bureaucratic and unresponsive to parents.
Researchers Wallberg and Fowler found that big schools are less economically efficient in producing student achievement and that consolidation in effect squanders money.
Dr. Kathleen Cotton synthesized 103 studies and concluded that children and parents in small schools care more about each other. Children take more responsibility for their own learning and that educational activities are perceived to be more relevant. Teachers in small schools also tend to be more creative and innovative. She also concluded that consolidating children was a major disadvantage to minority students. It could be concluded that school consolidation in general is a most damaging educational practice.
Overwhelming research has identified small schools as an effective means of being more responsive to students both in achievement and social behavior.
Based upon a review of the educational research and articles written by leading educational authorities, the following conclusions have been made.
* Neighborhood schools are the overwhelming choice of parents and educational leaders nationwide.
* Neighborhood schools facilitate greater parental participation.
* Small schools encourage greater student participation in activities.
* Large schools intimidate both children and parents.
* More children have a chance to “be someone” in a smaller school.
* Parents are more involved in smaller neighborhood schools.
* Good neighborhood schools attract young families.
* A neighborhood school is a central part of its community.
* Neighborhood schools often provide the impetus to generate school support, economic revitalization, student and community pride.
*Neighborhood schools are not popular with all educators. Some administrators fear community input because it makes school management more complicated.
*Neighborhood schools are making a comeback.
* Green Bay, WI just opened a new K - 8 neighborhood school.
* Closing neighborhood schools can cause a disabling effect on a district for years to come.
* Children in small neighborhood community schools have a much greater sense of belonging. They show evidence of increased social bonding to teachers, have higher levels of self esteem, less behavioral problems and higher levels of academic achievement. Schools in which students feel as though they belong experience less disruptive and violent
behavior.
* Major efforts in larger districts nationwide are being made to reconnect communities with neighborhood schools.
* Many districts feel that parent involvement should be deep and comprehensive. Parents, staff and principal are participants in decision making over budget, staffing, curriculum and instruction. A growing number of schools utilize this site management concept.
* Researchers have long agreed that when parents get involved in education, children try harder and achieve more. Parents who assist in the learning process and help develop positive attitudes toward school contribute to the personal growth and academic success of their children according to researchers Maynard and Howley.
* Parents need to become involved in parent education programs long before their children start school.
* Research indicates that staff morale and attitudes toward administration are generally higher in smaller schools.
* Neighborhood schools are a viable structure to unite communities by connecting children, adults and seniors to each other. Society will be strengthened if young people discover their heritage, participate in civic life and become active participants in democracy.
* For young children, neighborhood schools overwhelmingly provide the best habitat for achieving academic excellence, social development and attitudes toward lifelong learning.
* In the technology age, large numbers of children need not be massed together to be exposed to challenging curriculum.
* Boundary issues have been proven to be much less of an issue when addressed by community wide committees.
* Grade level centers cut off and isolate children from the rest of the elementary school culture. In the real world age groups are co-mingled.
* Disconnecting young children from their neighborhood isolates, confuses, and immunizes them from a sense of community, a sense of place and a sense of belonging.
* Teachers in neighborhood schools tend to be more innovative, resourceful and responsive to parents. They know students and families better and are more committed to students.
* Neighborhood schools have less bureaucracy than other arrangements.
* In Chapel Hill, North Carolina 300 parents showed up at a recent board meeting to adamantly emphasize that neighborhood school continuation should take precedence over other criteria such as racial and socio-economic balancing.
* When we interconnect children, parents and rural communities, we engage students as responsible, contributing and fulfilled future adult citizens who will enhance the vitality of the communities in which they live. - Dr. Paul Theobald, formally U.W. LaCrosse, Chairman Education Department and Elaine Salinas - Wisconsin Rural Challenge.
* Dr. Craig Howley has suggested that small schools act more like families and large schools feel more like factories or prisons.
* Parent involvement in our schools and as co-educators of our children is so critical that schools should be structured to make parent accessibility and involvement along with volunteerism as convenient as possible.
* Parents feel that it is important to have older brothers and sisters to be able to look out for the younger children.
* When older children are in the same building, they may serve as role models and can help younger children learn along with developing responsibility.
* When young children see the accomplishments of older children, they set goals and learning assumes a purpose.
* Neighborhood schools allow children and parents to have pride and ownership in the school and remain affiliated with the facility for a number of years.
* Parents want to participate in all of their young children’s special school events and not have to pick and choose.
* Children need to have some individual attention, develop high levels of self esteem, be recognized as someone special and to have a sense of belonging.
* Grade center advocates are emphasizing class uniformity but most school districts celebrate and promote the diversity of their elementary schools as evidenced by school colors, logos and mascots. Most school systems recognize that children learn in a variety of ways and that each teacher brings unique talent, flavor and expertise to the classroom.
A common curriculum is followed, but children are exposed to the objectives to be mastered in a multitude of formats and settings.
* Competition between small schools in academics and athletics better allows a larger number of elementary students to develop leadership, character, pride and school spirit.
* Schools should never become large impersonal education factories where “one size fits all” mass production concepts are used to create “average” little subservient human “products” programmed to think and act alike. The best insurance to prevent such a disaster is to continue small neighborhood schools and to encourage greater parent involvement, control and accountability.
* It is also important to remember that:
a. Schools exist only for children and their parents.
b. Parents and community should be in control of their schools.
c. Small communities and neighborhoods are very synonymous terms.
d. Administrators and teachers are employees of parents and community,
contracted to execute the wishes of the people.
e. Schools work best when they are integral parts of the neighborhood they serve.
f. Parents should never apologize for wanting what is best for their children and for taking an interest in their schools.
g. School district decision making needs to be conducted in public utilizing a broad base of input which includes parents, community, educational research review, resource advice, staff and administrators.
h. On going committees which represent the diversity of our district should be developed and empowered to study and make recommendations on district wide issues.
It is important to consider the recommendations of teachers on the issue of grade alignment. Based on the results of two district initiated surveys, the vast majority of the elementary teachers favor the K-5 concept. The teacher support for grade level centers being voiced does not represent the majority of our elementary classroom teachers.
There should be little question that in the final analysis that the best interests of children and parents should predominate over referendum strategies, bruised egos and special interests. It is most inappropriate to jeopardize well established and successful neighborhood schools. Leading authorities on education, our political leaders, a wealth of studies, publications and school districts nationwide all advocate and promote the continuation and redevelopment of the neighborhood school concept.
Faced with the supporting information and parent preference that has been identified, it seems almost incomprehensible that our board of education would even consider disrupting our neighborhood school format for a concept that has no supporting evidence that would enhance academic, social or behavioral benefits to children!
D.L. Amundson, Town of Curran, 1999