On 3/16 the Herald wrote a thoughtful opinion piece called "Barter and 9-R"
"...the board must look to how it and the district got to where they are. What is needed is openness and real public involvement, which to its credit the board seems to recognize. Tuesday it said, "The board anticipates significantly increased interaction among the board and building staffs, the central office and the public."
Will Board interactions look and feel different? Will new options for talking replace the adversarial public hearing format? Will recent and/or long standing concerns currently labelled "case closed" be revisited? Being told an issue "has been resolved" - when, in fact, it persists in important concrete ways that would benefit from open discussion - has been a big part of how we got to where we are. And 9-R's interpretations of Policy Governance haven't helped.
This is a board with a lot on its plate. No doubt they will appreciate positive and strong support for this big transition. Restoring trust should be an overarching theme as they move forward. And a first step will be to see a change in the way public input is valued. Try to make their meeting tomorrow at 5 p.m. and see what they have in mind.
4 comments:
It was a pleasure to see an almost packed board room, with parents and community members who are vested in our school district attending. Public participation went for 2 hours!
I left just after 7 p.m. with an hour to go. I hope, if they discussed the key communicator role, that they decided not to hand select, but to allow anyone who wished to be a key communicator to sign up. There is another district who allows their public to sign up on their school district website. They have over 200 key communicators. They write to them via email, invite them all, and as with most things, not all attend, but attendance is greater than 4, which is what our last key communicator session held.
I can't say enough: Embrace the community. Listen to the community. And ACT on the concerns!
If you could harness our passion for education, we could re-build your school gymnasium overnight.
I'm not sure I liked the Herald article today. By the end it was fine, but I didn't like the comment: "Parents of dyslexic children criticized as inadequate 9-R's programs for educating dyslexic students, a controversy that consumed much of 9-R administrators' attention last year."
We did?! It did?! Gosh. I thought we consumed much of 9-R administrator's attention for 7 years, to no avail, hence why "old issues" still haunt everyone.
This August, a 9th grade student, who should be in 10th grade, will be joining DHS with a 5th grade reading age, currently in rapid decline, despite his mothers best efforts and more. That kind of "news item" makes my blood boil, because there is absolutely no reason why we are not remediating these students. They are not "dumb", nor are they the "kind of kid who doesn't want to learn to read". Grrrrrr.
Old issues indeed. Sue. Sue. Sue.
Why bother?
We try and try, we beat our heads against the wall, we sacrifice our family life to try and make a difference. Why bother? They don't listen, they don't care and they think parents are stupid.
Ask a member of DAAC how it's going. Half of the committee showed up with John marchino shaking the pon pons. Cheerleaders are all they want.
I am done, I am over it, I am through wasting my time.
Why bother?
What's the point of participating in surveys if the results are never released? I'm not going to waste my time filling out a survey if I never know the results.
And, I think being involved with 9-R is a huge waste of time. It doesn't matter, they don't listen, and nothing ever changes.
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