Time to reinvent, not reform?

“The current public education system at the K–12 level is broken. Can it be fixed? No, says Tough Choices, Tough Times, it has to be replaced. This is more than a wake-up call. It is a call to arms," says Albert Simone, President, of Rochester Institute of Technology, of a controversial report that Colorado's educational professionals have been working with for over a year.

The education bill released last week that was supposedly convened in response to this report misses the mark, ignoring the fact that students are "born with different gifts, cherish different ambitions, set different goals for themselves," says local emeritus education professor Jurgen Herbst.

Two Colorado educators - Rona Wilensky in the Denver Post – and Herbst in the Durango Herald – are critiquing the new bill - known as CAP4K - for failing to deliver on the systemic changes of 'Tough Choices. ' Read Herbst's "One Size Does Not Fit All" ( Durango Herald 3/23/08)

Both educators point out that children come to school with vast differences. "There are large differences between preparing all kids for post-secondary education and preparing all kids for college classes."

Wilensky's concern is "when we raise the bar without increasing supports, we set students up for failure. If this were just another bureaucratic exercise it wouldn’t matter, but when real live students will be disenfranchised by the hyper-academic focus of the post secondary and workforce readiness program … the human costs of this misguided public policy become more apparent."

Herbst argues that not every student should be preparing for an academic higher education. He sees students not as "passive recipients of educational goods, but as curious, questioning inquirers" worthy of a system where "teachers as true educators respond to the interests of their students with imagination and enthusiasm and lead them to become imaginative, inquiring individuals."

What do you think? Is K-12 broken? If so, can it be repaired or should we be thinking "reinvention?" Is that even possible?

Look at "One Kid at a Time: Big Lessons from a Small School" if you’re interested in reinvention. Deborah Meier, educational visionary and founder of many small schools recommends it to see how “preparing young people for the 'real world' works best when it is intensely caring, relevant, community-focused, and tailored to the limitless varieties of our children's passions and concerns. "

Students and teachers from Durango's Community of Learners Charter School interviewed Deborah Meier in Boston in 1999 at her Mission Hill School, a place that could be characterized by those same words. The Durango education community is once again ripe for reinvention, and should not have to “make do” with reform.

Search process continues

Are you interested in serving alongside 9-R Board as superintendent search resumes? Details in Herald 3/22/08. Letter of interest due Thursday 3/27 by 5 pm.

The 9-R website says that in addition to the seven board members, seven community/school representatives "will have a substantive role in the process, including access to the same information that the board does."

Letters expressing interest in serving on their newly forming search committee must be sent by Thursday (3/27) by 5 p.m. to Board Clerk Kristi Rodri at the 9-R administration building, 201 E. 12th St. The board will select the committee members during their meeting on April 1.

For more information, contact Jeff Schell at 375-7721

Kristi Rodri, Executive Assistant
Phone: (970) 247-5411, ext. 1448
Fax: (970) 247-9581
krodri@durango.k12.co.us

It's not easy being a board member, these days, or ever. Forced back to "square one" in the superintendent hiring process, they deserves thanks for going the extra mile to create meaningful ways for the public, teachers, parents, and at least one student representative, to participate directly in this important process. We wish them and ourselves the best of luck as they move forward.