Eyes Wide Open

 

Eyes Wide Open

 

 

     Public education in Maine, and the nation, has slowly been chipped away at by politicians. It is time for all of us to consider our next steps in supporting it. Retired public school teachers...it is time to give back. Stand up and make your voices heard. You and I can tell the stories of children and the positive benefits of public education done right. Let the erosion of our schools stop. Many of us taught in schools much different than the schools today. It is hard to say when the turning point was, but  'public education has been in increasingly hot water' long enough. (Do you remember the boiling frog syndrome? If you drop a frog directly into boiling water, it will try desperately to jump out to survive... if the frog is swimming in water that is slowly increased in temperature, it won't notice until the water has reached too high a temperature and will perish unknowingly?) The slow imperceptible danger to public education has been increasingly revealing itself.  School employees have been treading 'water of higher and higher temperatures' trying to stay afloat buffeted by shifting budgets, political mandates, and big business creeping in, aided by politicians who care not a whit about student achievement, but care immensely about supporting private business and lining their pockets with public money. It is time for all who believe in public education to see the true motives of those who are claiming public education has failed. It has not failed. Public education is a cornerstone of our democracy. Public education is not too costly.

     We can start right here in Maine and reveal the true motives of LePage's proposed budget. He has not been an advocate for public education since the day he took the oath of office as Governor of Maine. He attempts to destabilize public education. He imports foes of public education into the executive and legislative branches of state government. He pursues funding reductions and shifting. He abhors employee/teachers rights. He undermines effective leadership locally and at the state level. He has refused to nominate a Commissioner of Education, and thus the Department of Education has for several years lacked true effective leadership. His first Commissioner of Education brought the same tactics used in Southern states to create legislation, policies and procedures for Maine that mimic those in Southern states. This Commissioner hightailed it for greener pastures out of Maine as soon as a lucrative offer presented itself. Then an interim Commissioner was appointed, then made Commissioner, then fell ill and left the post. Another interim. Then a proclamation that he (LePage) himself would be the Commissioner of Education AND be the Governor at the same time. Now another interim.

     When Maine student achievement rates are compared to student achievement rates in Southern states, Maine students rank higher. Maine high school graduation rates are among the top 15 in the country. Why would Mainers want to emulate schools in the southern part of the US? Public schools in Maine have been making positive changes with regard to closing the achievement gaps that exist. The persistent geographical, racial, and income disparity that exists in parts of Maine is brought to school with the children who live within these areas and is reflected in their achievement rates. Yes, let's work to address this. Let's do it in a way that doesn't penalize every public school in Maine. We can start by letting schools keep their Federal Title 1 money that is intended to be supplementary money to address the learning needs of students who live in poverty. The state of Maine actually DEDUCTS this amount of money from their school subsidy.

 

     I would also echo support for state funding priorities made in the PICUS report that legislators commissioned several years ago and the most recent Blue Ribbon Commission on School Funding and Student Achievement seemed to be coalescing around:

 

1. Supporting programs for children who live in poverty, including afterschool and summer programs;

2. Supporting full day publicly supported programs within our schools for 3 and 4 year olds, thus creating public pre K - 12th grade educational opportunities;

3. Supporting additional embedded professional development opportunities for teachers.

  

     Let's not allow LePage to derail these recommendations. Let's tell our legislators to recall the PICUS report they commissioned and fund public education appropriately.

 

     Governor LePage has said he will call for an end to the use of the school funding formula, the Essential programs and Services or EPS formula, in his proposed 2017 budget.  I haven't heard about any alternative way to determine future state education subsidy to towns and cities across Maine. Whimsical budgeting. The PICUS report found the EPS to be equitable, even though it found Maine underfunds education statewide by $350 million. To do away with the funding formula will likely further exacerbate the financial difficulties of some Maine communities to fund education in their areas. LePage doesn't like the way the formula defines the amount of money schools need to offer basic services. I don't know many people who only want a basic education for their children. Federal and state politicians have for years been yelling for excellent education for all students. Why should we only acknowledge funding for just a basic education?  In a previous budget, LePage unilaterally altered the EPS and included the costs of teacher retirement within the formula which didn't exist before, essentially reducing school budgets across the state by this amount.  (See my Oct. 19, 2016 'Experience Counts -School Funding' post; Oct. 29, 2016 ' Question 2 and ESP Funding Formula' post for more details on EPS)  I was a member of my town's local school board in the early years of his first term. He started by angrily calling for local school boards to work with him. Translation: I don't like local school boards.  He boisterously demanded that school superintendents 'get out of his way'. Translation: I don't like school superintendents. He has attacked the school teachers unions. Translation: I don't like unions. His goal is to weaken local control and employee protections by any and all means so that he can further erode the institution of public education. His call for one statewide teacher contract to address funding disparities - just smoke and mirrors. One state (politically controlled) contract will weaken employee protections, opening the door to further destabilization and destruction. He threatens to withhold money if he doesn't get his way. He, like many Republicans across the country, wants to eliminate having to pay for public education and transfer money spent supporting public education to the private sector, ie. businesses. (Diane Ravitch exposes this in her book, "Reign of Error" - I highly recommend this book for understanding the insidious historical attack on the institution of public education.)  

This year LePage has proposed to eliminate the funding formula that is used to determine state school subsidies. Specifically, he wants to eliminate funding for 'System Administration'. This pays for school superintendents and school boards. Wouldn't you say this very conveniently fits into his plan? Without these leadership entities, public schools will not only lose local leadership, but protection from political harm. The next step will be to weaken the teacher union, as has been done in other parts of the country. These actions so very conveniently follow the same paths as in other parts of the country where the attack on public education is further along in its path of destruction.

 

     Let's acknowledge that education is expensive and costs have increased over the years. What has not increased in cost? Food - increased.  Shelter - increased.  Utilities - increased. Etc. The cost of living has increased so it is reasonable that the cost of education will also increase along with all other costs. To attack education because it is costly, is disingenuous. The attack is meant to destroy public education. That would truly be a major blow to our society.

     Next up....president and federal education appointees who use money and political power to support politicians who are not friends of public education. Politicians who support big business.

 

    

 

     

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

 

Town Action Needed

 

 

     The January 10, 2017 Times Record contained articles describing issues that bear careful attention. First, "Town (Brunswick) Faces Tough Choices Over Fate of Aging Schools". Next, "Democrats Skeptical, Republicans Supportive of Gov. LePage's Budget".

  

     The town of Brunswick has a history of procrastinating when having to make difficult choices. By procrastination, I don't mean the time to carefully research and consider all options, in a  reasonable number of public meetings for all citizens to hear the facts, research, options considered and recommendations from town staff and Town Council, School Board, and other advisory groups. It is just plain hard for this town to make a decision and then implement it. There are many divergent viewpoints, people now forming groups, all wanting their way, with little room for compromise. Washington is not the only place where things drag out, resulting in unnecessary cost inflation to the taxpayers. Our 'beautifully balanced' town of Brunswick is home to projects that cost more than they should due to delay, masked as citizen participation and transparency. At some point, decisions have to be made and forward movement is necessary.

    The headline, "Town Faces Tough Choices Over Fate of Aging Schools" implies that work still needs to be done to arrive at a course of action to address two of our aging public schools. In fact, the School Board has spent considerable dedicated time in public meetings discussing the research, data collected, many options. After many starts and re-starts, the School Board came to a consensus recommendation and presented it to the Town Council. The recommendation to the Town Council  included a repair and renovation bond project to address major facilities deficiencies in two schools. Additionally, the School Department applied for, and received, Revolving Renovation monies from the state to address the most serious deficiencies in these two schools. Here's the link to the Brunswick School Department's facilities planning activities dating back to 2011: http://www.brunswick.k.12.me.us/facilities-study/  The Town Council rejected the School Board's first repair/renovate recommendation, indicating the School Board should re-evaluate and return with a recommendation that included building a new school. Some councilors' statements, "Go big or go home", "if we are going to spend that much just to repair, we should build new to get the best use of our money invested" were made. Another year passed where the School Board engaged in more architectural studies, with a careful eye kept on managing the cost of a new school. Again, the School Board met in public, discussed and debated the merits of additional options and arrived at a recommendation for a new elementary school to be built and repair/renovations to be made at the Junior High School. Town Councilors followed School Board deliberations, some even attending the meetings. The School Superintendent and the Town Manager stayed in close contact, meeting regularly and sharing information. When this second recommendation was presented to the Town Council, the brakes screeched loudly. The very same 9 Councilors are now saying more time is needed to study the financial implications of the recommendation and implying, perhaps, the School Board need to go back to the 'drawing board'.  The town's Finance Department has also studied the proposals and cost. The town's Finance Director and the school department's Finance Manager shared information and numerous models of tax impact were developed and publicly discussed. Yes, this will be expensive. It is a given. What more is needed?  We can argue about the pros and cons of the proposals. To what end? For how long?

 

This is the point at which a decision needs to be made. The schools need action. We need to send this to the citizens for either an approval or denial. Either we invest to build a new elementary school/ repair the Junior High or we invest to make major repairs/renovations to these two schools. Waiting will only increase the cost of whatever course of action taken to address the facilities deficiencies in these two buildings. Waiting to see if Brunswick schools will climb to the top of a statewide application for construction of a new school is a long shot, at best. Waiting will only increase the chance that a facilities mishap occurs and shuts down one or both of these schools and an emergency plan will have to be enacted. Think....double sessions of school; moving 5th graders into the junior high school where there is room even though the building is in need of repair; moving some of the junior high classes to the "new" high school (which is 20 years old!); leasing other space to hold classes; buying enough modular classrooms to accommodate however many classes might be displaced if a facilities mishap occurs. All of these less expensive, but still costly, options were considered but rejected.

 

My next upcoming post will be dedicated to the state's budget proposal, particularly education, health, and welfare.  Local agreements, local control should be pretty easy compared to coming to statewide agreement on proposals that will substantively change public education. Let's start by quickly finding common ground to move forward on our local schools issues and then coalesce around protecting public education.

 

 



Why Do We Hire Professional Educators?

 

Why Do We Hire Professional Educators?

 

 

I often ask myself this question, "Why does the town of Brunswick hire any professional to work in our schools?"  My personal view is that it takes skillful, dedicated professionals who persevere in their jobs, under often difficult situations. Gone are the days when we can say people who work in education do so because they can have summers off. Today those who work in education put in long hours throughout the year. School calendars may have markers that say school ends sometime in June, but effective educators work throughout the entire year. Collaborating with their colleagues on curriculum development, lesson planning, school initiatives, analyzing the never-ending data collected on student achievement, communicating with parents and other community members (it does take a village to raise a child), creating schedules that eke out every possible learning moment for students, financial planning/budgeting, and more. Please notice that most of these activities do not include any direct contact time with students. When you consider that educators spend most of their day in a classroom with students, you might curiously ask when they do all the things I just listed in the previous sentence. The answer: before and after school, the weekends, and during the summer months. So, yes, here are some adjectives that describe educators: professional, persevering, dedicated, motivated to make a difference in a child's life. Multiple children's lives. Education matters in people's lives. It opens doors to a lifetime of opportunities.

 

So why would Brunswick want to hire professional educators? Answer: to use their skills and passion to create stimulating learning opportunities for both kids and themselves; to be creative thinkers and make learning meaningful and interesting; to be critical thinkers to solve problems and issues that arise in our schools.

These are highly professional, dedicated, skillful resourceful people working in the Brunswick School Department - teachers, administrators, and a wide array of support personnel (from classroom assistants to nutrition staff to bus drivers to secretaries to nurses to mechanics to....on and on). Every one of them are teachers in their own way. They all contribute to the development of students who become skillful, creative, critical thinkers.

 

There is one more task that all these professional school employees do that can take even more perseverance. That is to deal with the political bodies and individual activists who use political organizing to influence the operations of our schools. I am not talking about shaping the vision for our community schools. I am not talking about the individual parent-teacher relationships that are formed in order to better serve individual children's learning and social needs. I am not talking about legitimate volunteers who selflessly give their time and/or resources to the schools and seek NOTHING in return. No fame. No recognition. No 'resume building' accolades. No social ladder climbing. No political points.

 

Every day school staff enter their schools trying to keep the 'political buzz' at bay in order to bring the day's learning opportunities alive.  They must reduce the clamoring noise of those who believe the school budget is excessive. They must soften the sounds of the citizen voices at the public podium who have a specific disagreement about something happening at one of the schools. They must cushion the many 'I have an idea that would be good for our schools' and artfully integrate it.

 

Every day school staff open the doors of our schools and classrooms ready to spend the day with children smiling, laughing, talking, singing, dancing, moving.....And then do the same the next day and the day after. Year after year.

 

Let's not let the political buzz get too loud.  Let's let the professional educators we hire do what they do best and celebrate with them all the good things happening in our schools.  

 

 

 



 

 

 

 





 

Where is Public Education Headed?

 

     Many of us have begun to wonder where education is headed as January 20, 2017 moves closer to the present. Some have mused, "Our lives will be relatively unaffected by the election". I wonder if you asked a public school teacher or administrator if their professional lives have been relatively unaffected by any of the past several election cycles? I don't think so. Many political mandates and policies have arisen; many initiatives have materialized as politicians jockey to achieve their favored educational goal. Language and descriptions may change, but the underlying political directions, one way or the other, usually don't change. Let's examine the historical role of local, state, and federal government as it relates to education.

     From the beginning of our country a 'well educated citizenry' was considered important 'for the general welfare of the people'. Depending on your interpretation of the Constitution, the responsibility for education either lies with the federal (and state and local) governments to promote the general welfare of the people or this responsibility lies solelywith the state and local governments. A history buff will tell you that this has been a long-standing philosophical tug of war. The 10th Amendment stipulates that any power not specifically delegated to the United States is reserved to the States. Does the federal government have a role to play in education? In the 1800's the federal government granted land and surplus funds to the states for the support of public education. Even during these early times, education was one of the largest expenses of state and local government just as it is today and many states used the funds to support education. Fast forward to 2016 and you will find few public school systems that don't depend on federal monies received to support ongoing operational costs. You will find few states that can afford to ignore these federal dollars. And certainly few local communities can afford to pay for their public schools solely through citizen-supported taxation.

     This philosophical difference people hold about the federal government's role in education has contributed to those politicians who try to abolish or lessen the federal Department of Education and the cabinet level roles. Without a federal Department of Education and the public tax dollars that support and advocate for access to public education for all, education becomes less public and more competitive. Some in our country, in our state, in our cities and towns will have the means to afford education and some will not. We can see this in our 'public' health system. 

     Back to January 20, 2017. President-elect Trump has chosen Betsy DeVos as his Secretary of Education to head up the Department of Education. Reportedly, she has not worked in schools as a teacher nor superintendent. She is a 'school choice' advocate and supports school vouchers and charter schools, philosophically and financially with big political donations. Reportedly, Trump himself is a product of an independent high school (which today charges about $36,000/year tuition) which he left for a military high school education (which is a private academy which charges about $14,000-$41,000 plus fees per year depending on whether one is a boarding student). According to a 2013 PICUS report, the Maine 2010 per pupil cost was $12,259.  Even this lower yearly student cost of $12,259 would be beyond many Maine families.

     Without a federal Department of Education and its historical initiatives, states would be free to envision and enact their own education goals. This is what many southern states tried to do for years. The wealthy were able to control much of the access to education and over time were coerced by federal courts to comply with equal access and education for all laws. The education mantra was separate schools and vouchers then, and now we see a President, cabinet level people, and perhaps, a Congress, willing to at least use the same language as was used in the 1960-70's. Will their actions be the same? Could we now count on Jeff Sessions as Trump's Attorney General to advocate and diligently pursue litigation to ensure equal access to integrated public schools for all?

     This bears watching.

 

 

 

 



The Role of Mass Media

    

The Role of Mass Media



The mass media plays an important, and changing, role in our society. Web media, including the internet and social media, has joined the ranks of the more conventional TV, radio, newspapers and other sources. Anyone can very easily publish various entertainment and informational pieces with little effort. In a perfect world everything in print would be factual. In a perfect world everyone who writes and exchanges ideas for public consumption would have good intentions. Reality faces us and we know we do not live in a perfect world. Sometimes that which we read is not factual. Perhaps the truth has been distorted by errors, omissions or deletions. Perhaps unintentionally or purposefully. Each and everyone of us is obligated to read these sources with thoughtful and inquiring minds and seek out reliable sources of information to either corroborate or dispel that which is printed. We, individually and collectively, are responsible for truthful 'news'.
     The changing nature of news outlets contributes to the varying level of trust one can have in public news today. One only has to look nationally at the increasing consolidation of media ownership into fewer and fewer hands, resulting in message dominance, increasingly with political overtones. The race for amassing viewers who need to be entertained listening to news has hijacked the conventional purpose of news in a free democracy. If a story is 'spun' with 'facts', with enough intensity, duration, energy, passion, the audience then broadens and surely then the story has become true, even if it isn't. In the race to be the first to publish a story, who spends time to research the complete history of the story? Who spends time to corroborate the veracity of the facts being offered? And, equally important, who spots the editorial process? What about the website that pops up on the internet? Who is the author(s)? What about that Monkey Survey that collects supposedly true and representative data upon which news articles and reports are based?
     Having worked in education for many years, backed up with a liberal arts college education, I can attest to the changing nature of the message the public is being served on mass media's public education platter today. The message is in many respects replete with errors, omissions, deletions, distortions. The political message being spun about how our public schools have been failing our kids and society, en masse, since our race with Russia to be the first to travel to the moon, is inaccurate. Compared to today, that message took years to take hold. Tweets, Facebook posts, blogs, Instagrams, all capable of sending millions of messages instantaneously today, effectively eliminate time for researching issues prior to release to the public. Public education news become sound bites of negativism. Sound bites. Each and every one of us has a civic duty to become well versed about all of the facts about the state of our schools, locally, state, and nationally. Preschool, K-12, and postsecondary institutions. Many schools perform very well. Some schools do need assistance. These schools usually are those where there are large concentrations of students with lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Testing outcomes, including the SAT, usually are correlated with socioeconomic background. Rightfully, these schools need support to lift up the children attending into higher aspirations and achievement. However, the real takeaway here is that academic conditions mirror social conditions. And schools have minimal capacity to find parents good jobs so they can feed their children healthy food; to give families affordable, stable homes and health care, to reduce the violence children are exposed to. In other words, schools can't do much to change the social conditions that contribute to a child living in poverty  and daily arriving at school tired, hungry, afraid, academically delayed. A quick reminder of most psychological research will tell us that our basic needs for safety, food and love must be met prior to any of the other higher needs such as learning.  A good book, with reliable sources cited, to read to begin the journey to understanding the state of public education is, "The Reign of Error" by Diane Ravitch. She traces the present day, "Race to the Top" and other national and state 'school improvement' initiatives that have been inflicted upon public schools today back to the earliest days of insidious intentional school segregation and poverty. She reveals the 'follow the money', yellow brick road illusion of modern day school improvement which is accomplishing a big transfer of public education dollars into the coffers of private wealthy individuals/businesses. Public education money which could be spent on teaching students to read, write, calculate, think critically....become successful citizens.
     Locally, let's start with complete information about our schools. It's everyone's responsibility to know all the facts about student achievement, facilities, and yes, even in Brunswick, the efforts made to avoid segregating students based on socioeconomic factors. Our administrative staff and teachers are diligent about integrating all students and advocating for the robust support services any student may need for academic and social achievement. We need to advocate for new facilities (and maintain our newer schools) that can accommodate modern educational practices that support teaching and learning activities. And most of all, we need to celebrate the successes of our schools and the students and teachers working within them together everyday. There are many astounding achievements that are newsworthy! And to accomplish all of these things, the press, the 'tweeter' journalists, us bloggers.... ALL of us would do well to know the complete history of whatever the issue and the related facts.
    

 

Election Results

 

 

     Congratulations to Ben, Mandy, and Elizabeth on your election to the Brunswick School Board. Thank you to all who supported my candidacy and voted for me. It is time to move forward and continue the work of supporting public education. I plan to continue regular blog posts on google at clough747.blogspot.com and will soon be launching a mechanism for collecting and disseminating public opinion that represent all voices on the issues our schools in Brunswick face.    

Local Politics, Part 2

 

 

     On Election Day eve, let's all do our civic duty and cast our ballots for our choices for national, state and local positions. Many of us have already cast our vote via absentee ballots. Good luck to all! I have encouraged everyone to become fully informed prior to casting votes and signing petitions that inevitably appear in various locations near polling places. One such petition that has been talked about in the press is a petition attempting, again, to overturn the Brunswick Town Council's vote to sell a coastal piece of property acquired through non-payment of taxes. A proponent group for retaining the land for public use gathered signatures and presented the signed petition to the Council prior to its vote. This group was upset and will plan, as reported in the Times Record on Oct. 20, 2016, "...to circulate a petition on election Day that seeks somehow to reverse the council's course. The petition will be in support of letting Brunswick voters decide if the land should be made a public park..."

     One of the councilors who strongly advocated for the land to be retained for public access to the coast, also wrote an opinion piece in the Times Record on Sept. 23, 2016. He admonished his fellow councilors who voted to sell the land that their interpretation of the town's 2008 Comprehensive Plan was 'very contorted'. He thanked the town's professional and volunteer staff (I will write more about our town's volunteers in another post) for their support. A reading of these groups' reports to the council could also be considered neutral, ie that the parcel had some value vis a vis their group's particular focus, not necessarily advocating directly for or against the town retaining or selling the land. This councilor ended his opinion piece with additional strong words, 'rejecting this remarkable opportunity should mean we reject Council representatives who do not reflect our community in the future.'

     The town's 2008 Comprehensive Plan advocates for obtaining water access, as funds permit. See it here: http://www.brunswickme.org/departments/planning-development/comprehensive-plan-2008/. The town's finance committee, of which this councilor is the chair this year, also recommended to the full Council a plan to fund this Capital Improvement Plan for 2017-2021 and it was adopted on May 28, 2016. See this funding plan here:  http://www.brunswickme.org/departments/finance/financial-documents/capital-improvement-program-cip/ .  It details a funding timeline for future town projects, including school department projects. There are many projects planned and recommended for funding and projects in development as well as desired projects but not recommended for this 2017-2021 cycle. Spending money on the development of this land is not included.

     I speak to this example of using the petitioning process as ineffective in achieving town planning.  We all acknowledge the citizen right to petition their government. But it is also not cost effective. The petition process will be divisive, in fact, it has already been divisive. It will cost the town money that could be allocated to achieving town projects, including school department projects such as a new elementary school. I believe some Councilors were speaking to the fact that the town has many and should prioritize those of immediate need, such as school replacement and closure of the landfill and they stated their financials concerns of being able to balance all these financial commitments and still be mindful of the annual tax rates.

     Please become fully informed before voting and signing petitions. It is convenient to stand with a petition and engage citizens as they enter or leave the building. It is another thing to engage in a fully informed discussion on whatever the petition issue is, examining all the facts leading to every side of the issue.