[Mpls] Smaller Districts?

[Heather Martens]

Dennis --   Please, let’s not embark on a long discussion of the merits of splitting the district into smaller ones. This idea is another of the “Big Fixes” that continue to march into our schools, bringing great hope and lots of upheaval, but usually not much improvement. Another Big Fix popular now is to privatize schools. People want to believe that if they sign on to the right Big Fix, everything will get better. But chasing Big Fixes is a waste of energy.   As a former middle school teacher, I am frustrated by this approach to education. I think our schools would be much better served if we could change the focus of the discussion. The question should not be, “Which Big Fix is the best one?” but, “What is working, and how can we replicate it?”   And, in recognition that our public school system is highly political, we also need to be more of a voice to slow the flow of mandates from the state and federal government. We have to start handing UP mandates. And by better using the information we already have (plus whatever we realize we need), we can make a case to the legislators who can help us or sink us. For example, we can tell the state and federal government that x percent of our kids are suffering from lead poisoning, and we would like to mandate that they send us the money to get the lead out of these children’s homes. We can keep them posted on the results of their mandates, too. (An annual update on mandated but unfunded special education programs, for example.)   School board members are already working on the political aspects of running our schools. But the people out there who think public education is just a big slush fund need to be answered with data. Again and again. Here’s what we did, here’s what it cost. Here’s how we evaluated it. Based on the evaluation, this is what we’ll do next year.   As a teacher, I am convinced that the single most important thing we can do for our schools is to ensure there is a good principal in every building. (And a good superintendent.) Energy devoted to that on would be well spent. Can we find a way to create a pipeline for home-grown talent? Let’s skip the next Big Fix and work on that instead.   The superintendent says rightly that it is important to get the community involved in the schools. Our NRP experience shows that the community is out there to be tapped. Why not use energy to find effective community involvement programs and replicate them? Volunteers already serve in large numbers at some schools, but volunteer reading tutors aren’t trained in how to teach reading. Why not train them?   The single biggest challenge for the schools (and there are many) probably is maintaining the discipline necessary to teach the curriculum. Discipline problems are, in my experience, a big cause of teacher burnout. Some teachers and principals are using effective methods of dealing with discipline. Let’s make it policy to identify and emulate them.   If we break the district into say, four districts, we would spend lots of time and money electing school board members who in turn would have to compete with each other to hire superintendents and constantly fend off other districts that want to steal them. What a waste of energy. Not to mention the restructuring of the administrative departments and the transportation system.   I don’t have anything against standardized tests, within limits, and if they fit the curriculum. We need to evaluate progress somehow, but we don’t need to do it for three or four weeks of every school year, as was done in other places I’ve taught. All evaluation is imperfect, but it has to be done.   My final thought on this – please ask the teachers what they need to do their jobs better. This idea never seems to come up in discussion. Maybe this is because everybody is an expert on education. But please, could we ask the people who are doing the educating?   Along the same lines, if we want to know why kids aren’t graduating, why don’t we ask them? If in sixth grade they think they’re going to college and in eighth grade they’re planning to drop out, let’s find out why.   Heather Martens Kingfield